Is the Switch 2 Launch Library Better Than Past Nintendo Consoles?

The Nintendo Switch 2’s launch is right around the corner and many are preparing to welcome its delivery on June 5th, myself included. However, as this will be my first time ordering a Nintendo console on launch day, I began to wonder how the game library would compare to past Nintendo console releases. This obviously led to the creation of this article and I, of course, must also include every portable console. I can’t guarantee it but I’m confident most of our launch lists have a majority of launch titles, yet we could be missing some of the digital-only titles on the more recent consoles.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has a few games with paid and free updates that level up the experience such as the improved resolution and frame rate in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I have decided this type of re-release, while obviously enticing for launch players, is worth omitting from our game lists due to being minor, unlike remakes such as Super Mario 64 DS. Now let’s begin our adventure through Nintendo’s North American release history with a list of every console launch game.

Nintendo Entertainment System

October 18, 1985

1. 10-Yard Fight
2. Baseball
3. Clu Clu Land
4. Duck Hunt
5. Excitebike
6. Golf
7. Gyromite
8. Hogan's Alley
9. Ice Climber
10. Kung Fu Master
11. Pinball
12. Soccer
13. Stack-Up
14. Super Mario Bros.
15. Tennis
16. Wild Gunman
17. Wrecking Crew

Game Boy

July 31, 1989

1. Alleyway
2. Baseball
3. Super Mario Land
4. Tennis
5. Tetris

Super Nintendo

August 23, 1991

1. F-Zero
2. Gradius III
3. Pilotwings
4. SimCity
5. Super Mario World

Nintendo 64

September 29, 1996

1. Pilotwings 64
2. Super Mario 64

The Nintendo Entertainment System was before my time but I do see some heavy hitters such as Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. along with a nice size library of games. The Game Boy list was small in comparison when it launched four years later yet for the period what more could you want when you can play Super Mario Land and Tetris on the go for the first time? The Super Nintendo which holds some of my most cherished memories, features one of my favorite games of all time at launch which is Super Mario World. That obviously would have been all I needed to justify the purchase on day one. Regardless, the Super Nintendo’s short list of launch titles introduces some well-known games from the platform. If you thought the Super Nintendo’s or Game Boy’s list was lacking well don’t tell Nintendo because they came swinging with the title you needed on the Nintendo 64, Super Mario 64.

Game Boy Advance

June 11, 2001

1. Army Men Advance
2. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
3. ChuChu Rocket!
4. Earthworm Jim
5. F-Zero Maximum Velocity
6. Fire Pro Wrestling
7. GT Advance Championship Racing
8. Iridion 3D
9. Konami Krazy Racers
10. Namco Museum
11. Pinobee: Wings of Adventure
12. Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
13. Rayman Advance
14. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2
15. Super Dodge Ball Advance
16. Super Mario Advance
17. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

GameCube

November 18, 2001

1. All-Star Baseball 2002
2. Batman: Vengeance
3. Crazy Taxi
4. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
5. Luigi's Mansion
6. Madden NFL 2002
7. NHL Hitz 2002
8. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
9. Super Monkey Ball
10. Tarzan: Untamed
11. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
12. Wave Race: Blue Storm

DS

November 21, 2004

1. Asphalt: Urban GT
2. Feel the Magic: XY/XX
3. Madden NFL 2005
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Super Mario 64 DS
6. The Urbz: Sims in the City

The Game Boy Advance (GBA) started its legacy off great with Super Mario Advance and a vast library of 17 titles. While I have never played the Tony Hawk series on a GBA, I played the main versions, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 is the second highest-rated GBA game on Metacritic, only behind The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords which is amazing in my book for a launch title. The GameCube’s launch library is not the best but it’s far from the worst with titles like Luigi’s Mansion and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 being my top picks. The Nintendo DS might have started with the weakest lineup but it goes to show you should never underestimate a console as the Nintendo DS went on to sell over 154 million units globally.

Wii

November 19, 2006

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender
2. Call of Duty 3
3. Cars
4. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
5. Excite Truck
6. GT Pro Series
7. Happy Feet
8. Madden NFL 07
9. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
10. Monster 4x4: World Circuit
11. Need for Speed: Carbon
12. Rampage: Total Destruction
13. Rayman Raving Rabbids
14. Red Steel
15. SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
16. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
17. The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
18. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
19. Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
20. Trauma Center: Second Opinion
21. Wii Sports

3DS

March 27, 2011

1. Asphalt 3D
2. Bust-a-Move
3. Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D
4. Face Raiders (Digital)
5. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
6. Madden NFL Football
7. Nintendogs + Cats
8. Pilotwings Resort
9. Pro Evolution Soccer 2011
10. Rayman 3D
11. Ridge Racer 3D
12. Samurai Warriors: Chronicles
13. Steel Diver
14. Super Monkey Ball 3D
15. Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition
16. The Sims 3
17. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars

Wii U

November 18, 2012

1. Assassin's Creed III
2. Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition
3. Ben 10: Omniverse
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
5. Chasing Aurora (Digital)
6. Darksiders II
7. Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
8. ESPN Sports Connection
9. FIFA 13
10. Funky Barn
11. Game Party Champions
12. Just Dance 4
13. Little Inferno (Digital)
14. Madden NFL 13
15. Mass Effect 3: Special Edition
16. Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition (Digital)
17. Nano Assault Neo (Digital)
18. NBA 2K13
19. New Super Mario Bros. U
20. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
21. Nintendo Land
22. Rabbids Land
23. Scribblenauts Unlimited
24. Sing Party
25. Skylanders: Giants
26. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
27. Tank! Tank! Tank!
28. Tekken Tag Tournament 2
29. Transformers: Prime
30. Trine 2: Director's Cut (Digital)
31. Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
32. Wipeout 3
33. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
34. ZombiU

It doesn’t get much better than the Wii’s launch games as Wii Sports would cement its legacy as one of the most popular Nintendo games of all time. I didn’t grab a Wii at launch but if I did, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 would have easily made the purchase worthwhile. The 3DS is another portable console from Nintendo that didn’t have the next blockbuster Mario or Zelda game but what it did have is a solid list of titles that anyone could find something to choose from. One of Nintendo’s most underappreciated consoles, the Wii U, packed the most games ever for a Nintendo launch library. While Nintendo’s first-party lineup only included New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land, the third-party developers more than showed up with a port of every major series.

Switch

March 3, 2017

1. 1-2-Switch
2. Fast RMX (Digital)
3. I Am Setsuna (Digital)
4. Just Dance 2017
5. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Digital)
6. Skylanders: Imaginators
7. Snipperclips: Cut it Out, Together! (Digital)
8. Super Bomberman R
9. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Switch 2

June 5, 2025

1. Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster (Game-Key)
2. Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition
3. Deltarune (Digital)
4. Fast Fusion (Digital)
5. Hitman: World of Assassination (Game-Key)
6. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Digital)
7. Mario Kart World
8. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour (Digital)
9. Split Fiction (Digital)
10. Street Fighter 6 (Game-Key)
11. Survival Kids (Digital)
12. Yakuza 0 Director's Cut (Game-Key)

The Nintendo Switch did not have much at launch. With that said, who needs a lot when you can sink a hundred hours into the only game it needed, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Fast forward to now and Mario Kart World is the next big first-party game that’s launching Nintendo into the realm of 4K TVs and 120 FPS gaming. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty average launch lineup for a Nintendo console, you have plenty of older third-party games making their jump to Nintendo platforms which is nice to see. What makes the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch different than previous is the reliance on upgrading existing games which has not ever been a major initiative like it is this go around.

The most common criticism I see regarding the Nintendo Switch 2 is the lack of a big Mario platformer to kick off the next hardware generation. The reality is that Nintendo rarely launches consoles with a new Mario game and only did so on the Nintendo with Super Mario Bros., Super Nintendo with Super Mario World, and the Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64. The Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS were fortunate enough to get amazing remakes of past games. But every other Nintendo console launch which includes the GameCube, Wii, 3DS, Wii U, and the Switch did not have a new mainline Mario game on launch day. What I’m trying to say is that with good enough launch support and amazing first-party games, we don’t need Mario’s next adventure on day one.