@Meemoo I think it's safe to say there will be Mario Kart in some form. MK8 is actually Nintendo's best selling game. I think it is also safe to say that the console will be backwards-compatible though too, so I don't think they'll just re-release MK8. There have been rumors of a MK9 for a while now.

Likewise, with Zelda, it'll just be backwards compatible stuff more or less. I think the next new Zelda game we get will probably be a more traditional 2D one, but I don't think they'd put that out as a launch title. Maybe, if the console comes out say March 2025, it could make for a good holiday game. I know some people have been thinking an Ocarina of Time remake is coming... given the reputation that game has, I'm sure if it were a launch game it would sell gangbusters. Being a bit of a Zelda-head myself, Ocarina of Time has only increased in quality to me over time so I would be highly interested in checking that out.

Animal Crossing is their second highest seller, and there have also been rumors that they're making another one of those. I don't think they'll see as high of a return on it though, since New Horizons really came out at the perfect time with COVID just kicking off and on a platform with a huge user base. Still, it's possible that we see it announced pretty soon after, if not for a launch title, I think.

Hopefully, fingers crossed, Metroid Prime 4. Would be awesome to have that at launch for a more hardcore crowd. I have a sneaking suspicion, though completely unfounded, that it's actually more or less in a complete state but they haven't wanted to show it off because it will allude to the console capability. They'd probably rather show it off alongside the reveal as a way to be like "this is the power of the new console."

Another 3D Mario game is also in order. I just have no idea what it would be. A lot of people are saying "Odyssey 2!" but that's not really how Nintendo works most of the time. Galaxy 2 was an outlier. I think it'll be something completely different.

My wildcard guess is a new F-Zero. They already tested the waters with 99, which was quite the success. Perhaps they had a target visual look they wanted to hit for the game and couldn't quite meet that running at a locked 60 FPS on the original Switch. The successor showing a beautiful, fast, smooth racing game would also be a nice little exhibition.

I do think, though, that most of the focus for launch is going to be put on using your old Switch titles in higher resolution with better frame rates. The demo that some people in the industry got to see last year was Breath of the Wild (supposedly) running in 4K. If Nintendo has some new party/family games with the addition of playing old games at higher fidelity, it would capture both crowds pretty well.

I think it's safe to say a new Pokemon game will come out, and said game will be shit. I'm curious what they'll do with Smash, since it also sells like crazy and we've actually had the game longer than Smash 4 was around now. By the time the Switch 2 comes out, it'll actually have been the same amount of time with the "finished" version of the game with all the DLC as Smash 4's entire life cycle. Kind of crazy.

The problem that Mario Kart and Smash have at this point is that they are both currently the absolute ultimate versions of every game in their series'. I'm sure Nintendo wants to make new ones, because they'll sell like crazy, but where do they go from here? If they just port them over and add a couple extra features that are exclusive and you have to buy it all over again, it'll be the second time they did that with both games (more or less feels that way for Ultimate even though it's technically not true) and it'll feel kind of like a slap in the face to those core fans that had the games on Wii U as well. If Nintendo was truly based, they'd cut them back by a lot and do something funky with each game, but then people would complain about the lack of stuff even if the games were still amazing. For now, it might be in their best interest to continue making DLC for both games and you can use the new DLC on your old version of the game, but maybe not necessarily on the old console. They could justify this a lot more if the tracks/characters/stages we got were a lot more intense, to the point where the Switch wouldn't be able to actually play them at all.

My true desires would be for a new F-Zero, a new (actually good) Star Fox, a new 3D Mario game that's closer to Mario 64 (or just a straight up remake), and an Ocarina of Time remake. I'm going to buy the next console as soon as possible, just because I'm interested in the homebrew scene more or less, but if those games were all launch titles I'd be a very stoked (and broke) man.