11 January 2024 , 10:00
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A number of popular Nintendo Switch games are set to be delisted in the near future, leading fans to speculate that Nintendo Selects may be returning.
If there's one thing you can guarantee about Nintendo Switch games developed by Nintendo itself it's that, come rain or shine, they will rarely get a price drop. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for instance, is a game that released a month after the Switch itself did back in April 2017, and still holds its value. Historically, the one sure-fire way Nintendo games would get a price drop was through a re-release in the Nintendo Selects banner. These re-releases started popping up on the Wii in 2011 – one year before the Wii U launched in 2012 – and on the Wii U back in 2016, just before the Switch launched in 2017.
Now, in what we're expecting to be the Nintendo Switch's final year, a poster on Resetera has noticed that a suspicious roster of Nintendo titles are being delisted, leading fans to expect we'll be seeing this budget line return in 2024. The full list of delisted titles is as follows:
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Fire Emblem: Engage
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses
- Kirby Star Allies
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
- Mario Strikers: Battle League
- Metroid Dread
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
- Nintendo Switch Sports
- Pikmin 3 Deluxe
- Splatoon 2
- Super Mario Maker 2
- Super Mario Odyssey
- WarioWare: Get it Together!
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Yoshi's Crafted World
Nintendo Switch 2 release set for next year as Zelda ushers in the end of Switch
Most of these titles are older Switch releases (barring Fire Emblem: Engage which isn't even a year old yet) that sold well, making them prime candidates for Nintendo Selects. While Mario Strikers: Battle League is a contender for the worst Switch game ever, the rest of these games are fairly beloved, so giving them a second lease of life makes sense.
However, there's four notable games missing that sadly won't be getting price drops (and considering how well they still sell, why would they), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Pick of the litter
This is good news for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is that now it's going to be easier than ever for people to get their hands on some of the Nintendo Switch's greatest titles, and by extension, more people who realise that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is one of the greatest platformers ever made. Plus, it gives people the chance to pick up some hard-to-find titles like Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
But what's more exciting is that this is just more evidence that we'll be hearing about a Nintendo Switch 2 sooner rather than later. Nintendo Selects have historically started appearing during the final year or two of the console's life, so if Nintendo follows that trend again, we'll be in for an exciting year.