Nintendo's Busy Week: Price Rises, a Direct, and Mario Paint's Return

Nintendo is raising the price of the original Switch, but the price of the Switch 2 is holding steady for now.

Nintendo’s announcement follows more tariffs from Donald Trump, which have created a background of uncertainty around the launch of the Switch 2. Nintendo is seemingly holding off as long as it can on raising the price of its new console, but the pressure is mounting. Elsewhere, a summer Nintendo Direct finally dropped, and we finally got to play Mario Paint again! Here we go!

You can get Nintenkats straight to your inbox right here! If you like Nintenkats please consider upgrading your subscription and supporting the newsletter! I’m an independent journalist trying to make this a regular staple of Nintendo coverage, but I can’t do it without your help. If I can reach $3000 per month in revenue, I’ll start a Nintendo podcast to go along with this newsletter! In the meantime, check out some amazing Nintenkats merch!

The Kat Take: Everything Announced in the Direct

Alright, before I get started, here’s everything that was announced during Thursday’s Nintendo Partner Showcase, which was contained a handful of anticipated ports (Persona 3 Reload) and new announcements (The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, a new action RPG that combines the Mana series and HD-2D). Here’s the full list.

• Monster Hunter Stories 3 (2026)

• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (Winter 2025)

• Madden NFL 26 (August 14)

• EA Sports FC 26 (September 26)

• Apex Legends (August 5)

• Chillin’ by the Fire (Available now)

• The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales (2026, but a demo is out now)

• Just Dance 2026 Edition (October 14)

• Star Wars Outlaws (September 4)

• Cronos: The New Dawn (September 5)

• Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted (October 23)

• Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (November 14)

• Once Upon A Katamari (October 14)

• Octopath Traveler 0 (December 4)

• Yakuza Kiwami 2/Yakuza Kiwami (November 13)

• Pac-Man World 2 Re-PAC (September 26)

• Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (September 30)

• Persona 3 Reload (October 23)

• Hela (2026)

Because it’s Nintendo, though, the Direct also once again highlighted the Switch 2’s ongoing issues with upgrades paths (very inconsistent) and Game-Key Cards (an initiative that has made physical releases feel largely pointless). In the wake of the Direct, a flurry of posts followed about which games would or would not feature Game-Keys and how exactly they would be upgraded from the Switch 1 version. It was bewildering and a little dispiriting, serving to take the air out of even the more interesting announcements. I don’t see it getting any better, either.

But at least we have Donkey Kong Bananza right? Oh banana?

The Switch’s price is going up

This week’s other big news is that Nintendo is raising the price of the Nintendo Switch and various accessories, with more likely to follow in the future (IGN’s sub-headline: “Sound the Alarmo.”) Here’s the full list of increases.

Switch OLED - $399.99 (from $350)

Non-OLED - $339.99 (from $300)

Switch Lite - $229.99 (from $200)

Alarmo - $110 (from $100)

Joy-Con 2 controllers - $95 (from $100)

Switch 2 consoles, games, and NSO members are unaffected, but one has to figure that it’s only a matter of time before they start to climb. Remember when consoles used to go down in price rather than up? I remember.

I see two potential pitfalls as we head into the second half of the year. One is that a sudden price is still on the table as Nintendo clears out its initial inventory, which may derail the Switch 2’s hard-won momentum. The other is that a lot of the Switch 2’s biggest games are secretly Switch 1 ports. How long can that continue before it becomes tiresome? Longer than you probably think, but it is hard to ignore that nagging “it’s just a Switch 1 game” feeling at times (to be clear, this is not an issue with DK Bananza, which started on Switch 1 but very much feels like a full-blooded Switch 2 game).

Mario Paint’s return

It’s Friday, though, and I don’t want to end on too sour of a note. Earlier this week, Nintendo re-released Mario Paint – the classic SNES game in which you can make music and even full animations – with Switch 2 mouse support, and fans have been having a lot of fun with it.

Big Miiverse energy with this art – just the kind of community vibes that Nintendo has been missing recently. Is this Nintendo’s secret test to see how fans will react to a Mario Paint 2 on Switch 2? One can only hope.

Submit to the mailbag!

One of the perks of being a premium subscriber is that you get to submit questions to the weekly mailbag via the comment section in each issue. The mailbag is taking a break next week but we’ll be back for the next issue. Submit your questions!

Thanks for reading another issue of Nintenkats! We’ll be back with more Nintendo news, opinions, and mailbag questions next week!