July is shaping up to be one of the busier months of the year for Nintendo Switch 2 owners, with a mix of native exclusives, backward-compatible Switch titles, and long-requested ports all landing within a few weeks of each other. Here’s a rundown of what’s actually worth clearing calendar space for, plus a couple of hardware notes for anyone still deciding whether to make the jump to Switch 2.
The headline release: Splatoon Raiders
Nintendo’s big first-party push this month is Splatoon Raiders, a campaign-focused spin-off of the Splatoon series built around co-op play rather than competitive turf wars. Players take on the role of a mechanic who heads out to the Spirhalite Islands, customizing their character and loadout with mechanical gadgets and ink weapons to fight off waves of Salmonid enemies. It’s the most substantial single-player Splatoon experience Nintendo has put out to date, and early previews suggest it leans heavily into the series’ strongest asset: its art direction. It arrives alongside a trio of Deep Cut amiibo for anyone chasing in-game bonuses.
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Rhythm Heaven Groove (known as Rhythm Heaven Paradise in some regions) is being billed as the final planned first-party release for the original Switch, and it’s playable on Switch 2 through backward compatibility rather than getting a dedicated native version. That’s a little bittersweet for a series with this much goodwill behind it, but the gameplay loop — timing button presses to an eclectic mix of original music — remains as sharp as ever according to early reviews.
Ports and remasters rounding out the month
Alongside the exclusives, July brings a wave of ports to Switch 2:
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger — arriving July 10
- Moss: The Forgotten Relic — a compilation bringing both previously VR-exclusive Moss games to a traditional format, July 16
- Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remaster — a native Switch 2 version of the beloved Square Enix classics
- Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game — also landing July 23
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition — closing out the month on July 30, continuing Nintendo’s push to bring the whole Xenoblade series forward onto the new hardware
Hardware and eShop notes
Nintendo is also rolling out a new Switch 2 hardware bundle on July 2 in select regions, timed conveniently for anyone who’s been waiting to upgrade until there was a decent software lineup to go along with it. Separately, Nintendo’s seasonal eShop sale is running through July 8, discounting a broad mix of first- and third-party titles — worth a browse if you’re building out a Switch 2 library on a budget.
Between the Splatoon spin-off, the Xenoblade port, and the closing chapter of Rhythm Heaven, July 2026 is a genuinely strong month to own a Switch 2 — and a reasonable one to finally pick one up if you’ve been on the fence.
