Nintendo barely mentioned the Switch 2 during Thursday’s Nintendo Direct presentation. Instead, the show focused on new games coming to the original Switch, but thanks to backward compatibility, these titles should also be playable on Nintendo’s next console. Dozens of games debuted during the show, and two were new entries for franchises that Nintendo hadn’t touched in a long time.
The new games, Rhythm Heaven Groove and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, are entries for franchises launched on older Nintendo consoles — the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo 3DS, respectively. Neither has had a new game in a decade.
Rhythm Heaven started in Japan in 2006 under the name Rhythm Tengoku and eventually came to the US under the name Rhythm Heaven in 2007 for the Nintendo DS. The last game in the series, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, came out in 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS. As the name implies, the games are rhythm games where players have to hit buttons to make rhythms and do certain activities. The more accurate you are, the better your score will be.
Not much was shown in the Rhythm Heaven Groove game trailer, however. There will be activities like jumping rope or flapping the wings of a duck that will have to be done on beat. Like previous games in the franchise, there will likely be plenty of these mini-games for players to tap to.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the other returning Nintendo franchise. The original Tomodachi Life came out in 2014 for the 3DS, and was a Sims-like game with players using their Mii characters. Miis were introduced with the Nintendo Wii and acted as avatars for the players. When Tomodachi Life came out, a big controversy was stirred up as players found that they could have in-game same-sex relationships.
The TomodachiLife: Living the Dream trailer also didn’t reveal much about the game. It does appear that players will be able to have their Miis live life on an island town. No specifics were given, but for some reason, one character is a giant with no explanation.
Rhythm Heaven Groove and TomoDachi Life are both expected sometime in 2026. Again, since both games are for the original Switch, they will likely work on the Switch 2. Speaking of the new Switch, it’s expected in the next few months and is speculated to have a price tag of $350 or more.