The Nintendo Switch 2 Looks Like Paradise for Racing Game Fans

On Wednesday, Nintendo finally answered most everyone’s burning questions about the Switch 2. And while some of what we learned was a little disappointing—namely, Mario Kart World costing $80—the hardware sounds solid on the face of it, and the software is worth looking forward to. Most surprisingly, it’s especially worth looking forward to if you like racing games, because a few bombshells yesterday have made it a little difficult to resist the urge to plonk down $500 on a pre-order.

There’s Mario Kart World, of course. When Nintendo first introduced us to the game in January, many fans quickly picked up hints that the beloved kart racer—not to mention one of the best-selling video games ever—was going open-world. But if that wasn’t enough, the game will have players travel from race to race, sort of like SSX 3 from back in the day, through dynamic weather and day/night cycles. That’s just a level of scale and interconnectedness that we’ve never seen, nor frankly expected from Mario Kart. Everyone wondered where the franchise could go after MK8‘s perfection of the classic kart racer formula and now we have our answer. If 8 was the series’ Burnout 3, then World looks to be its Burnout Paradise.

But, honestly, that’s not what excites me most about what the Switch 2 will offer racing game fans on day one. The big story yesterday, at least for us old heads, was the announcement of two all-time greats debuting on the console for the first time since their original releases. First, Nintendo shared that GameCube games would be added to the Switch Online service on the upcoming platform. With that, one of its first titles will be F-Zero GX—the last truly full-scale, 3D entry in the cult-favorite series.

F-Zero GX is a special one. Released 22 years ago, it arrived at a time when Nintendo started deepening ties with established developers, like Namco and Sega, to deliver experiences it couldn’t have otherwise. For GX, Nintendo handed over the reins to Sega’s Amusement Vision arm, led by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the guy behind Super Monkey Ball, the enormously successful Yakuza/Like a Dragon series and—this is the big one—Daytona USA.

Matches like this aren’t made even in heaven. The original F-Zero on the Super Nintendo inspired Daytona several years later, so Nagoshi pouring that love back into the anti-gravity racer couldn’t be more appropriate. The game was brilliant; I don’t care what Shigeru Miyamoto has said about it. But perhaps due to its less-favored status in Nintendo’s back catalog, it hadn’t received a rerelease or remaster over two decades, when damn near everything else from the days of the GameCube and Wii did.

At last, that’s changing. I would prefer it changed in a way that didn’t require a recurring subscription, but at least there will soon be a way to officially play it again. F-Zero GX is a force of nature, with relentless speed, perfect 60 frames-per-second gameplay that dazzled in at 480p progressive scan on the GameCube, and a killer soundtrack. It’s not one of those games that needs to be touched up—it just needs to be out there again. (Though, the addition of online multiplayer certainly doesn’t hurt.)

If you’re excited about F-Zero GX, definitely also check out FAST Fusion, arguably the game’s indie spiritual successor courtesy of Shin’en Multimedia. The studio’s last game, FAST RMX, was one of the original Switch’s finest exclusives, and the new one looks just as sweet.

But F-Zero wasn’t the only GOAT-tier classic racer to get some long-overdue attention during Nintendo’s showcase. The original Ridge Racer is landing on Switch 2 via Hamster’s Arcade Archives collection. This is a big deal, because while Ridge Racer was ported to the PlayStation for its 1995 launch, the arcade version has never before been released for home consoles. Up until now, you had to emulate it through MAME, which is always a messy experience.

Ridge Racer represents one of those inflection points in the history of the medium, as one of the first games ever to employ texture mapping alongside Daytona USA, which hit arcades around the same time in late 1993. Together, both titles instantly redefined the experience of virtual driving. The series would go on to become one of Namco’s pillars through Sony’s first and second PlayStation generations, but as simulation-style games like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport took over, Ridge Racer‘s arcade sensibilities faded from favor.

The fortunate thing about the Hamster release, which is set to drop alongside the Switch 2 on launch day, June 5, is that the Arcade Archives games aren’t typically exclusive to Nintendo consoles. That means that Ridge Racer is likely to drop on PS4 and PS5 in due time. Plus, if we’re getting Ridge Racer, it isn’t a leap to think that its arcade-only sequel Rave Racer could get similar treatment—and that one’s really special.

Finally, you can’t talk about racing games on the Switch 2 without mentioning the biggest surprise of all: Masahiro Sakurai, the mastermind behind Super Smash Bros. and Kirby, is making a new game—a sequel to Kirby Air Ride on the GameCube, called Kirby Air Riders. If you had this one on your Bingo card, I’m afraid of what other things in the future you might be able to predict, but this one really did come out of nowhere.

Personally, I’ve never played Kirby Air Ride, and I don’t know it to be a particularly beloved title, but it’s simply encouraging to see Nintendo investing in a racing game that isn’t Mario Kart. A new Wave Race or 1080° Snowboarding would’ve been nicer, but I’ll take what I can get these days. Besides, Sakurai’s at the helm, so you know it’ll be good.

All in all, then, it was a great day for racing game fans. I probably won’t have a Switch 2 on launch day—it’s just too expensive for me right now, especially the software, and tariffs threaten that the hardware’s price tag could jump even higher. But when I do fend off scalpers and pick one up, I’m looking forward to what’s awaiting me.

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