Mouse: P.I. on Switch 2
Mouse: P.I. for Hire, a black‑and‑white first‑person shooter, is set to arrive on Nintendo Switch 2 on April 16, 2026, with a separate Switch 1 version following later — a useful early‑launch exclusive to judge the new console’s indie support. That date gives Switch 2 owners a near‑term test case for how the platform handles indie action titles. (nintendoeverything.com)
A black-and-white detective shooter is about to become one of the first small-team games built specifically for Nintendo Switch 2, and the date is close enough to matter: MOUSE: P.I. For Hire launches digitally on April 16, 2026, just 6 days from now. Nintendo’s own store already lists a separate “Nintendo Switch 2 Edition,” which tells you this is not just a generic backward-compatible port. (nintendo.com) The game comes from Fumi Games and publisher PlaySide, and it drops the same day on personal computer, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Switch 2. The original Nintendo Switch is missing from that April 16 lineup, with the studio saying the Switch 1 version is coming later instead. (mousethegame.com) That split matters because Nintendo Switch 2 launched on June 5, 2025, with a bigger 7.9-inch screen, support for up to 120 frames per second in handheld mode, and Joy-Con 2 controllers that can work like a computer mouse in compatible games. When a fast first-person shooter skips Switch 1 at launch but lands on Switch 2 immediately, it gives a cleaner read on what the newer hardware can handle for indie action games. (nintendo.com) MOUSE is easy to spot because it looks like a 1930s cartoon that picked up a shotgun. Fumi Games says the visuals are hand-drawn, frame by frame, in a black-and-white “rubber hose” style, while the game itself is a first-person shooter with jazz music, detective-story narration, and cartoon weapons. (mousethegame.com) The player character is private investigator Jack Pepper, and the setting is a corrupt city called Mouseburg. The official description says the story follows Pepper through conspiracies, boss fights, upgrades, and explorable levels rather than a simple arcade score chase. (mousethegame.com) The launch trailer published on April 8 shows why people have been watching this one for more than a year: Tommy guns, grappling movement, explosive set pieces, and enemies animated like old cinema shorts. IGN’s trailer post and the official YouTube upload both frame it as the game’s final push before next week’s release. (ign.com) (youtube.com) There is also a price signal here. The standard digital edition is set at 29.99 United States dollars, while the physical standard edition for Switch 2 arrives later on July 10 at 39.99 United States dollars, and the deluxe physical “Mouseburg Edition” goes to 59.99 United States dollars. (mousethegame.com 1) (mousethegame.com 2) That physical detail is unusually concrete for Nintendo Switch 2 because the official announcement specifies a “game-on cartridge” for the Switch 2 retail version. On a new platform where buyers are still learning which third-party releases are full cartridges and which are download-dependent, that wording is the kind of detail collectors notice immediately. (mousethegame.com) April is also crowded enough on Switch 2 that MOUSE will not be landing into an empty storefront. IGN’s upcoming-release calendar lists MOUSE on April 16 alongside other April Switch 2 releases, which makes it a real test of whether an offbeat indie shooter can stand out on Nintendo’s newer hardware instead of being buried under bigger names. (ign.com) So the near-term question is not whether MOUSE exists. The question is what happens when a 29.99-dollar indie first-person shooter, built around hand-drawn animation and fast gunplay, gets one of the earliest Switch 2-only release windows while the older Switch version waits on the sidewalk. (nintendo.com) (mousethegame.com)
