April Switch slate and retro drops

Nintendo’s April 9 update did two jobs at once: it pushed shoppers toward brand-new games on Switch and Switch 2, and it gave subscribers three Nintendo Entertainment System games from the 1980s on the same week. The result is an eShop page where Pac-Man sits next to Pokémon Champions. (nintendoeverything.com) (techraptor.net) The biggest new arrival in Nintendo’s own April roundup is Pokémon Champions, which Nintendo lists for April 2026 and the eShop now shows as free to start. Nintendo’s store page says it will be one of the games used for the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, so this is not a side app tossed into the store for filler. (nintendo.com) (pokemon.com) (nintendo.com) That game is built around battling, not catching or exploring. Nintendo says players can do Ranked Battles, Casual Battles, and Private Battles, and can import certain Pokémon from Pokémon Home, Pokémon Go, and other series games, with limits on which species can transfer in. (nintendo.com) (pokemon.com) The other standout in North America is Dosa Divas at $19.99, with an April 14 release date. Nintendo’s store page describes it as a turn-based role-playing game about two sisters and a mech cook fighting corporations, which gives April’s lineup one of those very Nintendo eShop contrasts where a competitive Pokémon battler and a food-themed indie role-playing game land in the same breath. (nintendoeverything.com) (nintendo.com) Europe’s weekly download list adds a detail that helps explain where Nintendo is steering the store next: Demon Castle Story — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Nintendo’s United Kingdom page says that version released on April 8 and adds a wider display area, clearer pixel art, 4K resolution in television mode, and Joy-Con 2 mouse support, while keeping the game content the same. (nintendoeverything.com) (nintendo.com) North America got that same split versioning in its list, with Demon Castle Story at $14.00 on Switch and Demon Castle Story — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition at $17.99 on Switch 2. That is the cleanest snapshot of Nintendo’s 2026 store strategy so far: one game, two price points, and hardware-specific features used as the upsell. (nintendoeverything.com) (nintendo.com) Then there is the retro side of the drop. Nintendo Switch Online added Pac-Man, Mendel Palace, and The Tower of Druaga to the Nintendo Entertainment System library in April, and Polygon notes that Mendel Palace was Game Freak’s first game, years before Pokémon existed. (techraptor.net) (polygon.com) (nintendoeverything.com) That makes the timing unusually neat. In one week, Nintendo put a new Pokémon battle game on the shop, added the first game made by Pokémon studio Game Freak to the subscription library, and kept feeding the Switch 2 with upgraded editions like Demon Castle Story. April’s slate is less about one blockbuster than about Nintendo filling every shelf in the store at once. (pokemon.com) (polygon.com) (nintendo.com)