Splatoon Raiders Proves Nintendo Wants to Make 2026 the Year of Island Living

With the recent release date announcement for Splatoon Raiders, the rest of Nintendo’s 2026 game lineup is starting to come into view. The Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 have already seen plenty of hits this year, with major titles like Pokemon Pokopia and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream among them. Now, Splatoon Raiders is set to join this roster when it launches in July, and will mark the third Nintendo game released this year with an island setting.

So far, Nintendo’s first-party release calendar has been pretty solid for 2026, and there are still more games yet to come. The Nintendo games that have been released or are planned to be released in 2026 include:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition — January 15
Mario Tennis Fever — February 12
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition — February 19
Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen for Nintendo Switch — February 27
Pokemon Pokopia — March 5
Super Mario Bros. Wonder — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park — March 26
Pokemon Champions — April 8
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream — April 16
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book — May 21
Rhythm Heaven Groove — July 2
Splatoon Raiders — July 23
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave — TBA

Looking at this lineup of announced Nintendo games for 2026, there’s a clear trend of island-based games that is starting to appear with Splatoon Raiders confirmed to share this setting, making this year look like Nintendo is running with a theme for many of its releases.

Other rumored Nintendo games for 2026 include an unannounced Star Fox game and a Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Player is Recreating the Entire Cast of Fire Emblem: Three Houses

A fan of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is painstakingly recreating the main characters of Fire Emblem: Three Houses in the life simulation game.

Pokemon Pokopia Asks Players to Rebuild Society on a Ruined Island

Nintendo Switch 2 owners had the opportunity to dive into an island world first this year, with Pokemon Pokopia dropping players into the island ruins of the Kanto Region and having them rebuild civilization as a Ditto, attracting other Pokemon residents to make their homes on the island. Pokemon Pokopia also gave players access to Dream Islands, randomly generated places that they could visit and collect materials from using Poke Dolls. Many of the features in Pokopia felt lifted out of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, another notable Nintendo game set on an island, which received a Switch 2 update at the start of the year.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Gives Players an Island Town for the Miis

Just over a month later, both Nintendo Switch 1 and 2 owners gained access to their own uninhabited island ripe for populating with Miis. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream acts more like Nintendo’s take on The Sims than it does an Animal Crossing clone, but still includes plenty of features for crafting the perfect island home, such as house and clothing customization, relationship mechanics, and hilarious antics for the player’s Miis to get up to while living on their Tomodachi Life island. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has a much more relaxing premise than that of Pokemon Pokopia, even if they are both considered “cozy” games, and the island vibes are much more prominent in the former than the latter.

Splatoon Raiders Pits Players Against Salmonid Enemies on a Mysterious Island

Splatoon Raiders may follow the island theming Nintendo seems to have going in 2026, but it looks to be far different than the cozy island games released prior. Rather than creating a habitable island, Splatoon Raiders teams players up with Shiver, Frye, and Big Man of Deep Cut as they explore the mysterious Spirhalite Islands. Gameplay-wise, Splatoon Raiders takes the series’ unique third-person shooter ink-splattering gameplay and puts players up against a new Salmonid threat in single-player or co-op modes.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

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The tropical island vibes are on point from the footage shown in the recent Splatoon Raiders release date trailer. Players look like they will be able to customize their Inkling to match the deserted island theme, and the members of Deep Cut appear to be sporting new looks as well. It may not be something like the Year of Luigi, but Nintendo’s string of island-themed games in 2026 is still a fun trend to observe, even if it is unintentional.