It's no secret that I'm a dedicated Pokémon fan, so the thing that most excites me about the Nintendo Switch 2 is its potential to elevate the series that I love so dearly. We already know that both Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A game will run better on the new console, but I believe the Switch's successor has the potential to bring back a much-loved spin-off series: Pokémon Ranger.
As the 20th Pokémon Ranger anniversary approaches, as well as the 30th anniversary of Pokémon as a whole, it's high time that this series was freed from the Nintendo DS with a remake or entirely new game. As a series that was heavily reliant on the DS' touchscreen capabilities and dual-screen setup, it's a difficult one to port onto the hybrid handheld console, but I think the Nintendo Switch 2's mouse controls finally give us a solution.
If you never got the chance to play the series, it follows the Pokémon Rangers, a group of people who work alongside wild Pokémon to solve problems. Instead of catching companions in Pokéballs, they use a Beyblade-style spinning top called the Capture Styler to calm wild Pokémon and team up with them. It's a side of the Pokémon universe that we don't get to see very often, as the main series continually puts us in the shoes of a competitive Pokémon trainer.
On the DS, you used the Capture Styler on the touch screen to draw circles around the Pokémon like a lasso, so it makes perfect sense that a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Pokémon Ranger would use the mouse controls to do the same thing. Theoretically, a Pokémon Ranger game could have worked on the original Switch, using touchscreen controls in handheld mode and Let's Go-style motion controls in docked mode, but I imagine waving your arm in circles like that would get boring and tiring fast. Mouse controls solve this issue entirely, as long as you have access to a decent surface.
There is, of course, another option. What if we could play the best DS games, like Pokémon Ranger, as they were meant to be played? Since long before the official console release date announcement, rumors and fan edits of a Nintendo Switch 2 second screen accessory have flown around the internet, getting old-school handheld fans' hopes up despite no mention of such a device from Nintendo. This theoretical device would make porting dual-screen-reliant titles to the Switch 2 much easier, and could even open up the potential for DS games on Nintendo Switch Online.
However, while the nostalgic part of me longs for a modern DS, this would be a significantly less accessible way to play Pokémon Ranger on the Switch 2, and I want as many people to play this game as possible. With mouse controls, lifelong Pokéfans could play this game with their children on a big screen and experience the joy together. There could even be a way to tag in a second player, like in Pokémon Let's Go, to help with captures, with no extra purchases required.
It's criminal that we never got a new Pokémon Ranger title on the Wii U, given its perfect setup for such a game, so I'm hoping that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company can work together to revive the series for the Switch 2. Given the immense resurgence in the Pokémon fandom following Pokémon Go in 2016, the TCG craze in 2020, and the global success of Pokémon TCG Pocket, we're arguably in the middle of Pokémania 2.0. This kind of gaming landscape is ideal for new and returning spin-off series, as they're more likely to get new players in by breaking the traditional turn-based RPG formula.
So, this is my official prediction that 2026 will be the year of Pokémon Ranger Returns. There's a Pokémon Presents scheduled for July ahead of the Pokémon Legends: Z-A release date, so I'll be eagerly watching with my clown makeup on, waiting for news of this forgotten DS series.