Nintendo’s mouse-controlled basketball game comes out on August 14

Nintendo just revealed that Drag x Drive will be available on August 14, exclusively for the recently-released Switch 2 console. The company made this announcement on its Today! news app.

For the uninitiated, Drag x Drive is a 3 v 3 wheelchair basketball game. The main hook is that it’s controlled via the mouse-like functionality of those new Joy-Con controllers. This will be the first major test of this feature and will let us know if it’ll be a barely-used gimmick or a real opportunity for new gameplay experiences.

The game looks pretty fun, though it will likely be something of a niche title. Think Arms and not Wii Sports. We don’t have a price yet and it remains to be seen if the concept is robust enough to charge $60 or $70. My guess is that it’ll come somewhere in the $30 to $40 range.

This does, however, prove one thing. Nintendo is trying to release a first-party game each month, which is something it did during much of the lifecycle of the original Switch. The new console launched with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza comes out on July 17.

Speaking of Donkey Kong Bananza, the next big Switch 2 exclusive co-stars Pauline from the original arcade game and looks like an absolute blast. DK gets to eat giant, golden bananas and destroy everything in his sight. It could also very well be a prequel to both the original Donkey Kong and Super Mario Odyssey, given Pauline’s age in Bananza.

Update, June 26 2025, 9:52AM ET: Despite the competitive appeal of Nintendo’s upcoming basketball game, it looks like Drag x Drive won’t support local multiplayer at launch. As spotted by Eurogamer, the eShop page for the game says it supports up to 12 players online but only one on a single system. Beyond saying you can either team up with or play against friends, Nintendo doesn’t go into much detail on what multiplayer modes are available, but the lack of a local option seems strange. If one was added, you’d presumably need at least four Switch 2 Joy-Con controllers to play with someone else, as two are required for each player.