My last demo at Summer Game Fest 2026 (I promise this is the last story) was retro-anime style. Orbitals. As a Switch 2 exclusive, it was also one of the most important games showcased in Nintendo’s briefing area. Orbitals is presented as a two-player puzzle adventure game, which can be played both locally and online. The SGF demo area looked like a ’90s kid’s bedroom – it had bean bags – with participants paired up for their co-op session.
I quickly discovered that, unlike other recent cooperative games like It takes twothere is no major difference between the twin protagonists, Maki and Omura. During the demo, playing as the bespectacled Omura, I was able to swap tools with my partner, and we decided between us who would pilot the ship and who would operate the ship’s cannons.
After lots of initial exposition, our characters burst into their spaceship. It’s an asymmetrical cooperative game, meaning you’ll mostly play in vertical split-screen. We quickly collected lasers and grappling hooks and gently guided you on how to solve puzzles in Orbitals.
It’s predictable but satisfying to master your timing and simple experiments. Part of the ship would rotate, and our duo would have to put out the fire before replacing covers or reconnecting simple circuits, after extracting a unit with a grappling hook.
While it’s not mind-blowingly challenging, I would describe the puzzles as deviously fun. A task involving on-screen button presses between my partner and I failed several times, especially when the game introduced the equivalent of an Uno Reverse card. Honestly, you play by making mistakes, learning from your mistakes, and hopefully not repeating them.
Eventually, we briefly flew into space toward a cosmic storm on the horizon. I was able to shoot spaceship turrets before my demo was over. The broader game will involve space travel, completing puzzles wherever you land, and even more mini-games and tasks in your own spaceship and in the hub.
The art style of 80s and 90s anime is hypnotic, with countless cutscenes interspersed throughout the beginning of Orbitals I played. The character designs and seemingly hand-painted backgrounds during cutscenes reminded me of Gundam, Sailor Moon, and Saint Seiya. If it’s not the sound effects that scream Gundam mobile suit, it’s the spaceship leader’s tuxedo mask-adjacent look. (Sailor Moon and Ranma apparently inspired both protagonists)
Developer Shapefarm teamed up with Studio Massket, based just outside of Tokyo, to work on both the art direction and cutscenes. In fact, Toru Yoshida, who took inspiration from the original Gundam series, worked as a guest director on the project. Apparently, the animation studio had to relearn old animation techniques and styles to replicate the look of old animated series.
During gameplay, characters move at a lower frame rate than the 3D environments around them, making them more similar to their animated counterparts. And for that real Saturday morning anime feel, Orbitals will feature English dubs alongside Japanese audio.
Based on the teasers, we weren’t able to play some of the side-scrolling parts that were teased. These bring players back to share a screen, with all the nostalgic chaos that entails. Say you’ve ever played Super Mario or Sonic with a less competent sibling: that feeling. The team promised that each area will have its own approach. I can’t wait to see how creative they get.
Orbitals comes to Switch 2 on September 3, 2026.
