Nintendo is at the top of its game — here's what to expect in 2018

Nintendo is on a serious roll.

The company's latest console, the Switch, is a major hit. The two biggest games for Switch are massively popular entries in the long-running "Super Mario" and "Legend of Zelda" franchises.

And the future looks as big — or maybe even bigger— for the Japanese gaming giant. How does a brand-new Pokémon game for the Nintendo Switch sound to you? That's just the beginning.

SEE ALSO: The legendary creator of 'Super Mario' explains why he tries not to hire gamers to work at Nintendo

1. Everything old is new again.

In 2017, Nintendo re-released "Mario Kart 8" as a "new" game on the Switch. The game previously arrived on the Nintendo Wii U — the console that Nintendo sunset in favor of the Switch. 

In 2018, Nintendo plans to re-release "Bayonetta 2"— another game that launched exclusively on the Wii U. The game even comes with a free copy of the first "Bayonetta." This is part of Nintendo's ongoing strategy to bring back the best games from the Wii U era — games that a limited number of people played due to how very few people bought a Wii U.

"Given the [very low] install base of Wii U, there was some fantastic content that consumers did not get to play," Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aimé told Vice last year. "So that creates certainly a business opportunity."

Beyond "Bayonetta" and "Bayonetta 2," it seems likely we'll see some of the Wii U's other best stuff head to the Switch. Games like "Super Smash Bros." and "Super Mario Maker" come to mind immediately, though there are opportunities to bring over other great stuff (like "Super Mario 3D World" and "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker").

2. Nintendo's online service is finally going to light up.

The Nintendo Switch Online service is scheduled to launch in 2018 at a price of $20 a year. For that price, you'll get instant access to a classic game library and the ability to play games online.

You read that correctly: Nintendo is going to gate access to online gameplay.

After this service launches, you'll need to fork over a subscription fee to play online games on the Nintendo Switch. For the $20 price of entry, though, you'll also gain access to a library of classic games. The only three games announced thus far are "Super Mario Bros. 3,""Dr. Mario," and "Balloon Fight," which are all classic Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games. 

It's unclear when the service will actually launch; Nintendo has only given its service a release window of "2018." 

It's also unclear if Nintendo will have a separate "Virtual Console" service, as it has in the past — such a service has traditionally offered a paid library of a la carte classic games. That could very well also be coming in 2018.

3. A "core" Pokémon game is being made for Nintendo's Switch, and it could arrive as early as 2018.

A new entry in the "Pokémon" series is coming to the Switch, and it's not a spin-off. We're talking about a "core RPG Pokémon title," according to Pokémon company president Tsunekazu Ishihara.

That's a huge deal. Main series Pokémon games have only ever come to Nintendo's handheld game consoles. But with the Switch, Nintendo's main game console is also its main handheld console. And that means that there's only one place for Pokémon to go: the Switch!

In fairness, the game may not arrive in 2018. 

When the project was announced, it was said to be "more than a year out." That was back in June 2017, so it's entirely possible that this game isn't anywhere close to complete. That said, it was also unlikely that Nintendo would launch two major "Super Mario" and "Legend of Zelda" games in the same year, but that was exactly what Nintendo did in 2017.