Nearly a decade after it originally released, The Disney Afternoon Collection will finally hit Nintendo platforms next week with its launch on Switch 2 and Switch. Fans had originally been clamoring to see the package back in 2017, and Digital Eclipse was finally able to make it happen.
We recently had a chance to speak with Chris Kohler, editorial director at Digital Eclipse, to learn more about The Disney Afternoon Collection on Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch. Not only will Nintendo players be getting the entire release, but two new games have been added as well – making this the definitive version.
Here’s our full discussion:
First off, we have to ask how this release happened, which has Nintendo fans very excited. The collection came out in 2017, so what was the starting point of the Switch 2 and Switch versions nearly a decade later?
We have always wanted to see The Disney Afternoon Collection appear on Nintendo platforms, so it’s always something that’s been in discussion whenever we talk with Disney. It did, clearly, take a while for the stars to align and everything to be in place to make that happen, but fortunately these games are timeless classics, and I think their appeal has only grown since the initial release. So even nine years later, there is still excitement around these coming to Switch and Switch 2, which is great to see. It makes it worth all the work!
How did Atari get involved with this release given that Capcom was the original publisher? Atari has indicated that the new games will be Nintendo exclusive – meaning they won’t be added to the older versions of the collection. Why are they being kept on Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch only?
We worked directly with Disney to license the games for release on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. Capcom is still the publisher of the previous versions, which we have no involvement with, which is why any additional content is exclusive to the new versions that we are publishing.
Just in general, what has it been like revisiting the collection again after so many years?
The original release was developed a few years before I joined Digital Eclipse, but of course I enjoyed playing it as a fan. I thought in particular that the Gallery sections that were researched and written by Frank Cifaldi, who was the Head of Restoration at Digital Eclipse at that time, felt like they went above and beyond what I had seen in other retro collections. The deep research that went into them and the interesting context provided in the captions felt a lot closer to what you’d see in a real-life museum exhibit. This definitely inspired me as we began to build out our more elaborate “interactive documentaries” at Digital Eclipse. So to get to go back and add some new content to Disney Afternoon was quite fun, although I definitely put pressure on myself to deliver extra content that would hold up next to the original!
Can you talk about the new games (Goof Troop, Bonkers) and how it was decided to add them in?
Goof Troop and Bonkers are two more games based on cartoons that ran in the Disney Afternoon after-school programming block. Like the six NES games in the Collection, they were developed by Capcom, so they were the most natural fit.
Were any other games considered or was it always the plan to include Goof Troop and Bonkers?
This was always the plan! As I said, they were a pretty obvious and natural fit.
Is there a chance that we could see even more games added via an update or is the plan to leave the package as is?
We have no current plans to add more games.
Are there any plans to use Nintendo Switch 2 features like GameShare?
Unfortunately, the Switch 2 version does not support GameShare.
The Disney Afternoon Collection seems to be continuing the trend of Atari putting all of its games on full cartridges for Nintendo Switch 2. There’s been a lot of mixed feedback about game-key cards over the past few months, but how you feel about them personally?
We’ve definitely gotten a lot of positive feedback from our players about having games on regular key cards, so we are glad to confirm that The Disney Afternoon Collection will be on a regular key card for its release on Switch 2.
With retro collections continuing to perform well, what do you think makes a classic compilation feel worthwhile in 2026 rather than just a straight re-release?
This question really gets to the heart of why we do what we do at Digital Eclipse. One of the ways to treat classic games with more respect is to treat them like you would treat an anniversary re-release of an influential album, or a Criterion Collection-style release of a classic film. In both of those cases you’ll see an attempt to not just make the work itself available again (which, to be clear, we are always in support of!) but to situate that work in its proper context and explain, perhaps to someone who has never experienced it, why that work was so influential to begin with, how it was enjoyed by people at the time, what kind of legacy it left in the decades since its release, and most importantly what people created it and what they brought from their own life experience. And again, being one of the direct predecessors to what we now call “interactive documentaries,” you can see how The Disney Afternoon Collection approaches the games in that way, and hopefully engages players more than a straightforward bare-bones re-release would.
The Disney Afternoon Collection is coming to both Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch on February 26, 2026. We have a closer look at the release here.
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