File this news under slightly late, and the actual release of the game rather late compared to its Japanese counterpart, but the classic visual novel AIR is now available to purchase digitally from the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo Switch in the UK, Europe and North America.
Published in partnership with PROTOTYPE, and developed by VISUAL ARTS / KEY, the visual novel AIR originally released onto Windows PC in Japan before being ported to other platforms like PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, PlayStation Vita and more recently the Nintendo Switch. An English localized version of the game wasn’t released until last year on Steam (for Windows PC), and late last year the Nintendo Switch version in Japan was updated to include English localisation.
Story: Summer had come to that town. A young man is performing with a puppet in front of a seaside bus stop. Only two children are watching his show. However, they soon lose interest and run off.
The young man is a wanderer. He has two companions on his travels. A decrepit old doll that moves without strings and a powerful oath made a long time ago.
Just when he began to feel despair, a young girl comes to talk to him. She has a friendly, innocent smile. Following this meeting with her, the young man begins to live in that town. Spending gentle days enveloped in the scenes of summer. Encounters with girls in the sunlight.
Summer stretches on endlessly. Beneath the vast blue sky. Beneath the air in which she awaits.
Fast forward to 21st January 2026 and that localized Nintendo Switch version of the game is now available to purchase from the Nintendo eShop. The Nintendo Switch version is available to purchase on the Nintendo eShop for £31.49 and features Japanese audio with English, Japanese and Chinese text, which is the same content that is included in the (now updated) Japanese release of AIR.
If you’ve enjoyed visual novel experiences like CLANNAD and KANON then AIR is definitely worth exploring. An anime adaptation of AIR was also released on DVD in the UK by MVM Entertainment.
