I used to be instructed there was imagined to be a software program drought whereas we waited for Switch 2. I used to be instructed to count on a handful of ports, remakes, and remasters sprinkled all through the remainder of 2024. I used to be instructed the Switch was dying.
Properly, apparently nobody instructed Nintendo. And in the event that they did, Nintendo actually wasn’t listening, as immediately’s Nintendo Direct was certainly one of my favorites in years, with shock bulletins that can make the watch for Nintendo’s subsequent console extremely simple. Don’t unplug the dock out of your leisure heart simply but, as a result of the Switch nonetheless has loads of juice left.
Should you had been fully faraway from the online game information cycle and you watched the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, you’d in all probability assume it was a presentation dropped someplace throughout the peak of the console’s life cycle. Nintendo actually introduced out the large weapons with new entries in its traditional trio of franchises: Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. We bought our first take a look at Metroid Prime 4: Past, a model new mainline The Legend of Zelda recreation starring the eponymous princess for the first time, and the long-awaited return of the Mario & Luigi collection, persevering with the fairytale-like resurgence of Mario RPGs over the final 12 months. Add on Tremendous Mario Occasion Jamboree and Donkey Kong Nation Returns HD, and Nintendo revealed 4 brand-new first-party video games and one remaster, three of which will likely be out later this 12 months.
I actually admire Nintendo’s deal with concrete launch dates in its Directs. The Xbox showcase this 12 months was superior, however we had been left with a number of “TBA” or generic “2025” dates. I’m tremendous excited for video games like Fable and Excellent Darkish, and can’t wait to finally get them, nevertheless it’s loads simpler to be extra excited a few new Zelda recreation I didn’t know existed after I wakened this morning that will likely be in my fingers precisely 100 days from now.
And The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Knowledge actually appears like my dream recreation. All the things we all know up to now factors to Nintendo taking the explorative, inventive spirit of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and injecting it into the top-down Zelda components. In immediately’s reveal trailer we see Zelda constructing a column of water and ascending to its floor, stacking beds to create a makeshift ladder, and operating throughout treetops 2D Zelda has without end used as boundaries for the participant. Plus, it is a Zelda recreation with no sword, and it’s permitting the builders to actually go loopy with fight and puzzle prospects.
Echoes of Knowledge appears like my dream recreation.
BotW/TotK’s spirit in a top-down recreation.
Conference breaking! Zelda runs alongside treetops 2D Zelda has without end used as boundaries.
I’ve wished a Zelda recreation with no sword for years as a result of I believed they’d go loopy with it… and they did! pic.twitter.com/tElILFVtmn
— Logan Plant (@LoganJPlant) June 18, 2024
Shifting on from Zelda to Mario, the remakes of Tremendous Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-12 months Door already felt like small miracles, and it’s really surprising that Nintendo is finishing the trio by placing out a model new Mario & Luigi recreation this November. Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the first Mario & Luigi recreation in practically a decade, and it marks the franchise’s residence console debut. After Mario & Luigi developer AlphaDream sadly went bankrupt in 2019, it appeared like the collection was lifeless, so it was an enormous shock to see this recreation kick off the Direct. We nonetheless don’t know who’s creating Brothership (Nintendo has been frustratingly quiet about this), however hopefully Nintendo introduced on a few of AlphaDream’s expertise to proceed the collection.
Metroid Prime 4: Past isn’t coming till someday in 2025, however how nice was it to lastly see what it appears like now, over seven years since its authentic announcement? It actually seems to be a trustworthy Metroid Prime recreation, full with the iconic HUD, raindrop results on Samus’ arm cannon, and the return of the detective-like scanning means. As an enormous Mario Occasion fan, I additionally cherished seeing a model new entry that appears to be taught from the strides the collection took in 2021’s Mario Occasion Superstars, with larger boards, extra minigames, and tons of characters to select from.
The primary-party surprises had been the stars of the present, however I’ve to provide a shoutout to a few of the nice third-party video games builders are nonetheless bringing to Switch. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake appears beautiful, and it was an exceptional shock to be taught that Dragon Quest I and II are getting the similar therapy. And, the Ace Lawyer Investigations Assortment is lastly bringing the final unlocalized Ace Lawyer recreation to the West, which I by no means dreamed would occur as a lifelong Ace Lawyer fan.
My one predominant disappointment from this Direct is Donkey Kong Nation Returns HD. Don’t get me improper – I like Donkey Kong Nation Returns, however I’ve already performed it twice on each Wii and 3DS. Plus it’s simply the inferior Donkey Kong Nation recreation in comparison with Tropical Freeze, which is already on Switch. I’m glad Nintendo hasn’t forgotten about Donkey Kong, however I’m nonetheless ready for the first model new Donkey Kong platformer since Tropical Freeze hit Wii U in 2014.
Nonetheless, that’s a minor quibble for a Direct that in any other case blew my expectations out of the water. And as somebody who can’t stand leaker tradition, I cherished that none of Nintendo’s main first-party bulletins bought out beforehand. It gave the complete occasion a stage of vitality and thriller that was lacking from a few of the summer season’s different large showcases, like when Sony’s large Astro Bot reveal was spoiled on-line days earlier than the State of Play. Astro Bot appears unimaginable and I can’t wait to play it, nevertheless it takes some wind out of the sails of an enormous, thrilling showcase after we know precisely what to anticipate.
The Switch has already established its popularity as certainly one of the biggest Nintendo consoles of all time, and if the main first-party video games revealed immediately become pretty much as good as they appear, it’s going to strengthen the argument that no different Nintendo software program library can match Switch. Pulling out a few of the most iconic franchises in gaming throughout the Switch’s eighth 12 months on the market is kind of the energy transfer, and it places an emphatic stamp on the most profitable era in Nintendo historical past. If the Switch is dying, that is one hell of a farewell tour.
Logan Plant is IGN’s Database Supervisor, Playlist Editor, occasional information author, and frequent Tremendous Ninfriendo on Nintendo Voice Chat. Discover him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.