Zelda, Metroid and Mario Prove the Switch Is Far From Dead

I used to be advised there was purported to be a software program drought whereas we waited for Switch 2. I used to be advised to anticipate a handful of ports, remakes, and remasters sprinkled all through the remainder of 2024. I used to be advised the Switch was dying.

Well, apparently nobody advised Nintendo. And in the event that they did, Nintendo actually wasn’t listening, as as we speak’s Nintendo Direct was one in every of my favorites in years, with shock bulletins that can make the look ahead to Nintendo’s subsequent console extremely simple. Don’t unplug the dock out of your leisure middle simply but, as a result of the Switch nonetheless has loads of juice left.

If you have been utterly faraway from the online game information cycle and also you watched the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, you’d most likely assume it was a presentation dropped someplace throughout the peak of the console’s life cycle. Nintendo actually introduced out the massive weapons with new entries in its traditional trio of franchises: Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. We bought our first have a look at Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, a model new mainline The Legend of Zelda sport starring the eponymous princess for the primary time, and the long-awaited return of the Mario & Luigi sequence, persevering with the fairytale-like resurgence of Mario RPGs over the past 12 months. Add on Super Mario Party Jamboree and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, and Nintendo revealed 4 brand-new first-party video games and one remaster, three of which can be out later this 12 months.

I actually admire Nintendo’s concentrate on concrete launch dates in its Directs. The Xbox showcase this 12 months was superior, however we have been left with loads of “TBA” or generic “2025” dates. I’m tremendous excited for video games like Fable and Perfect Dark, and may’t wait to finally get them, nevertheless it’s quite a bit simpler to be extra excited a few new Zelda sport I didn’t know existed after I awoke this morning that can be in my palms precisely 100 days from now.

And The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom actually appears like my dream sport. Everything we all know to this point 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 method. In as we speak’s reveal trailer we see Zelda constructing a column of water and ascending to its floor, stacking beds to create a makeshift ladder, and working throughout treetops 2D Zelda has ceaselessly used as limitations for the participant. Plus, it is a Zelda sport and not using a sword, and it’s permitting the builders to really go loopy with fight and puzzle potentialities.

Moving on from Zelda to Mario, the remakes of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door already felt like small miracles, and it’s really stunning that Nintendo is finishing the trio by placing out a model new Mario & Luigi sport this November. Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the primary Mario & Luigi sport 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 just like the sequence was useless, so it was an enormous shock to see this sport kick off the Direct. We nonetheless don’t know who’s growing Brothership (Nintendo has been frustratingly quiet about this), however hopefully Nintendo introduced on a few of AlphaDream’s expertise to proceed the sequence.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond 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 unique announcement? It actually seems to be a devoted Metroid Prime sport, full with the enduring HUD, raindrop results on Samus’ arm cannon, and the return of the detective-like scanning means. As an enormous Mario Party fan, I additionally cherished seeing a model new entry that appears to study from the strides the sequence took in 2021’s Mario Party Superstars, with greater boards, extra minigames, and tons of characters to select from.

The first-party surprises have been the celebrities 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 attractive, and it was an exceptional shock to study that Dragon Quest I and II are getting the identical remedy. And, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is lastly bringing the final unlocalized Ace Attorney sport to the West, which I by no means dreamed would occur as a lifelong Ace Attorney fan.

My one essential disappointment from this Direct is Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. Don’t get me flawed – I like Donkey Kong Country Returns, however I’ve already performed it twice on each Wii and 3DS. Plus it’s simply the inferior Donkey Kong Country sport 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 primary model new Donkey Kong platformer since Tropical Freeze hit Wii U in 2014.

Still, 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 entire occasion a stage of power and thriller that was lacking from a few of the summer time’s different huge showcases, like when Sony’s huge 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 a giant, thrilling showcase after we know precisely what to anticipate.

The Switch has already established its popularity as one of many best Nintendo consoles of all time, and if the foremost first-party video games revealed as we speak change into pretty much as good as they give the impression of being, it can 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 available on the market is kind of the ability transfer, and it places an emphatic stamp on probably the most profitable technology in Nintendo historical past. If the Switch is dying, that is one hell of a farewell tour.

Logan Plant is IGN’s Database Manager, Playlist Editor, occasional information author, and frequent Super Ninfriendo on Nintendo Voice Chat. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.