I used to be advised there was alleged to be a software program drought whereas we waited for Swap 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 Swap was dying.
Nicely, apparently nobody advised Nintendo. And in the event that they did, Nintendo actually wasn’t listening, as right this moment’s Nintendo Direct was considered one of my favorites in years, with shock bulletins that can make the await Nintendo’s subsequent console extremely straightforward. Don’t unplug the dock out of your leisure middle simply but, as a result of the Swap nonetheless has loads of juice left.
In case you have been fully faraway from the online game information cycle and also you watched the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, you’d in all probability assume it was a presentation dropped someplace in the course of 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 obtained our first have a look at Metroid Prime 4: Past, 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 collection, persevering with the fairytale-like resurgence of Mario RPGs over the past yr. Add on Tremendous Mario Get together Jamboree and Donkey Kong Nation Returns HD, and Nintendo revealed 4 brand-new first-party video games and one remaster, three of which might be out later this yr.
Logan’s Favourite Nintendo Direct Video games (June 2024)
My high ten favourite bulletins from the Nintendo Direct on June 18, 2024. The highest two will shock nobody!
I actually admire Nintendo’s deal with concrete launch dates in its Directs. The Xbox showcase this yr was superior, however we have been left with a whole lot of “TBA” or generic “2025” dates. I’m tremendous excited for video games like Fable and Good Darkish, and may’t wait to finally get them, however it’s so much simpler to be extra excited a couple of new Zelda sport I didn’t know existed after I awakened this morning that might be in my fingers precisely 100 days from now.
And The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Knowledge actually appears like my dream sport. Every little thing we all know thus far factors to Nintendo taking the explorative, artistic spirit of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and injecting it into the top-down Zelda system. In right this moment’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 perpetually used as boundaries for the participant. Plus, this can be a Zelda sport and not using a sword, and it’s permitting the builders to actually go loopy with fight and puzzle prospects.
Echoes of Knowledge appears like my dream sport.
BotW/TotK’s spirit in a top-down sport.
Conference breaking! Zelda runs alongside treetops 2D Zelda has perpetually used as boundaries.
I’ve wished a Zelda sport and not using a sword for years as a result of I believed they’d go loopy with it… and so they did! pic.twitter.com/tElILFVtmn
— Logan Plant (@LoganJPlant) June 18, 2024
Transferring on from Zelda to Mario, the remakes of Tremendous Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Yr Door already felt like small miracles, and it’s actually 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 dwelling console debut. After Mario & Luigi developer AlphaDream sadly went bankrupt in 2019, it appeared just like the collection was lifeless, 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 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 devoted Metroid Prime sport, full with the long-lasting HUD, raindrop results on Samus’ arm cannon, and the return of the detective-like scanning capacity. As an enormous Mario Get together fan, I additionally cherished seeing a model new entry that appears to study from the strides the collection took in 2021’s Mario Get together Superstars, with larger boards, extra minigames, and tons of characters to select from.
The primary-party surprises have been the celebrities of the present, however I’ve to offer a shoutout to a number of the nice third-party video games builders are nonetheless bringing to Swap. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake appears beautiful, and it was an outstanding shock to study that Dragon Quest I and II are getting the identical remedy. And, the Ace Lawyer Investigations Assortment is lastly bringing the final unlocalized Ace Lawyer sport 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 flawed – 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 sport in comparison with Tropical Freeze, which is already on Swap. 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.
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 obtained out beforehand. It gave the entire occasion a stage of vitality and thriller that was lacking from a number 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 unbelievable and I can’t wait to play it, however it takes some wind out of the sails of an enormous, thrilling showcase once we know precisely what to anticipate.
The Swap has already established its status as one of many best Nintendo consoles of all time, and if the most important first-party video games revealed right this moment develop into pretty much as good as they appear, it’ll strengthen the argument that no different Nintendo software program library can match Swap. Pulling out a number of the most iconic franchises in gaming in the course of the Swap’s eighth yr in the marketplace is kind of the ability transfer, and it places an emphatic stamp on essentially the most profitable technology in Nintendo historical past. If the Swap is dying, that is one hell of a farewell tour.
Nintendo Direct June 2024 Video games
Each sport featured within the Nintendo Direct on June 18, 2024.
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.