It’s summer so that means the temperatures are going up and so is the frequency of video game news and announcements. The Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 is no more so there needs to be a replacement for the convention. That being said, companies have had to hold their own presentations/events to show off their upcoming games. Prior to E3 dying, Nintendo decided to go away from the press presentations and go with a Nintendo Direct video pre-recorded presentation with tons of new reveals. That being said, June 18th was another Nintendo Direct and it didn’t disappoint at all. Without further delay, lets get into all the games shown off that caught my attention.
The Super Mario RPG realm has been eating pretty good with the likes of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Remake hitting the Nintendo Switch but would the fans get another one. The presentation started with a brand new entry in the Mario and Luigi series. I love turn-based RPGs and have always been a fan of the Mario and Luigi games. However, when AlphaDream went under, it was unclear if we would ever get to see the brothers Mario journey together again and use some cool Bro moves. Not only did we get the reveal of Mario and Luigi:Brothership, we got a release date of November 7th of this year. Sit tight a little longer Mario and Luigi fans.
Coming in after the Mario and Luigi reveal was more information on the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition and Fairy Tale 2. The World Championships game was already announced and anime games have their niche fans. I have the first Fairy Tale game and another RPG isn’t a bad thing, is it? Speaking of RPGS, Fantasian Neo Dimension looks like a cool game. One of the interesting features is that you can store enemies to fight when you’d like. Could be a way to gain quick experience points. It’s planned to come out for the holiday season this year!
I might be the only one interested in Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports. There are certain sport cartoon games that I love like Space Jam on the PlayStation 1 and Tiny Toons: Wacky Sports Challenge. They bring back fun memories of growing up and playing Tiny Toons on the Super NES with my brother. That game is tough and it covers a wide range of sports. It looks like Soccer, Tennis, and Basketball are three of the four playable sports so there’s still hope for Looney Tunes Hockey.
Farmagia is an interesting take on the RPG formula. It hits on farming and monster taming. Care for your garden and in turn grow monsters in said garden. Train them for combat. By the looks of the trailer, more of the same monster is a good thing because they’ll be attacking in groups. Find out a monster’s weakness and go to town on them. You’ll also be able to fuse your monsters together into one mega creature. This gives off Harvestella vibes and I loved that game. You won’t have to wait long because Farmagia comes out November 1st.
Porting games to popular consoles is nothing new for Nintendo. They did it with Wii U games and have done it at times with 3DS games. We’re getting Luigi’s Mansion 2 from the 3DS on Switch this month and now we’re getting Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. This will be the 3DS version that has better controls and more playable levels. Maybe they’ll bring DK: King of Swing over at some point too?
We’re getting a brand new Mario Party game, Super Mario Party Jamboree. There will be new game boards as well as a few old game boards getting brought back. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo adds even more mini games and boards to this Mario Party. They didn’t do it with past Switch Mario Party games so we’ll see. One thing I am really looking forward to is the Koopathalon, an online competition where 20 players compete to be the best. The only thing that could kill this for me is the internet being bad on it. If I remember correctly, the internet multiplayer mode for the Mario Party games was very good. I won’t have to hold out too long as the game is coming out October 17th.
Next up was one of the big, big reveals from the Nintendo Direct. Setting, two castle guards are up to no good when a shrouded young man comes in to the picture. It turns out it was Link all along in his “Link’s Awakening” design and he’s trying to save Princes Zelda. However, just as Link is about to be swallowed into a dark void, he shoots an arrow and breaks the crystal holding Zelda. Zelda runs for her life out of the room and narrowly avoids falling into the same void that took Link. What has become of Link? It’s up to Princes Zelda to take up the search and find the Hero of Hyrule. In the Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Zelda will have to use all of her wisdom to save the day. You are given the Tri Rod and that allows you to make copies of pretty much anything you want. These are called Echoes and you will have to use them to your advantage. It’s another way you get to play the Legend of Zelda your way. Collect water blocks to swim up a cliff or use a tree to block wind. It will be fun to see people solve the same puzzle in so many different ways, just like they did in the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
There were a few games near the end of the presentation that I’m going to keep my eye out for. There was the Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy that is made by the Danganronpa people and it really has that feel to it. The world appears doomed and you, along with others taking up residence in the academy, will have to fight to survive. People will perish along the way and your choices will alter events. Another game that caught my attention was Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven. It’s an RPG from Square Enix with cool looking characters and an interesting attack system. I really enjoyed Live A Live so I think I’m going to give SaGa 2 a shot. It has an adventurer wearing a cowboy hat so I’m sold!
Lastly, we have reached the “final announcement” during the Nintendo Direct. There were quite a few different directions the company could have gone with that final spot. After years of waiting, Nintendo finally showed off Metroid Prime 4 now with a subtitle of Beyond. It has been a long time that many people probably thought would never come. I thought Metroid Prime 4 wasn’t going to be made until the successor to the Switch but I stand corrected. They only showed a tiny bit but the combat looks smooth and environments look cool. The end of the presentation dropped a “2025” on the screen and that was it for the Nintendo Direct. Nintendo has a lot of time to work on and perfect Metroid Prime 4. I have never been the biggest FPS fan but I’m looking forward to Metroid Prime 4.
If this is the swansong for Nintendo Switch Nintendo Directs, then they hit out of the park. We went from not knowing what Nintendo had planned for the rest of this year to them showing off and then some. Nintendo won E3 or whatever we’re calling it now and it wasn’t even close.