Mario & Luigi, Mario Party, Zelda & Metroid

Mario & Luigi: Brothership – that was unexpected (Nintendo)

The Nintendo Switch is going out with a bigger bang than expected, with multiple new first party titles announced for this year and beyond.

If this month’s Nintendo Direct had lasted twenty minutes and only featured a few indie games and Wii U remasters, no one would have blamed Nintendo. Their new console is coming out in 2025 and for a long time they didn’t have anything planned for release in the second half of the year… but now they do.

Many were hoping for a Metroid Prime 4 reveal and they got it, but it ended up being the only first party Nintendo game not released this year, with a new Zelda title (which actually stars Zelda), a new Mario Party and a new Mario & Luigi.

Unusually for Nintendo, a number of games were leaked in advance, but the Direct started with something no one expected: a new entry in the Super Mario RPG-adjacent Mario & Luigi series.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership comes out on November 7, but two of the main reasons why it’s a surprise are that original developer AlphaDream went bankrupt in 2019 and that was partly because the series had been declining in sales over time .

However, it was always very good and while it’s not clear who’s making Brothership, the trailer looks like a lot of fun, with some distinctive cel-shaded visuals and the game’s usual turn-based combat with real-time gimmicks.

We just hope that the game retains the sense of humor of the previous titles, which has always been one of the main appeals in entries like Bowser’s Inside Story.

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As for other games, the previously announced Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has been confirmed for July 18, with a console version of Fantasian Neo Dimension, from the maker of Final Fantasy, coming sometime this winter.

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Nintendo Switch Sports is getting a new basketball mini-game as a free update this summer, while Disney Illusion Island is getting a free update this day.

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There weren’t a whole lot of indie games on display, but we loved the pencil art style of MIO (Memories in Orbit), one of the few titles not to release until 2025 – further proof that Nintendo and others plan to support the Switch well into the future in next year.

We imagine Looney Tunes: Wacky Worlds Of Sports is likely to be multi-format, but a fair amount of effort seems to have gone into it, with ‘four arcade-style sports’ on offer.

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There was also confirmation of a major new update for Among Us, with several new impostor roles. While it was ironic that it was only a short announcement, a leak about the update ultimately revealed the date of the Nintendo Direct before it was officially announced.

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Despite rumors of Zelda and Metroid remasters, and the expectation that there could be more than just that (the continued absence of Xenoblade Chronicles from the 2010 version. Wii game – which also includes the new levels created for the next 3DS edition.

The remaster doesn’t release until January 16, so it’s not just Metroid Prime 4 that Nintendo is delaying until next year.

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However, most of the games were set to release this year, with Nintendo sticking a lot to Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, which will be a very big deal in Japan when it releases on November 14th. They also announced that there would be similar games. remakes for the first and second games, which makes a little more sense when you realize that the third game is a prequel set before the others.

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Meanwhile, the multiformat game Funko Fusion, from many of the makers of the Lego games, is due out on September 13 and actually looks pretty good – if only because Shaun of the Dead would never be in a Lego game.

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With it coming out next week, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD only got a brief mention, but there was also a continuation of the weirdo 3DS franchise The New Denpa Men, as well as the smartphone remaster Metal Slug Attack Reloaded – which is a Tower Defense game and it is not so. confused with the upcoming Metal Slug Tactics.

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The roguelike sequel Darkest Dungeon 2 was given a July 15 release date for the console versions, and it was subsequently announced that a number of notable new games are coming to the Nintendo Switch Online virtual console, including Game Boy Advance games Zelda: A Link To The Past and Vier Swords and Metroid: Zero Mission. That’s in addition to an “adult collection” for N64 games, including Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Perfect Dark.

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Nippon Ichi’s Phantom Brave is getting a new sequel subtitled The Lost Hero, which looked promising, with the ability to possess pet phantom objects to give them special abilities – it’s coming out sometime next year.

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Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics was also an interesting reveal, as Capcom wasn’t thought to have the Marvel rights anymore, but it’s coming out this year and will reignite rumors of a possible new game in the future.

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Next up was Super Mario Party Jamboree, which had already been leaked before, at least in theory, and is due out on October 17th. We’ve long been Mario Party proponents and this one looks particularly promising, with five new game boards, plus two retro variants, as well as 110 mini-games and a host of new game modes, including a 20-player online option. It looked very substantial and the games are always big sellers, especially around Christmas.

Then it was Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom, and a brief plug for Lego Horizon Adventures, which isn’t coming to Xbox, and the Switch version of Stray – although the latter two didn’t have release dates more specific than ‘winter’.

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Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was the mic drop at the end of the Direct, but before that you still had Tales Of The Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game, which was like a Tolkien-esque Animal Crossing, and Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, which which we’re really looking forward to seeing as none of the games have ever had an official English translation before.

Then there was The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy from the makers of Danganronpa, which looked interestingly weird, and is due out ‘early’ 2025, and a remake of Romancing SaGa 2 due out on October 24th.

It was a very impressive Nintendo Direct and while it wasn’t enough to challenge the Xbox Games Showcase as the ‘winner’ of this non-E3 season, it was far more interesting than anyone could have expected and means the rest of the year It’s going to be a lot busier for Nintendo than previously expected.

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We had no objection to his Nintendo Direct (Capcom)

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