The latest Nintendo Direct started with a bang by dropping a trailer for Super Mario Maker 2 and kept the hits coming throughout to end on an announcement trailer for a remake of Link’s Awakening. While it may not be as iconic or spine-tingling as when the Switch was announced, it was a solid and fun ride throughout. We’ve got a quick link to the archive, as well as a handy list of everything announced.
Here’s a quick list put together by our writer Logan Snider.
- Super Mario Maker 2- June 2019
- Box Boy Box Girl- April 26th
- Smash 3.0 Update, Joker coming before April
- Smash Amiibos- Solid Snake, Simon
- Captain Toad Treasure Tracker Free Update- New Challenges, New Courses, Available March, One Available Now
- Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
- Dragon Quest Builders 2- July 12th
- Dragon Quest Heroes 11 S: Definitive Edition- Fall 2019
- Tsum Tsum Festival- 2019
- Starlink Star Wolf Spring Update- April 2019
- Rune Factory 4 Special Remastered- Later 2019
- Rune Factory 5- No Date
- Oninake- Summer 2019
- Yoshi’s Crafted World- Demo of First Course Today, Release March 29th
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses- Story Details, Gameplay, Out July 26th, Collectors Edition
- Tetris 99- Free to Download, Battle Royale, Available Today
- Dead by Daylight – No date
- Deltarune- February 28th, Chapter 1 Free
- Daemon X Machina- Demo Available Today, Four Missions, Boss Battle On Final Mission, Survey, Summer 2019
- GRID Autosport- All DLC, Online and Local, Summer 2019
- Hellblade-Senuas Sacrifice- Spring 2019
- Mortal Kombat 11- April 26th
- Unravel Two- March 22nd
- Assassins Creed 3 Remastered-
- Final Fantasy 7- March 26th
- Chocobos Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!-
- Final Fantasy 9- Later Today
- Astral Chain- August 2019
- Bayonetta 3 – No date
- Zelda Links Awakening Remastered- 2019
It seems that over the years, Nintendo has focused less on flash and presentation and more on highlighting as many games as succinctly as possible. While it was fun to laugh about Nintendo puppets or question the absurdity of Iwata and his bananas, this is a laser-guided information blast, which we appreciate. There is a wide range of developers represented from the big Nintendo-owned projects to the much smaller indies like Deltarune and Bloodstained. Each of the trailers gave a good impression of what each game was about or were a fun teaser for what’s to come.
A few things that were left out included Metroid Prime 4, which recently was given over to Retro Studios following an honest announcement video from Nintendo, and any mention of Super Nintendo games on the Switch. It is a bit of shock that there wasn’t anything on the SNES or NES games due to data miners recently finding some SNES code and what seemed to be a list of games. Now seemed like a great time to release those games to the Switch Online crowd. Plus, giving players a chance to play Super Mario World or All-Stars on the Switch could’ve kept the energy high for Super Mario Maker 2. I’m also still hoping that Nintendo creates a solution to play 3DS games on the Switch. The 3DS has a massive player base and hundreds of games that are still worth playing so it makes sense that something like this would be worth pursuing. It also would’ve been nice to see some Bayonetta 3, but Astral Chain looks like an awesome project with that unique flair that Platinum Games captures so well.
Thankfully for those itching for new Nintendo action now, there were a few demos and games released on the eShop. We’ve already spent a little time with Tetris 99, the strange and simple battle royale we never knew we wanted. We also hope to check out Daemon X Machina, which does need people to play and take a survey to help shape development. The big one for me personally is Final Fantasy IX, a game that could be my favorite of all time, has now hit Switch.
Nintendo is starting to hit their groove and they could be a much bigger force than they were with the Wii U. They also seem to be teaming up with Microsoft more and more with Xbox Live coming to Switch and with the Adaptive Controller getting support on the Switch. With Sony and the PlayStation 4 currently sitting on top and finally yielding to cross-play, we could see a bit more companionship across all three, especially since they made a point for all three companies to speak and stand together at the Game Awards.
Regardless of industry patterns and predictions, it is a great time to own a Switch and see Nintendo start to act like a modern video game company. We can only hope this upward trend continues.
