Zelda, Metroid and Mario Prove the Switch Is Far From Dead
I was told there was supposed to be a software drought while we waited for Switch 2. I was told to expect a handful of ports, remakes, and remasters sprinkled throughout the rest of 2024. I was told the Switch was dying.
Well, apparently no one told Nintendo. And if they did, Nintendo certainly wasn’t listening, as today’s Nintendo Direct was one of my favorites in years, with surprise announcements that will make the wait for Nintendo’s next console incredibly easy. Don’t unplug the dock from your entertainment center just yet, because the Switch still has plenty of juice left.
If you were completely removed from the video game news cycle and you watched the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, you’d probably think it was a presentation dropped somewhere during the peak of the console’s life cycle. Nintendo really brought out the big guns with new entries in its classic trio of franchises: Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. We got our first look at Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, a brand new mainline The Legend of Zelda game starring the eponymous princess for the first time, and the long-awaited return of the Mario & Luigi series, continuing the fairytale-like resurgence of Mario RPGs over the last year. Add on Super Mario Party Jamboree and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, and Nintendo revealed four brand-new first-party games and one remaster, three of which will be out later this year.
I really appreciate Nintendo’s focus on concrete release dates in its Directs. The Xbox showcase this year was awesome, but we were left with a lot of “TBA” or generic “2025” dates. I’m super excited for games like Fable and Perfect Dark, and can’t wait to eventually get them, but it’s a lot easier to be more excited about a new Zelda game I didn’t know existed when I woke up this morning that will be in my hands exactly 100 days from now.
And The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom really looks like my dream game. Everything we know so far points to Nintendo taking the explorative, creative spirit of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and injecting it into the top-down Zelda formula. In today’s reveal trailer we see Zelda building a column of water and ascending to its surface, stacking beds to create a makeshift ladder, and running across treetops 2D Zelda has forever used as barriers for the player. Plus, this is a Zelda game without a sword, and it’s allowing the developers to truly go crazy with combat and puzzle possibilities.
Echoes of Wisdom looks like my dream game.
BotW/TotK’s spirit in a top-down game.
Convention breaking! Zelda runs along treetops 2D Zelda has forever used as barriers.
I’ve wanted a Zelda game without a sword for years because I thought they’d go crazy with it… and they did! pic.twitter.com/tElILFVtmn
— Logan Plant (@LoganJPlant) June 18, 2024
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 truly shocking that Nintendo is completing the trio by putting out a brand new Mario & Luigi game this November. Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the first Mario & Luigi game in nearly a decade, and it marks the franchise’s home console debut. After Mario & Luigi developer AlphaDream sadly went bankrupt in 2019, it seemed like the series was dead, so it was a huge surprise to see this game kick off the Direct. We still don’t know who is developing Brothership (Nintendo has been frustratingly quiet about this), but hopefully Nintendo brought on some of AlphaDream’s talent to continue the series.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond isn’t coming until sometime in 2025, but how great was it to finally see what it looks like now, over seven years since its original announcement? It certainly appears to be a faithful Metroid Prime game, complete with the iconic HUD, raindrop effects on Samus’ arm cannon, and the return of the detective-like scanning ability. As a huge Mario Party fan, I also loved seeing a brand new entry that seems to learn from the strides the series took in 2021’s Mario Party Superstars, with bigger boards, more minigames, and tons of characters to choose from.
The first-party surprises were the stars of the show, but I have to give a shoutout to some of the great third-party games developers are still bringing to Switch. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake looks gorgeous, and it was a phenomenal surprise to learn that Dragon Quest I and II are getting the same treatment. And, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is finally bringing the last unlocalized Ace Attorney game to the West, which I never dreamed would happen as a lifelong Ace Attorney fan.
My one main disappointment from this Direct is Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. Don’t get me wrong – I love Donkey Kong Country Returns, but I’ve already played it twice on both Wii and 3DS. Plus it’s easily the inferior Donkey Kong Country game compared to Tropical Freeze, which is already on Switch. I’m glad Nintendo hasn’t forgotten about Donkey Kong, but I’m still waiting for the first brand new Donkey Kong platformer since Tropical Freeze hit Wii U in 2014.
Still, that’s a minor quibble for a Direct that otherwise blew my expectations out of the water. And as someone who can’t stand leaker culture, I loved that none of Nintendo’s major first-party announcements got out beforehand. It gave the whole event a level of energy and mystery that was missing from some of the summer’s other big showcases, like when Sony’s big Astro Bot reveal was spoiled online days before the State of Play. Astro Bot looks incredible and I can’t wait to play it, but it takes some wind out of the sails of a big, exciting showcase when we know exactly what to expect.
The Switch has already established its reputation as one of the greatest Nintendo consoles of all time, and if the major first-party games revealed today turn out to be as good as they look, it will strengthen the argument that no other Nintendo software library can match Switch. Pulling out some of the most iconic franchises in gaming during the Switch’s eighth year on the market is quite the power move, and it puts an emphatic stamp on the most successful generation in Nintendo history. If the Switch is dying, this is one hell of a farewell tour.
Logan Plant is IGN’s Database Manager, Playlist Editor, occasional news writer, and frequent Super Ninfriendo on Nintendo Voice Chat. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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