Nintendo Just Shocked Everyone With An Incredible Presentation
I love Nintendo as much as the next person, but its Direct presentations can often be a bit of a letdown. Typically you get a bunch of farming sims, some announcements of classic games making their way to Switch Online, and some (decently cool looking) indie games, with a tease of a major title at the end. But this Direct showed the beloved gaming company is ready to make sure late 2024 and 2025 is full of nothing but bangers.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership
The latest Nintendo Direct kicked off with Mario & Luigi: Brothership, the first new game in the Mario & Luigi franchise in nearly a decade. The forever underrated RPG Mario franchise is also making the jump to 3D, and the gameplay and humor the series is known for looks as good as ever. Best of all, we’ll get to play it this year, as it’s coming out on November 7.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
Nintendo also had an HD remake in store for us with Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. While the video game market is pretty saturated with remakes, this is definitely a game that deserves the upgrade. The original is easily one of the best side-scrolling platformers of all time (in this author’s opinion), and we’ll get to play it right at the beginning of next year with a launch date of January 16, 2025.
The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom
Perhaps one of the most surprising announcements during the Nintendo Direct was a new Zelda game. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a new game where we’ll get to play as Zelda for the first time since 1996’s Zelda Adventure. We even got an extended look at gameplay, learning that Zelda will have a powerful tool called the Tri Rod that lets us duplicate items and conjure them anywhere else.
It seems like Nintendo is continuing the feeling of freedom and creativity we experienced with Tears of the Kingdom, giving us a set of tools that we can use as we see fit. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom also used the beautiful chibi art style that was introduced in the Link’s Awakening remake. Now, when I saw Nintendo was announcing a new Zelda game before the end of the presentation, I figured there could only be one game they were saving for the end.
Metroid Prime 4
And I was proven right. Finally, after years of waiting, Nintendo finally gave us an official release window and some gameplay for Metroid Prime 4.
Officially titled Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, the game was announced way back at E3 2017 and then there was radio silence on the game until now. While we were held over by the fun, side scrolling Metroid Dread, there were many of us waiting for the Prime franchise to officially return.
Switch’s Successor
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is set for a 2025 release date, which raises suspicions that this could be a launch title for the Switch’s successor console. Of course, Nintendo has remained quiet about when we can expect that console to launch, so it’s possible that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond could be a regular Switch title. In any case, Nintendo is closing 2024 out strong with its release titles, so we fans have quite a bit to look forward to.
