New Direct dropped today. A REALLY strong showing, all considered. That said, you can see where the Switch market (or at least what Nintendo feels the market is) oriented around with a LOT of RPGs and "life sim" titles. I'm not going to cover the entire presentation, but I do have thoughts on some particular entries.
For the full presentation:
Mario+Luigi: Brothership (HA! Boat pun!). I'm ALWAYS up for another entry in this series. It's also quite refreshing to get a NEW Mario RPG title after the past year or so and all the remakes. I want to say the last major Mario RPG title that wasn't a remake was Origami King back in 2020. Fawful better be making a return! Feels like this will be the major anchor for the Switch's last sole holiday season.
Nintendo World Championship- It's an update/refresh to the old NES Remix games. I think there is some fun here, and the inclusion of the pseudo battle royal competition elements should keep the game fresher a bit longer. I appreciate the name change, I think it is more reflective of the type of game this collection is compared to the NES Remix naming. Physical version is DAMN impressive.
DKC Returns HD- This feels like a "schedule filler", particularly with the January release date. I don't know, I like the inclusion of the 3DS content and it's a solid game that is apt to reach a solid audience compared to prior releases...but it feels like this is a quicky port to fill out an emptying release slate as Nintendo starts to gear up for the Switch successor. It will probably feel a bit better of a release if Nintendo budget prices this like they did Metroid Prime Remastered (which, on the surface, looked to have a LOT more put into it).
Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom- The initial seconds didn't do much, until it was revealed Zelda as the protagonist. Like the shift in protagonist and I like the puzzle oriented gameplay being shown. It's clearly using the same engine as Link's Awakening, but that probably sped up development. Like DKC, this one DOES come across as a lower-tier title cranked out to fill out a schedule that was likely planned (at one point) to be dominated by the Switch successor console.
Super Mario Party Jamboree- SMP isn't my jam, but looks like a solid entry.
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection- Oh sweet lordy Capcom, take me for a RIDE! I was starting to lose hope something like this would come out. Having all seven Capcom Marvel titles in one collection is a dream. And I think it's the first time since the mid-90s that Punisher and X-Men have been available on a home console (not counting the Arcade 1 Up stuff). I think there is an argument this was among the bigger announcements, given the long standing issues with Marvel game rights. The VS games alone would have made this a buy, but getting X-Men and Punisher just made it top tier.
Switch Online- Metroid Fusion is an example of a damn near perfect "upgrade-remake" of an older title, I'm thrilled to see it made available. The online functionality should REALLY allow Four Swords to shine. The N64 Mature titles are really interesting, though. Turok is surprising given the Remaster is already available (and is an improvement in almost all respects to the original game), but even the video seems to show some graphical and frame rate clean up. But don't hold me to that, it's been a hot decade or two since I played Turok on original N64 hardware.
Perfect Dark is a surprise, albeit a nice one. Microsoft is pushing the new title for Xbox, so this works well as a promotional effort for that. But, like Turok, the game looks graphically cleaned up with a better frame rate. It really wouldn't surprise me if the 2010 remastered version wasn't modified for use on the Switch Online service, assuming I just remember the game being worse than it really was.
Loony Tunes Wacky Sports- I really wanted to get excited for this. One of the reasons I loved Cruisin' Blast was its throwback nature to old school arcade racing, and, on paper, this might have worked well to bring that kind of gameplay back. NBA Jam with power ups? Yes, please. My family has fond memories of the old Loony Tunes Basketball on SNES, but I'm not sure this will live up to that. The "Gamemill Publishing" logo is the first red flag, and the trailer didn't do the game many favors with mushy graphics. But those compressed sound bytes were PAINFUL. Cartridge or not, there is NO reason for that sort of garbage sound quality, ESPECIALLY in your introduction trailer.
Farmagia- This caught my eye. Nice presentation, but the gameplay mix is kind of interesting with Farm elements mixed with Pokemon battles and maybe some Pikmin-esque crowd control. I'll wait and see reviews, and certainly not a full price purchase, but I might keep an eye on this.
Funko Fusion- I kind of glazed over this (like all things Funko Pop anymore), but I dig the "pop culture fusion" with pseudo Lego type gameplay. Universal seems to be the big player here, but there's also some service to He-Man and Voltron. Plus stuff like Chucky and The Thing which would NEVER make it anything else. Not a full price purchase, but it has my interest just for the He-Man and Voltron inclusion.
Lego Horizon Adventure- Can't help but feel a bit "WTF" seeing a Playstation franchise title on the Switch. It's not like the MLB games, Aloy and the Horizon series is a distinctly "Playstation property" and seeing her make an appearance on a Nintendo console is a bit wild to me. Doubly so since there isn't a major "thing" for the franchise that might warrant the promotional efforts. Also damn weird to hear the VO discuss "prior games" in the series since they are all on Playstation consoles.
Metroid Prime 4- I can't believe they actually showed it. An appearance from the franchise wouldn't have surprised me (Still waiting on the MP 2 and 3 ports that are rumored to be "in the can"), but it does surprise me that they DID show stuff for Prime 4. And what they showed was fairly impressive, with more action that I was expecting. That said, I'm still expecting Prime 4 to potentially be a "cross gen" title for the next Nintendo console.
Rumors were that MP 2 and 3 would make an appearance, but maybe Nintendo is holding them off to help build hype for MP 4?