What You Missed From the June 2024 Nintendo Direct
After a June 17 announcement, Nintendo hosted its highly-anticipated summer 2024 Nintendo Direct broadcast on June 18. As per usual, the international gaming company announced a series of new titles featuring familiar faces, updates to existing games, and exciting new features for fans to enjoy in the coming months. Below, EnVi recaps the most important news from the latest Nintendo Direct.
New Installments for Legacy Franchises
Nintendo shared news about various new installments for its most beloved franchises. The company revealed Mario & Luigi: Brothership, the first Mario & Luigi game in almost nine years. With evolved “Bro” moves, an abundance of mysterious islands and a refreshing colorful art style, fans of the heroic duo are sure to be hooked. This new adventure is slated for release on November 7.
The plumber brothers will also be seen in the upcoming Super Mario Party Jamboree, the biggest installment of the Super Mario Party series of games to date. Players can jump into a collection of 110 mini games, play on five new game boards and two classic Mario Party boards, and go head-to-head online with up to 20 players. Super Mario Party Jamboree is set to be released on October 17. Plus, Luigi takes the spotlight in Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, which arrives on June 27. Full of various puzzles to master and ghouls to battle, fans of the timid hero can now explore multiple mansions as they discover treasures and carry out frightening missions.
Barrelling in with a grand entrance, Donkey Kong makes his return in Donkey Kong Country Returns, the remade Nintendo Wii title set to release on the Switch in January 2025. Players can swing into the exhilarating challenge solo or team-up with a fellow comrade via local co-op as sidekick Diddy Kong.
Finally, and perhaps most excitingly, Nintendo announced the release of a new addition to The Legend of Zelda series: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. This cozy adventure game sees Zelda in the role of protagonist for the first time ever as she searches for Link. Fans will have access to the new, chibi-style gameplay on September 26.
Updates to Existing Games
In addition to a slew of new titles, Nintendo released information regarding updates coming to its existing games. Online social deduction game Among Us continues to introduce intriguing twists, this time with new Crewmate and Imposter roles: the Noisemaker (who can alert fellow crewmates), the Tracker (who can plant tracking devices on others), and the Phantom (who can turn invisible while eliminating players).
Basketball is arriving at Spocco Square as a pre-update to the Nintendo Switch Sports. Using motion controls, sport fanatics can compete in two-on-two matches (locally or online) or test their abilities in solo challenges this summer. Nintendo Switch Online also unveiled an expansion pack with classic titles such as Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Four Swords, Metroid: Zero Mission remake and a Mature 17+ collection of games for the Nintendo 64.
Arrival of New Games
Alongside exciting game updates and nostalgic reunions, Nintendo announced its new game releases. MIO: Memories in Orbit, launching in 2025, is set in a gigantic spaceship called the Vessel. Indie game lovers can play as the android MIO in a decaying world overgrown with rogue machines in this riveting 2D role-playing adventure game.
Following suit, fans of the hit anime Fairy Tail can now relive the Alvarez Empire Arc in KOEI TECMO AMERICA‘s new action role-playing game (RPG) FAIRY TAIL 2, coming this winter. In the game, real-time battles against various enemies take place in the notorious enchanted Kingdom of Fiore. Fans of Fairy Tail author Hiro Mashima’s character designs can also catch the all-new fantasy action game Farmagia on November 1.
Mobile game Hello Kitty Island Adventure, perfect for cozy gamers and life simulation game enjoyers, is launching for the Switch system in 2025. Players can customize their character and befriend familiar Sanrio personalities in an open world as they build and decorate their islands, embark on missions and solve puzzles.
Finally, the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series will receive two Ace Attorney spin-off games, including a sequel previously unreleased outside of Japan in Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. Detectives (i.e. the game’s players) may experience the game with hand-drawn visuals from the original character designer, Iwamoto Tatsuro, or swap to the original sprites (i.e. pixel art). The visual novel game is set to release on September 6, with pre-order available now. The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy, from the creators of Danganronpa and Zero Escape, is another visual novel-turned-strategy RPG, coming early 2025.
Much to Look Forward To
Every Nintendo Direct is a highly-anticipated broadcast for video game players worldwide. Aside from the extensive updates on awaited new and popular old titles, Nintendo also provided brief, relevant information on a range of different games. DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake, coming November 14, is a remake of the Eridck trilogy highly popular in Japan. The company also made a surprise announcement regarding the DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake to notify viewers of a to-be-determined 2025 release.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is a turn-based mobile RPG from Final Fantasy creator Hironubu Sakaguchi coming to the Nintendo Switch during the holiday season, with composer Nobuo Uematsu in charge of the soundtrack. The first gameplay trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, initially announced in 2017, was also revealed alongside the announcement of the game’s 2025 arrival.
Of course, this list of releases and updates to look forward to is nonexhaustive — Nintendo Direct is filled with an overwhelming amount of information suited for a wide-ranging audience. To see a full list of upcoming games and changes, watch the full Nintendo Direct broadcast below.
Looking to keep up with more recent game-related content? Read about the upcoming season of the Netflix-exclusive series from Riot Games, Arcane, here!
