Nintendo last held a Nintendo Direct in September of 2023. A lot has changed since then, but one constant remains: People really want to hear about what’s coming to Switch in the coming months.
And that’s exactly what we all did on Tuesday morning, as Nintendo held its first Direct of the year. Rather than waste your time with too much setup, let’s jump into it. Here are the eight biggest announcements Nintendo made during its June 2024 Direct stream.
Nintendo Direct June 2024: 8 big announcements
Nintendo may not have shown the next Switch console (that much was confirmed ahead of time so as to manage expectations), but that’s fine. Here are a bunch of games coming to Switch in the near future to tide you over.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership
After almost a decade since the last one, Nintendo is bringing back its beloved Mario & Luigi turn-based RPG franchise with Brothership. It’s in 3D now, but still features a ton of flashy partner moves between everyone’s favorite plumber brothers, to go along with a new nautical setting and a gang of villains who all appear to be based on electrical equipment.
This game launches on Nov. 7.
Fantasian Neo Dimension
Fantasian hit iPhones a few years ago as part of Apple Arcade, but it’s been begging for a proper console release — and, well — we’re getting that at some point in winter 2024. Fantasian Neo Dimension is a turn-based RPG from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, with music by legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu.
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
This is an HD port of a 2009 Wii game, so it’s not too exciting. But Donkey Kong Country Returns was always a solid, more modern take on the old DKC games, with stylish visuals, great music, and an acceptable level of challenge.
Mashable Light Speed
This new version launches on Jan. 16, 2025.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Square Enix is remaking three old Dragon Quest games in a new, gorgeous art style. Using the same “HD-2D” tech that powered Octopath Traveler and Live a Live, the original DQ trilogy will launch in a weird order. Dragon Quest III is coming out on Nov. 14, while the remakes of the two games before it will launch sometime in 2025. Apparently, there’s some reason why you’d want to play them in that order, specifically, but you’ll have to wait (or just Google it) to find out.
Marvel Arcade Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
Capcom made a bunch of kick-ass Marvel superhero arcade games in the ’90s — and they’re all back in this collection. The most important inclusion is Marvel vs. Capcom 2, of course, but there’s a bunch of others to go along with cool-looking museum features.
Marvel Arcade Fighting Collection launches on Switch this year.
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Mario Party is back! Nintendo’s devilish board/party game franchise returns with Jamboree, which brings with it several new maps as well as some remastered old maps from previous Mario Party games. Again, you kinda know whether or not this interests you already.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Holy mackerel, they finally made a game where you play as Princess Zelda! It launches on Sept. 26.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
This one doesn’t feel real, but it is, somehow.
Metroid Prime 4 was originally announced with nothing but a logo in 2017. In 2019, Nintendo announced that it was restarting development with a new team. Five and a half long years passed and people started to doubt whether we’d ever see Prime 4 at all.
But Nintendo came through, showing a couple minutes of fresh-looking gameplay footage just to prove that the game does, indeed exist. It’s called Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and launches some time in 2025 for Nintendo Switch. We think it’s for Switch, anyway.
