Nintendo Direct 6/18/24 review: Saving the Best for Last

And as the summer of gaming draws to a close, we come face to face with the Nintendo Direct, the final stream of the season. Showcasing on June 18th, it has showcased trailer after trailer of new Nintendo games for the rest of 2024, all the way to the unknown of 2025.

The first party title they showcased was the new Mario and Luigi RPG: Brothership. This is technically the first new installment of the franchise since 2015 (not counting remasters or remakes), and it looks pretty good so far. I’m a little worried since the original developer studio behind this series, Alphadream, shut down a few years prior, but from what was showcased, it looks to be an incredible new addition to this long-running line.

They also showed off smaller updates for games already out or coming out in the near immediate future, like a new sport for Nintendo Switch Sports, new roles for Among Us, the soon-to-be-released Nintendo World Championship collection, and a few indie/third-party games that might be fun. They also showcased a new remaster of Donkey Kong Returns, which is a surprise since they did that a few years back for the 3DS, but thankfully, we now have all 6 games on the Switch, even if 4 of them are locked behind Nintendo’s online service.

Another major title that was showcased was the new trailer for the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake, a legendary JRPG title that is being built from the ground up in the breathtaking HD-2D engine. We haven't seen any news for 3 years since this was announced in Japan back in 2021, but now that we did get to see news for it, I can say for certain that this might very well be the most faithful recreation of this legendary franchise. As a surprise, Square Enix has announced that Dragon Quest 1 and 2 will both be getting the HD-2D remake treatment, launching in 2025, completing the Erdrick trilogy.

The next title might have been glossed over in the direct, but this had a major impact on its fans and the internet as a whole: Capcom announcing the Marvel vs Capcom fighting collection. 7 legendary games from Capcom’s one-of-a-kind partnership with Marvel to bring us a franchise that is honestly lightning in a bottle, including Marvel vs Capcom 2, X-men vs Street Fighter, and more. With crossplay, rollback netcode, a music player, and various artworks, this is sure to be a collection nobody would want to miss out on.

Capcom also showcased the Ace Attorney Investigations collection, a duology of games set in the Ace Attorney universe starring iconic prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. These games being announced as a collection comes as a major shock because Capcom not only has released Ace Attorney 4, 5, and 6 as a previous collection that came out earlier this year, but one of these two Investigations games has never made it out of Japan, thus giving overseas fans a chance to play without an emulator for the first time.

Nintendo has also announced a brand new 2D Legend of Zelda game starring Princess Zelda herself as the main hero. Echoes of Wisdom, as it's now known, takes place in the same timeline as Link to the Past and Links Awakening (with its game engine being the same as the Links Awakening remake they did a few years back), Stars Zelda as the hero after both Link and Ganon both got kidnapped by a strange force, thus it’s up to Zelda to save them both with the power of her new staff, which allows her to copy, or Echo, items, weapons, and even monsters like Deku Baba’s and Bokogoblins to do her work. This game, not only looks fun and cute to boot but a treat for the Zelda fans who cannot wait for the next 3D installment for the next system.

Last, and certainly not least, is the full reveal of the long-awaited, long anticipated, long-in-development Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. A game revealed 7 years ago during E3 2017, gone through restarts, delays, studio changes, a pandemic, and more, makes its true debut on the main stage, and it was more than worth the wait. Metroid has never looked cleaner, Samus has never looked deadlier, the worlds have never been more alien, and Stylix, who hasn't been seen since Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, is back and wants revenge for what Samus did to him in the past. Launching 2025 for the Switch and potentially the next system, fans of Metroid have to wait a little longer, but now we know that it’s coming at a timeframe, it shouldn't be as agonizing as before.

Overall, this Direct showcased major wins to various fandoms of games, like Dragon Quest, MvC, Mario and Luigi, Zelda, Ace Attorney, and Metroid, and has ignited and even brought together fans of different fandoms, including this reviewer. I cannot WAIT to get my hands on these titles and so much more from this direct. Despite the slower reveals of games with negative reception, like Funko Fusion (a lackluster attempt at replicating the imaginative Lego Dimensions with the soulless Funko Pop figures), I can say without any doubt in my heart that Nintendo has saved the best announcements for last, as per usual with every year during this time. They know how to end strong, end hard, and end in ways that make many many people happy.