June’s Nintendo Direct was announced a day before airtime, and as soon as it was officially announced, everyone rushed to reveal their predictions or “leaks.” Nintendo definitely delivered us everything they promised. It was mostly about 40 minutes of information about games coming out this year and information about the new Pikmin 4. The biggest surprise of the show for most people was the announcement of Super Mario RPG for Switch and his new 2D Super Mario game by Super Mario Bros. Wonder. While we can cover the show live and check out the NVC panel’s reaction, we wanted to share our reaction to the Nintendo Direct in writing.
Seth Macy
As far as Nintendo Directs go, the announcement I’m most excited about is actually about a collection of games, the youngest of which is almost 20 years old. Of course, we’re talking about Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 is very similar to the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection released for PS3 (minus a few games). It’s not even a remake or remaster, it looks like you just got the original versions of the first three of his MGS games, but honestly I’m fine with that. They’re incredibly durable and I love them all, so being able to bring them to the Switch means I’ll be playing Metal Gear more often, which is a good thing. Other than that, Direct felt pretty decent.
I never expected to see a Super Mario RPG or Luigi’s Mansion 2 remake, and I’m still working on Super Mario Wonder, a newly announced 2D Mario game with new elephant powers. It looks so strange! But it looks very interesting, probably because it’s so weird. Animation and personalities were the real stars of the reveal trailer. Of course, there was some gameplay material, but it was mostly to show off how weird the game was and showcase the characters’ amazingly expressive animations. It’s kind of like Chuck Jones’ Super Mario. I’m so excited to see how it all ties together.
While the direct was decent, it didn’t really get what I was hoping for in the Switch version of recognizing the presence of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but that’s okay. Not everyone can get what they want. Also, I’ve been wishing MGS games were on Switch for a while, and with this I can close that chapter in my wish book. Nor did I hear any information about Metroid Prime 4. It’s not surprising at this point, but I felt there could be some kind of update. Perhaps Metroid Prime 4 is going to do for the Metroid series what Tears of the Kingdom did for Zelda (and, let’s be honest, all open world games). I don’t think so. Feeling sad.
Brendan Graber
I was pretty confused by this Nintendo Direct, but that’s not a bad thing. Perhaps it’s because we’ve already seen some great first-party games earlier in the year, but other than some really good ports, we weren’t expecting a big bang. Still, I’m pretty excited that in a few months we’ll finally be able to break out of the “new” format and release another side-scrolling Mario whose visual style seems completely insane. I also feel a little sorry for Everyone 1-2-Switch! The bare-bones marketing of the day before the direct was completely shoved away by the excellent Warioware Move It!
As far as unfulfilled dreams go, I’m no longer shocked by the lack of Metroid news, Metroid Prime 4 for Switch no longer exists, quietly remade into one world. I came to believe that A major launch title for Nintendo’s next game console.
Pier Schneider
I enjoyed the Direct, but it was missing a significant announcement or two that really made it feel like an old Nintendo summer showcase. My anticipation was heightened by February’s excellent remastered release of Metroid Prime. Nintendo seems to be getting fans ready for the sequel this holiday season, and it would have been very likely that it would come out in June. On top of that, we haven’t seen a truly original Nintendo game reveal in a while – think things like Arms and Splatoon, and join the ranks of classic Nintendo games like Mario, Zelda, and Kirby. Consider (or maybe not) the weapon. And because we’re so greedy right now, we’re pretty behind on new hardware announcements. The long-awaited Switch hardware next installment aside, Nintendo has surprised us with cool experiments like the microconsole, the Game & Watch unit, and even the former LABO. Having prematurely announced the next independent adventure of Princess Peach, Nintendo apparently knew they needed something a little more delicious for Nintendo fans. Too brief a glance seemed to contradict the rest of the direct. I wish I’d revealed a more complete feature at a later date, but Nintendo has confirmed that Peach is at the forefront of its character roster, based on her critically acclaimed appearance in the Super Mario Bros. movies. It was clear that I wanted to.
But with all that said, I have to say that what Nintendo has shown has been truly amazing. I’m ready for a new 2D Mario game. Super Mario Bros. Wonder looks very promising. This was the star of the Direct for me, but it narrowly beat out Super Mario RPG when it came out. Somehow, the original game and characters like Geno were trapped in the vague framework of the old partnership between Square and Nintendo, which made it too complicated to bother making a remake. I was telling myself But that’s exactly what we’re getting. There’s no pixel remaster or Nintendo Switch Online release, but it’s a full-polygon rework of the underrated classic, topped with modern music by Yoko Shimomura. Add to that popular titles like Vampire Survivors Switch, the new Wario Wear, Pikmin 1 and 2, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon, and Star Ocean Second His Story R remake, and you have a pretty solid line-up.
Miranda Sanchez
I’m definitely one of the few people out there great joy Finally watched Detective Pikachu Returns. And considering a sequel was announced in 2019 and we haven’t heard anything since then, it’s quite the comeback. Other than that, I was a little surprised to see how Mario-focused the Direct was overall. These games generally look cool. I play to play Super Mario RPGs and I wish there was a platform adventure Mario game instead of side-scrolling. The latter is classic, but I like Mario games with enough room to triple jump in any direction. I was also a little surprised that we didn’t see another very specific Miranda and Friends game, Fashion Her Dreamer. It will be released later this year, but no release date has been set yet. Overall, I thought Direct did a good job heading into the rest of the year and a little early next year.
