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This year’s first Nintendo Direct came in a bit late. Instead of taking place within the first two weeks of February as it had in years past, the event dropped on Wednesday, February 21st, possibly because the company had some news about some games from some other publishers. In the Direct announcement, Nintendo said it would share news on games, “coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and development partners.”
Now that things have wrapped up, we know that includes a pair of previously Xbox-exclusive titles in Pentiment and Grounded, and the return of some beloved Wii titles with Epic Mickey and Endless Ocean. There are also a bunch of classic Rare games coming to Switch Online subscribers and a handful of demos hitting the eShop — including one for the tactical RPG Unicorn Overlord. You can watch the full video below, and check out all of the highlights in this stream.
Pew pew.
The original two Star Wars Battlefront games are making their way to modern platforms — while the collection was announced at a Nintendo Direct for the Switch, it’s also launching on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. Even better: the games will support up to 64 players online. The collection will be available on March 14th.
One crab’s trash, is another crab’s condo.
Another Crab’s Treasure, launching April 25th, was announced during today’s Nintendo Partner Direct. In it, you’ll play as a hermit crab who must wear whatever trash he can scavenge from the bottom of the ocean. The different trash homes provide protection as the little crab fights for a treasure that will help him win him back his repossessed shell.
In other words... a cutesy, fun game that hides the nasty realities of capitalism. I expect nothing less from Aggro Crab, the studio who also gave us Going Under.
Check out Unicorn Overlord right now.
The throwback tactical RPG from Atlus launches on March 8th, but you can get an early taste of it with a new demo that’s out in the eShop right now.
One of the Wii’s most relaxing games is coming to the Switch.
Endless Ocean was something of a cult classic on the Wii, and a new version — called Luminous — is bringing the serene exploration to the Switch. It takes place in an unexplored region called the Veiled Sea that changes every time you play, and supports multiplayer with up to 30 people online and has 500 creatures to seek out. It launches on May 2nd.
Several Rareware games return to Nintendo.
During today’s Direct partner showcase, Nintendo revealed that five Rareware games would stealth drop on Nintendo Switch Online today.
Killer Instinct, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll, and R.C. Pro-Am are available on Nintendo Switch Online while it’ll take an Expansion Pack subscription to access the fifth game Blast Corps.
Mickey gets epic (again).
One of the first big reveals during today’s Nintendo showcase was a remaster of Epic Mickey, the 2010 platformer that originally debuted on the Wii, and involves the Disney mascot wielding a magical paintbrush. The updated version is called Rebrushed, and it drops later this year.
Grounded and Pentiment are Microsoft’s first Xbox-exclusive games for Nintendo Switch
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Image: Microsoft
Grounded and Pentiment are the first previously Xbox-exclusive games to arrive on Nintendo Switch. Obsidian’s 2D narrative adventure roleplaying game Pentiment will launch on Switch tomorrow, followed by Grounded, the survival co-op that’s a combination of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and A Bug’s Life, on April 16th.
Both games were confirmed in Nintendo’s partner showcase today, after Microsoft revealed last week that it would be taking four previously Xbox-exclusive games to rival consoles like the PS5 and Nintendo. The Verge revealed that the four games would be Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded.
Nintendo will announce part of its 2024 Switch lineup later this week
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
This year’s first Direct will take place Wednesday morning at 9AM ET, and, according to Nintendo, the 25-minute presentation will feature Switch games “coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and development partners.”
We didn’t need to consult the video game oracles to know a Nintendo Direct was on the way. Not only have Microsoft and PlayStation shared their upcoming release schedules, but taking a look at the dates of the last handful of Directs revealed that Nintendo is fond of the first week of February.