Well, well, well... I went into this Nintendo Direct with high expectations. And I can't say that I'm disappointed. Technically, only one of the things from my list made it into the Direct, but that thing is nothing less than the first ever gameplay footage of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. And that was arguably the most important one here. Hello there, Sylux!
Otherwise, I did get meaningful replacements for almost everything else. There was no remake of Oracle of Ages & Seasons, sadly, but they've made a completely new Zelda game in that style, called The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which is full of surprises. In my Future of Zelda article from earlier this year, I did say that I can see them making a new top-down Zelda game next, but I didn't expect this to happen this year already and in the exact same style as the Link's Awakening remake.
As always, I will make separate posts about the big stuff later today, so I won't get into detail here, but I'm equally skeptical and excited, because on the one hand I really love the style, but on the other hand I'm not yet sold on the new "echo" mechanic. The game will launch together with a special-themed Nintendo Switch Lite, the "Hyrule Edition" and this only comes five years too late...
There weren't any of the remakes, remasters, or ports that I've been considering yesterday, but there was still something from my wishlist that I've made in January: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. That will be really nice to have on Nintendo Switch, right next to Tropical Freeze, especially since this comes with the improvements of the 3DS version, but without its terrible frame rate.
As for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Remastered, in hindsight it makes sense that they didn't want to draw away the attention from Metroid Prime 4. Maybe this will still come later this year as a way to pass the time, though.
Then there was something that I didn't have on my radar yesterday, even though I still wanted it: we actually got A Link to the Past & Four Swords for the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy Advance library. You will be able to play this game online for the first time ever with friends, at least officially. That's a big deal and I will have to get the Expansion Pack now, where this will be great to have as some entertainment until Echoes of Wisdom comes out in September. In addition, there is Metroid: Zero Mission, so there is also something small for the Metroid fans here.
The only thing that was completely missing was some kind of new Nintendo Warriors game. I was absolutely convinced that they would make "Xenoblade Warriors" next and I apologize for getting anyone's hopes up here. Instead, we got Fairy Tail 2 from Koei Tecmo, which was kinda lame...
And yes, I will go apply some clown make-up after this post. I've made the Silksong mistake once now, I won't make it again. I guess, Team Cherry will just do their own thing and drop the game once they are ready... any day now.
Very excited for Echoes of Wisdom. I like that Zelda's more of a sorcerer instead of just having the same style of gameplay as Link (would rather they use Linkle if that were the case).
ReplyDeleteAnd it seems like you briefly play as Link during the beginning before switching to Zelda. Kinda reminds me of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in that regard which is awesome.