InkSplat here. I went to CAMHS, missed out a school day, now I’m gonna talk about that AMAZING Nintendo Direct. Here goes.
First up…
(Source image from Nintendo press release)
A NEW MARIO & LUIGI GAME HAS ARRIVED. GET HYPED.
Ever since the Switch successor was announced to be revealed around March next year, It has me thinking. Why is the Nintendo Switch so sterile? It’s been years since 2017, so I take it for granted, but there was once a time where Nintendo was not afraid to be, in my words, “weird.”
Their games, from the GameCube era ’til the Switch, were joyfully experimental. There was a Pokémon game where all you did was watch TV. That was how you got Celebi. The consoles themselves were just as pleasantly weird, from the 3D of the 3DS, the touchscreen GamePad of the Wii U or the motion controls of the Wii. From the early 2000s ’til the mid-2010s, everything was cool. And then… the Switch. Don’t get me wrong, the Switch is still cool, but in comparison to what came before… meh.
A major part of the “weird era” of Nintendo was AlphaDream’s Mario & Luigi RPGs. The game focussed on controlling both brothers, hence the name. The games also have a unique sense of humour. The first game, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, involves the brothers rescuing Peach from some jerks who had stolen her voice and replaced it with explosives. Yes, really.
AlphaDream has since gone bankrupt, but that didn’t stop Nintendo from making a new game. Mario & Luigi: Brothership involves a wormhole that takes our beloved brothers to a place called Concordia. In Concordia, Mario and Luigi have control over a huge boat-shaped island called Shipshape Island. In the boat, they “explore islands that range from tropical rainforests to bustling cities” and “meet new friends to help [them] on [their] journey.” It also, notably, uses 3D cel-shaded graphics, as opposed to the pixel-art of the past games. The combat, like any notable RPG with Mario’s name, is timing-based, though where this series varies is the use of “Bros. Attacks,” where Mario helps Luigi and vice versa. The game really caught my eye, with visuals that seemed better than even the best Switch game. At times, I couldn’t believe what I saw was a Switch game, let alone a video game. Hype Rating: 10/10. Coming this November 7th. (read here for more)
(Image from Mistwalker, taken from Digital Trends)
Fantasian Neo Dimension. Holy moly, Fantasian Neo Dimension.
You might not have heard of Mistwalker’s 2021 RPG Fantasian, and I don’t blame you. I didn’t even realise that this existed until the Direct, and I have a subscription to Apple Arcade, the subscription service that it was originally on. Anyway, Fantasian is a game about some guy named Leo, who wakes up in a place called the Machine Realm with no memories. It was made by the guy who invented Final Fantasy, with a well-known composer from the series to boot.
The visuals of this game looked mobile-game-quality in a bad way, in spite of its unique handcrafted diorama aesthetic, and its story is generic, but the unique gameplay mechanics save it. First up, its battles, which involve aiming projectiles at enemies with an Angry-Birds-like aim mechanic. The other biggest thing is the so-called “Dimengeon,” a kind of pocket dimension you can store enemies in to fight with special unique Dimengeon-only powers later. It’s cool. Hype: 9/10. Coming this holiday season.
Speed round, because I’m bored.
There’s the first Zelda game since the CD-i to involve Zelda herself as the protagonist. Now she can clone objects to get around. That rocks. (read here for more)
Funko Fusion, a game I was looking forward to, has understandably awful visuals on the lower-powered Switch, even worse than Fortnite.
There’s a new The Denpa Men game called THE NEW DENPA MEN. NINTENDO IS WEIRD AGAIN, WOO-HOO!
Nintendo Switch Sports finally gets basketball. Why did it take so long for this to happen?
Looney Tunes gets Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports, an interesting licensed game that reminds me of both Space Jam and the old Sonic and Sega All-Stars games at the same time.
Among Us gets a bunch of new roles.
Hello Kitty: Island Adventure, an Animal-Crossing-like involving Sanrio characters that was previously Apple Arcade exclusive, will soon be on Switch. I can spend more time with Keroppi, Gudetama, Kuromi and Retsuko from Aggretsuko (my favourite Sanrio characters).
Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online gets a “MATURE 17+” spinoff, featuring FPS classics Turok and Perfect Dark.
Stray is getting ported to Switch.
We have more Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition footage, including footage of “survival mode”.
Some Middle-Earth-themed cosy game just happened. I don’t care. Dungeons & Dragons is the best adaptation of Middle-Earth, in my opinion. (Halflings are just legally-distinct Hobbits.)
Just Dance 2025 Edition got announced.
We have more footage of that LEGO Horizon crossover game from the Summer Game Fest. I a looking forward to this.
A new Mario Party game has been announced, and it’s hosted by best boy Kamek!!! Kamek best Mario character!!!!!!11!1jhbfwjvdchjbcdjbdj (read here for more)
There are a bunch of Dragon Quest games being made into HD-2D. The only good HD-2D game is the remake of LIVE A LIVE, in my opinion.
DONKEY KONG COUNTRY RETURNS HAS BEEN PORTED TO SWITCH LET’S GOOOOOOO (read here for more)
There was this really cool platformer with some robot thing that had green back tentacle things? I dunno, I skimmed through the entire presentation. (EDIT: I FOUND IT! It was called Mio: Memories in Orbit.)
And more! But most importantly…
WE HAVE A METROID PRIME 4 REVEAL TRAILER.
Metroid Prime 4(‘s temporary logo) was revealed early on into the Switch’s life in 2017. Then, in 2019, it was announced that Retro Studios (the developers of Prime 1-3) was developing it as development started from the beginning again. Now, we have footage of MP4, and I say… it’s mighty impressive.
It looks kinda like the newer Doom games, only you play as best girl Samus. She has to explore a world reclaimed by nature, shooting some aliens while scanning others. It looks better than most Switch games. I know I said that for Brothership, but holy moly.
This is the best Nintendo Direct in recent memory, and you can read all about it through this link.
Also, y’all like RPGs with unique combat and humour, like Undertale, Deltarune and Paper Mario? Well, the InkSplativerse RPG is now officially in development! I had a photo, but it didn’t upload for some reason.
InkSplat out!
AND HERE’S ZELDA WITH THE FOLDING CHAIR!!!