By: Christian Roethling and Andrew Hawlitzky
On Feb. 21, Nintendo aired its first Direct presentation of the year as a Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase. The Partner Showcase aired during an interesting moment in the Nintendo Switch’s life as the future of the console is more unclear than ever. As always, The Brock Press’ resident Nintendo fans, the Game Boys, are on the case.
Christian—
It’s no secret that we’re coming out of one of the Nintendo Switch’s best years on the market. 2023 saw the release of major titles such as Pikmin 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. As the year drew to a close, things became much less clear for the future of Nintendo Switch, and while February’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase had some exciting announcements, it didn’t feel like enough to detail what to expect from the console in 2024.
The fact that we would be getting a Partner Showcase leaked earlier in the month thanks to reputable industry insiders, and many fans were quickly disappointed. Prior to the Partner Showcase, the Nintendo Switch’s slate of confirmed releases was fairly low-profile, mainly consisting of a few undated Mario remakes and remasters, the mysterious Princess Peach: Showtime!, and the ever-elusive Metroid Prime 4.
A regular Nintendo Direct in February would have been perfect to fill out the release schedule. At the time, rumours abounded that an announcement for the Nintendo Switch successor would be quickly following in March, so missing a general Nintendo Direct in February wasn’t too much of a concern – but with the recent rumours regarding the successor being delayed into 2025 and the announcement likely being delayed with it, we’re once again left without much to look forward to.
I would have preferred to get a Nintendo Direct Mini, which could have still left the lineup relatively light – something that makes sense in the Switch’s final full year – but could still have given fans more to look forward to.
A Nintendo Direct Mini could have given us everything shown in the Partner Showcase as well as a bit more first-party content. We could have seen the release date for the upcoming Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake, or finally gotten a look at the leaked remake of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Throw in a GameCube remaster shadow-drop a la Pikmin 1 + 2, and you’ve got an excellent Nintendo Direct Mini to keep fans satisfied while keeping a lowkey-release schedule.
For what the Partner Showcase was, though, it was still excellent. It was great to have the anticipated platformer Penny’s Big Breakaway surprise-released during the presentation, and it was fun to see Game Freak’s Pocket Card Jockey get a renewed lease on life on Nintendo Switch.
Plus, as a huge sucker for the Super Monkey Ball franchise, the announcement of Banana Rumble was simply delightful. This is the series’ first fully original release since 2012, and it will be a blast to play new stages for the first time in over a decade.
Endless Ocean Luminous was another exciting announcement and one that felt as though it could have been a headliner in a larger Nintendo Direct. The game looks gorgeous, and while I’ve never played the Wii originals, I am excited to dive into this franchise for the first time.
All in all, the Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase was a fun watch, but it felt like fans could have used more during such an empty period of the Switch’s life. With the next Nintendo Direct rumoured to take place in April, however, fans can likely rest easy knowing they won’t have to wait much longer.
Andrew—
After nearly half a year of anticipation, a new Nintendo Direct just dropped and it’s a bit of a doozy.
Disney’s Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a remake of the 2010 Wii classic starring Mickey and his battle against Disney’s forgotten and now public domain characters. This remake comes as a bit of a surprise. While there has been considerable fan outcry to turn the Epic Mickey franchise into a trilogy, this complete remake brings the 14-year-old franchise back to its roots.
That being said, I highly doubt that the price of this game will reflect its age. Charging $60 or more for simple remakes or even remasters has become the norm for so many franchises. Though many fans are hyped by rereleases of classic games from their childhood on modern systems, a price equal to or inflated from the game’s first release cost is difficult to justify.
Star Wars Battlefront Collection is a rerelease of the first games in the Battlefront franchise and they suffer from an even greater justification problem. Unlike Epic Mickey, the Battlefront Collection is not a remake, it is not even a remaster, it is only a port of the game to Switch with some slight optimization improvements.
The graphics of both Battlefront games in the “collection” have had no noticeable improvements whatsoever and still suffer from the same low-quality textures and low-poly models present in the original release. On Steam, the Battlefront Collection starts at $45.52. This price is difficult to justify for a 20-year-old game that looks its age, especially when you consider that both Battlefront 1 and 2 on Steam are individually only $12.99.
Several other behind-their-time partnership games entered the roster during this Direct. South Park: Snow Day releases later this month, though to be honest, I had to research if this too was a port because the N64-style graphics made me believe this game was over 20 years old.
Suika Game, made popular by several Twitch VTubers, is coming to the Switch though it could have just as easily been a Nintendo DS game.
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! needs no justification; you race cartoon horses by playing solitaire.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a noteworthy rip-off of Animal Crossing’s art and design with an integrated Warcraftian hack-and-slash gameplay element.
A few shovelware games were added to NSO’s retro game emulators such as the less-than-iconic Battletoads or Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll.
Despite the many underwhelming titles in this year’s Direct, several standout games saved this Direct for me.
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is a 2D art-centric adventure game starring the characters and setting of the popular 1945 Finnish children’s book series. The art direction of the game seems to be a faithful and modern rendition of a classic, heartwarming, and somewhat obscure franchise yet given only a few seconds of attention in the Direct.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Royal Edition is a port of popular 2018 action RPG featuring period-accurate designs and plots centred in the 15th-century Kingdom of Bohemia.
Another Crab’s Treasure is a fun and cartoony loot-based action game where you apparently “harness powerful umami magic” and fight giant enemy crabs in this undersea-scape adventure.
Only one game truly brought this Direct back from the depths of obscurity for me, and it came right out of left field and really hit me where I live. Endless Ocean Luminous is the third installment of the majestic underwater exploration series featuring breathtaking aquatic scenery, over 500 species of marine life and an awe-inspiring soundtrack that brings out the serenity of ocean diving.
After Endless Ocean: Blue World was released on the Wii back in 2010, I never thought I would see one of my favourite third-party series again. Luminous will also be compatible with online multiplayer so up to 30 friends can dive with you in the many underwater settings present in-game.
Luminous is a new start for the Endless Ocean series while keeping the same beautiful energy that made the original games so nostalgic.
I had my doubts about this Direct at the start, but by the end, I couldn’t deny that this was some of the best gaming news to come from Nintendo in months.
…
Overall, the Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase left much to be desired and many questions about the future of Switch software – but the exciting lineup of third-party games makes this one of the best Partner Showcases of all time.