IT’S safe to say the Switch is in its twilight years, but last week Nintendo lifted the lid on enough fan-fondling hits to turn the venerable handheld from care home fodder to golden oldie with Jagger-like swagger.
We expected a handful of indie hits to keep that last drop of blood coursing through the seven-year-old portable’s veins: what we got was an avalanche of marquee titles sure to tide die-hards over until Switch 2 lands next year, including a brand-new Zelda, two fresh Mario efforts and, yes, Metroid Prime 4.
So cancel the priest – the Switch isn’t going out quietly.
Kicking off with a Switch debut for Nintendo’s long-running action-RPG series, Mario and Luigi Brothership is the first new entry since 2015′s Paper Jam.
Hung on Mario RPG’s foundations and with a cel-shaded cartoon look, Nintendo promises a “sea-faring adventure that unfolds across mysterious islands” when Brothership releases on November 7.
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And Mario will party hardy on October 17 with the latest release in Nintendo’s most prolific series: Super Mario Party Jamboree promises to be its biggest yet, with new and returning boards from the series’ 26-year history.
Next came gaming’s best-kept secret: a brand-new Zelda, due to launch this year and featuring a long-overdue twist on the formula. Just as with March’s Princess Peach: Showtime, our perennial damsel in distress finally takes the spotlight in Echoes of Wisdom.
Rather than swinging a sword, the elven empress uses a magical staff to create copies (or echoes) of items found in the world to solve puzzles and battle enemies in unique ways. With an art style lifted from the Link’s Awakening remake, Echoes of Wisdom is a cuteness overload, and will release with a new Zelda-themed Switch Lite console on September 26.
So far, so Nintendo – but the presentation’s killer blow was the black sheep of the company’s franchises. Given the Switch launched with a Metroid Prime 4 announcement, it’s rather poetic that it will bow out with the oft-delayed space odyssey actually getting released.
As a tooled-up bounty hunter battling space dragons on alien worlds filled with labyrinthine dread, Metroid’s star, Samus Aran, has been dishing out girl power since 1986 - a decade before Lara Croft. And, after a Godot-like wait for new information, it’s finally time to lock and load again with the First Lady of gaming in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Fans were treated to a trailer featuring familiar gameplay as our helmeted heroine explored a lush forest world, scanning baddies and using her morph ball ability. It all looks incredible, forcing the Switch to punch well above its weight – and it’s thought this could be a cross-gen launch title for Switch 2, with added bells and whistles on the new hardware.