by With today's Nintendo's Direct closing out a flurry of major games showcases over the past week, I think it's fair to say that the best wasn't saved for last. Don't get me wrong, I think this Direct was a fine presentation overall, but for a major summer showcase for Nintendo with high expectations, it was lacking.
First party announcements were mostly limited to smaller updates on previously announced titles (like Splatoon Raiders and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave), a selection of Xenoblade Chronicles Switch 2 versions, and a very brief tease of the Ocarina of Time remake that has been rumoured for several months. I expected to see more from Ocarina of Time in particular, given that it's planned for release this year and is already a bit of a known quantity as a remake of a popular game.
Xenoblade Genesis is probably the most substantial showing in the Nintendo first party lineup, but I didn't see anything particularly eye-catching there. Nintendo is delivering more casual fare with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, but it's hard to see much there to appeal to those outside the existing sphere of motion control minigame fans.
The third party announcements were decent, though many were previously rumoured and surprises were relatively few and far between. Performance concerns plague a number of these games however, with low or unlocked frame-rates marring the likes of Metaphor: Refantazio, Final Fantasy 14, Dragon's Dogma 2 and Space Marine 2. There's probably some sense in declining to port certain current-gen CPU hogs, and in capping unstable games to a 30fps or 40fps refresh. Unfortunately, it seems we are bound to endure quite a few major games with poor performance hygiene on Switch 2.
What did you make of the Nintendo Direct announcements? And how do you rank the show against the Xbox, PlayStation and Geoffcon shows? Let us know in the comments below.
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Nintendo seems to like to stack direct with one genre, as a jrpg fan it was great. It didn't necessarily feel like an E3 tier direct so maybe that's the disappointment, without that expectation it would be seen more favorably.
Seeing KH4 featured here and not PlayStation was crazy though. I'm disappointed KH is a key card but i had no hope that KH4 would be on Switch 2, especially not day 1. And Ocarina of Time would hit a lot harder if not for leaks, i don't think you can fault Nintendo for but surprising you from a leak. The idea of being disappointed there was no gameplay for a game coming so soon only makes sense if it wasn't also the announcement. Otherwise an announcement of a game coming in a few months is generally seen as a good thing.
I thought the Direct was pretty mediocre, but only because it was hyped up so much beforehand. I thought a good 40mins of it would probably have been better off in one of their Partner/Third Party Directs but then again, there will be people who only own a Switch 2 who were probably very excited by the glut of ports that were announced. As someone who pretty much owns a Switch 2 exclusively for Nintendo games, the announcement of another Xenoblade game, Wii Sports Redux and an extremely short glimpse at Ocarina of Time was a bit disappointing. Couple of interesting third party announcements though, like Muramasa.
Overall, not really for me and that's fine.
I liked the Nintendo direct more than any other. I could say that the XBOX Showcase was second, but I have no faith in a consumer brand by Microsoft. The new management seems to doing all the right calls, but I think it's probably too late and they will eventually be screwed by the parent company.
I felt like I was waiting for the Nintendo Direct to actually kick off... and it never did.
It started with a whimper, and crawled through a bunch of JRPGs and games that already exist, but are coming to the Switch 2, ending with Ocarina of Time, which was barely anything other than it exists and has an art style and is coming out this year.
I expect they're playing their cards close to their chest, and they are going to have a dedicated Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct sometime before September, that will include the OOT release date and gameplay along with some kind of commemorative trinket and/or amiibo, and maybe Twilight Princess on NSO.
This year is pretty packed with good games, though. My PS5 is going to be cooking. I'm not sure when I'll get around to them all, honestly. So I'm okay if Star Fox and OOT are the only things from Nintendo I'm playing.
Being a huge Nintendo fan from the snes days to now it’s a shame to say compared to the other platform holders summer shows nintendos was glaringly lacking in my opinion. A focus on small niche games and old ports opening with an obscure rhythm action game. Very few exclusives of note or Nintendo made games. Besides a couple of big Japanese RPGs there wasn’t much to tempt a non switch 2 owner. No new 3d Mario, Luigi’s mansion, original IP etc and only a teaser of ocarina of time that was already well known to be in development
I went into the Nintendo Direct with low expectations, and my expectations were mostly met / lightly exceeded. It wasn't bad! But it was mostly filled with ports of existing games, or announcements that don't interest me at all.
The two nicest surprises were the Muramasa remake and Final Fantasy spinoff. I was pleased Nintendo finally acknowledged the Ocarina of Time remake, though they might as well have just shown us a logo and "2026" for what little we got.
I personally didn't think any presentation was a standout this year. They all had a couple good looking titles, some that didn't have enough information, some general things and a lot of cross-platform titles. I would say Nintendo had the presentation with the most games I would actually purchase FWIW, but it definitely wasn't a "banger".
I'm left forever hoping for a Wave Race 64 remake/ remaster/ sequel that's not Blue Storm...
Loved the Nintendo Direct, but that is also because it got a lot of Games I am interested in. I can understand that ppl might have been a bit disappointed by the amount of ports and games that are more or less "party games", but there were some truly fantastic reveals in this Direct: Xenoblade Genesis, the new Final Fantasy, the Ocarina of Time remake, Kingdom Hearts 4, and the New Fire Emblem.
I've also been waiting for Switch 2 Editions of the Xenoblade Games, and I got that as well. The only negative thing is, that I now have to decide if I play the new Fire Emblem first or Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, because they release on the same day ...
Many people were underwhelmed by the Duskbloods trailer, but they missed that it was running at 60 fps, unlike the first trailer 12 months sgo.
That and 60 fps for Lies of P are my highlights of the show.
@oliver-mackenzie
Please make a framerate analysis of the Stella Blade trailer. I am not sure what they have showed here (unstable unlocked framerate with double buffering?), but it was not the capped 30 fps that I assumed.
Thank you!
Xbox > PlayStation = SGF >>> Nintendo.
Nintendo's was a pretty weak show for me with many low points and only a few high points saved it. PlayStation and SGF were both good in different ways, Xbox was the standout with few lulls, though it didn't nail the landing.
But we all like different things. If you ONLY have a Switch 2 it was probably a pretty good show seeing all these great, but older, games getting Switch 2 versions. For me with other more powerful hardware options there was NOTHING to get excited about until the second half. But I was very happy with a few of the later announcements.
Nintendo's presentation was pretty flat for me and not a lot that I really wanted. I will probably end up buying Ocarina but I would much rather they release the HD versions of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. I really like the Xenoblade games but I have played through them all three times so the playing again is not a high priority, I will absolutely buy the new one though.
What I cannot understand is why there is no announcement of a new 3D Mario game, no new Smash Bros, no new Zelda (just a remake), something like a new Starfox Adventures would be great, a new Earthbound, no Pikmin 5, no new Luigi's Mansion, it just feels like most of Nintendo's first party franchise seem to be dormant.
Nintendo designed and finalised the Switch 2 in 2022 then sat on it for three years, they should have spent that time creating games for it and setting out a proper release path of major first party releases, instead it looks like they did pretty much nothing and still have almost no plan.
Fan since SNES. Unfortunately the direct was mediocre for me. I expected a big new Nintendo game to accompany Mario Kart and Bonanza. They didn't deliver. Splatoon is kind of niche, Fire Emblem took an "arena" direction which I don't prefer.
OOT tried to fill that gap but for those who haven't played the original ... they cannot stray a lot from the original formula (ie they can't turn it into Breath of the Wild style) it will probably be a more linear experience for respect to the og which will be a hit or miss.
To be honest I was expecting a new Mario, Zelda, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, Mario Maker, Fitness + peripheral game, Xenoblade, Smash, Pokemon a reimagining of a classic like Waverace or an EXCLUSIVE 3rd party.
I'm afraid Switch 2 owners will have to wait until NEXT xmas to get something truly significant.
Having said that the direct wasn't poor and I was glad Switch 1 will be getting some great new games this year, what a console.
The Nintendo showcase for me was the highlight if only for the confirmation FINALLY that a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is coming to Switch 2, and this year as well. This is perhaps the game I most want to replay as it is easily my favourite Zelda game by far and I haven't really played it since the N64 days (bar a brief play of the game on PC via the Dolphin emulator years ago). Yes, it's a remake but if any game deserves a modern remake, it is that game in my opinion. A true classic.
I thought the Xbox and PlayStation showcases were merely okay; too few exclusives and mostly third-party games that I will be playing on my PC anyway. Also, I wasn't that excited with the direction they've gone with God of War: Laufey... dislike the look of the main character, hate the title of the game (Kratos is the God of War not Feya!) and resent that it means waiting even longer for the true God of War successor, especially with how long triple A development takes these days.
Nintendo most certainly had the best show in terms of content an announcements. Xbox and Sony had a strong showing but i think xbox edged them a little bit with more than 1 first party game coming the rest of the year. The summer games fest show was the best one they've ever had with ff7 part 3 and resident evil veronica.
@goldgin2 They had a new Sports game announced (though without a peripheral), a new Xenoblade, Switch 2 Upgrades to the 3 Xenoblade Chronicles games, an expansion for the newest high-rated Pokémon game, and a Dragon Quest Pokémon-style game.
Even if, for all of these (except the new Xenoblade), you might not have gotten EXACTLY what you asked for, you certainly got very close to all of them.
@Mycrosys You are right about Xenoblade, I was skipping the remakes so I skipped it too.
I’m afraid I’m another in the underwhelmed camp, ranking Nintendo’s effort a comfortable 4th place of the 4. It wasn’t for lack of titles; they showed plenty and looking back it was a good long list. But, like some others here, I found it to be an overly (and overtly) heavy focus on JRPGs / fantasy games, along with what seemed a pretty limited showing for genuine triple A / tentpole-level content. It left me feeling more like we’d seen a partner + indie direct with some 1st party titles thrown in.
I’m sure titles like SF, Raiders, and KHIV will be fun, along with Resort with the kids, but when it was left to the sizzle reel’s Space Marine II and Tomb Raider to excite me, it wasn’t a satisfying show for me (and as others have said, that’s fine, others will feel differently). I think for me the light in the night is the 3rd party announcements elsewhere that show plenty of support is incoming for those of us making Switch 2 our main platform. If the install base keeps growing as it has been hopefully that support will keep growing too
I thought Nintendo has the most diverse line-up, but I think that generally means it's the least pleasing. But the DF crew is constantly crediting Nintendo for focusing on stuff other than AAA, and we certainly saw that here.
I think if you like JRPGs it was a solid showing, if you don't like JRPGs there wasn't a whole lot there.
I like JRPGs.
My biggest takeaway from the direct was the Xenoblade games, I’ll start to dive into them for the first time with the Switch 2 versions. Always heard great things, so now is the time to check them out.
Also, Final Fantasy Resonance. Looks way awesome. Count me in.
@SodaPop8456 The Xenoblade games are great and playing on Switch 2 should hopefully tidy up the muddy low resolution and give better framerates, they are really goof games. My only issue is I have already played them all three times.
@MattGPT I hear this a lot and look forward to checking them out myself! Glad to hear yet another voice chime in on them.
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