Metroid Prime 4 and Other Highlights From the June Nintendo Direct

Nintendo closes out this summer's game announcement season with its upcoming titles for the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo has brought the summer’s season of game announcements to a close in a big way, making good on promises that many worried had been forgotten. The Nintendo Switch 2 might be on the way, but meanwhile, in 2024 and 2025, owners of the original Nintendo Switch have a packed schedule to look forward to. Here’s just a few of today’s biggest announcements.

Metroid Prime 4

Seven years after it was first announced and five years after Nintendo said it had restarted development on the title, Metroid Prime 4 finally has a release window, plus a new subtitle. 

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will release for Nintendo Switch in 2025 and see Samus once again go up against Space Pirates and Metroids, as well as a new foe in an all-black power suit similar to her own. The graphics seem to be using a similar art style to the original Metroid Prime’s Switch remaster, and environments appear to be large with many enemies on screen. Could this be a cross-gen title, with a version also being prepared for the Switch successor?

Mario & Luigi: Brothership

Mario’s other other RPG series is coming back for an all-new entry, titled Mario & Luigi: Brothership. The first entry for home consoles, it features a total graphical overhaul and seems to focus on Mario and Luigi being lost at sea. There, it looks like the brothers will encounter a group of characters that resemble electrical appliances. The game will keep its traditional turn-based-with-timed-button-presses combat, and despite the premise separating Mario and Luigi from the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach and Bowser make appearances in the trailer.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership launches on November 7, 2024 for Nintendo Switch.

Two big games are finally leaving Apple Arcade jail

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Fantasian earned rave reviews when it released exclusively on Apple Arcade in 2021, with critics praising its diorama visuals and unique approach to turn-based encounters. Now, RPG enthusiasts on other platforms will be able to enjoy the game, too, with Fantasian: Neo Dimension. 

The port will keep the same story and mechanics, but will feature enhanced visuals, and will come to Switch, PS5/PS4, Xbox consoles, and Steam in Holiday 2024.

Joining Fantasian in leaving Apple Arcade exclusivity is Hello Kitty Island Adventure, an Animal Crossing style life-sim that earned praise for its continual updates and its deep exploration elements. The game will now be coming to Switch and PC in 2025, with a port for PS5 and PS4 planned for some time after.

Dragon Quest III is back

Originally revealed in 2021, the Dragon Quest III HD-2D remake, which reimagines the classic Super Nintendo RPG in a style similar to Octopath Traveler, finally got a solid release date today, plus some company. The game, featuring designs from late Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, will launch on Switch, PS5, Xbox consoles, and PC on November 14, 2024. But as a surprise, the trailer also announced that it will be joined by remakes of its two predecessors sometime in 2025, bringing the whole Erdrick trilogy into HD-2D.

It’s clobberin' time

After years of stagnating in rights limbo, Marvel vs. Capcom is finally seeing some love again. Capcom’s classic Marvel arcade games from the (mostly) ‘90s are all coming together in one collection, which will give superhero fans access to six classic fighting games starring the X-Men, Spider-Man, the cast of Street Fighter, and more. Yes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is here, but oddly enough, also a beat-em-up starring The Punisher.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics will release for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Steam sometime in 2024.

Ace Attorney gets a hand-drawn revamp

Capcom’s Ace Attorney series normally sees players defending innocent clients in court, but in these spin-offs starring Phoenix Wright rival Miles Edgeworth, you’ll instead be playing the prosecution. Ace Attorney Investigations Collection brings two Nintendo DS games to home console, including one previously only released in Japan. Players can choose between the original pixel art or new hand-drawn art from the original series character designer when the game launches on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 6, 2024.

A Zelda Game Actually Starring Zelda

Fans have long joked about how The Legend of Zelda doesn’t actually star the titular princess (we don't talk about the CD-I), but that changes today. What first looked like a remake of the Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages games in the same style as the Link’s Awakening remake instead turned out to be a brand-new adventure starring Zelda herself.

Titled The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, the game sees Link, several villagers, and even parts of Hyrule sucked into various strange vortexes, leaving Zelda to save the day.

Her gameplay is a little different than her green-hatted companion’s, instead focusing on her role as a princess. Early into the game, players will encounter the fairy Tri and earn the Tri rod, which they’ll then be able to use to summon “echoes” of various objects and even monsters. It’s a more analytical play style befitting of a wise leader, and will see you building structures and commanding armies to save your kingdom.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launches for Nintendo Switch on September 26, 2024, alongside a new Zelda themed Nintendo Switch Lite console.

Other announcements

That’s just a taste of today's direct, but there’s plenty else to see in the whole stream, including a Switch port of Stray and a new Mario Party. Click below to watch the whole event.