Today’s double-feature of a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase and Indie World brought a smattering of new announcements, as the Switch heads into its final Christmas.
The shows were light on any real bombshells, perhaps to be expected with Switch 2 on the horizon. But in their place there was still plenty to keep you busy over the coming six months, with eye-catching indie games, retro game collections and a wave of ports.
You can watch the full show below, or recap it announcement by announcement underneath.
Beginning with Nintendo’s Indie World presentation, the afternoon kicked off with the Balatro: Friends of Jimbo update, which adds cards inspired by Vampire Survivors, Dave the Diver, Among Us and The Witcher 3 later today.
The beautiful-looking Neva, from the developer of Gris, is out 15th October and looks set to get us all misty-eyed once again.
What if moths and other friendly bugs ran a mega corporation under threat from a sinister event? Oh, and you just secured a promotion, so it’s on your shoulders to sort everything. (Fun!) Moth Kubit, a truly odd-looking indie game, launches in spring 2025.
Coffee Talk developers and publisher Chorus are teaming up again to develop a new title in the visual novel series: Coffee Talk Tokyo. Today’s teaser describes development as “now brewing” and that it’ll be “ready to pour” in 2025.
A brief trailer for Sea of Stars’ free Throes of the Watchmaker DLC labelled it as arriving in spring next year.
PowerWash Simulator will meanwhile get a Shrek DLC this autumn. Is he really going to be happy you cleaned his swamp?
Morsels, an Annapurna-published retro-infused indie where you play as a mouse and fight cats is coming February 2025.
Date Everything! allows you to partner up with around 100 characters, including anthropomophic furniture such as bookcases and lamps. (And sofas? Someone tell JD Vance.) It’s out 24th October.
Peglin is coming to Nintendo Switch as a timed console exclusive today. This Peggle-style roguelike mixes turn-based battles with an indie take on Popcap’s perennially popular puzzler.
Wobbly Life, an open-world physics sandbox, jiggles onto Switch in December 2024.
Pico Park 2, a simple side-scroller for up to six players working co-operatively together, arrives as a timed console exclusive later today.
In montage form, we got quick reminders of Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope DX (2025), Europa (11th October, demo available now), Cuisineer (28th January 2025), On Your Tail (21st November, demo available now), Metal Slug Tactics (autumn 2024) and the brilliant-looking The Plucky Squire (17th September).
Indie World then wrapped up with a look at Pizza Tower, a pixely platformer inspired by 90s cartoons, available later today on Switch after debuting on PC last year.
Moving over to games with bigger budgets, the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase began with… Tetris! In time for the game’s 40th anniversary, Tetris Forever includes a raft of classic Tetris games (Tetris! Tetris 2 + Bombliss! Tetris Battle Gaiden!) plus a new Tetris “experience” named Tetris Time Warp where you play as one of several classic Tetris styles at the same time. It’s due later this year. (And also NES Tetris is coming to Nintendo Switch Online this winter.)
Star Overdrive, a hoverboard-riding sci-fi adventure with melee combat, arrives as a Nintendo Switch timed exclusive next year.
Goat Simulator 3 turns up on Switch long after other platforms as a digital download today, and on a cartridge in November.
A montage quickly spotlighted The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 1st (2025), Star Wars Hunters’ third season (26th September), STALKER: Legends of the Zone Trilogy (November) and the return of Worms Armageddon in an Anniversary Edition (26th September).
There’s a Spongebob Squarepants game where you don’t play as Spongebob, for some reason. You instead run around as Patrick, and it’s out on 4th October.
Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer, a game which made me hope Switch 2 arrives with a new Wii Fit or Wii Sports, turns up asking for your gym membership money on 5th December.
Capcom Fighting Game Collection 2, featuring Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, Power Stone, Power Stone 2, Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein and other retro classics, heads to Switch in 2025.
Want more retro compilation fun? Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection Arcade Classics, featuring X-Men Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel vs Capcom 2 New Age of Heroes and The Punisher, launches on 12th September as a digital release, or 22nd November on a cartridge.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land – a game I thought would be the one with the lengthiest title in this presentation – arrives early 2025.
Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster: Gate Rune and the Dunan Unification Wars – a game which is actually the one with the lengthiest title in this presentation – arrives 6th March 2025.
Square Enix’s Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake arrives 14th November.
Castlevania Dominus Collection, containing Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia and Dawn of Sorrow, all from the Nintendo DS, launches later today.
We got a look at the Nintendo Switch version of Sid Meier’s Civilization 7, which arrives 11th February, the same day as PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
Tales of Graces f Remastered was something of a surprise announcement – it’s coming 17th January 2025. This Bandai Namco role-player was originally launched for the Wii only in Japan back in 2009, before finally arriving in the west for PS3 in 2012.
A MySims Cosy Bundle, featuring MySims and MySims Kingdom, launches on 19th November.
And for people who like FNAF, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 arrives this winter, while Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach also gets its Ruin DLC this winter.
One final montage stood between us and the presentations’ end. It featured Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (24th September), Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Games (winter), Just Dance 2025 Edition (15th October), Funko Fusion (winter), EA Sports FC 25 (27th September) and Lego Horizon Adventures (winter).
Today’s festivities wrapped up with two final titles. The first was a new Rune Factory, subtitled Guardians of Azuma. It’s coming spring 2025, and features more fantasy battling and farming.
Lastly, a look at a Nintendo Switch port of Yakuza Kiwami, a remake of the PS2 original game in the series that popped up for PS4 back in 2017, and is now on various other platforms. You can own it on Switch from 24th October.
So, what’d you think of all that?