Switch Weekly - My thoughts on Nintendo's E3

Your Nintendo digest for the week ending June 20.

Live from Kazuya's cliff edge.

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Switch Weekly

Issue 237 — June 20, 2021

WarioWare Get It Together

Hey, Chris here with issue #237 of Switch Weekly, your Nintendo update. Hope you're doing well. Real big issue this week.

E3 has come and gone! The Direct last Tuesday (linked below) gave us plenty to chew over. Here's some of my personal highlights/takeaways:

  • Kazuya of Tekken fame coming to Smash wasn't on anyone's radar, but is a sound choice broadly. Personally adding more fighting characters to Smash isn't very exciting to me — the moveset seems fairly predicable when compared to any potential crazy character choices. Expect an in-depth character presentation soon.
  • Three Life is Strange games on Switch - nice to have.
  • I'm hyped for Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania — the first two games (included here) are so very good.
  • I think we all thought Mario Party Superstars was DLC at first. But nope. 
  • Metroid Dread is real. Crazy to think we've been talking about this game in one guise or another for what must be 15 years? The real big surprise of the show.
  • Very, very, very pleased to see Wario Ware on Switch. What took 'em so long. 
  • I really love the look of the Advance Wars remasters. If you've never played these you need to get on it.
  • Nintendo are going to sell us another Game & Watch. Zelda this time. Looks nice enough.
  • The show ended on the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer. Plenty to dig into and analyse here. As suspected this is currently slated as a 2022 release. The trailer didn't feel particularly impactful to me, but it's early days, and we just know Nintendo are going to knock this out the park. 

One of the wider trends that I think E3 this year has really highlighted is that big ‘AAA’ (urgh, not a fan of that term, but we all understand what it represents) releases are noticeably lighter in volume. While 2020 was challenging for the industry at large, I think we’re now seeing the long tail impact of COVID across the gaming landscape. Now, this isn’t particularly a comment on Nintendo as such (they seemingly have a stacked end to 2021 now, with a solid monthly cadence), but after E3 week it’s something I picked up on from across the gaming space. The release schedule is far from being a wasteland of course, but it does feel broadly lighter from a third party perspective.

Anyway, E3 to one side — we've got just under 30 games hitting the Switch next week, and there's a fair few big games, including Alex Kidd, Mario Golf, and Tony Hawk's. The full list is below as ever — hit reply and let me know if you're grabbing anything (I've got Mario Golf ordered). 

That's all from me. How did you like Nintendo's E3 showing?

Thanks for reading,
Chris ✌️
(Enjoy these free round-ups? Consider buying me a coffee or becoming a Patreon.)

🎮 Currently Playing — Breath of the Wild, Traffix

▶ Nintendo Direct - E3 2021 — You've all watched this right? This 40-minute presentation features a slew of announcements, including a new Metroid, Wario Ware, and Advance Wars (who had that on their Bingo card). If you prefer here's a written round-up from VGC, and I'll be highlighting the standouts throughout the rest of this week's issue.

Nintendo // YouTube

INTERVIEW Nintendo president Doug Bowser: Switch is ‘redefining what a console life cycle can look like’ — A post-E3 interview with Nintendo of America's top brass, covering the lack of new hardware, the Switch's life cycle overall, and supply chain struggles.

Gene Park // Launcher (The Washington Post)

INTERVIEW Nintendo thinks the Switch is well-placed for post-pandemic life — As above, another post-show chat with Doug Bowser touching upon how Nintendo has adapted to working from home, and how there's more to come for Animal Crossing players.

Andrew Webster // The Verge

Some filler, serial killer — Nintendo E3 postmortem — I really enjoyed this write up of the Direct, taking us through all the highs and the lows with Kieran's usual jocular flair.

Kieran Fifield // Big Daddy Gaming

Nintendo's Sakamoto on bringing Metroid Dread back from the dead — This related video featuring Sakamoto himself is well worth a watch, as is this little history lesson from the chaps at Nintendo Life. Nintendo World Report highlight the 15 year journey to get here in this video too

Tom Phillips // Eurogamer

E3 is a relic desperately clinging to relevancy This comes via a PlayStation focused site, but raises some good points about E3 trying to figure out what it wants to be.

Sammy Barker // Push Square

REVIEW Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World — Seems this remake has been held back by the "archaic design of its source material", as the author concludes that the "updated visuals cannot mask outdated mechanics".

Arthur Damian // Nintendo Enthusiast

REVIEW Stitch in Tooki Trouble — "Though it is pretty to look at and plays well, it is so forgettable that anything done right is overwhelmingly overshadowed by how unenjoyable and uninspired it is".

James Grech // Cubed 3

REVIEW Mundaun

Joe DeVader // Nintendo World Report

REVIEW Wave Break

Luke Williams // Console Creatures

PREVIEW The Falconeer — "truly soars on the Nintendo Switch".

Giovanni Colantonio // Nintendo World Report

A brilliant, brave story about Miitopia, Miis and being evicted from an apartment

Makeda Byfield // The New York Videogame Critics Circle

 

🎮 Upcoming Releases


All releases are digital, Europe & U.S. unless otherwise stated. 
Release data sourced in collaboration with Switch Scores.
⭐️ = Ones to Watch | 📦 = Physical release | 🎮 = Demo available

Monday, June 21

Tuesday, June 22

Wednesday, June 23

  • Bitmaster — Twin-stick shooter with a paired back polygonal look.
  • Cyber Hook — Fast 3D platformer. Think parkour inside a neon 'retrowave' world. (Jun 24 in U.S.)
  • Ninja Buddy Epic Quest — Basic platformer in which you save Princess....Zebda.
  • 📦⭐️ Worms Rumble — Worms but as a real-time arena shooter. Cross platformer multi too.

Thursday, June 24

Friday, June 25

Saturday, June 26

  • Bocce — Similar to boules / bowls.
 

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Chris Brandrick
 

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Copyright © 2021 Switch Weekly - Chris Brandrick, All rights reserved.
Made in Europe.

 

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