Nintendo held their fall Nintendo Direct presentation on September 13, 2018 – having been delayed a week due to a major earthquake in Japan – which highlighted a number of titles arriving for both the Switch and the 3DS soon.
The Direct opened with the announcement that Luigi’s Mansion 3 is now in development. No details were really provided, but the spooky adventure title focusing on Mario’s brother has proven to be a winner for the company. The direct also made sure to spotlight the upcoming 3DS port of the original Luigi’s Mansion, coming to the 3DS this October.
Other 3DS announcements included the fact that the popular Wii title, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, will be arriving on the 3DS as Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn with a bunch of added features and playable characters. A spotlight was also given to Mario + Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story & Bowser Jr.’s Journey, which arrives in January 2019.
On the Switch end of things, an updated port of the oddball rolling-focused title Katamari Damacy will be arriving on the Switch, first digitally on November 30, 2018 and then in physical form on December 7. The game has been updated with gyro controls and HD rumble, and allows for cooperative play.
A bunch of ports to the Switch were discussed, including Cities: Skylines (available now), Civilization VI (available November 16), World of Final Fantasy (available November 6), and Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (available 2019). Four classic Final Fantasy titles – VII, IX, X and X-2 – are also all coming to the Switch in 2019.
Nintendo also discussed the upcoming Switch Online service – which launches on September 18 – in great length. The service will allow for online gameplay in certain games (such as Splatoon 2), and will feature the ability to save games to the cloud. Switch Online will also feature a lineup of classic NES titles that can be played for free forever (so long as users maintain their subscription to the service). Games include River city Ransom, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Tecmo Bowl, and many others.
Other new titles announced for the Switch include the tentatively-titled Town, being developed by Pokémon studio Game Freak. It’s a role-playing title that takes place entirely in a single village, and it’s due out in 2019. Yoshi’s Crafted World was also shown off in full; as a sequel to the popular Yoshi’s Wooly World, it expands on the various craft-based elements, like string and cardboard, and how Yoshi can interact with them. It’s out in 2019.
The biggest announcement was that a new Animal Crossing is now in development for the Nintendo Switch. The beloved, real-time village simulation game last saw a new mainline title in 2012, with Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the 3DS (though multiple spinoffs have come out in the years since). The game is allegedly coming out in 2019, and more details are expected soon. Also on the Animal Crossing front, beloved dog secretary Isabelle was confirmed as a playable fighter for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
The full Nintendo Direct video can be seen below.
