Yeah I'm honestly finding myself a bit wistful about this to be honest lol. On the upside, Nintendo now has a massive untapped reservoir of legacy handheld content. They'll never do virtual console again, as that's redundant when companies routinely release classic games. But they still owe it to themselves and their customers to increase the number of legacy titles available from their catalog. I'm glad we're finally seeing a handful of N64, Wii, and GC games on Switch, but the fact that they're making it a limited run one-off kind of thing, and the near total absence of GB, GBA, DS, etc. titles, leads me to two possibilities.

1) They have no plans to have a stronger legacy push than the NES and SNES services offered currently, because they don't want to detract (somehow, in their eyes) from contemporary releases of their IPs. Though this argument continues to make little sense to me when many of them aren't being touched at all (F-Zero, sidescrolling Metroids, etc.)

2) They have a much broader service-based push coming next year some time, and it's going to be massive, subscription based, and forward-compatible in terms of ownership on their future platforms. There's just so much upside in that, and every other company is doing it now. I can't see them NOT contemplating doing that at some point, in some form. It almost feels like the NES and SNES games that come with Switch Online are a test run for the concept. It would also explain why the price is insanely low. $20 a year is ridiculously low. But it makes sense if they're aware their current offering is lacking, and planning something much more substantial at a higher price down the line.

Personally I would suspect the latter as it's the most logical thing to do. But then again... it's Nintendo. Nintendo will always Nintendo lol.  

50 minutes until the Partner Direct to soften the blow of the death of the dedicated handheld era!

Edit: 10 minutes!
Edit: It's over and now there's a brief Monster Hunter Direct being streamed.

 

Summary of the mini partner direct:

Monster Hunter Rise March 26 2021 / Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition with DLC bundle available.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Summer 2021
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise December 4
Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny Summer 2021
Disgaea 5 Complete free to play for Switch Online September 23-29
Empire of Sin (TBA)
Sniper Elite 4 Holiday 2020
The Long Dark available today
PGA Tour 2K21 September 25
Hades available today
Balan Wonderworld March 26 2021
Rune Factory 5 TBA 2021
Ori and the Will of the Wisps available today (Collector's Edition preorder available)

Another partner Direct will be coming this year.

The livestream continues with a Monster Hunter Direct (15 minutes) currently.

Edit:
Monster Hunter Direct notes:

Monster Hunter Rise's design is about verticality and climbing. Players carry creatures called wirebugs, allowing grabbing objects and surfaces to swing, climb, and cross gaps. This can also be used in combat, and they say it makes it more versatile and fast-paced. The Palamute is a new mount companion players can ride without consuming stamina. Items and health recovery can be used while riding them. The "flagship monster" for Rise is the Magnamalo. Supplies will be limited and there are preorder bonuses. Three new amiibo that unlock special layered armor and can be used in-game for a lottery. The game will have compatibility features with Monster Hunter Stories 2. Preorders for the digital edition of Rise will go up today. Check with local retailer for physical preorders.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is a more story-focused adventure in which you play a Rider travelling a large world with well known Monster Hunter creature companions. It will include elements that interact with Monster Hunter Rise. More will be revealed in the future.

My random thoughts:

Monster Hunter is one of very few game series - along with fighting games - that I've tried countless times to get into but cannot. Every new incarnation is hailed as "the most accessible entry ever and great for newcomers," but then ends up taking me 40+ hours of struggle just to finally concede I cannot play them because the controls are impenetrably unintuitive for me.   So this won't be for me unless Stories is more accessible. But I'm happy for MH fans, of which I know there are a ton on Switch. (Even if I'm sure they were hoping for a MHW port.)

The new Disgaea 6 art style looks really cool, I might have to check that out. Balan Wonderworld continues to intrigue me. And I'll always play a Rune Factory game. Everything else I can take or leave personally, but I'm glad they have a populated lineup going well into 2021. That's a good sign.

Still no Doom Eternal update, but they confirmed there will be another partner Direct this year, so there's more to come. Fun watch.

 

Well, that's quite a direct, it was surprisingly pretty interesting to say the least, BUT man, that must be quite a treat for the MonHun Fans.

 

New Monster Hunter game for the Switch:
Confirmed: Monster Hunter Rise for Switch releasing 26th March 2021
Monster Hunter Rise will have three new amiibo

 

Another Monster Hunter game for the Switch:
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin coming summer 2021 to Switch

 

that was such a strong opener with the 2 new mh titles that the rest of the direct paled pretty hard in comparison.

finally getting to play both ori games on switch tho will be nice.

 

I may dip my toe into hades today, that being said I hope at some point this year we can finally get some news on bayonetta 3, I don't and shouldn't expect it but I feel like nothing has been said for years something has to be close...

 

Re: Bayo, yeah I'm still going with my crazy hypothesis (which I don't actually believe at all and as stated before only speculate about for fun lol) that Platinum re-announces Bayo 3 out of nowhere and it releases in October or November, and that it's their secret 4th (listed as 5th now on their website after the "4th" was an April Fool's joke) title. I don't actually expect it, but it sure does feel like something's missing, and they haven't shown anything in forever. So it's at least... remotely feasible lol.

I don't expect it to happen in a partner Direct though, because Nintendo is listed as the publisher. The partner directs so far seem to exclusively be dedicated to non-Nintendo-published games.

 

Well Nintendo as of late has no issue dropping surprise directs for things (Mario and Zelda) so it could be possible, another thing to consider and I don't have the information in front of me exactly, but I feel like we've had 3 directs (counting Mario and the Zelda game reveals) this month, and we know for sure more information on hyrule warriors comes out on the 26th, it could be possible the whole month we will be getting directs. Assuming of course I am not off in my count of weeks and Mario was earlier and Zelda came a week later. Well, guess we'll find out in a week or so

 

Yeah, I feel like Nintendo knows they need to maintain social and marketing relevance during the whirlwind of Xbox and PS news. I also suspect these mini Directs consist of a lot of what would have normally been in a traditional Direct. I think we've seen enough announcements and games now since June to constitute around 1.5 to 2 traditional Directs if we put it all together.

So I think probably they decided they needed to decentralize their information streams to customers because of everything happening, and the unpredictability right now of development milestones and release dates. Better to embrace the chaos they probably figure, than to try to defy it and come up short. This way at least we have a continuous trickle of info and games, and they have the agility to pivot if things improve or worsen.

So I definitely don't discount the possibility of surprise announcements leading up to the Holiday 2020 period. This has been a busy month and it's only September. They definitely don't want to disappear beneath the Cyberpunk 2077, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S news cycles, so I expect we'll continue to see these sudden drops out of nowhere for a while, at least to the extent they can do them. And despite all the leaks, they clearly can still keep a few secrets, as I don't think anyone saw two entirely new Switch exclusive Monster Hunters coming, or a canonical prequel to BotW in musou form. Which is nice to see.

 

I totally forgot about the Direct today. I was not planning on buying any game anytime soon, and watched it to see what games I may want to buy in the future. Ori and the Will of the Wisp shows up and says it drops later today. Well, looks like I'm buying a game today!

 

I am curious to know how long they will support the eshop for because my concern has to do with Pokemon Bank.

 

So Ori runs at 60 fps for both docked and handheld. Good to see them getting it optimized.

 

I read Ori will have a physical copy later separate from the special bundle. I thought about waiting to see more info on that. But decided to just get the digital version and it's downloading right now.

As far as the Nintendo handhelds, I've owned the Big OG Gamboy, Gamboy pocket, OG Gameboy Advance, Gamboy Advance SP, OG DS, and OG 3DS. I have the least games for the 3DS and I honestly don't know why I didn't buy more.

 

Yes there is.



Deluxe version.

 

So far they haven't announced closure globally of the 3DS eshop. In markets where eshop functionality for Wii U and 3DS was more limited, they already closed them for Wii U an 3DS in July, but only in select countries. Pokemon Bank is, for now, pretty integral to the functionality of Pokemon Home, so I expect it to stick around or a while... but not forever. Probably, if I had to guess, what they'll do when they finally completely shut down 3DS eshop, is keep everyone's Pokemon Bank accounts and continue to allow people to transfer to and from them even without the eshop as a whole remaining online.

Though, someday, at some point, I would prepare yourself for them shutting it down (probably with plenty of notice though, so don't worry too much,) at which point Home will fully take the place of Bank going forward. Right now Home is a bridge between legacy and modern Pokemon games, but eventually I expect that bridge to be closed and for them to encourage everyone to migrate solely to Home.

 

This is kind of funny.

https://twitter.com/PJiggles_/status/1307026854864474119

Debug cubes only previously seen in unofficial emulators are (inadvertently, one would assume???) visible in a stage in Sunshine in 3D All Stars.

On a side note, I'd just like to say that playing Mario 64 on Switch feels so right and overdue.

 

Capcom confirms that Monster Hunter Rise on Switch uses the new RE Engine

Could this mean the REmakes could come to the Switch too...

 

7 already did, but only as somekind of online only thing.
They could probably do it, they managed with Doom, but they either need to do more work, or Nintendo needs to release a larger cartridge size. They had been talking about 64gb ones for years but nintendo keeps pushing it back. Currently 32gb is the highest. Give them double the space and you you would see more ports.

 

Post your Nintendo Switch wish list! Here is mine:

• Kirby: Star Allies.
• Pokken Tournament DX
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
• Cup head
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Resident Evil 4
• Dragon's Lair Trilogy
• Shantae and the Seven Sirens
• Super Mario Maker 2
• Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom (might get it on PC though.)
• Luigi's Mansion 3
• Doom 3
• Crysis Remastered
• Burnout Paradise Remastered
• A Hat in Time
• Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
• River City Girls
• Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered
• Dragon Ball Fighterz
• The Outer Worlds
• Assassins Creed 3
• Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
• Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
• Oddworld: Munch's Odyssee
• Oddworld: New N' Tasty
• Bulletstorm
• Devil May Cry 1
• Ty the Tasmanian Tiger HD
• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection.

Holy shit, that's a lot of games, and I need a larger SD card.