This Week in Games

Nintendo Direct June 2024: New Age of Hype

Welcome back, folks! What a wild week this has been. As you read this, I'm currently fighting off a summer cold that's been going around. The good news is, I'm just warm and congested—no sore throats (I hate having a sore throat). Not the best way to try and catch up on Xenoblade, but I'll take it. Let's talk games!

The Lollipop Chainsaw remake has been pretty fraught since it was originally announced roundabouts last year. For one thing, Suda51 and James Gunn (the masterminds behind the original game) weren't involved and didn't even know the game was being worked on. When a new Metal Gear Solid remake doesn't have Kojima at the helm, it's one thing. It's another when Suda51 isn't even told that a game he worked on is being remade. On that note, the RePOP remake has gone from a from-the-ground-up remake to a remaster, which speaks to me of some behind-the-scenes problems. But work has continued nevertheless, and Juliet Starling's adventure of cheerleader stereotypes and zombie-murdering action has continued unabated. And this past week, we finally got a trailer for the game!

Well, things look pretty okay so far. The trailer revealed the new RePOP mode, which removes a lot of the gore from Lollipop Chainsaw and replaces it with the kind of sparkly, colorful effects that are likely akin to the kind of stickers Juliet herself would plaster all over her school notebooks. Likely, this is being added to comply with the changes in Japan's CERO rating since the original came out. Regardless, playing Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP in Original Mode, with all the blood and guts it entailed is possible. But regardless of the mode, the trailer seems to imply that one thing won't be returning: the licensed music. Lollipop Chainsaw was pretty famous for using Toni Basil's Mickey, along with other licensed songs like Five Finger Death Punch's The Way of the Fist, The Chordettes' Lollipop, and Buckner & Garcia's Pacman Fever. Mickey itself is pretty iconic of Lollipop Chainsaw, though, especially since it plays whenever Juliet Starling goes into her super-mode. Understandably, the devs might have lost access to that music since it's been 12 years and the rights have expired (and, as we saw with the Netflix version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the royalty fees might have exploded in value). Still, it's a significant loss that will mess with the tone of the game.

Juliet is at least keeping all of her original costumes. Mind you, they're the original costumes—absent from the RePOP version will be five licensed costumes based on Deadman Wonderland, Highschool of the Dead, Manyū Hiken-chō and Is This a Zombie?. It's also likely that the Evil Dead costume has also been lost to license expiration. Again, it's been twelve years since the last game, so, understandably, the deals involving the licensed costumes have long since expired. And I imagine that publishers aren't keen on going through the hoops to license out costumes for manga that ended over a decade ago and haven't been in serialization for almost as long. And I wouldn't blame the folks working on RePOP for focusing their efforts on Lollipop Chainsaw itself instead of going around hunting for new licensed outfits to shove into the game. A lot of folks understandably wish we were getting a Chainsaw Man costume; I dunno; maybe Suda51 could've done something about it. If only he were involved with the remake of this game.

We also have a release date for Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP: September 25 for all versions. That includes the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Nintendo Switch. If I had to make any wish, I hope they bring back Jessica Nigri to do new Zom-Be-Gone ads. Come on, dudes! Nigri would totally be up for it!

Hoo boy, this one needs a bit of a preamble. The gist of the story is this: back in the 1980s, Namco (ages before its merger with Bandai) produced a video game called Xevious. Xevious became a tremendous hit, and the game was a pillar of the company for the duration of the 80s, with a lasting legacy among old-school Japanese devs for decades after the fact. (The video game-themed Kamen Rider Ex-Aid even gave one of its characters a Xevious-themed power-up mode in one of the spin-offs, to go with the protagonist's Pac-Man-themed power-up.) So big was Xevious's legacy that Namco even produced an all-CGI film of the game in 2002 that ran in a single theater. For a week. And never got a home release. Yeah, I'm not sure of the logic behind there or why Namco buried the film and wouldn't even offer it as some bonus for the many, many Namco Museum collections they've made. The Xevious film was thus lost media until YouTuber RndStranger located a special promotional CD with an actual trailer for the film! RndStranger chronicled his adventure in tracking down this CD and locating the trailer in a fascinating YouTube video you should definitely take the time to check out. Still, for convenience's sake, he also uploaded the trailer to YouTube, which I've shared below. Just relish in that 2002 CGI!

There are a lot of classic games on both sides of the Pacific that one side or the other never really became that acquainted with. Americans fail to grasp why the Dragon Quest hero is so important when he was unveiled for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. At the same time, Japanese fans need to be given a minute to understand why folks in the U.S. clamored so much for Banjo and Kazooie. And this kind of thing goes way back. It's hard to impress upon people just how much of a big deal the original Donkey Kong was—let alone how big a deal it was that the Famicom was able to render such a relatively high-fidelity facsimile of it on a home console (and one with a positively-ancient MOS Technology 6502 board powering it). So when I say Xevious was a big deal with fans in Japan back in the '80s. I need you guys to take me at my word for it. Xevious released too late in the U.S. for it to be seen as more than a minor curiosity (similarly to how Dragon Quest never quite caught on due to it being localized after the far-more-advanced Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy), but it was single-handedly one of the most influential games of the '80s (in Japan).

Released in 1982, Xevious seats players in the Solvalou fighter, facing down waves of the evil Xevious forces as they attempt to take over the Earth. The twist in the formula is that you have two different kinds of enemies to worry about and two weapons you can use to dispatch them. Airborne enemies will fly at you from weird angles and destroy your craft if you collide with them, but land-based enemies can be safely soared over. The terrain limits their movement, although their shots can and will destroy your craft.

Your zapper is for your airborne enemies, which has a rapid rate of fire and flies up the screen at enemies descending upon you. The Solvalou also has a blaster, which fires a single bomb at a time at enemies below you. But there's a trick to the blaster: it flies in a bit of an arc, so a targeting reticle lets you see where the bomb will hit. So you can't just mash both of the buttons for your weapons; staying alive means keeping pace with the rapid onset of enemies flying down at you while also thinking a step ahead as you aim your blaster at ground-based foes.

It's a simple shooter but a highly addicting one whose DNA is found in any subsequent vertical shooter from the 1980s and beyond. CAPCOM's WW2-themed 1942; Tecmo's Star Force and its followup, Hudson's Star Soldier series; Konami's TwinBee; SNK's Ikari Warriors they all incorporate some design element or other from Xevious while iterating on Xevious's design. Like how TwinBee splits your attention between shooting enemies while also juggling bells from clouds to rack up score (instead of using ground-based enemies), or Ikari Warriors's Ralph and Clark having slightly different firing paths due to their opposite dominant hands. I'd use the "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" line, but the whole saying ends with "... that mediocrity can pay to greatness," and with how varied and colorful Xevious's inspirations turned out to be I'd never even claim anything of the sort. If anything, Xevious suffers from the Seinfeld problem: it was such a phenomenal, groundbreaking work so long ago that we've since grown accustomed to its descendants who've all iterated and improved upon it to such an extent that the original feels pedestrian now.

And so we come back around to the 2002 movie. I can see why they'd make a Xevious movie; I can't explain why it would have been given such a ridiculously limited release, followed by a quick burial in an unmarked grave. Y'know, like that long-lost Phantom Blood movie that's supposed to be horrible. Again, this kind of movie would be the perfect unlockable reward for a Namco Museum collection. There's painfully little information about the film—I imagine RndStranger has as much information as we'll ever know until a mysterious old guy in a random bar in Japan raises his head from his highball and blurts out, "I worked on the Xevious film, got a working print of that sucker on my laptop back home!" and Yuzo Koshiro finds out and goes bugnuts about it on Twitter. Costs nothing to hope, y'know.

I want to thank friend of the column Land of Obscusion for putting this one in my sights; we here at This Week in Games live for tiny miracles and old, forgotten curiosities of the video game industry being returned to the spotlight. Also, thanks to gaming historian (and one-time subject of my graduate thesis) for his phenomenal NES Works videos on Xevious. And kudos again to RndStranger for digging up this piece of gaming history.

Well. So much for all the folks back in June claiming this would be a "dry year"! Many people figured that with Nintendo's new console just off the horizon, Nintendo would take it easy. Maybe push Metroid Prime 4 back to the next console. But, uh, Nintendo emphatically isn't doing that. Long after the hustle-and-bustle of the Summer Game Fest had died out, Nintendo stepped up to the podium with their own forty-minute stream. And they had announcements. Dear God, they had announcements. We had a brand-new Zelda game , and it's not even the biggest announcement in the stream.

It all shows that Nintendo's long-term conservative approach to their business has worked. They're not making an all-in-one multimedia center; they're making a game console. They're not trying to make next-generation live-service systems; they're making games. They're not going to cut themselves on the bleeding edge of technology to show off pores in people's skin; they're going to use whatever looks good enough to render an attractive art style while letting them do the basics (and pulling off some insane wizardry with outdated processors, as seen with all the physics sorcery done in Tears of the Kingdom).

And most importantly, they have a diverse portfolio. Sure, they don't have the big HBO-styled "prestige titles" that Sony has—but they have Mario. They never need to make a Fortnite killer, because they have Metroid. People can bellyache about framerates all they want—what are they gonna do, not play the next Zelda? Just pass on a new Mario RPG? There's something to be said about Nintendo games never going down in price (although value in pricing is a nonsense argument from gamers fueled by Steam's hatchet-job sales and people thinking platformers or games with "simpler" art styles are less work-intensive than other games). There's also something to be said about Nintendo looking at the state of the AAA industry and saying, "Yeah, we're not here for that."

Let's kick things off with some minor updates from the Direct. Basketball is being added for free to Nintendo Switch Sports. Donkey Kong Country Returns is getting an HD remaster for the Switch. MIO: Memories In Orbit looks gorgeous, but the gameplay gives me Ori and the Blind Forest vibes. And no offense to Ori, it's a wonderful game, but I'm not as big a fan of these super-pretty platformers with super-punishing platforming and combat. Mega Man Zero is about my limit. Disney Illusion Island has received a free update with some new levels, done up with a mystery twist. Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports looks like a fun arcade-style sports game with plenty of wild mayhem; I can see it becoming a darkhorse party favorite. New roles and jobs have been added to Among Us. Funko Fusion is an action-adventure game based on those toys we're all sick of. It's a collection of recognizable characters set in themed stages that'll make you go, "I know what that is!", but at least there are a handful of interesting choices like He-Man and Battlestar Galactica. Darkest Dungeon II comes to the Switch this July 15th. The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past/Four Swords has been added to the Nintendo Switch Online+ service, as has Metroid Zero Mission. A new Nintendo 64 Mature app has been made for M-rated Nintendo 64 titles; the starting line-up includes Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Rare's Nintendo 64 classic, Perfect Dark, not seen on a Nintendo console since the dawn of the 2000s. It comes complete with online multiplayer. LEGO Horizon Adventures brings Sony's oft-ignored open-world game to the Switch in LEGO form, complete with co-op and a ton of humorous costumes for Aloy and friends, due this holiday season. Stray also comes to the Nintendo Switch this holiday season. Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Story lets you make your hobbit and live an idyllic life in The Shire, complete with gardening, fishing, and lots of dinner parties with your hobbit neighbors. It genuinely looks fun, look forward to it this holiday season. Luigi's Mansion 2 HD arrives on June 27.

The festivities started with the announcement of a freaking brand-new Mario & Luigi game! AlphaDream, the studio behind the Mario & Luigi series, had shuttered some time after releasing Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey on 3DS. And the rest of the legacy of the Mario & Luigi games wasn't much better! They're great RPGs with great mechanics and animations, but they didn't get the recognition they deserved! Well, not any longer!

Brothership sees Mario and Luigi getting whisked off to a new setting where they'll face off against the evil Extension Corps. Sure, Bowser and company are still lurking in the wings, but the Mario & Luigi games liked giving the Bros. new and unique enemies to fight. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga didn't even take place in the Mushroom Kingdom, for example—it took place in the Beanbean Kingdom, introducing the Bros. to a whole new cavalcade of enemies to stomp on (many of which were ersatz versions of Mushroom Kingdom baddies) while also facing the Bros. off against the witch Cackletta and her minion, Fawful. So here, we have a new setting with completely new enemies and an evil gang based off of power tools and extension cords. Get it? "Extension corps"? It's a whole theme for the game, as can be seen with the Bros. new helper, Connie (her face looks like an outlet), and her little friend, Snoutlet.

As implied by the title, Mario & Luigi revolves entirely around Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. Both Bros. have their dedicated button for jumping, swinging their hammer, and what have you. Getting around the map is an exercise in coordinating each Bros.'s abilities to traverse obstacles or solve puzzles. All of the various ways you can make the Bros. spin also constitute their movelist in battle, with unique Bros. attacks requiring well-timed and well-coordinated button presses to deal maximum damage. The Mario & Luigi games have a neat system with the Bros. attacks: you can pay extra FP for a slower version of the attack that points that'll prompt you for the required Action Commands, but cheaper variants of the attack without the prompts are also available if you've got the timing down and want to save energy. Brothership also brings back Bros. Items, which are items that require both of the Bros. to work in tandem to use them.

So, what's with the subtitle, "Brothership"? Well, it's because Mario and Luigi will be sailing around, using a cannon on their ship to launch themselves to new islands. The game looks stellar while it's at it, with the bright 3D models making the Bros. almost look like rubber hose characters as they spin around and smack their hammers. Also, Kevin Afghani continues to impress as the new VA for the Bros.; I am genuinely on pins and needles to hear him babble in faux-Italian as the Bros. He's got their tones down pat. Mario & Luigi: Brothership lands on November 7th.

Next up is Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition. This one is similar to the Ultimate NES Remix games; if you've played those, players will face over 150 challenges over 13 classic Nintendo Entertainment System games, with the best times hosted on an online leaderboard. Players can also challenge ghost data in an online battle royale mode, not unlike Tetris 99 or F-Zero 99. There's a lot of love for Nintendo's old Nintendo World Championship, the famous 1990s contest held by Nintendo nationwide. Players would compete for scores in single-player challenges through timed events, with the top players being invited to the finals in Los Angeles, where they would play a custom cartridge with modified versions of Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer and Tetris. Semi-finalists were given replica cartridges of the games played at the event. At the same time, Nintendo Power magazine distributed a handful of gold versions of the cartridge as a part of a contest. The cartridges themselves are highly sought-after collector's items, worth anywhere from $15,000 for one of the normal grey ones to $25,000 for a gold one. (I wanna take a moment to salute James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, for finding and owning one of these gold cartridges—there'd be no justice in the world if he didn't have one.) Nintendo banking on the imagery and branding of the Nintendo World Championship makes me smile and wish that Nintendo held that event more often. We had one as recently as 2017; the pandemic notwithstanding, I can't imagine why Nintendo wouldn't hold yearly World Championships.

The nostalgia goes even deeper with Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition. It's possible to look up in-game tips while you face the challenges, and they're all done up in the style of Nintendo Power's old tips-and-tricks sections. I'm not one much for the whole "bragging rights" thing, but Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition is a fun throwback and a fun celebration of Nintendo's history. Look forward to it July 18. The physical deluxe edition is available to pre-order now.

So, I've gone on the record before that I'm not really a fan of Fairy Tail, but at least Fairy Tail 2 looks good. Recreating the events of the Alvarez Empire arc, you play as Natsu and his buddies in a real-time RPG. The system has me raising my eyebrow, as it's possible to combine each character's specific kind of magic to make combo attacks. You can't pull off a combo that makes Erza the main character of Fairy Tail, but being able to combine signature attacks is a pretty keen idea. And hey, it's not an arena fighter! Look forward to it this Winter.

As an RPG fan, Fantasian: Neo Dimension has me excited. Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series, famously left Square Enix in 2003 after his work on Final Fantasy X-2. He formed Mistwalker, which tried to make its brand of RPG games, but sadly, none of them caught on. Lost Odyssey is a great game, and Microsoft has done nothing but bury it in history. Blue Dragon wanted to be the next Dragon Quest, even roping in the late Akira Toriyama to do character designs, and it never managed that. Away: Shuffle Dungeon had a novel twist to the "mystery dungeon" format, but it never caught on. And so it was for Mistwalker. Sakaguchi managed to have a hit with The Last Story on Wii, but we needed Operation Rainfall to convince people to bring it stateside because Nintendo didn't want to (thanks, Xseed!). And it's never been ported anywhere else.

Fantasian: Neo Dimension represents Sakaguchi's return to work with Square Enix on a title and one of his recent successes. Originally landlocked to the Apple Arcade, Fantasian is finally being made available to mass audiences on a console that people actually play. The concept is simple: interdimensional invaders are destroying civilization, and the young Leo takes up arms against the entity Vam. Two things stand out about Fantasian (besides its title heavily reminding me of Sorcerian). First, combat has several novel twists. It's possible to take a bye with random encounters, sending them to an alternate dimension to be fought later in one big group. You can only send so many monsters, mind, and you have to fight them all at once, but it's a novel idea. The other is how combat works: characters can freely aim their attacks, each having their trajectories. It's possible to attack multiple enemies simultaneously with clever aiming, provided you can call your shots right.

The other is that Fantasian is just plain gorgeous. If the backgrounds look almost realistically pretty, it's because they are—the backgrounds in Fantasian are actual dioramas photographed and used as backgrounds. It hearkens back to the old style of 3D Final Fantasy games with their pre-rendered 2D backdrops used as maps. It's a lost art and one that could still impress in today's day and age. Hell, Sakaguchi was still using them as recently as Final Fantasy X! Using actual dioramas is a step further; I'm obsessed with it. It's craftsmanship on a whole other level; it helps the world around the characters feel so much more alive, and it's just really pretty to see all the little downsized bushes and trees. It's a good way to make the world feel like a storybook. That, and my Ultraman-loving heart can't help but love a good set full of miniatures. We don't have a more concrete release date for Fantasian: Neo Dimension past "Winter 2024", but man am I excited about it.

So, I know that Hello Kitty Island Adventure sounds like some ridiculous shovelware game, but I genuinely think this is the best Animal Crossing replacement that we could ever hope for. Folks are understandably disappointed with Animal Crossing: New Horizon; it's got a lot of great ideas, and it was primed to be the game of the pandemic (what with everyone being stuck indoors). But it came out, and that was it. Nintendo seemed to be primed to make some extra content or DLC for New Horizons, but startlingly little came out. A ton of people just bum-rushed the entirety of New Horizons and scoured the game within, like, a week. But New Horizons didn't have much to it. Some folks compared it negatively to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and some folks pointed to Nintendo expanding upon New Leaf getting updated for free years after its release. I'm positive that the pandemic messed up Nintendo's plans for expanding on New Horizons something royal, but sadly it just feels unrealized.

Hence Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Like Fantasian, it was seemingly stuck on the Apple Arcade, but it will now enjoy timed exclusivity on the Switch and Steam before also releasing on the PS4/PS5. And on its face, it seems to have a bunch of what you'd want from Animal Crossing, only with Sanrio's cavalcade of mascots—and to some, having a ton of Sanrio's mascots around just might be more of a draw. Some people out there really, really love My Melody and Kurumi.

Island Adventure lets you design your Sanrio-esque character and make friends on an island. You'll decorate in the hope of inviting new characters while also solving puzzles or other challenges to get new decorations. It's a fun, low-impact adventure. There have been a lot of jokes at its expense, all because "doy-hoy-hoy, a Hello Kitty game," but it genuinely looks fun. Keep an eye out for it in 2025.

We touched on Farmagia during the last Marvelous Showcase a few weeks ago; not much new was established about it that we didn't already know, except for the fun visual of seeing each character grow their monster companions from plants like Scythean lambs. Look out for it on November 1 <

We finally have news on the HD-2D Dragon Quest III: Seeds of Salvation remake! The game had gone dark for a while, and it certainly wow-ed watchers during the Nintendo Direct. Eagle-eyed viewers even noticed how the battle mode had been completely restructured from the original teasers. The HD-2D makeover is nothing short of gorgeous, and the promise of some new scenarios being added to the game certainly encourages folks to dive in even if they've already played Dragon Quest III frontwards and backward.

Now, there had been some scuttlebutt that we would also see the HD-2D remake in a collection with HD-2D remakes of the first two Dragon Quest games. I had refuted those a while ago, and it turns out I was only half-right. Dragon Quest III is a standalone release, but it'll be followed up with a collection of HD-2D remakes of the first two Dragon Quest games!

Without going too deep into things: Dragon Quest III is the prequel to the first two titles in the series, with all three titles being referred to as the "Erdrick Trilogy" (being that they revolve around the hero, Erdrick, and their descendants). The first game lets you play as a young hero/ine setting off in their father's footsteps, the hero Ortega, on a journey to save the world from a marauding overlord. Dragon Quest III is massively influential as far as RPGs go, with pretty much any fantasy anime (or Isekai anime) channeling the original DQIII hero in some manner or other. Dragon Quest III has a ton of fascinating twists that make it engaging to play. For one, you can create your party of characters at a local tavern from a selection of jobs. Once they reach level 20, they can change their job to another class, which they'll start with half the stats from their previous job and whatever spells they had learned. You've also got important lore stuff, like the birth of the Godbird Ramia (here's a hint: she's the bird-shaped emblem used on the logos for the first few games).

A lot of rumblings from Yuji Horii, producer of the Dragon Quest games, point to there being some kind of linked bonus if you play 1 & 2 after 3. An interesting idea, and not one any of the previous remakes had been able to realize—but a tantalizing one. I'm looking forward to it, especially since some of the feelies for the Collector's Edition have revealed that there might be extra surprises for Dragon Quest III HD-2D. Namely, a new job is being added to the game. So far, it hasn't been officially named, but it looks to be some monster-tamer class. There hasn't been a new class added to DQ3 since the Thief class, originally added in the Japan-only Super Famicom remake of the game but later brought over in the GameBoy Color version. Beyond that, not much else is known. We haven't seen anything about Dragon Quest I&II's remakes outside of their promo art (which is suitably beautiful, albeit not done in the style of Akira Toriyama). The DQ3 remake drops on November 14. There is no date for 1&2 beyond a 2025 window.

So, I remember The Denpa Men on 3DS, but I never played it. And I'm stunned to see a new one coming to the U.S. The concept is simple: you capture the curious Denpa Men (who look like Miis crossed with Pikmin) to assemble a team to explore dungeons and collect treasure. The Direct trailer also promises co-op (which will spawn rare Denpa Men). Also, the game will be free-to-play, and it will be a "timed exclusive." No word yet on what other consoles The New Denpa Men will be releasing on, but it arrives on July 22.

We're all still waiting for Metal Slug Tactics to release. In the meantime, we have Metal Slug Attack Reloaded, which looks like some kind of deck-building game. Players will collect a variety of characters to make a team of characters, primed and armed to storm General Mordred's bases. Screens are an appropriate fustercluck of tanks, soldiers, prisoners, aliens, and zombies (all familiar to Metal Slug fans) as your unit guns their way across. The trailer wasn't very clear about things, but it looks like some kind of console port of a mobile gacha game. It at least looks great, but I'm still waiting for Metal Slug Tactics.

This was a surprise! I had a major Nippon Ichi phase during the PS2 days, whereupon I collected both PS2 Disgaea titles, Makai Kingdom, La Pucelle Tactics and Phantom Brave. I didn't beat any of them, but I deeply appreciate them all. Phantom Brave never caught on like the other games, sadly; it got several expanded remakes over the years, but that was about it. Its mechanics did pop up in later games, like Makai Kingdom, but that was that. Nippon Ichi Software is digging deep for Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. Reuniting players with Marona and her phantom friend Ash, you'll lead Marona through a series of tactical battles. Marona isn't powerful on her own, hence her army of Phantoms: Marona can create spirits to help her in battle, channeling them through objects on the field. Different objects confer different bonuses to characters; for example, channeling a mage through a patch of grass might slightly boost their Intelligence, while summoning someone through a rock will dramatically boost their Defense at the cost of their movement range. There's a ton of strategy there, like targetting objects to prevent opponents from summoning reinforcements (at the cost of limiting your team). The Lost Hero expands on this: now you can channel phantoms through objects like cannons or, uh, massive fans. The Shaman King similarities continue, with Marona being able to merge with phantoms to gain a super-mode based on their abilities. Look forward to Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero sometime in 2025.

This next one needs a bit of preamble. I tend to refer to these things as "tiny miracles": an obscure, oft-forgotten game getting brought back in some capacity. In a lot of ways, Phantom Brave getting a sequel is just that—NIS could just as easily stick to making Disgaea sequels until the heat death of the universe and be just fine. This? This isn't a tiny miracle. This is a huge one. There were so many things, so many moving parts that had to be handled before this could happen. There were tears. There was heartbreak. All hope was lost. That's in the past. Scrublords, Weekend Warriors, '09ers all—we can finally smile again.

IT'S MAHVEL, BABY. We haven't even gotten to the new Zelda, and we had folks popping off at this news. After years of putting the word out, supporting the #FreeMVC hashtag, and otherwise hoping against hope, Marvel Vs. CAPCOM is back. Not as a weird arcade machine, not as a mobile app, we're getting everything. Marvel's collaborations with CAPCOM in the 1990s led to a slew of beloved titles. Sure, Konami's legendary eight-man beat-'em-up is an arcade must, but CAPCOM's X-Men: Children of the Atom brought the X-Men alive in ways we'd only seen from the 1990s cartoon. And then CAPCOM expanded upon it by making a full game starring a ton of Marvel characters, Marvel Super Heroes. And then CAPCOM said, "Hey, why not cross the X-Men over with Street Fighter?" and gave birth to X-Men Vs Street Fighter. Then they said, "Oh wait, we also have the sprites from Marvel Super Heroes; we ought to use those." So we got Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter. Then someone at CAPCOM said, "Hey, we have way more characters than just the World Warriors, why don't we use those too?" So we got Marvel Vs CAPCOM. And it was good. Then the 2000s rolled over, and CAPCOM decided to ring in the new millennium with Marvel Vs. CAPCOM 2, and, look, man, it's been tough to top that.

CAPCOM's licensed stuff in the 90s was brilliant (case in point: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for Future.) But sadly, licensing was a fly in the ointment; rights expire, folks leave companies, and Marvel Vs. CAPCOM was left in a legal quagmire. We were given some digital ports for the PS3 and Xbox 360, but then the rights for those expired. And things just got harder and harder; according to noted fighting game streamer Maximilian Dood, many of the reps at CAPCOM and Marvel that had made the necessary connections for the crossover to happen had left, and there wasn't anyone left to champion MVC at CAPCOM—especially not after the disastrous reception of Marvel Vs CAPCOM Infinite. Also, Marvel's becoming a massive IP (owned by Disney) didn't help things. Disney's mandates during Infinite (which included barring the use of the X-Men, who are central to the games) chafed and left the game feeling lesser. Maximilian Dood and other major players in the fighting game community thus created the #FreeMVC hashtag to show support for a return of the series. And it didn't seem like we'd get very far, especially since the results of that push were just a household Marvel Vs. CAPCOM 2 arcade machine. But here we are. To paraphrase Toto, miracles aren't always on time. Speaking of Max, he knows fighting games like Marvel way better than I do. I've said before that I'm a very casual fan of fighting games and not very good at them. Max would have better insight into the games than I ever could. Max?

Yeah, that makes sense.

Marvel Vs. CAPCOM Fighting Classics: Arcade Edition compiles all of CAPCOM's Marvel-themed fighting games (also, the Punisher-themed beat-'em-up that I've never heard of before this announcement), plus a ton of bonus goodies. You can look up the original arcade marquees. You can look up all of the original concept art for each game. You have online play. Secret characters like Cyber-Akuma are finally selectable right from the menu; no fancy inputs are required. There is a new and expanded training mode, complete with hitbox data. What else could you ask for?! It doesn't matter if this leads to a new Marvel Vs CAPCOM game—this is a must for anyone even casually familiar with fighting games.

And the hits keep coming; with the advent of Marvel Vs. CAPCOM Fighting Classics: Arcade Edition, CAPCOM has dubbed their fighting game collections as the "Fighting Collection" series, retroactively dubbing CAPCOM Fighting Collection as the first entry in the series. We can't get too far ahead of ourselves, but more Fighting Collections could drop. The possibilities are endless: a CAPCOM Vs SNK collection; a 3D fighting game collection compiling games like Street Fighter EX, Plasma Blade, and Rival Schools. The list goes on and on. Of course, the thing folks would also love to see is the return of CAPCOM Vs. Tatsunoko, a brilliant fighting game featuring Tatsunoko's beloved superheroes like Gold Lightan, Tekkaman (and my baby boy, Tekkaman Blade), and Casshern. CvT was sadly locked onto the Wii, and it hasn't been seen since. Dreams come true, man—nothing is impossible. Marvel Vs CAPCOM Fighting Classics: Arcade Edition lands later this year.

Man, and CAPCOM didn't even announce this massive crowd-pleaser during Summer Game Fest. Think about that, man. This is a bombshell, and CAPCOM preferred to keep it with Nintendo's Direct instead of one of the self-appointed biggest PR events of the year.

How about a new Mario Party? Super Mario Party Jamboree promises to be the biggest Mario Party game ever, with the most characters, 110 mini-games, and seven-game boards—two being returning boards from both Mario Party and Mario Party 2. There are also a slew of new modes like the Koopathalon, where up to 20 players can compete for the top score. If you want fun and you want to destroy your friendships, look no further. Look forward to it this October October 17image src="811771:echoes.png" align="center" copyright="© Nintendo">

Nintendo played us all for fools. They had us so attentive towards Tears of the Kingdom that we never even considered they had another Zelda game hidden up their sleeve! And it's literally a Zelda game this time: after decades and decades, we finally get an adventure starring Princess Zelda! With Link falling into a dark rift following a recent tussle with Ganon, Zelda finds herself exploring a Hyrule at risk of succumbing to the rift. It's up to her to get to the bottom of the mystery and stop it!

So much about this game speaks to a ton of effort on Nintendo's behalf. For one thing, they're re-using the cute toyetic look that debuted in the Link's Awakening remake. For another, they really want this game to play differently so that Zelda isn't just an outfit-swap of Link. We know how Link works: get the sword, get a bow and arrow, get a hammer, and maybe some weird item that only appears in one game (anyone remember the Mole Claws?). Zelda isn't doing any of that. With the help of the fairy, Tri, Zelda gets the Tri Rod. So, the Tri Rod doesn't exactly bonk enemies on the head. Instead, it can create "echoes" of items that Zelda encounters in the world. The trailer shows us Zelda using tables, beds, trampolines, and boulders to get around the environment. There are a ton of applications to this, rewarding creativity. You can stack tables to climb cliffs or just bounce on a trampoline. You can place a crate to protect yourself from a bustling wind or just use a potted plant. It's also possible to make echoes of monsters, letting them fight other monsters for you. We also saw an example where Zelda tosses a Re-Dead at some enemies who are summarily paralyzed by the Re-Dead's shriek. Or, you can use monsters to get around maps: we also see Zelda using a kooky-looking seagull to fly around.

Folks are trepidacious about the echo ability, if only because some folks wanted Zelda to have a sword. But another major complaint is that the echo interface reuses the horizontal "strip" menu from Breath of the Wild, which can and will make looking for the right item a pain in the butt once you get more than a few items. As for the lore implications, eagle-eyed fans have pointed out that the layout in Echoes of Wisdom seems to correspond to the map in Link to the Past.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launches on September 26 at the same time as a limited-edition golden Nintendo Switch Light. Good luck to everyone who wants that complete collection of golden Zelda stuff.

Another tiny miracle from CAPCOM! Phoenix Wright fans have long since lamented the Ace Attorney Investigations games never getting localized in the U.S. A pair of adventure/puzzle games starring the uptight Miles Edgeworth, the games featured all of the sharp writing fans love from the mainline Ace Attorney games. They were released on the DS, but even with the massive popularity of the Ace Attorney games, CAPCOM never brought the second game over. Fans made their unofficial translation, but that was it. Until now. Fans finally have both Ace Attorney Investigation titles courtesy of the Ace Attorney Investigation Collection. Fans can play the games with brand-new hand-drawn animations or the original pixelated sprites. There are also galleries for concept art and music. The thing that sticks in people's craw (sigh) is that CAPCOM isn't using the names from the unofficial fan translations. So Sebastian Debeste is now officially named "Eustace Winner." People are mad about this, and I get it, but also, why would they use the fan-used name? It's like when Spice and Wolf was localized, and folks got mad that the wolf girl's name was romanized as "Holo" instead of "Horo." The powers that be have no reason to approve unofficial translation decisions. Regardless, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection launches September 6. There has never been a better time to have unnecessary feelings about lawyers.

SaGa fans are eating good! We're getting a completely revamped remaster of Romancing SaGa 2! The SaGa titles have always been extremely ambitious about their scope and mechanics (there's an actual stock market in Romancing SaGa 1). Romantic SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven sees you playing as the lord of a kingdom, protecting your realm from the seven heroes who once saved the world and have now fallen to darkness. Along the way, your decisions will grant certain party members or expand your kingdom's territory. Also, it's a SaGa game, so even the most innocuous of NPCs can set you down a path of some obscure side-quest—and if you're not careful, progressing too far in the story might bar you from finishing certain other quests. It's also the return of the Glimmer system, where characters will learn new abilities with their weapons seemingly at random. The remake has also revamped the visuals and gameplay; now it's a 3D title with massive maps, and instead of random encounters, you can now engage with enemies on the map, swiping at them with your sword to get an advantage. The utterly inscrutable formation system still exists, but battles now play out differently. Instead of a purely turn-based system, Revenge of the Seven now has a timeline-based battle system along the lines of SaGa: Scarlet Grace Ambition and SaGa Emerald Beyond.

I think the one thing taking the wind out of my sails is that Reveng of the Seven seems to take its artistic cues from the 3D Trials of Mana remake. And make no mistake—that game is very pretty! But I also miss Tomomi Kobayashi's iconic character designs from the original Romancing SaGa titles. I would have liked to see those brought to life in 3D, but I understand if it was too much to ask for—Kobayashi's art is pretty wild. Regardless: Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven launches on September 26.

So you know how I've continuously pointed out that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's announcement wasn't even the biggest news of the Direct? Yeah, that's because we finally have news on Metroid Prime 4.

I know I can be a bit of a nag about these things, but man, folks wanted to nail themselves to a cross over Metroid Prime 4 all because it took seven years to make. I get it, seven years is a damn long time, but when Nintendo wants to make a game, they make it. Who do you think they are, Microsoft? Nintendo's not going to announce a game only to shut the studio down within the month! Wracking my brain, I think the only mildly-high-profile cancellation Nintendo ever saw was, like, Project H.A.M.M.E.R.? And that was back on the Wii! It's an entirely apocryphal phrase, but as people attribute to Shigeru Miyamoto, "A delayed game is eventually good, a rushed game is forever bad".

And Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has rewarded the long wait. What, you didn't think Nintendo was just wasting people's time with Metroid: Federation Force, did you? You didn't think that Nintendo would just leave Metroid Prime Hunters forgotten, did you? You didn't think Retro forgot about Sylux's appearance in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's ending, did you? Ha! Ha, I say! Retro is in prime form, showing Samus wading through a battlefield as she guns down numerous Space Pirates (though I must say, I miss their old bug-like designs and Alien Baltan-esque pincer guns). Her Scan Visor is still around, as we see her examine a Space Pirate who is bleeding out (poor bastard). Aaand then Sylux, one of the many bounty hunters introduced in Metroid Prime: Hunters, shows up at the end flanked by a gaggle of Mochtroids.

Yeah, Mochtroids, not "Metroids." Mochtroids are clones of Metroids (you can tell them apart from the lack of "nuclei" in their bell—Metroids have 3, Mochtroids only have one). How did Sylux get those? He got them in Federation Force—an ending cutscene shows Sylux breaking into a Galactic Federation laboratory where Metroid eggs are being stored. And in a twist that evokes the ending to Metroid 2: Samus Returns, one of the eggs hatches, with a baby Metroid imprinting on Sylux.

Besides Metroid Prime: Hunters, we've never really gotten a chance to see Samus battling against other bounty hunters. Heck, outside of Hunters (and the Nintendo Power comic of dubious canonicity), we don't even see other bounty hunters! Provided, for the longest time, Nintendo was very confused on what bounty hunters even did. There is a lot to be excited about about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, especially since we have a launch window: 2025. Will it be a launch title on the new console? I don't care. I'm still trying to play Xenoblade Chronicles 3! My Switch backlog could carry me years at this point! Have you seen all the RPGs coming?! We're living in an era with an embarrassment of riches! The prospect of a console coming out anytime soon means I need to save money now because I'm gonna need a new console for work reasons! I gotta dip into my fun-money fund that I was saving for Kumoricon!

Oh jeez. I'm tuckered after this one—I hope it's a good, long time before we get another 40-minute Direct. But man, if there aren't exciting things on the horizon...

Atlus has announced that Shin Megami Tensei V and Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance have broken 1.6 million units sold

Guilty Gear Strive is finally getting an upcoming anime in the form of Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers. More to come...

If you haven't played Megaton Musashi W: Wired, maybe the news of UFO Robot Grendizer becoming a guest unit in-game will sweeten the pot for you? Coming soon!

Welcome to the rice fields! Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin is getting a collaboration with Sanko Confectionary starting July 1! Look forward to rice crackers featuring Sakunahime, as well as a contest where you can win sweets, collaboration goods—and rice!

Baten Kaitos I&II HD Remaster has stealth-launched on Steam. There's really no excuse not to pick it up!

That's it, that'll do it for this week. I'm done for the week. This has been a hell of a week and it's just from Nintendo. I need a rest. Be good to each other, I'll see you in seven.

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This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing JRPGs, eating popcorn, watching v-tubers, and tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @mouse_inhouse or @ventcard.bsky.social.

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