Nintendo announces game remakes for Switch as new console buzz grows
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Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for Switch. Screenshot: Nintendo
Nintendo showed off a bevy of Switch games today that will bring older releases to its current but aging console well into 2024.
Why it matters: The absence of news about major, original Switch games is a sign that development of significant, new games for that console from Nintendo is winding down.
Details: During a 40-minute Nintendo Direct showcase today, most of the biggest Switch games revealed were returning classics and games due for a second chance.
- Another Code Recollection is a Jan. 19 remastered compilation of two mystery games originally released for the Nintendo DS and Wii.
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a Feb. 16 remake of a 2004 Game Boy Advance puzzle game.
- Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, a remake of a 2013 Nintendo 3DS game, is now slated for a summer 2024 release.
- Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, a beloved role-playing game first offered on the GameCube in 2004, will return as a Switch game in 2024.
Be smart: While Nintendo is offering a brand-new Super Mario game next month, its marquee November release will be another returning classic, the previously announced remake of Super Mario RPG, a 1996 Super Nintendo game.
- Nintendo also showed off a significantly reworked version of its 1990 F-Zero racing game today. It will now be a battle-royale multiplayer game called F-Zero 99.
Yes, but: Nintendo does have one big original game for Switch slated for next year: Princess Peach: Showtime, the first game starring the Mario-world princess in nearly 20 years, set for a March 22, 2024 release.
Between the lines: Nintendo's heavy reliance on remakes for the Switch next year, could be a hint that Nintendo's internal development resources have shifted to projects for its next gaming device, which is expected to release as soon as late 2024.
- The Switch was launched in early 2017, and is now at the age when most game consoles are replaced with new, more powerful models.
The intrigue: Conspicuously absent from today's showcase was Metroid Prime 4, a highly anticipated sci-fi game announced in 2017 and that saw its development rebooted in 2019. Nintendo has said that the game will still come to the Switch.
- Nintendo also recently confirmed that its Zelda team was not working on an expansion to this year's hit The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, freeing that team to move on to new projects.
What's next: In keeping with its focus on celebrating the past, Nintendo said it will open a Nintendo Museum in Japan in March 2024.
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