AJWolfTill

Very heartwarming to see Metroid Prime 4 first on that list!! Have Hades 2 and Silksong been playable at any events on Switch 2 before?

If these do all come out this year then that really is a cracking lineup for the first 6 months of the console. It's a real volte-face from how I felt after that last direct!

Also be great to know if the GameCube selection is different to what we already have!

Looks gorgeous and with a basic free tier, see no reason not to give it a go when it comes out.
Even if in all likelihood, the blockers of time and money are way more of a detriment than my ability to find games I'm interested in.

Please Supergiant!! I'm so ready for Hades 2!!
Is Mina the Hollower still supposed to release this year as well?

Listening now but dear god, those N64 character models have got to be the ugliest designs for 1st party Nintendo characters ever no?

C'mon Metroid and Hades 2. Unleash yourselves upon our eager flesh!

This truly will be an amazing second half of the year if these and Silksong actually come out.

I feel like Hades must have been one of them?
Supergiant have had a couple of 'final' early access patches now on PC so they maybe pulled out to make sure their last builds were running right on Switch 2.

Picked up Little Nightmares 2 for about £2.50.
Not featured here but that seemed like a much larger discount than I had seen before.
I'll take another look before the sale ends.

@nocdaes
Rude! What would you rather those teams were working on then?

This was the most interesting and biggest suprise of the Direct for me. The suprise being that I hadn't heard of the game at all.
Fingers crossed it's a positive example of Switch 2s abilities.

@Ade117
I know the HD-2D stuff resonates with a lot of people but it feels like we are getting half a dozen of these kinds of games a year now. Having two visually similar (albeit mechanically different) back to back to close out the show is putting a lot of eggs in a niche basket.
Persona 3R is cool but I played it last year, great to see a new Katamari game but I feel like we see this series pop up every other direct.
I'm interested in Age of Imprisonment but I did not feel that trailer offered any meaningful information.

Went in excited to find out what I'd be playing the second half of the year...
Left feeling apathetic and unmotivated for the console.

When they spent a whole minute talking about a janky bonfire simulator I somewhat gave into despair. Clearly I invest too much emotional energy into this hobby but I'm just bummed out right now.

Where the hell was Hades 2!?

I'm open to this game, but I don't feel the trailers have delivered anything I couldn't have just inferred from TotK.

Been playing the hell out of World of Assassination so good to see this one heading Switch ways. Don't mind it's the black sheep of ths series if it at least doing things differently. Still need to play Blood Money.

We are in such an interesting position right now. The 3rd party launch lineup was really strong but it's a pretty blank slate going forwards.
Would most the majority 3rd parties who bought into the console have wanted to be there from the beginning or would they have wanted to avoid the initial 1st party duo and release in a blanker spot?

This presentation has the potential to be a real flood gates are opening of major PS4 era titles that just couldn't run on the S1. It could also highlight an issue with partners either not getting dev kits early enough or waiting on a larger install base.

There was also that 3 phase launch strategy that got reported on where phase 2 was to lean heavily on 3rd parties. Hopefully we are there for a couple of months and then we get the next phase of 1st party releases coming into focus in a September direct!

Fascinating reading! Thanks for posting!

It's never appealed to me but very impressive that every mainline Dragon Quest game cracks the top 100!
Also backs up the enduring success of Pokémon being responsible to its ability to continually capture the target age demographic (instead of perhaps growing up with its fans)

My other half hit a massive progress block from a couple of bugs with this game so had shelved it for a bit. She is powering through the leftovers again now.
I love Dasha, Prissy and Dante!

C'mon Hades II and HiFi Rush!!!

@UltimateOtaku91 @Johnny44
Give it another hour. It's normally 2pm BST

@Johnny44
Hang in there bud, we normally only get 24 hour notice so reserve your crying emojis for a few more days. I'm expecting the announcement tomorrow for a Thursday show.

Aww, this somewhat scuppers the significance of it being playable in that Australian museum in September.
No longer expecting to see it this week.

Never gotten into this series or felt the need to but this sure reads like a Direct Shadow Drop reveal which is encouraging.

Every one of these updates seems to be shaving off the friction I've come across in this game to reduce tedium. Looking forwards to seeing the adjustments in character abilities. Kurara and Kako needed buffs because they are only situationally useful.

WHOA!! Over 1 hour of music!!

This is a fun spread of classics but that tag line is hilarious.

My most played Switch 2 game and it's not even close.

@nocdaes
Is it that compromised? I've had more crashes than I'd like and I expect some other technical issues to get patched but it feels as good as when I played 2 on PS4.
This game is so perfect for handheld play and runs great that way. Chipping away at the challenges is offering me ludicrous amount of content.

I feel this early in the lifespan of the Switch 2 the attach rate percentage would be a much more valid comparison. Comparing sales less than 2 months in where demand has exceeded availability to a console on the market for over 6 months seems unhelpful.

@Truegamer79
"Actors should be chosen for their talent and acting skills" Hard agree.
A lot of people (not saying you are one of them) will say cry woke if non white/binary actors are cast for the right reason though.
There will be cases where these decisions have been made for political reasons but it's very problematic to just instinctively fall back on this assumption.
Being a minority doesn't preclude you from talent.

Doesn't look great to me but this is the perfect opportunity to have first hand experience with it and see for myself.

Lumping 'political statements' in with child pornography and hate speech sounds terrible and Draconian.

Hopefully in execution they are handled incredibly differently.

Wild to me that more people are concerned about the fate of their porn games than this but what should I expect...

Obviously waiting on release dates for announced games but would be fantastic to get Metaphor, Psychonauts and Hi Fi Rush as well.
We are so overdue a new Phoenix Wright at this point as well.

Definitely due one!!
It would be a very bad look for Nintendo not to have any of their release dates announced after Donkey Kong so soon into the consoles life.
Just need to stagger the release dates for Hades 2, Silksong and Metroid I'll be over the moon for the rest of the year.

Still loving it. I'm probably about 80 hours in and have done 3 of the 'second playthrough' routes.

@Solomon_Rambling

Whilst there doesn't seem to be a lot of love for Nirvana Initiative here, I actually preferred it considerably more than the first.
I had issues with the tonal clashing, pervyness and out of place actions sequences but felt they were more restrained and consistent in the sequel without sacrificing the zaniness.
The game was still horny but didn't feel problematic.

This was a great deal for digital games, particularly for those that never go on sale.
I managed to get Pikmin 4 and ToTk at launch for £84.

I'm wondering when we will learn more about whatever this is...
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/04/bandai-namco-appears-to-be-remastering-a-3d-action-game-for-nintendo
I guess this is as good a time as any although maybe this would be a Nintendo Direct announcement instead.

That's weird, I was sure when I last looked this game was going to take up 0 Mb on my Switch?

@sanderev
I thought they had basically confirmed December for Age of Imprisonment?

Also worth factoring in we seem to be getting Switch 2 editions every month as well?
Zelda in June,
Mario Party DLC in July,
Kirby in August.
I'm hoping there is something else in August than Drag X Drive although if either Hades 2 or Silksong arrive around then it won't matter to me.
Guess we'll have to wait for the next Direct to fill in the blanks!

I have put twice as many hours into Hitman as Mario Kart and have had no frame rate issues that have bothered me. I would thoroughly recommend it, there is enough content there to last for years if I wanted it to.
Granted I've played predominantly on handheld and only the 1st game in the trilogy so far.

Joyous to see them back, even if they are likely to be pretty sidelined. This combined with the returning music tracks and challenge sections has cemented my confidence the game is embracing the series' history.

I suspect Link will be played by the actor from that TV series I heard good things about but haven't got round to, Zelda will be played by that one actor from Black Mirror and Ganondorf will be played by that obvious choice I can't believe I didn't think of.

Nick Offerman would make a great King Rhoam if they are going with Americans.

@FarewellToGibdos
Unfortunately the Palm Oil industry have killed Lanky Kong.

Returning composers and evidence that they are bridging the old classic hallmarks of DK with their new gameplay ideas.
I'm a little dubious of Nintendo's willingness to fully embrace all the Kongtext of the Rare and Retro eras as they've all been out of house and non internal Japanese studios.
I want to have these concerns squashed!

It's underwhelming but I've had fun in it.
It's basically just an opportunity to vibe with the beautiful visuals and Mario series remixes.
Absolutely should have NPC interactions, quests and better rewards though.

Reiterating multiple commenters hopes that this
A) is less redundant than the MK direct was
B) Doesn't push the next direct too far down the line (I don't think it excludes one FYI).

Also we better be getting some Wise or Kirkhope on this soundtrack! Returns had a couple of bangers on the OST but it definitely fell flat compared to the rare games IMO.

@RareFan
I feel like we actually saw Expresso in the original trailer but agree that it would be nice to see more of our buddies back.
Also let's cross our fingers for Dixie and Diddy before we start trying to resurrect the 1 off characters.

Hope to see more exciting adventures from him in the future! Greatly enjoyed both TWEWY games

Don't share the gripe of the interconnecting tracks. For me it will give the game more longevity as it's less repetitive.
I preferred the continuous tracks like Mount Wario and Big Blue in 8 anyway, this feels like a natural evolution.

The game excels as a local and online multiplayer experience. What it failed to really do was expand into a satisfying Single player experience as well.
Good thing there are plenty of other games on Switch 2 to pick up that slack.

@TKundNobody @speed_loafer
I found a use case!
I took my switch 2 to a spa hotel I'm staying at this weekend. The TV has no apps so now my wife and I can't watch all the gaming showcases happening at the moment on YouTube together!
Probably wouldn't have noticed it wasn't working for months otherwise so unlucky timing.

@JohnnyMind
You get one attempt every twelve hours and can't save half way through apparently, so another caveat to factor in...

@JohnnyMind
I've done the tutorial missions (which the game automatically funnels you through) and the first mission after that and I have access to it and a bunch of other elusive target missions from 'the archive'.

The online offline save issue sounds pretty absurd for a handheld console. Hopefully they can fix that.
I've had a great time with the 2-3 hours I have put in so far and been amazed with how gorgeous this game looks in handheld.
I have not noticed any frame rate drops but I didn't really notice it much in Echoes of Wisdom either.
I hope you revisit the score if they do patch it because your 7 seems really harsh given the glowing prose you wrote.

@ferryb001
It's a shame. It's the only one I picked up beyond my bundled Mario Kart and spent more time with it than MKW yesterday.