Folks, it’s Nintendo Direct week! After another couple of weeks (which felt like years) of speculation, the latest Partner Showcase aired on February 21, 2024. As one of the newer additions to the Nintendo Wire crew and definitely the resident sicko of the group, I found myself hyped up over games that got crickets otherwise in the work chat. It’s okay; I’m used to it. I’m also used to turning that isolation into opportunity, which is where this article comes in. Maybe it’s a new, ongoing series, maybe not. We’ll figure it out as we go! For now, I’m introducing the Nintendo Direct Sicko Report, a miniature roundup of sorts of all the games most websites won’t give bespoke headlines to.
Unless there’s drama of course. I’m looking at you, Mother 3.
Anyway, here are some highlights from the February Nintendo Direct, from the perspective of all the niche, weirdo stuff you won’t be seeing celebrated as much. We live in an unjust world, after all. And that’s why we got Battletoads in Battlemaniacs instead of Denpa Men. Let’s get into it.
Nintendo Direct Sicko Report 2/21/24: The Headlines
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
It’s like Persona, but actually about things! Hot takes aside, Shin Megami Tensei V was awesome, and criminally overlooked when it launched in Late 2021. Part of that can probably be chalked up to performance issues on the Switch, but hey. Hopefully the Switch 2 or whatever addresses that. Not only is SMT V going multiplatform now, but a new DLC chapter looks to expand the story with even more kickass, apocalyptic mayhem. Vengeance is the DLC, and a new Complete Edition of the game is gonna accompany the new content. That’s coming June 21st, and pre-orders start soon.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist
I popped for this one, and nobody else I was hanging out with did! That’s the kinda vibe we’re dealing with here. Ender Lilies was one of the best, albeit depressing, Metroidvanias out there. I wasn’t expecting a sequel so soon, especially after it seemed like Binary Haze Interactive was so keen to explore different kinds of stories (shout outs to Redemption Reapers, for better or worse). Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist looks like more of what was great about the first game, with higher production values, more emphasis on cool powers, so on and so forth. Looking forward to getting my hands on this sometime in 2024!
Gundam Breaker 4
We are so back, folks. Gundam Breaker was a fixture in Gunpla fandom for years, but the Musou/model kit hybrid never officially came to North American markets. Nope, never ever happened. Definitely didn’t get a game called New Gundam Breaker that was absolute booty after three bangers that were never localized.
Gundam Breaker 4 looks like a return to form, with that Musou-style action fueled by an obsessive level of detail to recreate the Gunpla-building experience in video game form. There’s even a setpiece photography mode in the new one, that lets you not only build your kits to your heart’s content, but stage multiple models together and make action sequences you could only dream of putting together in real life.
Gundam Breaker 4 also has an open 2024 release window.
Play Some Demos Too!
A Unicorn Overlord demo is available now!
For those of you who aren’t interested in Star Wars or Xbox ports, there are a couple of other games available with demos you can try! We won’t spend too much time on that here, because you can just hop over to the eShop and try ‘em for yourselves! Vanillaware’s new take on tactics, Unicorn Overlord has a Nintendo Switch-exclusive demo available now. And from the team at Wayforward behind the excellent Contra 4, a demo for Contra: Operation Galuga is also barging into your download queues. It’s barging into mine, that’s for dang certain.
Nintendo of Japan is Mocking Us
There’s no other way to put it. As we have covered by itself, Mother 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch Online, and is such an obviously big deal that a new line of plushies is also coming out in celebration. A celebration that North American gamers didn’t get invited to. But hey, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs is a decent consolation, right? As the kids say: lol, lmao, even.
Aside from Mother 3, there’s also a new Denpa Men? This one stings more than Mother 3 in some ways, especially since we got all the Denpa Men games on 3DS. These games are adorable Dragon Quest-likes, with weird gimmicks like the 3DS’ Street Pass informing all the little weirdos who join your party. It seems like the new one is free to play, so hopefully it does eventually get an English localization.
I’ll cap it here, since there’s other stuff to talk about and I don’t want to keep thinking about games I’m actually excited for that don’t have release dates yet. If you want more content like this from me-slash-us, let us know! There are more of us out there than we get credit for, so let’s make it happen, y’all.
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Written by Lucas White
Lucas plays a lot of video games. Sometimes he enjoys one. His faves include Dragon Quest, SaGa and Mystery Dungeon.
