Nintendo consoles don’t exactly see an outpouring of support from outside developers these days, but that’s not to say there aren’t some exciting third party titles on the way. Bill Trinen spent some time during yesterday’s Nintendo Direct pointing out some of the games coming in early 2016 from Nintendo’s partner developers.
Some of these games, like Hive Jump, Kerbal Space Program and Terraria are making their way to Wii U from other platforms, but will make special use of the Wii U’s hardware. Hive Jump is a side scrolling shooter inspired by games like Contra and Metroid. It boasts 4 player co-op, a GamePad mini-map, and amiibo support that will unlock extra rewards and content.
The Wii U GamePad will offer a new cockpit view in Kerbal Space Program. Players will use this new perspective, along with tilt controls, to steer their experimental spacecraft starward. And in the absence of Minecraft, perhaps Terraria can scratch that world building itch. Coming to both Wii U and 3DS, the game will support four player local co-op. The Wii U version will include online co-op for up to 8 players. These titles are all expected to launch in early 2016.
Project X Zone 2, the followup to the quirky-but-beloved mash up from Capcom, Sega and Bandai Namco is coming to 3DS on February 6th. This time, the chaotic strategy game will include some Nintendo characters as well. Chrom and Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening will be joining the rumble, as well as Fiora from Xenoblade Chronicles.
Finally, Nintendo showcased a couple titles that are coming soon to all major platforms. Mighty No. 9, the long-awaited side-scroller from Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune will be launching on Wii U on February 16th and on 3DS in Q2, 2016. On January 26th, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers will come to Wii U, 3DS, and every other platform in existence.
While they may not have the gravitas of a Fallout or Star Wars Battlefront, there are still third party and independent developers out there dutifully supporting Nintendo’s consoles with interesting games. Keep an eye out for these titles, and hopefully many more, throughout 2016.
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Written by Brittin Shauers
Brittin literally grew up with Link, Mario and Samus. These three characters and their worlds collectively capture everything that he loves about video games.
