Nintendo fans have been treated to lots of big game announcements during the latest Direct conference for March 27.
Running for approximately 36 minutes, the latest Nintendo Direct focused almost exclusively on new game announcements and updates for the original Nintendo Switch. A dedicated Nintendo Switch 2 Direct will air on April 2.
Here’s everything that was announced during the March 27 Nintendo Direct, which you can watch by clicking play on the YouTube video below:
The conference kicked off with a trailer for the gorgeous Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, which remains on course for a 2025 launch.
This was followed by a look at narrative-driven detective game No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES, which was given a July 25 release date exclusively for Nintendo Switch. The game tasks players with tracking down a missing influencer, who is trapped in a mysterious escape room game.
This was followed by a look at another detective game in RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, which is launching on June 19.
A gameplay trailer for bizarre Pac-Man platformer Shadow Labyrinth was next, followed by a look at Patapon 1+2 Replay. The former has a July 18 release date, while the latter containing Patapon 1 and Patapon 2 launches on July 11.
The release date announcements continued with confirmation that role-playing game Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar will launch on August 27.
Nintendo slowed things down by showing off major first-party release Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which is still listed for 2025. According to Nintendo, main character Samus Aran will have access to various psychic abilities, which can be used to control the trajectory of her beams, operate mechanisms and open doors.
The Direct conference continued with a gameplay trailer for Disney Villains Cursed Café, which sees players interact with various Disney characters while crafting potions and discovering new story threads. The trailer concluded with the surprise announcement that Disney Villains Cursed Café will be available for Switch later today (March 27). Rhythm action game Rift of the NecroDancer and role-playing game SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered are also out now.
Long-awaited cozy game Witchbrook was finally given a new gameplay trailer during the event, alongside confirmation that the game will launch this winter. The game sees players attend Witchbrook College, where they’ll learn to perform spells, craft potions and conduct rituals. Think of it like Hogwarts Legacy, but with a more cartoonish art style.
One of the more interesting announcements was for hand-drawn platform game The Eternal Life of Goldman, which also launches this winter.
I’m also looking forward to Gradius Origins Collection, which contains the original Gradius, Salamander, Gradius II, Gradius III and Salamander 2. That’s on top of a brand new game rather unimaginably titled Salamander 3. Sadly, there’s no sign of the superb Gradius V from the PS2 era. The Gradius Origins Collection will be available from August 7.
Tamagotchi Plaza is a new game in which players manage a dozen different shops and engage with over 100 Tamagotchi. It launches on June 27.
One of the other big first-party games was next, as Pokemon Legends: Z-A received a gameplay showcase ahead of its 2025 launch. The game will feature a day/night cycle, complete with special tournaments when the sun goes down.
Elsewhere, Rhythm Heaven Groove was announced for 2026, while gameplay footage was shown for Star Overdrive, The Wandering Village, King of Meat, Lou’s Lagoon, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time and High on Life.
Fans of atmospheric puzzle games will be pleased to hear that Monument Valley, Monument Valley 2 and Monument Valley 3 are all coming to Switch in 2025, alongside a brand new Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots game.
The final two games announced during the event were Marvel Cosmic Invasion and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. The new Marvel game is a colourful beat-em-up developed by the team behind TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. Marvel Cosmic Invasion launches this winter, while Tomodachi Life releases next year.
Outside of game announcements, Nintendo revealed a new Virtual Game Card system, which lets users transfer and loan out digital games purchased through the eShop.
Nintendo explains more: “Similar in concept to moving physical game cards between consoles, virtual game cards make it possible to ‘eject’ a purchased digital title from one Nintendo Switch and ‘load’ it onto another – whether it belongs to a member of the same Nintendo Account family group, or it’s a second console tied to your account.”
According to Nintendo, the new system will be available as part of a system update in late April.
The company finished the show with the surprise announcement of a new app dedicated to Nintendo news. Titled Nintendo Today, the app will be available as a free download on March 27. You’ll need a Nintendo account to login and see the news.
“This smart device app is like a daily calendar which delivers a variety of content including latest news, videos, and comics of your favourite Nintendo games and characters from select franchises.”
