To kick things off, a remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong is happening. The sequel to the classic Donkey Kong ’94 is getting a new release, with co-op added.

Splatoon 3‘s Wave 2 expansion, Side Order, launches next Spring. This single player mode has you climb a tower, defeating enemies and upgrading your Inkling or Octoling to your liking, with different stat changes available depending on your current run.

The final wave of Mario Kart 8 DLC is out this holiday season. This expansion includes the return of playable racers Diddy Kong, Funky Kong, Pauline, and Peachette along with the Mario Kart Wii track Daisy Circuit.

Remakes of the Another Code/Trace Memory games, Another Code: Recollection, were announced as a single package. These will be pretty substantial remakes, and will be the first time Another Code R is available in the States.

The most oomfie game to ever oomfie, SPYxANYA: Operation Memories, was announced. In it, you play as Anya Forger from SPYxFAMILY as she travels about with her parents and works on a photo diary for school.

Remasters of the first three Tomb Raider games were announced, with the ability to swap between new and classic graphics at will. They’re also coming to pretty much every other platform.

WarioWare: Move It! got a new trailer showcasing some of the forms you’ll have to take for each of the 200 microgames.

Some solid indie ports were announced for Switch, including Trombone Champ (out now), Dave the Diver (out October 26th, with a demo available now), and Horizon Chase 2 (also out now).

We’re So Back

Eiyuden Chronicle has a release date, April 23rd, 2024. The Suikoden successor has been a long time coming, being Kickstarted in 2020.

Vanillaware’s latest game has the sickest title ever: UNICORN OVERLORD. It seems to be a Fire Emblem-style tactical RPG, and the art is as gorgeous as ever.

F-ZERO is back as a 99-player battle royale. In the style of the SNES original, F-ZERO 99 has you race against 98 other players, letting you customize your car and otherwise rev it up.

The Princess Peach game previously announced last Direct has a title, Princess Peach: Showtime! Peach travels through a massive theater and dons costumes to gain new abilities. Rose described it as a “direct to DVD Barbie movie” and that’s such a high compliment.

And finally, holy crap they’re remaking Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.

There were a few other trailers, including a new Among Us map, a Contra remake, and some League of Legends games. Check the full Direct out below.

A few other tidbits did drop from the Japanese Direct. Demos for Star Ocean 2‘s remake and Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince released (worldwide, even!), and the newest game from Onion Games, Stray Children, was announced for worldwide release. An RPG in the style of the legendary game moon, Stray Children will also most likely be co-director Yoshiro Kimura’s final RPG.

Roundup of the Absolute State of Play

Bennett Foddy wanted to make sure this show got off on the right foot. Baby Steps is big budget QWOP with a dash of comedic writing on top.

Ghostbusters Rise of the Ghost Lord is a PlayStation VR2 game that seemingly features a multiplayer component. The game includes an all original cast and plot, implying the Ghostbusters branding is only cosmetic.

Resident Evil 4 Remake has revealed a DLC remake of the popular Separate Ways segments following Ada Wong. They also announced Wesker and Ada coming to the evergreen Mercenaries mode and a VR component of RE4 though details on it were sparse.

James Cameron’s Avatar is coming to gaming with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. This open world FPS allows you to explore Pandora as one of its blue inhabitants, complete with mating via hair braids.

Sony Sends Us Supplemental Sequels

Ghostrunner, one of the coolest and most visually attractive games of the last few years, is getting a complete sequel with the inspired name of Ghostrunner II.

Helldivers 2 brought us one of those horrifyingly uncanny trailers with paid actors mimicking in-game commentary, and alongside it the news that Helldivers has gone third person.

Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spiderman is back for the third time in Marvel’s Spiderman 2. The open world map has been greatly expanded with inclusion of Brooklyn and Queens. However, the prominent feature shown is the ability to switch between controlling Peter Parker and Miles Morales with little break of in-game flow. This mechanic will also apparently be used for narrative purpose as each hero can only take on certain missions.

Tales of Arise showed off a cinematic trailer for its DLC Beyond the Dawn though no word was given on whether it will add any of the missing features from previous games.

Dispatches From

Hoyoverse continues its partnership with Sony by bringing Star Rail to the PS5 with a trailer that shows of highlights from the most recent version of the game.

Foamstars is Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s Splatoon and it continues to have just the strangest aesthetic and tone of any game that was shown. It’s also having an open beta from September 29th to October 1st so you can check it out if Splatoon was just too normal for you.

Finally We’ll Know Sephiroth

Finally, Square Enix continues to show they have the best cinematics team in the business by pulling all the stops on their new trailer for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. This one shows the return of classic party members like Vincent and Red XIII, the latter finally being given the playable treatment he was snubbed off in the previous entry. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases February 24th 2024 on two discs for physical release.

The post The Bulletin: Open the (Thousand Year) Door, Get on the Floor appeared first on Gamesline.

Directly to You, The Mario Section

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is being remade. It’s unknown what exactly will be changed (besides the graphics, which are quite divisive) in this version, but there seem to be fully animated cutscenes! We can all see Mallow and Geno again on November 17th 2023.

Princess Peach will be starring in her own game next year. Nothing besides a teaser was shown, but it seems to take place on a stage? Hopefully this one isn’t as sexist as the last time Peach was the star of the show.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe‘s next wave will include three new racers and some new tracks. The racers are Kamek, Petey Piranha, and Wiggler, and the tracks include a brand new course set in The Bathroom called Squeaky Clean Spring.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, the most mid Luigi’s Mansion game, is getting ported to Switch next year. (Please put the first Luigi’s Mansion on something that isn’t 3DS thank you!)

The final Mario announcement was the series’ return to 2D with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. With a gorgeous art style, playable Daisy, and an elephant power up, Wonder seems like the kick in the pants 2D Mario has needed for many years. It’s due out October 20th.

The Rest of the Direct

It’s related to Mario but not fully so it’s not in the section above: We’re getting a new Warioware game that’s specifically a sequel to Smooth Moves on the Wii, which was arguably the best in the series. Warioware: Move It! will release November 6th and promises over 200 new microgames.

Pikmin 4 got a new trailer, showcasing new modes such as Dandori Battle, in which you fight plant based foes to show off your Pikmin prowess. There’s also nighttime missions, which task you with gathering resources from glowing mounds and teaming up with new Glow Pikmin. Pikmin 4 sprouts July 21st.

Pikmin 1 and 2 are also now released on Switch digitally. Physical copies will release September 22nd.

We got a new look at Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s DLCs. Not too much new info but there’s a handful of returning Pokemon confirmed for each set. Game Freak claims “The Teal Mask” will be out in the fall and “The Indigo Disk” will release in winter.

Detective Pikachu Returns sees our favorite Ryan Reynolds character not played by Ryan Reynolds solving new mysteries with his…are they going to have the same twist as the movie in this? Like, we all saw the movie already, it’ll be pretty deflated if they’re just building up to the same thing, right? Whatever, new game on October 6th.

The Rocksteady Batman trilogy is coming to Switch in the Fall.

A new Dragon Quest Monsters game, The Dark Prince, has been announced. It seems to take place around the events of Dragon Quest IV, since Solo shows up at the end of the trailer.

Star Ocean: The Second Story is getting a remake too. This will be yet another 2DHD Square Enix game, and will be releasing on PS5, PS4, and Steam as well.

The Switch version of the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol 1 will include the NES version of Metal Gear as well as the non-canon second NES game Snake’s Revenge.

Penny’s Big Breakaway is a new 3D platformer by the folks at Evening Star, who previously worked on Sonic Mania. You play as a girl named Penny who uses a yo-yo to traverse a colorful and bouncy world.

An adaptation of tabletop roleplaying game Gloomhaven is coming to Switch September 18th. (Let’s hope they fix the frame rate by then though—because yeesh.)

Vampire Survivors is dropping on Switch August 17th with a new four player couch co-op mode.

Mythforce is a new melee-focused roguelike that’s stylized after He-Man era cartoons. It’s due later this year.

Splatoon 3‘s next splatfest will have you choosing between vanilla, strawberry, or mint chocolate chip ice cream. I know my allegiance.

Palia will allow you to build a “cozy life” in its free to play multiplayer adventuring world. It releases this winter.

Don’t worry folks, there’s another farm RPG. Fae Farm is that. September 8th. Have at it.

Silent Hope is a new XSEED RPG set in the same universe as Rune Factory. Seven silent heroes are tasked with reclaiming the power of speech through dungeon crawling. It’s due out October 3rd.

There’s a few more things in the Direct, so if you want to peruse at your leisure, here’s the full video:

What Else Do We Got?

Following up on the previously discussed Metal Gear Solid Master Collection, at least some of the contents of the next volume seem to have surfaced. Twitter user Nitroid found some evidence on the website for the collection pointing towards Metal Gear Solid 4, 5, and Peace Walker being included in the future release, with IGN later corroborating this. Let’s all hope we get Metal Gear Ac!d, Portable Ops, Revengence, and Ghost Babel in there to truly complete the series.

Final Fantasy racing game Chocobo GP has been re-released as a $50 game that allows for access to all the previous microtransaction content. All content can now be unlocked in game without paying extra. If you downloaded the demo version, Chocobo GP Lite, you can buy an upgrade DLC so you can keep your progress.

The original version of Call of Duty: Warzone, “Caldera“, is going offline on September 21st. This version lasted three years, with the current 2.0 version attached to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

And finally, according to information pulled from a recent meeting report of the Los Angeles Tourism Board of Commissioners, E3 is possibly canceled in 2024 and 2025 as well. Long may Keighley reign.

The post The Bulletin: Remakes and Returns at the Nintendo Direct appeared first on Gamesline.

Here’s the full Direct if you just want to watch!

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom got a new trailer, which showed off more enemies and vehicles, but not much else. It releases May 12th, and will also be the first Nintendo Switch game to…sigh….be $70.

Pikmin 4‘s trailer revealed the new Hocotatians you’ll play as, the new Ice Pikmin, and an adorable dog-like creature that’ll help you on your quest for riches. The title releases July 21st.

Splatoon 3 is getting an expansion pass. The first wave will allow you to return to Inkopolis from the first Splatoon, letting you shop at the old stores as well. Wave two will introduce what seems to be a new story called Side Order.

Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games were added to Switch Online. Original Game Boy and Game Boy Color will be available to all Switch Online subscribers, but Game Boy Advance is only available for Expansion Pass subs. You’ll have to pay extra for Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga.

A remaster of the original Metroid Prime dropped on the eshop right after the Direct. It may say it’s a remaster, but many people are thinking this may be a full remake, with new visuals and engine effects. A physical release is coming February 22nd.

The Xenoblade 3 expansion pass has been fully detailed, with the final new hero, Masha, arriving on February 15th. Later this year, part four will release, which is a new story that stars Shulk, Rex, and other characters from the past games.

Fashion Dreamer is a new fashion design title by the creators of the Style Savvy games. No idea why Nintendo isn’t just publishing this but hey, it’s Style Savvy in all but name.

Ghost Trick is getting a modern port. This will also be available on Sony and Microsoft consoles as well as PC this Summer.

We Love Katamari is getting the Reroll treatment, dropping a remaster of the beloved second game in the series June 2nd. There will also be a new mode called Royal Reverie where you can play as a younger King of All Cosmos. This will also be available on all other consoles.

Level-5 is back from their hiatus, announcing three titles in one Direct! The first was a new IP, DECAPOLICE, in which you solve mysteries and otherwise perform police duties (the fictional good kind, for what it’s worth). They also announced a new Fantasy Life, Fantasy Life i: The Girl who Steals Time. Both of these titles are due this year. Finally, a new Professor Layton game was teased, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam. No release date there, but it’s fantastic to see our favorite top hat gentleman return.

Advance Wars 1+2: ReBoot Camp has a release date of April 21st. Previously delayed due to the Ukraine war, hopefully it releases and there aren’t any other historical events that run into its release. Again.

The first details of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC’s fourth wave are here, and it will include a Yoshi’s Island course and the addition of Birdo as a playable character. Every time I (John) think of Birdo I just hear the audio clips from Mario Advance. This truly will be as far as I go.

Fire Emblem Engage‘s DLC was also detailed, with new Emblems Soren, Hector, and Camilla released now and Chrom/Robin and Veronica coming in wave three. Wave four will include a new story, “Fell Xenologue”.

Etrian Odyssey‘s first three entries are getting HD remasters, all releasing on June 1st for Switch and Steam. They will be $40 each or $80 for all three, and preordering the games will get you Shin Megami Tensei-related character portraits for each game.

Both Baten Kaitos games, deckbuilding RPGs for GameCube by MonolithSoft, are getting remasters for Switch. These remasters are pretty standard fare, with updated graphics and new battle functions, but not much else. This bundle will release this Summer.

Samba de Amigo is back with Party Central, allowing for the Switch Joycons to be used as maracas for rhythm fun. It’ll be out sometime this Summer.

The newest Mickey Mouse and co. game, Disney Illusion Island, will release July 28th. 

The remaster of Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, the lesser-known Kirby title for the Wii, has a demo available now. There is also a new Magalor focused epilogue and new mini-games. The game launches February 24th.

TRON: Identity, an narrative puzzler set in the TRON universe by Bithell Games, releases in April.

There were more tidbits in the Direct, but for now let’s move on…

In other news…

YouTube contractors in Texas went on strike in protest of a policy requiring a mandatory return and reporting back to in-office work. Workers allege that Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, have recently tried to reinforce the policy as a union busting tactic.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC) is fining Activision-Blizzard due to its failing to disclose the issues of workplace sexual harassment to its investors, hopping in on the train of now more than a handful of government agents still taking legal action against the company. The SEC notes that the company failed to properly report and collect information on instances of workplace issues, which is deemed necessary to disclose to certain parties.

In a continuing string of the sunsetting of several games, Knockout City will be shutting down this coming June. However, there are at least intentions of a private-server version of the game to be released some time after.

CrossfireX servers will be shutting down in a much earlier time in mid-May. The Xbox Store has started halting purchases and providing refunds associated with the game.

Turtle Rock Studios has also ended Back 4 Blood’s string of post-launch content hopping on to focus on their next title.

Square Enix is apparently not doing so hot financially, citing their numbers of the previous fiscal year starting in mid-2022. Sales of games failed to reach numbers on part of the year prior, which also overlapped with the recent decline of mobile game use.

Meanwhile, Dwarf Fortress is popping off, and developer Bay 12 Games is celebrating the game’s latest, fantastic earnings report by finally considering the hiring of another person on the team. Bay 12 has been primarily ran by brothers Tarn and Zach Adams for years, powered by the donations of a dedicated playerbase that supported the original game.

Friend of the site Food4Dogs will be starting to take it easy on her video output in order to take care and prioritize her health. We wish her all the best! You can listen to our Starlight Car interview with Food4Dogs here.

The post The Bulletin: The Latest Nintendo Direct and More appeared first on Gamesline.

It’s a John and Maverick show for episode 412 of the podcast! We talk stupid news, GTA 6 leaks, Splatoon 3, Splatfest, John continues to enjoy Xenoblade 3, has mixed thoughts on Soul Hackers 2, Among Us and Hololive have a new collaboration out, GameStop is giving out copies of Babylon’s Fall, Deltarune’s Spamton makes some noise, EVGA and Nvidia split, Maverick takes us deeper into the world of Honkai Impact, and Twitch is now regulating gambling content.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo,  @john_michonski, and @mavsplaniamania

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 412: Vtubers are Sus appeared first on Gamesline.

In the news, Masahiro Sakurai’s got a Youtube channel and Hideo Kojima’s got a podcast.  We’re getting a new Dualsense wireless controller and Pokémon breeding is rumored to be changing. A Space for the Unbound has been delayed indefinitely because of their publisher being predatory as all hell. Gamescom also happened and we have a lot of release dates for games like Sonic Frontiers and New Tales From the Borderlands. We also got more detailed looks at Return to Monkey Island and Dead Island 2 and more.

As always, you can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Twitter @VGChooChoo,  @Mavsplaniamania, @ChorbySP and @JudgementScythe

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, direct download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 408: Saints Splatfest appeared first on Gamesline.

As always you can support us on our patreon, and follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, and @horngal

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

You can also join our discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Subscribe via iTunes, Hipcast, Direct Download, or listen below!

The post VGCC Episode 346: Everything’s Better with Wesker appeared first on Gamesline.