Thoughts on the shadow direct that dropped before the Switch 2

For a long time, I had been looking for a reason to once again return to this blog.

I suppose this is as good an excuse as any! This is really going to be more of a rambling post talking about my thoughts on the shadow-dropped Nintendo Direct. As much as I love writing posts with that refined kind of edge to them, I am afraid that this post will really be lacking that flair, and to be honest after proof-reading this the story-telling is not my best.

For a bit of background to all ye who read this years in the future…

  • The Nintendo Switch is one of the most popular, best-selling game consoles of all time.
  • Nintendo revealed the Switch 2 back in February-ish? of this year 2025.
  • They announced that there would be a special Nintendo event discussing the Nintendo Switch 2 (they call these events “Nintendo Direct”s).
  • This event was on April 2nd.
  • For the entire almost two months from February up until March today, Nintendo had been completely radio-silent on anything game-related.
  • Rumors start floating about that there’s going to be a Nintendo Direct on March 27th, but that’s a bunch of baloney… why would they do a direct for that 8-year-old console when, in literally one week, we’re going to have the BIG presentation for the BIG NEW CONSOLE!!
  • Lo and behold… the rumors are actually true.
You can just skip to my opinions on the Direct, this section is a load of yap.

In the first two months, I really did not care for the Switch 2 announcement, and was honestly kind of disappointed with the design, but as the date grew ever-nearer, I grew kind of excited. Not for the Switch 2 console itself, again I think it looks really lame… but I was excited for the new game announcements that would follow the Switch 2. I mean, last time they presented a console, they announced The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and that game released only a few months after the direct!

So, by late March, I’d been following the Switch 2 hype semi-intently, picking up any leaks and rumors in the lead-up to the BIG presentation for the BIG NEW CONSOLE!! and one of those rumors happened to be that there would be a Nintendo Switch Direct like literally this week (The week of March 27th). Obviously literally nobody believed it, and any YouTuber who even dared to pose the idea of such a rumor being anywhere close to the realm of truth got absolutely clowned on that week. The people laughed, and they laughed… up until the dark (or bright?) night of March 26th.

At this point, we’d reached Ramadan 2025, so I was waking up pretty early (as most muslims in the middle east do) to offer additional prayers and eat and drink before abstaining for the obligatory ~12-20 hours (depends on your country). Imagine my surprise waking up at 4 AM, doing my thing, and then checking my phone to see that… it was true?

It was essentially the equivalent of a Shaman preaching to the tribe, and the prophecy coming true. Except in this case, instead of a shaman, it was some random leaker on a Chinese forum who claimed to be a Nintendo insider, and instead of a prophecy… it was convoluted corporate marketing plans.

Well, my opinions on the direct are as follows:

  • PokĂ©mon Legends looks like it could be fun. I really love turn-based RPGs and am a massive Persona fan, but PokĂ©mon is a little more shallow than Persona strategically (not that either game is particularly strategically deep), and the story with PokĂ©mon is always really lame. Story is a big factor in getting me to play and actually finish a game. I think it’s a bit of survivorship bias because good gameplay usually comes with a good story, but not the other way around. Last time I tried a PokĂ©mon (Sun & Moon fwiw.) game I thought it was going to be this amazing thing… but after trying it I just don’t understand why it’s so beloved. Okay, maybe the PokĂ©mon are cute (Mareep is my favorite) but the gameplay and story is just downright terrible.
  • Metroid Prime 4 extended gameplay reveal. I love Metroid, especially 2D Metroid. I really loved Dread, but I must admit I’ve never actually tried Metroid Prime. Metroid games are more lore-heavy vs story-heavy (so you don’t need to play the past games to really understand what’s going on) but even then, I will probably buy Prime Remastered first before touching Prime 4. I consider Metroid a “Triple A” release worth full-price, but I really think Nintendo games should be sold at no more than 30 USD.
  • Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. I am unlikely to buy it myself, but I have some good memories watching the DanTDM play-through of it on YouTube. It’s always fascinated me how the most popular YouTubers have mastered the craft of adding their unique personality to games and making watching them really enjoyable, even if I wouldn’t enjoy playing the game myself. Watching that series with my sister is probably a core childhood memory, even if I didn’t really like Tomodachi Life as I wish I had.
  • Rhythm Heaven: Groove. Everybody glazes this franchise to absolutely no end, I am kind of interested in this game despite never having played it. If it releases for any price above 15 USD they can forget it, though.
  • Patapon 1+2 Replay. Everybody loves the return of a PSP game. I’m proud to be one of the six and a half PSP owners who were born after 2005. Now they just need to bring back LocoRoco and I would be complete.
  • The Eternal Life of Goldman. It looks really good, even though it won’t be Switch-exclusive I’m glad the Direct put it in omy radar. I kind of hated the pixel art era of indie games (almost every single indie game looked the same from 2014-2023), but I kind of feel like the tides are starting to turn on this trend as developers seek to stand out from the crowd. Of course, I leave a few exceptions for true gems like A Short Hike that did something truly unique with pixel art.

Aside from these, everything else in the Direct I felt was not really worth my attention. Even of all the games I listed, I will probably only buy Metroid Prime 4 (and maybe Eternal Life of Goldman?).

I always find it really funny when Nintendo drops yet another farming simulator in a Nintendo Direct. Seriously, whoever keeps putting those in must be more deranged than Dahmer or Bundy. I’m surprised that after years, Nintendo hasn’t gotten the hint to completely take them out.

By the point they had pulled out the menagerie of farming sims/farming-sim-adjacent games, we didn’t get any of the Big Games (Metroid, Pokemon, Tomodachi) and I started tweaking out.

“I’m never getting these 30 minutes back”, I said. Then they drop Prime 4 right after the farming sim.

Something that struck me as odd is that most of these games are planned for release in 2026!? For a console on its way out? Maybe they’re trying to pull off a Nintendo 3DS vs New Nintendo 3DS XL thing but with clearer branding this time. I’d give this direct a solid 8.85/10 for reviving those really niche, dead Nintendo franchises (+ a PSP remaster), but I wish there was Kid Icarus in there as well.

Well, that about concludes my ramble. Goodbye for now!