Nintendo Direct showcases offer more for PC gamers than merely the grim spectacle of having to watch as the lingering hopes of Hollow Knight fans are dashed for another year. While first party Nintendo stuff stays locked in Mario's walled garden, we reliably get reveals for third-party games that also hit PC—particularly, we see a lot of long-awaited remasters and remakes of JRPGs, and this year's summer showcase from Nintendo continued that trend. Here's what we can look forward to from this June's Nintendo Direct.
Fantasian Neo Dimension
Fantasian Neo Dimension is an "enhanced version" of an Apple Arcade RPG from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and famed composer Nobuo Uematsu. Hard to glean many specifics from the JRPG melodrama in the Direct trailer, but it showed off some cool mechanics: In the turn-based combat, you can control the arcs of your projectiles and hit multiple enemy targets. While running around the overworld, you can also banish encountered enemies to the "Dimengeon" to fight them all at once later, hitting tons of enemies at once by controlling the paths of your attacks. Seems neat.
The website for Fantasian Neo Dimension says it'll be out on Steam this winter, but there's no Steam listing up yet.
Mio: Memories in Orbit
Mio looks a bit like a Hollow Knight-esque Metroidvania, but with androids on a colorful, overrun space ark instead of doomed bugs. It has a lovely artstyle, and its player character robot has a really cool design with hair-like energy tendrils that it can use for platforming and combat.
Mio: Memories in Orbit is planned for a 2025 release on Steam.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure
It's basically a Sanrio Stardew and it's coming to PC. You can make your own little creature. Is it a port of an Apple Arcade game? Yes. But Pompompurin is in there. What more could you want? (Big Challenges is the answer, but he rests with the angels now.)
Hello Kitty Island Adventure will hit PC in 2025.
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake
Dragon Quest is getting Square's HD-2D treatment, and first up for remake is Dragon Quest 3. DQ3 is chronologically the earliest story in "The Erdrick Trilogy," composed of the first three Dragon Quest games. And don't worry, the HD-2D remakes for Dragon Quest 1 and Dragon Quest 2 will be arriving next year, too.
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake will release on November 14, 2024.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
An arcade collection of Marvel classics from Capcom, featuring:
- X-Men: Children of the Atom
- Marvel Super Heroes
- X-Men vs. Street Fighter
- Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Super Heroes
- and The Punisher, which is not a fighting game, but it's fine
The Arcade Classics collection will also have bonus features like improved training modes, concept art galleries, and crucially, a music player, so you can get taken for a ride whenever you want.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics has a Steam page, but no PC release date yet.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection
I'm not an Ace Attorney guy, but I'm led to believe by credible sources that it's wrong I've continued to live this way. If you're enjoying a better existence than mine, you'll probably be interested in this collection of Edgeworth-centric Ace Attorneys, some of which never got English localizations before now.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection will release on September 6, 2024.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
A 3D remake of the best-selling JRPG, which before now was only available outside of Japan as one of Square Enix's hit-and-miss mobile ports. The remake pairs the nonlinear imperial succession of the original with a new timeline-based battle system.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven releases October 24, 2024.
Other announcements and reveals:
- The Danganronpa creators have a new murder school game—The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, releasing in 2025
- Koei Tecmo announced Fairy Tail 2, based on the anime's "Alvarez Empire Arc"
- Farmagia, releasing November 1, 2024, is a farming game where you grow monsters to enlist in a war against a crazed sorcerer
- Funko Fusion is like Disney Infinite but with Funko Pops and their dead, soulless eyes, releasing September 13, 2024
- Metal Slug Attack Reloaded, a port of a Metal Slug tower defense mobile game, is available now on Steam
- Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a phantom-battling tactics RPG, arriving on Steam in 2025
