Nintendo’s Mini Partner Direct Combines New Releases With Some Surprising Ports

By Emily Price  |  June 28, 2022 | 2:24pm
Video Games News nintendo
Nintendo’s Mini Partner Direct Combines New Releases With Some Surprising Ports

Today’s Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase brought news of a variety of third-party games releasing for the Switch. Announced just yesterday, the Direct ran for 25 minutes and focused heavily on ports, although some new titles were announced as well.

One early surprise was that Nier: Automata, an award-winning action RPG with multiple endings and genre-blending gameplay, will be coming to the Switch in October. Automata is a relatively demanding game when it comes to graphics, so its inclusion on the Switch is surprising, but contributes to the console’s reputation as a home for JRPGs.

Continuing the news of ports releasing this year, the entire latter half of the Persona series is launching on the Switch. Persona 5 Royal, the latest entry, will launch on October 21, while the two earlier games Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will launch at an undetermined point in the future.

The last major port of the Direct was the Portal: Companion Collection, a combination of Portal and Portal 2 which is available on the Switch today.

One of the upcoming releases announced for Switch was Return to Monkey Island, a new entry in the classic adventure game series that will release as a timed exclusive for Switch before moving to other consoles. The game sees the return of series creator Ron Gilbert, and will focus on series protagonist Guybrush Threepwood as he navigates what sounds a little like a midlife crisis, through the usual point-and-click gameplay and pirate-based adventures.

Another new title announced at the Direct was Harvestella, a life-sim with farming and RPG elements from Square Enix. Releasing for PC and Switch on November 4, players can fight, cook, and establish social bonds in a world with changing seasons and various kinds of environmental dangers. It looks a lot like the acclaimed DS game Fantasy Life, but a little more grown-up.

 
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