Nintendo Direct March 2025 - all the big Switch game announcements
As promised, Nintendo dropped its first Direct presentation of the year on Thursday afternoon, delivering a fitting farewell to the beloved Switch.
After eight successful years, the console is making way for its more powerful successor, the Switch 2. Those aren't tears, we just have something in our eye.
With the new device set to have its own Direct on April 2, this one felt like a warm-up act ahead of the main event.
Still, the showcase delivered a solid overview of Nintendo's upcoming releases and major third-party titles that should see the Switch through this year. As expected, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Pokémon Legends: Z-A were both on deck, along with some cool surprises (game-sharing!).
Maybe it's worth holding on to your Switch a little longer after all. Here's everything that was announced at the March Nintendo Direct.
In a new gameplay trailer, Samus explores a lush alien world with a massive tree at its core. Players will scan relics, battle alien creatures, and use psychic powers to manipulate the environment. Samus can also control beam trajectories and interact with portals. The trailer ends with her in a shiny new red suit, but no release date beyond 2025 was confirmed.
Take on the role of a cafe owner serving up potions for iconic Disney villains like Ursula and Gaston. Each concoction leads to chaotic encounters, adding a mischievous twist to the gameplay. Available later today.
Like a pixelated take on Hogwarts Legacy, Witchbrook puts you in the shoes of a trainee witch at a magical academy. Fans of Kiki's Delivery Service will find plenty to like here. Best of all, the game features online co-op for up to four players.
A new gameplay trailer gave us a look at the new Pokémon game's Z-A Royale tournaments. Set in Lumiose City, players compete in battle zones across the metropolis at night, with battles triggered when you're spotted by NPCs. The goal is to rise through the ranks, starting at Z and working up to A, with each victory bringing you closer to having a wish granted. The tournaments feature surprise stealth attacks and the return of Mega Evolutions. Alas, we still didn't get a concrete release date.
Soon, you'll be able to share games between two Switch consoles with virtual game cards. Much like physical cartridges, you can lend titles to family members (but only for two weeks at a time). The feature requires a one-time Wi-Fi setup and works across both Switch and Switch 2 consoles. Virtual game cards will arrive via a free software update in late April.
The first Tomodachi Life game in over a decade plops those quirky Mii avatars on a remote island. Cue oddball interactions, friendships, and some unexpected chaos - at one point in the trailer, we saw a giant person chasing a much smaller one. Think Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but with Tomodachi Life's signature weirdness.
Nintendo is launching a new app that sounds like a mix between an events calendar - where you can keep track of upcoming Directs - and a news service devoted to its upcoming releases. It's dropping later today, and will get a lot busier following the Switch 2 deep dive on April 2.
SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered – March 27, 2025
Rift of the NecroDancer – March 27, 2025
Star Overdrive – April 10, 2025
Monument Valley, Monument Valley 2 – April 15, 2025
High On Life – May 6, 2025
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time – May 21, 2025
Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army – June 19, 2025
Tamagotchi Plaza – June 27, 2025
Patapon 1+2 Replay – July 11, 2025
The Wandering Village – July 17, 2025
Shadow Labyrinth – July 18, 2025
No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files – July 25, 2025
Gradius Origins – August 7, 2025
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar – August 27, 2025
Monument Valley 3 – Summer 2025
Lou's Lagoon – Summer 2025
Marvel Cosmic Invasion – Winter 2025
The Eternal Life of Goldman – Winter 2025
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake – 2025
Everybody's Golf: Hot Shots – 2025
King of Meat – 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
29 minutes ago
- New York Post
‘Duck Dynasty' star Miss Kay's health declines following husband Phil Robertson's death
Miss Kay Robertson, the beloved matriarch of the 'Duck Dynasty' clan, is facing a difficult chapter marked by grief and declining health. 'Kay is not in the best of health,' her son Willie told USA TODAY Network. 'We're trying to help her out as much as we can.' The 77-year-old was noticeably absent from the 'Duck Dynasty: The Revival' premiere party on June 1, hosted in Monroe, Louisiana. The news of Robertson's declining health comes after she endured the tragic loss of her husband. Phil Robertson died on May 25 after suffering from Alzheimer's. He was 79. 'Some of it is, she is just depressed,' Willie remarked. 'She lost her partner of 60 years.' Her son continued to share that Kay made appearances in early episodes of the 'Duck Dynasty' reboot. However, her declining health prevented her from filming and being featured in later episodes. Kay's health issues first came to light in April, when her son Jase Robertson shared on the podcast 'Unashamed with the Robertson Family' that she had suffered a fall and developed an infection that required hospitalization. Jase said, 'We were kind of dealing with the fact that maybe this is it.' Reps for the Robertsons did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 3 Miss Kay Robertson is 'not in the best of health' following the death of her husband. 'My mom is not doing great physically,' Jase said on the family podcast back in April. 'She has to have pretty much 24/7 professional healthcare.' Phil, at the time, said that their children's presence was helping her. 'But my dad [said] it's like, 'You're helping her morale.' She's helping his morale.' While their mother spent time in a health facility, Jase explained that family and friends had been visiting, with Kay's visitors dubbed 'Kay's Kingdom.' 3 The widow's husband, Phil Robertson, died on May 25th after suffering from Alzheimer's. Phil Robertson / Facebook Last month, Willie remembered his late father through faith and their final moments together. Willie, who starred in the hit A&E reality series for five years, from 2012 to 2017, took to social media to mourn the loss of his legendary father following his death. 'I remember Phil's many prayers on Memorial Day and all the times with my dad. I don't have enough words to tell of all of it, perhaps it will take months or years of remembering,' he wrote in part on Instagram. 'Most importantly, he taught me the value of sharing my faith with others. He was the Real Deal, the same on Sundays as Fridays. Most of our conversations were not about hunting or business, but about sharing the Gospel.' 3 The reality television star did not attend the 'Duck Dynasty: The Revival' premiere party on June 1. Art Streiber Phil, famous for launching the Duck Commander hunting company that became the focus of his A&E show, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in December 2024. His son concluded his heartfelt tribute and wrote, 'Phil, I love you and already miss you. Thank you for raising me the right way and teaching me the most important lesson to prepare me for the day you passed on. Not sure how people deal with loss without the Lord. We may be wrong about all this….but I doubt it! Sleep well Dad, can't wait to see you.' A&E announced earlier this year that the hit show would be revived eight years after it aired its final episode. 'Duck Dynasty: The Revival' focuses on Willie; his wife; their adult children, John Luke, Sadie, Will, Bella and Rebecca; and their grandchildren, according to a synopsis. The original 'Duck Dynasty' aired for 11 seasons from 2012-17. Per A&E, the show peaked at 11.8 million viewers.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
How this S.F. company's $100 million gamble made ‘Lilo & Stitch' one of Disney's biggest hits
There's an old Hollywood adage, attributed to comedian W.C. Fields, that advises filmmakers and actors never to work with children or animals. Good thing the makers of the new live-action ' Lilo & Stitch ' didn't listen to such nonsense. In the less than two weeks since its release, the Disney film is one of the most beloved of the year, pulling in more than $600 million at the global box office. It is already the second-biggest Hollywood release of 2025, and has a good shot at supplanting ' A Minecraft Movie ' ($947 million) as the top earner. Obviously, one of the reasons it has become one of Disney's most successful live-action remakes is audiences' warm memories of the 2002 animated film. But a major factor is the undeniable chemistry between 6-year-old Maia Kealoha, who plays Lilo, and the beautifully realized 2025 version of Stitich, the tiny irrepressible alien who lands in Hawaii and becomes Lilo's chaotic companion. The secret to developing that relationship was spearheaded by Industrial Light & Magic, based at the Presidio in San Francisco. As the visual effects team was grappling with how to turn the 2D animated version into a fully fleshed-out CGI character, a crucial decision was made: to aid the-yet-to-be-cast child actress who would play Lilo, the $100 million production would use animatronic puppets to interact with her and serve as a visual guide for the VFX team. 'They immediately had a bond,' animation supervisor Matthew Shumway said during a recent Chronicle visit to ILM. 'Every day there would be cute moments on the set. It was really important to let (Maia) have a friend on set. It was really cute to see how black (Stitich's) nose was by the end of production; it was pretty rubbed off because she kissed it so much.' Shumway, who filmed test footage with his own 6-year-old daughter before Maia was cast, and visual effects supervisor Craig Hammack turned to Legacy Effects, a Los Angeles company that specializes in animatronic puppets (Grogu of ' The Mandalorian '), to create a series of Stitch puppets, including one suited for underwater scenes. Hayes called the child's performance 'huge.' 'A 6-year-old girl, a lot on her shoulders, and there's only one of her, you know?' Hayes said. 'She nailed the character, and she was very professional, and very impressive.' Hammack, a two-time Oscar nominee as visual effects supervisor on ' Deepwater Horizon ' (2017) and ' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ' (2022), agreed. 'Maia was phenomenal — very honest, very focused,' he said. 'It didn't feel like (the production) was being tailored to a child in that everything was able to stay on track and very productive for the time we had with her.' Because Lilo first thinks Stitch is a dog, some of the character's movements were dog-like. In those scenes, a French Bulldog named Dale stood in for Stitch in scenes with Maia. The animal 'always gave a little bit of unpredictability,' Hammack noted, which added spontaneity to the film. Somewhere, the ghost of Fields was spinning. Blending live actors with animated characters has been a thing since at least 'Anchors Aweigh,' the 1945 MGM musical in which Gene Kelly famously danced with Jerry the Mouse. The landmark 1988 film 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' upped the ante. But counterintuitively, because of ILM's cutting-edge technology, 'Lilo & Stitch' was able to deliver something Kelly didn't have: a physical scene partner. 'Our work works because Seth did his job,' Shumway said. 'Without it, we would maybe get a stale performance from Maia. By the time it gets to (the VFX team), we digitally remove (the puppet), but then we've got all the other elements that benefited from the work that he did. Because Maya gave a really good performance, then we can give a really good performance with Stitch. 'So really, it's an old school process, but it's still very modern in how we approach it.'
Screen Geek
3 hours ago
- Screen Geek
Disney Plus Reveals Updated MCU Timeline
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown exponentially since the release of Iron Man in 2008. Now, nearly two decades later in 2025, the MCU timeline has been updated via Disney Plus. Fans can now see how more than fifty titles in the multimedia franchise are chronologically organized by the studio. This updated version of the MCU timeline now includes Captain America: Brave New World which was recently added to the streaming service. For fans that want to enjoy the follow-up to the original Captain America trilogy and its television spin-off The Falcon and the Winter Soldier , they can now do so in chronological order if they're interested in having one crazy marathon. Of course, the list doesn't yet include the newly-released film Thunderbolts , though fans can rest assured that the film will be the most recent title to occur chronologically on the list. It's also worth noting that Spider-Man: No Way Home isn't yet available on Disney Plus, so that particular title is missing. Nevertheless, here's the mostly complete MCU timeline that Disney Plus has to offer: Captain America: The First Avenger Captain Marvel Iron Man Iron Man 2 The Incredible Hulk Thor The Avengers Thor: The Dark World Iron Man 3 Captain America: The Winter Soldier Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 I Am Groot Daredevil Jessica Jones Avengers: Age of Ultron Ant-Man Luke Cage Iron Fist Defenders Captain America: Civil War Black Widow Black Panther The Punisher Spider-Man: Homecoming Doctor Strange Thor: Ragnarok Ant-Man and The Wasp Avengers: Infinity War Avengers: Endgame Loki What If…? WandaVision Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Spider-Man: Far From Home Eternals Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Hawkeye Moon Knight Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Echo She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Ms. Marvel Thor: Love and Thunder Werewolf by Night The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Secret Invasion The Marvels Deadpool & Wolverine Agatha All Along Daredevil: Born Again Captain America: Brave New World The Marvel Cinematic Universe consists of a vast and developing timeline of movies, television shows, and the occasional Disney Plus special. The timeline order on Disney Plus makes it much easier to follow along and see when each of these titles are intended to take place. With several other installments in the works or headed to theaters, including The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the next two Avengers movies, it'll be interesting to see how these new titles will alter the timeline. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional Marvel Cinematic Universe news as we have it. For now, fans can enjoy the newly-organized MCU via Disney Plus, in which Captain America: Brave New World is currently the most recently-set film featured on the timeline.
