If a someone pays attention to gaming circles, there’s a good chance that they have heard about the September 2021Nintendo Direct. Even a week later, Switch owners everywhere are still reeling from the sheer volume of announcements in the Direct.Bayonetta 3resurfaced after years of silence, thefirst true 3DKirbygamewas announced, and the upcomingMariomovie was given a release window and shocking cast list. This turned into a Nintendo Direct that will continue to be spoken of well into next year, and woe to the next major Direct that needs to follow this one up.
However, the presentation wasn’t wall-to-wall home runs. Some of the games announced were of a smaller scale, or for a niche audience. A couple of announcements were for other, more focused presentations in October. And some games got no time to breathe because they came out immediately. Indeed, an aspect of the September Direct that not many have honed in on was its batch of announcements for games coming out later that day.Mario Golf: Super Rushgot new characters and courses in an update later in the day, and that wasn’t even the biggest shadow drop of the show. In fact, three of the biggest instant releases came back-to-back.
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Castlevania Advance Collection
There were a definitive “big three” shadow drops at the September Direct, and this was the first. TheCastlevania Advance Collectionwas announced and released on multiple platforms and features the Game Boy Advance titlesCastlevania: Circle of the Moon,Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, andCastlevania: Aria of Sorrow. TheSNES gameCastlevania: Dracula Xwas also included, seemingly because it didn’t fit anywhere else. These games feature rewinding, quick saves, and button mapping functionality alongside a gallery full of obscureCastlevaniaartwork. This is a great collection and a must-have for anyCastlevaniafan.
Actraiser Renaissance
Not content to rest on its laurels, the Direct immediately followed up that surprise release with another:Actraiser Renaissance, a remake of the classic SNESActRaiser. Like the original title, this game is a hybrid of a city builder, a tower defense RTS, and a 2D action game. It’s a very unique experience, andActraiser Renaissancecomes with rearranged music from Yuzo Koshiro and new bosses to sweeten the deal. This game is also on multiple platforms, so hopefully, many people will be able to experiencewhat made the originalActRaiserso special.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars Demo
It was revealed that Yoko Taro’scard-based RPGVoice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roarswill be released for Switch on October 28. The game represents a traditional RPG experience, including fights and environmental exploration, entirely through a set of cards laid out on the screen. A demo came out after the Direct to give players a chance to experience this unusual game format for themselves.
Deltarune: Chapter 1&2
The last major game release right after the Nintendo Direct was the Switch and PS4 versions ofDeltarune: Chapter 1&2. As announced by a trailer featuring a dancing dog that may have been Toby Fox himself in costume, this surprisingly straightforward trailer gave a quick look at the various challenges Kris, Susie, and Ralsei will encounter in this iteration of the Dark World.UntilDeltarune’s next few chapters release, these two will be free, so anyone interested can pop in and give thisUndertalepseudo-sequel a spin.
Arcade Archives PAC-MAN and Arcade Archives XEVIOUS
The last two games to drop on the same day as theNintendo Directwere a couple more arcade classics, namely the originalPac-Manand the classic shoot-’em-upXevious. These are part of the multiplatformArcade Archives, a series of emulated games from various developers curated and released by Hamster Corporation. This round of releases comes courtesy of Namco, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to haveanother version ofPac-Manaround to enjoy.
