Nintendo Indies Direct March 2018 Recap

Published: March 20, 2018 2:15 PM /

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It's March 20th, and not long after Nintendo had taken the stage for their own direct, they decided to give independent developers who were releasing games on the Nintendo Switch a showcase of their own. Branded as 'nindies", as a portmanteau of Nintendo and Indies, this event focused on games they were bringing to Nintendo's hot console.

First up to get the ball rolling was Mark of the Ninja Remastered from Klei Entertainment and releases this Fall on Nintendo Switch. Mark of the Ninja is a critically acclaimed stealth action game where you go around prowling like a ninja and choose how you approach problems with a selection of tools in this remaster of Klei's work.

mark of the ninja remastered switch

After that came Fantasy Strike, a fantasy-themed fighter with all sorts of weird fighters and abilities. Right now it's on Steam Early Access where it has been well received for its focus on simplifying gameplay. Fantasy Strike will have online play as well as local multiplayer when it launches this summer on Nintendo Switch, although local multiplayer will require additional joy-cons.

Just Shapes and Beats is a 'musical bullet hell' game that you navigate around deadly shapes to the beats of a soundtrack made by 20 chiptune artists. Berzerk Studio is bringing this novel concept as a timed console exclusive to Nintendo Switch and if you want, it features co-op play as well.

The first newly announced game was Garage from tinyBuild Games. This top-down shooter is set in a grizzly underworld inspired by the gory VHS era of B-Movies where you slay hordes of undead with a variety of weapons and skills. Garage will be launching first on Nintendo Switch this Spring.

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Adult Swim and Rekim pair up to make everything into billiards. Pool Panic has over 100 levels and you knock your pool ball around things like jungles, deserts, and cities in search of the 8 ball to move on. There'll be also an endless mode for the game, a variety of hats you can wear and local multiplayer for up to 4 players, although each will only require one joy-con. Pool Panic launches first on Nintendo Switch later this year.

Chicken Platforming? Sure, why not, answers Bomb Chicken! In this game from Nitrome, you combine arcade-y action and puzzles and lay bombs (possibly in stacks) to solve all sorts of problems. Get ready to defeat the fast food giant BFC and discover their secret when this game launches first on Nintendo Switch this summer.

lumines remastered nintendo switch

Lumines Remastered is a remaster of the acclaimed puzzle game by Tetsuya Mizuguchi.  HD Rumble helps bring the great music in this game to life either on the go- or at home which stars forty different themes that you can unlock. It has local multiplayer as well, so you can play against your friends when this releases on Nintendo Switch this spring.

If you thought that Nerial and Devolver Digital's Reigns series would be a great fit on Nintendo Switch, apparently you're not alone. Today they announced Reigns: Kings and Queens a compilation of the first two Reigns games for Nintendo switch, with an exclusive local co-op multiplayer mode. Reigns: Kings and Queens will be released this Spring.

If our preview of Light Fall interested you, but you thought "I really need that on the go", Nintendo had good news for you today, as they announced Light Fall will be coming to Nintendo Switch this spring as a timed console exclusive. They also took the time to announce a previously unknown Speedrun mode, which lets players race friends and others for the fastest places on the online leaderboards.

West of Loathing comes to Nintendo Switch this spring with its trademark slapstick comedy wild west gameplay that got praise on the PC as a console exclusive. Joining it this spring will be Pode from Henchman and Goon which is a co-op exploration puzzle game inspired by Norwegian art and culture.

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Perhaps no company is associated with 8 and 16-bit art as Nintendo due to the ubiquity of the NES and SNES. The Messenger from Sabotage aims to walk the line between them as a game that transforms between an 8-bit action platformer and 16-bit Metroidvania with time travel and plenty of humor. With art and music inspired by NES and SNES games, it will be released this summer on Nintendo Switch.

We closed out the show with a pair of Viking themed affairs. First up from Plausible Concept and Raw Fury was Bad North, a roguelite, real-time strategy game where you have to fight off the Viking hordes to upgrade your troops and hopefully get peace.

The show concluded with The Banner Saga 3 getting announced for Nintendo Switch this summer. The final entry of the trilogy of Viking RPGs will be the culmination of a journey for players, with options residing on choices they made in earlier titles as well. That might be why they also announced that Banner Saga 1 and 2 are coming soon to Nintendo Switch, and like on other platforms, you'll be able to carry your progress over to the third game.

And that's a wrap for the Nintendo Spring Indies Showcase! 14 or 15 announcements depending on how you want to count it for many notable and interesting titles you can expect to see this year.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Don Parsons
| Senior Writer

A longtime lover of speculative fiction, in almost all its forms, Don joined TechRaptor in 2014 on a whim sending in an application as he was looking for… More about Don