The Mario Party series is coming to Nintendo Switch this fall in Super Mario Party, Nintendo announced today during its E3 2018 Nintendo Direct presentation. Super Mario Party, which is scheduled to be released Oct. 5 on Switch, will be the first entry in the long-running franchise on consoles since Mario Party 10, which debuted on Wii U in 2015. Nintendo has released two Mario Party games on Nintendo 3DS since then, 2016’s Mario Party: Star Rush and 2017’s Mario Party: The Top 100. The trailer for Super Mario Party showed off a new Switch-specific feature: the ability to play with multiple Switch units in four-person action. In this mode, the characters — new ones include Rosalina, Dry Bones and a goomba — move across the devices, which are placed perpendicularly to make a path. Super Mario Party will also feature minigames that encourage players to work together secretly, in something akin to a LAN party. Some minigames are playable in split-screen mode, or with both players sharing a single screen on one Switch. Minigames in the trailer showed off Joy-Con play with a single controller held sideways, as well as motion controls. Of course, the series’ traditional board games will be available, too. You can watch the E3 reveal trailer for Super Mario Party above.<doc-sep>Today Nintendo closed out the 2018 E3 press gauntlet with a streamed conference that was largely focused on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with only a few other announcements peppered in for flavor. Advertisement We got news of a couple of anticipated ports (Fortnite and Hollow Knight), a couple neat indie sequel announcements, and a trailer for a proper Switch Fire Emblem. But by and large, this was a Smash-centric conference. Let’s go over everything Nintendo showed. Super Mario Party will let you use Switches in a fascinating way. The trailer for Super Mario Party showed a group of four people laying two switches on the table and rearranging them and using both screens. Pretty cool! It reminded me of Sifteo Blocks, an alternative gaming system from a few years back that was probably ahead of its time. The people in the Mario Party video also played on a TV in a more standard Mario Party configuration. The game will be out on October 5. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is getting some DLC. I didn’t play this game, but I gather some people like it more than others. To that first group: enjoy some DLC! Fire Emblem will arrive on Switch as Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Heck yeah, man. I’ll admit I’ve never managed to get super into a new Fire Emblem game since Awakening stole my heart so many years ago, but I’m stoked for this series to make a proper Switch debut. It’s coming in Spring 2019. Advertisement Fortnite is indeed coming to Switch... today! We already reported this one, but now it’s official: Epic’s earthshakingly popular battle royale game Fortnite is coming to Nintendo Switch. The battle royale mode will be free as always, and it’s out... today! They said it’ll hit the eShop at 10am Pacific, so it should be up by the time you’re reading this. Go forth and do battle. Advertisement Hollow Knight is also out on Switch... today! Nice! I’ve been looking forward to playing this on Switch. I’ve heard nothing but good things. Advertisement We learned a lot more about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo’s storied crossover fighting game won’t just have a huge roster: it’ll have an all-encompassing one. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will feature every fighter from every single Smash game in history. Dang. Nintendo described it as “the biggest crossover in gaming history,” which seems like it’s begging for some Infinity War memes. Eight player battles are also making a return. Advertisement Here’s the full roster: Mario (with Cappy) Samus Kirby Bowser Link from Breath of the Wild Donkey Kong Fox Falco Marth Zelda Sheik Villager Mewtwo Metaknight Sonic Peach Pikachu Ice Climbers Inkling Captain Falcon Zero Suit Samus Wii Fit Trainer Squirtle Ivysaur Charizard Ness Lucas Ryu Ganondorf Ike Cloud Snake Jigglypuff Pichu Roy Olimar Diddy Kong Lucario Lucina Robin Bayonetta Mr. Game and Watch Greninja Dr. Mario R.O.B. Duck Hunt Pit Dark Pit Palutena Corrin Bowser Jr. Toon Link Young Link King Dedede Rosalina and Luma Mii Gunner, Sword and Brawler Wario Little Mac Pac-Man Shulk Wolf Megaman Luigi Yoshi Advertisement Phew. Got all that? The game will work with a GameCube controller, since that’s the preferred input method for a lot of players. It’ll also work with all Amiibos, and you can transfer your FP data from previous games. Last but not least, they introduced a new challenger: Ridley, the long-requested Metroid beast, will be playable! They also detailed a bunch of mechanical changes coming to the game, which you can watch in the video above the roster list. I’m a Smash scrub and don’t have the chops to break it all down, but my colleague Cecilia D’Anastasio is an expert, and she’s written a post detailing everything we know about the game. So go read that. Advertisement Advertisement The Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion is coming out... tomorrow! Nintendo revealed this one during their post-show livestream. Octo Expansion will be out tomorrow on June 13, which, heck yeah. They’d said earlier that it wasn’t coming until July. Can’t wait to check it out. Nintendo also announced on Twitter that free updates to Splatoon 2 would continue to the end of 2018. Advertisement Advertisement Three Octoling Amiibo are inbound as well. I have a single Amiibo. It is from Splatoon 2. I will never buy another Amiibo. But if I did, I would maybe get one of these. They’re coming later this year. Advertisement A few more things: Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee are both coming on November 16, along with the Pokéball plus accessory, which will unlock Mew in the game; a version of the legendary competitive arcade Killer Queen is coming to Switch later this year as Killer Queen Black; Overcooked 2 is also coming coming to Switch; there’s a Switch mech game called Daemon X Machina; DragonBall FighterZ is indeed coming to Switch this year, as is SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy; and there’ll be a new demo for Octopath Traveler (out in July) on the eShop today; and there was a sizzle reel announcing a bunch of third-party games and ports, too. And that’s that. Not exactly a jam-packed conference, eh? Your enjoyment probably hinged on how stoked you are about Smash Bros. As for me, I’m gonna go play some Hollow Knight on Switch and dream of a day where I can play Metroid Prime Trilogy on the same system. Advertisement That’ll do it for our coverage of the E3 2018 press conferences. You can find roundups of all of those press conferences below. The E3 show floor is about to open, and our reporters on the ground will be there to play games, talk to developers, and chase news until it’s got nowhere left to run. Stay tuned.<doc-sep>
Nintendo came out with the big guns for its pre-recorded E3 conference this morning, delivering updates on a couple of veteran franchises while also bringing some new titles to its Switch console. We didn’t get a ton of big surprises, but what Nintendo showed off was certainly exciting to a lot of fans. The bulk of the presentation was (as expected) devoted to the intimate minutiae of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which is arriving at the end of the year and will bring the biggest cast to the game ever, with some new characters arriving alongside the entire cast of the series’ previous iterations. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Party and Fortnite were probably the biggest highlights, but let’s take a look at everything they talked about. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate One of the crazier parts of this announcement included the fact that Nintendo has made a redesigned GameCube controller, which will be compatible with the game and will be supporting your old GameCube controller somehow as well, presumably with a dongle. Available December 7, 2018. Super Mario Party Alongside the new gameplay content, Super Mario Party is going to integrate some weird multi-Switch gameplay that will allow users to play together across multiple Switch consoles and merge their screens together. Available October 5, 2018. Fortnite Available now for free download. Other stuff In addition to the big-gun trifecta of game announcements, Nintendo also shed some light on other titles coming to the system, which has realistically had a pretty tiny game library since launch. Fire Emblem Three Houses Coming spring 2019. DRAGON BALL FighterZ Coming 2019. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country New update available September 14 for Expansion Pass members. Other titles announced during the Nintendo Direct included Daemon X Machina, Overcooked! 2, Killer Queen Black, Hollow Knight and Octopath Traveler. In terms of the new Pokémon titles, Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, they will be available November 16 and people will be able to buy a $99.99 combo that includes the Poké Ball Plus controller, as well. So that’s it; no Metroid Prime news, no Animal Crossing for Switch, no other big teases — but there’s certainly a good chunk of titles to keep Switch owners excited for a while. We’ll be at E3 checking out some of these new titles this week, so stay tuned for more from us on the ground in Los Angeles.