Nintendo Direct today confirmed one of the worst-kept “secrets” in gaming and gave us a date that the first two former Xbox exclusives would make the cross-console leap to Nintendo’s handheld.
The first of the four games confirmed by Phil Spencer last week are Penintent and the excellent Grounded, which should make a terrific Switch game. Neither is a title that people would have bought an Xbox for, so does keep some of the froth from the mouths of the angry mob, but are good testers for Microsoft to see how some of the more obscure exclusives land.
There is no real reason to keep games such as these off other consoles, and if more people playing them means we perhaps get more Grounded content further down the line from Obsidian, then that can only be a good thing.
In terms of releases, Pentiment will be available as soon as tomorrow (Thursday) while those waiting for Grounded will have to hold on until 16th April to get their hands on it.
Both games are from the Obsidian stable, which in itself is interesting, and equally, both will bring quality to the Switch while we wait for the new Switch 2.
The Microsoft-based games were not the only news from Nintendo Direct however, our interest was piqued by news of a remake of the great Epic Mickey for the Switch – Epic Mickey Rebrushed. The 2010 platform game originally did really well on the Wii, and we expect it will become a hit now for the Switch.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble brings another classic gaming IP back to the Switch as you roll your monkey (in a ball) around fiendishly set-out puzzles. If you haven’t played a Monkey Ball title before, prepare to be hooked.
Switch Online also gets some love with five classic Rare games available to download right away. Definitely check them out:
Snake Rattle ‘N’ Roll for NES
- R.C. Pro-Am for NES
- Battletoads in Battlemaniacs for SNES
- Killer Instinct for SNES
- Blast Corps for N64
