The first Nintendo Direct of 2023 was an absolute knockout, with plenty of announcements that many Nintendo fans were waiting for. At the same time, it was also a Nintendo Direct filled with series revivals as quite a few games woke up from very long naps to make an appearance.
With one of these titles, we haven’t seen a new release in the series for over 15 years, while another has seen a few spin-offs but nothing in the mainline for quite a while. One is even returning from the depth of an indefinite delay. All in all, it was a good 40+ minutes for people who were longing to see the return of old, once-lost favourites.
Let’s take a look at what games are making a triumphant return to the Nintendo Switch in a series revival.
Professor Layton
Last seen: 2013
Alright, so hear me out. Sure, we’ve seen Professor Layton around in some aspects. The Ace Attorney spin-off, the spin-off focused on Layton’s daughter, and the mobile ports have all happened over the past few years.
However, this is the first time we’ve seen a game that foregrounds the titular Professor since Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. We know very little about the latest title, Professor Layton and The New World of Steam beyond this morning’s trailer, but we know it’s coming.
As Professor Layton games have generally been released as trilogies, here’s hoping we see another two after this one!
Samba de Amigo
Last seen: 2008
Now this was one that nobody could’ve seen coming. SEGA truly yanked this groovy little monkey from his coffin and hit him with a defibrillator.
Samba de Amigo was originally released on the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 after being available on arcade machines a year prior, with a Wii port released in 2007 that took advantage of the console’s motion control technology. Perfect for maracas!
And then they laid the monkey to rest. That is, of course, until 16 years later (that’s now) with the announcement of Samba de Amigo: Party Central! With the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons also taking advantage of motion-control maraca-shaking, this one’s definitely going to be a lot of fun.
Fantasy Life
Last seen: 2012
If you need an idea of how I feel about the announcement of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, please look at these tweets.
FANTASY LIFE????????????????? FANBTASY LIFE?>>>>>>>>>>>??? FASN STAY DSAFGL IFE????????????????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
— ruby innes (@rubyinnes) February 8, 2023
IM CRYING MY EYES OUT RIGHT NOW IM SO HAPPY THIS IS MY DREAMS COMING TRUE I LOVE FANTASY LIFE SM
— ruby innes (@rubyinnes) February 8, 2023
Fantasy Life was released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012, and it slayed. It covered a lot of ground in terms of your standard RPG, offering up twelve different classes (titled ‘Lives’) that coincided with one another to master them all over time. It still stands as one of my favourite games for the 3DS.
Yes, Fantasy Life Online came out between then and now, but it was a mobile game. That’s not to say that mobile games aren’t valid, but it was a gacha game with a bunch of weird different currencies that ultimately made it feel kinda cheap. Not for me!
This new game in the series on the Nintendo Switch, though? That shit is for me.
Advance Wars 1+2
Last seen: 2022
I’m including Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp here on a technicality, so bear with me here.
The original Advance Wars games were released in 2001 and 2003 respectively on Game Boy Advance. The remake bundle of these games was announced at E3 2021 and was set to release in December 2021 before getting delayed to Autumn 2022.
And then, it was delayed indefinitely. Due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Nintendo made the decision in March of 2022 to indefinitely delay the remake. This was seemingly due to the Blue Moon faction in Advance Wars being based on Russia.
But now that some time has passed (even though Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is definitely still happening), Nintendo has pulled the title out of indefinite delay, with a release date set for April 21st, 2023. A digital version of the game is available to pre-order now.
So basically, it looks like Nintendo has pulled out their very own Necronomicon to spit out some ancient Latin and make these games series rise from the dead. Here’s hoping they don’t smell too bad.
Which Nintendo Switch series revival are you most excited about? Let us know!
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