Games Inbox: Is there a secret Nintendo Switch 2 Christmas game?

The Monday letters page thinks Battlefield 6 could be a big hit this autumn, as one reader hopes Final Fantasy 17 will be more like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

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Summer to winter
I see there’s still a lot of talk about whether Nintendo has a ‘secret’ new Switch 2 game for this Christmas but I will be absolutely shocked if they do. We’re probably getting a Nintendo Direct this week, that I can believe, but what are people expecting? Animal Crossing or a new Mario? I don’t see it.

The new Mario is never going to come out straight after Donkey Kong, it’s much more likely going to be left for the new movie next year. And while they might tease Animal Crossing, they’re not going to release it this year, no way.

Why not? Because normal people don’t buy new video game consoles in the middle of the summer. Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza are Nintendo’s big Christmas games. They may not be secrets, but they are just about the most mass market games they have and they don’t even need anything else, especially not with Metroid Prime 4 and Pokémon Legends out this year.

There might be some small game or port or something like that, but I am certain there won’t be any more big new games until next year.
Taylor Moon

In the wings
I think people are underestimating Battlefield 6 a bit. Battlefield was huge up until Battlefield 4 and if EA hadn’t messed up it could have overtaken Call Of Duty as everyone’s favourite military shooter.

I don’t know if Call Of Duty is in too deep now but you don’t have to overthrow it to still be a massive hit. I like what I’m hearing about Battlefield 6 so far and I think it could be massive. Although it does depend what this year’s Call Of Duty will be like, but if it’s a dud then EA are right there able to take advantage of Activision’s mistake.
Lotto

Pre-word of mouth
Would just like to agree with the Reader’s Feature about Star Wars Outlaws. It’s a really great game and I feel it was victim to everyone assuming it would be bad and never bothering to find out whether it was or not. This sort of thing happens a lot, it seems to me, where a game (or movie) is killed by online word of mouth before anyone has actually played it.

I’m not saying the game is an all-time classic but as only a moderate Star Wars fan I had a lot of fun with it and agree it’s Ubisoft’s best open world game in a long time. There’re some neat little improvements to the formula going on and I can only hope they at least make it into other non-Star Wars games. I would absolutely recommend it, especially if you can find it cheap.
Lomas

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Survival plan
Survival crafting games aren’t my usual fair but when there’s a neat setting at the centre I’ve been drawn in and not been disappointed, having thought both Subnautica and Grounded were fantastic.

Abiotic Factor’s full release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC has just been made known to me as it’s been added day one (for the 1.0 release) on both Game Pass and PS Plus Extra.

The setting looks like my cup of tea and the mentions of Half-Life when reading up about it have pretty much put it to the top of my list for next game.

Shame it comes out a week or so before Grounded 2 early access. I had intended to play that, but I really want to give Abiotic Factor a play so will probably wait for Grounded 2 1.0 to play that game.

It’s for one to six players. I’ll probably play it solo but as is increasingly happening due to barriers between Sony and Microsoft being lowered its cross play, so don’t have to worry about starting it on PlayStation (my preferred choice) and not being able to play with my Xbox owning family members.
Simundo

Budget limitations
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one that keeps hoping a new Nintendo Direct will see a new Castlevania annoucement. There’s no reason to hope for it except that it seems impossible that it won’t happen at some point… but it never does.

I understand that finding a developer for it is a difficult, but if MercurySteam aren’t available there are plenty of other indie developers that I’m sure would do a good job of it. The main problem is whether Konami is willing to put up the budget to make a good one. Even the best developer can only work with the limits they’ve got and you have to go back to the PS1 era to find a Castlevania with a decent sized budget.
Ingot

Fightin’ IP
I notice there’s a lot of licensed beat ‘em-ups and fighting games around at the moment, from that Invincible game to a new Marvel fighter and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Marvel scrolling beat ‘em-ups. I approve of all of this, but I don’t particularly like any of the franchises that are getting turned into the games.

I’m curious what other people would like to see made into these type of games? I’m sure GC would be happy to see a Transformers game, which I feel could work as either, but somehow that’s never been done before. A one-on-one fighter seems like it would be a no-brainer, considering everyone has their own special abilities and weapons and transformations.

Or how about a Lord of the Rings beat ‘em-up? I really liked the ones EA did when the movies first came out and I’d love something that was able to be a little more tongue in cheek with the franchise. I think the Tolkien family stop that from happening but that’d be my wish, and they did allow the Lego game.

Or maybe a Roger Rabbit beat ‘em-up? Something that had all sorts of old school animated cartoon characters in it, from Disney, Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, and so on. I bet companies would love to make those characters relevant again and I’d love to see that kind of thing.

I’m going to stop now because I’m already upset that these things are never going to happen.
Gable

GC: There was a Beast Wars fighting game, but it was rubbish.

Modern experiment
I like the idea of CD Projekt making a beat ‘em-up style game specifically because they’re not very good at melee combat usually. I don’t know if that’ll end up being true, but it seems like a good idea.

Considering they’ve done fantasy and sci-fi so far, I’d like to see them do something set in the current day too, as a change. The longer games take to make the less chance developers have to try new things, because they’re always forced to go back to make sequels.

Hopefully CD Projekt have enough money and feel this game would be a good experience that will help their others as well.
Tyremate

Expedition 34
I can’t believe we’re looking at the possibility where the people that made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 really might be working on, or at least advising on, Final Fantasy 17. I am 100% behind them being involved but it seems incredible that Square Enix is so out of ideas that they need to rely on someone else that was already paying homage to their games.

In case you haven’t heard, the developer went and met with Square Enix for an exchange of ideas, or something like that, but it’s pretty obvious what they were talking about. At a minimum they must’ve been discussing the idea of them working on some kind of spin-off but I’m certain the question of Final Fantasy 17 came up as well.

I don’t think anything has leaked out about it so far, so it can’t be very far along, but I would absolutely love to see something that was more in line with the pre-Final Fantasy 7 games. Something turn-based and with a traditional fantasy setting, not sci-fi or the boring Game of Thrones knock-off that was the last game.

Who knows how likely it is, but I feel there’s now a real chance that Final Fantasy can be exciting again, and not ashamed of its own history.
Egon

Inbox also-rans
Never mind Mario and Peach, what’s the deal with Luigi and Daisy? I know her as Luigi’s girlfriend but I don’t actually remember any games where they’re both in it, other than sports ones.
Choser

GC: We think it might have happened in a Japanese manga or something. We don’t recall any game that makes it clear they have a relationship.

Never mind Star Wars Outlaws 2, where is the third Star Wars Jedi game? Are we going to have to wait till next Star Wars Day for it to be announced? I think probably.
Greeny

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The small print
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