The most recent Nintendo Direct seems to have pleased many fans, with its major reveals of games slated to release in the first half of 2023, and big shadow drops including Gameboy and Gameboy Advance's debut on Nintendo Switch Online, and the long-rumored Metroid Prime Remastered. While there were a lot of updates regarding previously announced and released games that made up most of the Nintendo Direct, the presentation had its fair share of new reveals and port announcements.
While every Nintendo Direct comes with its fair share of port announcements, this week's event showcased two huge HD remasters of beloved Nintendo DS games that fans have wanted to see arrive on new platforms for years, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective and Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection. Better yet, one of the DS' most beloved franchises, Professor Layton, is also set to return with Professor Layton and the New World of Steel.
Nintendo DS Games On Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch has been a great console for players who may have missed out on previous generations of gaming thanks to the hefty amount of ports and remasters released for the system, but one disadvantage it has against the Wii U is its lack of dual-screen making it harder for Nintendo DS games to make their way over to the system. That hasn't stopped multiple developers announcing the return of plenty of beloved Nintendo DS franchises and titles, as most recently seen in the Nintendo Direct.
To bring beloved Nintendo DS games to the Switch, developers have mostly had to resort to making full remakes or remasters of the original games as opposed to directly porting them like with the Wii U's Virtual Console, which saw many games release on home console for the first time such as Metroid Prime Hunters, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, and Animal Crossing: Wild World.
Some of these ports have fared better than others, with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy successfully making the jump thanks to Capcom fully remaking the games, but The World Ends With You: Final Remix facing backlash thanks to the awkwardly reconfigured control scheme that was originally based across the two screens. Even games coming from the Nintendo DS' successor, the Nintendo 3DS, have had to have major changes made to accommodate the lack of a second screen, which many games were designed around.
The Nintendo DS Games Making A Comeback on Nintendo Switch
With that said, that hasn't stopped some truly exciting Nintendo DS ports from being announced, including two big ones and a major Nintendo DS franchise revival. For starters, Atlus is bringing back its successful dungeon crawler JRPG series Etrian Odyssey with the release of Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection in June. This collection combines the first three Etrian Odyssey games, which were all originally released for Nintendo DS between 2007 and 2010, with brand new remastered versions that adapts the map-charting gameplay of the bottom screen into the dungeon crawling experience of the top screen, and features fully remade HD artwork. Atlus has plenty of other beloved DS games too, so hopefully if this collection succeed the publisher could even bring back its Trauma Center series.
The other port announced during the Nintendo Direct is a brand new remaster of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. This game was developed and published by Capcom in 2010 and was written and directed by Shu Takumi, the creator of the Ace Attorney series. Ghost Trick focuses on a recently deceased man named Sissel who has been reincarnated as a ghost and quickly learns to use his powers to solve mysteries. The game is a puzzle adventure game similar to Ace Attorney, and Capcom is giving this the full HD remaster treatment, remaking all of its artwork and blending the touch screen elements to work on controllers.
Finally, the last major Nintendo DS related announcement to come from the Direct was the surprise tease of Professor Layton and the New World of Steel. Little to nothing was announced regarding this game from the Direct other than its steampunk aesthetic and the return of gaming's greatest puzzle solver, but developer Level 5 did reveal that Luke will be making a return, implying that this will be a direct sequel to 2008's Professor Layton and the Unwound Future and not a follow-up to the prequel series that concluded with 2013's Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. Hopefully the developer plans to bring Hershel's earlier entries to the Switch before this new title arrives, however it is not yet known exactly when the game is planned to be released.
Professor Layton and the New World of Steel is currently in development for Nintendo Switch.
