Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake out in 2024 reveals Nintendo Direct

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – a genuine classic (Picture: Nintendo)

The latest Nintendo Direct was chock full of new announcements, with the rumours proving correct about F-Zero 99 and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong.

There isn’t usually any such thing as a Nintendo leak and even when there is one, it usually turns out to be wrong, But insider Pyoro can pat themselves on the back, as they got everything exactly right, with many others also leaking news of Thursday’s Nintendo Direct before it was officially announced.

We’re not sure why Nintendo’s security has suddenly got so lax but there was plenty more beyond a new F-Zero battle royale for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers – which will be available free today – and a remake of Game Boy Advance title Mario Vs. Donkey Kong, which will be out on February 16.

At least the final announcement of the Direct was something that wasn’t leaked ahead of time: a remake of GameCube classic Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for 2024. Easily the best of the Paper Mario series (to which Super Mario RPG, which is also getting a remake, is the spiritual predecessor) it’s also one of the most genuinely funny video games ever.

There were no megaton announcements during the Direct but a lot of the new reveals were for early next year, with not even a hint at the much anticipated Switch 2.

However, it was noticeable that a lot of the games were remakes, with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD having the most distant confirmed release date, of summer 2024.

Compared to the threadbare release schedules of Sony and Microsoft though it was all very impressive, especially if they’re just keeping the lights on before the new hardware.

Rumours of Another Code: Two Memories and Another Code R also proved to be correct, and while that’s a pretty deep cut, in terms of the Nintendo back catalogue, they’ll be released as Another Code Recollection on January 19.

In terms of brand new games the biggest was Princess Peach Showtime!, which was briefly teased during the last Direct and seems to be a riff on Kirby in that every time Peach changes her outfit the gameplay switches, with outfits for swordfighting, Kung Fu, baking, and detective work.

It’s still not really clear how it all works but it’s out on March 22 and if nothing else it certainly looks different.

Other highlights include the new single-player DLC for Splatoon 3, which seemed to be implying some sort of roguelite element and had some neat, stylised visuals. Mario Kart 8’s final slice of DLC didn’t get a date but the four new characters were confirmed as Diddy Kong, Funky Kong, Pauline, and Peachette (a transformed Toadette).

In terms of third parties, it was interesting that Konami has emerged from their hibernation cave to release some new games, with the (relatively) self-explanatory Super Crazy Rhythm Castle and a remake of Contra 3 on the SNES by WayForward, called Contra: Operation Galuga.

Clearly it’s not just Nintendo that’s got a hunger for reheating old games, with Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft announced for February 14. The same collection has already turned up on the PlayStation Store for pre-ordering and so will probably be on Xbox as well.

It wasn’t just remasters though and we really liked the look of the wonderfully named Unicorn Overlord, which is a new tactical role-player from Atlus and Odin Sphere developer Vanillaware. It’s out on March 8.

It’s been gestating for a while now but Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the spiritual successor to the Suikoden series, was also looking good and now has a confirmed release date of April 23.

More: Trending

The superb Dave The Diver will be coming to Switch ‘first for consoles’ on October 26, while the sequel to Advance Wars clone Wargroove will be out on October 10 – complete with a new anthropomorphic mouse faction.

There’s still more in the Direct itself, which is well worth a watch, especially as Nintendo didn’t even touch on the Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC, the first part of which is out this week, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder – which got its own Direct a couple of weeks ago.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.

MORE : Nintendo Switch patent plans to end Joy-Con drift

MORE : Nintendo Switch 2 runs Final Fantasy 7 Remake ‘like a PS5 game’ claims insider

MORE : Nintendo Switch 2 targeting late 2024 to avoid stock shortages reveals new report

Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they’re seen on the site.

Privacy Policy » This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.