Nintendo Direct Mini round-up – NieR: Automata, Persona 5, Sonic Frontiers and more

metro.co.uk:

The closest thing to a E3 style Nintendo Direct has focused only on third party games, including two new titles from Square Enix.

It was always folly to expect too much but, inevitably, the Nintendo Direct Mini on Tuesday afternoon didn’t reveal much in the way of new surprises, especially given the recent leaks.

Ubisoft managed to spoil their own surprise about Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope, while NieR:Automata and Persona coming to Nintendo Switch were both leaked beforehand – although the Persona news was pretty obvious anyway given the last three games had already been announced for Xbox.

All of the games in the showcase are scheduled for release in the next 12 months and apart from Mario + Rabbids, which is co-published with Nintendo, there were no first party games mentioned, including PlatinumGames’ Bayonetta 3.

The Direct may have been a disappointment overall but Nintendo does have a good 2022 line-up, with a lot more exclusive games than either Microsoft or Sony.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is out on June 29, with a free demo available now, and NieR:Automata – The End of YoRHa Edition, with some exclusive new costumes, arrives on October 6. Persona 5 Royal will be out on October 21, with the other two games due at an unspecified later date.

There was no release date for Sonic Frontiers but the Switch gameplay that was shown looked indistinguishable from the next gen footage that has previously been shown, which is both a good and a bad thing.

There was also a new trailer for Return To Monkey Island, which, surprisingly, will be a timed console exclusive for the Switch. That means it won’t be available on PlayStation or Xbox until next year.

The Portal Companion Collection, containing Portal 1 and 2, had been