Let’s be honest, there’s only one game you absolutely can’t miss this week — and it’s Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
Okay, no. It’s, obviously, Metroid Dread.
But if you’re not into the confusing exploration and lightning-fast combat that comes with a 2D Metroidvania, there are a few other notable Nintendo Switch releases coming this week, too.
Here are the can’t-miss new Nintendo Switch games releasing this week.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania
If you’re a fan of Super Monkey Ball, you’ve already had Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (try saying that five-times fast) circled on your calendar for a while now. SEGA’s Monkey Ball platformer is a known quantity — either you love it or you hate it.
This particular installment in the twenty-year-old franchise (feel old yet?) promises to be the ultimate Monkey Ball experience, serving up stages from Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. While there’s no traditional online multiplayer, you can compete with your friends on online leaderboards.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania releases for the Nintendo Switch on October 5 for $39.99.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Can’t get enough ensemble brawlers? Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl brings all the fun of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to Nickelodeon’s impressive cast of characters.
While the Super Smash Bros. formula has been tried before, Nickelodeon’s immediately recognizable intellectual properties — SpongeBob Squarespace, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Rugrats, and Invader Zim, just to name a few — makes this copycat crossover fighter interesting. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl lets you battle with up to four players locally, or you can go online for competitive multiplayer fights.
All-Star Brawl wears its influence (singular) on its sleeve, but by bringing together almost 30 years of Nickelodeon history into a Smash Bros. clone, they’re giving you the opportunity to fight as some of your favorite Nicktoons.
And for a generation of Nick kids, that might be enough to make All-Star Brawl a fun pickup.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl releases for the Nintendo Switch on October 5 for $49.99.
October 5 is also the date for the final Smash fighter announcement. Coincidence…? Nah.
Jack Axe
We always try to include an indie game in our can’t-miss lists every week, and this week, that game is Jack Axe.
Jack Axe is a 2D puzzle platformer that puts you in a world that cleverly fuses Norse and Filipino mythology. The game tells the story of Jack, a young woman who bucks tradition by arming herself with an axe and taking on a “man’s job.”
Written by Bari and Melai Silvestre and their three daughters, Jack Axe sees you maneuver around an open 2D world where throwing your axe isn’t just a way to attack enemies — it’s essential to making jumps and getting around the world.
Featuring a strong female protagonist (and her sisters), Jack Axe is a welcome addition to the 2D platformer genre.
Jack Axe releases on the Nintendo Switch on October 7 for $14.99.
Metroid Dread
Everyone here at Nintendo Watcher has been eagerly waiting for Metroid Dread. (Matthew even put his shiny new PS5 away to play through the entire 2D Metroid catalog to prep for Dread.)
To say Metroid Dread has been a long time coming would be a massive understatement.
Dread is the first new 2D Metroid title since 2002’s Metroid Fusion on the Gameboy Advance. And the last 2D Metroid to land on a home console was 1994’s Super Metroid on the SNES. Just to put an even finer point on it, Nintendo first came up with the idea for Dread about 15 years ago.
Metroid fans have been waiting a long time for this.
The story picks up where Metroid Fusion left off, finding Samus on a mission to investigate the disappearance of seven E.M.M.I. robots on ZDR. (Need a recap? We’ve got you.) Dread appears to be bringing the Metroid story arc that began with 1986’s Metroid to an end. What will become of Samus? Find out this Friday.
Metroid Dread releases on the Nintendo Switch October 8 for $59.99.
Interestingly, Nintendo even updated its homepage to say that the game will be available digitally at 9 p.m. PT on 10/7 | 12 a.m. ET on 10/8. Nintendo’s betting big on Dread.
#BuyMetroidDread
