Indies target Nintendo consoles in September with 'Axiom Verge' and much more

By Danny Cowan August 26, 2016

Nindies Summer Jam

Nintendo has a slate of independently produced games launching for the Wii U next month — including acclaimed titles like

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Axiom Verge, Severed, and Noitu Love: Devolution — as part of its Nindies Summer Jam event.

Nintendo 3DS owners can also look forward to a collection of indie games premiering over the next several months from developers such as Tiny Build Games, Drinkbox Studios, and Inti Creates.

The Nindies Summer Jam kicks off on September 1 with the digital Wii U launch of Axiom Verge. Released for PCs and PlayStation platforms in 2015, Axiom Verge is an exploration-driven platformer that channels Nintendo’s Metroid series, making it a solid fit for the Wii U’s eShop.

Thunder Lotus Games’ Jotun: Valhalla Edition will deliver Norse mythology-inspired action to the Wii U on September 8, while September 15 marks the multiplatform launch of Konjak’s run-and-gun shooter Noitu Love: Devolution for the Wii U and 3DS.

Guacamelee! creator Drinkbox Studios will return to the Wii U eShop on September 22 with a port of Severed, a unique, gesture-driven dungeon crawler. Severed is also due for a 3DS release this fall, though a firm release date for the upcoming portable edition has not yet been announced.

Mega Man 9 developer Inti Creates will bring the Nindies Summer Jam event to a close September 29 with Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, a side-scrolling platformer in which players manipulate electrical fields to take down their enemy targets. Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 will also hit retail on October 9 as part of the series-spanning cartridge compilation Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack.

Nintendo’s Wii U indie release schedule will continue through the end of the year, with WayForward’s Shantae: Half-Genie Hero launching in October and Stardew Valley premiering in December. Upcoming 3DS indies include highlights like Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure, Forma.8, and Punch Club.

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The Nintendo 3DS’ best (and weirdest) cult hit is coming to Apple Arcade

Horses race in Pocket Card Jockey.

Apple Arcade is kicking off 2023 by adding three new titles in January. Most notable among them is Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!, a mobile port of one of the Nintendo 3DS cult hits set to launch on January 20.

The original Pocket Card Jockey, released in 2013 in Japan and 2016 in North America, is one of the 3DS' oddest titles. Developed by Pokémon studio Game Freak, it's a horse-racing RPG that revolves around solitaire. Players raise and breed horses and then race them by playing fast-paced rounds of solitaire. It's an extremely bizarre concept, but an incredibly fun one that made it one of the handheld's most charming hidden gems.

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Our 5 biggest predictions for the September Nintendo Direct: Metroid, Zelda, and more

Samus gives a thumbs up in Metroid Prime.

Following months of Nintendo-related leaks and a third-party showcase in June, the second full-fledged Nintendo Direct of 2022 is finally happening. February's show had neat reveals of games like Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Mario Strikers: Battle League, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and Nintendo Switch Sports. Now, Nintendo Switch players hope the September 2022 Nintendo Direct will give a clear idea of what to expect throughout the rest of this year and into the first months of 2023.
Ahead of the showcase's announcements, rumors about a couple of key Nintendo classic remasters heavily circulated. There are also delayed Nintendo Switch titles that we hope finally get release dates. Although there's a chance that none of the following predictions will come to fruition tomorrow, it's still fun to guess what might pop up. As such, here are five announcements we hope to see at the September 2022 Nintendo Direct.
Metroid Prime returns

Metroid fans ate well last year with the release of Metroid Dread, but they've still waited since 2017 for the long-delayed Metroid Prime 4. Although there's nothing to suggest that Metroid Prime 4 will pop up here just yet, a remaster or remake of Metroid Prime seems much more likely. A Nintendo Switch version of the GameCube classic was subject to rumors for years, but rumblings of the game's existence really ramped up in 2022.
From Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb to prolific Nintendo leaker Emily Rogers, the more reliable parts of the gaming rumor mill say that some sort of Metroid Prime rerelease project is in the works at Nintendo. Grubb even claims that it's coming this year, so Nintendo would need to reveal it very soon if that's true. If it is real, the biggest question surrounding Metroid Prime on Nintendo Switch is just how much of a reimagining it is. Will it be an HD port, a more substantive remaster, or a from-the-ground-up remake? Hopefully, we won't have to wait much longer to find out.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess get rereleased

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Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel and DSi shops are back online

Nintendo 3DS close-up.

After months of service outages, Nintendo's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop are back online.

Nintendo's two virtual marketplace services went down in March of this year. In a statement to Kotaku on the outage, Nintendo acknowledged the downtime but had nothing to report other than that the shops were undergoing maintenance and that it would provide updates on them at a later date. It seems it completely skipped the update and simply put both back online instead.