Bethesda, one of the first third-party publishers to pledge support for Nintendo's fledgling hybrid console with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (due out in November), has committed two new games to the Nintendo Switch via Nintendo Direct: the lighting-fast shooter Doom, and the upcoming Nazi-blasting fun-fest that is Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Doom launches "this winter," while The New Colossus will arrive at some point in 2018, a good deal later than the game's October 27 launch on other platforms.

That Bethesda is committing to the Switch, even if its games won't appear on the platform until after they launch on the likes of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is a major boon for Nintendo. Thus far, the most compelling games on the Switch have been made by Nintendo itself, including Arms, Splatoon 2, and the sublime The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Other major multi-platform ports are on the way, but are either older games like Rocket League, or sports and family games like FIFA 18 and Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.

Earlier this year, some developers spoke out about bringing their games to the Switch, claiming that a lack of processing power compared to the other consoles is hampering their efforts. However, sales of the Switch—which have reached over five million units— have made it one of the fastest-selling devices in the company's history. Stock remains sporadic at retailers, and despite competition from Nintendo's own upcoming Super Nintendo Classic Edition, the Switch will remains a hot ticket item for the holiday season.

Square Enix also committed to the Switch with a new project called Octopath Traveler (working title). Produced by the same folks behind Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler is a new RPG that uses a mix of CG and pixel art for its visual style. It launches worldwide in 2018, but an early demo is availiable for in the Nintendo eShop today.



























In addition to third-party games, Nintendo also announced some new first-party games for the Switch. This includes Arcade Archives, a collection of some of Nintendo's early arcade games like Super Mario Bros. and Balloon Fight. While not quite the full-virtual console announcement many fans have been hoping for, Arcade Archives does at least show Nintendo is willing to port some of its back catalogue over to the new console. The company also promises that "these arcade games contain subtle differences that can’t be found in their NES counterparts."

Elsewhere, Nintendo named the untitled Kirby game for Switch announced at E3 as Kirby Star Allies, unveiled new updates for Splatoon 2 and Arms, and announced an expanded version of Snipperclips called Snipperclips Plus: Cut it out, together!. Nintendo didn't forget its other handheld either, although, aside from a few recaps of already announced games, the 3DS merely got Mario Party: The Top 100, a collection of 100 of the top mini-games from Mario Party, complete with local Download Play for up to four players. It launches in Europe in January 2018.

If you're still in the market for a 3DS—and boy is there a big back catalogue of great games—you could pick up one of the new Pokemon-themed 2DS XL consoles. It's red, features a Pokeball on the lid, and is wonderfully garish. Switch users can also get in on the red action with Mario-themed JoyCons, which are due to ship alongside Mario Odyssey on October 27.