Four standout games from the Nintendo Partners Preview

Every Game Developers Conference, Nintendo highlights projects from several independent studios through its Nintendo Partner Preview. The smorgasborg of games shows upcoming projects on their systems. They’re not all exclusives, but they are proof that indie studios care about being on the company’s platforms.

The surprising part of the preview was that all the titles ran on the Nintendo Switch 2, marking a shift away from the original Switch. The new console will be home to several indie games, but four stood out during the 20 minutes of hands-on time I spent with them.

“Mouse: P.I. for Hire”— Fumi Games out of Warsaw, Poland, channels “Steamboat Willie” and creates an eye-popping first-person shooter that looks straight out of the 1920s. Players take on the role of Jack Pepper, played by Troy Baker, who takes on cases and ends up in plenty of shootouts.

The black-and-white cartoon visuals and hard-boiled detective character work in concert to give the project a singular vibe. Meanwhile, Fumi relies on level design and smart gunplay to give the game depth. Players will run around frantically avoiding swarms of bad guys, and they’ll use kicks to give themselves breathing room in combat.

Afghan hospital in ruins after Pakistan strikes Kabul

Meanwhile, different enemies have shields and other quirks that require players to experiment and invent ways to neutralize them. Pepper’s kicks can knock them down, leaving them open to gunfire. He can also switch to a Turpentine gun that shoots liquid that penetrates their shields.

While that’s going on, players will have to look for visual cues to advance through the level. In “Mouse: P.I. for Hire,” the graphics may immerse players into a cartoon, but the environments also offer clues that will help players find switches or spot broken walls. There’s even a clever minigame, where Pepper uses his tail to pick locks. It’s a brilliant touch. The title is scheduled to launch next month.

“Mina the Hollower”— Yacht Club Games is mostly known for its modern retro “Shovel Knight” franchise. It was a 2014 game released with NES-style graphics. The studio’s second original title maintains the ethos of creating games inspired by past systems.

In the case of “Mina the Hollower,” the team took inspiration from the Game Boy Color for the visuals and “The Legend of Zelda” for the gameplay style. Players take on the role of the title character, and they’ll explore a large world full of enemies, traps and dungeons.

“Mina the Hollwer” gives players the freedom to tackle the dungeons in any order they wish, though a golden path is detailed through character conversations and newspapers. If players just want to explore, they can do that, too, and they can amass trinkets and other items.

Despite its “Zelda” aesthetics, the game also features elements from “Hades” and “Hollow Knight”. Players can choose from five different weapons and add several trinkets that give Mina abilities. The Nightstar is a medium weapon with range, while the Blaststrike Hammer is a heavier, more powerful but slower weapon. The daggers Whisper and Vesper do chip damage, but are very fast.

Meanwhile, trinkets offer Mina game-changing powers, such as a dodge or the ability to cross small gaps without jumping. Players can mix and match trinkets to complement their playstyle. That’s reminiscent of “Hades,” while the “Hollow Knight” part comes from Plasma. As Mina attacks or gets injured, she loses health but generates a resource. She can convert that damage into restored health, but it consumes a test tube, and those are limited.

Lastly, Mina has the innate ability to dig for a short time. It’s how she reaches distant areas blocked by fences. She digs underneath them. The leap out of the earth is also more powerful, so she can leap wider gaps. It’s another layer of gameplay for a promising game that’s scheduled for launch in 2026.

“Blighted”— Drinkbox’s latest project is shaping up to be another gem and shows how the studio can work in a number of genres. This title is a top-down Souls-like where players are survivors of a massacre, in which the evil Sorcisto has consumed a special village, in which memories are passed down via a tree.

In this psychedelic Western, players are out for revenge and must track him down. They do that by defeating and devouring the brains of his henchmen. The project is packed with bright colors and fantastic scenery that echoes the American Southwest.

In terms of action, it carries over the Souls-like formula. Players have limited heals, a mana bar and stamina for moves. They’re armed with a sickle and a rifle with three bullets. Players can earn ammo back by killing enemies. Meanwhile, enemies have a stance bar that drains with repeated attacks, and when players deplete it, they are vulnerable to attacks. A parry button helps tear down that bar and open enemies to damage.

That’s fairly standard, but Drinkbox adds new elements to the formula with a dynamic difficulty based on a frenzy meter. If players excel at attacking and avoiding damage, it increases the pace of the fighting and the strength of the enemy. To offset the difficulty, the team added a provisional HP feature. When players get hurt, they don’t immediately lose that health. They can gain it back by being more aggressive and fighting back.

The biggest change to the formula is the cooperative mode, which lets players team up on the adventure. It’s drop-in and drop-out. With a partner, “Blighted” can be more accessible even if it can be difficult.

Drinkbox also said “Blighted” has Metroidvania elements. As players defeat bosses, they learn new moves. In this case, defeating a horse monster granted players the ability to summon a ghostly version of the creature. That was used to smash open obstacles blocking areas of the world. Players will likely learn new abilities and spend experience points creating different builds and enhancing certain abilities to aid exploration and survival in this promising adventure, slated for release in the fall.

“Super Meat Boy 3D”— Team Meat created a hit with “Super Meat Boy,” a tough-as-nails platformer, as players controlled the title character through more than 300 levels. It’s the type of game that’s frustrating but fair, and will leave players throwing their controllers on the ground, screaming.

This follow-up brings that formula into a 3D space. It works for the most part, capturing the rewarding challenge of getting Meat Boy to the goal to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl. Although he reaches her at each level, he’s always foiled by his nemesis, Dr. Fetus.

The platformer features a mostly fixed camera that follows Meat Boy through his leaps, wall jumps and runs through saws, fires and other hazards that will kill him. The controls can feel squirrely on the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Cons. They’re not the best for pinpoint controls, so it’s important to play this on a pro-style controller. The one saving grace is that after a death, the game restarts quickly, so players can tackle the challenge over and over again until they get it right.

At the end of the stage, they can watch a replay of all their runs overlaid atop of each other and see the one path that led to victory. It’s always an enjoyable moment, and players can experience later this month.