Today's Nintendo Partner Direct included something I don't think any of us had on our bingo cards: a Switch comeback for the cult classic Wii diving series Endless Ocean.
Endless Ocean Luminous hits Switch on May 2. Like previous entries in the series, it's all about diving into marine environments and cataloging the various undersea creatures you find there. This time, there are over 500 species to find, some of which are extinct or "mythical." The new environment "changes with each dive," implying some kind of roguelike element, and you've got the option of diving with up to 30 players online.
It sure looks like a new Endless Ocean game, which itself is a pretty notable shock. The history of the series goes all the way back to the PS2 days, when Arika - the studio best known for the Street Fighter EX games - put out two entries in a diving series called Everblue, published by Capcom. Neither reviewed particularly well, but there was a spark of something there, or at least enough of one for Nintendo to take notice.
In 2009, Nintendo published Arika's Endless Ocean on Wii, which served as both a spiritual successor to Everblue and a particularly notable example of Nintendo's push into new gameplay concepts during the mid-2000s. While we did get a sequel in 2009, the series seemed destined to remain a relic of the Wii era.
Which is why it's so surprising to see it make a sudden comeback on Switch. Endless Ocean Luminous is being published by Nintendo, but there's no clear indication of who the developer is. There is, however, a copyright attributed to Arika way down at the bottom of the store page, though whether that's an indication of the new game's developer or an artifact of the series' history remains to be seen.
Nintendo reviving a nearly 20-year-old Nintendo DS game for the Switch is wild, but it looks like Another Code won't be alone in terms of unexpected comebacks.
