Nintendo’s stellar Direct proved that you can’t ignore Apple Arcade

This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

There’s a lot to unpack after today’s loaded Nintendo Direct. The 40-minute showcase gave us a surprisingly loaded look at what’s coming to Switch before Nintendo moves on to its next console. I could go on all day about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond theories or pick out hidden gems like Mio: Memories in Orbit, but there are two exciting announcements that stick out to me — and they’re both sleeper hits I’ve already played.

That’s thanks to Apple Arcade, which I’ve been subscribed to ever since it first launched. That long commitment has paid off for me in a number of ways over the years, but now it’s allowing me to smugly say this: If you’ve been ignoring Apple’s gaming subscription service, you’re about to find out what you’ve been missing.

The first key moment came early in the Direct when Nintendo revealed Fantasian Neo Dimension. The upcoming game is a long-awaited port of Apple Arcade’s crown jewel, an ambitious RPG that features hand-crafted environments. The game launched in 2021 as an Apple Arcade exclusive, taking full advantage of mobile touch controls with its tactile battle system. It quickly became Apple’s best-kept secret; those who have played it will likely talk your ear off about how it’s one of the best RPGs of the 2020s to date. Console and PC players will finally get to experience it for themselves … three years later.

That isn’t the only hit Apple Arcade game making its way off the service years later. Hello Kitty: Island Adventure will hit consoles and PC in 2025, two years after its surprise success made it Arcade’s most popular game (according to Apple Arcade Senior Director Alex Rofman). Those two games will join a flood of recent Arcade hits that have come to other platforms later, including Stitch, What the Car?, Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate.