'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order' Announced for Nintendo Switch

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order was revealed to be an exclusive game for the Nintendo Switch on Thursday night at The Game Awards.

The third game in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series is the first to be released exclusively for one platform. The trailer shown for the game featured prominent Marvel characters such as Iron Man and the members of Guardians of the Galaxy.

In this new Marvel Ultimate Alliance game, players will fight for control of the Infinity Gauntlet and its powerful stones that power the artifact. Players will control Marvel characters and fight against Thanos and his team known as The Black Order with the game featuring a totally original story consisting of "dozens of Marvel Super Heroes, including the Avengers, the X-Men, and—for the first time in series history—the Guardians of the Galaxy," Nintendo said.

Past installations in the game series include Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, the most recent game in the series that released back in 2009 for systems like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 before later being released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. In these games, players select different Marvel heroes and villains from an extensive roster, each of them having unique abilities fitting for their characters. The newest installation in the series features this same feature alongside some new mechanics.

"The new game features the same kind of action-RPG gameplay that made the franchise such a hit over a decade ago," a press release about the new game from Nintendo explained. "In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, up to four players can drop in for co-op battles in a variety of ways: They can play online, link up offline via local wireless or pass a Joy-Con controller to a friend to join the team. With another pair of Joy-Con (sold separately), four players can team up on one system. In addition to the series' traditional perspective, the new entry will let players select a dynamic, zoomed-in heroic view, allowing for a more immersive play style for single-player or multiplayer when using multiple systems."

Geoff Keighley, the producer and creator of The Game Awards, also confirmed soon after the game's announcement that the developer of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order would be Team Ninja. This developer is best known for series like Ninja Gaiden as well as the Dead or Alive series and will be developing the game with Nintendo serving as the publisher.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is scheduled to be released exclusively for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.