3DS & WiiU News
- Little Mac (from Punch-Out) in Super Smash Brothers for 3DS & WiiU
I actually expected this to happen in Super Smash Brothers Brawl, so am not that surprised to see him join the roster this time around. I’m happy that his stature is accurate in the game. He could be the Oddjob of Smash Brothers.
3DS
- Kirby Triple Deluxe
Brings new powers for Kirby, as well as multiple collectables, such as 8-bit key chains, and streetpass functionality.
Launches in the US on 5/2/2014
- Yoshi’s New Island
While I like the new powers shown for Yoshi in the latest trailer, the use of tilt controls remind me of those found in Wario Land: Shake It on the Wii. This is not a good thing. I hope that d-pad controls are an option, but doubt they will be. Maybe these sections will be few or at least forgiving. I wills ay that I’m digging the art style, even though I’ve seen quite a few criticisms of it.
Launches in the US on 3/14/2014
- Professor Layton & the Azran Legacy
Launches on 2/28/2014
- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Like Monster Hunter Tri, will allow group hunts online, while introducing new moves, which appear to be acrobatic in nature, judging from the trailer. The only down side here is that it launches in early 2015.
3DS e-shop
- Steeldriver: Sub Wars
A submarine FPS that is being referred to as a contemplative FPS. Launches immediately for free, with limitation, or can be purchased to access all parts of the game. I think launching this for free was a very smart move as it could lure more sales to people that will be enticed by the free version, then want to upgrade.
- Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball
So, this is initially a free title, but has new games in it that can be purchased, except you can haggle with Rusty to bring the price down. This is real money, so that’s an interesting concept. The actual game consists of baseball based drills, but, from what I’ve seen, there is no actual baseball game to play. This reminds me of the trials in Mario Super Sluggers on the Wii, which I detested.
- Pokemon Battle Trozei
Initially I dismissed this as a Tetris or Kirby’s Avalanche clone, but it seems to be deeper than that as you’re doing the puzzle while also battling. It appears that the Pokemon you line up will battle, and type match-ups are key. I need to see more of this, but it could be an interesting game, especially as it has every Pokemon through X & Y in the game. Just a thought, but having the game give you a Pokemon for your X & Y game for doing extremely well would be a great selling point.
Launches in the US on 3/20/2014
- Weapon Shop de Omasse
An odd little title in which you run a weapon shop for RPG heroes to rent weapons. Weapon tempering is rhythm based and the quality of your weapons determines the heroes success. If they fail, you don’t get paid. Interesting, but not a title I can see myself getting into. Looks a bit redundant.
Launches in the US on 2/20/2014
- Inazuma Eleven
It will have it’s fans, but I have zero interest in a Soccer RPG. Available immediately.
- Treasurenauts
- Moon Chronicles
- Shovel Knight
- 1001 Spikes
- Retro City Rampage
These titles were just briefly touched on in an Indie Developer portion of the Direct. There’s truly not much I can say about any of them at this time, except that the snippets of each that were shown were intriguing to me, so that’s a very good sign.
WiiU e-shop
- Child of Light
A fairy tale RPG that seems big on puzzle solving. It can be played with a second player controlling your guiding firefly (appears to be the quiet version of Navi). The trailer shown reminded me of Lost Winds on the Wii, which I found to be very fun, only this game has combat whereas Lost Winds did not.
Launches in the US on 4/30/2014
- NES Remix 2
I intend to do a Post-Game Wrap-up for the original NES Remix soon, but let me say that based on what little we saw of NES Remix 2, it addresses every single complaint I have about the original. It uses “newer” NES games such as Super Mario Brothers 2, Lost Levels, & 3, Metroid, Zelda 2, Kirby’s Adventure, and Kid Icarus, to name a few. It also does more actual remixing. Levels showing Samus and Link in Mario levels is exactly what I hoped to see. It truly is like Nintendo took the criticisms of the first Remix to heart in making this sequel. One of my favorite moments from the Direct.
Launches in the US on 4/25/2014
- Virtual Console
Finally, confirmation that GBA games would be coming to the VC starting in April with Metroid Fusion, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (which begs the question of why not just put out the Super NES version). I’ve hardly been silent on Nintendo’s neglect of the VC, so hopefully this will inject some life into it that has been sorely missing since the launch of the WiiU.
WiiU
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
While I’m very excited about this game, at this point there is very little new information that a new trailer can give us. Rambi is back, as are the stylized silhouette type levels, which I think are very neat. Both Cranky and Dixie Kong are playable characters. The newest trailer did highlight some more of the 3-D type levels that will be present, including an overhead minecart section. I have the utmost faith in Retro’s work, so I’m planning on getting this title soon after launch.
Launches in the US on 2/21/2014
- Mario Kart 8
Muck like DKC: Tropical Freeze, there is little more we can learn about this game, thoug
h the inclusion of the Koopalings was a nice little surprise. I do realize that there are three weight classes, and beyond that it’s mostly a palette swap on MK characters, but I have a major soft spot for the Koopalings, ever since their introduction in Super Mario Brothers 3.
Launches in the US on 5/30/2014
- X (Tentative Title)
Instead of another trailer, we were shown actual gameplay, which consisted of a battle. The combat appears to be very similar to Xenoblade. There are bonuses for timed button presses at the start of and during battle, the arts icons are present and seem to have cooldown periods, and multiple characters were shown attacking.
New is the use of guns for the characters, and it appears that you can swap out a gun for a sword on the fly in battle. Also, the main character boarded a Mech in battle and began attacking. I did notice that the main character seemed to be able to dodge attacks by moving around. I don’t know if that’s the case or if the enemy was focused on another character. The developers have stated that the battle system was inspired by Xenoblade, as I noted above, but that it was deeper in this game. This game will be a day 1 purchase for me…whenever that may be.
- Bayonetta 2
In the newest trailer, more story elements were shown, as was more over-the-top action,
which is a trademark of not just Bayonetta, but of Platinum Games. Everything seems very chaotic, but in this case, that is a compliment. There also seems to be another playable character, but that could have simply been a cutscene from the game that I’m misinterpreting.
I’ll admit to never having played Bayonetta, but the best thing I can say about what I’m seeing of the sequel is that I now feel the urge to remedy that. Unfortunately, no launch date was given.
And that was it. No real new information, but then we weren’t promised anything new. It’s nice to know that games like X are still in development, as it does show Nintendo’s continued commitment to the WiiU in spite of the mediocre sales. One noticeable absence was the Yarn Yoshi game. I’ve been quite excited by what little we’ve seen of it, but the lack of information about it has me concerned. All in all, this was a traditional Nintendo Direct, more info about upcoming games. That’s never a bad thing.
Instead of littering this with YouTube videos you may not be interested in, I’m just linking to Nintendo’s web site where you can view the entire direct or selected previews of the games mentioned above:
Brandon Nicholson is a blogger for TMRzoo.com and the founder of Just Another Video Game Blog and covers all gaming consoles and platforms including Sony Playstation 3 and PS4, Microsoft XBOX One and XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP and computer games designed for Mac OS, Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. Brandon provides his readers with reviews, previews, release dates and up to date gaming industry news, trailers and rumors.
