Here’s your roundup for today’s Nintendo Direct!
After a greeting from host Bill Trinen, Shigeru Miyamoto started things off by showing new footage of Star Fox Zero. He also announced a new game that will be bundled with the physical version, Star Fox Guard. Starring Slippy Toad and his hilariously-named uncle Grippy, the game will have the player switching between different cameras to take down enemies. This duo of games will be arriving on April 22nd.
Several pieces of new content were announced for Splatoon. On March 8th, we’ll be getting a new patch that improves less popular abilities, tweaks matchmaking for ranked battles, and adds new elements to Splatfests. Then in April, we’ll be getting a new, two-part update that will both tweak existing weapons and add new weapon set combinations.
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be coming out on June 24th for the Wii U and March 18th for the 3DS in North America. The Wii U version will exclusively feature Rugby Sevens, while the 3DS version will exclusively feature golf.
Mario Maker will be getting a new update on March 9th. First off, players will be able to add in moving spike pillars, as seen in Super Mario World. They will also now be able to use keys and locked doors, even attaching keys to enemies in order to make boss battles mandatory. Pink coins can also now be used to get keys, allowing makers to put collection/fetch quests into their levels. A new 100 Mario Challenge difficulty, Super Expert, will be added alongside new mystery mushroom costumes to unlock. The bookmark site will also getting updated, adding new sorting options for players to use.
Genei Ibun Roku #FE (aka Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem) will be coming to the west as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE on June 24th. This unusual RPG crossover for Wii U will keep the original Japanese voice-work, using English subtitles for the localization.
Another Wii U exclusive, Bandai Namco’s free-to-play online multiplayer game Lost Reavers, will be released on April 28th. It will also be getting an open beta on April 14th, two weeks before release.
A new Paper Mario game was announced during the direct. Titled Paper Mario: Color Splash, the game gives Mario a paint hammer and tasks him with ‘bringing color back to the world’ a la Wii classic de BLOB. The reveal was light on other details, other than a vague description of a battle system involving cards. Here’s hoping this one takes more inspiration from the first three entries in the series as opposed to series black sheep Sticker Star, though a lack of any other party members in the reveal and the use of a giant fan in it has me a bit concerned.
Pokken Tournament is on track for its March 18th release date over here. This direct revealed that winning battles in any mode will earn players in-game currency (unfortunately not called Fight Money) that will allow them to customize their in-game trainer. The first printing of the game is still set to come with a Shadow Mewtwo amiibo card to unlock the character immediately for players to use.
Nintendo made sure to remind fans that Twilight Princess HD will be coming out tomorrow in case they forgot. They also pimped a retrospective series about the game on YouTube that will be wrapping up soon.
After that, the direct went into detail on Nintendo’s new Club Nintendo successor, My Nintendo, detailing how to sign up as well as preregistration for their upcoming mobile game Miitomo.
For amiibo fans out there looking for something to actual do with the little figures besides stare at them intently, Mini-Mario and Friends: amiibo Challenge was announced for Wii U and 3DS. While the game itself will be free, the content in it will require one of ten compatible amiibos to use. The game is in the vein of the Mario vs Donkey Kong series, using amiibos to unlock puzzle levels specific to each character, who will have unique abilities to allow them to get through each course.
In a move many fans have been waiting for, Nintendo will finally be bringing Super Nintendo Virtual Console games to the Nintendo 3DS… the New! Nintendo 3DS, specifically. The titles coming out are Super Mario World, Pilotwings, and F-Zero, which are available for purchase right now. Mario Kart, EarthBound, and Donkey Kong Country will be available for purchase on March 24th. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, and Donkey Kong Country 2 will be available April 14th. No word on what titles will be coming after that or when.
Pokemon Sun and Moon may be coming out later this year, but Game Freak has a different animal training game coming out much sooner. Pocket Card Jockey, a strange combination of solitaire and horse racing, will be coming to 3DS this May. The player will need to quickly clear cards on the bottom screen to give their racehorse boosts of speed to win races. Eventually, as these horses level up, you’ll have to retire them to the farm. Thankfully, they won’t be visiting the glue factory. Instead, you’ll breed older horses together to make a new generation of racers. While it may sound strange, most of these mechanics are honestly not that far off from those featured in Pokemon.
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 will launch on the 3DS eShop this summer. It will feature both Gunvolt and his rival Copen as playable characters with differences between the two. To promote the new game, the original will be discounted to on the eShop until June 1st.
Fire Emblem Fates will be getting its big DLC story path, Revelation, and some smaller DLC maps on March 10th. In case that’s something your into.
What I’m into is the new DLC announced for the upcoming Hyrule Warriors Legends. The game will get four new DLC packs, which can be purchased at launch through a season pass similar to its Wii U predecessor. Buying the season pass will get you a special Wind Waker-style costume for Ganondorf as a bonus. In addition, players will be able to download and play as Medli, a fan favorite character from Wind Waker, for free when the first DLC pack is released.
There’s a new Art Academy game. It’s Disney Themed. You can learn to draw Disney characters. EVEN Frozen ones.
A demo for Bravely Second: End Layer will available on the 3DS eShop next week. The demo will have special story content and rewards earned in it will be transferable to the full game.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, a remake of the original PlayStation game with a new translation. will be arriving a bit later than expected. Originally given a release window of “summer 2016,” the game will now be coming “later in 2016.”
Monster Hunter X will be coming to the west as Monster Hunter Generations this summer. The game will feature some Fire Emblem-based DLC, allowing players wear special armor based on Marth. Those who own Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be able to transfer data to Generations to unlock special content. To promote this, the game will be on sale at a discount for the next 48 hours on the 3DS eShop.
After a less than warm reception at last year’s E3, Nintendo went to bat today for Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Producer Kensuke Tanabe appeared to explain the game and show fans that it “absolutely belongs in the Metroid universe.” He started by detailing the story behind the game’s development, which goes back to 2009. He then explained the game’s story, which will feature Samus as a part of it. He finished by expounding on the actual gameplay, explaining it as a multiplayer-focused shooter that will allow players to fill different roles and customize their characters. Tanabe gave a well-worded defense for the game, and he certainly has me curious about how the game will play when it launches in late spring of this year.
Rhythm Tengoku: The Best+ will be coming to the west later this year as Rhythm Heaven Megamix. It will feature new minigames along side old ones from previous entries, including from the first game on GBA that was never released stateside.
Things finished on a strong note with the announcement of a new Kirby game for 3DS. Titled Kirby Planet Robobot, the game will not only give Kirby new powers, but also gives you massive robot armor to progress through levels with. The game will also include a 4-player coop mode and give Kirby powers and costumes through amiibos.
That about does it for this direct, stay tuned to Chooch for more Nintendo coverage!
