It was no Aprils fool prank. On the
night from Wednesday to Thursday we got our second Nintendo Direct of
2015. And what a Direct it was. 3DS and Wii-U both got lots of love
and if you didn't have unrealistic expectations (after all it's only
2 months till E3) it was quite satisfactory. If you didn't catch the
whole thing, here is a link, so that you can watch it.
But now let's dive right into the
announcements. First up we had some news regarding Super Smash Bros.
And despite everything Sakurai said in the past, we'll get DLC beyond
Mewtwo for this game. Not that it is surprising, after the gigantic
success of the Mario Kart 8 DLC. I'm torn on this whole subject. On
one side I don't mind DLC for this game. It has plenty of content
already and the DLC won't feel like it has been cut out of the main
game, just to be sold us for extra cash. I would have preferred for
the characters to be cost 1 buck less, but I can live with the price
of 5 bucks to get the character for both versions. What I don't like
is the costume DLC. Now Super Smash Bros. already includes countless
costumes for your MII-Fighters, even without DLC, but I absolutely
despise such DLC. Costumes should be unlockables and not buyables.
It's not as bad here as with other games, but Nintendo threads on a
dangerous path. I hope they don't do this in future installments. As
long as the basic version of the game doesn't feel butchered I don't
have anything against DLC.
Now for the better announcements. So
Lucas is back. Well I don't really care, but for his fans it's
probably great news. What is even better is the possibility to vote
for the next DLC character.
If you visit this page
you can announce which character you would love to see joining the
roster. This is truly a great idea, and I'm looking forward to
whatever character may win.
So all in all I'm looking
forward to more additions for the game and I hope that the DLC
costumes only play a minor role in the future.
But this was only the
beginning of the direct. Mario Maker looks better and better with
each trailer and I can't wait to create my own levels, starting in
September. We also got the confirmation that you'll even be able to
create your own worlds and adventures. Maybe this really is the first
step towards the job of level designer for a few lucky souls. We also
got a release date for Yoshis Wooly World. On June 26th we
europeans can enjoy the cutest game since the invention of chocolate.
We also get a special Amiibo made out of yarn. When I first saw this
in the stream I couldn't believe my eyes, but they actually did it.
When I first saw the Yarn Yoshis in the E3 2014 stream I said to my
friend that they had to release those, but turning them into Amiibo
is pure genius.
The Game will also offer
two modes, which you can switch between at any given time. I prefer
this method to the Super Guide often offered in previous platformers
aimed at a more casual demographic. It doesn't feel forced upon you,
but you can choose yourself if you need help to complete a level. And
Choice is always preferable. I hope Nintendo also learns this for
their online multiplayer.
For Splatoon we got
another look at the Splat Zones mode, which really sounds exciting.
But I don't understand why Nintendo won't support Voice chat for
ranked battles. It would make the game much more tactical that way.
At least allow it between friends.
We also got our first
look at the local multiplayer, which sounds like a lot of fun. The
1vs1 aspect sounds cool and it can be used to get to know the
different maps. I also hope they include bots for training matches.
Splatoon seems like a game, where it's really important to know the
maps, and such a mode is perfect for getting to know them.
We'll also get Splatoon
Amiibos, which should surprise no one. But what this also means is
that the Inklings now are a real possibility for Super Smash Bros. So
everyone vote for them.
Next up is the long
overdue virtual console announcement for N64 titles. And it starts
with two bombs in form of Mario 64 and Donkey Kong 64. We also get
Nintendo DS titles, which makes sense to me. The 3DS is already
backwards compatible, so it doesn't need a virtual console for its
predecessor. And the Wii-U can perfectly simulate the dual screen
aspect with the Gamepad. So for me it's a good idea and I'm looking
forward to getting Yoshis Island DS that way. However what's not so
great is the price. 9.99 is pretty high for old games, but sadly it
was expected, because Nintendo tends to demand a high price for their
products. I would reduce the price of all virtual console games by 2
bucks, but that's just me.
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After that we got a first
glance at a game that many had already forgotten. But Fire Emblem x
Shin Megami Tensei lives. Although it looks more like a Persona game
(which itself is a spinoff series of Shin Megami Tensei) I'm really
looking forward to this game. It looks like nothing we can experience
on the Wii-U and even though on first glance it has nothing in common
with a traditional Fire Emblem title, fans of those games can look
forward to the new 3DS game.
Which we also got a good
look at in this direct. Now the information sounds awesome. Being the
main character for the first time and getting to decide which path to
take sounds great, but with new information from Japan I'm not
looking forward to this title anymore. Looking at the footage from
the Direct one may think that you can choose your path within the
game, but this is not the case. The game will actually launch in two
different versions, each containing one storyline. So the way you
choose your destiny is with your wallet. Owners of one game can then
download the other storyline as extra DLC. However this only applies
to Japan, while we only get the Hoshido game. If you're only
interested in the Nohr story, you'll have to pay double. Now this is
exactly the kind of DLC and anti-customer behavior that I despise. If
you think this is okay, I won't tell you what to do and I'm happy
that you'll get a new Fire Emblem game, but I won't support such
business practice. I can't make a final verdict, because I don't know
how extensive the storylines will be, but for now it leaves a really
bad aftertaste in my mouth. I hope this model doesn't prove
successful. We'll know the answer when the game launches in the west
in 2016. Oh and the Japanese get the game in June already.
We also got a slew of
other 3DS announcements. Puzzle and Dragons looks good, but the only
game that really sparked my interest is Attack on Titan: Humanity in
Chains. I didn't count on this game coming to the west, so this is a
pleasant surprise and I will enjoy hunting Titans together with my
friends.
Another big announcement,
which I firmly believed would happen this year, was the localization
of Project Zero 5 (Fatal Frame in the US). With a Hollywood film
underway it would have been stupid to not release this game in the
West. I'm counting on a October release for this game.
We also got our first
look at the Amiibo cards. These cards will have the same functions as
Amiibos, but won't cost as much. The first game using this cards will
be Animal Crossing: Home Designer. As someone who never got into
Animal Crossing this didn't impress me much, but I'll maybe get into
it. It strips the Animal Crossing franchise down to the home design
aspect. As someone who played Sims only as an architect this sounds
interesting, but only time will tell.
The Amiibo cards however
are a good idea. I already wrote that in earlier posts, but Amiibos
are expensive, even if they only cost a fraction of real collectible
statues. So if you want to own a wide array of Amiibos to use in your
games it can cost quite a bit. With this cards I have the possibility
to only buy Amiibos of characters I truly want and use the cards for
the ingame uses. Amiibo Cards and the Amiibo reader for the regular
3DS will launch in autumn.
And now for the last part
of information. After the shaky start with Smash DLC and the
disappointing handling of the new Fire Emblem we got this:
Wow this is great. Not
only will the second Mario Kart 8 DLC launch earlier than expected,
but it will also be accompanied by a new high speed mode, which
everyone gets for completely free. I said it once, and I'll say it
again. Mario Kart 8 shows how DLC and support is done right. I can't
express how stoked I am for the 23rd of April.
And with that Nintendo
ended a pretty great Direct. We didn't get any big announcements, but
two months before E3 that expectation was unreasonable. What we got
was a ton of information on titles we already knew. It was a
informative Direct and I'm looking forward to E3. What was you
takeaway from this Direct? Did it fulfill your expectations? Or were
you disappointed?
And as always
thanks for reading
Source of all pictures: Nintendo
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