The September 13th, 2017 Nintendo Direct featured an amount of information respectable for its size. Like the Direct itself, we’ll split up the information into two paragraphs, starting with 3DS. Pokémon UltraSun & UltraMoon and Gold & Silver, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga & Bowser’s Minions, Yo-Kai Watch 2, and Layton’s Mystery Journey all have release dates. New games include Kirby: Battle Royale, Mario Party: the Top 100 (a collection of mini-games from the ten main line installments), and a 3DS edition of Minecraft. The demo for Etrian Odyssey V also launches today, and multiple Atlus titles will be coming to the portable.
The Switch information was dominated mainly by Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (launching December 1) and Super Mario Odyssey (October 27), but a number of other games were announced. Snipperclips will be getting an expanded port; owners of the original game can purchase the new content as DLC for the original game instead. Nintendo specific bonuses for third party games include the size-changing team shooter Morphies Law launches on Switch first and Rocket League getting skins for Mario, Luigi, and Samus. DOOM (2016), Wolfenstein II, and L.A. Noire will also be coming to the system, and the beta test for MOBA Arena of Valor will launch in October. In addition, updates are coming to Flip Wars and ARMS today and Splatoon 2 later in the month. Perhaps the most exciting is Project Octopath Traveler, a Switch exclusive from the producers of Bravely Default that uses “HD-2D,” an art style that fuses pixel art with hi-definition renders and backgrounds.
There’s also the various new amiibo launching with Mario & Luigi, Fire Emblem Warriors, and Mario Odyssey, but this was mostly a Direct about dates and quiet announcements. PushDustIn and NantenJex have made a video for their reactions, and other members of the Source Gaming team have gathered for written ones as well.
It’s interesting to see the number of major third party releases – certainly DOOM and Wolfenstein, considering id’s notorious struggles with Nintendo – coming out on the Switch. In a way, the increased interest in supporting the system feels like an inverse of what happened on the Wii U, where a bevy of major re-releases failed to sell the system. It also might be worth noting to see the slow increase in focus on the Switch, as the 3DS presumably moves to the end of its lifespan and stock of the new system continues to quickly sell out.
Other than that, I missed DOOM and Snipperclips, so playing them this way sounds interesting. And I’m interested in (and happy about) the possibility of arcade releases different than their NES versions. The console Donkey Kong was infamous for cutting on of the original’s four levels, and if Nintendo can bring the latter back, that’d be just lovely.
Woah, no Smash. Who would’ve guessed?
In all seriousness though, the direct was great! Seeing a Mario Party mini-game collection is great. I saw a few of my favorites too! Xenoblade Chronicles 2 having no delay whatsoever was a neat surprise. Seeing a bit more of a “mature” selection is really cool to see, especially on a Nintendo console. (I mention this since the Wii U seemed to avoid M Rated titles like the plague.) Square-Enix showing off more of Octopath is 100% welcome in my book. I started loving the art style ever since it was shown at the Switch Presentation back in January. On one final note, Kirby looks absolutely amazing right now! Seeing Yo-Yo return as an ability is great as well.
I’m not entirely shocked at the lack of Smash. Sounds like something for E3 2018 at the very least. Solid Direct otherwise, though. What absolutely shocks me is Xenoblade 2 not getting delayed, which is something I was highly betting on. I’m absolutely sold on DOOM and Wolfenstein and will buy both when they make their way to Switch. Gonna demo Octopath when I can, looks interesting.
I thought the direct was pretty neat. Had some surprising titles like DOOM and Wolfenstein, but topping it off with Mario Odyssey was a smart move. That game looks really good and I’m definitely going to get it. The bundle looks neat too. Smash not being shown was expected, but maybe next time, amirite? Overall, it was solid and I’m looking forward to diving into my Switch even more.
- Indie World April 17, 2024: Information and Reactions - April 17, 2024
- Gun Metal Gaming Chapter 3: Second Acts in Gaming Lives - March 30, 2024
- Gun Metal Gaming Chapter 2: Grand Theft Auto: Dionysian Simulator - February 27, 2024
I’ve been watching the Japanese version of the Direct, so please be aware there are differences that I’ll be writing here…
While Xenoblade 2 looks great with their fully improved character designs and graphics, while Octopath Travelers looks brilliant with the combination of both 2D character sprites and 3D background graphics, I was a lot more impressed with Mario Odyssey. New kingdoms, new costumes (including Mario having nipples was a lot shockingly surprising lol), new characters…everything looked so great! For Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon…while new Ultra Beasts is impressive, the game doesn’t feel that hyping to me honestly. While I though it’ll be a sequel like Black/White 2, it pretty much confirms to be a minor change version like Yellow/Pikachu, Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum. It’s just adding few things into the game instead, while the story is till the same. I was hoping something more interesting for this game, like when Lillie will return to Alola, what happens with both Looker and Anabel after the UB hunt event, etc. Although the game didn’t fully introduced yet, as much I should be looking forward for more info before its release, I really don’t know if I should expect anything more to this game as there’s not much of a change.
For the Switch lineups…several leaks have been revealed thanks to GameXplain, so several of them seemed to have been proven true. Lyn joins Fire Emblem Warriors since this is a first time to see a character outside of Shadow Dragon, Awakening and Fates; which mean we might be able to see Tiki, Anna, Caeda (FINALLY Marth isn’t alone since his waifu joins the force), and Celica joining soon as well. But since the character is terribly limited, which there’s no ninjas and thieves, even several popularity poll related characters involved, I’m not sure if I wanna get this game. The new stage and weapon for Splatoon 2 and new characters and weapons for ARMS were already introduced before, so it wasn’t surprising since we’ve already knew about it. But the DLC for Snipperclips, ported games like Phantasy Star Online 2 and Resident Evil Revelation series, return of Gim and additional of Broom Hatter for Kirby Star Allies…that was a lot more surprising! I mean, I was more surprised on Kirby Star Allies for sure. Gim returns from Super Stars and Broom Hatter finally joins the Helpers since the cancelled Kirby GC, and Dedede returns as a villain and becoming Incredible???…this is the game I must love and buy! It was also impressive to see more Rated M games for Switch, so the third party is really being supportive to Nintendo as Nintendo itself is becoming more acceptable with everything now. Although I still don’t have a Switch, I’m looking forward to get the game for sure!
For the 3DS lineups…I do see many Western viewers weren’t really appreciated with this one as complaining “why 3DS ain’t dying yet”. I doubt 3DS will die soon. Yo-kai Watch Busters 2, Girls Mode 4, Minecraft 3DS Edition, Mario Party Top 100, Kirby Battle Royale…these titles are mostly focused toward younger audiences, and as they’re supporting 3DS for those ages, I doubt it’ll die soon; adult players just don’t understand that Nintendo is for all ages, not adults only. But anyways, Yo-kai Watch Busters have brought their second title as its mostly based from the DLC game from Yo-kai Watch 3, but since I don’t play the Busters series (because I terribly suck at it), it really didn’t matter to me. Girls Mode 4 was an actual surprise for me which I wasn’t expecting to see it coming, but since this game is mostly popular towards young female players, it did made sense. Minecraft 3DS was another surprising thing to see, not to mention Nintendo’s favorite Japanese comedian group Yoiko had their series of playing the Switch version of this game, so having a 3DS version really made sense. Mario Party Top 100 was another unexpected one, but I wonder why they decided not to bring in the actual board game? Maybe they’ve finally lost ideas, so they instead brought back past mini games with better graphics, which I’m not complaining that much. Kirby Battle Royale…I don’t know what to say…but to be honest, I wasn’t impressed with this game. While the Dream Roster of this game was typically having fun imagining what the game would be, I thought it would make sense to have all characters being playable than typically playing only Kirby with different colors and copies. But instead, this is the repeat from those mini-games…playing only as Kirby with different colors and copy abilities…it felt generic and disappointing. While the game looked like the Kirby version of Capcom’s Smash Bros. game Power Stones, using Kirby only as a playable character and repeating Kirby Fighters over and over again does look lazy working to me. I mean this isn’t Paper Mario we’re talking about, where new characters aren’t allowed and Mario being kept alone being playable as they wanna make the game “safe” (which it sounds meaningless). Why HAL’s doing this instead rather than doing something more special for its 25th Anniversary? Maybe this game isn’t the main title to focus on as Star Allies is the REAL Kirby 25th anniversary game. But eventually, I think I’m being too selfish here, which I should’ve known I shouldn’t be putting so much expect for this game as I should’ve hyped responsibly. Furthermore, I really don’t know if I should be looking forward for this game, and instead pay attention only on Star Allies as it looks greater than this game. Other than that, its good to see more 3DS games coming in, while Nintendo is trying their best to differentiate Switch and 3DS in many ways.
While many were disappointed that there was no new info upon Smash, I wasn’t disappointed as I knew it wasn’t there. But at the same time, this Direct is still a beginning. We have TGS upcoming next week, so maybe a big surprise can be revealed there instead. But that doesn’t mean we should expect anything there either; there can be repeats from this Direct, while maybe nothing will happen in the end as it’ll focus upon something else instead. Even then, TGS is almost there, and I can’t wait to see what’s coming. If it isn’t Smash, then that’s okay with me, because I have something else to look forward to instead ( http://kemono-friendsch.com/archives/34366 ).
Overall, while there were lots of new things they’ve brought, most of them were already things that we knew since E3. While I wasn’t expecting anything as I was hyping responsibly (except for one), most of them didn’t surprised me at all. So far, if I would to rate this Direct, as it wasn’t perfect, I’d give 7 Stars. Until then, see you at TGS!