My Thoughts On The Latest Nintendo Direct.

 

Now, let's get on to the main event. 

The Nintendo Direct finally aired last week, to say it was divisive is putting it lightly. The reactions were all over the place, and that's frankly, understandable, considering how there wasn't a lot of new things there. It was also, as I warned, a very Mario heavy direct. Now for me, that was a big, big positive, but for people who aren't into Mario as much as people like me are, I can totally understand why that would be a problem.  If it wasn't already obvious that the Switch is nearing it's end, it certainly is now. 

That said, I quite liked this direct. Let's get to some of the noteworthy announcements:

Splatoon 3 Side Order: 

Gotta say, I haven't played a single second of Splatoon 3 as of now, but this got me a lot more interested. They're taking the single player in a new direction, and I'm all for it. Nintendo has no experience with Rogue-lites as of now and this is gonna be their first dive into it. I'm interested to see where this goes. 

Princess Peach Showtime: 

Talk about a big surprise. I knew the game was going be good, but boy, not this GOOD. It looks incredible from both a gameplay and visual perspective. I was surprised by how much depth there was to the game, there's far more here than I expected, but given this is EPD Tokyo developing it, I shouldn't be surprised. This is a must-play for me, of course. 

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Final DLC:

FINALLY DIDDY IS HERE! FUNKY AND PAULINE TOO! Oh..and Peachette is here too, for some reason...oh well. I'm hyped. We got more characters than they even initially promised, and Daisy Circuit is a pretty damn good pick as well, as much as I am hater of Mario Kart Wii, that track is a classic. I haven't played the last pack but I'll be playing these final two packs the day this drops. I'm glad to see Mario Kart 8 is going out with a bang. What a wild decade it's been. 

Prince Of Persia The Lost Crown:

I totally forgot that I haven't talked about this one but I should have sooner, because this game looks awesome. I absolutely loved the 6th gen POP games and this one looks like a full on 2D version of those. Why people were whining about this one I will never, ever understand. A new game from the Rayman Origins/Legends team? Count me the hell in! January is gonna be an absolutely insane month. I cannot wait for this. 

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD:

Eh. I'm gonna be honest. I don't know how I feel about this one. Indifferent? Ambivalent? I don't know. This looks, feels, and sounds like a pretty bare bones remaster. It feels like not only they just were desperate for Luigi to have something to call his own for the time being, because Luigi's Mansion 4 isn't ready yet, but it just feels like something where's they went "Hey! People really liked Luigi in the movie! Let's give them something until his next actual game is ready!" 

If this is somehow 60 bucks, I might have to pass. 

Another Code:

This was the biggest surprise of the Direct for me. Trace Memory is one of the coolest games for the Nintendo DS, so I'm genuinely shocked that Nintendo is bringing this back, of all games, and they're bundling in the Wii sequel as well which was never released in the US. I absolutely love when Nintendo does this kind of stuff. I think it looks great, the voice acting may sound a bit iffy but I'm okay with that. I can't wait to see more of this. January is going to be a crazy month for games. 

F-Zero 99: 

Well, there it is. F-Zero returns. 

Well, not in the way people expected, but the Captain is back, and to be frank, this game is fuckin' awesome. I've been having a blast and the game is flat out, just addicting to play. When I have a few minutes, I just pull out my Switch and play it, it's amazing how much work they put into this. This is more or less a full on remake of the original SNES game. NST are showing how truly talented they are once again. With a remaster of F-Zero GX also on the horizon, things are starting to look bright for this franchise once again. 

Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door: 

The rumors were all true. We finally made it. My jaw dropped. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing but it's real. And it feels really, really good, guys. The dark age of Paper Mario have come to an end, and I'm happy we're finally back. The game looks absolutely incredible. The little touches Intelligent Systems has done to make the game just look and feel modern is just awesome. I'm also really liking the newly arranged soundtrack.  One thing I did notice is that Nintendo has been very vague on whether or not this is a remaster, or a remake. I don't the think the distinction really matters, but I do find that interesting. Regardless: 

We're so back, baby. 

Speaking of remakes: 

Wow. Holy shit. 

I absolutely loved this game on GBA. No, it's absolutely not Donkey Kong 94, but it's still a very good game.  

No hyperbole attached, Mario VS Donkey Kong is the best looking game on Switch.  I am absolutely mind blown by how good it looks visually. Luigi's Mansion 3, Mario Tennis Aces and Metroid Prime Remastered have been dethroned. This looks full on next gen. And that's for a very good reason.

Here's a scoop: 

This game is running on the 3D Mario engine, which has been upgraded for the upcoming next gen. 

As a bonus for the long wait, I'm going to be doing yet another article this evening discussing what's been going on at Nintendo' Tokyo based EPD 8 studio. 

See ya tonight!