E3 2013: Nintendo Direct

The other day (Tuesday 6/11/2013) Nintendo unveiled their plans for the rest of the year and early 2014 through a small and personal Nintendo Direct. Nintendo opted for this over the other company’s large press conferences. In a way, this made Nintendo’s portion even more effective. Sure, Microsoft kind of blew up in the water, and Sony did “dominate”, but as I am a Nintendo fan boy I couldn’t help but be most excited by the news this company offered.

This year has been rough for Nintendo, but there have been a lot of silver linings. Though the Wii U isn’t selling as well as they had hoped, it was one of their fastest selling systems ever. They’ve enjoyed hits like Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. And with development pressing ever onward, Nintendo had a lot to share with us during their brief hour. The current president of Nintendo, Satoro Iwata, showed us gameplay of what we can expect in the coming months in the Nintendo Direct

The Direct focused primarily on games, as their main hardware is already out. It started on one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises: Pokemon. They showed additional footage, and talked about the different types of battles and features you can expect from X and  Y. I’ve grown up with Pokemon since I was around 10, and I’ve never really grown out of it. I was hoping for a 3DS Pokemon when Black and White came out, and then I was hoping again when Black and White 2 came out, and now with X and Y, I finally get to experience everything that a Pokemon game has to offer, including diagonal movement. With the added 3D and the unique new Pokemon, this game looks like it will be a bestseller in no time. With hordes, better online interaction, and a whole new region to explore, I am extremely excited for this game. This game will be released on Saturday, October 29, 2013. Gamestops around the country are now accepting pre-orders, which I have already taken care of. 

Pokemon X and Y offer new expansive worlds to explore

Another exciting game they announced is Super Mario 3D World. Looking similar to it’s 3DS counterpart, Super Mario 3D Land, this looks like a mario game set in the same style as many of the previous 3D games, except for the Galaxy series which had the opportunity to play around with gravity and multi-dimensional levels. The most tantalizing thing about this game is the introduction of a new suit for Mario: The cat suit, allowing you to crawl on and up walls and flag poles, and scratch enemies with your claws. In addition to this you can play with four people total and play as different characters: Mario, Peach, Toad, and Luigig. Each one handles differently, bringing back the feel of Super Mario Bros. 2 in the U.S. If I wasn’t already aching to get a Wii-U, this game would have pushed me over the edge. A life long fan of Mario, I am eager to see what the gamepad and HD graphics can do for the plumber. This game is set to come out in December, 2013, making it a good candidate for my christmas list this year. 

The ability to play as four different characters is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 2

Nintendo also gave us a better look at another game that was announced earlier this year: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. Nintendo decided to re-visit this already beautifully crafted game and re-master it for the Wii-U. Though I think if they were going to do this, a trilogy box set of HD remakes would have been appropriate (Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword), but I’ll take what I can get and I am extremely excited to play through this re-imagined game once again. Fans have been speculating for months if Nintendo will take this opportunity to re-write the game at all, perhaps by possibly putting in the dungeons that were cut from the original to make way for the Shards of the Trifroce Quest (One of the most hated quests in all of Zelda history). It appears, however, that we will not get these lost dungeons...because they aren’t actually lost, but were placed into other Zelda games. This article from Zelda Informer  talks about how the dungeons were simply moved, but the developers won’t confirm what games or what dungeons, so now much speculation is going on surrounding that. Some new features include the ability to make your boat sail faster, and write notes in a bottle and throw them out to sea. Through the Internet, your note will wash up on another player’s shore, allowing the global sharing of ideas, tips, and pictures of penises. As of right now, this game is set to hit stores in September in Japan and in October in the U.S. 

Revisiting the seas in HD

One of the biggest games revealed at the Nintendo Direct was the fourth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series. The trailer for the game introduced new characters, such as The Villager from Animal Crossing, and Mega Man. The game will be available for both the 3DS and Wii-U, and Operation Rainfall confirmed that there will be no tripping in this Smash Bros. game.  

No tripping this time around

 Though I wasn’t thrilled with Brawl, I can accept that it was a fun game. I was just so hooked on Melee for anything to replace that. Though I feel like this new Smash Bros. game will be the middleground between Melee and Brawl that so many gamers want. I can only hope they bring back Mewtwo and hope beyond hope that Tom Nook will become a playable character, hopefully to bankrubt his opponents to death.

Available on both the Wii U and the 3DS

The Nintendo Direct displayed a lot of games that you wouldn’t expect to see on a Nintendo platform - Watch Dogs, Batman: Arkham Origins, and many others. It’s the release of games like these that show Nintendo means business to bring in the serious gamers again. 

Watch Dogs could be one of the best games of the year

The Wii was disgustingly successful, but doesn’t have many great games (My Wii library is the smallest game library to date). I think releases like these for the Wii-U will help bump sales and help bump the popularity of the system overall. Though I am disappointed we didn’t hear about a new Legend of Zelda or a Majora’s Mask remake, I remain hopeful that in the coming months more news will be revealed, and we will have more to be happy about.