That time again, time to put on your robe and attend the ceremony with expectations so far out to make worshippers of the Old Gods looks like wannabe zealots!
Especially since all fair criticism of the company is dropped by most people (and publications) when a Direct happens. But again, this is sadly “business as usual”, let’s move on.
I’ll admit, this one started things off in a very pleasing way for me, since i love Warriors games but didn’t expect Nintendo and TK to continue following this trend of making Warriors spin-off of specific entry in their other franchises. Sure, Fire Emblem Warriors already happened, but it was some time ago, same for FE Three Houses, which i actually just bought today used on the cheap (35 bucks, pretty much), no joke.
Given this is a crossover spin-off and both Age Of Calamity and the previous Fire Emblem Warriors were quite good, i was already happy with this, i know there will be effort put in by Omega Force if its not their own “children”.
Getting off that soapbox, for sure fans of tactical rpgs will eat some damn good food this year, not only as the Advance Wars 1& 2 remake looks good, Triangle Strategy looks solid (and the new demo will let you play up to chapter 3, with save data carryover), but we’re also getting remakes of the first 2 Front Mission games.
Which is a delight since i live in “PAL territory” and Square Enix really snubbed europeans overall with the series, aside from Front Mission 3 on the PS1, and the spin-off that really had barely anything to do with the series it takes the name from, Front Mission Evolved. And i guess by that extension Left Alive, remember that?
No you don’t, and it’s for the best.
AND KLONOA! Yep, we’re getting a remastered collection of the first Klonoa (guessing in its Wii remake-port form, judging by the trailer) and Klonoa 2. I’d complain about the fact they could have thrown the GBA games, the Dodgeball spin-off and the Wonderswan title… but i’m just happy Klonoa is back in any form, stat.
Of course it’s Nintendo, so betting on some of its old series or subseries coming back bears often fruit, in this case it’s the Strikers series getting a new game, Mario Strikers Battle League Football, which looks fun enough, it’s arcade soccer with a Speedball inspired feel, i guess, i never got around to play either it’s Gamecube or Wii titles, to be honest,
No new footage of Splatoon 3’s story mode, but a look at the new iteration of the Salmon Run co-op mode that debutted in Splatoon 2, with new enemies and weapons and the incredibly useful ability to throw the salmon egg you carry, so other players can catch it and deliver it to the basket. Having spent a good amount of hours in that mode, yep, i’m looking forward to the new stuff.
Alongside some ports and collections of ports that aren’t worth mentioning (aside from the odd choice of porting to Switch the Wii version of the first Star Wars The Force Unleashed), there’s a lot to be happy with if you’re into rpgs, as Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was announced out of the blue and its coming this september, Chrono Cross it’s getting the remaster treatment, and as announced time ago, Live-A-Live will finally see a worlwide release, and Nintendo remembers it still has that darn SNES Online and NES Online services, so bam, Earthbound/Mother 2 and Earthbound Beginnings/Mother are now added to the catalogue.
Speaking of which, in a surprising but not that surprising move, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will get a “Season Pass” of 48 remixed-remastered courses from previous Mario Kart games… and even later, as it will have courses from the garbage shit Mario Kart Tour, all coming in 6 waves from this march until late 2023.
This is unexpected but it’s not surprising per se, it’s clearly a solution to give the game – which is still hugely populated online – a longer tail and make some “new” content for it to keep Mario Kart into the discussion until Nintendo wants-has anything to show for the next main entry in the series.
What it’s actually “surprising by kinda sensible” is that the “Track Pass” will cost 25 bucks (fair enough, i’d say), or nothing, if you bought and-or upgraded your Nintendo Online subscription to the Expansion Pak tier thingie, in the same way the AC New Horizons DLC Happy Home Paradise was. It’s the right step in adding more value to the proposal, one that clearly was kinda “inspired” by seeing Microsoft honestly doing well with the Game Pass in terms of making the content available for less to the ones who slip some extra bucks into the piper’ pockets.
So, in case you thought Kirby And The Forgotten Land didn’t look fun and good and slightly different from the usual being in 3D this time… now he can swallow things and use them while locking his “jaws” into them. If Kirby swallowing an entire Fiat-esque looking car and thus becoming one with the car don’t sell you on the game… i don’t know what to say, why even bother playing games then?
Honestly, it would have been almost an excellent Nintendo Direct, but Nintendo is Nintendo so they had to dedicated a surprisingly excessive amount of time to talk about them not letting go of motion controls, since Nintendo Switch Sports will be a thing, with a handful of motion controls minigames (and more coming via seasonal free software updates), including badminton and volleyball.
As we definitely know since the Nintendo staff had to play a round of volleyball with motion controls, with cameras so we could look at them doing the motions…. for reasons, i guess Wii Sports did sold millions, but aside from giving people on the internet something to laugh and befuddle about, i’m not sure why even bother with this cringy bit by corporate office people that clearly don’t look comfortable doing it. XD
That’s also Nintendo, but still, overall i’d say this was one of the best Directs in a while.
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