Well, Nintendo gave us a scare last month, with there being no Direct and the Wii U being eaten alive by analysts and all, but luckily they came through this month and delivered a fantastic Direct yesterday. Here are the highlights sand my impressions.
THE AWESOME
Ah yeah.
Little Mac joins Smash Bros: Everybody that's been posting fake leaks of Little Mac's Smash Bros. inclusion can officially get a real life, because Little Mac is now a playable fighter, baby. The Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS character roster is looking pretty darn nice. And no this does not mean Ridley is confirmed, and that Yoshi is getting excluded from the game- keep your moronic, irrelevant speculation to yourself.
Release Dates: Nintendo finally shares the release dates of some the most hyped 3DS games (and no, sadly Smash Bros. 3DS is not one of them). Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Mario Golf: World tour are both slated for May 2nd, with Professor Layton and the Azran Legend coming out right around the corner on February 28th, and Yoshi's New Island not far behind being released May 14th. Wii U games got release dates too, but I'm wondering what Nintendo is planning with the wide release gap between DKC: Tropical Freeze (February 21st) and Mario Kart 8 (May 30th), because that's a pretty big chasm of nothing for a struggling system.
THE GOOD
Bayonetta 2: pissing off Xbox360 fanboys since 2012.
Kick-a** trailers: The Direct might not have ended with a huge bang, but it did show off some tantalizing gameplay trailers for big Wii U games like Monolith's 'X' title and the forever third-party exclusive Bayonetta 2, which both look like an absolute blast. I expected more info about 'X' (and an official title) than just a trailer, but it was so good I guess I can't really complain.
NES Remix gets a sequel: NES Remix was an interesting title released last year that combined the challenge of NES games with the quick pick up-and-play gimmick of WarioWare. Apparently it only takes Nintendo a week to put a game like this together, because a sequel is planned for April 25th (I know, I know, they own the assets for these games but still that's pretty fast) This one will feature bits and boops from later NES titles like Kirby's Adventure and SMB3, and will include a mirrored version of the entire game of SMB with Luigi as the main character. Because apparently the Year of Luigi wasn't enough to quench Luigi's hungry vendetta to out trump his brother. Makes me wonder whether Peach or Daisy is at the final castle.
Koopalings join the Mario Kart 8 roster: Well, they're basically seven Metal Marios, but Nintendo could do far worse. Whether anyone will play as Lemmy Koopa remains uncertain, however.
THE BAD
Thank you?
Lack of any new Wii U titles: Not only is the release dates for Wii U games few and far between, but the lack of new titles to fill that void is very disappointing. I'm sure Nintendo has something up their sleeve, but right now we need more than just some blind hope. At least we have GBA games to tide us over, derp!
Steel Diver: Hey look, it's a sequel to that 3DS launch title everyone liked. Wow, I'm finding this game to be worth my time and effort. I think I'll pay $10.00 for the premium version with MORE subs! My life was empty without this game, thank you Nintendo.
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OVERALL: 4/5
The Direct showed some cool new eShop titles I forgot to mention, and gave us a taste of the titles coming out in Q3-Q4 2014, it's just too bad we didn't get any information for new Wii U games. All-in-all thank you Nintendo for giving us a Direct and we wish you all the luck.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! <3
