I see a bad moon arisin'. I see bad puns on the way.
(Wii U/3DS Direct Impressions blog)
THE AWESOME
HOLY SH** MAJORA'S MASK REMAKE FOR SPRING 2015: Well it's finally happening so all you paranoid warts who just had to form campaigns for this thing will have to find something else to beg for now (ermahgerd, OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire references Sinnoh QUICK LET'S FORM A CAMPAIGN SO WE'LL BE SURE TO GET THOSE GAMES NEXT!!! *sigh*). On one hand I'm happy it's happening, but on the other hand I strangely don't feel so excited for it. Probably because I knew it was going to happen eventually, or maybe because now the awesome Wii U fan tribute will never happen. But on the bright side it appears to be getting much needed polish from its glitch ridden original, thank god, and we can finally take a break from the hundred million awkward teasers Nintendo has been showing for the past two years.
"Huehuehue"
Xenoblade Chronicles X's new trailer: HOLY CRAP as if this game didn't look great before it just keeps getting bigger and better the more trailers it gets. Its world looks like a lovechild between GTAV and Final Fantasy XV, and the character models thankfully look less like the mannequin counterparts from the E3 trailer. It's a bummer there's no release date as of yet, (heck, it took us a year and a half to finally know what the game was even called) but if it takes them another half of a year to polish the game even more than I think it would be well worth the wait.
Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker: What originally looked like an excuse to appease Toad fans has actually ended up looking...AMAZING. 70+ levels all looking as unique as the last, and Toadette as a playable character?! Day one purchase absolutely justifiable to the max.
THE GOOD
Splatoon Single-Player mode: The creators of Splatoon deserve a medal just for killing off two stereotypes with one stone: creating a TPS game that's not filled with over dramatic greys and teenage angst, and having female leads that don't look like sexually possessed hoes. Mission accomplished. But what we really care about is the gameplay, and while the 2-player looks fun and all, I can rest easy knowing that the single-player mode looks like it got just as equal attention. Finally, a TPS single player campaign that isn't riddled with shooting segments where the main objective is to hide behind something until the enemy starts playing nice. I hope every video game developer is paying attention.
Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack: Granted, we've all known about this months ago, but now we finally get an official list of tracks and get to see Link in action (which was absolutely badass btw). Courses inspired by Excite Bike, Legend of Zelda, and what appears to be a vague reference to Marusume's Castle are just some of the new courses to expect in DLC packs among other things including Cat Peach and Tanooki suit Mario (why would he even need the Super Leaf item?...eh, forget it, Link is included in that pack anyway). We're not getting characters like Kirby or Captain Falcon unfortunately, but you can use their amiibo figurines to get their Mii Suit costumes which is...kinda cool I guess? Well, it could've been Ghost Data for Time Trails if Nintendo was lazy enough, so no loss there.
Kirby and Rainbow Curse: *Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee* Kirby games are subjectively the most memorable when they resemble a real world art material: this time around, it's ever so cute claymation, giving an ironic finger to every game with more than 30 fps. To help Kirby along on his journey three more players can join in as Waddle Dee, Waddle Dee, and...Waddle Dee. Hey were you even expecting four player mode to begin with?
THE BAD
Hello again: While not really a bad thing to include past information we already know about (Pikmin short movies, Duck Hunt dog in Smash Bros, MK8 DLC, etc.) it was disappointing that when they were included they felt more like filler at some points. We only got info of how amiibo would work for only two games, and any new information for the Twilight Princess DLC pack for Hyrule Warriors was dissed even though its to be released this month. On a positive note we have a LOT to look forward too in the coming months, but this sort of vagueness is not helping in our purchases.
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Score: 4.5/5
Majora's Mask 3D was the front runner and probably the biggest announcement that came out of yesterday's Direct. Overall, it was a good show to remind everyone of great stuff to come, though I do wish that because it was mostly older information that the Direct could've benefitted more if it was a bit shorter. No matter what I think though, Nintendo is at the right direction and if November 21st is any indication, they know what they're doing and they're doing it right.
