Valentine's Day Nintendo Direct Impressions.

Nintendo Directs are a funny thing now. It's not common that we see so many new game announcements before E3, yet now we've had three full Directs, showcasing more new games than I have fingers to count. It's probably overwhelming for anyone with a wallet, and especially those anticipating more games in E3, which will we. That's why I loved today's Direct. Sure, it announced more games (wallet: eeek!), but its focus on new DLC was the deal breaker. It wasn't amazing, BUT THAT'S OKAY. You can view the whole Direct here:

And without a further ado...here's what we thought about it: 

THE AWESOME:

Luigi...wake up! You're the star now! 

 

Year of the Luigi: Luigi has always been something of a second fiddle gag for the Mario series, but this year Luigi is starring in no fewer than three games, as a great aspect in-game than just a supporting character. Seeing Iwata sporting a Luigi hat is probably the best justice for the Green caper. Better hang onto Peach, Mario, Luigi is the new man in the house! 

 

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: At first I was disappointed with a port of a Wii game instead of a brand new adventure, but the 3D affects blew me away- this game was made to be on the 3DS. If you have a 3DS, I recommend downloading and viewing the trailer from the Nintendo eShop. 

 

Mario & Luigi gets a fourth installment: Tweaking Luigi's nose forms a staircase in the hilarious new trailer for the fourth M&L installment: Dream Team. The sprites, a combination of Mario RPG and 3D Mario style graphics, are sure to please. And who wouldn't want to tweak Luigi's nose? 

 

THE GOOD: 

 

Is your body Ready? 

 

Release Dates: HarmoKnight on March 28th, Animal Crossing New Leaf in June 9th, Pokemon Mystery dungeon and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon both released on March 17th, a Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate demo on February 21st, and many more 3DS games being released this Summer. Can you say: HELL YES? 

 

DLC done right: 80 full new levels for New Super Mario Bros. U?! More Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC maps at half price? This is how you do DLC. 

 

Waluigi: WALUIGI IS BACK, BABY! 

 

THE BAD:  

 

This makes somewhat sense now, maybe?

No mention of major titles: When are we going to see more NA screens for Project X Zone, or any other titles after the first Q1?  

Aren't Directs a little.................long?: It's great to watch Directs, but 40 minutes is still too long just to show a few new titles. Keep Directs shorter and avoid any more Miiverse updates- we had enough! 

- 

FINAL DIRECT: 3/5 STARS 

This was a decent Direct that gave me what I wanted and left without too many teases. The 3DS got it's spotlight, and E3 is just 4 months away to deliver more. Well done. 

Happy Valentines, and have a great Luigi year, everyone! 

-EggBeatr8

Valentine's Day Nintendo Direct Impressions.

Animal Crossing for 3DS

Written by pikaby

Well it wasn't exactly on show floor but there were screenshots of the upcoming Animal Crossing game for the 3DS. So much for that launch game rumor. Check out these shots.






There's no shot of the bottom screen yet, but this is different from the DS AC game, Wild World, in that the action takes place on the top screen instead of the bottom, and your characters look a lot less cute. They're taller and not the chibi figures from before....Darn. Come on, Nintendo! What happened to the cute? Bring it back!

Other than that, there's......not much change for this Animal Crossing. The flowers, neighbors, furniture, even the rocks and flowers look exactly the same. This will have to do some serious upgrading to impress anybody already worn out by the Wild World template.

Animal Crossing for 3DS

Rumor: Animal Crossing launch game for 3DS

Written by pikaby

A rumor started by Destructoid, this one. Says Nintendo is using a demo of a new 3D enabled Animal Crossing to attract 3rd party attention to it (the kind that is less likely to churn out terrible games, I hope). Dtoid's reliable sources say that this will be revealed together with the console itself this E3 too. Whatever happened to Mario spearheading every console launch?

It's all just speculation though, but if it turns out to be true, Animal Crossing's got to do way more than just tack on 3D effects to the existing Wild World game to truly capture any attention. City Folk was just a lame cash-in and an excuse to release Nintendo's less than stellar voice chat option (Wii Speak).

Rumor: Animal Crossing launch game for 3DS

(Nearly) a Year in the Life of Animal Crossing

Written by pikaby

Animal Crossing is the pinnacle of casual gaming, and yet offers deep collecting-em-all gameplay for the more compulsive gamers. You can trash the entire town and leave it with weeds, or you can spruce it up with ten flower patches every square inch of the town (imagine how busy it must be to maintain them all). You can be friendly to your neighbors or you can make them move out. The more hours you pour into Animal Crossing, the more it rewards you.

Provided you don't get bored of it.

(Nearly) a Year in the Life of Animal Crossing

Wii Accessorize

Since the launch of the Nintendo Wii in late 2006, the level of interactivity with games had been taken to a whole new level. I mean, the Wiimote actually sensed your movements, for crying out loud. Wasn't it the most fascinating thing you'd ever seen? Back then, anyway. Initially the Wii by itself should have been enough to hook Nintendo's market this time- casual gamers. It wasn't enough, so Nintendo released a whole load of other accessories(some which were not really all that necessary) for the console to help it achieve its goal.

Wii Accessorize