I’m Still Recovering From Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct

Yesterday, March 8th, Nintendo had a Direct and it was epic. My mind is still blown. I’ll post the recap below, but it’s worth watching:

3DS

• WarioWare Gold with 300 minigames will be released on August 3rd.
• Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is an “action meets tower defense” game. Demo available May 10th with a full game release set for May 24th.
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey. This RPG has you playing INSIDE BOWSER. The game will be released in 2019.
• Detective Pikachu has already been announced but they showed off some game play. Detective Pikachu and the new XL Detective Pikachu amiibo will be released on March 23rd.
• Luigi’s Mansion is a remake of the GameCube classic and will be released “this year”. It features a map on the lower screen and a new Boss Rush mode.

And here I thought 3DS was dead in the water. WarioWare Gold is probably worth picking up. I’m also getting Detective Pikachu to see what that’s like.

Switch

• Kirby Star Allies launches next week on March 16th. Nintendo plans on supporting this title beyond launch by providing free updates which will include new characters. A demo of the game is available now.
• Okami HD features motion controls with the joy-cons in docked and tabletop mode or touch screen controls in handheld mode. Okami HD will be released this summer on Nintendo eShop.
• Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido is a quirky game that looks more apt to be a mobile game than a full-on console game. That being said this game looks fun. If I remember correctly, this game was bound for 3DS and was announced at last year’s E3. I didn’t hear much about it after that so I’m assuming the developers decided to go for a simultaneous 3DS and Switch release. The game will be released on June 8th.
• Octopath Traveler will see a special edition release which features a pop-up book, a map, soundtrack cd, and a replica coin. Both regular and special editions will be released on July 13th.
• Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is a Switch-exclusie and launches later this year.
• There will be a Network Test for Dark Souls Remastered. Nintendo will also release, separately, a Solaire of Astora amiibo figure that will let you perform the Praise the Sun emote with reckless abandon. The game and amiibo figure will be released on May 25th.
• Mario Tennis Aces looks awesome. They showed a lot of play features including a racket mode that will let you use a joy-con like a racket. Prepare yourself for an onslaught of third-party racket accessories. I suppose they can’t be any worse than the steering wheel add-on. There’s going to be an online component where you can find players to play against and online tournaments. The game will be released on June 22nd. There will be a pre-launch online tournament with details forthcoming.
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is headed to Switch and 3DS systems on July 13th.
• Undertale was officially announced.
• Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy will be released on July 10th.
• Little Nightmares for Switch is the “complete edition” with all DLC. The game comes out on May 18th. Scan in a Pac-man amiibo for an in-game item.
• The South Park: The Fractured But Whole port along with the first two DLC packs (sold separately) hits the Switch on April 24th.
• Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition will be released on May 18.
• ARMS will be hosting a tournament with details forthcoming. A global test punch will offer a chance to try the game for free if you don’t already own it and want to see what it’s about.
• Splatoon 2 is getting a major update with version 3.0. New (old) maps, more fresh gear, new rank “X” rating, and the re-appearance of Callie. The game will also see its first paid DLC pack, “Octo Expansion”, which will feature a whole new single-player experience. Purchasing the DLC pack will also give you the ability to play as a octoling in online matches. You can pre-purchase it now, and doing so will get you access to two new piececs of gear. The DLC expansion will be available this summer.
• Super Smash Bros. is officially announced for Switch. with the squid kids from Splatoon 2 as playable characters. You can also see Breath of the Wild Link in there too. The little 1-on-1 action sequence leading up to the reveal of the the Smash logo is worth watching alone. The release date for SSB is sometime in 2018.

Like I said, this Direct was pretty epic. I had thought that they would have announced SSB for Switch at E3, but now that the cat is officially out of the bag, I’m hoping a playable demo will be there now.

My hit list from this Direct is Mario Tennis Aces, SSB, and that sweet, sweet special edition of Octopath Traveler.

SSB, man….. holy crap.