Everyone thought that Nintendo had blown all of its news early in the last Nintendo Games Direct that took place late last month. In a surprise move from Nintendo, they announced that this year was going to be the Year of Luigi. Shigeru Miyamoto made his first appearance in a Nintendo Direct, tons of news for the 3DS and Nintendo Partners were all topics outlined today in the Valentines Day Nintendo Direct 2/14/2013.
Shigeru Miyamoto outlined the new Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon and showed some new mechanics that were never seen before. One of the mechanics specifically they showed was how Luigi is going to interact with the ghosts. You will have to stun ghosts with a light beam before you suck them up. There will be different mechanics for ghosts to avoid Luigi’s beam of light like hiding behind objects or wearing sunglasses.
A New Mario and Luigi RPG game RPG was the next topic named Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. The game will feature Mario and Luigi going into Luigi’s dreams. It will have full RPG gameplay mechanics from the Mario and Luigi games of the past. The new RPG does not have a release date, but the date will be announced soon.
Another 3DS title, Mario Golf, was announced for development for the 3DS. There will be super shots and other game mechanics that we have seen in the franchise in the past. Look for more information soon on a release date.
Finally, for the last Mario/Luigi related news, another Mini Mario Game was also announced for the 3DS. This puzzle game features tiles that can be dragged and dropped around the map. The mini Mario’s will then move along a path to get to the end. There will be more information on this title soon and no other data was really shared.
3DS Coming In Strong
Nintendo finally talked about Animal Crossing for the North America Audience after talking about Mario Golf. The game has been a raving hit so far in Japan. Literally it has been a system seller that has been in the top charts despite it is only launched in one region. Nintendo showed off some gameplay mechanics and also gave hints at when the game will be available.
There was also a ton of other news about the 3DS. There will be new DLC available soon for Fire Emblem: Awakening, a personal favorite of mine. These new DLC’s will feature maps that have rich enemies. Defeating these enemies will transfer a bunch of gold over into your single player game. You can use the gold to buy upgrades, weapons and other boosts for your characters.
Finally, there will be a new Donkey Kong title will be coming soon. The title Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D will feature 3D backdrops that should look nice in the 2D setting of Donkey Kong. Look for a demo soon that will be coming to the 3DS eShop sometime in the near future.
Nintendo Partners Making Some Noise
The Nintendo Partners also made a showing at this presentation. The first thing they announced was the ZombiU premium Wii U console. The package will come with ZombiU, Nintendo Land a black WiiU Pro Controller and more. Bit.Trip Saga and Zen Pinball 2 are two new downloadable games coming to the Wii U shop. Both of these titles will be available soon for the Wii U from Nintendo partners. Finally, Castlevania got a hard, confirmed release date of March 5th for North America. Nintendo showed some gameplay and made a point to say that the game will be available exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS.
There also was some interesting announcements from port land. A new installment of Need For Speed: Most Wanted will be coming to the Wii U soon. The new version of this game will include all of the DLC for the Wii U version and will have updated controls. A friend can use the Wii U GamePad to help the driver out by changing the day/night cycle and help drift.
Finally the new Walking Dead game based on the AMC TV show is confirmed and will be released for the Wii U in March. The game is supposed to be a survival action game that has tough choices about resources and of course focuses on personal interaction of people in a post zombie filled world. Look for the AMC’s Walking Dead game in just over a month on the Wii U.
There where a few more announcements here and there, but nothing earth shattering. A new Lego game for the 3DS that will be a companion to Lego City Undercover, New DLC for Ninja Guiden 3 Razor’s Edge for the Wii U and Google Maps Wii Street U will be available soon. Also, of course, there will be some new downloadble titles available for the 3DS. But really most of the things from the beginning of the press release were much more interesting.
What do you think of the news? Does any of this make you feel good about Nintendo’s future? Hit us up in the comments below and tell us what you think!
