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New Nintendo Direct March 08

Shini42

Member
Kinda sad when your biggest announcements are ports of a remastered games from more than ten years ago.
How long will Nintendo use nostalgia as the main selling point, I wander.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Kinda sad when your biggest announcements are ports of a remastered games from more than ten years ago.
How long will Nintendo use nostalgia as the main selling point, I wander.
Except the biggest announcement of the this direct was Smash and we finally got a release date for Octopath Traveler.
 
Wow so the new Mario tennis will hopefully provide the online pvp fix I need.

RE: Shini42 I do miss the days of third party innovative games on a Nintendo console, but the directs aren’t really meant to reinvent the Nintendo wheel merely provide the hamsters on it more reason to keep going. Imagine if Microsoft did a direct or Sony. It’s impressive that Nintendo can produce enough content to do these digital showcases.

Note: provided dev diaries like squid labs outside of direct might help too.
 
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staen

Member
I already knew it wasn't going to be like the old ones, but I wasn't expecting that for lightsaber combat either.

When I saw NMH and expectations it just kind of reminded me of how some fans desperately pushed this idea that the game was going to be NMH3. Some Nintendo fan on here selectively pulled the line "Just like the original cult classic" from a PR statement and used it as hard evidence that Travis Strikes Again would play exactly like older NMH games and was basically NMH3 in all but name. A lot of people joined in and dogpiled anyone who disagreed with them. It made the older NMH threads kind of annoying.
 

MrMorningMan

Neo Member
I thought this Nintendo Direct was really good. Packed with quite a few games, almost all of them I'd be interested in playing. The big reveal was Smash Bros and from the YouTube stream chat box, people lost their minds in an instant. Out of everything they showcased I thought Mario Tennis Aces looked the most promising. We got an explanation of all the shot types which look to add some depth to the gameplay and genuine strategy, especially when playing online against a human opponent and with energy management.

Kirby next week as well! Everything they've shown looks incredibly fun and free content updates after launch. I'm going to need to set aside some pennies for all these games coming to the Nintendo Switch.
 
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jufonuk

not tag worthy
The price everyone must pay for not buying Wii U
Despite the Wii U selling really badly. It has some really really really good games.

Rather than let them be lost do this. Those games will sell and a lot of players will be experiencing them for the first time. so honestly it keeps switch users engaged, allows great software to come to the system. Allows the bigger games times to marinate then be released.

No software droughts for now.
 
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Shini42

Member
Except the biggest announcement of the this direct was Smash and we finally got a release date for Octopath Traveler.
Oh, I'm so sorry! I was so wrong talking about how Nintendo using nostalgia as the main selling point. Neither SSB nor Octopath Traveler have nothing to do with exploiting nostalgia, unlike games I was referring to in my message.
 
This post is from 2014:

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/capt...uple-of-new-screenshots.875321/post-129823997

Here's hoping that the game (Captain Toad) eventually shows up on the 3DS, the stereoscopic 3D effect will suit this game level design perfectly.

Happy to see this announced at last. In regards to the topic of comparing release
schedules:

So... I guess Nintendo didn't expect the Switch to be a hit right ?.
They had the first year planned with some great games but almost nothing else in serious production since they wanted to see if it sells first.
i think the complains in regards to the 2018 line up are not given enough taught or they comes as naive. Basically the Switch gets a significant release each month:
  • March: Kirby
  • April: Labo
  • June: Mario Tennis
  • July: Octopath Traveler
  • Holidays: Smash
Fire Emblen and Yoshi were announced last year. Yoshi is the wild card since it's typically a 2nd or 3rd quarter early release, yet Nintendo hasn't spoke about it after the annoucement. Maybe this could mean that some change in development happened. Maybe Labo integration due to the game's theme?

Add to this that E3 is yet to come which is when the 2nd half picture becomes complete and yes, one can see that in terms of release schedule 2017 and 2018 are not that different. Unless one is naive enough to think that games of the caliber of Breath of the Wild and Odyssey with 5/4 years of development cycles are the norm.

And to be fair some of the ports are for games that didn't have much exposure like Bayonetta or Captain Tracker which a significant portion of the Switch user base at the time of their releases haven't experinced yet.
 
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KevinKeene

Banned
Planning your development schedule so you can release at least one Odyssey-caliber game per year is not too much of an expectation. It'd be management incompetency if Fire Emblem and Smash were the only somewhat big titles in 2018, only to bombard us with Pokemon, Metroid, RetroStudio's game and MonolithSoft's WRPG in 2019. Spread it out a bit :/
 

Rodolink

Member
It's sad they are burying so badly the WiiU, each time a port from WiiU gets done for Switch, they push it's decaying carcass deeper into the earth, in the end WiiU won't have any exclusive legendary game you can play only there.

Anyway I loved that Artorias amiibo <3
And glad Okami HD was ported
Also nice that Grasshopper designed a game taking into consideration the hardware and not just making a common couch game ported to a portable device.
 

sticksnfingers

Neo Member
Anyway, Switch aims to a bigger userbase so if there was a lot of WiiU ports (and there will be still in the future) many people haven't played them yet, like myself, so overall it was a very good direct.
 

VertigoOA

Banned
Switch is mostly a Wii U relaunch and repackage. Ports shouldn't be surprising. I have no interest in them, sure. Not because I played them, but I could care less for them and didn't care then and less so now. Yea, I'd like to see new software but they need to fill software catalogue until they actually have something new to show.
 
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Aldric

Member
Planning your development schedule so you can release at least one Odyssey-caliber game per year is not too much of an expectation. It'd be management incompetency if Fire Emblem and Smash were the only somewhat big titles in 2018, only to bombard us with Pokemon, Metroid, RetroStudio's game and MonolithSoft's WRPG in 2019. Spread it out a bit :/

Yeah l don't know why people are acting like this is too much to ask. There's zero new game from Nintendo's internal teams scheduled for release in 2018. l wasn't expecting BotW or Odyssey tier games because those are once in a decade titles but l at least thought we'd see a couple of smaller titles. What the hell is up with Pikmin 4? It's apparently been in development for at least 3 years. What are Retro doing? What about a new 2D Mario? These all seem to be reasonable games to expect in 2018 based on previous development cycles but there's nothing. lt's honestly pretty worrying to see that once again Nintendo was incapable to schedule their releases properly especially after all this lip service about fusing their development teams and focusing on a single platform.
 

ehead

Member
Welp, Diablo is not there. Darn it. Anyway, I was still surprised at the footage we got: NMH, Octopath, Dark Souls Solaire freakin' amiibo, Mario Tennis (looks promising), and Smash teaser.
 

gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
Happy with the port of Luigi's Mansion. It's an awesome game and Dark of the Moon played well on 3DS so it's a good choice to port it to the 3DS.

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey. It's another good game and after Partners in Time it makes sense. I'm glad to see the 3DS getting an enhanced port especially as it's a game I think a lot of current 3DS owners didn't play.

The other 3DS announcements are all welcome too. I know a lot of people want the system cut off and all development put onto the switch but the 3DS is a damn good game system with a phenomenal library. Yeah the pace is slowing, but I'm happy to have new games still coming out especially as the 2DS brings the entry price to said library down so more people can get in on it.
 

iconmaster

Banned
It'd be management incompetency if Fire Emblem and Smash were the only somewhat big titles in 2018, only to bombard us with Pokemon, Metroid, RetroStudio's game and MonolithSoft's WRPG in 2019. Spread it out a bit :/

Game development is tough. And unpredictable.
 

goldenpp72

Member
I was looking at the list of Wii U releases that don't have confirmed ports, there are only like 10-15 left, hopefully they burn through em quick.
 

KevinKeene

Banned
I was looking at the list of Wii U releases that don't have confirmed ports, there are only like 10-15 left, hopefully they burn through em quick.

If only one of them had been Xenoblade Chronicles X. We've got no serious, story-centric, open world game for the entire first half of 2018. :(
 
I'm absolutely chuffed that South Park is getting a port. My Switch was stolen last year, and when I had to raise funds to replace it, the new South Park game that I'd bought a week earlier for the PS4 had to go, despite the fact that I'd only played an hour or so. The resale value of new games just falls off a cliff after a couple of weeks. I held off on picking it up again when the rumours about it being ported to the Switch surfaced; it's just going to look sooooo good on that portable display.
 
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staen

Member
Nintendo Direct Summary w/ timestamps

3DS

(0:40) Warioware Gold 300 microgames from both old and new. Games require button presses,touchscreen, microphone and gyro controls. Releases August 3rd.

(1:40) Dillion's Dead-Heat Breakers Action+tower defense eshop game. Demo May 10th. Release May 24th.

(2:46) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story+ Bowser Jr's Journey Available 2019.

(3:48) Detective Pikachu New XL Detective Pikachu Amiibo at 5.3in. Both release March 23,2018.

(4:51) Luigi Mansion 3DS Remake Mansion map displayed on bottom screen, new boss rush mode. 2018.


Switch

(6:15) Kirby Star Allies Legacy characters as friends: Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede, Meta Knight. Post-launch updates will add Rick, Kine & Coo, Marx, and Gooey. First free update March 26th.

(7:29) Okami HD Brush strokes use touch screen controls in portable, motion controls in docked. Eshop only. Releases this summer.

(8:34) Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido 3DS/Switch simultaneous release June 8.

(9:31) Octopath Traveler Shows off 2 protagonists(Tressa the merchant and Alfyn the Apothecary), multiclassing, and special edition. Releases July 13.

(11:44) Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Collection of 7 different game titles including an action, racing and puzzle game. Co-op multiplayer. Adventure mode with a new story. 2018.

(12:49) Dark Souls: Remastered Network test before launch. Solaire of Astora Amiibo. Allows you to perform praise the sun gesture ingame. Both release May 25th.

(13:57) Talks about mynintendo coins.

(14:28) Mario Tennis Aces More than 15 playable characters(including Chompy) w/ unique characteristics. 4 new special techniques using the energy gauge and a new defensive blocking technique. Can play classic tennis with all special techs turned off. Will have online tourneys with participation bonuses like special outfits+additional characters. Optional “swing mode” to use motion controls for all your swings. There will be a pre-launch online tournament for all Switch owners to try. Releases June 22, 2018.

(20:33) Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for 3DS+Switch New levels based on Mario Odyssey(New Donk City shown). Switch has co-op mode. 3DS has 3D and touchscreen controls. Releases July 13.

(21:42) Undertale No release date.

(22:25) Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy July 10.

(23:21) Little Nightmares: Complete Edition All DLC included. Exclusive Pac-man mask with Pac-man Amiibo. Releases May 18th.

(24:26) South Park: The Fractured But Whole April 24th.

(25:35) Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition May 18th.

(26:02) Announces Arms online tourney Preliminaries in online ranked mode March 8-18. Top 8 online finals on March 31st. Finals live streamed. Finalists will receive custom art piece made by the devs.

(26:50) Arms 3-day Testpunch March 31st

(27:00) Producers of Arms and Splatoon at GDC March 21st

(27:14) Splatoon 2 version 3.0 coming April. 100+ new gear, new stages, new rank X

(28:28) Splatoon 2 single player DLC, “OctoExpansion.” After completing, can play as octolings online. Releases summer. $19.99.

(32:57) Smash teaser with inklings. Link has botw appearance. 2018.
 

JORMBO

Darkness no more
If only one of them had been Xenoblade Chronicles X. We've got no serious, story-centric, open world game for the entire first half of 2018. :(

Yeah I was hoping for a Chronicles X port since I have not played it. Might grab a cheap WiiU sometime if it doesn't look like a port is likely.
 

elmalloc

Member
Prefer a Mario Golf over any other mario sport game, Tennis is a little junky. Also wondering why Square can't pull back and rip out another Mario RPG for Switch.
 
The Japanese direct had various region exclusive games not announced in the other ones most notably Taiko and a Phanatsy Online port coming in April.

i think the Taiko game at least conceptually looks promising, the use of the Joycon is perfect:



If Bandai Namco puts some actual effort into it the market performance should be rather good. Which hopefully opens the door to:

samba-1040290.jpg


Samba is another use case that perfectly fits the Joycon. More over, there could be an special edition that included some cheap Maracas with reflective IR markers for them to be tracked by the right Joycon sensor. Admitedly the FOV is a bit narrow but totally possible to do.
 
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1morerobot

Member
The Japanese direct had various region exclusive games not announced in the other ones most notably Taiko and a Phanatsy Online port coming in April.

i think the Taiko game at least conceptually looks promising, the use of the Joycon is perfect:



If Bandai Namco puts some actual effort into it the market performance should be rather good. Which hopefully opens the door to:

samba-1040290.jpg


Samba is another use case that perfectly fits the Joycon. More over, there could be an special edition that included some cheap Maracas with reflective IR markers for them to be tracked by the right Joycon sensor. Admitedly the FOV is a bit narrow but totally possible to do.


That game looks awesome!
 

1morerobot

Member
Where's all the Warioware love. I don't even mind that it's on 3DS. Just stoked that there's a new one coming and it looks great.
 

gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
Where's all the Warioware love. I don't even mind that it's on 3DS. Just stoked that there's a new one coming and it looks great.

It's a very overlooked series which struggles to build hype.

At this point it's become a bit of a niche series. People who play them tend to really enjoy them but
I think the style of graphics and randomness of it lead a lot of people to pass the series off as a cheap flash-like game. In reality they're very good games with a lot of content that is both funny and provides a very unique gameplay experience but that doesn't generate hype in the same way story-focussed games do.

That said, I'll be giving it a look. There's just a couple of other 3DS games coming up which rank higher for me anticipation-wise.
 

gspat

Member
It boggles my mind that any sane nintendo fan supports this SHIT.
i bought a wii u day 1 for the new zelda to find out the new zelda came out on the next gen FFS,

all the hype today is a fucking port ?

eh

Even Zelda was technically a port.
 
hell yeah, i badly wanted captain toad on switch, but I thought that would be the last game nintendo thinks of porting.

glad i was proven wrong.
 
Good Direct. Happy Captain Toad is coming over. Loved that game on Wii U and it needs more exposure.
hell yeah, i badly wanted captain toad on switch, but I thought that would be the last game nintendo thinks of porting.

glad i was proven wrong.

FYI Captain Toad is also going to be sold at $39.99 at a budget price like it was on WiiU. Although IIRC Captain Toad was $49.99 on WiiU at first cause it was packaged with an amiibo.
 

ar0s

Member
Disappointed No More Heroes is more like an indie than the originals. No wonder they didn't port the first 2 to build hype when that is the new one. :-(

Happy with the rest (bar Luigi's Mansion for 3DS only!) and hoping for South Park amiibo to be released!

Expect to see Rabbids in Smash this time too.
 
I zoned out on the fact that there's a new Warioware game. Of course, it would be amazing if it was on the Switch, but I guess dusting off the 3DS and firing her up again will suffice. It's such a goofy, lovable series, so it's good to see Nintendo revisit the franchise again.
 

Vawn

Banned
Here's another Nintendo game they didn't show at the direct, that they released suddenly.


I mean, is this even supposed to be good? Switch has been getting like 20 games a week, much of which is bordering on shovelware and not worth mentioning at a Direct.

Honestly, all three consoles could use a little more software curation (not speaking about this particular game as I know nothing about it)
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken

staen

Member
The Japanese direct had various region exclusive games not announced in the other ones most notably SAGA SCARLET GRACE

i think SAGASCARLETGRACE game at least conceptually looks promising, the use of the GAME PAD BUTTONS is perfect:



If SQUARE-ENIX puts some actual effort into it the market performance should be rather good. Which hopefully opens the door to:


MORE SAGA GAMES

FTFY.

On a more serious note, I don't see PSO2 or Taiko being localized at all. PSO2 is done via cloud streaming on the Switch and AFAIK, Nintendo has never done anything like that outside of Japan. For Taiko, there have been a ton of these games on past Nintendo systems and Namco has never bothered to localize them. Possibly due to music licensing. The only game they brought to NA was the PS2 version and they swiped out all the music for English pop songs. FWIW, I think the games are fairly playable without any knowledge of the language.

Agree with Samba. Would work really well with joycons.

Expect to see Rabbids in Smash this time too.

We will get Sam Fisher Rabbid. He is the replacement for Snake:

 

ar0s

Member
That's my payday so if anything is "available now" at the event I can get it :D

Hopefully they announce a big sale too. So many indies I want are available on Switch but not at the prices I want to pay.
 
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