Nintendo Direct Round-Up

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Last night’s Nintendo Direct offered up some new nuggets of information on titles we didn’t know too much about, and titles we didn’t know anything about. From new footage of Star Fox Zero, to the announcement of Star Fox Guard and Paper Mario Colour Splash, to a plethora of 3DS games, this was one of the better Directs.

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​By Rob Holt

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​@acousticmagic

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It opened up with new footage from Star Fox Zero, a game that has been met with a great deal of criticism, chiefly over its dual-screen viewpoint and control system. Miyamoto-San failed to address the issues with the control scheme during his schtick, but we did get to glimpse new stages - and they are definitely looking better on the graphics front. A lack of online multiplayer will surely anger a lot of fans, though - something we’re quite peeved about here at PTC. A local co-op mode is included, mind, and will see one player controlling the movement of the Arwing, whilst the other fires the lasers - call us crazy but this feels like the natural way to play this game at this point in time.

Miyamoto also introduced Star Fox Guard (formerly just Project Guard), a tower defence game requiring the player to manage twelve camera screens at once, to prevent enemies from entering and damaging your mining site. You’ll be playing as Grippy, the uncle of the much maligned Slippy toad. It looks good fun, but we’re disappointed that it won’t be included with the main game, instead being released as a separate downloadable title (a special first print edition of Star Fox Zero will include a download code for Guard, along with a steelbook - WOOHOO!)

Next up were some shots of Mario & Sonic at the Rio Olympics, which looks throwaway to say the least, along with updates and new features for Splatoon (improved match making, new weapons) and Super Mario Maker (spike pillars, pink coins, improved options for course searches). We also got a release date and a final name for the Shin Megami Tensei/Fire Emblem crossover - the terrible sounding Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE brings its blend of turn-based RPG gameplay and J-Pop musical stylings to our shores on June 24th.

Next off the rank was Paper Mario Colour Splash, the latest in the popular RPG series. This time Mario’s on the island of Prism, and would you believe it, something is amiss! Prism has been drained of colour and it’s up to our chubby chum to paint the town red, blue and every other colour available. Time will tell if we’ve got a return to form for the series or another also-ran, we’ve got our fingers firmly crossed for the former.

Four 3DS titles were next up; Hyrule Warriors Legends brings the same Zelda/Dynasty Warriors smash ‘em up fun to the handheld, Yo-Kai Watch will excite fans of quirky JRPGs, Disney Art Academy has the budding artist afraid to use real tools covered, and Metroid Prime: Federation Force did its best to convince us it’s not going to be terrible with a new “story” trailer. We use that term loosely as nothing of real worth was mentioned, aside from the fact that series protagonist Samus Aran just doesn't fit in with the story of galactic federation versus space pirates, so you’ll be playing as a faceless marine instead.

A smorgasbord of indie titles were next up, covering everything from platformers to puzzlers to shooters to auto-runners - being huge supporters of independent developers expect to see many of these games feature in PTC in the future. Accompanying them was the Free-to-play multiplayer action game Lost Reavers, this Bandai Namco created game will have an open beta, coming to the Wii U on the 14th of April.

The show rounded off with a gaggle of 3DS announcements, with Fire Emblem Fates finally getting a European release date (20th May can’t come soon enough) and not only a special edition containing all three versions of the game, but a super swanky new 3DS model too. Dragon Quest VII brings its RPG goodness to the handheld later in the year, and new Monster Hunter game Generations is also on the horizon. Dubbed as the most customisable MH experience ever, those commutes to work will never be the same again! Rhythm Paradise Megamix looks to be some stylus tapping fun, and Kirby: Planet Robobot will continue the long running series of pink puffball platforming.

And there you have it, there are games out there for Nintendo fans this year! Fingers (and toes, and everything else) crossed we’ll get some solid footage of the new Zelda soon - keep those peepers primed on PTC for all the latest Nintendo news, and leave us your thoughts on the forums.