All the News From Nintendo Direct


The new Nintendo Direct aired last night and in addition to the announcement of the 3DS redesign there was a smorgasbord of other tasty news nuggets. Here’s what you need to know:

Third Party Support For 3DS

After the news of the redesign, we get a quick run through the list of titles that will be coming to 3DS later this year. There will be Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, Skylander’s Giants, Adventure Time, Lego Lord of the Rings, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. If this doesn’t get you excited as either a fan of good games or convoluted titles, I don’t know what will.

New 3DS Games!

After getting you hyped up about all the stuff you already knew about, Nintendo started dropping knowledge on some unannounced titles. They showed Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, complete with 1 free DLC puzzle per day for an entire year and Art Academy which contains art lessons with real world drawing and painting techniques.

Namco Bandai Developing New Super Smash Bros

In order to create the game in a ‘timely manner’. Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai is still on board as game director and he will be joined by Masaya Kobayashi (Ridge Race, Metal Gear) and Yoshito Higuchi (The Tales series, Soul Caliber) as well as an “experienced team of developers” that have worked on previous fighting games such as Tekken.

New Wii Games

The Wii is actually getting some software! Kirby’s Dream Collection comes with 6 classic Kirby games including the Dream Land series and The Crystal Shards. It will come out on September 16th. Pikmin 2 is coming to the Wii for under $20 to prepare people for the upcoming WiiU.

New Super Mario Bros 2

Nintendo reiterated it’s new game made with a different focus to the typical platforming, here Mario has to hunt down as many coins as possible in a short amount of time. Mario is richer than ever thanks to new abilities to such as the power to turn himself gold, allowing him to turn nearly everything around him into coins. However, one detail announced was that you will only have one life to make things a bit more interesting. In spirit with Mario’s new capitalist ideals, there will be new stages as paid DLC.

Fire Emblem 2013 Release

Oh god, oh god, oh god I love Fire Emblem! This turn based strategy RPG is a huge deal over in Japan and a few installments have made their way over to the West, and I’m glad to say that the 3DS version is making the jump with a 2013 release date.

8-Bit Summer

Coming to the Nintendo E-Shop this summer are Super Mario Land, The Legend of Zelda, Kirby’s Pinball Land, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 and more.

Nintendo seem to have a really strong line up for the 3DS, ramping up support after the less than stellar release line up and the console is really picking up momentum. As 3DS gets more and more exciting, Wii winds down in it’s twilight years, but with a few titles to help support it. What has got you most exciting? Will you be tempted to pick up the new 3DS XL after seeing what it’s got coming to it?