Nintendo felt the need to get their news on yet again as they hosted the latest installment in their Nintendo Direct series. While Japan and Europe each got their own videos, you get a recap of the North American video since I don’t speak Japanese (and the whole I live in the U.S. thing). You can also watch the entire thing above.
First on the docket is the announcement of the 3DS XL. This redesign will have both top and bottom screens increasing in size by a whopping 90% and will also have an updated form factor. It will be available in red and blue, come with a better battery, and a 4gb SD card. It will be launching in North America on August 19th for $199.99. This is the same day that New Super Mario Bros. 2 is launching, so I’m sure there will be some bundles coming out of this. Noticeably absent is a right analog control.
Someone worked out over the summer…
Next we get a 3rd party game montage, and theres a lot of them shown, like:
- Castlevania: Lord of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (Longest. Title. Ever)
- Skylanders Giants (with exclusive 3D levels and game options)
- Adventure Time
- Lego Lord of the Rings
- Scribblenauts Unlimited (StreetPass functionality is mentioned)
- Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (with a playable Danica Patrick)
- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (DEMO available in eShop right now)
Following that is the reveal of Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, which will be coming out in November. This new 3DS game will offer one downloadable puzzle a day for free everyday for a year. That’s a lot of brain melting.
Now onto the beloved Smash Bros. Nintendo is partnering with Namco Bandai to develop the new 3DS and WiiU installments of the franchise. They started working soon after the completion of Kid Icarus: Uprising so it is still a long way out before this appears in our homes and pockets. The main directors even left a message for fans over on Nintendo’s website. I am going to put my money down right now that Pac-Man will be a playable character in that one.
Also announced for 3DS is a new Art Academy application. This new Art Acadamy will provide real world drawing and painting lessons using a variety of different art tools. This one actually interests me if it can teach me to draw. I’m sure my Draw Something friends will help fund that purchase for me.
Now we move onto the Wii. Kirby’s Dream Collection Special Edition contains enough to fill the loveble pink blob up good. It contains a music CD and full color book in the game box. Inside the game you get a full interactive Kirby timeline and new challenge stages based on last year’s Kirby’s Return to Dreamland. As far as the six games included in the package, they are:
- Kirby’s Dream Land (GameBoy)
- Kirby’s Adventure (NES)
- Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (GameBoy)
- Kirby Super Star (SNES)
- Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (SNES)
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)
Enough with all that Wii news; back to the 3DS! We get a new teaser video for New Super Mario Bros. 2 along with a few more details. Stages are built around collecting as many coins as possible, and every coin you collect in the game will be tracked, with the ultimate goal being to collect one million coins. We also get a glimpse at the new Gold Ring, which turns all enemies gold for extra coins when you defeat them; the Gold Box, where once on Mario’s head, the faster he runs, the more coins he gets; and Gold Mario, which lets Mario shoot gold fireballs that turn everything to gold. A new mode is detailed called Coin Rush mode, which gives you one life to make it through three random stages back to back to back. The time left on the clock and height landed on the end flagpole get turned into coins as well, at which point you can send your score to people via StreetPass and try to beat their scores. Reggie also announced that new downloadable Coin Rush stages will be available for purchase at a later time. Hooray for Nintendo’s first DLC!
Also noted briefly is the new Fire Emblem 3DS game. A short video clip is played with an announment that it will be coming out sometime next year. Fire Emblem 3DS will also have downloadable content available to purchase after the game is out.
In an attempt to stop all of the endless Thursday morning bitching, Nintendo announced some big eShop plans. First up, you can download the GameBoy’s Super Mario Land for a sale price of $2.99 starting 6/22 through 6/24. Following that, they will release two new Virtual Console games every week from 7/5 through 8/1. It’s about time Nintendo realizes that the people dig their old portable games. Check the trailer below for details on some of the games and their dates.
Starting 7/2, Nintendo will open up photoshowcase.nintendo.com where users can submit 3D photos for a curated photo gallery. Users will be able to vote and share these photos via social media. A good way to get people to use a feature that has mostly gone forgotten.
Finally we get all the Pokemon you can handle. Discussion of new eShop Pokemon items include Pokemon Dream Radar and Pokedex 3D Pro. The former allows you to find Pokemon using Augmented Reality to import into your game, while the later is a deluxe version of the free application already available for free. Finally we get the first english language Pokemon Black/White 2 footage.
And that’s all folks! I’m a little surprised that no information for the 3DS Animal Crossing was shown, since the Japanese presentation showed some footage. I guess the ragers need somethign to rage about. So what did you think of all the information? Are you a pissed off 3DS early adopter with strained eyes? Was there something you were hoping to see, but didn’t? Let us know!
