Nintendo Direct 01/14/2015

[The Shoemaker]

Tomorrow at 6AM PT we get our frist worldwide Nintendo Direct of 2015.

I'm not expecting any new announcements but I am expecting to get info on the NA/EU launch of the New 3DS. There have been a couple rumours going around pointing towards February 13th for both the New 3DS and Majora's Mask 3D. It seems too soon for a new console to launch, but I believe in Japan the New 3DS came out about a month after its official reveal and Friday the 13th works perfectly for Majora's Mask.

Other than that I expect to see more info on Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wolly World, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Project Steam, Xenoblade Chronicles X and maybe even the New 3DS remaster of Xenoblade Chronicles itself. But that's essentially what was shown to us in the last Direct so maybe we're in store for something new. Not too much longer to find out anyways!

[Kong Wen]

I understand that they need to use Xenoblade Chronicles to sell that new 3DS, but if they don't eventually also bring an HD version to Wii U after the suckers have all double-dipped, that'll be a travesty.

[The Shoemaker]

I understand that they need to use Xenoblade Chronicles to sell that new 3DS, but if they don't eventually also bring an HD version to Wii U after the suckers have all double-dipped, that'll be a travesty.

I know you're a big supporter of the game being in HD, which honestly I'm sure it would benifit more from that than being on the 3DS. But I'm excited to be able to take the game on the go, I think a long game like this will fit that play style well. But with all the remakes they could do in HD I doubt they'll put more resources into a smaller IP that everyone just bought for the New 3DS.

Save your HD remake card for the Fire Emblem Radiant Dual package

[The Shoemaker]

Well, this Direct showed more than I thought!

Big thing for me was the new 3DS Fire Emblem game. I really like how the battle animations work now where you zoom into the battle rather than load a different scene. This looks to be a bit of a different setting for the series with what looks like troll/golem monsters and floating islands. I noticed that the dual battle system is back, great news.

New 3DS was announced, but to my surprise only the XL model, no smaller model with customizable faceplates. I suspect it will come eventually, maybe they're hoping people will buy an XL now and a small model later. Unfortunately we're not getting the metallic blue colour I wanted, but a red one. There's also a Black one, Majora's Mask edition and a Monster Hunter edition. They all look nice, but I really don't like how the interiors are all black. I would get the Monster Hunter edition but I dislike the interior too much, I'll stick with the red. Launches Feb. 13 worldwide along with Majora's Mask 3D and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - what a combo!

I love Codename Steam's use of Amiibos; it adds Fire Emblem characters to the game! I always wanted the Ike Amiibo, but I may pick up a Lucina Amiibo now as well. Marth has never interested me and I like Robin as a Smash fighter more than a character. There were showcases of other Amiibo functionalities as well as a Super Mario amiibo line.

There were a couple other announcements like Project Treasure, Ironfall, Fossil Fighters Frontier and a Pokemon Candy crush-esc game. Also we're getting a Puzzle and Dragons Z + Puzzle and Dragons Super Mario edition combo pack. Also Wii games on the Virtual Console - Super Mario Galaxy 2 is available right now.

Mario and Donkey Kong game that has a greater focus on creating levels is coming to both 3DS and Wii U with cross play support. Xenoblade Chronicles 3D is coming out in March, and Splatoon in May. There were a couple other release dates as well I'm sure.

I was only disappointed that there was no info on Yoshi's Wolly World or Mario Maker, which makes me think we'll have a longer wait on those than I thought. Overall there were some great announcements.

[Jordan]

I played Xenoblade to death so I couldn't care less about it anymore. I'm more interested in the sequel than in HD or portable Xenoblade.

Fire Emblem Awakening 2.0 looked ok. I like the look of Codename S.T.E.A.M. as well. It reminds me of Valkyria Chronicles.

[The Shoemaker]

Fire Emblem Awakening 2.0 looked ok

Lets hope they put a little more vareity into the maps this time, and tone down the effectiveness of the pair up system and it'll be a more balanced game. Sounds like their ambition this time is to really change things up so we'll see how they do.