Feature: The Big Nintendo Direct Summary - 12th April 2017

There was a couple of interesting and nice surprises. I stayed up last night to watch it live at 11pm but I wasnt expecting too much in all honestly with E3 being just around the corner.

Over all I enjoyed and and as I said a few nice surprises like the extra dock & yellow joy cons but I am rather dissapointed that the Virtual console wasnt mentioned at all.

With the severe lack of info on VC I'm begining to feel like Nintendo are trying to ignore it and just sweep it under the carpet like it never existed and hope nobody notices.

If / When they do finally announce details for it...... it had better be good. (hint hint gamecube games).....
Also all the games that we're already available on Wii & Wii U Virtual consoles need to be available from day one.... no more drip feeding us the same games that most people will have already bought multiple times

All and all a very good direct. The NA content combined with the Japanese content mean that I'm going to be very broke even before the E3 reveals hit. Good times! I will say my only "gripe" is that the Switch hardware is such a dreamy experience that I don't really want to go back to the 3ds. However I can't miss these games...sigh. Still the majority of the line up means I have a game or two a month I want to buy and with my game pacing I'm really already set for the year...I need more free time. The unexpected bonus that the switch is becoming a retro fighting game machine is icing on the cake.

As a devout Zelda fan and Priestess of Hylia I am super stoked about getting amiibo for each era Link...(although I do hope they are usable in future Zelda games and not just botw and likely Smash). Also thank you whomever at Nintendo heard my petitions for Female My Unit Amiibo. Can we get a Robin reprint so I can stop pretending mine got a haircut and is wearing really bulky clothes that hide her body type?

Personally I'm most excited about Monopoly actually. As it is a game that my mother and I play together traditionally. So she might get a switch for that and mario kart. I can already see the multiplayer aspect of the system pulling in families that might have vetoed a switch for a single family member.

I'd write that subheading as:

"amiibo, games, more amiibo..."

Certainly as expected. Surprised to see Payday 2 in there. Disappointed that (so far) the Kirby Anniversary amounts to eshop releases of old games.

I think you forgot to mention street fighter 2. I think it got a release date and some nice details.

I honestly thought more would've been announced for Splatoon but I guess not..

I really like the new format, with the speed run through "headlines". It makes it kind of fun to try and guess what is coming up, and it made the Direct really fly by - a lot of information, quick and to the point.

I was surprised there were as many new games announced as there were. I also take this as a possibility that there will be big, major announcements at E3 since they got a lot of smaller titles and 3DS stuff out of the way.

I liked it. Not all the games talked about were to my liking, but I think they brought a lot to choose from.

So basically, after the end of April restock coinciding with MK8 Deluxe, there's going to be... Not much from Nintendo for NS in May... Then E3, then ARMS in the middle of June, then Spla2n near the end of July. Then for August, there's... Uh... Yeah, this momentum for NS is really red light, green light. Nintendo is relying too much on ports and third parties again. At least the 3DS is still doing work! And Disgaea 5 is a great score, port or no. Monopoly is nice, but I had my fill of it in the 90's and 00's.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yay, someone else who is excited for Monopoly. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

@super08mario I feel like USFIIHD is getting ignored overall because the non FGC likes to whine about palette swaps and not note that there have been balance changes (please let Akuma not be broken af this time), system changes (tech throws...sorta sad about this because I can throw loop, oh well keeps me from being cheap/mean I guess) and that ER and VK do have moveset changes from their standard counterparts which will change up footsie games. But that is just me I guess.

@flapjackashley2 oh yeah I grew up on digital monopoly! Besides I'm here to play games, and that covers a wide range despite what some "hardcore" people like to think. Fun for everyone!...I hope the AI is way less cheap than it was in Monopoly Streets. I almost tossed my Wii out a window over that game...

My personal summery: Meh from start to finish
Im with @PlywoodStick on this one.
The Switch has next to no momentum. New releases few and far between, with copious amounts of ports as padding.

Very excited about the 3ds announcements. Monster Hunter Stories and RPG maker are must haves. E3 will be the time to shine for the Switch.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Don't forget "ports"!

Regarding 3rd party games people said:

"Wait for the January Direct.......oops"
"Wait for the launch, Nintendo must be up to something.......oops"
"Wait for the April Direct.......oops"

Now it's:

"Wait for E3, Nintendo must be saving up for it.......okay"

This E3 is going to be massive regarding Switch's longterm success. There'll be no more excuses then.

Handy! Sad thing is I need way more than this to be happy this year. Why was there no mention of Dragonball Xenoverse 2? Darn... if it comes out in the holiday season, I'm gonna be annoyed. However, things are looking good this summer! Once I get Splatoon 2, my Switch will never leave my side.

Ever. Again.

Was it just me or did the direct feature a slew of glitches and poor production?

For me, a few interesting things, Payday2 and Splatoon 2.

Arms went on far too long and the commentator fell flat for me personally. I'm sure there is some appetite for this title and I applaud new IPs but I do not want to buy an extra set of controllers, yellow or not.

So, roll on E3!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I agree. I can't believe people are excited for a $40+ Monopoly game. "Wow you can actually feel the dice"....that was the big feature they talked about with that game. You know, in the real board game of Monopoly....you can actually feel the dice too.

It was almost insultingly bad for Switch owners.

A 4-year old PC game that the Switch probably can't even run properly
An overpriced arcade collection
2 niche japanese games that only the otaku crowd cares for
Some crappy indie games

E3 better be amazing for Switch, otherwise it won't even survive 2019. It's all or nothing.

@Yasume Phew, I'm glad you made a profusely negative comment to round out the mass of positivity. I could almost feel the fabric of reality around me crumbling into a mass of gum drops and sugar plums when I woke up today. The universe is safe once more! ...For the time being. Until next time, Godspeed.

@Yasume
You again ?!
With negative comments all the time ?!
Geez...

Anyway, any schedule for 2nd Nintendo Direct for tomorrow ?

That was an alright Direct, but not amazing. To be fair, it makes sense for Nintendo to keep the big surprises a secret until E3.

Monster Hunter Stories was the best thing for me. I'm glad Ever Oasis got a mention, and I'm feeling better about Arms and Splatoon 2 after seeing more of them.

Plus, Senran Kagura might be the game that makes me fall in love with HD Rumble.

I liked the look of SF2 and a few games but I can only agree that I still feel NS releases are too spaced out at the moment and I think E3 needs to give a better roadmap for the rest of the year. I am not keen on Arms, so that leaves MK8 and Splatoon 2 as the big releases. I was surprised at no Virtual Console announcement or more on Online play.

I think the future is bright for the Switch but from selfish terms, I want more big releases to play!

@dkxcalibur I normally play monopoly with my mother. Who is over two thousand miles away from me. The switch is also way smaller than the 4 game boards I have and very easy to pick up and play whenever I want. Plus since monopoly tends to get groans from a large number of my friends, I can play alone against the likely cheap AI (still bitter about Streets). The HD rumble just makes a virtual game that much more fun. Lots of people play lots of different genres of games. Really shouldn't be surprising that they may be excited for one of them even if you aren't. Isn't that what gaming is really about? More fun for everyone? After all you are just playing; something most of us have been doing in some form or another since childhood.

Very pleased I have a 3ds. Really looking forward to the rpg maker thingy. My son is also excited about the prospect of sharing rpgs with the world (as he said it's what Mario Maker 3ds should have done).

As for the Switch, not too bothered that I don't own one. It looked ok but I won't be going out to buy one any time soon.

@PlywoodStick What positivity? Pretty sure that there are more people complaining than praising the direct here.

I get that most Nintendo fanboys act delusional when it comes to disappointments, but at least try to be realistic..

I liked the Direct, both in structure and content. While there isn't much for Switch, I kind of expected the first 6 months of Switch to be the odd 1st party title here and there with indie games surrounding it. The strong first party support will probably come in September to December.

The real surprise was how much 3DS content there was in this Direct, I really didn't expect that much and I honestly think Nintendo's comment about the Switch not being the 3DS successor may end up actually being true and not just trying to limit loss of 3DS sales. It'll be interesting how E3 ends up but I'm totally looking forward to it.

Not impressed... I'm getting this Wii U vibe all over again...

I see Rime up for preorder on Amazon France, but only a place holder date, and 15 Euros more expensive than the PC version!

No word on Stardew Valley yet. That game could keep me busy for a long time. How hard would it be for Nintendo to send just one of it's top engineers to the the guy that made Stardew Valley and say; "Let's Switch this game up in less then 4 weeks!".

Binding of Isaac is out, but why not Super Meat Boy? Same devs, and it's out on the Wii U. I want to play that game on my Switch!

Nothing on VC games. Wasn't the online subscription service supposed to be a free trial until august? There is nothing to do online now and VC games were supposed to be part of the deal....Where are the VC games!?!?!

Man...I love BotW but after 200 hours I finished it and I'm done with it until the DLC comes out. And Snipperclips is fun too, but won't keep me busy either. I'm bummed out!

Other Switch players; "Yeah, but there is this game and such and such title", go play those. There is plenty of choice." NO, NO NOOOO!!!! I'm not into EVERY game that everybody else seems to be into. Nintendo just needs to get more titles out on the Switch and darn quickly, so that everybody has games of their liking. I hate the idea of season long game droughts on the Switch like on the Wii U!!! Since I'm not gonna pay twice for Mario Kart 8, so I'm gonna Switch off for a while... Dang it Nintendo!!! E3 had better be good!!! :S

My Top 2 announcements: pay day 2 and Namco museum!! Runner up Sine Mora EX!

@crimsontadpoles "Plus, Senran Kagura might be the game that makes me fall in love with HD Rumble."

It was ok. Payday 2 caught me by surprise. Always look forward to NIS games, the horde mode for Splatoon looks fun and I'm really digging Arms.

Wish they announced more for the summer but e3 is around the corner.

@Einherjar The Switch has no momentum? Are you kidding me? With all these games and more to be announced on E3?

@Marios-love-child well said on VC or lack there of! I agree with you 300%! Nintendo needs to get that service launched asap! Despite that Hamster keeps doing what they're doing and now you got The Namco museum announcement, there are still 1000s of classics the service can bring us!!

@Yasume What do you get out of this? All you do is complain, act holier-than-thou, and go out of your way to insult people. Surely you have better things to do.

@Ryu_Niiyama Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you'll be able to play something that makes you happy with a family member that lives far away. I'm more or less pointing out the fact that the announcement of this game in a Nintendo Direct is weak IMO. There have been countless digital versions of Monopoly on many different platforms including tablets and PCs. Maybe I'm saying what others don't want to, but doesn't this seem troubling that Nintendo is announcing Monopoly on their Nintendo Direct?

I'm planning on picking up a Switch at some point, but watching this latest Direct doesn't really make me want to run out and buy the system.

yay lots of goodness, mainly 3ds for me as switch stuff was a bit blagh, (sad face) and really cool amiibo that i really want, so yeah.

@joey302

Or at the very least make some kind of announcement just give us a crumb of info.

I'd be happy to wait another 6 months if we at least knew what was coming but this total silence on the subject is very frustrating

@CrazedCavalier It's his daily fix, usually a combination of "why are you having fun with this machine I find stupid? Why do you like these games that I think suck? Why aren't you ready for the Switch's inevitable failure?"

@Yasume Wait... How can one be delusional about there being too much positivity around every Nintendo Direct on Nintendo Life? There are more paradoxes associated with that than time travel!

Boxboy also came to europe.

@CrazedCavalier He's an important member of the Nintendo Life community lore. He's been here since 2008. Nearly ten years of negative comments. There is more to his purpose than meets the eye. Study, young one, and one day thou shalt know his reasons...

Really disappointed I was hoping for the GBA games coming to New 3ds. But on the plus side I am excited for the Kirby multiplayer game this holiday.

HD rumble bewbies!

I know, I know. It's stupid and puerile, but damn it, it's the one thing I didn't know I wanted. That, and Payday 2. =P

3rd party games like Dragon Quest Heroes 1 and 2 and Lego Worlds were MIA

Payday 2 seems really freaking random. From what I understand, the other console ports were broken since launch and the dev is an ahole that doesnt support their console launches. So I will be absolutely avoiding that game

@dkxcalibur Why would it be "troubling" to show one game out of the several others that they showed? Again, lots of people play different genres and not showing a variety means those people get left out because not everyone likes stealth releases.

Also a board game highlights several of the switch's features (portability, hd rumble, multiplayer out of the box, and the ability to transition to console quickly and easily) and monopoly for better or worse is a popular board game. The monopoly trailer was what... a minute and a half? There is a whole list of stuff that was announced as well and we haven't even gotten to E3 yet.

Edit: Also my original comment responded to your seeming incredulity at the fact that other gamers might be excited for a game. You didn't say that you felt it was a weak line up for yourself.

Im getting seran on switch my Japanese account showed me this and i was happy hopefully they would port the 2 on the Vita to the switch ill double dip*giggles*

Could you imagine Sligeach_Eire and Yasume had a hate child together? The negativity could realign the universe and create a second 'Big Bang' in which Nintendo never existed.......boooo yah!

haha .... in all seriousness, I don't own a Switch so the Direct was about the 3DS for me. I'm pretty stoked that there are 5-6 3DS games I actually want to buy this year. The 3DS is my favourite handheld and I'm glad Nintendo is keeping it around for another year. I'm guessing 2018 is the swan song?

@dkxcalibur I didn't see it that way. To me the direct was about cleaning out the hatches before e3. If they announced monopoly at e3 then I would be worried.

@joey302
@Marios-love-child
Nintendo has already said it's coming just not at launch although the only real detail so far is that the online service comes with a rotating monthly VC game with online multiplayer.

@dkxcalibur Yeah, for $20 on PC (or $60 for a 4 player bundle), Tabletop Simulator has Monopoly and 100s more board and card games! HD Rumble to feel the dice is nice, but not exponentially more expensive nice.

Overall, the Direct was fine. I will never understand people getting way over-hyped on something right before E3. There was some good and bad with this as there always is. The good for me was that the 3DS is going to get quite a bit of love this year. Very excited for Hey! Pikmin, even if I think that's a terrible name, lol. That amiibo looks awesome, btw. I was really surprised to see Payday come over to Switch. I'm happy to see that. I encourage you all to at least look into it so that it at least gets decent sales.

The bad is that I'm getting a little jittery about the Switch. Arguably, I think Arms and Splatoon are a month too late, respectively. It's going to be a very quiet rest of April and May and most of June too for that matter, with only MK8 as the main event. Monopoly and Minecraft are fine to have in there, but I do not think that's enough. I'm also not a fan that Nintendo threw me a curve ball on the last of the Smash Bros amiibos. I am not buying two of the same character. I'll pick the one I like the most between the sets.

Anyway, it is what it is. I am hopeful that this paves the way for a stellar E3. After the botched 2015 event that I still have nightmares about, and 2016's mediocrity, 2017 better knock my socks off.

@Ryu_Niiyama

Why did you even buy the Robin amiibo if you were that upset that it did not properly represent "you"?

I guess next you can petition Nintendo to release the character with whatever name you decided to give your avatar on the packaging too.

@dsparil

We know its coming but it would just be nice to get a few more details rather than the total silence we've had so far.

As I said above to someone else I'd happily wait another 6 months for it if we at least had some idea of what was actually coming

Damn, lots of whiners here... E3 is just around the corner, guys. Nintendo is of course saving the best for last. If they still don't show much in E3, then that's the time to get worried.

@faint Great point.

@HeelGanon ...what exactly is the point of your comment? I never said anything about myself not being represented. There are two My Unit types based upon sex. Nintendo is making two new ones this time around. I'm excited about about that. Pretty simple really. Troll harder somewhere else.

Edit: (checks user's profile) Oh, newbie. Gotcha. Moving on.

Nothing that I want really, but I'm hoping those games come at E3. ARMS looks like an arcade game but I don't think I'd use my quarters on it. I guess there's an audience for it....so I hope they like it.
I didn't expect much from this Nintendo Direct with E3 around the corner.

@Anti-Matter
What second Direct?

@sillygostly Ah, so you have awakened to your Inner Self. A presence that transcends desire. In truth, it was dormant from the beginning. From the day you were born, your body knew. That feeling of pudding in your hands, squish, squish, would unveil a revelation. A euphoria, a tactile ambrosia, in this mortal plane.

@electrolite77 What is a Nintendo Direct without unrealistic expectations and backlash? Way less calls for Mother 3 than I expected though.

@Ryu_Niiyama Like I said, if you're excited for this game announcement then I'm happy for you. However, for me personally, and I'm willing to bet I'm in the majority, I'm not spending $300+ on a system to play Monopoly.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Apparently you have to play pretend with your male Robin amiibo and complain because it does not represent you. You did not flat out say it but it is implied. Why did you buy it if all you were going to do with it was stare at it and pretend it was female?

I am sure those monopoly pieces really send you into depression. start that petition now #notmymonopolypieces

@Einherjar we still have E3 to look forward to! With that in mind, I think this Nintendo Direct went well. They're trickling out the good stuff.

@Don
Eh... yesterday I saw two advertising about Nintendo Direct. The 2nd one was talking about More Switch & 3DS games, the time was 12am on UK. Correct me if I wrong.

The biggest hits to me were Ever Oasis, which I remain quite excited for, along with ARMS and Splatoon. Outside of that, I liked the look of Nintendo new flipping colors multiplayer game, the Pikmin amiibo, and Miitopia.

My wife was quite excited for the Namco Collection and the Sonic games, surprisingly! It would make it the first time I've owned a Sonic game since... 1994? We'll see how that shakes out.

I was disappointed with the Link and Splatoon amiibos, largely because I'd really like a Judd and a Hetsu amiibo, rather than variations on figures that already exist. I was already a guaranteed buyer for Goodbye Boxboy and Disgaea 5, so those weren't necessarily thrilling, but they continue to look fantastic. Quite a number of the games were ones that don't interest me (Payday, Yokai Watch, and Minecraft) or are ones that I'm still very much waiting for the reviews (HEY Pikmin and the Kirby games), but I can't expect to like everything published on the consoles, haha.

The biggest surprises for me were Monopoly, which looks bizarrely good for a game I've never had any interest in, along with Sine Mora EX and Battle Chasers: Nightwar, neither of which I'd had any awareness of but both of which received very compelling teasers. I'll wait for reviews, of course, but both look quite promising.

I think it was a nice direct. But sadly there was almost nothing for me that i didnt already know or cared about. I dont play 3ds anymore. For me it was a kinda pointless direct and i could have easily waited for e 3. At least i know now when splatoon arrives.

Hmmmm... I really enjoyed this direct. The new Splatoon mode looks like a lot of fun! Am confused at the lack of Virtual Console thus far. Hopefully they are just saving it for E3. Honestly though, I think the people who wait to buy the Switch for just a few more months will be in really good shape. The trifecta of Splatoon-Zelda-MarioKart make for a pretty good variety of games and enough to do for more casual players. I'm now just hoping that some arms demos make their way around the country- I need to try it to be convinced!!

@dkxcalibur Cool, have fun with whatever you play! I do just want to clarify (again) that your initial comment doesn't state your later sentiment, you may want to edit it so you don't come off as dismissive.

@HeelGanon Bwahahahaha. I need that this morning. Aww man, are you going to toss out words like SJW and triggered too so the spaghetti will stick somewhere? Thank you for the laugh. I'm a bit more awake now. Have a nice day!

@Marios-love-child couldn't agree more! I'm still trying to figure out why the service wasn't ready for the Switch launch! 😡

@subpopz Your Sarcasm skill has leveled up!

@Yasume
WE ARE so Realistic !
And You Are the Delusional One !
Geez...

@Ryu_Niiyama

Glad I could drag you out of the depression that the male Robin amiibo has caused you.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Dude, people have been saying from the get go that nothing will likely be shown before e3.

What excuses? Who here was saying the April Direct would have lots of 3rd party games? Who? No one. And definitely not at launch.

And even then we all know Nintendo's systems never get a whole lot of it. Thing is, I'm Ok with that. There is more to life than a single narrow focus, and there's more to gaming than "big AAA games". If it gets some, great. If not, oh well. There's enough content from Nintendo alone to make this system great, and 3rd party games don't have to be "AAA" to be counted worthy of playing.

But people like you like to make it the sole focus because you know that's not what Nintendo systems really offer. And by focusing on what they don't offer, you can make it seem as horrible as possible

Where's all your big AAA games on your Wii U you love so much? Doesn't seem to stop you from praising it left and right. Ironically though, it's the only thing you seem to mention about Switch.

If big games are coming, e3 will be the time. At the earliest. But the great thing about Switch and Nintendo systems in general, is it could never see a single AAA 3rd party game And yet it would still be an amazing system. That said, it will have mote 3rd party support than Wii U got, that's for sure.

@dsparil not sure I'm into the monthly rotating concept. Even though they're digital, when I download a game I want it to be there available to me at all times. To have a game in June and then not have it available in July doesn't appeal to me at all. One of MANY reasons I never spent a nickel on Playstation Now.

@HeelGanon lol, you have better reach than the ARMS characters! It is too early in the morning to laugh this hard. Keep em coming! This is hilarious!

Anyway on topic to the thread...just checking if I missed anything but did they announce anything about single player Spla2oon content? I know the horde mode has bots...(I think). Although I think they showed a clip of the octarians so I'm assuming single player at this point..

@subpopz I know right! You bring up a great point. Why not fly in a family member to play Monopoly?

@Cosats "All these games" like...what exactly ?
So far, there hasn't been an exclusive system seller. There are plenty of folks, even around here, who still see no reason to upgrade to the Switch if you already own a WiiU.

E3 could certainly be a game changer. But for now ?
Pretty much nothing but ports. Not bad, don't get me wrong, but momentum this is not.
If anything, its the momentum and impact of a system released half a year too early.

@JaxonH Your phone's autocorrect changes more into mote, too? I feel like we're kindred spirits now.

@subpopz @dkxcalibur

Um I know y'all are testing out the sarcasm meters this morning but if there is a frequent flyer program for monopoly please point me in the right direction. Any excuse to rack up miles is a win in my book. ...maybe Delta takes monopoly money? Can't fly United without protective headgear.

@joey302
All I mean is that they have given us a tiny sliver of info and an indication that they are doing some kind of major work on it.

At least online gaming is free until November.

@Ryu_Niiyama

Be careful those Arms characters have springs for arms that may not represent you. It is probably why they made those neon yellow joycons just to provide you the necessary warning. Start that petition!

Over all a really good direct, personally I'm uber hyped that we are finally getting a Culdcept game in Europe, it was so sudden and totally unexpected! Can't wait to finally try out this serie!

@HeelGanon Oh my gosh you are my favorite person now. I've never had my own troll before. Do I get an award? Trip to disney land? Eshop cards? Come on! We gotta celebrate!

@BakaKnight Seconded on Culdcept. My 3ds is like "haha, you thought you could just forget about me huh?! Come on back and stay for a bit." Unfortunately what is more likely to happen is I'm going to buy all these 3ds games and they will sit in the shrink wrap until next year....kinda like my new ps4 games sadly. I need a clone.

@PlywoodStick
Gosh My phone is horrible with autocorrect. IPad does really well though.

It was an interesting presentation. Splatoon 2 with that terrible voice over sort of turned me off. ARMS looked interesting, but it dragged because it was seemingly stretched out. The Direct did nothing to draw in a possible new customer like myself. I'm good with my xbox one for now.

@Ryu_Niiyama Okay, I'll clarify. My initial post said I was surprised that people were excited about Monopoly on the Switch. My second post stated my personal dissatisfaction for another digital version of Monopoly shown in a Nintendo Direct. I feel that I can have both those opinions.

One last thing, you and your mom don't need to wait until Fall to play it together. Just in case you didn't know, you can download digital versions of Monopoly on most app stores right now! I'm sure your mom has access to a PC, Smart Phone, or Tablet? Plus it's already on both Xbox One and PS4. If you want a cheaper option, it's out there on the Wii U as well.

To the people complaining about the momentum - remember that the original ds launched with just a Mario 64 port and Nintendogs.

I don't know why every Direct people have to be mad, upset or disappointed. I thought the Direct was great. ARMS looks great, Splatoon 2 looks great, a lot of the other games they showed looks great, It's not like I'm going to be buying all of them but I'm glad they're still showing new things for 3DS which I kind of thought was a dead system.

How about a trip to NoA HQ so you can complain to Reggie in person and Bill Trinen can wipe away your tears. You can also tell them how much that Duck Hunt dog laughing at your failures sent your whole life down this lonely road of depression. Just don't ask them what gender the Duck Hunt dog is..it may make you weep.

I was disappointed there there was nothing at all on fleshing out the Switch with a system update adding new features.

It was fantastic for 3DS though.

@Stubi I agree. The 3DS lineup surprised me. There were multiple games on there that caught my eye.

I never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity of the NL community. Most places would settle for the rank amateurism of making the Nintendo Direct comment section spiral into madness over X game not being announced and Y commenter needing to wait for E3, while Z poopyfartbutt preschool jokes are made. But no, this is exquisite beyond my expectations. Debating the merits of creating Monopoly airlines, while uncovering the deep, dark history of board game pieces being abused as oppressive tools of the global patriarchy, has presented a modern classic of comment threads. Bravo!

@Vriess Good shout on Stardew Valley, would be a great fit with the Switch. Glad i haven't bought it on PC or ps4 yet.

@Aurumonado Wasn't Nintendogs a big deal though? That game was a system seller.

@subpopz Aww, I try not to goad users. Except for my new puppy above (seriously this is adorable). But your usage of sarcasm was a bit funny. Just remember we are all friends here and at the end of the day, it is just games.

@HeelGanon you forgot to quote me man. I can't laugh if I don't know you said something! I would love a NOA tour though. I keep wondering where Reggie keeps the giant Mii head.

@PlywoodStick We try. Keeps the day fun. So long as no one is honestly malicious. Except my puppy, he is just banging away at that keyboard! Such a good boy!

@Ryu_Niiyama Too bad this isn't true...if they excepted Monopoly Money, I would consider flying over too!

In all seriousness, I'm sorry you don't live close to your mom.

Definitely picking up the black cloak Cloud, female Corrin, and Bayonetta 2 amiibo.

The Nintendoomers have really been out-doing themselves lately. They're all crying Nintendoomed because not much was shown in this Direct. Did you people honestly think this Direct would show much of anything when we're only about 2 months away from E3?

If Nintendo had actually revealed a lot of games yesterday, they would all be saying "Now they have nothing left to show at E3! Nintendoomed!"

Get over yourselves and quit begging for attention by complaining about nothing. I just hope attention is all you want, and you didn't actually expect a big Direct when E3 is 2 months away, lol.

"Well that's a better response than some of the delicate flowers on this site, who go to the mods crying and demand that if you reply to them again, then you get banned. Or so I've heard that can happen, anyway...."

@subpopz Let me just snitch you up for that last comment...apparently all they're doing is voicing an opinion.

"Nintendo is doomed" it,s like that super popular joke that never gets old...give some years for switch before going that way people.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, I really liked the Direct and I thought that Monopoly looked oddly fun too. Still can't wait for RPG Maker, though.
On an unrelated note, I was looking at your profile. I studied Iaido for years too and now teach Shaolin Kung Fu. We are also the same age.

I wasn't a big fan of the "Headlines" format, it felt like more people were chatting about upcoming items on the list than the game being shown. That format works for a daily news or sports program, but not for a thrice yearly ND. Everybody else seems to have liked it though, so I guess they should keep it.

Headlines aside I thought it was a pretty good ND, really good for 3DS owners who are getting a lot of games for a 6 year old system, and OK for Switch owners who were told in advance what they were getting, ARMS and Splatoon 2. We didn't like the Splatoon voice over at all though, we would have much preferred a normal explanation of Salmon Run. The voice in ARMS was slightly better.

Was really surprised to see the last of the SSB4 amiibo now, thought they would wait for a Switch port, or FFVII remastered for the Cloud amiibo.

Interesting side note, there are now 10 Link amiibo, not counting other Zelda characters, just Link, but only 6 out of 700 Pokemon.

@Ryu_Niiyama

It is probably under a big mountain of female Robin Amiibo that will release...this holiday....thank you for your patience.

Ok I had my fun for the day carry on.

I love Koizumi as the new spokesman. He's good in the role and Nintendo needed a new executive face to make it "Direct" after Iwata. On the other hand it's a little off putting that it's just translated. The President & CEO is fluent in English, it would be more genuine despite him being "old and not cool" if he covered some stuff DIRECTLY in English. Still, can't complain about Koizumi here even if I'm annoyed that he's leading the "Back to the Wii Future" camp of the company.

The quick fire Headlines were a contrast to the lovably derpy Iwata years of "We'd like to show you this new update which will enable you to save at more designated points starting later today. I believe you will find it makes your gameplay experience much more enjoyable! Please take a look. "

I love that they're not abandoining 3DS but it still seems odd that 3DS is getting more "big games" than Switch while switch is filled with little pick up and play games. Not sure it's sending the right message, but it's also pre-E3 , and they might be getting everything 3DS out of the way to focus more on Switch at E3 into the holidays.

I'm still not sure about Arms...it just feels kind of hollow. Splatoon 2 is looking great though. Salmon mode might drag me back more than I thought.

I think Switch's main problem game wise now is after Zelda all 3 big games are games that scratch the same gaming itch "small short arena, multiplayer competitive" games....Kart, Arms, Spaltoon 2. All 3 are similar type game experiences and scratch the same gaming itch. Different gameplay but same general format. I think it would have felt smoother as a rollout if there was more variety and the online games were more spread out instead of rapid fire over 3 months as the MAIN set of games.

@Ryu_Niiyama He's a couple days late to become your pet, it was National Pet Day a couple of days ago. But the interwebs are flexible, a YouTube video of that would be priceless.

@dkxcalibur Man if they took Monopoly money I would have more air miles than the flight attendants. It's cool I'm close to my folks (relationship wise, not distance wise) but we talk and face time regularly, recent move where I'm not within driving distance (as in 800 miles or less) from them. I'm enjoying the desert though and working on finishing grad school. Edit: Whoops forgot to respond to your other post. Mom is a Nintendo only gamer. And I don't (mostly) do phone games...Except shogi because nobody I know plays. I'd rather have it on the switch anyway for the benefits I stated earlier. Besides I don't even know what box my bone is in and my Ps4 thinks I abandoned it. I think it is plotting to murder my Switch.

@subpopz oh are you kidding? It's great! Who knew there were people that actually believed that attempting to (erroneously mind you and ohhhhh so poorly) belittle someone (whom they can't see and don't know) online means something other than instant amusement? I still don't get the mental gymnastics required to have been offended by my comment in the first place. Maybe he thinks I actually worship Hylia as well? I don't know. There was a ton of logical fallacies going on in his responses. It was like watching Nash in 'A Beautiful Mind'...only with irrationality. My coworkers have been cracking up over this. But I think I scared him away...aww. Ah well, I post all over the site...maybe he'll come back? Edit: he came back! good boy!

@WiltonRoots You got bingo cards ready? I'm asking for my "first personal troll" prize but noone seems to want to send me eshop cards....

@rjejr well they did say that Link was the most popular in the west. Now you have more Links for your Links than you can shake a deku stick at! I felt that the headlines were a nice transition in the sense that the Directly to you format was Iwata-denka's baby. Who is cutting onions in here?! sniff.

@invictus4000 Hey hey fellow member of the dirty 30's club! I wanted to get into kung fu...but between everything else that I do and I'm trying to get into salsa dancing it will have to be something later on down the line. I do a bit of qigong as an aside to my Aikido training.

@PlywoodStick What? Everyday is a good day to adopt. Puppies need homes!

@Stubi Switch owner grumbling aside, we knew going into it there wasn't much going on for it until Summer, and technically Fall, they made it pretty clear. At the start. For most that DO own it our complaint isn't that it's not meeting expectations of we were told of in advance, it's just that we've come to like the hardware so much we'd just really love to be given reasons to use it more/exclusively because it feels kind of awkward going back to 3DS and PS4/X1 after you get used to using it. I have a backlog of awesome games on both, and this direct gave me MORE games for 3DS that I really want in my backlog. And yet I'm trying to find a bunch of Switch indie games to get excited about because I'd just rather use the Switch.

So they're matching expectations of what they told us to expect. It's just that we've become so attached to the hardware we want MORE and we want it NOW

@PlywoodStick You're going to have me on the floor soon

@dsparil I gotcha- they did the same thing with the Wii U. We waited approximately 8 months for the vc to kick in there

@electrolite77 I agree with the "cleaning out the hatches before E3", particularly with regard to 3DS. I expect that was now pretty much EVERYTHING 3DS is going to get short of maybe DQ11 in the West, and something Pokemon (GF always does outgoing systems), BUT I also fear selling people on that will raise hype and expectations to super unrealistic levels for E3. Once people think they got the old out of the way they'll expect some barrage of 20 exclusive + western AAA games unloading all by December and be annoyed if E3 doesn't have that.

I do think E3 will focus on Switch and everything not talked about yet. But the hype shouldn't get THAT big. We still know MOST of what's coming in 2017...but there's that Aug-Sept gap to fill.

@Einherjar If this is a system released half a year too early, what do you call the PS4 launch?

Seriously, though, look at the global supply shortages on Switch. I don't see that letting up in 2017 as the holidays approach. Imagine if they'd launched it "at the right time" when all the games were ready in November? Stock shortages would have torpedoed the product. I'm guessing that's a huge part of the "early launch with slow momentum", is as a method of dealing with their famous supply issues. I actually thought it wouldn't be as bad as it is with the early launch.

Guys, have you watched the Japanese Nintendo Direct ?
Well... actually if you remember The Snack World 3DS by Level-5, the game will be released on 13 July 2017....

But, in Japan version first.

@PlywoodStick If we can get Disgaea 5 we can get Persona 5. There's a 5...in, like, both of them. And stuff. And they're both Playstation games. Work with me here....

I was really happy with the splatoon hoard mode and I'm actually warming up to arms more now. There was lots of nice surprises for the 3ds and a few bits and bobs for switch so I'm pretty pleased. My guess is that the meat of the releases will be waiting til e3 for the switch though. Particularly as they already mentioned Mario will be playable at e3. The one announcement I was actually really pleased about was they finally are releasing the last few smash amiibo! I've been waiting ages to get Cloud and Robin

@Anti-Matter 3DS this year is soooo much better than Switch and even PS4. It feels wrong somehow. I don't want to have to go back

@NEStalgia Keep in mind half the 3ds games we are getting are old games from Japan.

Edit: Although GET HYPE for DGS 2...if I finish the first one. Being an adult is hard. Why do I have to work all the time?

@subpopz Selective reprimanding.

@NEStalgia
Especially Miitopia, I fascinated more than boring ff 15.

Switch is still 1 month, give a chance for at least 1 year to prove the worthiness.

PS4 ? The only worthy game for ps4 this year is just FF 12 the zodiac age, basically HD Remaster of English version FF 12 International Zodiac Job System. Otherwise, I can buy the PS2 version FF 12 International anytime despite of Japanese text (Don't worry, I had finished this game 3 times, 10 years ago). I prefer PS2 rather than PS4 from the amount of worthy games for me.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE 3rd party games are coming buddy, don't worry.

I feel like your comment would work better if you were talking about Metroid though.

"WHERE'S MY METROID! RAWR!"

"Hey man, put those torches and pitchforks away (insert date here) is just around the corner. That's when Nintendo will reveal everything".

Anyway, was there anything from the direct that interested you?

Well I already have Tetris, Disgea, Street Fighter, and Cave Story+ on preorder.
I'll also be picking up fire emblem, that musu style fate game, splatoon and namco museum. I was pretty happy with this direct.

@Ryu_Niiyama Good point. Well, MH:S anyway. Ever Oasis is new. DGS2....Great Ace Attorney 2? Is that one coming westward? My Japanese is limited to a few dozen words or so so I'm kind of localization dependent

@Anti-Matter Miitopia surprised me as a genuine RPG. Though I have a feeling it's only funny if you know a bunch of people with Miis. And it's probably a lot less funny without the Nintendo executive Mii cast

Yeah, oh, I'm certain the Switch will prove its worthiness. Once all the big RPG's come out (granted, might be 2018 in the West), I'll have an extensive backlog on it too. It just feels so odd that the 3DS is still the best platform 6 years later even if it's temporary.

Yeah, most of the PS4 library doesn't interest me as much as the 3DS/WiiU/Switch(upcoming) library. Some gems like Persona 5 though still make it a stand-out year for it (I know you don't like grittier games, but Persona is...sort of...sort of not....it's not "gritty" in the Western sense....it's still a high school drama at heart!

Though Switch is more interesting at the moment if Arms is interesting to you. I'm still not totally sold on it. But the boxing theme alone probably sold you right away

@subpopz "I liked we got thru stuff quickly"

Getting thru stuff quickly is good, but going back each time to a headline page seemed both distracting and delaying. Just show a game trailer or clip, talk about it, show the release date, then have the voice-over say "Next up..." and start the next segment. There's no reason to have a headline page, they are probably just doing it b/c it's popular w/ the kids on their mobile devices.

Like I said before, everybody else seemed to like it, and if that's the consensus then keep doing it, but personally I'd prefer it go away, Nobody needs to know what segment is coming up in 32 seconds, just focus on what is being shown now. But I realize that isn't the way the world works today.

@NEStalgia Yeah but Yokai watch , culdecept, and rpg maker are not new. I am NOT complaining though.

Um, you will have to ask Capcom on that one. It is going to be really, really hard to set DGS in "ye old wild west of California". So...but you never know they did ok with GS6 and going to another country. Maybe they think we can handle the series set in Japan to actually be set in Japan?

Yeah I'm a Fighter not a Lover...wait I'm a Lover too. Um where was I going with this? Anyway Arms is looking like the Splatoon team got a hold of punch out. Works for me. Loved the punch out segments in W101.

@itslukec WAIT WHAT? Let me go check. Edit: Looks blue to me...

Cant wait for Spl2n and ARMS. and also Disgaea5 , loved it back on DS. I wished there were also some announcements for a SoS/HM game or a Stardew Valley release date.maybe in the future Directs;)

P.S: I've been following NL for quite sometime now, but this would be my first comment ever .
( been shy to post anything lol)
welcome me!

Saw presentation late last night. It seemed to be good and nicely put together. Now though all I hope to see is a good third party presentation for switch at e3 and not games we already are aware of.... I am aware switch has payday 2 and Skyrim and I am happy to see that. However I'm hoping switch snags new upcoming third party support to be a good competitor against PS4 and xbone at e3... even if I don't have a switch yet I wanna see Nintendo strive and succeed as I was devastated when I saw the third party with I u and how it all went sour... Nintendo you got this!

@aemir don't worry I have been the same followed and now just getting involved welcome

This was the best Nintendo Direct ever (for me at least)

I kind of hoped for something on Etrian Odyssey V localisation, but Monster hunter stories and ever oasis were really pleasant surprises. Don't have a switch yet, so that part didn't interest me as much, though I liked the ARMS commentator.

@Kupa-Alii Thank you!! ^_^

Overall pretty happy with what was covered in the 3ds lineup. Was hoping for EOV and EOU III news by now. Though with Ever Oasis, Hey! Pikmin, FE Shadows of Valentia, FE Warriors, plus a few titles that are already out (but I haven't gotten around to purchasing yet), I won't be bored while I wait.

The Direct was good for me, a few takeaways...

1) It was deliberately designed to be shorter, more rapid-fire.
2) It was supposed to give ARMS and Splatoon 2 so, I wasn't expecting any mind blowing Switch reveals while they were trying to sell those two. But there were a lot more games announced than I was expecting. Switch really needs more "second-line" games right now. We can argue all day about quality but there were quite a few here.
3) Splatoon 2 is looking to be a deeper version of the original, even if core gameplay is essentially the same.
4) ARMS is looking better than I originally thought. Still think extra joycons are expensive.
5) 3DS seemed more alive than I was expecting.
6) Still cannot believe the announcement of a certain game in Japan...I can already picture people trying to make homemade Switch headsets for the ultimate VR experience.

I thought it was a solid Direct. There is third party support for Switch, though not the AAA mutliplats some are still wishing for. Perhaps some will come, but if those are what you want, you already know where to look.

The Splatoon mode reveal was very well done, a few games coming that I'm interested in and other games for other folks. Nice to see the 3DS still getting good support. Does kind of highlight how hard the Wii U has been dropped, though. I know it makes sense from a business standpoint, but ouch!

It was good to see Blazing Star, and most of the 3DS releases look interesting. I'm not going to complain about anything related to retail games, because they will be at E3. However, it was slightly disappointing to not have more for the eShop. I'd love some more arcade games, not just the Neo Geo ones, and Virtual Console would be welcome too. If nothing else, it'd be nice to update our Wii U SNES purchases, and have them sitting on our Switches.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yokai was a weird one. That's not even new for the west it came out last year as bony/fleshy. This is just a rehash putting them both together with some extra content. Where's Yokai 3? I doubt that's for Switch!

Well I know one of the higher ups on DGS2 said they were interested in bringing it to the west even without the first one going westward, and the producer wanted 1 to go westward and corporate didn't. So I think localization is kind of in a question block atm. If they brought the second but not the first over, I'd have no objections. Obj..see..its...sigh

Arms...the motion controls: Just no. They say buttons too so that's hopeful. I'm not really a fighter fan. Smash is completely "meh" to me let alone more serious fighters. I see the Splatoon addiction factor and can't help but feel this would be more exiting if it were NOT launching the same year let alone a month before Splatoon 2. But it also seems smaller than Splatoon 2 without details on single player, and...something other than a roster fighting in round arenas and just chosing their weapons. It still feels kind of eShop to me. Though it also feels like in the 90's could have been an arcade phenomenon that had a home version.

So much whining and hate going on, i really hope you are children because then i would understand. Is it really that hard to be patient?

Heh, a couple of left field surprises (payday 2?!, expansion on robot minigames, standalone dock [guys you have no idea how convenient that is]) and some MUCH needed ports (Minecraft, culdcept [I still don't know what that is], RPG maker.

The headline format for the Nintendo direct....I like it, keep doing that.

And new customation for arms and horde mode for Splatoon, what's not to love?

Oh right, it's those people who want to play a 15-10 year old ports of games they may already have on a purple console, want Ubisoft to port the next assassin creed that no-one will buy and whine about ports even though the games you are asking for are ports(overwatch, rocket league)*

*Not to say these games are bad.

And must be done yesterday otherwise the Switch will end up in the ditch and Nintendo will be making the next Mario on the Xbox one.

Good Direct, and I liked the format changes. There were more game announcements than I thought with E3 looming.

@HeelGanon - Rock on brother, girls are scary. The best strategy when you encounter one online or in the wild is to hide and take random, misguided pot shots at them. Well played.

Switch is doing just fine for its launch period. People forget that a console's first year is usually pretty bleak. I bought a PS4 at launch and spent the first year regretting it and bored with it, as all they released were remasters and subpar games. By comparison, the Switch is off to a much better start with a relatively consistent flow of games in its first year . By the end of the year the Switch will have a good library, by next year it will be on fire, and by the year after when they release Switch 2 it will be getting most of the major AAA games the other consoles receive. This first year will be a little slow, but just know that as an early adapter this is normal and have some patience; the Switch will eventually live up to its own hype.

@Ryu_Niiyama I think HeelGanon likes you. Its like an elementary school kid bullying the girl he likes its great. Awe how cute you have your very own crush, someone affectionate to you.

At first I thought maybe theres more to his comment, maybe theres a deeper message to what he's saying, but after the second I was like nope he not the deep thinker I thought he was.

I actually made an account just for this. These stream of comments I read is the funniest thing I read all morning, all of nintendo life for that matter. Im usually a reader not a commenter.

@Ryu_Niiyama Ha!

Me and my brother still play boom/fortune street A LOT!

And he has broke one wii 3 wiimotes and got so angry he's snapped 2 discs in half!! It's cost me a fortune! Maybe that's where they got the name from.

Good times 😀

There was an interesting flurry of new games mentioned (esp for 3DS), but I must say for me there was little that I am interested in, particularly having owned a Wii U.
I feel like a cliche saying this, but wider third party support for Switch is needed. And yes, a generous announcement regarding the Virtual Console would personally very welcome: if I could play (or upgrade for a small fee) all my previous purchases I would be there in an instant.

The new Pikmin amiibo is what I'm excited for.

The complete silence regarding the online companion app is starting to worry me. They said it would be available end of March it's now mid April!

I think the thing people are missing right now that is making it hard to play the switch is the lack of killer games being announced big titles with Mario Odyssey so far away that's the only for sure killer title announced right now that isn't a port or what looks to be a rehash of previous game (MK8 & Splatoon 2). I know there will be more in the future it's just tougher for early adopters, luckily for me I've got a big back catalog to work on in the mean time between PS4 and 3DS games at least. I'd like to play I am Setsuna, but really hoping to get that one on a sale for a bit cheaper.

@Great_Gonzalez I really feel like monopoly is a social experiment. It will turn the nicest person to a frothing mass of anger and resentment. I got drunk (I'm a featherweight so what that means is I had half a smirnoff ice and got tipsy AF...ok drunk) once and forgot how to speak in English and almost got into a full blown fight with monopoly mates because they thought I was calling them names (I WAS talking smack but nothing that I couldn't or wouldn't say in English...if I'd known where I left my lexicon...) and general monopoly anger. Yet it is my favorite board game after chess and shogi (Japanese chess). Go figure. Fortune street can die in a fire. I had somebody throw a controller at me once over that game.

@CosmicLight Welcome New Person! I think if NL did a lurker poll the numbers would be double the posters here. Lol. Oh Ima go ahead and get this out of the way. I use avatars from Perfume, they are a J-electropop group. (I get that question a ton.)

Well there wasn't much for him to pull an argument on. It was fairly obvious part of my language used in my initial post was hyperbolic and I'm literal af around here so I KNOW it was obvious (obviously I didn't petition Nintendo for anything and even if I did his reach about "representation" made no sense. I mean I know my username references a dragon and all but I am not hollering for "representation" for a fictional half blood Manakete, but maybe he didn't realize I actually play a ton of fire emblem or something. I don't know. I kept seeing 'a beautiful mind' but with Forest Gump for most of his comments.) The best rise he got of of me was his first comment because I kept channeling Spock, Tuvok and T'Pol (yep, I'm a Trekkie too!) and going "this is illogical, why did he write this?". But that is it. Afterwards it was just adorable. Kinda like "Boo" from Monsters Inc. You know she thought she was scary in that patch work suit. But...she really wasn't...like at all. Or maybe he thought I'd start tossing internet buzz words and spazzing just like him. My age is in my profile...not gonna happen. I think by the end he figured since he couldn't beat me he might as well keep the ball rolling. Shame, I was hoping to see how long we could keep up the volley. Ah well, Welcome again, hope you post more in the future. We try to keep it breezy here.

@NEStalgia All the Yokai Watch games a have "pokemon crystal version". Yeah I said it when they started with Yokai watch to just bring out the current one(s) instead of starting from the beginning. I know not everyone keeps up with Japan only games but it was so hackneyed how they handled it. Why play the old game when there is a new shiny on the market? I gave up on understanding GS and localization years ago. I just buy them in both languages and leave it lay. Makes my eye twitch otherwise. Also you have to finish your puns with GS. It is like a ladder, one step leads to the other. I'm going to channel Craig in Next Friday for a second. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER...play a fighting game with motion controls. Kudos if you know what I'm referencing. I'm actually not big on smash either. I own all of them and played melee to death but I'm (raises pinky) a traditional FG fan. But if you can hit digital pixels in the face...I'm in.

@bimmy-lee LOL, who runs the world? Girls! Aww yeah!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE the direct showed a truckload of third party support including many titles even I didn't expect until E3. There's even Payday 2 and for those who get hard to "AAA" label in the west. But I'm starting to suspect that in the Direct you watched, even Senran Kagura is made by Nintendo.

Getting MK8 Deluxe on release day. I'll wait for reviews on ARMS.

I like how the free to play Kirby Clash announced during the direct is almost as much content and replay value as My Nintendo has given out since it started.

My wallet whimpers. Ever Oasis, RPG Maker, Culdcept Saga Revolt finally hitting west, and Japan already expecting yet more delicious titles like Lady Layton, Radiant Historia and Strange Journey. Switch lept at me like Tigger with its Fate/Extella and Battle Chasers announcements plus the smaller yet very welcome Monopoly one - and then Japanese Direct reveals there are also Dragon Quest X and Nights of Azure 2 coming out! YES, PLEASE. Wasn't the latter already translated for PS4 release, too? Granted, starting with the sequel likely means no first game on Switch, but Vita to the resc- grrrr, it's stuck in Japan there. Sigh, hello again, Remote Play.

More motivated about MK8 now, and ARMS is shaping out to be a fun and elaborate game. All in all, if that's a modest direct, I can't imagine what's supposed to be yet bigger about E3 (already announced games like SMO excluded). And 3DS can't die until Lady Layton goes worldwide!

@CosmicLight was mine the funniest?

@nhSnork Please tell me more about the 4 year old Payday 2 and Senran Kagura that featured only in the Japanese Direct and has no chance of releasing here for obvious reasons.

ARMS was a real surprise, liking how much they showed off and new fighters too! Splatoon 2 though, out July and new Splatoon amiibo, CANNOT WAIT!

@nhSnork You don't need to eat...everyday you know. Just, put some of that money aside for games.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE didn't the 3ds get localized senran games? Wasn't payday 2 rereleased on other consoles last year as the crime wave edition?

@SLIGEACH_EIRE isn't the switch region free? Doesn't the switch already have Japanese only releases with English and Japanese text?

@SLIGEACH_EIRE all but on senran game has been localized in the us.

@NEStalgia Nothing, the mods would censor it anyways
But of cause the PS3 did not fare any better. Heck, it did even worse.

But honestly, using the stock shortages as an excuse for an unprepared system launch ? That's making it a little easy, don't you think ?
I mean... The 3DS had such a launch, the WiiU had such a launch...you need to learn SOMETHING from this, right ?

Half raw OS, small lineup, AGAIN no VC...
Granted, it could have been WAY worse, let's not kid ourselves here. But it is a lukewarm release at best.

@Nintendofan83 I just spat out my drink. You owe me a new keyboard. Best. Comment Section. Ever.

@Einherjar way better launch than the n64, 3ds or game cube. I would argue better than the wiiu but I can see how some would disagree.

@WiltonRoots Snitches get stitches. Wow I finally have a reason to say that.

@Yasume Sarcasm isn't really your strong suit is it? Even if it's in a jokingly manner, like what @PlywoodStick said.

@Ryu_Niiyama Almost spat my beer out. Almost. Happy Easter...

@Ryu_Niiyama - No disagreement here. "Women of the world, take over..."

@SLIGEACH_EIRE "4 years old" is a poor argument in the fandom that keeps pestering Nintendo about releasing more 24-year-old ones. We have even 10 year old hits that were stuck in the last generation because Sony jumped architectures and eventually got bored of remasters and Vita ports. And even that aside, the game's age is never a reliable indication that everyone but the Challenger's Deep microlife has played them.

Senran Kagura was a joke about "no 3rd party" wording, but if you want to dwell on it (even ignoring the entry/ies that came out here on 3DS before), what's your point? Japan is a goldmine for Switch, and the lack of region lock has led even western gamers to make their bank cards count in yens from time to time.

Wow. No love for Namco Museum, guys? Shame on y'all.

Am I the only one that was shocked that Splatoon 2 is coming out so late in July? I was hoping in June before or after E3. Splatoon 2 is a perfect summer game.

This was nice direct. Finally we getting the Cloud, Corrin & Bayonetta amiibo release dates. Cool. What is a little annoying about that however is that very quickly they said some of them would be store exclusives.... rolling my eyes

@RyanSilberman People want old games....just not THOSE old games. Get with it!

Honestly I'm not a big Namco head...now Bamco and the Souls series...If somebody wants to do some ports to switch I won't complain. I think a few folks were into this collection.

My thoughts on the Direct: I like the new approach with the rapid fire news feed, I felt in the past some Directs dragged a bit, with this format you know how much you're going to hear by the visible list. Koizumi is a good front man, he's one of the main architects behind the Switch so it makes sense he's there.

The impression I come away with is that the Switch will be getting tons of mid tier games mainly due to the easily portable format of the machine, they're dishing out a steady stream of titles which are easy to play on the go as that's part of the Switch's makeup. I relish the opportunity to play an old school vertical shooter in tate mode by holding the Switch on its side and playing. In some ways I hope it will encourage software companies to produce more experimental software which is less likely to bankrupt them than these generic "AAA" titles which struggle to make money back.

This soon to E3 there was no way they were going to pull out the big guns.

@Einherjar LOL, I still think the point of the early launch was to get the distribution system in check before the holidays. Not so much "thin launch because of shortages" as much as "hey, lets release it months and months before when we REALLY want to release it because we know we're going to disastrously screw up supply anyway, that way we have enough machines in the wild before we release the real games!"

Don't laugh, that's Nintendo in a nutshell right there

@RyanSilberman I had a big smile on my face when I saw Rolling Thunder...

@NEStalgia They pretty much launched it when Zelda was ready to be shipped.
They had to delay the WiiU version already and promised a simultaneous release.
Waiting for the Switch to be fully ready would mean to encourage people to hold on to their WiiUs...

Like i said, it was FAR from the worst console launch, and the sales figures confirm that. But you can't deny that a launch window full of ports, especially ports from a system you thought you could finally bury, is a little...lackluster

I still stand by it: They should habe used the VC as a buffer.
Heck, the NeoGeo titles get people excited as well.
Just imagine what would happen if they released something like Mario Sunshine ? (And found a way to make it playable....)

Heck, instead of just launching a fire emblem sale, why not cause some hype in bringing over every FE VC game to the Switch as well ?

Yes, its also "just old games" but with the added nostalgia bonus. And we all know that you can appease people with that stuff, at least for a while.

@Ryu_Niiyama I thought it was notable considering there hadnt been a new Namco Museum since the Wii era. And three of the games featured hadnt been in a NM installment before.

@NEStalgia We want Persona 5, and have hope for it because we got Disgaea 5. Five. There are 5 sides of a pentagon. The pentagon is a prominent figure in both SMT and it's spinoffs, and Disgaea. What else is a pentagon?

That's right.

The Pentagon.

The Pentagon is the headquarters for the US Military. The US Military likes going after anyone who they perceive is a demon, and doesn't care what the Constitution or international law says.

Demon. Constitution. Law.

There are Law alignment demons in SMT and Persona. Calling an angel a demon doesn't make any sense, but the Japanese can do it without getting owned by crusaders because they have a Constitution.

Japanese.

Japanese people like tentacle porn. Persona has a distinct lack of tentacle porn. Therefore, the series is more popular with weeaboos than with actual Japanese people, because Westerners think tentacle porn is weird. Like, really weird.

But wait. Isn't there something we're missing here? Let's add everything up.

Persona 5, Disgaea 5, Five, Pentagon, US Military, Demon, Constitution, Law, Japanese, Tentacle Porn.

P5D5FPUSMDCLJTP.

What does that code mean?

Pleasing 5 Different 5 Foot People Using Switch Might Draw Crazy Lines Just To Play.

Five foot people. Five foot people are midgets. Switch. Mighty Switch Force wants Nintendo to stop stealing their line, Switch It Up. Crazy lines. Walmart has crazy lines during Black Friday. Play. Lots of people watch Let's Play videos.

Midgets. Mighty Switch Force. Black Friday. Let's Play.

What do these all have in common?

That's right. The number 5.

Midgets are up to 5 feet tall. Mighty Switch Force was made 5 years ago. Black Friday occurs on the 5th weekday. Popular Let's Play channels have at least 5 million subscribers.

5 times 4 is 20. Persona 5 was delayed by around 20 months. Breath of the Wild was released around 20 months after it was first showcased. Persona 5 released outside Japan in early April. Early April is Aries on the zodiac calendar, which is associated with the color red. Persona 5 is also associated with the color red. Finally, Nintendo and the Nintendo Switch are associated with the color red.

Persona 5 playable on Nintendo Switch by December 2018 confirmed.

@PlywoodStick What in the heck did I just read? My brain...you broke it.

@faint Yes and no. Again, the Switch still lacks an exclusive "main release". Most of its critics simply don't have a reason to, ironically, switch ^^

So to be fair, any system with at least one major "Only on XY" game ranks higher in my books.

But oh well, at least the sales figures are allright. So im not complaining. This is nitpicking anyways, just rambling on what could have been better.

@PlywoodStick THAT'S IT!! You've finally proven we're definitely getting Persona 5 on Switch! You're a genius!

You put WAAAAAAAAY too much effort into that post. My hero!

@Einherjar Well there's that and Nintendo's general ineptness at any launch. At the holidays they're going to have a ton of games shipping for the first time in a long time. Can you imagine them handling a hardware launch at the same time? IMO Nintendo should not launch a console in Oct-Dec EVER, no matter what. They just can't handle it. Heck Sony can barely handle it.

I do think the ports are a bit much, though Kart, is the only 1st party port (unless you include Zelda which is really a Switch game at this point), the rest of the ports are what the third parties decided to bring. 3rd parties are really dragging their feet waiting for another Wii, though it's hard to blame them after the WiiU. I think if we were looking forward to a 3 month lineup that wasn't Kart, Arms, Splatoon, similar gameplay conscepts (quick pick up and play competitive games, that get their depth from grinding skills toward perfection) the lineup would be a lot more exciting to "gamers." Those three together kind of have the effect that if you pick one of them you don't really need the other two for a long time because they overlap their nature of play. Another "big" game would have smoothed over the launch time.

Not going with the VC thing. I think appeasing the "ports + nostalgia" factor only appeals to the corest of core audiences....and we already bought one regardless.

@NEStalgia Yup, the games that get released all have this "multiplayer only-ish" factor to them...except for MK8, which is a port.
What im missing is something to sit down and spend some time with other than Zelda and that i don't already own elsewhere.
As much as i like Zelda, it's now approaching the burnout zone for me.

And besides that, there is no real game to play for more than a few minutes at a time :/

Especially for those who bought the system if you ask me !
For newcomers, the stuff on offer is all novel and interesting, but not made to last at all.
Lets say its "putting the hype on life support between major releases" instead of creating hype to buy the thing. That is, looking at the sales, already a thing.

But yeah, bottom line:
The Switch needs meat. Something unique with bang for your buck. And that is still missing, especially for WiiU owners, hence the critique that there is still no reason to get it.

@PlywoodStick PlywoodStick as lead writer on the next Hideo Kojima game confirmed!

The big takeaway from this direct is that the 3DS is alive and kicking, and there are a lot of Nintendo games on the horizon for both the Switch and 3DS. Also I am a huge Splatoon fan (and salmon run looks fun), but I'm starting to worry that they are rushing this thing. It looks very similar to the original, and we have no info about the story or other new modes. Hopefully it has a big E3.

Everyone else's Direct:

Japan's Direct:

@Einherjar Exactly, that's the core issue, not that it has no games but they're all of the same-ish scope. And we know it will tilt heavy the other way after these are out. Mario, SMT, Xeno, FE'18, Maybe DQ, but it's the timing of which release is when more than the timing of releases in general that's a turn off. Even MK8 is really multiplayer-only-ish. It has single player, but that's not really what it's about any more than the other two. So that's 3 months of releases in a row with the same overarching genre as the main release.

Disgaea is the only real meaty release coming up. It's "old" and it's "on PS4" but that's the only other place it's been so that's still a fresh release that was just a PS4 timed exclusive in a way. But that's certainly niche.

Splatoon is made to last IMO, IF you are good with the online competition aspects. Arms doesn't look long lived, but Splatoon can suck you in and keep you there...especially for the newcomers that didn't have the original.

Some of the problem is Nintendo's viewing angle. From their perspective, Kart, Arms, Splatoon are super long-tail evergreen titles that will be as fresh in 4 years as they are on launch day and can appeal to everyone. They're a safe no-lose game that they don't have to worry about low install bases and can use to keep hype generating through play content.

And from a business spreadsheet they're probably right. For a gamer, they're not meaty experiences, and for a casual they're not going to convince them they're missing something, and all 3 will probably sell better in November than they sell through July. Maybe some surprise shows up in the next few months and makes it better.

I'm caught that the good games are on 3DS and a few PS4, but I'd rather play Switch....I'm trying to justify it. It's so fun to use.

@darkkirby also has a point. Hardware will sell out like crazy with Senran Kagura out.... Interest in other games may be limited at least in Japan.

@Einherjar Also I think it's an extension of Koizumi's influence. I like him, and I like that he's the face of the company now, but I think he's also the driving force in the company behind the "we can do Wii all over again" movement and leading this push with switch that's all about fast, casual, pick up and play, multi player gaming, and a Joycon feature focus. He's very clearly and actively trying to make the Switch a Wii 2. And that's going to cause trouble and is no doubt butting heads with others in the company particularly after the success of Zelda. I think pick up and play sells way better in Japan, but Nintendo rarely looks outside their own windows. It's not that they have no big huge games for the core coming, but the empahsis and realignment behind the fast simple games seems to focus on Koizumi.

I was very pleased with this Direct, lots of great 3DS games announced and a few Switch titles I can't wait for (plus amiibo too)!!!

Why are the amiibo retail locked in NA again? Just...

@NEStalgia Imo, there is nothing inherently wrong with a "Wii2", since the Switch doubles as a handheld, where pick up and play games are a good fit.

BUT it needs software for the home console market as well.

I personally don't really care about either, Splatoon nor Arms.
Nothing against multiplayer only games, but they are simply not my cup of tea. MK8 however on a handheld ?
Yup, that thing is a day one purchase for me.

Giving them the benefit of a doubt:
They need to find the right balance in feeding a system that is both, a handheld and a home console.
But imo, starting out with two (three if you count MK) main titles that are dependent on an internet connection to reach their full potential (thus foregoing the handheld usage) is kind of a moot start.

Like i said, i personally miss more single player meat to sit down and use the system for more than 15 minutes a pop.
Heck, speaking of ports, Bayo caused some hype again, put both on a cartridge and gimme that on a handheld !

Oh well, complaining is no use anyways ^^
Hopefully the E3 has some more oomph

@PlywoodStick You need to repeat that theory outside of train stations or on a major shopping street through a loudhailer. Good stuff. Very David Icke.

Still no hook for me to get a switch, where the hell are all these 3rd party developers that had apparently signed up? What's in development? Where's the VC? There's the odd port here and there and Mario kart 8 deluxe will surely be excellent but it is just textbook Nintendo that they get you to buy the same game again (albeit with a decent battlmode). If they don't throw everything at this they'll end up on their backside again.

@Ryu_Niiyama Either a super cozy relationship with GameStop, or Nintendo is at war with their online vendors I think.

@Einherjar Yeah, but the Wii was never about single player, it was about that group experience. And they're trying to push that with the Joycons, which is what I feared when they brought them out. It breaks the whole hybrid selling point.

But yeah I really agree with you in general. Though I'd say a handheld doesn't need pick up and play, that's the Wii home console angle they're pushing with that. Handheld is great at making the big meaty games manageable. Thus the confusion that 3DS has all the big meaty games and Switch has a bunch of pick up and play with your friends! games.

@NEStalgia Man I almost had to go to Gamestop HR over amiibo...I am not looking forward to this...Well I will wait for the second shipment. If female Corrin is retail locked I'm going to scream. I may just buy the darn things on ebay and save myself the headache.

(Not kidding. My manager felt I was "disloyal" because I bought mine from Amazon and a few from a gamestop that was in walking distance from my apartment and not the store that I worked at. No policy against both. He threatened to cut my hours over it...almost filed a harassment suit. Then I realized ...it's gamestop...)

I took the joycons as a "It does everything" sort of concept. You want to play at home? go ahead. You want to play handheld? Sure! You want to play with others at home or away? We do that too! Play whenever, wherever.

@Ryu_Niiyama haha. I had a temporary lapse of colour judgment.

@itslukec Dude you had my hopes up and EVERYTHING. Ah well they will come. Waiting on my Zelda gold and Luigi green.

Now that we got this info I am expecting the following for E3:

Mario Odyssey News, Virtual Console News, Online Service Cost
Metroid, Fire Emblem Warriors, 3rd Party Announcements. And if we are super lucky: FZero

@DarkKirby

God Bless Japan.

@PlywoodStick

W T F. Are you trying to ...if you post one of those flesh light things, I'm done with the internet for the day. (that is not a challenge.) Humans are way too obsessed with sex. A very odd unrealistic version of it at that...

What are y'all going to do when we get holodecks? I mean I KNOW what y'all are going to do but seriously you won't be able to hold down a job.

@Ryu_Niiyama sory man! Haha. I also want/green Luigi stuff so I sent my hopes to heaven. Before I sent them to hell.

Nintendo Direct was pretty underwhelming for me. Didn't sell me on ARMS, and no mention of Splatoon 2's single-player campaign. Most of the announcements were for stuff I won't be getting.

I do like the format, though. Great, rapid-fire burst of information.

I won't be happy with anything until I hear SOMETHING about an Etrian Odyssey 5 localization, though.

@NEStalgia I feel like I'm the only person who primarily plays single-player in MK8. I mean, online is okay, but I'm really addicted to getting perfect scores on all of the cups in all of the speed classes. Now, maybe getting 3 stars on a cup in 200cc is easy for some people, but it really isn't for me.

Those yellow Joy-Cons look nice, and I need the Female Corrin and Bayonetta 1 amiibo.

A Battle Chasers game!! But it's a JRPG... I wish it was an action RPG instead.

@Ralizah Single player gamer over here as well. I'm still on the fence about MK8D because it doesn't add anything to the single player experience. I never got into battle stages even when playing with others...so yeah. I keep hoping Nintendo will throw a bone of one more cup for DLC, but honestly at this point I think I'll just focus other titles I don't already own. Looking forward to puyo puyo and I've already got a backlog of eshop titles to play. I took the glimpse of the Octarians in the direct as a hint of a Single player experience...I think they will reveal more at E3 about that.

Did you double dip on Fast Racing?

Tbh after watching the direct I would have to say 3ds won this over switch. I would have thought this was a conservative move with E3 not too far away. Anyways it's good to see the 3ds sharing the limelight with switch, it's gonna take some doing for switch to knock the nail in the coffin for 3Ds.

@Ryu_Niiyama For me, the full portability is appealing enough to re-invest in the game. MK8 is a game where I often just want to play a couple races at a time, and having to go sit through the whole ritual of setting up a console to do that doesn't feel ideal, which is why I've played so much more of MK7 so far. I won't lie, though: while I don't expect to get as much use out of battle mode as some people, I'm still looking forward to trying it out. If nothing else, it fixes the one glaring flaw this beautiful game had (well, that's kind of a lie: it also only had one item slot and coin items, and only one of those is being improved, but whatever).

Puyo Puyo Tetris looks fun, but I'll be honest: I'm buying it for the Tetris. I'm going to try out some of the Puyo Puyo modes, but I still largely suck at that game, whereas Tetris seems pretty intuitive to me. And this is looking like the best Tetris game around.

Well, I got Fast RMX, but I never actually played the Wii U original. It's fun, has well-designed stages, and I like the Ikaruga-esque polarity switching mechanic, but it took me awhile to adapt to the controls (couldn't find an alternate set of inputs that I preferred to the default thanks to the fact that sharp turns are mapped to two buttons instead of one button + directional input).

I was quite happy with that presentation with a couple of nice surprises. I am currently sitting on the fence regarding Arms and Splatoon 2 not quite sure if they are games that I would enjoy.

Out of that Nintendo direct I have two definite purchase Mario Kart 8 and Pay day 2 (will this have a retail version). I am looking forward to E3 to see what other surprises big N will bring up.

@bimmy-lee The dude was totally crushing on Ryu_Niiyama it obvious.

@Captain_Toad I was talking about the hilarious comments between Ryu_Niiyama and HeelGanon. Was yours a joke? It seemed like it was serious.

@Ryu_Niiyama I had to create an account because I was laughing so hard. He was the weirdest troll ever. His first comment made no sense either but I gave him the benefit of the doubt maybe theres more to him, but nope after the second post. It made no sense for him to beef it with you when you clearly giving a level headed explanation. It was great, I love people like that, it was a lot of fun. Oh that lover HeelGanon.

I was never trolled ever in my life either, but I did once had my own 10 second troll playing street fighter 4 online. I get a message on PSN of someone calling me mentally retarded, looser, and calling me lots of names, it was the funniest thing ever. It was totally unexpected and was laughing for a good 20 minutes.

@CosmicLight Oh yeah the rage quits are serious in the SF IV and V community. Always check the good games thread over at shoryuken.com.

My only issue was that it drowned out a few honest questions I had for other users. Because the puppy was doing his best Miley Cyrus impression.

@electrolite77 Yeah that's one thing that happens with Nintendo I tend to forget about. All consoles have a slow launch but Nintendo has such a Japan-centric release schedule that it's always playing catch-up in the West, where old Japan games come out new here, but new Japan games take years to catch up. I'm glad Squeenix is looking on cutting down on that cycle and working on global launches, because it's just getting silly to have this kind of gap for games because "launch window" in Japan means "within a few years" in the West.

Yeah I'm not picturing much Western AAA (but a few more bones than WiiU got after year 1.) I think Nintendo needs to throw some kind of bone at E3 about "AVAILABLE NOW!", or at least August after the Splatoon release where we kind of have nothing to fill in. The big problem with a Smash port is it adds to the current Switch problem of a lack of diversity in games that Einjerhar and I were talking about further up. Kart, Arms, Splatoon, Street Fighter, and then if it's Smash (and/or Pokken) pretty much the entire "main" library of Switch until Holiday consists of small, fast, pick up and play online competitive oriented games, with Zelda as the only "meaty" game. They're all big games, brand wise, but it's a little awkward front-loading the release calendar with almost EVERY competitive online game they have and almost ONLY online competitive games all at once. Then I guess holiday into '18 it's just all RPGs all the time. Gamers like me will be griping there's too little for Switch for the next 6 months, then by February griping about our Switch backlog

Of course if the Pokemon rumor is real Pokemon (I don't think it will be) that would be great. But I wonder if they can produce enough hardware for that to happen?

@electrolite77 XC2, DQ11, SMTV, are all very big games that I don't think anyone expects a simultaneous release with. Nintendo's 1st party games don't often release differently anymore, but most of their Japanese 3rd party support still does (and that's most of what's getting finally brought out on 3DS.) Going by 3DS and into Switch it seems like there's continued patter. For 2017 3DS is still the main platform in the West, while it will be transitioning to Swtich in Japan, and we'll follow on the year later.

If it's a differentiation strategy with online games it's a weird strategy though. They're putting ALL their major online games out at the start, BUT mostly BEFORE they even tell us anything about their paid multiplayer service that should revolve around those games. Plus the biggest selling point of the Switch is the hybrid nature "home console you can take with you", and the emphasis on online games pretty much render the hybrid feature useless, making it look MORE like the "weak home console" that they're justifying with the hybridization. So far it's not hurting console sales but I think that comes mostly down to Zelda. Everyone says how Kart and Smash are big system sellers, but rjejr accurately pointed out a few weeks ago, that if they really were, WiiU should have taken the world by storm when both games released in the same year, but it didn't. Single player remains the system seller, but these games sell well because once you have the hardware, a large percentage buys these games. The conundrum for Switch owners now is you buy it for hybrid games like Zelda, and you get a bunch of online multiplayer games after that with no new single player follow-ons until Fall at the earliest. I'm very positive on Switch overall, but I'd say while the pacing of releases is mostly fine, the choice of releases in this window was poorly thought out. It's the hybrid console on which most of the games coming out aren't actually playable portable unless you know a bunch of people with Switches to play in person with (Triforce Heroes/Federation Force style.) And even then it's all quick competitive timed match type games that kind of compete against each other.

I don't think they needed to do a big new IP now or anything, but some budget ports of some meatier games (like the Lego City port, but not as bad a port ) could have gone a long way. Xenoblade X, Xenoblade 1 (heck it ran on 3DS, why not do Switch?) or having pushed for Skyrim to come out Spring instead of Fall (which would have done spectacularly on the heels of Zelda instead of being somewhat forgotten in Fall) etc. I'm as much a Switch addict as you get. Waited for that hardware since forever. So if I'm game starved, they definitely got it wrong on the release calendar. Heck port Sun & Moon, port Ever Oasis, I'll be set. I'd be better than set. As of now I'm on indies and 3DS until at least September more or less.

PS4 was just plain bleak. No other way to describe that. Launch year was UGLY. Xbox actually did it better (did I just say that out loud?) it's just that the games it DID have were terrible, generic, and bland

I'd love to see an August Pikmin release. That would be fun. I think Miyamoto thinks of it as a major IP even if it isn't sales-wise so I'm not sure they'd stealth launch it like that.

Maybe the most Nintendo strategy there could be: Open E3 with Metroid music. Announce Metrod Prime Trilogy HD on Switch, releasing in August. And Blast Ball: Rally on 3DS. Thank you for watching!

@NEStalgia If they open E3 like that I'll have to quit the internet for a month because people are going to lose their minds. I do want a new metroid just so folks would shut up about it. ...Although if capcom wants to be nice they can re launch Okami on the Switch. Port the HD version.

I Like How There was Hate on The Top of The Comments but Now it's In-depth Talk about the Switch. XD

Anyways, I'm gonna Enjoy This Year. 3DS and Switch-wise!

@Ralizah I LOVE Puyo Puyo! And I'm a New Fan. XD Sounds Like you Have Played The Games before.

Fast RMX is Great! I Haven't Played it Much because Zelda. But It's Fun for Sure. I suck with Joy-Cons on That Game tho.

@Ralizah Good Luck with That. ATLUS isn't gonna Give in that Easy.

@Ryu_Niiyama I'm Looking forward to Monopoly as well. After I get Sonic Mania and Forces. And Beat Some other 3DS Games.

@NEStalgia Salt would fly if Blast Ball came out on Switch. XD

Really? That Bad for PS4? I saw the Line-up but I Thought It was Good for a Launch. Guess I was Wrong.

Smash and Pokemon Come out this Year, I Won't Buy it. For Pokemon, That would be bad Only because It would be a Smack in the Face to Fans brought the Game Last Year. If It were a Side-Game, I wouldn't mind!

Smash, I'm Burned out on. So Unless Sonic's in it, A No-buy from Me.

@Ryu_Niiyama Ohhh boy I would be so fast to preorder an Okami port let alone a new one I'd wear a hole in my mouse. Maybe it could be a 2-in-1 bundle with a new Mega Man. And the box will shoot rainbows.

Of course with Clover Leaf gone and Kamiya being...well..Kamiya...I wonder if we have greater odds of that or Zelda on XBox?

@MusicClues Yeah, PS4 launch was bad. It had the usual multiplats which made the launch seem OK, but back then, WiiU was still getting some of those too, so it didn't make PS4's launch particularly interesting. And 1st party launched with Knack (I liked it, it was the only good game for the first year of PS4, but judging by internet reaction that's not majority opinion....) It had Killzone which was....I suppose an adequate tech demo of the new hardware? It wasn't a "bad" game, but it was nothing worth buying hardware for. It was generally a pretty looking, very generic game. And then the rest of the year was just PS3 ports.

Switch by contrast is a fantastic launch, but I'm still frustrated with the content being released being pretty much 100% multiplayer without much meat following Zelda. Lots of good content, but all content that appeals to a certain type of gamer, and, IMO content that would have been more interesting spaced out with other content (you barely get into Kart before Arms lands and barely into Arms before Splatoon lands, and if they do Smash... the online community will waffle from game to game and the offline community will try to find things to do in Zelda until at least September (Ok, Disgaea, and I'm excited for that, but lets face it that's about as niche as niche can go.)

@NEStalgia Oof, That Bites. And People Say it was good. Must have been Blind PS4 Fanboys Then who said that. :/ Ah, well. Hopefully Things Pick Up for Sony Then.

I Can Understand That for Sure. Hopefully we More One-Player Games in The Upcoming Months. But this is Nintendo.

@MusicClues Definitely, the last year of PS4 has been Sony's best year since the PS2 era. But the first year and a half was bleak for sure...awful console launch for what became a great console!

For Switch, even from what we already know the good single player games are coming....it's just some lopsided timing

@NEStalgia Okami is capcom's baby so Kamiya can't do anything...he can say something though. Seriously, I'm not big into ports but the idea of playing this on the go in the HD version and having easy access to the JPN version?! sign me up.

I wouldn't say that the switch has a lopsided single player release. Zelda of course is taking people at least an average of 100 hours from what I've seen. then there is your favorite game I am Setsuna, but most of the multiplayer games have single player components. This isn't a Destiny or COD situation (where single player is laughable). Are there pure single player experiences after Zelda, not really unless you count the gems in the eshop.

However in this newfangled social gaming world...that ship has largely sailed. I've been playing my violin like the band on the Titanic. Or at least Kool and the gang, sorry kings of comedy reference. "What black band do YOU know would keep playing as the ship went down?!"

Edit: I miss Clover so much.

@Ryu_Niiyama Okami as a brand is Capcom's baby, but Okami as a creation is all Kamiya. A port camcom can probably do without messing it up too badly. A new entry, I have little hope.

Well not counting gameplay time but the actual games. One of the issues Reggie said they're focusing on is not creating a drought like post-WiiU launch. And they're releasing one major game a month more or less (1st party), so Zelda, yes, but that was launch day in March, April is Kart, May is nothing (Disgaea for those it counts for which may/may not include me, but hoping!), June is Arms, July is Splatoon (and beyond that is a mystery until E3.) But that's 4 months of the big release being an online game (plus one blank month. Vs 1 month of single player. You're right though Kart does have single player. MK8 is the first one that feels like it toned that down. Arms...we honestly don't know if it has any single player at all yet. It could be Destiny. I thought they'd have cleared that up in the direct, but I'm guessing there's an Arms direct in late May/early June. Splatoon...well the single player campaign in Splatoon 1 was kind of laughable. It was a 6 hour extended tutorial at best. Not really a campaign you pay $60 for. At least it was better than Ryse

So yeah, it's kind of top heavy. And the bite sized games in the e-shop, great as some may be, are still significantly made of either small games or retro games (and no, Neo Geo games don't count for most gamers I know you're big into them though! ) . The bigger eshop games such as Bloodstained, Yooka, Toejam, Steamworld etc are all pushed back until more or less that post-Splatoon 2 window as far as we know.

Though I'd disagree about the "newfangled social gaming world", that seems to be what Nintendo's trying to push early in the Switch life, but given the response to Zelda, the big wins in Playstation land, and Nintendo's own holding back of the single player experiences for the holidays I think the ship is nicely anchored

Don't get me wrong, the year-1 overall library is great. And I think even with no games removed the year 1 library is still great. I just think it's imbalanced in terms of WHEN they're releasing WHAT. Swap Skyrim or Sonic (not Nintendo) or a 3rd party surprise, or a port of some WiiU game like X or Bayonetta or something into that slot and bump Arms or Splatoon or Kart to whatever slot those are for and it would have had a more balanced approach. (Ok, we got Lego City port and that's a great game, though I'm dismayed that apparently handheld mode is botched which I actually already re-bought it for handheld specifically, grrr!) But I do have to stop forgetting the lego city port in this mix even if Warner made a mess of it.

@electrolite77 "Or looked at the Japanese schedule with DQ and the seiken denetsu collection and forgot they aren't coming West. Wouldn't surprise me."

Yeah, actually you're probably very right on that and I wasn't even thinking of that. And where's the DQ11 Switch port in ANY country? But yeah, Nintendo myopically assumes Japan is everywhere and only Japan matters despite that NoA is their #1 territory now. facepalm

And I do think (adding on from my politics discussion in the NES Mini conversation if you saw it) the current lineup matches what Koizumi sees as the Switch's purpose. I.E. motion games, party games, "play together" (one could say 'playing together as we...or wii...or Wii...) and that is his version of differentiation....I'm not sure that's all Nintendo's thinking but he clearly had the biggest voice in the lead-up to launch and shaping the landscape. And he seems to not have any interest at all in handheld mode )

So it's a mix of poor planning, myopic Japan-centric planning, and a bit of the Koizumi intra-office fan club shaping Switch as " a group play machine" in the vein of portable Wii more than it's hybrid handheld core. Post Zelda, and post NoA outselling JPN, that ideology will butt against some more heads in the company.... (seriously brace yourself for E3 and all of Koizumi's beloved "new IP's focusing on unique Joycon use", and get your NL bingo card ready...heck, I'll be one of the complainers on that one )

Well I do agree mostly on WiiU's struggles, but I do also think Kart and Smash are not the hardware movers people think of them as. Popular games, sure, and for the Wii and it's focus it fit super well, but I'm not sure they push hardware as online games in the way, say, Halo traditionally has for XBox. I think Switch will still be hard to find on shelves, but I don't think it's going to be because of Kart and Smash nearly as much as Zelda and Mario. But I think they're games people will buy because they bought the hardware for Zelda and Mario and they're fun games to also have.

I absolutely love the Switch and am going out of my way finding games even random indies to play despite my backlog of massive top shelf games on 3DS and PS4 because I simply love playing on Switch, but I still have to admit that despite being better than the game-less 6 months after WiiU launch that the post Zelda window consisting of 4 months of 3 mostly online games, a bunch of small indie games, and Disgaea (awesome but super-niche) doesn't really count as a very versatile launch period. It is what it is, and the good stuff is coming later, but it's a calendar that does highlight the lack of Nintendo 3rd parties more than they should have allowed.

But like you said, the lineup in Japan is a lot more filled in, so it might be more a case of "Nintendo only looks at Japan and the West gets the leftovers of that policy." That's an angle I wasn't viewing it from (well that and Koizumi's Yokoi-clone policy on games )

@NEStalgia I didn't even mention Neo Geo so that ping doesn't count against me! Haha!

So, I'm looking at the library as a whole, and not just Nintendo's content. There is something (if not multiple games) coming every month well into the late summer months. Nothing in May? Minecraft, disgaea 5 and Street Fighter. Yes they are all ports/upgrades but many will be new to switch owners that are Nintendo only or skipped the wiiu. That is a lot of people. Well we still haven't had e3 so there is that, and do you really want them to swap Skyrim earlier? I want the game to WORK. I don't advocate gen to gen ports. The twins really, really burned me out on that and it still puts wiiu owners in the position of having very little to play unless they are willing to double dip. Granted, even with the current ports I don't think we are in that situation at all. I know a bunch of people here are feeling like Nintendo shot their dog and burned down their house. I'm a day one wiiu owner and the only game I'm kinda meh about is MK8D, mainly because right now I wouldn't be playing in portable mode as much and I've done most of the SP stuff already. However, it is MK8 which is a fantastic game on its own. I think I'm still going to get it though...

(I spent longer than 6 hours on splatoon's SP campaign...) How was the SP aspect in MK8 toned down? Honestly curious, I think I went online a grand total of three times. Hmm, I hope you are right about the focus on SP in general, I've been feeling left out over the past several years to the point that I was considering going Nintendo only again or exiting the current market altogether. Too many games are losing SP focus (Rainbow six how I miss thee.) or getting MP shoehorned in (AC, ME...although at this point I'm done with Bioware and Ubisoft and I are in an abusive relationship.) and there is the fact that many of the industry's darlings have been rather bland to me (I do NOT understand the love for Witcher 3...yeah I said it).

Granted, I love the switch so I'm in for at least one more gen.

@Ryu_Niiyama You know I think I have a similar thread of discussion with Jaxon in another thread and keep getting confused which one I've commented on which points

Ok, I won't count Neo Geo against you. I do find the lineup of Neo Geo games an iffy launch window entry to be promoting. "It plays 1990s arcade games!" isn't exactly the way you want to launch your system Though when I talk about system sellers it's not as though Switch really needs one, it's impossible to find and I doubt that will change until 2018. Once a MONTH restocks just aren't cutting it.

Anyway, the library as a whole, yeah I did mention SF and Disgaea earlier but that might have been the other thread with Jaxon and not this one, oops! SF has to kind of count, but considering there hasn't been a system with some SF version at launch since like 1993, does it count much? And the reason I tend not to count Disgaea even though I'm personally hyped for it (though I'm tempering my hype, I wanted to love 4 on Vita, tried to love it, enjoyed the start, and then they opened up to this dizzying array of incomprehensible item purchases that I understood none of, and threw me into battles I was getting one-shot non stop and put the game down pretty much in chapter 2 forever....so I'm reserving my hype for 5...but it's still a "big" game to me if it doesn't go badly.) BUT that's about as niche as niche can possibly get outside the really outside anime otaku games the Vita gets....though it's close... So it's hard to count it among meaningful general audience releases even if to me it is. Especially when 3DS is getting more general releases.

Skyrim...well it's Bethsda. It's a 6 year old game. You know it's going to be equally broken if they released it launch day or fall of 2037. If it's not broken, that would be a game-breaking bug.

But yeah I was going to say the gen to gen ports thing I thought you were against it. I'm mostly against it, but at least the WiiU had a library of very big, good games that very few people bought the hardware for. But as a WiiU owner that played them all already, RELYING on the ports would make it just an updated WiiU like PS4 did which would be awful. Including them ALSO though would extend access to those games (come on, Tokyo Mirage and XCX are just begging to be ported....nobody played those games.)

I'm still undecided on both MK8 and Splatoon 2 in some ways. MK8 because, well, I've never been a HUGE MK8 fan (maybe it's because MK1 broke my Nintendo TV and I was without my consoles for a while because of it ) Splatoon 2 because I put SOOO much time into S1 I really need to play other games. But I know I'll get Splatoon 2 anyway....because addiction. Arms....we'll see what they say about single player. If it's competition only it's probably a no-buy. Kart...maybe...I played it on WiiU but I didn't play it tons. But part of that is because to me a racing game is something you have your week or so of fun with and move on and maybe come back to for a race here or there periodically.

You spent longer than 6 hours on Splatoon's campaign? I'm jealous! I wish it had more time. It was really little more than a tutorial wrapped as a campaign. The "real game" is online. I've long wished for a real campaign....maybe this time, but I'm not holding my breath.
But then I got more obsessed with the online than any game since Quake 1 on PC (before 3dfx cards even ran glquake) but...Xenoblade X took the fall for it...I hardly spent any time with it.

I should clarify with MK8 SP, when I said toned down I didn't mean scaled back, I just meant toned down, as in, not the primary focus of the game as it once was. There was a lot of SP there, but it kind of felt "there" rather than "this is why you load this disc." in presentation and community.

About SP though, I feel like it's cyclical. I've seen the same loop before in the PC realm. It felt like single player was dead, the pundits and forums all talked about how multiplayer was the future, various big devs talked about how everything would be mostly multiplayer in the future, single always online was the thing to do, and ever big game had to shoehorn bad multiplayer into it and their focus seemed to always be on the multiplayer. And then years of tons of AAA single player happened and then people were complaining that "no games do multiplayer anymore!" The difference right now is I think Japan is where the west was 10, 15 years ago and trying to cram multi into everything because "that's where it's at!" But it will probably ebb again. One reason it's so big to be driving online is driving season passes to extend the income on a game that can't pay for itself in sales. Squeenix is becoming a titan of that. But even Nintendo's doing that right now which is annoying, honestly. I think the big pubs would love to realign around MMO style systems where you mostly keep playing the same games with updates, and it makes their cash flow more predictable and keeps "AAA graphics!" costs more maintainable. I was really sad to see what R6 became. Reducing mission based well scripted campaigns down to an online squad shooter? How budget can you get? Some of that might involve the fact that Tom Clancy died and thus they have no story creator anymore. Not that the games were fully written by him or anything, but I predicted the series would tank after his oversight left, and then we got Siege. Coincidence?

But I think it's cyclical in part because publishers never know what they want. For now, the idea of DLC/Season Passes/Subscriptions and being able to crank out less AAA expensive games and keep them "current" longer is what they want to save money. But then they realize the longevity of those games is dipping into their new game sales and their value is tanking so then they swing hard back to single player.

Nintendo picked a weird time to get into focusing squarely on multiplayer considering the console they're pushing is all about being portable....where you're not going to have much, if any, net connection half the time. We're probably 5-10 years away from ubiquitous quality reliable wireless internet at minimum .

And then we see the sales. Multiplayer games are not lighting the charts or creating industry buzz the way Zelda, Horizon, Until Dawn, P5, GoW, etc. seem to. They might enjoy their #1 seller windows, but usually just the same franchises.

Funny you'd say Witcher 3. Remember when Nintendo teased Witcher 3 on Switch? What happened to that? I'm curious though what don't you like about it? I never played it but kept hearing it was so utterly amazing best thing ever so much better than skyrim, etc. etc. I don't honestly know much about it...but I'm curious what you dislike about it?