Feature: The Big Nintendo Direct Summary - 3rd March 2016

This Direct was a good one as far as I was concerned. Looks like a fun summer!

See no-one is talking about the Japanese announcement of a Super Famicom New 3DS LL.

@GauBan likely coz' like the call for pokemon go testers, it's japan only - for now.

You guys forgot to mention Dragon Quest VII! I know we weren't given a solid date, but there were a couple of minutes of footage on the Direct last night!

As someone who couldn't stand Bill Trinen a couple of years ago I thought it was a really good ND, even w/o Zelda U at the end where it should have been, but Kirby in skells!?!?, how can you not be happy with that? And Paper Mario was a big surprise, even if we already knew about it from leaks, but it was still an officially new game, and it looked beautiful - I'm a sucker for papercraft graphics, nice change from cell shading and 8 bit pixels.

And my kids were really excited for me, both commented "no Reggie".
It's possible I never play any of these, but it was still really well put together. And I didn't see it in the above list, but the Kirby amiibo line was really cute for what are basically 3 reskins and a non-descript minion, but they looked good.

Biggest take away - even with all the Wii U content - updates, release dates and new games - 3DS still seemed the winner, and NX content may reflect that. Why compete against PS4 and Xbox One, which itself is having problems against PS4, when you can compete against Vita?

Plenty in the ND to get Nintendo thru until E3, then NX. Much better year than last year.

Very strong 3DS lineup but I'm so glad I got addicted to Hyrule Warriors back in 2014 (and its still continuing) as that means the Wii U drought in the 2nd half will be much less harsh thanks to games like XCX and TMS#FE.

So... We have Paper Mario... is that releasing before the Fall? If not, what justification does Nintendo have to not talk about Zelda U? Unless is really is not for just the Wii U... I guess the direct "focused" on Spring and Summer releases which could potentially mean a few things may not be in that window.

As for Paper Mario as a whole, I was genuinely getting a excited for it... until the trailer kept going and then left me concerned wondering if Miyamoto will ruin this one as well and take it down the same road as Sticker Star. I was really hoping to see a Paper Mario game that went back to the roots of what Paper Mario once was. There is a reason why only a small handful of people will call Super Paper Mario their favourite and even fewer for Sticker Star.

With Hyrule Warriors, it did kind of sadden me that the only way to get the 3DS Characters on the Wii U is to buy an inferior game that is the same as the Wii u one for the most part. At least they gave a free character though in the end but it is still disappoint that they went that route with the 3DS characters.

Though, this direct did get me looking in the Star Fox again and if the reviews and stuff looks good, I may go and pick it up.

is it also odd to be interested in the Mario and Sonic game? ha ha. I never cared for the Sochi one bought but this one seemed to actually have a bit more to it though, it will definitely not be a day one buy.

It was a nice Direct around 6/10 for the Wii U and 8/10 for the 3ds so overall I would say the Direct was a good 7/10.

@GauBan Why would anyone talk about a Japan-exclusive announcement on a website with primarily a western audience?

@Fazermint @Jamotello but it's still Nintendo news. People like myself like to see the stuff that Japan is getting. It's not like these items are hard to get.

This Direct was decent. I will be getting these that were featured: Genei Ibun Roku #FE Is Now Called Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE In The West, Bravely Second, Star Fox and SNES games. These are possibles: Paper Mario Color Splash (I need more info on the battle system) and Metroid Prime: Federation Force (just need more info period). They sold me for this year.

I was kind of hoping for a picross 3d 2 localization announcement. At least we finally have a fates release date.

Missed the first half but liked what I saw mostly. Will be hoping to snag the special edition FE Fates and there were some nice indie titles like Futuridium (have met the creators) and the game had a bit of a Star Fox feel.

Have to watch the rest of the trailers still but looking forward to Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I need me a quirky, Japanese JRPG once I finish Xeno X (hopefully I will be done by June!). Oh also want that Day 1 Star Fox edition; I just hope the arwing scheme unlock only requires a single "swipe" so I can borrow a friend's amiibo.

As for the new Paper Mario, anyone know whether it will have a story closer to 1000 Year Door rather than the almost non-existent Sticker Star story?

As for Zelda U, I'm getting more convinced that it will be a dual release but for something so big they are probably saving it for E3.

As for Metroid Prime FF; whilst Inwasn't screaming for blood last year it left me with a slightly cocked "WTH is this?" Head. I still don't like its "chibi / SD" design and wish they had gone for a more realistic look. I mean Hunters looked good on the DS!

@GauBan Sure. It's your own responsibility to catch those news, not NL.

@Fazermint But being a site that reports exclusively on Nintendo and having also talked about Nintendo Japan announcements in the past including showing off Japanese exclusive consoles/adverts and game releases. Also know that there are enough people here who have a fondness for the Super Nintendo I would have thought this would have been mentioned, It could even have been a mentioned along with their Super Nintendo 3DS VC post.

As for responsibility of finding out news isn't that one of the main reasons why we come to NL. A place which has a single concentration of Nintendo news???

Everytime I get discouraged that nothing new is coming from these, it reminds me that it's because they must be putting all their effort into NX titles and I smile! Nintendo will be back on top this next gen!

Only thing I am sad about is that detective Pikachu wasn't even mentioned

@NewAdvent I really like it to, but do I love it enough to replace my Charizard 3DS LL??? I know that someone makes a set for the New 3DS, that is kind of the same, which includes cover plate stickers. Maybe I'll just get that and wrap a cheap faceplate set and leave the rest of the stickers alone.

I think the direct was quite good for me, all i wanted was a good starfox and a date for FE. And they delivered both

I'm very excited for the e3 now..
my dream would be a new mario striker, wii u games on nx (for xcx), zelda u, a good pokémon for nx, and some 3rd-party ports that i missed.

Not the best, but it was pretty decent.

Haven't watched the Direct yet but the idea of Paper Mario Color Splash has got me the most excited so far.

@ThomasBW84 So, do you now feel certain that 2016 is turning into a year of optimism? Personally, I think things are looking better than at the end of last year, but since you wrote that piece at the beginning of the year, was wondering what NL thinks now.

Last year, Reggie mentioned that they were going to focus presentations on games soon to be released — i.e. half a year out at most.

Honest, I will say that I enjoyed this direct, compared to the disappointment I had with Smash Bros Final Presentation and Pokemon Directs. Okay, sure, I'll admit that as a huge Paper Mario fan who enjoyed all four released titles thus far, I felt mixed about Color Splash being a follow up to Sticker Star in terms of gameplay (though I am withholding judgment until more info is revealed).

Aside from that, there were a lot of things in this direct I liked very much: Star Fox Zero info, Super Mario Maker update, SNES VC on New 3DS (please Please PLEASE put Super Mario All Stars on New 3DS, Nintendo!), Mini Mario and Friends heading over, Mario & Sonic Rio coming to Wii U in the summer, and the announcement of Kirby Planet Robobot that sealed the deal for me (and I though HAL Lab was too busy on the Box Boy franchise)

I never expected myself to be quite happy since the November 2015 direct, so this is an easy thumbs up for me to give. 8/10

I hope this is coming to Europe/Australia

Kirby, Star Fox and Paper Mario all looked great to me.

Federation Force has me curious, will look forward to more previews.

In my opinion, for my gaming tastes Nintendo has a better lineup for the year than the PS4 does... actually this year the Wii U on it's own has a more fun lineup than the PS4 does.

Plus the PS4 doesn't have anything like the Shibata dance.

Personally, I have really enjoyed the past 2 Directs after a disastrous E3 in 2015. I was very critical of Nintendo but I like where things are going this year. There are a lot of games that have me interested but I'm still worried that Zelda Wii U is no where to be found. Nintendo wont keep people satisfied until we know more about that game.

I thought Star Fox looked much better and I'm now leaning towards buying this game. However, I will wait until there are some reviews and gameplay online. Bravely Second is my most anticipated game and Dragon Quest has me excited, too. I have quite the backlog on my Wii U so I don't need a ton of releases for that system to make me happy. The 3DS is being spoiled this year and I am loving it! There were more than enough goodies in this Direct to keep me smiling through to the summer. I'm hoping E3 2016 will be all about Zelda Wii U and the NX console.

I watched the Direct a few hours after it aired and I was pleasantly surprised. Star Fox wasn't delayed, but on top of that it is coming with an additional game included. I dont expect a lot out of SFGuard but who knows....maybe it will surprise like Captain Toad.

Also SMTxFE (sorry the new name escapes me) is being released in a few months when I was expecting it october or later.

It will be interesting to see what E3 beings other then an NX reveal and a 5 min Zelda U segment.

I was pleased to see that Star Fox is graphically improved (slightly), but the lack of decent (online) multiplayer is bothering me. Paper Mario was a letdown, since i personally disliked Sticker Star, lets see when we will know something more about the game.

I am worried by the lack of news about Zelda U, probably the last WiiU game I am interested in.... it is more and more looking like will be a cross release between WiiU and NX, if not only NX release.

My expectations were low, so the Direct was enjoyable, but I still see no playing time on my WiiU in near future, apart Xenoblade and Hyrule Warriors (which I love)

I thought it was pretty good overall. The only half surprise I'd say was the Kirby announcement. However, the voice actor had tweeted earlier so we knew something was up.

Paper Mario is something we had all heard about. This along with the Pokemon Direct leak about Sun and Moon has me thinking a lot about NX. There are a lot of people getting a lot of Nintendo rumors right.

Do you think this lends more credence to some of the NX speculation that has been going on? Just a thought.

This Nintendo Direct was amazing, for 3DS at least. Monster Hunter X was the only game I was hoping for and we got it. SNES on New 3DS! Finally.

@fortius54 I believe so. Some of the leaks had also lot of sense, like NX being architecturally close to ps4 and xbox, for porting simplicity.
And also sounds natural that Nintendo is trying to win back third parties, they cannot survive without them, no way to expand the user base by running alone.

@fortius54 Speaking of Rumors, It seems that user GENO (the same guy about NX leaks) leaked that Nintendo agreed with Activision to bring Destiny on NX.....

Pretty happy with the Direct! Star Fox Zero, for the first time, actually looks great. Prior to yesterday I was very much on the fence about it but now it looks like it will be a day 1 purchase! Paper Mario Color Splash looks fun, not quite the Paper Mario I was hoping for, but I think I'll get it and I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Super Nintendo games on 3DS was the highlight, especially since EarthBound is my #1 game of all time and finally I can play it on a portable! And a new Kirby game I wasn't expecting and I always love Kirby games so this is a bonus! Even Metroid Prime Federation Force looks pretty good. Overall a very good Direct!

@MrGawain Wow. As much as I love my Wii U I doubt I'd exchange Paper Mario (meh), Starfox (fingers crossed) and Zelda (does it really exist?) with Dark Souls 3, Uncharted 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Rathcet & Clank, Doom, No man's sky, Star Ocean 5, the new Deus Ex, NiER, God Eater, the 2 Valkyria games...

Trinen sucks. He didn't even give us the traditional "Directly to you" line at the very beginning. >:[

Came away really happy with this direct. Glad to see Starfox is taking a resemblance to the N64 version with added goodness. I'm assuming that Zelda U is being withheld for E3 when it will be discussed along with NX as a multi system release.

The 3DS lineup is insane! This was definitely the last Nintendo Direct before E3.

Miyamoto looks like the joker.

@Gerbwmu If you reverse the name you'll get it:
SMT#FE -> TMS #FE
It was probably intentional.

Anyway, the direct was boring for me.
I'm only interested in bravely second =/

Nintendo had sang the final swan song for this generation. These are all the games they have for 3DS and Wii U, now let's move from the past to the NX.

@GauBan And how they have much more SNES games for the 3DS, Street Fighter and Megaman X, sigh...

Overall the direct for me was solid. Also the feel of the direct kinda felt a bit sterile compared to the other directs and it has too much bill trien 7.8/10. Are they gearing up for E3 with that NX?

@bezerker99 Heh, you're not the only one that noticed.

My Summary: "Here's a game we talked about in the past 9 Nintendo directs, here's a lot of DLC, if you pre order the DLC you'll get this exclusive Best Buy DLC for your DLC early access DLC Amiibo. Lastly we assure you that Federation Force doesn't suck and isn't a cash grab... Seriously."

@andreoni79

It was a personal opinion. I own a PS4 and I'm curious about Ratchet and Clank but suspicious about it's overall quality, at the moment indifferent to Uncharted 4, and skeptical we'll see the Last Guardian and if it'll live up to the hype. The rest mean little or nothing to me.

@Charinzardon true. So there is a lot more Japanese Nintendo content than people think on here.

They talked a lot and showed a lot but all I heard was desperation and repetition.

Not a good Direct, but not an awful one either. Just subpar. Still, it was nice feeling excited about Directs again even if the presentation was nothing special.

Is it me or does Shigsy look really creepy in that picture?

I was not really interested overall with the games, since I don't really play my 3DS as often. Kind of sad that Hyrule Warriors Legends transfer is only characters and a weapon with nothing else, it also get all the Wii U DLC for cheaper on top of getting new DLC and season pass.

Hopefully the Wii U version get them later.

Still no update on Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem? You disappoint me big N.

@retro_player_22 It was in the EU Direct. Now called Tokyo Mirage Seesions#FE. Keeping in the orignal Japanese audio with subtitles. Looked interesting in that slightly surreal Japanese way.

Overall solid Direct. Even with the three leaks being proven correct (and the first time a Direct has ever been leaked), there were still some surprises with Rhythm Heaven Megamix and of course Kirby Planet Robobot.

The negatives to me were the lack of Boxboy 2 and Detective Pikachu.

I think Star Fox Zero is actually looking solid, but it's not a day one for me because Ratchet & Clank is higher on my priority list. Will get the game later.

If 2016 is the 3DS's last year, it's certainly going out with a bang! I'd say it's the second best year for the system, behind only the godly 2013.

On a side note, I think the presentation itself was excellent. The order of the games shown allowed for easy flowing transitions.

@Sakura So it got a name change. That's interesting, I just want them to update when the game will have an NA release that's all. Hopefully a release date will be announced before or during E3.

@retro_player_22 Turns out it was in the NA Direct too! Launching June 24th in both regions.

@Sakura Thanks man, I look forward to the game. As you know I'm a huge Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei player so a game with this much fan service (same for Project X Zone 2) is one I'm much excited for.

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@Lord

Tone down your profanity or else you'll be getting a ban.

Not that I'm complaining but your're killing me Nintendo. It went from no quality releases in 2015 to getting bombarded this year. Fire Emblem, Bravely Second, Snes classics will take up all my free time and don't forget Zero Escape 3. Not that I'm complaining

It was a nice direct. I'm looking forward to the new Kirby and new Paper Mario games. Now that I've got a WiiU, I'll definitely pick up Star Fox Zero as one of our next games. The Solitaire/Racehorse game is weird, still not interested in Federation Force. Looking forward to seeing more of Pokemon Sun/Moon. I like the new Kirby and Waddledee, but I still want a re release of old Metaknight and Dedede. The new ones suck.