Round Up: Everything Announced In The February 2021 Nintendo Direct

Gonna get crap for this, but whatever at this point...

...

I really hate that the only two announcements that I genuinely cared about are both ports of years old games (Ninja Gaiden Collection and Skyward Sword HD). Splatoon 3, despite looking good, feels way too soon. Some of that attention for other series would be appreciated Nintendo. Considering all the 3rd party stuff, it would of at least been nice to hear about stuff from Atlus (SMT3 and SMT5?) and maybe Platinum (Bayonetta 3?).

Good to see Nintendo are now porting the 3DS games./s Guess they ran out of Wii U titles they wanted to port.

All the other announcements were fine I guess but... shrug

This was not worth the wait.

My favourite announcements were Metroid Prime Trilogy HD and Pikmin 4

Splatoon 3... didn't expect it to come so soon, but I believe it's worth seeing unlike what a lot of people are saying.

Splatoon 2 is nowhere near perfect, and it's a clear example of how a subscription service makes the overall game more expensive. If you ask me, Splatoon 2 is just a fine-tuned Splatoon 1, with the gimmicky aspects removed and new features added. Besides that, not much was necessarily new.

I'm so mad for Konami that keep releasing eBaseball games on Nintendo Switch but NO DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION A20+ for Nintendo Switch ?? 😤

My body and feet are totally ready to play DDR A20+ on video game console.

I am absolutely stoked to have something in these covid times to look forward to, and so so nice that the internet didn't ruin the splatoon surprise.

I may go for Ninja Gaiden but I was surprised and left disappointed about Mario golf. It is nice they are paying homage to Iawata but the game looks a bit weak. The Zelda game was the biggest let down for me.

Edit:
After re-watching some of the trailers I like that they are incorporating the Wii remote features into JoyCon controls. I think more of this would greatly expand the reach of the Switch audience and bring more innovative gameplay into the market much like the Wii. That being said I may get Skyward Sword but the price is a bit too high. Mario Golf seems interesting now but I will wait on that as it seems more like a pack in game than a full experience. I will get Ninja Gaiden but now now.

Looking forward to:

• Mario Golf
• Triangle Strategy
• Outer Wilds
• Fall Guys with my family
• Legend of Mana
• No more Heroes III
• Famicom Detective Club

And maybe Zelda Skyward Sword HD and Splatoon 3, since I have Skyward Sword on Wii already and since I’m still playing Splatoon 2 now and then and that game feels endless.

@MS7000 I get how you feel but you might wanna wait a bit longer for more announcements. For me the Splatoon 3 announcement was perfect. I always wanted to try out Splatoon 2 but I felt like I was way too late on the hype train considering I missed most events and so I never bothered. A lot of people are also disappointed by the lack of Zelda - Just remember that for the 30th anniversary for Fire Emblem (which was last year) we got the very first game localized in english for a limited time. Just be patient, there are lots of games to play.
Maybe it's also because the direct was very interesting to me since I'm a huge JRPG nerd. Legend of Mana, the triangle project from Square, Ninja Gaiden, Zelda Joycons + Skyward Sword which is one of my favourite games lore-wise AND the smash announcement was huge for me.
Also iirc they didn't mention the Zelda anniversary yesterday so we might get a dedicated one soon, who knows.

I hope the west gets The Caligula Effect 2 because I liked the first one and does that mean we are getting a season 2 for the anime?? Lol. The direct was cool and still have hope for Zelda wind waker and twilight princess and xenoblade Chronicles x getting ports to switch to.

There were definitely some highlights (Mario Golf, Splatoon 3), but this was a tad less exciting than I had hoped. But it’s hard to complain, seeing as we went a year and a half without one of these. Hopefully this is a sign that full-fat Directs are going to be a regular thing again.

@Anti-Matter Give it a rest and talk about something else. Your posts about Dance Dance Revolution are tiring to read at this stage.

Outer Wilds was def the highlight of that direct for me. An actual winner of GOTY awards coming to Switch - be excited.

@Friendly Same list for me but replace Mario Golf with Ninja Gaiden and we're set.
Also i heard a rumour about Fire Emblem 4 getting the Echoes treatment so if that proves to be true it's gonne be huge.

I had no expectations and got plenty of things on my list now. Age of Calamity DLC and Legend of Mana are probably my favorite announcements for this years, Skyward Sword is nice too.

@Rob3008
I am a huge fan of DDR games.
I'm really waiting for that game.
To see Konami keep supporting Non Rhythm games on consoles but keep making Arcade Only Rhythm games (DDR, Beatmania IIDX, Gitadora, etc) just made me frustrated.

Splatoon 3 looks exciting but it's next year. Triangle Strategy looks exciting but it's next year. Mario Golf looks fun, I will get it...but it's just Mario Golf, it's not super exciting.

Personally I don't care for the new Smash addition. They don't seen unique or iconic. First one in the second fighter pass that's disappointed me.

Fall Guys on Switch is excellent but I have it on Playstation already, just hoping it has crossplay.

Famicon Detective Club is super cool! Very happy to see something more niche supported by Nintendo. But it's not for me. I like the idea of this type of game way more than I like the game itself. But it made me happy to see.

I don't know what Worlds End Club is... I like the character design though.

Neon White looks just like an FPS but with a picture of a card instead of a model of a gun? I feel I'm missing something?

There was a lot bit very little actually caught my attention. A lot of it really felt like they were struggling to get enough content for a full Direct. I'd rather they did like a mini 'remasters & ports' direct and then waited until we had some more exciting news for things like Bayonetta 3, Pokemon Snap, Metroid Prime 4 etc. Oh well.

I'm undecided on what next. Are they holding back on more for Zeldas 35th because we are still in Mario's 35th? Or is that optimism? It was an OK direct. It just felt like they needed 1 or 2 more Nintendo IP announcements. Where were the big third party titles? 1 or 2 if them would have helped.

Shame F-Zero gets no love. 3 Splatoon games in 7 years and not an F-Zero in almost 17 years. They need to show a bit of love to the old franchise.
Looking forward to No More Heroes III if they release a trilogy box set and Mario Golf should be a laugh.
It wasn't a bad direct but after so long we were expecting a lot more after so long since the last one.

I think the best part of the Direct is knowing there is more to come.
I think Skyward Sword is a fantastic Zelda, probably the best Story of all, but I really hope Fi is changed.
Golf looks fun,

Just Mario Golf and Fall Guys for me.

I think it's disgusting Nintendo is charging $60 for Skyward Sword when Mario 3D All-Stars had Mario Galaxy (from the same generation as Skyward Sword) plus two other games for the same price. I don't care if it's "HD" because the graphics actually looked terrible and analog controls don't justify the cost. Mario Galaxy also had analogue controls. Furthermore it's the worst and most gimicky 3D Zelda. This shoud've been in a compilation of three games like Mario.

And I say this as someone who's previously defended Nintendo's pricing and port strategy... but they're pushing it too far now. Miitopia pricing is a joke too, for a 3DS port.

I agree with the chat that do we need another Splatoon game when there are SO many IPs that haven't had ANY love for years (F-Zero, Kid Icarus, Advance Wars etc etc). I love SS and its an amazing game if you've not played it but as the big surprise, Splatoon was disappointing. They love it in Japan though so it's not totally out there.

I've got to think that things like BotW2 and Splatoon 3 are intended as launch titles for the Switch Pro at this point.

This was definitely a case where less would have been more. The direct may have had 50 minutes of new games but the gaming market is so over saturated as of late that the direct really felt like just a ton of ports and JRPGs. I’m stoked for Mario Golf, the Skyward Sword remaster is nice, and Splatoon 3 was a nice surprise. Considering those are the 3 big “Nintendo” titles, I feel like they could have condensed the directs other showings to like half the length.

I came out happy but only cared for like 15 minutes of the games, which is why I think I’m hearing a lot of controversy with this Direct despite the good games on offer.

still trying to process that splatoon 3 is a thing and as i've said before i'm so happy with how nmh 3 is looking, most anticipated game of the year

@GH7Cloud I appreciate the sentiment, and I certainly wouldn't mind a Zelda anniversary direct, but I am fed up of waiting on Nintendo anymore. I don't particularly feel like waiting around for months/years on end for an announcement which I am not even sure is going to interest me. Nintendo has such a wonderful selection of series available to make new games from (Donkey Kong, Pikmin, Pilot Wings, F-Zero, Warioware/Land, Rhythm Heaven, Wave Race and more) but it is always either ports of those games, or nothing at all. BOTW2 isn't even particularly exciting for me despite Zelda being my favourite franchise, because BOTW, whilst a good game, does not feel like a good Zelda game to me and I am not sure I like the direction the series is going. Pokémon holds no interest for me. Mario interests me in terms of a new mainline game, but I can't see that happening for another couple of years at earliest.

Solid - albiet not mindblowing - direct for me, though I'm speaking from someone who wasn't expecting to see BOTW2, Prime 4, or Bayo 3. I'm sure this Direct was disappointing if you only were only interested in seeing those games.

Splatoon 3, Triangle Strategy, Mario Golf Speed Rush, and Neon White were my personal highlights. Famicom Detective Club getting localized and Miitopia getting ported to an active platform were also pretty nice. Bummed that Skyward Sword HD costs so much.

H1 2021 looks to be a strong couple of months for Switch from Nintendo and some 3rd parties.

Completely dissapointed with the whole thing, there was nothing interesting, just a load of ports and a load of sequels of games that I have no interest in. Yippee sigh

Main pick for me:

Project Triangle Strategy,
Outer Wilds,
Legend of Mana.

Not that fussed about Skyward Sword but I'll likely pick it up at some point if the non motion controls are done well.

The wife is keen for the Famicom Detective games and World's End Club.

I was so hyped and taken aback by the end of the splatoon 3 trailer that I was literally crying. That announcement alone would've been enough for me to consider this a good direct but it didn't stop there (or I guess it did since that was the final announcement but you get what I mean).

other than that, I never got to play Skyward Sword so I'm looking forward to that, same thing with miitopia, new Mario Golf seems like a lot of fun, triangle strategy seems fun even though I hate strategy games, stubbs the zombie is back and I ain't complaining, worlds end club seems promising and Pyra/Mythra in smash is hype. Can't go wrong with big tiddy sword waifus, right?

so yeah basically 0/10 no zelda cdi remakes, worst direct ever

@Ogbert I think the first half of 2021 is easily the best first half since 2017. Like none of the other years compare since the first half of the year is usually weak.

The problem is too many people watch with insane expectations and then get disappointed. Nintendo didn't really talk about any games slated for the latter half of the year and the first half is always weaker than the latter half.

There were like 5 first party announcements not counting Smash Bros: Mario Golf, Splatoon 3, Skyward Sword HD, Famicom Detective Club, and that DC Teen game. Not to mention some other cool announcements.

@Rob3008 you know you can just keep scrolling past some of the comments right? There's no reason to game-shame anyone or their posts about their favorite games.

@MS7000 Yup I feel the same. The last two pokémon games were not up to quality of what they could do. I'm mostly and only interested in Mainline Mario games or the occasional Mario + Luigi games - a Rhythm Heaven game is long overdue and BotW feels more like and exploration game rather than the usual narrative driven "puzzle" games that we're used to.

At the end of the day they've got a game or more every month. Not all of them appeal to new, but I've got my eyes on 3 or 4. Plus you would imagine they've got better stuff for September to December.

I’ll probably get a lot of flack for this but I have to say that that was one of the most mediocre Nintendo Directs I’ve ever watched.

After over 500 days, the promise of a “full fat” Direct was exciting. I hoped that with basically nothing big from Nintendo themselves on the horizon, that this would be the day we’d learn about the first party titles to get excited about in 2021. I tempered my expectations as best I could but it says a lot that after that Direct, the game I’m most “excited” about is Mario Golf. And I use that word “excited” very, very loosely in this context.

Seriously, if you think about this Direct through a dispassionate lens, what did this Direct offer us in terms of big “OMG” announcements? Legend of Mana was interesting but hardly huge news. I already pre-ordered Bravely Default 2 so nothing new there. I will concede Splatoon 3 will be huge news for many (but not for me personally) and it’s not even coming this year. The aforementioned Mario Golf looks interesting but only because of the speed golf concept but which, frankly I still have no interest in buying because ultimately it’s still just a golf game (and because the Mario sports games have a mixed track record at best). And that’s it. There was nothing else. Nothing. I mean, we’re one week away from the 35th anniversary of the Zelda series and the only Zelda news we got was “BOTW2 isn’t coming any time soon” and “here’s Skyward Sword, one of the most underwhelming Zelda games ever made, in HD. Buy it please.”

Where’s an update on Bayonetta 3? What the heck is Retro Studios doing? And while I didn’t expect it to be in this Direct, I feel compelled to point out that it’s been almost seven years since Mario Kart 8 came out and almost four since Deluxe. WHERE’S THE NEW MARIO KART? Don’t try to tell me about Home Circuit or Mario Kart World Tour. The former was fun for five minutes but is plagued with technical problems and the latter is a micro-transaction fuelled train wreck. All I want is a proper new Mario Kart, or at the very least some new MK8 DLC. It’s time, Nintendo!

So ultimately, for a Direct that promised to tell us about what was coming in the first half of 2021, I’m left feeling empty with no first party games to look forward to at all in 2021.

At this point, I have to say that I honestly feel that Shuntaro Furukawa has been a disaster for Nintendo. Under his watch, the quality and cadence of Nintendo titles has gone down considerably, with a stronger focus on casualisation and ports and remakes. This culminated in the disaster that was Mario 3D All Stars, a game that could have and should have been amazing and instead was just three games running in an emulator and sold for a full AAA price.

I really, really, really miss Iwata. He didn’t always knock it out of the park, but he was in touch with what Nintendo fans wanted and his leadership is sorely missed.

I'm hoping Splatoon 3 FINALLY nails a full and robust single player experience (the one area that wasn't fully developed in previous iterations).

It was an underwhelming Direct, but really, it shouldn't have been. It's the H1 Direct. The big event games, Mario and Monster Hunter, were already announced. It shouldn't have been a surprise.

There was a lot of third-party stuff, and there's at least one sizeable Nintendo Switch exclusive every month until July. The next showcase, whether that's E3 or another Direct, will reveal the rest-of-the-year stuff. Hopefully some of the bigger brands will be there.

Splatoon gets a sequel because it is a massively popular franchise. F-Zero doesn't get a sequel because it's not a massively popular franchise.

After 18 months nothing interesting...
Disappointment...

after watching that ... my money is staying in my wallet ...

@Clamango Apologies if it came off like that but it's literally the same comments on every single thread so it gets kind of hard to ignore.

OK tbh I'd give it a 5/10
The only big new game revealed for this year was mario golf
BOTW2, splatoon 3 and octopath traveler sequel are coming 2022
A couple more ports and a lot of games that are already on other systems and have been on them for a while
The smash dlc reveal has made me want to but the expansion pass though and give xenoblade chronicles 2 another play though

But overall the second part of this year is looking rather bland (again)
Here's hoping they have another direct around e3 time

Nothing to hype for. Only looking for the Triangle Project and maybe buying Splat3, but no hype at all. Was expecting a good Zelda collection, but a single $60 hd port is not worth it....

@roboshort 5 first party games.

Spaltoon 3 - 2022, not first half 2021
DC Teens - a low budget tie in
Skyward Sword - a port of a Wii game
Famicon Detective Club - new for the west, a nice remake, but let's not pretend it's not a smaller, niche title.
Mario Golf - cool. But as far as first party titles go, it's not a big budget blockbuster.

@ModdedInkling splatoon 3 probably will not be too much different either. Just more of the same, some polish and maybe a new mode or two. It's too popular to change. And I agree, it's too soon.

@beazlen1 Yeah Pikmin 4 is ready, comes in a couple of months.
As for Prime Trilogy, don't worry.
Big N decided that you needed the Miitopia.

Mario golf for me

As I said on twitter:
The last first party games made by Nintendo themselves, aside from remasters, are Origami King from last July and Animal Crossing from last March.
What exactly are they doing?
Xenoblade Chronicles, Pikmin 3,Mario All Stars, Miitopia, 3d World, Skyward Sword?
Previous/current year's ports.

@Clamango Freedom of speech goes two ways. There's been a lot of threads where people shame people who liked this Direct as fanboys who will lap up anything. People are allowed to say that, and people are allowed to say that some people have unrealistic expectations.

No one should have expected MP4 news BTW. The game was literally SCRAPPED and restarted from scratch in 2019. Not just delayed, but completely rebooted. I knew it was going to take 3-4 years at the very least before we heard news. BOTW2 news could be expected, but not MP4.

Such a fantastic announcement, with games like Skyward Sword HD remaster, Apex Legends, Samurai Warriors 5, Monster Hunter Rise, Bravely Default II, and Splatoon 3 coming there's something for everyone. Then we got games like Project Triangle Strategy, SaGa Frontier Remastered, Legend of Mana Remastered, and the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection which are going to be fantastic for on the go play, these are games Nintendo fans will never get on their system and only comes once every blue moon. Perhaps the only few disappointments was that there are no showing of Bayonetta 3, any Metroid games, and Shin Megami Tensei 5 and Nocturne but overall it's an 8/10 for me.

This would have been great... if we hadn't waited a year and a half for it. After all that time without a Direct, I was expecting some sort of mic drop moment.

I'm interested in Project Triangle and possibly double dipping on Skyward Sword, but otherwise, it was just ok.

@Rob3008 You are a braver man than I, hahaha.

Anyways, Legend of Mana is a very welcome surprise. It wasn't a very good game, especially if you were expecting a Secret of Mana successor, but I do fondly remember the beautiful artwork and gorgeous music, so if the price is right, I am definitely getting it.

Project Triangle Story... Terrible name, as was Octopath Traveler, but I can't NOT get it. I hope it takes place in the same world.

I do hope the ending is better than Octopath though.

Seeing those two titles in this Direct though does make me hope for a Final Fantasy Tactics re-release.

16 out of 28 there are insta-buys or insta-downloads. The rest require reviews. I hope the Japan only releases get released here too. Looks ace.

Glad games like Skyward Sword HD, Fall Guys, Mario Golf are coming as were previously predicted.

Upon thinking about it, I just realised that we haven't heard anything about Great Ace Attorney either... Capcom were quiet barring MH:Rise.

@Ogbert I’m not gonna say those titles are ultra exciting for the masses. it’s just the first half is better than what’s come previously cause the first half of the year usually is quite weak.

And we got Snap coming and Buddy Bond was released (though a Japanese exclusive so far) and Super Mario 3d World. Not to mention solid 3rd party titles like Rise.

Nintendo almost always saves the big titles for the end of the year.

The two most interesting things for me are jp only again.
(Sin Chan & eBaseball)

Octopath Tactics was the big one (Played the first map of the demo and already it seems quite good).

Legend of Mana and Saga Frontier ports are quite exciting as well.

Squeenix definitely hard carried.

Quite a few games peaked my interest and will no doubt buy:

Mario Golf
Star Wars: Hunters (apologies I am a SW fan boy)
Zelda
Capcom Arcade Stadium

I just want that Crayon Shin Chan game.

Love the Capcom Arcade trailer as well, you can feel the love they have for all of those classic games.

@MS7000 If you count the games that were announced last year such Rune Factory 5, Disgaea 6, World War Z, Shin Megami Tensei 5 & 3: Nocturne, RetroMania Wrestling, Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Trails of Cold Steel 4, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, Ys IX, Bravely Default II, Bayonetta 3, and Pokemon Snap along with games that were announced this year like Crash 4, Monster Hunter Rise, Monster Hunter Stories 2, The Great Ace Attorney plus the new ones in this presentation and that's a long list of games to look forward to. If that's not enough the rumors of Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Prince of Persia Remastered, Resident Evil Revelations 3, and New Sonic coming to Switch may be something to hope for too.

Direct was overall poor. That DC girls trailer seemed to last 5 minutes (seemed i said).

Not one game shown had me excited.

Not into JRPGs, free to play multiplayer gsmes, and Splatoon 1.75 just feels uneeded as far as switch’s library goes.

I don’t think I’ll get Skyward Sword either unless they fix the handholding.

Yeah idk. I know there is a pandemic, but this last year on Switch has been boring.

I thought it was a pretty good Direct. Here's what got me interested:

• Pyra/Mythra in Smash
• Famicom Detective Club
• Project Triangle Strategy
• Hades physical release
• Skyward Sword HD
• Outer Wilds
• Miitopia
• No More Heroes III
• World's End Club
• Legend of Mana

Buzzing for splat 3, Monster Hunter, skyward sword, golf looks fun as hell! Bunch of fun games coming! Well happy!

People have such strange expectations for these. They were pretty clear this was gonna be mainly stuff for the next 6 months. I think considering they announced Splatoon 3 for next year, and SS and Mario Golf for the next 6 months. When you think about the small number of big hitters left that wouldn't be way too soon for a sequel, and that Nintendo always save their best for the holidays, there's only 2 or 3 possibilities.

Plenty to like here anyway, a new star wars gaming coming to Switch is big. Fall Guys is great for those who havent played it yet, a Ninja Gaiden collection is very welcome, and seeing some more of projector triangle strategy was nice. Also nice to see EA finally bringing one of their bigger games to Switch.

@Ghost_of_Hasashi Half of those don't even have dates yet, so even if they are meant to come out this year, they might as well be non-existent for the time being. Some of the others I could get on other platforms already like Crash 4. Not to mention, the main reason I brought a Switch was for Nintendo games. And there is a distinct lack of new ones coming. Plenty of ports though.

A lot of you sound like you shouldn't even own a switch! A bunch of top quality Nintendo titles just got announced and you're disappointed?!

Not a lot I’m interested in. So thank god for MHR that should keep me busy until something decent drops.
Tho from the direct all the good stuff is 2022!

Legend of Mana and NMH 3 are the only games I care about from those announced. They didn't need a direct to announce all that trash.

People are disappointed because instead of flagship series (new Zelda, Mario, Metroid, F Zero, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, Star Fox), we get old ports, remasters, Mario Golf, and Splatoon from Nintendo. I like Splatoon but not enough to save this Direct.

@MS7000 Whether they had dates or not doesn't matter as long as they are not crowdfunded games, titles that are not crowdfunded are bound to be released no matter what and if they are just re-released on Switch means they offer a new experience for gamer. The lack of Nintendo titles may be a turnoff but you had to realize kids of today never had a chance to play Skyward Sword as that was the last non-HD Zelda game so for them to get that chance this gen is going to be a new experience for them.

As a JRPG fan, this direct was pretty boring. I think I wouldve preferred an actual xenoblade 2 sequel like i thought it was at 1st over it just being a dlc for a fighting game i rarely play anymore

I'm not too optimistic about triangle strategy considering how generic or just downright bad the story and writing was in octopath. But the style of the game at least fits an SRPG better over an actual JRPG

Legend of mana was neat, can't wait to play a decades old game if it has a physical copy otherwise I'll emulate it

Oh yeah i forgot the most important thing, no smt 5. My most anticipated switch JRPG wasn't even mentioned or teased lol

Hate to be negative but I came back to Nintendo with the switch after a long break and love it as a console. But personally the direct was a disappointment for me, and I am losing faith in Nintendo.
It feels like Nintendo are always cashing in, it's not just that they port so many games, I get that the wi u didn't perform, but how are they charging £50 for all these ports, 3d all stars didn't get the love it deserved and without making more of it should have been a £30 game. how they can charge £50 for a remake of a wi Zelda game, just makes me feel like they don't reward or look after a very loyal fan base.

I think with all the success of the switch now would be the time to bring some new first party games to Nintendo, and it's so disappointing that they aren't bringing games like Star fox, f zero, wave racer, diddy Kong racing, donkey Kong back.

It almost feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, I could be wrong and there is more coming, we have stuff to look forward to but the direct didn't do it for me, and when I see the prices of some of these games on preorder I don't think it's justified.

Sadly if we did get games like fzero they would probably be ports of N64 titles but how about new entries in the series, they have the cash and resources and the fan base is crying out for it!

This is why I hate when Nintendo is doing too well, they just stop caring.

@MadJay1664 Hmmm? I count only two new titles announced from Nintendo; Mario Golf: Super Rush and Splatoon 3. Everything else is a port or third-party. Not sure what you are referring to otherwise.

@Ghost_of_Hasashi "The lack of Nintendo titles may be a turnoff but you had to realize kids of today never had a chance to play Skyward Sword as that was the last non-HD Zelda game so for them to get that chance today is going to be a new experience for them."

I don't know how many times I will need to say this, but a port in and of itself is not a problem. I have nothing against people who haven't played the game before having the chance. Heck, I hope people finally appreciate Skyward Sword because whilst I like it, most Zelda fans think it is the weakest one, so getting new players who like it is a good thing. I just want Nintendo to actually make new games.

All those franchises I mentioned earlier have been waiting 5 years or longer (significantly longer for F-Zero) for sequels, and yet, Nintendo feels the need to saturate the market with Splatoon 3, when Splatoon 2 is already on the Switch. That will have made it 5 years for Splatoon 2 to get a sequel, and 7 years for this series to get 3 games in total. Other series like Pikmin don't get as much attention. Worse part is, I honestly believe Splatoon 3's sales will suffer enough that Nintendo might think twice about further development beyond that. At which point, Splatoon becomes another of a long line of franchises to be forgotten by Nintendo in favour of Mario and Pokemon. Nintendo are doing well to the point they are getting lazy.

As a JRPG fan, this direct was pretty boring.

@Judal27 I try to have patience and keep myself open to other perspectives, but NO - this is a bloody ridiculous comment. Do you expect Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, SMT and Kingdom Hearts in every Direct? I'm annoyed with you and I'm going to stop here.

@MS7000 right there with you, and agree in regards to ports. I get remastering it but charging £50 is a kick in the teeth in my opinion.
Sadly I have no faith that if we did see f zero or a diddy Kong racing it would only be as a port again at £50

Miitopia seems fun but the only thing new it added that they talk about is horses

Could they add like a new role or something?

@Rob3008 just click “ignore” in the corner of one of his posts and you’ll never see them again.

@ROB_64 Isn't the horse a new role?

After 18 months nothing interesting...
Disappointment...

@Scirocco7 My disagreement with you is strong. Still, I appreciate your username; you're that wind that Ganondorf was talking about, right?

@Damo you forgot the Saga Frontier remaster

For me Mario golf looked good and splatoon but it does seem a little soon for splatoon. Hopefully it has a lot of new ideas to warrant a new release. Ninja gaiden trilogy is kindve cool also but it’s not something I’ll probably revisit right away. I think this year there will be more suprises with Zelda which is nice and we really could use some Metroid news. Not a fan of the new smash addition either. Anime sword fighters just aren’t my thing and would’ve loved something more classic from Nintendo like a Mario character for the anniversary or Arthur for the new ghost and goblins, but whatever.

@electrolite77 Pandemic? What pandemic? We want games Nintendo!!!?!!??!??!

Yep Capcom Arcade (the amount of money I used to throw in Capcom arcade machines in my youth), Splatoon 3 (still need to finish the single player in 2), Mario Golf, new GnG game, No More Heroes 3, Skyward Sword HD (never played it ever), not counting the stuff I'm still sitting on in my backlog and wish list, I think I'm pretty much set down the line for quite a while. It's not like every living hour of the day has to be spent playing games.

A lot of delicious stuff. Like I said before, I'm a lot more motivated to get the Fighter Pass now.😄 Skyward Sword and Legend of Mana are the main takeaways among ports, but Ninja Gaiden, Outer Wilds, Mario Golf, Famicom Detective Club... so much stuff and a particularly packed summer. :3

The very promising World's End Club sounds like a Zero Escape where you escape at once... and learn that this was the least of your problems. Triangle Strategy somehow manages to give Octopath, FTT, Fire Emblem AND Disgaea vibes at the same time. DC Super Hero Girls seems to be at least partly sandbox, but even if it isn't, it's the first console game a Lauren Faust show seems to be getting in forever!

I'm not sure if I'll be into Fall Guys unless you can play against bots, but it's a charming game in general and very welcome on Switch. And even the new MHR trailer left me more curious than before, much due to the most God Eater-esque impression I've ever got from Monster Hunter, ironic as this sounds.😄

And speaking of impressions... still calling Genshin Impact and Immortals "BotW clones", fanheads? Or maybe the poor things have been Skyward Sword clones all along? 😂

@gaga64 SaGa Frontier was in one of last year's directs. Although its mention here did help highlight the SquareEnixliciousness of the near future.

@COVIDberry ya plus u can do makeup i think

@COVIDberry lmao actually i wasn't expecting anything at all. I only hoped to see a tease from monolith's next work which is why that very 1st trailer is such a letdown, and a bit more of smtv

I was surprised by the decent amount of JRPG advertising, it's just a shame not much of it is has me particularly excited and/or is coming to other platforms so I'd play elsewhere

@gaga64 I'm the last one to defend Damo, but... there was a lot to cover here, haha. Good call, though - I felt like something was missing.

@roboshort But that's exactly my point. There wasn't much to announce as a big Direct, the two biggest games are for next year, the rest is all ports and remakes bar Mario Golf which could have just had a surprise announcement like Paper Mario.

When they announce a Nindie Direct or a game specific direct or a Mini Direct, people's expectations are tempered. When they announce a full Direct, it doesn't matter what time of the year it is, people expect big first party for the period the direct is reportedly covering. The Direct covered the first 6 months of this year and they had 1 new big first party exclusive with Mario Golf, some remakes/remasters and a cheap cartoon tie in. Just don't mention the games like Splatoon and Triangle Strategy that are out next year (assuming no delays) and label it a 'remaster direct' or something. People will still be excited and tune in, but their expectations would be tempered.

I don't think a new mode in an already announced Monster Hunter game counts as big third party title news either.

@COVIDberry agreed, it’s hard to catch everything, especially when something like SaGa was only a very brief mention of something we already knew was coming.

@Clyde_Radcliffe That pricing is up there with DKTF as the most ridiculous game pricing on Switch. I was actually ok with the SM3DAS price but on that basis SMG was priced about $30 (and was also in HD for first time). This is therefore twice the price!

Yeah, so, that Squeenix Direct sure had a lot of Nintendo games, didn't it?

I don't believe this thread requires my help in the enumeration of disappointments, so I'll just say that I appreciate the side of Nintendo that localizes Famicom Tantei Club and ports Miitopia, to say nothing of Square Enix dragging SaGa and Mana out of obscurity for Switch owners.

Does anyone know if Triangle Strategy will be a console exclusive, like Octopath Unraveller?

@COVIDberry Squenix couldn't possibly pull up Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross out as well while they are at it, could they? Maybe even a sequel?

Regarding Triangle Strategy, I don't think they have commented yet from Squenix. I am assuming it will probably be treated like Octopath was.

I'm really looking forward to the Ninja Gaiden collection. C'mon Nintendo, bring out a Devil's Third ReMaster!

I have mixed feelings about this Direct. On one hand, having heard online how terrible it was before I watched it, I was pleasantly surprised when watching it that it was fun to watch and wasn't that horrible. On the other hand, that's a razor thin edge of not that horrible.

It was nice seeing the real format with proper presentation from Takahashi rather than an all-digital canned VA over fast paced list graphics. It was actually "Direct" again, and that meant something.

Game wise, Splatoon 3 is huge, and that shocked me and put a smile on my face at the end, but with a 2022 release we're looking at 1 to nearly 2 years for a release on that, so that gets filed along with the Bayo 3 and MP4 early announcements as "it wowed me today, but it'll feel like a different life in a different world by the time I'm actually playing it. And by then, the hardware will be 5-5.5 years old. It's more of a swansong for Switch. Heck, half the library is going to be a swansong at this point. That means they're probably planning to extend the switch lifecycle beyond normal hardware, presumably accompanied by a Pro rather than a Switch 2 even in 3 years. Or they're planning on killing it early and Splatoon 2 represents a dual launch on a new platform. It's weird timing for a major multiplayer game to drop on an aging console like that.

But apart from that, opening with more Smash was pure cringe after, 2.5 years of all smash all the time even if the character voiced over trailer was fun. I really love SS so it'll be fun to play it again with normal controls, but visually it doesn't look that great so far. The end of the world, or whatever it was called, game looks interesting, and there's a few nice interesting things, the Famicom Detective club looks like a more anime Ace Atty, and that could be fun.

I have to try the demo for Octo Emblem, but I'm not too excited out of the gate. It looks like a mediocre Fire Emblem clone from the Octopath team, and the Octopath team really let me down with the first game. And this one doesn't seem as engaging. I'm not writing it off, but my enthusiasm is duly curbed.

Mario Golf looks good. It's not a game I'll be buying, but it does look amusing. I was watching most of the presentation thinking "OMG Switch truly is Wii 2" most of the time. Short of the Splatoon 3 announcement there's little here that doesn't seem like it would have been on the Wii. Half of it was on the Wii. And the Wii is very much a console meant for someone else. I have my half dozen or at a stretch, dozen games that I have fond memories of and love from the Wii, but otherwise it was one of my least favorite consoles. I hoped Switch would be 3DS 2, and instead it's becoming Wii 2. But more expensive all around. Looking at this content and pricing, Sony's $70 games are starting to feel positively consumer friendly.

IDK, I enjoyed the presentation, and I know there's big content they're not talking about yet that they've talked about before. But on the whole the lineup feels like Wii ports, 3DS ports, indies, indies, indies, and a few third party "unique-ish games for Nintendo handhelds (also coming to PS4)" type games. Two of the best trailers were for EA F2P games. That says something. And where were Atlus' games? Are we to believe SMTV and Nocturne won't even be first half of 2021? SMTV was a hardware launch announcement 4 years ago!

It wasn't "bad", but it was far from "good", it was just thorougly mediocre + Splatoon 3 (but that's, again, 1.5-2 years away. It could be an early 2022 game and be a year away. It could be Holiday 2022 and be almost 2 years away, and dropping just before the hardware turns 6.....just before new hardware hype would normally be full steam. And I presume that means much of the other "big" titles share that timeline. It's just weird that most of the announced big hitters for the platform wouldn't launch until the last year or two of the hardware when we're already talking about the next hardware, and years after the hardware started feeling obsolete. It makes me really wonder if they're still saving up that big library for new hardware at this point. If so, Switch ends up feeling like a stopgap to ride out WiiU's failure than a platform they cared much about until they iterate on it. Even if it sold gangbusters in the wider market.

@LivingLeif I've said for a long time that Furukawa is just a Japanese Bobby Kotick.

Squenix couldn't possibly pull up Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross out as well while they are at it, could they? Maybe even a sequel?

@MS7000 My coin purse gave a little scream and tightened up like a clam when I read your comment. You surely realize that they need to space out their releases, don't you?

I feel like Squeenix is the last company we can complain about right now, especially for Switch.

@COVIDberry Indeed not. I just figured that with all the love they are giving to the Mana titles recently and everything, they might, y'know, make space for the Chrono games.

I'd say this was a pretty good direct, we did get Splatoon 3 after all! Triangle Strategy looks great too, and it's nice to see Mario Golf for it's fans. The ports are looking pretty great too, even if they're $60. Unfortunately this isn't as hype-filled as, say the direct that showcased SMM2 and Link's Awakening, but it did what it needed to. That being to give us something to look forward to, and oh boy I am!

I'm excited for Skyward Sword since I have never played it. I agree charging 60 dollars for it is a bit much.

Otherwise: meh.

Where's the Dragon Quest love? The Switch really needs 4 to 9. They are quality games. Glad I have Ipad to play 4, 5, 6, and 8, and a DS to play 7 and 9.

My dream to play Terranigma legally will have to wait- I'm noticing Square just is focusing on Mana and the SaGa series right now.

Agreed that Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross is overdue!

Now I'm happy with Skyward Sword HD and Splatoon 3, but besides those games this might have been the longest Partner Showcase of all time. I can't believe Nintendo's only first party games from September 2020 (SM3D All Stars) to July 2021 (SSHD) are ports. (While Nintendo did publish Age of Calamity and will publish Mario Golf, they weren't developed in-house.) The pandemic must be hurting Nintendo much worse than we thought.

Why are we getting Splatoon 3 but yet we don't have a new Mario Kart? I think we want more Mario Kart!

@Anti-Matter I miss DDR so much! I played that series for hundreds of hours on the PS2. Recently I was tempted to pick up a used PS2 and all the games again, but unfortunately finding working pads that meet my standards is tough.

I love that they announced Splatoon 3. I don't think this means they're not working on other stuff too. I'm sure the next Kart is being developed in the background. We'll get another "Direct" at some point between now and Christmas. Nintendo dropped the ball this past Holiday season. They won't do it again; and they can't afford to do it again. This past holiday season they were riding the popularity of Animal Crossing and the demand for the system. I think come June/July, we'll get another direct that will drop a bomb for the October/November/Christmas.

@stuntz0rZ EXACTLY! on top of that the amount of Smash Bros content is, whilst amazing, unbelievable as other Games get left with no attention.

I felt disappointed watching the Direct; but afterwards I was listing the games I will buy and surprisingly I had an actual list of games I intend to buy. So looking back, it was good I think.

Other than Splatoon 3, Miitopia, and the next ACNH update, there wasn't much for me. A few games that looked interesting, but not really anything that got me excited.

Like others have said, it would be nice for some older IPs to get some Switch love (Wave Race, 1080°, Pilotwings, etc. . .).

Splatoon 3 is cool and all but I'm hyped for DC supergirls. Game of the year for sure

@GH7Cloud that is exactly how I felt about Splstoon 2. I got a switch quite late and then burnt out with BOTW, then Odyssey.. not even realising Splatoon was a thing. Excited to get on the hype at the beginning

Excited about Outerwilds, Zelda and Stubbs. Intrigued by Splatoon, No More Heroes and Ninja Gaiden.. the rest are a bit meh for me. Don’t know enough about the franchises to have an interest. But 3-6 games isn’t a bad potential haul for a year. Plus the backlog, but previously announced games and future announcements.

Huge barges loaded with ports, leaving port to haul the ports to other port cities worldwide.

with all the love they are giving to the Mana titles recently and everything, they might, y'know, make space for the Chrono games.

@MS7000 I find myself expecting that they will make an announcement in the E3 timeframe about the 35th anniversary of Dragon Quest, perhaps releasing DQ4 through DQ9 for Switch. When I think of Squeenix, I often think first of FFVI, a story-world that only cries out louder for revisiting after the success of FF7R (and yes, I know which is the more lucrative). 2022 will be the 35th anniversary of Final Fantasy.

Given these two giants, I personally feel that the Chrono games won't be revisited until next year, at the earliest.

Looking forward to:
-

Maybe next year something new and great.

@COVIDberry I actually forgot this year is the 35th for Dragon Quest... damn. Only played Dragon Quest XI (great game), but I am sort of curious if they will formally announce 12 (already confirmed in development I believe, but a title/trailer would be nice). To be honest though, I never expect the Chrono games; I quietly made my peace that they were abandoned long ago.

Edit: Played Dragon Quest Builders as well now that I remember, but eh, spin-off. Good fun though, got the sequel but haven't started playing yet.

Mario Golf looks awesome.

Please give us something Metroid. Anything.

@okeribok
I'm actually expecting much more. Nintendo could've easily continued Splatoon 2, but it's seems like they really want to expand their horizons with Splatoon as a whole. Splatoon 2 would be a super polished Splatoon 1, whereas Splatoon 3 would look to be a fully new game with proper development time.

First, let me say I am very glad that so many people did get announcements of stuff they wanted. I completely recognize "different strokes for different folks".

That said, as someone who has owned every Nintendo system since 1985, I continue to be more disappointed in Nintendo's offerings this generation than any before. Not just the fact that we just keep getting so many ports, but the fact that they cost $60 for ports of games nearing a decade old at this point.

And then you have a game like Mario Golf that just make little sense. I'm not personally interested in just a golf simulator, so when I saw some of the "speedrun" modes and stuff, I thought, this might be kind of fun. Then you realize the whole thing is set in generic woods looking places - when they have countless Mario themed worlds that you could have played in. That would be kind of fun, and at least something that felt new.

Triangle strategy looks INCREDIBLE (that release date though...) as for the rest... meh

DC Super Hero Girls looks like Bratz Rock Angels with added fighting parts.

Not a bad haul, as far as games I’m interested in.
Hades physical- been waiting on this and am hyped to play this at last.
Mario Golf- not day one maybe but I’ve enjoyed this series since the N64.
Skyward Sword- never completed it on Wii, repetitive bosses being the culprit, but the dungeons ARE really good and I’ve heard it’s an important story etc so I’ll try again.
DC Super Hero Girls for my daughter’s 9th b-day, if the reviews are decent.
Project Triangle Strategy looks so so good to me. Loved FF tactics back in the day so I’m all about this.
Splatoon 3- my wife is a bigger Splatter than I and she is burnt out on 2 so this will be great.
Overall, satisfied. Think we can all assume there will be another direct by summer.

@DrDaisy ....and it will be sold for $10 on a Gamestop shelf 2 months after it's released.

DC Superhero girls is the game of the year here, folks
totally worth being in a direct

@dkxcalibur I'm still interested.

I think nintendo should stop doing directs. after all they did, it is not appreciated. you cannot please all 80 mllion people that buy the switch. there are always going be games that people like or dislike that is the nature of the direct. people constantly complain about games that they wish they were displayed but it is not always going to happen. There are a few games that i am interested in that direct, but i am not going to bash nintendo because they did not showcase other games i want. I appreciate that they did one despite the fact we still have a pandemic. Call me a fanboy if you want, i am being realistic about things. sometimes ports and remakes are good to have because not everybody is rich to get all the systems and games that come with it. so having a game from another system that you never played before is fine. having that game from another system that you have played before is still fine. it is up to you if you want to get it again. But do not forget because of the switch's hybrid nature, you can take all of those ports and remakes with you anywhere, that is one of their selling points to me.

I’m only really excited for splatoon 3, fall guys and Apex. I would’ve been excited for miitopia, but I got it done on 3ds already. Pretty fun game though!

Project Triangle is the one I'm most excited for. Gives me Tactics Ogre vibes. I'll also probably get DC Teens for my me and my daughter to play together and Mario Golf to play with the rest of the fam.

Skyward Sword HD, Mario Golf and Project Triangle day one!

@RickD SS didn't fail because the formula needed a redesign or face failure, although I'm not complaining about BotW being the result of them believing that, at all. SS failed because it released at the end of the Wii after Nintendo neglected the platform for 2 years (much like they're starting to do now with Switch), the core players, meaning Zelda customers already abandoned the console in droves, the mass market that Wii appealed to had mostly put it in a closet at that point, and who was left wasn't interested in "core" games like Zelda. And on top of that it required a peripheral for more money to play it. And on top of that that peripheral was almost impossible to purchase outside of buying Wii Sports Resort to get it.

So they released a new Zelda game at the end of life of a console that core gamers had already abandoned, the new gamers had already forgotten, and the reamining gamers weren't going to be interested in a Zelda game. And among the few where the groups still intersected you had the group put off by having to buy a peripheral, and the group that wanted to buy it anyway and couldn't.

Sales of SS were always going to tank even if it had been BotW releasing at the time.

@ianl579 " I can't believe Nintendo's only first party games from September 2020 (SM3D All Stars) to July 2021 (SSHD) are ports. "

I'm sorry, did you just lament that Nintendo's only first party games between a port anthology to a port with controller input adjustments are just ports? I think what you meant to say was that the only first party game between March 2020 (ACNH) and "TBA - TBD" (Unknown) are all ports. There's literally a year and a half, or more without a single non-port/no-effort-"remaster" by a 1st part Nintendo studio. They're publishing a few third parties, and AoC and Mario's Golf may not be in-house but it's obviously all Nintendo assets and supervision going into it so I suppose that somewhat counts. I Age of Calamity is alright but it's a game that feels like filler, even if it's good filler, from start to finish. If Sony released a TLoU MOBA made by Bandai, I don't think people would be raving about it being a quality first party title

Nintendo seems like they stopped making games and just became a publisher circa late 2019. They have more in common with 505 than with even EA, at the moment.

Ports are supposed to compliment releases. Switch has third party support, to an extent. But if you're not into indies, and you've played most Nintendo 1p games at launch.......there's not a whole heck of a lot for a 2 year period or so. Nintendo 1p is almost entirely ports with one game a year or two. They went from a half dozen or more games a year between WiiU and 3DS to one or two. When Mario Golf is one of the major tentpoles of the lineup, something seems off....

@NEStalgia I felt the same of Mario Tennis Aces, especially since they had a tennis release a few years prior. I think this counts as a solid major release. But Miitopia? A fun game, but. If I want to revisit, I have no problems firing up the 3ds.

I was initially okay with the direct but the more I think about it the less I like it. The only announcments I'm interested in are Mario Golf and the Ninja Gaiden Collection and those aren't even new games. The price of Skyward Sword is also incredibly questionable considering we just got Mario Galaxy for the same price and that had 64 and Sunshine included. It's also way too soon for Splatoon 3 imo. Splatoon 2 was already pushing it and felt more like Splatoon 1.5 than a true sequel.

@NEStalgia I forgot Origami King was developed by Intelligent Systems, so you're absolutely right. Nintendo's first-party lineup for the second half of 2021 has to be phenomenal if they want to make up for the past year and a half.

@Ogbert I can understand the sentiment, but I learned to go in with no expectations after E3 2015. This one was good, probably a 7/10 or so but it didn’t really compare to the ones in 2019.
But when everyone expects a 9/10 or 10/10 every time Nintendo is bound not to meet those expectations once in a while. And this one was the first one in forever so it was especially hyped.

I exploded when I heard about Fall Guys!