On the 17th of February, Nintendo Direct made a return after nearly 2 years since the last Nintendo Direct. The series began in late 2011, which made it easy for Nintendo to exclusively reveal new games from Nintendo themselves or from other third-party game developers. Because of this, it has helped gain anticipation and hype from gamers and the general public to look forward to Nintendo's future.
However, due to the Pandemic, Nintendo found it difficult to release an Nintendo Direct presentation last year. Only mini presentations and standalone trailers for games were revealed, until now. With the announcement of a new presentation many people were wondering if games such as 'Metroid Prime 4', 'Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2', 'Mariokart 9', a New Donkey Kong platformer or even 'Splatoon 3' would be unveiled. Out of all the predictions, only the latter was announced.
In this article, we'll be taking a look at all the games that were announced or given new details during last week's Nintendo Direct to help fresh the people's minds on what happened.
The first announcement was the addition of two new Smash Bros Ultimate characters, Pyra & Mythra of 'Xenoblade Chronicles 2'. Normally, 'Smash Bros' updates would be saved for last; however, this would be the only announcement from the franchise, leaving thousands angry asking why the need for more anime characters with long swords when they could have added Crash Bandicoot, Rayman or even Shantae.
After a quick greeting from Shinya Takahashi, the presentation was on. The next game was from a third party games company; the game in question, 'Fall Guys', a game that had its 15 minutes of fame in August until the sudden success of 'Among Us'. It wasn't surprising as the series was still successful after nearly half a year of its release and was looking for a release this Summer.
A brief announcement of 'Outer Wild's from Annapurna Interactive confirmed its release on the Switch, followed up by the double reveal of two 'Famicom Detective Club' games. The 'Famicom Detective Club' series has been going since 1988 and has a niche following in Japan and was an interesting announcement for Nintendo to show that Phoenix Wright & Professor Layton were not alone.
'Samurai Warriors 5' was announced later, coming from a series that was spun off the popular 'Dynasty Warriors' franchise that started on the PlayStation. Up next was the 'Legend of Mana', the first of the many RPGs featured on that week's Nintendo Direct. 'Monster Hunter Rise'.
Mario finally got his chance to shine and it was an announcement of the return of the 'MarioGolf' series. The first of the series was released on the N64 in 1999 and the latest being released on the 3DS in 2014. The name for the latest in the series is 'Mario Golf: Super Rush' This was an appealing game that I myself might buy in a few months time. It will feature motion controls, a new story mode and 'Speed Golf', where 4 players must compete against each other by running to swing the ball instead of taking turns traditionally. This was one of the biggest highlights for many in this Nintendo Direct.
More third-party released games were announced with 2K Games's 'Tales from the Borderlands' coming in a month's time, Capcom's new compilation 'Capcom Arcade Stadium' would be released after the presentation and features many classics such as 'Ghosts 'n' Goblins', '1943' and 'Street Fighter II'. Out of nowhere, an Xbox classic from 2005 was resurrected from the dead. 'Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse' was revealed for a release on the Switch with many fans confusing it as a new game and shoving it away without knowing the context. 'No More Heroes 3' was shown off again with more features that included new upgrades to weapons. Truly the series was back again with its crazy references to the Japanese gaming industry and its stereotypes.
Nearly at the halfway mark, another Annapurna release was revealed as 'Neon White' was confirmed for a Winter 2021 release. For the younger generation, the cartoon 'DC Super Hero Girls' got its own game, featuring its own take on Batwoman, Supergirl & Wonder Woman. 'Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville' was also announced later, followed up by a surprise release of 'Miitopia'. The game was originally released on the 3DS back in 2016 and was interesting to see the game released on a console half a generation later.
'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' normally revealed updates on their own, however their next announcement for March was only new apparel and furniture for all 30 million islands based on the Super Mario series. It features clothes from Mario, Luigi, Peach and Wario; blocks, coins, stars, shells and even warp-pipes are set be released as well that can allow islanders to warp from one place to another. Oh, and thwomps too.
Takahashi later thanked viewers for purchasing and enjoying the new 'Super Mario 3D World' DLC, which featured a new level named 'Bowser's Fury'. This was followed by a new mysterious RPG now temporarily named 'Project Triangle Strategy', which had many people wondering if this was an 'Octopath Traveller' sequel or prequel. Many people did not care for this as many games for the Switch that was released in the last year were mostly RPGs.
'Star Wars Hunters' was announced next and would be the first Star Wars game to not be made by EA or Dice but Zynga, the company that made 'Farmville' for Facebook. Speaking of EA, their new game 'Knockout City' was unveiled. If compared, it's basically Splatoon and Overwatch combined into a zany dodgeball game taking place in various cities around the world. 'World's End Club' was next to be shown off and featured 10 people trapped in an underwater theme park who returned to their hometown, only to find it abandoned and face challenges along the way. The award winning 'Hades' was confirmed for a released on the Switch and the modern 'Ninja Gaiden' trilogy came in as a bundle for a release too as the 'Ninja Gaiden Master Collection'.
Many quickfire reveals were shown off with games such as 'Bravely Default 2', 'Ghosts 'n' Goblins Resurrection', 'SaGa Frontier Remastered' and 'Apex Legends' being confirmed for releases too.
And finally, two more announcements. These final placings were for the two most important unveilings. As the Producer of the Legend of Zelda series, Eiji Aonuma, stepped in it looked as if the sequel to 'Breath of the Wild' was about to reveal the story and its gameplays at once. Unfortunately, nothing yet was to be revealed; only to say that progress on the development of the game was going smooth and comfortably for a possible released around 2022. During the time, 'Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD' was announced for a summer release, pleasing many fans but a few disgruntled that the game would cost more than its original release by £10 more and the ignorance of 'Twilight Princess' for a remastering. Overall, it seemed that many remasterings and re-releases were being shown off, but 'Skyward Sword' was passable for a Switch release that was based on motion controls.
The final announcement was now ready to be shown off. A desert in the middle of nowhere, cut to a squid-girl hybrid surrounded buses with a little fish as a buddy. A train passes by and the characters step on while the Eiffel Tower was inverted. Now at their destination, the centre of the city is revealed, followed by the name of the game itself. 'Splatoon 3'. The series is officially becoming a trilogy. The turf wars make a comeback, followed with new arenas. New designs, clothes, hairstyles and guns were shown off too; its release date would be for next year with many more features to be shown off near its release.
And that was Nintendo Direct on the 17th of February 2021. Many interesting tiles here and there. 'Mario Golf Super Rush', the announcment of Pyra & Mythra for 'Super Smash Bros Ultimate', 'No More Heroes 3', 'Project Triangle Strategy, 'Skyward Sword HD' and 'Splatoon 3' were the main announcements that have gained the most attention. On the other side, many remasters and third-party games helped bring in new variety for the future of the Switch, but only a few may not be as welcomed as some would think.
Overall, the future of Nintendo looks promising. Not every game was shown off, especially 'Metroid Prime 4', but at least they are still being developed as best as possible. The important thing to take is that Nintendo are still churning interesting and enjoyable games to make sure they still have an impact in the gaming industry as the PS5 & Xbox One Series X have only been released nearly 3 months ago.
All games will be released this year except for 'Project Triangle Society', 'Splatoon 3' and 'Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2', all three likely to come out next year.
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