I break down the key points from March’s Nintendo Direct, including that mind-blowing Smash trailer!
Script
C1: Hey guys, welcome to P Myth Gaming! So the Nintendo Direct we got this week was all kinds of awesome, with a bunch of games announced for Switch as well as a closer look at some previously announced titles and expansions for existing ones. We’ve been really anxious to see what Nintendo have got in store for us this year
C2: January’s mini direct didn’t really set the world alight
C1: And now finally I think we’re getting a better look at what 2018 is going to look like for Nintendo Switch.
C2: And it’s looking goooooood.
C1: First off though, the Direct led with a handful of announcements for 3DS.
VO: They opened with WarioWare Gold, a kind of greatest hits collection, albeit along with some new stuff, of over 300 mini games from the series. This was followed by Dillon’s Dead-heat breakers – something I’m sure excited the three people who were even aware of that franchise – another Mario & Luigi remake, a longer look at Detective Pikachu, and finally a port of the Gamecube launch title, Luigi’s Mansion.
C1: The big take away from this for me, Nintendo are phasing out the 3DS, because with the exception of the Dillon game, these are all ports or remakes.
C2: Except Detective Pikachu, but that’s been out in Japan for 2 years, so they’re essentially just localising it.
C1: There’s no big new game there. All of these games are relatively easy wins, and a way of still trickling out content for 3DS without throwing tonnes of resources at it. So I think we’re starting to see Nintendo slowly wind down support for the handheld as Switch starts to build, so they can start to focus all of their attention on one device.
On to Switch, and lets start, logically, at the end. Oh my god, that Smash trailer.
VO: I was feeling pretty satisfied if not completely blown away with the Direct by the time the Splatoon 2 expansion stuff finished, It was quite a long segment and to be frank, was feeling like a bit of flat close to what had been a really solid direct. I was chuffed when Koizumi said there was one more thing, though when the inklings came in again I couldn’t for the life of me work out what it was going to be. But when the inkling girl turned around, and that Smash logo showed up, I lost my goddam mind.
C1: It was such a cool reveal,
C2: And is already massive meme fodder
C1: and it’s that one big title that’s been missing from Nintendo’s release schedule this year. There’s tonnes to unpack there,
C2: Breath of the Wild Link, is it a port or a new game and so on.
C1: But I’m going to do a separate video just on Smash, next week. Suffice to say, that one reveal alone is enough to not only tide us over to E3, but to reassure us that 2018 isn’t going to be a nothing year.
Elsewhere in the Direct, and the main focus of it as billed by Nintendo beforehand, was a longer look at Mario Tennis Aces. And I have to say, it knocked the wind out my sails a little bit.
VO: When it was first unveiled in the mini direct back in January, I was really excited for it. It looked like a proper return to form for the series. All the crazy gimmicks and stuff seemed to be confined to the story mode, and the standard tennis looked to be back to no-nonsense awesomeness. So I was a bit disappointed with all the slow mo, motion aiming, bullet time and racket breaking stuff that’s cropping up in the standard matches.
C1: Having looked at it again, I’m coming around to some of the stuff, it could make for a pretty cool arcadey tennis game, without the chaos that showed up in the Wii U entry. But I’ve still got reservations about some of it, racket breaking in particular.
C2: You’ve got a set number of rackets in a match and if they all break you lose the match, even if you’re 2 sets up.
C1: This is the kind of star-stealing, blue shelling wild card that crops up in other Mario franchises and causes people to go on homicidal rampages, but it could be interesting if they get the balance right.
Luckily they’re holding a demo tournament so we can find out for ourselves just how well it works before buying the game.
C2: I’m really glad Nintendo are doing these kind of things, we’ve had them for Arms and Splatoon before, and I do hope they continue to give us these little demos.
VO: What’s also interesting is the addition of motion controls. There’s obviously a lot of casuals who have been interested by Switch, and I think Nintendo are hoping that they’ll see this and look at it like Wii Tennis and jump in. It’s a smart move.
C1: I’m still interested in the game, and there is a simple rules mode for purists like myself, but I’m looking forward to the demo to see how it all pans out.
I’m not going to run through every game, but the other thing that struck me throughout this direct was the growing strength of third party support. There were some big third party games in this direct, and not just indies either.
VO: Dark Souls should be sweet, it’s cool that it’s getting an amiibo, and again, happy with the demo, Octopath Traveller is looking awesome, and one my most highly anticipated games this year, and with announcements for Okami HD, Crash Bandicoot and South Park, it’s clear that bigger studios are now willing to get on board.
C1: South Park in particular really got me hyped and alongside Smash was one of the two games in this Direct that actually made me punch the air in excitement.
C2: I’ve never liked the Crash games, the most exciting thing about that for me is the potential of getting Spyro at some point.
C1: So it seems that Nintendo’s heavy lifting in the Switch’s first year, releasing big hitters every month to drive that install base, is paying off and third parties are seeing the value in bringing their games to Switch. Fantastic.
VO: Other things I’m hyped about include Captain Toad. I loved those challenges in Super Mario 3D World but never got around to picking up the Wii U game. I was really hoping it would come to Switch so glad to see it, and the addition of some Odyssey stuff is a nice touch. Travis Strikes again is looking cool, I was a big fan of No More Heroes on Wii so hopefully this will be worth picking up. The Splatoon expansion is really cool too. It’s interesting to see them offer paid DLC for the first time, alongside another huge free update. I really like the approach Nintendo take to content drops for Splatoon and this Octo pack should be worth checking out. Also, like I say, I’m really looking forward to South Park.
C1: All in all, it was a hell of a direct, and there’s plenty to be hyped about in 2018 now. We’ve still got Yoshi, Fire Emblem, and potentially Bayonetta 3, none of which showed up in this direct. Smash Bros. rounds it all out nicely.
C2: And we’ve still got E3 coming up and who knows what they’ll announce there.
C1: These solid, kind of middle tier games, plus Smash, and growing third party support will take us nicely into 2019 where Pokemon and Metroid Prime 4 await.
Cheers for watching everyone, let me know your thoughts on the Direct down in the comments, what are you excited by, what did you think of the stuff in Mario Tennis. Don’t forget to like, subscribe and all the rest of it, and I shall see you all next Sunday for a discussion about that Smash teaser. See you then.
Phil Myth 