Another Nintendo direct today, jamb-packed with plenty of news starting off with Overwatch from Blizzard Entertainment, the team based first person shooter has gained world wide renown since its early 2016 release across PS4, PC and Xbox and is finally making its way to the Switch next month on October 15.
Next up we’re moving to Luigi’s Mansion 3, a game that I’ve been waiting for for a long time now.
This time we’re gonna be clearing ghosts out of a haunted hotel in which every floor has its own distinct theme such as the Tomb suites, this floor features an indoor giant pyramid, mummies, and booby traps that would scare even Indiana Jones. Just a few others we got to take a look at included The Dance Hall which is basically what you’d expect from the name, a lot of dancing ghosts on a shiny dance floor, along with the Spectral Catch a pirate themed restaurant and the list goes on and on. On top of all the new levels we’re gifted with a whole new mode “Scream Park” in which you can finally play with up to eight friends in two teams of ghost busting Luigi’s and Gooigi’s to see who can catch the most ghosts, get the most coins and hit the most targets. With a release date on Halloween this is a must have to spice up any Halloween party.
Moving on we have a free to start Kirby game titled Super Kirby Clash where you and your friends can team up to take out bosses and take on quests in town. By the looks of things we have four job classes to pick from with Sword Hero, Hammer Lord, Doctor Healmore and Beam Mage to choose from, with various weapons, gear and over 100 quests you better make sure you have the right Kirby for the job. You can either play solo, with friends all on the one screen, local wireless and online to unite your Kirbys and save the world. This was actually released shortly after the presentation and is available on the Switch E-Shop now.
After 25 long years Nintendo is doing a HD remake of the third game in the Mana series Trials of Mana. In this you’ll have six main characters to choose from with the main one being your protagonist and another two that you choose being your backup, depending on who you choose will depend on on which of the interwoven story’s you’ll follow, so in theory that’s six times you get to play through the game getting a different story each time. As each character advances in level they will unlock the ability to change their classes, so if you didn’t pick a healer straight away then don’t worry and just do a little leveling and soon enough you’ll be able to change their class. Unlike the original you have a much more advanced range of movement within battle so you can run around to dodge damage and properly team up to do devastating combos. This much loved remake will be available early next year on April 24 2020.
And now for something a little different. Return of the Obra Dinn is a beautifully done game that plays on its use of negative space and line to give a retro game look to something new and modern. The Obra Dinn vanished at sea in 1803 only to wash up in England, unknown what happened to the crew you play an insurance investigator for the East India Trading Company who must board the ship and discover the mystery of its disappearance and return. By using the power of a pocket watch that can turn back time and witness what happens during the crews last moments, in doing this you get to take a look at a snapshot in time and try and uncover the mysteries that befell this unlucky ship. The Return of the Obra Dinn will be released Autumn 2019.
A new challenger appears as Nintendo confirm the release date of Challenge Pack 3: Banjo and Kazooie which is… TODAY. The pack was released shortly after the Direct was finished along with a video from the games director Masahiro Sakurai on how to use this new character. On top of this we also had the reveal of Challenge Pack 4’s character and release date with Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury back on the Neo Genesis system with a release date of November 2019. Outside of all the Challenge Pack fighters, Nintendo also announce they are working on a bunch more DLC fighters to be announced at a later date.
We take a closer look at The Legend of Zalda: Link’s Awakening that’s being released in a few weeks on September 20th and it seems we’re getting a whole new mode for that too with the Chamber Dungeon where you can place chambers you’ve cleared in your missions to create your own dungeon and add in little traps, these can be saved to one of the compatible Amiibo’s from the Legend of Zelda series and then shared with your friends so you can see if they can survive in your creation.
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definite Edition, well that’s certainly a mouthful and you should learn it with this game doing something rarely seen before with the ability to transition between flawless HD graphics to the retro 2D graphics that the original games are known for along with being able to travel to past worlds and then immerse yourself in the new story line with vibrant game-play. With a release date in a few weeks on September 27th 2019 you’ll also receive a free DLC that can be found in the champions pack featuring stuff you’ll need to get you started.
It’s pretty hard to get an IP off the ground these days for anything but Hi-Rez Studios have done it with their latest release Rogue Company. Rogue Company are a group of specialists with their own sets of special skills and abilities to take down the group known as Jackal, this over the shoulder shooter can be played with friends or online with others to take down various objective based game modes using either guns, gadgets or melee skills depending on your character. Prepare to sneak up on your enemies some time next year.
Coming close to the end we’re gonna take a look at two of Nintendo’s most anticipated games this year, Pokemon Sword and Shield along with Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
First up with Pokemon there’s four main feature we’ve been shown, first up is character customization. This has stepped up a notch from the previous ones where all you could change was your top, pants and shoes, this one has a lot more features including outerwear and gloves just to make a few as well as various hair styles and makeup if you’re feeling adventurous. Now we have a Pokemon Camp that can be accessed through your inventory, this is where you can come and play with a whole bunch of your Pokemon and as you get to know them a bit better they’ll reward you by doing better in battle as well as being able to visit other players camps in the wild. So if you know anything about the Galar region it’s that they love a good curry and in your camp you’ll be able to cook your own depending on the ingredients you use and which Pokemon you’re cooking for. Finally we have a few more new Pokemon announced with the first being Polteageist, a ghost with a body made of tea, it hides in tea pots and Tupperware containers (makes sense with all the curry in the region), next is Cramorant, a giant blue water bird with an appetite to match, if it uses surf or dive during battle it will surface with a fish in its mouth and if it gets hit again it will retaliate by spitting the fish at the enemy.
And now finally to the one game I’ve been waiting for since the Switch was announced, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Today we got to have a talk with Tom Nook, head of Nook Inc. in which he showed us a little promotional video of of whats to come titled “Welcome to Island Life”. In the “Deserted island getaway package” is a laid back and relaxing time for all those involved whether its taking a stroll on the beach or picking fruit off your trees. In the center of town we have the resident services building which is there to fulfill all your needs such as a tent for you to sleep in along with your very own NookPhone which comes pre-installed with a ton of things to help you out around the island like crafting recipes for tools and furniture. But if crafting your tools isn’t your thing then just head on back to residential services where you can also buy your tools along with some furniture items. This one also has a new feature called Nook Miles where you can earn points just by doing every day stuff in your town and you’ll get special recipes and various items as rewards. With various changes in the weather too you can go from sunny to storms at the drop of a hat and when you’re trying to run home and there’s a river in the way what are you gonna do, walk around? NO! you take out your giant pole and you vault over that river, the time of bridges is no more. On top of this you can have up to four players going on the one system as well as having up to eight people on your island online. This next game in the series will be released early next year on March 20th 2020 aka International Happiness Day and doesn’t that just put a smile on your face.
Quite a lot to get through today with a few sequels, a couple of remakes and a few new IP’s in the mix, Nintendo is definitely stepping up and taking names along with titles and I’m sure we’ll see bigger things from them in the future.
Other honorable mentions include GAME FREAK’s Little Town Hero (October 16th 2019), Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (January 17th 2020), Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise (Available now), Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Available now), DOOM 64 Remake (November 22nd 2019), huge lineup of games for the SNES online section (Spetember 6th), Super Nintendo Switch controller (Only available to Nintendo Online members), Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (November 8th 2019), Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (September 24th 2019), Witcher 3 (October 15th 2019), Assassins Creed: The Rebel Collection (December 6th 2019), Call of Cthulhu (October 8th 2019), Devil May Cry 2 (September 19th 2019)
Nerd Comments