Nintendo Released New Trailers! Let's Get Excited and Stuff...

On December 18^th 2013, Nintendo announced and released trailers for their upcoming games. All of this was a part of their Nintendo Direct presentation, an approximately bimonthly Nintendo showcase that is distributed online. There was news for Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8, DLC for Sonic Lost World and a continuation of the Year of Luigi with Dr Luigi. What most people are talking about though is the mash up game of Tecmo Koei's Dynasty Warriors with Nintendo's own Legend of Zelda series, with the working title Hyrule Warriors. Another popular announcement was for the English release of the Professor Layton and Phoneix Wright team up game. The whole show is available online (here: http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendodirect) and I would like to take a second to have a look at some of the interesting announcements and see what  direction Nintendo is heading towards in the future of video games.

Hyrule Warriors (name not final)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOq4IiuRMWk

Release Date: 2014

Developer: Nintendo, Tecmo Koei

Producer: Eiji Aonuma

What can I say? I'm totally going to buy this game because, and I'll be the first to admit, I love Nintendo and the Zelda franchise. I can't say I've played any of the Dynasty Warrior games but this would be the only thing from me saying, "Eh, if Jim Sterling jizzes all over Dynasty Warriors 8 then maybe it would be worth playing" to "must have" on my list. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOq4IiuRMWk Skip to 8.50, but this is a show I recommend) The way I see it, this is the mechanics of Dynasty Warriors being painted over with a Legend of Zelda brush. The team up with Tecmo Koei is a brave one considering how the Philips CDi games turned out but apparently Nintendo has gotten brave enough to consider doing it again, and also doing it right. Legend of Zelda veteran Eiji Aonuma is serving as a producer so it doesn't look like it's all being left up to Tecmo Koei. It will be interesting to see how this game will vary from the Dynasty games and how they plan on including some (or any) Zelda elements, such as puzzle solving and dungeon crawling. It would be interesting if Nintendo decided to team up with other studios to produce other mash up games. Imagine seeing Assassin Kirby or Fire Emblem Modern Warfare or a Mario themed racing game. Plus, Link is sporting a swanky new blue scarf which is yet anything thing I have to buy to complete my Link cosplay outfit.

NES Remix

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQdJ8ANqcEc

Release Date: December 18th, 2013

Developer: Nintendo EAD Toyko, indieszero

Producer: Yoshiaki Koizumi

I should probably clarify what I said earlier about loving Nintendo. I grew up with a Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Lylat Wars (aka Star Fox 64) and Banjo Kazooie. When I try to play older Nintendo games through ports or emulators I find that I just kind of suck at them and get very little enjoyment from them. So what would a bundle pack of classic NES games mean to me? Well that depends. Am I getting the full version of each game, touched up to be more forgiving a la Super Mario All-Stars or is this some kind of party game with challenges based on completing a backwards Mario level or using Link in Donkey Kong. Well the answer is more complicated than that. You can't play the full games (unless that's something unlockable in the end) but they are already available on the Nintendo eShop. Similar to the WarioWare series, the player chooses a "remix" which gives you the game and the goal. I was actually more excited about this game but the more I learnt the more I realised I'd gotten my hopes up too high. I had expected it to actually be a bundle pack of all the classics, updated slightly but still retaining their 8-bit looks. It seemed like such a good idea that I was legitimately surprised to find out it wasn't. Nintendo has been making games for a very long time and many of their games kind of just get forgotten about with each new generation. All Nintendo has to do is keep them in circulation, and seeing as those games are small as compared to current gen games, a bundle pack would be easy and cheap to make. Of course, I'll say it again, many of these games and even the N64 ones I mentioned earlier (except for Banjo RIP) are available on the eShop and playable on the Wii or Wii U. But these versions are just emulations, many without any touch-ups done at all. What I want is my bundle pack of awesomeness.

PS. On another note, continuing on the idea of just re-releasing games they own the rights to, why hasn't Nintendo (or any game company for that matter) not bought Parker Brothers or made a deal with Hasbro yet? You know, so only they would have the rights to distribute the game and make profits from it? You could just put them all in a bundle and release them for $20. Bam. Instant money.

Bravely Default

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4x_teuddv8

Release Date: Febraury 17th, 2014

Developer: Silicon Studio, Square Enix

Producer: Tomoya Asano

This one is quite confusing. While the trailer states that this game is called Bravely Default, it is actually Bravely Second a sequel to the former game which itself was a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light. Also the name looks like it's just a holding title that was going to be replaced by something cooler, like Legend of Fantasy: Skyrim on Steroids. But the name comes from its interesting battle mechanic where "default" means "store battle points" and "brave" means use Limit Break. Having never been much into JRPG's or more specifically RPG's in general, I do think that the random encounters, top down perspective and turn based combat is more at home on a handheld device. However, this little game has peaked my interest for its wireless capabilities. Other players will be able to join your game and battle with and possibly against you. I feel that this opens up the possibility that if this game manages to take off like the series has done in Japan, that a World of Warcraft comparison might be made. Imagine all the questing and grinding and quest-doing but now available to be on-the-go. One to watch out for if you want to try out JRPG's and have a 3DS.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Breeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9oJ_b4zB4Q

Release Date: February, 2013

Developer: Retro Studios

Producer: Kensuke Tanabe

I attribute my not liking chimpanzees, monkeys or apes for that matter to the fact that I'd watched the entire Planet of the Apes series before I'd even read Harry Potter. I don't find movies with chimps to be funny, I don't think that orangutans are cute and I'm sorry to say this, but Donkey Kong does nothing for me. So how will this new Donkey Kong Country appeal to me? Well, it doesn't. Despite the fact that it seems incredibly similar to the rebirthing of the Super Mario Bros. series as New Super Mario Bros. which is a series I've had lots of fun with, telling me that you're bringing back a series that was before my time is meaningless. That's not to say that any game in the series is bad (I've only played the GBA port of the original) they just don't intrigue me like Mario does. Even less so when the entire game looks like it's been based off the ice levels from New Super Mario Bros. (which I hated). But I'm sure there will be plenty here for fans of the series and seeing as I have a Wii U and I want to be a credible games sayer-of-things I'll probably get this one. Or maybe the first one because seriously, fuck ice levels. Also David Wise, the original composer for the SNES series is returning so fanboys can enjoy that at least.

Here is where I'd put another game title, but what I'm going to talk about here are two games that have already been announced and that we've been expecting for even longer. Rather I'd like to talk about the news that Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy is coming the Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8. But wasn't Rosalina in Mario Kart 7? Shut up Sean, take your medication.

Ok, for me, this just seems like a cute way to keep people entertained with more trailers while we wait for the actual games to be released. I'm sure it would be very easy to find multiple videos online dissecting these videos frame by frame. I just have just one thing to add that actually got me excited... TOON LINK (zomg #windwakerHD #linkandtetra). But it seems that Nintendo wanted us to pay more attention to Rosalina, so let’s do that. Rosalina's addition to the roster makes sense. Ever since Nintendo announced the Wii Fit trainer, I’ve assumed that anything goes at the moment. At least they're bringing in a character that people actually cared about, including myself. Though if this is a trend expect to see those new fairies from Super Mario 3D Land called "Sprixies" as characters in Mario Kart 9

Trailer for Mario Kart 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU7tXqYplA8

Trailer for Super Smash Bros. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA8vCTHqvIs

There are many games that were also announced but haven't discussed such as the new Kirby, the new Yoshi's Island, the new music game, Luigi game and some DLC for Pokemon and Sonic. Check out the full presentation from the link at the top of this blog. Also, I'm calling it now, the 2nd DLC for Sonic will be Legend of Zelda themed.

Wrapping up, I just want to open up discussions about videogames because after all, I'm just a gamer with a personality disorder. See you next time.

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Btw, thank you to Rach, Phil and Daniel, the only people I expect to read this. Brenton and maybe Maciej. Ali might start but I don't think he'll make it to the end. If I'm wrong HI ALI!!!! Also Brad if you decided to take time off from saving the world