Nintendo Direct March Highlights

©Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Soon after the Pokémon Direct of last week, we received a Nintendo Direct featuring some new games and also featuring some new information about already announced games. Here, I’ll talk about some of the main highlights of the Direct.

©Nintendo Co., Ltd. ©Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development ©PlatinumGames Inc.

They kicked things off with Star Fox Zero. Unlike some of the newer entries in the franchise, this one will be following a setup similar to Star Fox 64, with the addition of more branching paths, 2-player co-op and amiibo compatibility. Packaged with the game will be Star Fox Guard, which looks like tower defense game that revolves around using cameras placed on the field to deal with enemies and also features the ability to create custom maps. Both games will release on April 22nd.

For you Super Mario Maker fans out there, some new features will be released. Most importantly, the addition of keys (and of course locked doors) along with a new Super Expert Mode and more. The Bookmark site will also be seeing some improvements and updates. All of this is slated to happen March 9th.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (formerly known as Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem) will be releasing on June 24. Instead of focusing on the crossover, they are now focusing more on the prevailing themes of Jpop and idols in a modern Tokyo setting. They even mentioned that this RPG will feature music from Avex which is one of the biggest records label in Japan.

©Nintendo Co., Ltd. ©Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd.

Next up, a brand-new Paper Mario game was shown off, called Paper Mario Color Splash. This one will be on the Wii U, and revolves around the themes of colors and paint (perhaps similar to de Blob?).  It’s slated for release sometime this year.

Nintendo’s new loyalty program was finally official revealed as My Nintendo. It seems like rather than all purchases adding to your ‘points’ like the previous program, only digital purchases will mean anything. To counter that, it was mentioned that using Nintendo apps will also allow you to gather up points. You can already signup for one of these new apps, called Miitomo, here: https://miitomo.com/en/.

Hyrule Warriors Legends was also featured a bit. While it will come with all the DLC that has been released on the Wii U version, this game will still receive new DLC as well available individually or via a Season Pass (just like the console counterpart). Purchasing the Season Pass will also give players a Ganon costume based on his Wind Waker design. People who purchase the game within the launch window will acquire a special theme and also a code that allows all the new characters to be unlocked in the Wii U version. Finally, Medley from Wind Waker will be available for free for both versions when the game releases on March 25th.

©Nintendo Co., Ltd. ©Next Level Games Inc

Finally, there was some clarification added to Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Sadly, due to the negative reaction back when it was announced, the producer felt the need to defend their action in making this game. He went into the history of the game, having started development in 2009. This was around the time the DSi was released, and it was then that they realized that their online multiplayer focused ideas wouldn’t happen on the limitations of that system. When the New 3DS was finally released with much better hardware. Thus, Federation Force finally saw the light of day. While Samus will be featured in the game, the game revolves around an elite group of Galactic Federation soldiers called the Federation Force. This game will revolve around the war between the Galactic Federation and the Space Pirates (presumably sometime after Metroid Prime 3). This new entry in the franchise will have weight limitations on the characters, thus forcing you to be wise about your weapon and ability choices. These limitations are going to allow the player to be able to customize and choose player roles in a sort of pseudo-class system. Metroid Prime: Federation Force is slated of a late Spring release.

There were also a handful of other games presented as well as some other items like new amiibo. The year is certainly starting to look up for Nintendo fans, so start getting your wallets ready!
 
FULL GAME LIST
- Star Fox Zero (Wii U: April 22)
- Star Fox Guard (Wii U: April 22)
 - Splatoon Update (2 Updates coming soon)
 - Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Wii U: June 24 and 3DS: March 18)
 - Super Mario Maker Update (Wii U: March 9)
- Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (Wii U: June 24)
 - Lost Reavers (Wii U: April 28 with Open Beta April 14)
- Paper Mario Color Splash (Wii U: 2016)
- Pokkén Tournament (Wii U: March 18)
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U: March 4)
- Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge (Wii U & 3DS: April 28)
- Animal Crossing amiibo Cards and Standalone Isabelle amiibo (June 10)
- Pilotwings (3DS: Available Now) SNES Virtual Console
- F-Zero (3DS: Available Now) SNES Virtual Console
- Super Mario World (3DS: Available Now) SNES Virtual Console
- Super Mario Kart (3DS: March 24) SNES Virtual Console
- Earthbound (3DS: March 24) SNES Virtual Console
- Donkey Kong Country (3DS: March 24) SNES Virtual Console
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (3DS: April 14) SNES Virtual Console
- Super Metroid (3DS: April 14) SNES Virtual Console
- Super Metroid (3DS: April 14) SNES Virtual Console
- Pocket Card Jockey (3DS: May)
- Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (3DS: Summer)
- Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (3DS: March 10)
- Hyrule Warriors Legends (3DS: March 25)
- Disney Art Academy (3DS: May 13)
- Bravely Second: End Layer (3DS: April 15)
- Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (3DS: 2016)
- Monster Hunter Generations (3DS: Summer)
- Metroid Prime: Federation Force (3DS: Late Spring)
- Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS: Later This Year)
- Kirby Planet Robobot (3DS: June 10)
 
- Teepu

Full Nintendo Direct Video