It’s time for another instalment of Nintendo Direct! Last time was entirely focused on the Wii U, but while this presentation has a minor amount of news for the Wii U, it’s mostly concentrated on what is coming up on the 3DS, and here is a summary of what was covered.
2013: The year of Luigi
Iwata opened by saying that 2013 is the Year of Luigi, as Nintendo has several titles planned with Luigi as the lead. In his first appearance in a Nintendo Direct video, Shigeru Miyamoto explained some of the gameplay features in Luigi’s Mansion 2 for the 3DS.
Besides the single player campaign, which has a greater variety of settings, puzzles and ghosts than the first game, it will also include 4 player game modes. These 3 variations of co-op games include: Hunter mode, where the players eliminate all the ghosts in a tower; Race mode, where you must escape each floor in the time limit; and Chase mode, where you have to chase ghost dogs around the mansion. All these modes will be available in local and online play, as well as download play, where only one game cartridge is required.
The game will be released in Europe on March 28th, so we can expect it about the same time in Australia. I wasn’t all that excited about Luigi’s Mansion 2 before but I think I’ll invest in a copy now after seeing how fun the gameplay looks.
To cap off the year of Luigi, Iwata announced 3 new titles. A new Mario & Luigi RPG will be released this summer, and will take place within Luigi’s dreams, giving him near omnipotent powers to play with. Later in the year DLC will be coming out for Mario Bros U called New Super Luigi U, where you will play exclusively as Luigi and play through remixed versions of all the levels. He then announced Mario Golf for the 3DS which will feature Luigi. Well, that last one is a bit of a cop out since Luigi always appears in the sports titles… But still, it’s nice to see Luigi is getting some love!
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
Satoru Shibata then took over and revealed Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for Wii U and 3DS will be released March 22nd in Europe. Available the same day will be a console package for each of the titles. The Wii U bundle will include the Wii U Premium, a copy of Monster Hunter and a Pro control, while the 3DS bundle will include a black 3DSXL and a copy of Monster Hunter. The XL Circle Pad Pro, which adds a second joystick to the 3DS, will be made available the same day and for use on the 3DSXL.
Ryozo Tsujimoto explained some of the functionality of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. If you have a both a Wii U and 3DS copy, the memory will be transferable between the two versions, meaning that you can play your 3DS data at home in HD on your TV, or take your Wii U data out with you when you go out. This will be particularly helpful for local play, allowing a Wii U player to team up with 3 other players on their 3DS as opposed to a traditional split screen experience. Monster Hunter also supports online play, giving Monster Hunter an extremely high degree of flexibility in how you experience the multiplayer. Best of all, demos for the game will be available on the 3DS and Wii U eShop next week, giving us something to look forward to!
RPG announcements
A variety of RPG titles were given release dates and release windows in Europe including: Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate for the 3DS, a combat driven side-scrolling game with RPG elements will be released March 8th; Fire Emblem: Awakening and the limited edition Fire Emblem 3DS will be released April 19th, with first DLC bundle free for a limited time; Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titans is planned for release in the Spring and plays like classic RPGs with first person exploration and combat; Project X Zone will be released in Summer (so excited for this); and finally, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is available at a discounted price from the Nintendo eShop until the 21st of February for $39.95.
Other Games
A handful of assorted titles will also be coming in 2013. Keeping in mind these are European release dates, these include: Splash and Crash on February 28th, an unusual looking puzzle game where you control a rock falling into a well (trust me it looks more fun than it sounds); Code of Princess in Spring, a side-scrolling beat-em-up RPG which looks amazing; a new Inazuma Eleven game will be available in the summer, and it appears to be an insane soccer RPG with matches that look like something out of Dragon Ball Z, and will come in two versions like Pokemon; Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity is coming May 17th, complete with 4 player co-op, randomly generated dungeons and the ability to customise cities; a new Mario vs Donkey Kong title for the second Quarter; and finally, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for the summer.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
And after a year of being delayed, we FINALLY have a release date for Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It will be coming out June 14th (again, in Europe) and has a high number of new features for the 3DS installment. As opposed to just being a resident of your town, you will be chosen as a mayor (due to a clerical error… somehow), giving you the power to build new structures and customise your town, including changing laws to suit your gaming habits. Specifically, changing what time stores are to remain open.
As well as the ability to customise your clothing (which now allows you to select pants AND tops), you will also be able to customise the designs of your furniture, and change the outward appearance of your house. You will also be able to visit other peoples towns locally and online, see other people’s houses via StreetPass, and play multiplayer mini-games. There are already 2.7 million different mayors in Japan alone, so this game is going to be a massive hit when it’s finally released in the west.
With the amount of content coming for the 3DS, I’m sure there’s something to please everyone on there. I personally will be getting Project X Zone, Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem on day one , but what are you getting excited about?
