Many big announcements and news for the Wii U were dropped at the Nintendo Direct event on Wednesday. President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata himself led the presentation, detailing the future of Nintendo’s eighth home console, the Wii U. Throughout the presentation, much information regarding the system’s stability, security and future focus were talked about, but the most important topic of the presentation was video games. Many new surprising and shocking games were announced, as well as new information regarding already announced games, and those games are described below.
You can watch the entirety of the Nintendo Direct event here.
The Wonderful 101
The Wonderful 101 is a newly deveopled game by Platinum Games, who brought you Bayonetta, Vanquish and the upcoming Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The Wonderful 101 is a strategy action game where the player controls a 100 small and unique heroes. The object is to control all the unique super heroes and defend Earth from an invading alien species. A first glance at the screenshots and the trailer, shows that it has some striking similarities with another Nintendon franchise, Pikmin. Both series involve the player controlling large amounts of small units to take down larger opponents, and maneuver strategically around the level.
The Wonderful 101 does have it differences, with each unit being distinct and unique, having super powers and the overall theme of the game being a comic book hero. The game has a lot of character and will be releasing only for the Wii U. No date has been announced.
Pikmin 3
Bayonetta 2
The trailer for Bayonetta 2 at Nintendo Direct isn’t the usual affair. Rather than gameplay or a cinematic trailer, it was a behind the scenes look at the development of Platinum Games anticipated sequel. Most of the video had the team behind the game go through the various aspects required into creating a game like Bayonetta 2. Some visual content of the game is also seen within the video, including enemy designs, building meshes and Bayonetta’s new look, but all still within a development phase. The game is set to release on the Wii U, with no date revealed.
Shin-Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem
The first shocking announcement from Nintendo Direct. Two of Japan’s most popular RPG franchises are coming together in a collaborative game. Currently titled Shin-Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, the trailer reveals characters from both series. The game will be a joint development project between Nintendo and Atlus’ parent company, Index.
The SMT (Shin-Megami Tensei) series is developed by Atlus, and is a massive franchise encompassing many well known RPG series, such as Persona and Devil Summoner. Fire Emblem has more strategic elements than the traditional RPG model, and is developed by Intelligent Systems, a first party developer for Nintendo. The latest entry into the SMT franchise is Persona 4 Golden for the Vita, and SMT 4 will be releasing on the 3DS soon. The latest entry in Fire Emblem, is Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS.
The game has been revealed to be a RPG, and no release date has been announced.
New Yoshi Game
X – Monolith Soft’s Next Game
Monolith Soft is known to create the Wii sensation, Xenoblade Chronicles. Monolith’s next game has been announced at Nintendo Direct with a trailer showing the new game’s world and combat sequences. Currently named X, the game shares a big resemblance to their last game, and talks of X being a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles have started spreading. The trailer features a large HD world, with large mechanised monsters spawning throughout the world. Also, riding one of these robots seems to be an option.
One problem that may arise is the localisation of the game, since Xenoblade Chronicles released in North America last year, compared to its initial release in Japan in 2010. Whether or not these problems will arise, the game still looks stunning and quite promising.
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
The last of the major announcements, and the most surprising is the HD Remaster of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Released in 2002 for the Gamecube, it was the first Zelda game to feature a younger Link and the first to use Cel-Shading graphics. At Nintendo Direct, Eiji Aonuma – the director of the original Wind Waker and various other Zelda games- announced the HD version, as well as progress on a new Zelda altogether. While Aonuma and his team are redefining the concepts for their next game, Wind Waker of the Wii U will be releasing this year to remedy.
Lots of new images for the game surfaced through his presentation. The HD remake looks stunning, with crisp visuals and High Definition rendering. Though, there have been concerns regarding this new version’s graphics and aesthetic. Many claim that only a graphics filter has been added on top of the core game, and a large overuse of the ‘bloom’ effect may ruin the game. It is also worth noting, that the game has lost the ‘Cel-shadedness’ in this version, which was a strong distinction between Wind Waker and otherZelda titles. Despite some critiques from fans, the overall game does look amazing, and the first HD Zelda game, apart from the HD demonstration in E3 last year.
Super Smash Bros. Mario Party & Mario Kart
None of these eager multiplayer games were visually present at Nintendo Direct, rather Iwata did mention them in passing. He did state that these games would have some reveal and announcement at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this year. So you have to wait up until any more information regarding these three games.
So this is a (late) roundup of all the major announcements at the Nintendo Direct event, presented by Satoru Iwata himself. So, are you satisfied with the new lineup? Or is there enough to warrant a purchase of the Wii U now? Nintendo has shown its big guns for the year, and there is still more to come.