Little Mac and the Koopalings highlight the Nintendo Direct news
For those of you on the east coast of the United States, who weren’t shoveling out from the most recent snow storm, Nintendo has you covered for game news. The newest Nintendo Direct revealed some interesting news for the Spring gaming season. There is a lot to cover and so little day light so let’s get right into it.
The first major news came from the Smash Bros universe with the addition of a new character, Little Mac. Little Mac will have a power meter, like in the Punch Out games, that will show how powerful his punches can be. Smash Bros is slated to have a 2014 release but things can change over the course of a year so you never know. Mario Kart 8 also had character reveals but I don’t think anyone saw the return of the Koopalings, Bowser’s kids. All 7 of the Koopa kids make their Mario Kart debut as playable characters and with this info, it will be very interesting to see who else makes the cut that can be filed under “out of left field.” Mario Kart 8 will be hitting store shelves on May 30th.
Game Boy Advance games will be put on the Wii U Virtual Console for the Spring season and the first batch of games are pretty good. They are Metroid Fusion, Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3, and Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. More games will be added every month so be sure to look out for your favorite GBA games. More info for Bayonetta 2, specifically the battle system, was revealed. Use the “Witch Time” to dodge attacks at the last possible second to get the upper hand in battle and “Umbrian Climax” to release your witch powers all at once. Use all the powers at Bayonetta’s disposal when the game releases this year. The game Monolith Soft has been working on was shown off as well. Not much was revealed except for the battle system that is similar to Xenoblade Chronicles.
The next installment of the NES Remix series, or Remix 2 was detailed during the Direct Presentation. New challenges, starring Super Mario Bros 3 and Kirby’s Adventure were revealed as well as a special unlocked game, Super Luigi Bros. The game plays like the challenge for Super Mario Bros but it has every level from the NES classic game going right to left. Child of Light for the Wii U, from Ubisoft, was mentioned as well. You play the role of Princess Aurora who needs to retrieve 3 sources of light from the Evil Queen. You fight monsters and solve puzzles along the way, complete with your own helpful firefly named Igniculous. Igniculous can heal party members in battle as well as write messages in light, for the good of the party. April 30th and 15 dollars are the important details for Child of Light.
More info for Yoshi’s New Island was revealed as well. Unlike other Mario games, there is no time limit for each level so you can have as much time as you need to explore. The addition of giant eggs or Mega Eggdozers allow for Yoshi to create monster eggs that can crash right though the landscape. Metal Eggdozers on the other hand allow Yoshi to still create giant eggs but he can fire them underwater and other non-normal places. Transformations make a comeback and you haven’t seen some of these before, like the Jackhammer. The transformations are controlled by using the gyro sensors in the 3DS. If Yoshi collects a super star, he can turn into Super Yoshi, able to run on walls or ceilings. If that type of flying doesn’t work for ya, you can collect flutter wings that will give Yoshi the ability to fly. Yoshi’s New Island is available to purchase on March 14th.
More 3DS games will be hitting store shelves this spring. Mario Golf: World Tour will be available on May 2nd. You’ll be able to play at the Castle Club, a place where you can customize your Mii with different golf clubs, golf balls, and clothes. This customization reminds me a lot of Mario Tennis for 3DS. Kirby Triple Deluxe also has some new features. It has collectables to find through out each level by way of 8 bit key chain. It will be difficult to find all the key chains as well as Sun Stones, another collectable for Kirby to find. The key chains also have street pass functions. You can get items from a Waddle Dee and the better you know the streetpasser you streetpass with, the better the item you can get. Kirby Triple Deluxe launches May 2nd.
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy has the puzzles and storylines the fans have come to love and expect the series to have. This time, you can have streetpass treasure hunts, in which you put up to three items in the hunt and players have fun finding them. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be coming in early 2015 and you’ll have the chance to hunt alongside your friends. Steel Diver: Sub Wars gives the player the controls for a quick sub but with slow attacks. You can compete 4 on 4 battles with friends or online battles in the free “steel diver sequel.” Inazuma Eleven is RPG-soccer at its finest. If you ever wanted to play an rpg based on a soccer team, this is for you. The game has some battles on the soccer field and some “real time” strategy on the soccer field.
Pokemon Battle Trozei has every known Pokemon at your disposal. You can catch each one and use them to battle and create pretty strong combos. There will be other challenges to attempt as well when the game is available on March 20th. Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball has the true feel of training for baseball. Hitting, catching, and umpire training are all in the game. You can try a mini game first and then haggle Rusty’s price down by bringing him items. This barter system brings the price down in real life as well. Weapon Shop De Omasse has the player running a shop in an RPG game. You are the blacksmith’s apprentice and work on tools in a rhythm-based game. If the work is sloppy, you won’t get paid for said work. Nintendo looks like they have some interesting things coming for the spring season and with all the snow everyone is looking forward to that time!
