Nintendo Direct (Nov 12. 2015)

Catch a new Nintendo Direct on Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. PT for updates on upcoming Wii U and Nintendo 3DS releases.

Please note that the presentation will not feature any updates on NX and mobile.

Edit 2: My bullet-point summary of what happened during the direct is in one the posts below. Not super eventful.

Edit: I should add that people are convinced that both Twilight Princess HD and Minecraft (ugh) will show up.

This will be the first post-Iwata direct. It'll be interesting to see how they handle it. Some Zelda U would be nice. Haven't seen a glimpse of it in almost a year.

Hey, thanks for the heads up. I think they might talk about Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash for Wii U and Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon on 3DS since those games come out later in November. Maybe they will have a release date to share for SteamWorld Heist, too. I agree with you that learning more about Zelda U would be nice, but it's more of an exciting bonus kind of thing for me. Rodea the Sky Soldier I think just came out on both the Wii U and the 3DS published by NIS America, so maybe a little about that release. Since we are in the Holiday shopping season, promoting the Super Mario Maker bundle might be a feature.

Of course I'm just speculating, but those are my thoughts.

Hoping for a Fire Emblem: Fates release date. You can already pre-order it at Target, so I don't imagine it's more than a few months away.

I feel like a giddy little school girl at the possibility of Twilight Princess HD being made available to purchase right after the Direct. It will easily wash away the bad taste that Skyward Sword left in my mouth.

You mentioning Target reminds me what a bummer it is that Xenoblade isn't out yet. I would've jumped on the buy 2 get 1 free deal if that was the case.

Link Splatoon costume and Twlight Princess HD seem to be likely possibilities if rumors are to be believed. I'm guessing more info/more specific release windows for Star Fox and Poken Tournament. There's gotta be some new Smash content in there. Probably going to have some trailers for their holiday lineup for games like Xenoblade and Mario Tennis. Would LOVE to see some new Mario Maker content.

Oh, and obviously amiibos.

I'd love to hear some Zelda WiiU news, but I suspect that's unlikely.

STAR FOX VR, DAMMIT. And yes, some releases would be nice. I don't even mind another Minecraft port. Just add some Grow-Large function to the mushrooms you can eat in-game and we're cool.

Does Giant Bomb ever talk over Nintendo Directs like they do some conferences? I always enjoy those.

@arsalan85: No the only time they have ever talked over a Nintendo Direct was during E3.

• Twilight Princess HD announced
• Wolf Link Amiibo (bleh)
• Wii U Zelda super tiny little glimpse (*sigh*)
• Tri-Force Heroes nonsense.
• Splatoon maps
• Mario Maker course filter website...weird
• That's what you want to hear, the entire fucking game is a dice roll. UUUUUGh. (Animal Crossing)
• Ultra Smash / more Amiibo stuff
• Xenoblade X
• Badge Arcade - "Free to start" game
• Pokemon Picross
• Indies
• Terrible Yo-Kai Watch skit
• Wii U - Smash / Splatoon bundle
• Pokken Tournament
• Star Fox Zero - April 22nd 2016 release
• Paper Mario 3DS - Use Amiibo to cheat
• Final Fantasy Explorers - American version includes Japanese DLC free
• Fire Emblem Fates - Feb 19 2016 release - Same bullshit release strategy
• Megaman Legacy - more Amiibo crap
• Original Pokemon coming to 3DS
• Hyrule Warriors Legends for 3DS - Linkle, who's apparently not just a female version of Link. Either way, that is a duuuumb name
• Dragon Quest VII & VIII 3DS
• Inexplicably - Cloud is in Smash Bros as DLC....what?

Anyways. They're stalling for time. Mostly filler here.

Holy crap, they're actually doing something like lbp.me for Mario Maker? Kind of shocked it's coming so soon. That was definitely my #1 want for the game.

I'm 15 minutes late; watching Mario Tennis rn. Anything big I missed?

EDIT 1: Damn it Bill.

EDIT 2: Cloud is a great/hilarious choice for Smash. Gonna Limit Break everything.

Free to start? Is that what Nintendo calls free to play?

I guess that's a more honest way to describe it, just sounds a little weird.

FUCKIN BILL EATIN ALL THE SNACKS 'N SHIT

Why cant I preorder Twilight Princess yet, Reggie?! You filthy liar!

Also... I somehow never expected that "Pokken Tournament" would be the actual title for the western release of that game. Is it meant to evoke Tekken?

I'll freely admit that I've never enjoyed the Star Fox games, but oh boy does this new one look like a rotten hunk of pork.

That new racing game looks dope, but makes me wonder why they didn't just go all the way and make it a new F-Zero. Surely the name alone would help sell exponentially more copies and it's not like it's something like Splatoon where they've never had that type of game before.

@babychoochoo: I think that FAST Racing NEO is a non-Nintendo developed Wii U exclusive, which is a weird and rare thing these days. The game looks pretty dope, I have to admit, and it maybe the one thing in this stream that's making me reconsider buying a Wii U.

EDIT: It's a sad state of affairs that Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow digital release is kinda making me want to buy a 3DS.

Sweet Fire Emblem fates 2/19/2016!

Fuck yeah Dragon Quest!! I had completely given up hope that those remakes would come out over here.

Yay! Not sure I'll get the 2nd path but I think the discount's pretty cool.

Dragon Quest VII!!!!! I'd nearly given up. Man that's fantastic news!

And Linkle is now a thing for real

Mega Man Legacy Collection! Dragon Quest VII! Dragon Quest VIII! *Triple-airhorn*

Project X Zone 2 looks bonkers.

Fuck it, why not. Let's just go all out with this bringing back Final Fantasy VII bullshit.

Okay, Cloud in Smash doesn't even make sense...

I mean, sure, it's not a bad thing, but whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Fuckin' Cloud. Sure.

Those summons looked pretty cool.

@slag: New Fire Emblem on my birthday? Lovely bit of news.

Yeah! Fire Emblem comes out in February! I'm going to be stupid and get that $80 collector's edition because of course I am.

Other thoughts:

• Somewhere Hailinel is pumping his fist for Crossbow Lady Link in Hyrule Warriors
• The presence of Twilight Princess HD suggests that Zelda Wii U isn't coming out until the second half of next year. I'm calling it now. Also maybe I'll play Twilight Princess again because I don't remember a thing about that game.
• Cloud is basically the least appropriate Final Fantasy character to shove into Smash Bros.

Final Fantasy Explorers release date (yay!)

DRAGON QUEST VIII?! (One of my all time favorites from the ps2 era)

Cloud in Smash?! Wtf is all I can say. That trailer made me hype as fuck

Let me know when they announce a Metroid game.

WHAT'S THAT? DRAGON QUEST VII AND VIII 3DS COMING TO THE WEST?

That is a mean looking horse. Looks like it wants a bite outta something.

Anyone know what the reception was to Final Fantasy Explorers in Japan? I haven't heard anything and quick search doesn't show much.

This Direct reminded me that I have a fairly large backlog of 3DS games.

I mean... You may as well if each game is going to cost $40. I dont recall if they mentioned pricing for the third campaign or not but if it isnt free then you're essentially getting a better deal with the collector's edition.

Yeah, if you were going to get all of them, then it's the same price for getting all the physical copies with the collector stuff. Still a bunch of poo-poo that you have to buy at least two to get the "real" version.

To anyone that's concerned I can say with some confidence that the Fire Emblem games are different enough to be worth it.

buying one version of the game will allow you to get the 2nd at 50% off, so it should be... $39.99 then $19.99 for the second?

IIRC, for the Revelations path, I think it's accessible regardless of which path you choose.

Cloud.

I was sure I was dreaming. Cloud was in Smash. I love FF (even though I've only played a couple games). And When the VII came up, I knew it was Cloud. I actually had somebody pinch me.

If anything, I've heard from people who already have the Japanese version that the third "true" campaign is actually the weakest. The Nohr (Conquest) campaign is supposed to be really good though.

Can you elaborate on that? If it's not too much of a bother. Especially with regards to Revelations, since that seems to be the biggest mystery of the bunch.

@arbitrarywater: Nohr is the one I wanted to go with from the start, but I'd like to know what I'm missing if I don't bother with the rest.

@aegon: From what I read, each version is its own entirely different campaign each at least the size of Awakening. I can't say how different they are but it's certainly not a two versions of Pokemon thing going on which people seem to be confused about. I imagine they use similar or some of the same maps but the Conquest ones have different victory conditions. Also I think there are exclusive characters to each route. I also want to say that you can grind in Birthright like you could in awakening but you can't in Conquest, it's more like classic Fire Emblem games.

Original Pokemon AND FIRE EMBLEM IN FEBRUARY PLEASE YES THANK GOD

@aegon: I have a half written blog about it that I'm going to try and finish up soon, but I've played the entirety of Nohr and it seems like a pretty awesome fully realized Fire Emblem game. While I haven't played Hoshido, everything I've seen about it makes it seem totally different, the games share a handful of short tutorial chapters, and a few characters, but both versions are like 90% distinct content. They don't even feel the same, Nohr feels almost like an old school Fire Emblem, and Hoshido seems much more in the vein of Awakening. It's definitely not like a Pokemon situation, if you like Fire Emblem you'll want both games. To be clear though I can't really speak for the story because I played it in japanese, and the third campaign is something I've been intentionally avoiding info on.

Does he qualify because he was in the gameboy Kingdom Hearts games?

@arbitrarywater: Honestly I think anyone who expected it in the first half was probably a little to wishful, they haven't even announced a title. I always figured they would do the formal announcement at E3 2016; title and release date.

When they announced the Pokemon R/B/Y rereleases I was really hoping they would have included a way to trade with yourself. As a kid I never caught the original 150 (I finished with around 125-130) and would have played through those games again if I could do it myself as I don't have a friend I could convince to venture down that rabbit hole with me.

Cloak, and huge sword, Link is Pre-Eclipse Guts confirmed.