We Talk Over: Nintendo Direct 02/17/21

Brad's timing in accidentally introducing the last game's title card ... magnificent.

The way multiplayer works with friends is so boneheaded in Splatoon 2 that it makes me despise the game. I hope Nintendo fixes it for 3, but I have zero faith that Nintendo will understand how the Internet works by 2022.

I’m probably the only person in the history of the world that ever wanted an HD remake of Skyward Sword, so I’m pretty pumped for this. Hopefully with “button controls” people playing for the first time will actually see all the cool ideas and hear the good music Nintendo buried in there. People that already dislike it probably ain’t gonna change their mind though.

@youeightit said:

I'm with you. I stand by my opinion that Skyward Sword is an almost top-tier Zelda trapped inside a weird husk of experimental ideas, Wii jank and far too many tutorials, with one of the very best stories in the whole series. Yeah, the whole thing could definitely use a pacing pass (especially the first 30% and some of the re-used sections later), but there's so much good in there, especially if Zelda lore/music is your jam.

Also: very pleased that they actually made this run at 60FPS. It looks waaaay smoother.

I honestly thought Neon White was a Paradise Killer spinoff.

Nintendo doesn’t need any new major first party games because they can sustain themselves on $60 remakes.

Thumbs up for Mario Golf! Game seems solid. the SALT IRON game could be neat too, although that artstyle has lost it's novelty for me already. Hope that splatoon added a solid singleplayer story to the tried-and-proven multiplayer. Otherwise this might feel more of a half-step to Splatoon, after the half-step that Splatoon 2 was.

That said, there were some grimy games on display here. No More Heroes is such a colorful stylish title, it's a shame that it looks so put together on a stringbudget. This footage looks visually worse than Deadly Premonition 2, despite it trying so hard to establish a flashy visual style with the quasi-cell-shaded look and all the video-gamey aspects.

Stubbs the Zombie is a niche title so i guess you can't expect a huge overhaul, but man i have a hard time imagining someone coming to that for the first time in 2021 and appreciating that typical desaturized grey/blue look of the mid 2000's.

It always makes me slightly sad to see the crew so down on Zelda. Ok, Skyward Sword deserves all the criticism - it's the only mainline Zelda game that I actually disliked. But all the others are goddamn classics.

Yay, Pyra and Mythra! Between her and us getting the Famicom Detective Club remakes, I had a good time.

Exciting, but a little anxious for me are Project Triangle Strategy, Mario Golf Super Rush, and Splatoon 3. Worried that Triangle Strategy won't stick the landing ala Octopath Traveler. Super Rush I question if the single player stuff will be good, as the previous Mario Golf: World Tour on 3DS didn't grab me. Splatoon 3 has me worried that the series will be Nintendo's next Mario Kart in how iterative it is.

I saw a lot of disappointed people in the chat for the live stream, so I'm sorry for those that didn't find a damn thing to hold on to in these long fifty minutes :(

Legend of Mana was actually the last good Mana game in the series. I heard this latest one that came out is a bit better, but I haven't played it and I don't mean the remake. And while I agree the story was kind of hard to follow, the gameplay, graphics, soundtrack, and artful presentation were great.

Edit: I believe Nintendo is in a tough spot. The reason you don't see BOTW2, Metroid Prime 4, Bay 3 and the like is because Nintendo realized their current Switch isn't capable of handling those games, at least not in the way that does them justice. At the same time, they are still selling current Switch's like hotcakes when available. So, I believe the issue is when to announce a new more powerful Switch and those games, without the consumers who bought a current Switch feeling burned. With that said, I never played Skyward Sword, so its not that big of a deal to me. And that tactics game looks like the sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics I was waiting for.

Ah hell yeah I always wanted to play Stubbs!!

I almost started watching this, but I realized I don't need to hear their derision about Skyward Sword again haha. Though it was a shock to remember it's been 10 years since that came out. Super pumped we're getting a Tactics game in the Octopath style.

I can't believe they're putting out Skyward Sword on the Switch before simply porting Wind Waker HD. Nintendo is ridiculous.

No idea why they were so incredulous about Skyward Sword; Nintendo redid WW and TP already, it only made sense that they would eventually do the same for the last of that run of Zelda games. I'm surprised it's taken them this long to get it out there, honestly.

The beginning skit with Xenoblade was a pretty good Smash reveal; I figured they were making a direct sequel, with how long that went on.

Shulk continues to be one of the worst character names I can think of.

What a weak Nintendo direct.

@av_gamer: You are 100% right. They need to make a new switch or else we wont see a new metroid or botw2

Shulk smah indeed, Brad. Shulk smash.

As a non-Nintendo fan I watched this and can't say it did anything to sway me over. Nothing wrong with catering to the base of course - that Mario Golf game did absolutely nothing for me but people appeared to be really stoked for it. Was curious to see Bayonetta 3 just so that I can look from afar and admire it but I'm with Jan, that game is never coming out. (By that I mean it will come out really late eventually and probably be a bummer)

Watching the Japanese version and I think I want more from there.

Nothing here interested me in the slightest. As the owner of a PS5 and a gaming PC with a 3070, I just don't think the Switch is aimed at people like me. Which is completely fair enough.

After seeing this direct, there is no way Nintendo is not planning a Switch 2/ Switch Pro for this holiday/ early next year. This direct is Nintendo on cruise control. Splatoon 3 as the only future first party title shown looks like it can be shown on the current switch without giving anything away about the future.

Mario Golf looks cool though.

Jeff snorts fervently

It's because ports of the WiiU HD-ified versions of WW and TP are such obvious great choices to bolster the release calendar, especially now with the 35th anniversary coming up. "They did it already" is moot because the vast, vast majority of Switch owners did not play the WiiU version

Anyway, the announcement of Skyward Sword really sunk the whole thing. for me I hope they are not completely bonehaded and bring TP and WW later this year in some sort of All Star package, but this is, once again, Nintendo at its most baffling.

Also where was Pokémon Snap? Isn't that coming out soon? Weird that they didn't show or mention it.

Mario Golf and the Famicom Detective thing looked cool though

I like Skyward Sword. Personally, the worst Zelda game is majora’s mask.

Jeff's reaction to skyward sword and controllers had me rolling. I was dying lol.

Skyward Sword is a game that I've always intended to give a whirl, fully aware of its reception. Seems like a good time to finally dive in.

Legend of Mana is one of my favorite games of all time, so I'm all over this rerelease, if for no other reason than to hear that new soundtrack.

I shall continue to pray that Bayonetta 3 becomes one of Nintendo's patented "We are showing and/or telling you about this game for the first time and it'll be out in 2 months" announcements. It's been nearly 4 years. That thing's gotta come out soon, right?

Shoulda been Lora.

Sorry, not sorry.

Very underwhelming because there was nothing there that piqued my interest. But, to be fair Sony and Microsoft have been somewhat weak on "interesting" news lately.

Last Fall was a series of poorly executed Triple-A effort games...or what was supposed to be Triple-A effort. The US election sucked all joy out of the holidays for many Americans and the attemped overthrow of the government was a real downer.

Nintendo needed to bring it. But, they brought nothing except what other studios with a pulse had going on. Everything internal they showed was a 'dull'. It is as if they said, "Lets not make our cold oatmeal games 'too spicy' with a single new idea.

"Yay, Mario Golf! Gee-whizz, sorry there are in fact no new ideas here."
Yay, Zelda that are always cool? Oh, wait this is the worst of the games without even the flair of new art."
"Yay, Splatoon 3 with an interesting opening cinema. Oh, sorry, to get your heart racing; because there is nothing new here either. You all will accept just more Splatoon gameplay no different in substance for the last two games, right?"
"Oh, look something with Miis, that weird because even Nintendo toss in a waste bin years ago, right? Well, no matter it looks like shit we pulled off a dusty shelf."

How sad is it that the best games hsown were from either other people's IP, or games made by other developers. "DC Super Girls: Teen Power", "Project Triangle Strategy", and "Xenoblade Chronicles characters" at least seemed fun. The highlight of that was DC Super Girls: Teen Power, because that honestly looked fun and not forced.

The option for hand held mode in Skyward Sword is promising for those of us waiting for the Metroid Prime Trilogy on Switch. The fact that the games need to play on a lite also means a lot of conversion work going on for that era of games that didnt already have it built in.

Every time I hear "Shulk in Smash," I keep thinking Jennifer Walters is in Smash Bros.

And that's terrible.

Personally I'd love more weirdass 2D PS1 games, I feel like those are strange and wonderful and never get enough attention because everyone's so focused on the 3D games that were coming out at that time.

I can't believe they resurrected Katharine Hepburn to narrate Mario Golf.

splatoon 3, calling that the desert area is the tutorial area you have to get past to get to the city/open mulitplayer

Skyward Sword is probably the best Zelda to me. OoT holds special significance but when it comes to the things I love about the series it does it the best: bosses, puzzles, fun items, great art, great music, and oh man the dungeons are phenomenal! I don't understand how anyone who enjoys video games and dungeon design could not be in awe of the water buddha temple or the final dungeon where you move rooms around. They are simply fantastic! The game has well known flaws but they are so minor in light of everything it does well (that whole ship area was awesome and oh the vacuum thing!)

My spicy take -- and why I thought we'd never get this port -- is that I am very skeptical Switch motion controls will do the game justice. Sure, even Wii Motion Plus wasn't perfect (though it had a lot to do with how user placed sensor bar) but I haven't seen any Switch games attempt this degree of wrist tracking. I expect it will be awful and people will be forced to play with the new controls which will be awful and people will continue to crap on this terrific game.

Other than that, Nintendo's showing is pretty weak. Famicom is interesting and that new game by 999 creator could be cool but Splatoon 3 feels so uninspired. I agree with crew, was hoping for a more creative spin-off or something new.

I am quite excited for the re-release of Skyward Sword. Breath of the Wild is the worst Zelda game in my personal opinion and people raving about how they likes it makes me fear we will never get a new 3D Zelda, or just a 3D Nintendo game, with the old dungeon-crawling, tools-filled inventory style of before BOTW. I found it to be much more fun, wittier and more charming than the Breath of the Wild concept and the way I see it, I feel it's Nintendo throwing a bone at those who preferred the old formula.

Personal opinion and all, I am more excited to replay Skyward Sword than have BOTW2, or older 3D Zeldas if they would also bring back WindWaker HD and Twilight Princess HD too.

The triangle strategy thing is totally Tactics Ogre (the largely forgotten precursor to Final Fantasy Tactics), which is pretty awesome. I, like Jan, also was a lot cooler on Octopath traveler, though I know exactly why. I have a strong aversion to stories that feature sexual abuse and one character's route is all about that... it ruined the rest of the game for me.

Excited for Skyward sword, I never got around to playing it, as I never had a Wii at the right time. I was really hoping for some Breath of the Wild 2 news, but I can use a new-to-me Zelda to tide me over.

Triangle Strategy got my interest, though Octopath kinda lost it after I tried the demo. But, it also makes me wonder why FF Tactics, Advance, A2 and the Tactic Ogre games haven't gotten ports. Always hoped to try LUCT as I didn't on PSP.

Skyward Sword has the best dungeons in the series by a mile, and the motion stuff is fun and novel when it works.

I loathed the game with a passion when it came out. The handholding is parodic levels of overwrought, and it didn’t help that it was running on an extremely dated engine (basically just a modified Wind Waker), and is super linear.

Came back to it a year later and loved it. I actually like how gamified and directed everything is, as compared to the long stretches of aimlessness found in open world games (I had just come off of playing Red Dead Redemption, which I found to be quite boring).

Also have to say I’m surprised by the framerate boost. Nintendo rarely does that with their remasters.

There is a version of Ocarina on GameCube. With the 'Master Quest' version.