Summary of Nintendo’s E3 Digital Event- 6-16-2015

Here we go! Here’s a summary of Nintendo’s Digital Event from E3 2015. Click here to watch the Digital Event for yourself or continue reading to see what it was all about.

• The first announcement of the Direct was a new StarFox game with a world premiere trailer for the game. The game is titled StarFox Zero and will be debuting during the holiday season of this year. The trailer was an overview that transitioned into a developer interview with Shigeru Miyamoto in which he discussed his inspiration for the series. The game will take advantage of the Wii U Gamepad’s gyroscope to control the camera and provide a cockpit view of the action. So, the game has both a first and third person perspective. The Arwing will also be able to transform into a Walker, a feature from Starfox 2. The Arwing can also become the Landmaster as well as a Gyrowing, which looks like a helicopter drone that can explore small areas.
• Next was a presentation from Reggie Fils-Aime. He explained that the theme of E3 was “transformation”. He also confirmed they will talk about the Nintendo NX next year.
• Super Mario Bros. is having its 30^th anniversary this year. Reggie explained how Mario has transformed himself and the face of gaming. After giving a brief overview of Mario Maker, Reggie explained ways that amiibo are going to impact Nintendo’s games.
• In a surprise announcement, Donkey Kong and Bowser will be making an appearance in the Skylanders franchise alongside their own vehicles in the next game Skylanders: Superchargers. Bowser and Donkey Kong will be fully playable and will given “turbo” figurines. The figurines will be both a Skylander figure and an amiibo via a turn of a dial on the bottom of the figure. The Skylanders team created “Magma Bowser” who will be able to set himself on fire and breathe fire onto Koopas to create Dry Bones that he can use to fight for him.

Summary of Super Smash Bros. Mini Direct 6-14-15

To coincide with the release of Lucas for Smash Bros. and the upcoming E3, Sakurai held a mini Nintendo Direct today to cover some of the new content that will be arriving for the games. Though a lot of the information was leaked out early yesterday, the Direct still provided a lot more of an in-depth look at what’s coming for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Click here to check out the Direct for yourself or continue reading for a recap of all the highlights from this Direct.

• The Direct opened with the reveal of Roy from the Fire Emblem series as a returning fighter for the game. Following this, Sakurai explained the differences between this incarnation of Roy and the Melee one including that his Final Smash will be the fiery Critical Hit move.
• Following this, some New Mii Fighter Costumes were released including Megaman.EXE, Zero, Isabelle, the Inkling Boy and Girl, a Squid Hat, Jacky and Akira from Virtua Fighter.
• There will also be new trophies including Inkling Girl.
• Next there was the reveal of some new amiibo figures: the Mii Fighters with the Sword Fighter, Gunner, and Brawler all receiving separate figurines. It was also revealed that amiibo figures for R.O.B., Duck Hunt, Mr. Game & Watch, and Falco will be released soon as well.
• The Game & Watch amiibo will be special for it will not only be 2D, but will come with a variety of poses that you can swap out interchangeably. Game & Watch, as well as R.O.B., Duck Hunt, and the Mii Fighters will be released in September.

Watch Today’s Nintendo Direct!

Today, there was a short Japan-only Nintendo Direct that revealed some new information about some upcoming games. Click here to watch it.
Some quick highlights were that the reveal that a remake of Dragon Quest VIII will be released on the 3DS, the Fire Emblem amiibos will work with the latest Fire Emblem title, a special Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer New 3DS LL will be released in Japan, a new Chibi Robo game is set to be released soon alongside a Chibi Robo amiibo, and there’s going to be a new Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games title for 2016.
Of course, there was a lot more covered than that in the 30-minute Direct, so click here to watch it for yourself.

Pokémon Announces Super Mystery Dungeon

Here’s a nice surprise: today Pokemon announced a brand new game in the Mystery Dungeon series called Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon. The game will be on the Nintendo 3DS and the press release says that you will:

“Battle alongside Legendary and Mythical Pokémon to save the world from a crisis in a tale of unprecedented scale.”

Aside from this, the only other thing we know about this game is that it’ll be released in Winter of this year. However, the press release on Pokemon.com does say that more information is soon to come.

Until Then,

-The Nintendo Nerd

All Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 2 Tracks Revealed!

DLC Pack 2 for Mario Kart 8 is on its way next week and today we found out a lot more about the eight courses that will be included within the pack. Trailers for all eight new courses were released on Nintendo of Japan’s official YouTube page. Each track looks positively stunning and are sure to be welcome additions to the game. The following is a list of the new tracks, but click here to see an overview trailer that contains some footage of each course and here to go to the playlist that contains within it all of the brand new trailers that shows off each race individually.

The first new track, of course, is the Animal Crossing themed course that we saw during the Nintendo Direct at the beginning of the month. We know that it contains changing seasons and features a lot of fan favorite Animal Crossing characters. It looks to be a beautiful course that has a unique mechanic and pays great homage to the game it’s based off of.

Next, is the first returning course: Cheese Land from Mario Kart: Super Circuit. It’s a desert inspired course with large pieces of cheese scattered around the landscape and giant chain chomps ready to take you out as you fly by them.

Nintendo Announces New Hardware: Codename NX

Today, at a conference, Iwata briefly revealed that next year, we will all be getting our first look at brand new hardware from the company entitled Codename NX. Click here to see a very short clip containing the statement about the Codename NX. What’s contained in that clip is about all that we learned about the project, but fans everywhere are already beginning to speculate what this new system could be. Is it a portable system like the 3DS? A new home console gaming system like the Wii U? Or is it something completely new? With the little information we have, it’s difficult to say.

Additionally, it was also confirmed today that Nintendo will soon be making mobile games alongside the types of games that the company currently develops.

That’s about it for today, though expect to see me post even further information on Nintendo mobile games and Codename NX as it is revealed.

Until Then,

-The Nintendo Nerd

New Club Nintendo Rewards!

The Club Nintendo Rewards Catalog has been update with brand new rewards to go along with the program’s impending closure later this year. What will likely be the last wave of new rewards includes a lot of really awesome stuff you can spend your coins on.
Click here to check out the rewards catalog!

The new items you’ll find in the catalog include:

• An updated Nintendo 3DS Game Card Case for 2015
• A 2016 Desktop Calendar (though the image shown of the calendar says 2015)
• Animal Crossing Mini-Playing Cards
• A 3DS XL Pouch featuring The Legend of Zelda
• A second set of Smash Bros posters featuring the artwork that came with the announcement of Shulk, Bowser Jr., and Duck Hunt for Super Smash Bros. to go along with the previously released set featuring Rosalina, the Villager, and Palutena
• A Retro Mario T-Shirt
• A Limited Edition 2013 Platinum Poster Set which seems to include a picture of 8-bit Luigi, the promotional artwork from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, and a Pikmin 3 print
• A Fierce Deity Link Jigsaw Puzzle
• And a Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D Messenger Bag

As far as games go…there’s a lot! Too many to list here, but what was once only a limited selection of retro games has expanded to include full-fledged 3DS and Wii U games including Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Starfox 64 3D, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Wii Fit U, Game & Wario, and much more. Wow! The list is definitely worth checking out if you have a bunch of coins saved up!

Club Nintendo has stated that the codes for Flipnote Studio 3D will be distributed within the week and that quantities on these items are limited, so be sure to check it out soon!

Until Then,

-The Nintendo Nerd

New Update For Smash Bros. for Wii U Brings New 8-Player Stages

This is just a quick post to let you know that if you download the latest update for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, a total of 15 8-Player versions of familiar stages will open up to you with some appearing in their “normal” form and others appearing in the Omega/Final Destination form. These new 8-player stages include, but are not limited to: Luigi’s Mansion, Town and City, Lylat Cruise, Pokemon Stadium 2, and Wii Fit Studio! Here’s hoping this is a sign of even more content in the future!

Until Then,

-The Nintendo Nerd

Summary of Nintendo Direct from 1/14/15

There was a long Nintendo Direct this morning and it was packed full of information! There’s so much of it that I’ve decided to use a quick, bullet-point format in order to summarize it all. I’ve also broken up each section into small categories for the purpose of keeping everything organized. Click here if you haven’t yet seen the Direct to watch it for yourself.

The Latest Fire Emblem Title-

• The first thing we were greeted with was a trailer for the brand new Fire Emblem game for the 3DS!
• The trailer was action packed and briefly showed us some of the new characters and areas.
• It was stated that the game has some of the same team as Awakening, but features a new member to the team, an established comic book author, who helped to create this game’s story.
• The game will feel familiar to Awakening, but will have brand new challenges.
• There is no release date for this title yet.

Puzzle & Dragon: Super Mario Bros. Edition–

• The popular mobile game is joining forces with the Mario Bros. in a new title for the 3DS. The game is a mix of puzzle and RPG elements.
• The game will feature familiar Mario characters such as Luigi and Toad as well as your typical Mario enemies who will also be able to join your party.
• The game will be released together with Puzzles & Dragons Z.
• The release date for this game is sometime in May.

Gameplay Footage of New LoZ Game Showed Off at Game Awards!

Among other things, such as a trailer for Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. and Mario Maker, the 2014 Game Awards showed off some long awaited footage of the next Legend of Zelda game! Click here to watch a short video showing off new gameplay footage from the upcoming Legend of Zelda title. This is the first we’ve seen of the game since E3! How exciting. The footage emphasizes the game’s large world and navigation mechanics. Link is shown both traversing the world, shooting at enemies with a bow and arrow, and riding Epona. They even mention Star Fox briefly, saying that the new game will be released before the next Legend of Zelda game! Sounds like 2015 is going to be another great year for Nintendo! Be sure to check out the video if you want to see it all for yourself!