A couple of days ago we finally got another Nintendo Direct, after waiting since September for one. We were all incredibly hyped, and some rumors that were going around definitely only made things more exciting. But a lot of people wound up being disappointed with it. While I completely see the disappointment, don’t get so hyped and believe all these bogus rumors. Of course you will be disappointed! As for me, I thought it was pretty good. Probably a 7.5/10 if I were to grade this.
First, before beginning this discussion, I would like to pay my respects towards the late Nintendo 3DS. We got absolutely no game announcements for it, it’s practically dead. It had a great 7 and a half year life. RIP. F for respects.
Back in September, we got some exciting announcements of Animal Crossing and Luigi’s Mansion coming to the Nintendo Switch! But, in this new Direct, we got no updates on them. No gameplay, nothing. That really disappointed me. How do they not have anything to show at this point? Another huge disappointment was the lack of any announcements regarding Nintendo Switch Online. That service is incredibly problematic and they gotta fix it ASAP. Also, with dataminers revealing SNES games in the code, it was disappointing to not see that announcement here.
Also, since I feel this is the perfect time to rant about this, Square Enix has been giving a lot of support to the Nintendo Switch. Where is Kingdom Hearts? Square Enix has been teasing us, saying that it can run on the system, but we have not gotten any announcement. It’s long overdo. I hope to see one very soon.
There were definitely some awesome games revealed in the Direct, though. Super Mario Maker 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. I cannot wait for those! They look amazing and are definitely huge announcements. Other highlights include a new game Platinum Games (as we impatiently wait for Bayonetta 3) called Astral Chain which looks really cool, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker DLC and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Big announcements in this Direct were very minimal, unfortunately. but the games we did get were definitely exciting. Maybe some games, both first-party and third-party are being hidden from us. That’s a very Nintendo thing to do. I’m sure E3 will be huge for them, but I definitely hope to get some big announcements and releases before then.
One rumor that has very recently surfaced on the Internet, through legitimate sources, is Nintendo possibly releasing a Virtual Reality kit through their Labo brand. What will that be like? All those cool features in the Joy-Con controllers, is this what Nintendo has been planning the whole time? Is this why we aren’t getting so many big announcements at the moment?
Well, I think this is as good a time as any to discuss what I think this could be. I think it will indeed be a Labo kit that we put together ourselves. Similar to Google Cardboard but likely more complex. The screen will, of course, go in the front of the headset, but you will likely need to attach the Joy-Con to the screen to allow for motion and other VR features, meaning you’ll need two pairs of Joy-Con since you gotta play the game as well. So I think they will release the Labo kit as a bundle with an extra pair of Joy-Con to accommodate for this. Currently released games that will be updated to use these VR features will be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey and possibly Arms and just to name a few. Am I right? Well, we’ll have to wait and see!
Overall, it was a decent Direct, but I do hope Nintendo steps it up soon. And I’m almost certain they will. With what is already a crowded year for Nintendo, I absolutely cannot wait to see more!
Pixel Perfect 