With the rumors of the New 3DS’s announcement for western gamers, an odd time frame, and a curiously exact and planned out length of 47 minutes, Nintendo intrigued everyone before the start their first Nintendo Direct of 2015, and while they surely didn’t disappoint, there were a few duds that made this one a hit and miss.
1. The Latest in the Fire Emblem Series
Satoru Iwata started things strong by introducing an impressive CG trailer for the newest Fire Emblem game. The familiar grid based gameplay is shown and it is revealed that Intelligent Systems, the same developer of the series, and Kosaki Yusuke, the character designer on Awakening are going to continue working together along with popular Japanese comic-book author, Shin Kibayashi on the new Fire Emblem. “It is a game that will include brand new challenges, the likes of which that have never been seen in the series up until now” says Iwata. Expect more information from Nintendo about this upcoming 3DS title later this year.
2. Puzzle and Dragons Z + Puzzle and Dragons Super Mario Bros Edition
An interesting puzzle game with RPG dungeon crawler elements, Puzzle and Dragons made a splash in Japanese markets, and now it’s coming to western shores. An interesting Bejeweled (and as some have said, Clash of Clans) kind of feel makes the game broadly accessible, yet deep enough to satisfy someone looking for a stat based JRPG game. As an added bonus, the game comes with a Mario re-skin that replaces the overworld, characters, and jewels, with ones found in the beloved Nintendo franchise. Expect this one to hit the 3DS in May of this year.
3. Pokemon Shuffle
This will be a very similar game to Puzzles and Dragons Z though more simple and less in-depth. It will be free to eShop users on the 3DS and feature micro-transactions for things like more playtime and special in-game items. It is set to release in February.
4. Wii Games on the Wii U
Iwata revealed that Wii games are coming to the Wii U eShop. They will be completely digital, easy to access, and require no boot-up of the console’s built-in Wii interface. Also, these re-released games will have gamepad controller support, a feature that has been a blemish in the console’s functionality since release. The games that have been announced are Super Mario Galaxy 2, which is available now. Punch-Out, which will be available on January 22nd, and the hard to obtain, Metroid Trilogy, which will be available for download on January 29th. Better yet, all of these titles will be half off for the first week they are on sale.
5. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
Sequel to the DS game, Canvas Curse, this upcoming Wii U title will feature more of the same path-drawing gameplay, only now the developers have added more secrets and collectables to each level, with your ink resources running low, they can be tricky to obtain. The game will release on February 20th.
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