Nintendo Direct 3.8.2018 Reaction


Yoshiaki Koizumi Intro
I was glad to see him. It was kind of like the good old days when Iwata would host the Directs. I was also assuming that he was also hosting the Japanese Direct. It's a good use of time - not having to shoot two different Directs.

Nintendo 3DS Headlines
When they announced that the 3DS was going to go first, I was relieved. Get it over with, so that we can enjoy the good stuff later on.

WarioWare Gold
WarioWare is a fantastic franchise, and I was kind of glad that this was announced. It combines everything we love about the franchise, excluding DIY, into one game. This might be the last great game for 3DS.

Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers
Dillon reminds me of Sonic. He's an anthropomorphic animal with an attitude, and he rolls around. I would be more interested in this game if its core gamplay-loop wasn't tower-defense.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
I groaned inside when this was announced. I really dislike this series. It is ugly, and it's just not cool. Super Mario RPG was the only Mario-RPG I ever thought was cool. The kicker for this segment was its release-date of next year. Why? Let the 3DS die so that the NS can thrive. Stop this madness.

Detective Pikachu + amiibo
I'm not going to buy this, but it looked interesting. I like how they showed us that the new amiibo is nearly twice as tall as the Pikachu-Smash amiibo.

Luigi's Mansion
This was a real bummer for many reasons. This probably means that Gamecube Virtual Console is not happening, or even if it does, it won't have Luigi's Mansion, at least not initially. I thought, "What a waste." What a waste to put this beautiful game on 3DS and make it all ugly. Stop it, Nintendo. What were you thinking?

Nintendo Switch Headlines
The 3DS-section was mercifully short, thankfully.

Kirby Star Allies
I don't really remember the Kirby-segment being very memorable or giving us new information. I am leaning on purchasing this game next week.

Okami HD
Some people probably blew a gasket when they saw this, but I didn't care. I tried the game on Wii, and it literally bored me to sleep. It is far uglier in-game than the art that markets the game.

Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido
I was surprised that this game made its way onto the NS-section of the Direct. I wondered if they had canned the 3DS-version altogether, but nope; it will be a simultaneous release. Finally, developers who knows what they're doing. They know that the NS is where the action's at.

Octopath Traveler
This game wowed me with its beautiful aesthetics once again. We also learned the game's final title; they just dropped the "Project" from the name. We also got a release-date. Woot.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
This was the biggest disappointment of the Direct. When Suda51 said this was a side-game, he meant it. This game doesn't feature the 3D character-action gameplay from the first two games. Instead, it's more of an indie beat-em-up. This will probably be fun, but I expected more, especially after that first trailer.

Dark Souls Remastered + amiibo
I tried to look closely at the game and see if the graphics were all right, but I couldn't really tell, watching in 480p. Another amiibo was announced, and I am so over amiibo; it didn't entice me in the slightest. The cool thing about this segment was the announcement of a demo to test the online functionality.

MyNintendo Rewards
When Mr. Koizumi began talking about this, I took the opportunity to race into the next room and grab another box of kale-chips.

Mario Tennis Aces
Nintendo's tweet about the Direct did mention that this game was going to be a point of emphasis, and they weren't lying. It was a little too long and boring. I am not convinced yet that I need this game to make me happy.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
"Another port," I thought. Although this is a masterpiece, I don't need it again, but then they told us it would be getting new levels based on Super Mario Odyssey. "Okay, at least it's not a straight port," I thought. Then, they shocked me by announcing a 3DS-version as well. You know, I might double-dip for this game because I didn't really 100% this game on Wii U. I hope this game sells well so that a proper sequel is eventually made.

Undertale
We then were treated to some ugly, indie-like visuals. I didn't recognize them immediately, but I thought they looked familiar. In a few moments, I wondered whether it was Undertale, and I was right. This is one of those games that Westerners like - the games that get talked about and played a lot on YouTube and Twitch. I don't share these people's tastes.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
This didn't really surprise me. There were rumors about this. I don't like Crash as a character, but when they showed Coco as playable, I became more interested.

Little Nightmares: Complete Edition
I wasn't really interested in this game before, but the trailer they showed here piqued my interest. It had impressive 3D graphics, and aesthetically it was beautiful and moody.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole
This also wasn't a surprise. The longer I watched the trailer, the more impressed I became. It has a lot of depth.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
I pretty much spaced out during this segment.

ARMS US & Canada Online Open
I thought this was interesting: an online tournament with the finals being broadcast and commented-on live. Another ARMS Global Testpunch was announced. They are desperate to sell more copies. Maybe they will port this to Nintendo Switch 2 if it doesn't sell a lot more copies.

Splatoon 2 ver. 3.0 and Octo Expansion
The Splatoon-segment was dope and hot as fire. They announced new gear, old maps from Splatoon and one new map, and the Octo Expansion. More single-player content? Great. Being able to interact with Callie? Great. Playable Octolings? Great. More than the content itself, I appreciated the way they presented it with their real-time trailer.

Super Smash Bros.
In contrast with the real-time trailer, this trailer was completely prerendered, and it looked great. Maybe Nintendo Switch 3 can have graphics that good one day. The first thing that popped into my mind was Inklings in Smash, because why else would they show Splatoon 1 Inklings right after a segment on Splatoon 2? For a moment, a fanciful dream of Splatoon 1 being ported to NS came and went. In a few seconds, the world knew for certain than Super Smash Bros. was coming to NS, and the Inklings would be in it. A 2018 was also "confirmed," but we all know that delays happen.

This was one of the better Nintendo Directs in recent memory. Good job, Nintendo.

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