Poll: Did The Nintendo Direct Comeback Fire on All Cylinders?

Watched all three and preferred the Europe one, didn't like the skit that Bill and Reggie did and just prefer to have the news delivered simply and clearly like Europe did. Also I found the guy mispronouncing Pokémon in the EU one very irritating.

This was a good direct.This made up for the horrible E3 event the spotpasses where the only good thing and the worst thing from e3 was that the 3ds did not get mother 1.

It was just so nice to hear new official news rather than all the silly doom in the media About Nintendo.
Happy to see support for WiiU too...its a great console.

@llamareborn Pockymon lmao. Ye, he took some stick in the live chat. Lucky for him it was very laggy!

@llamareborn What's wrong with the pronunciation?

I thought the whole thing was a little blah. I wasn't overly impressed with the presentation, it wasn't holding my excitement the whole time, but I like that there's a variety of things coming so not everyone is playing the same thing like it's been on and off. I'm really excited about Starfox, FE, and Pokken, even if 2 of those two are upsetting a lot of people right now lol. DQ is on my watch list now. I'm more ecstatic about replaying Pokemon Red than I expected as well. Also glad everyone else isn't angry like it's been.

This direct was great. It left me feeling like 2016 is going to be very special. Optimistically it could be the start of a Wii U resurgence. Pessimistically it will be one hell of a swan song year before NX. (Either way...it's win for the fans!)

I feel like they pretty much made up for E3.

Was pleasantly shocked and surprised that Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow are coming to VC. Never thought that would happen. Definitely going to be replaying Blue.

@llamareborn Bill didn't pronounce Pokemon right in the NA one either actually. The correct pronunciation is Po-kay-mon due to the accent e. He said Poke-uh-mon. Poke-uh-mon or Poke-e-mon sound better than the correct pronunciation though.

I really liked it!

I honestly don't really want anything they announced (some games are a "maybe"), but they seemed to have listened to the fans and it was just good to see Reggie & Co. dropping random trailers again!

Great Direct with Cloud, Fire Emblem Fates SE, and FF Explorers SE announced made my day!

The Direct was alright but it didn't have enough new worthwhile info like E3. It can get boring to hear about a game we already seen multiple times from other broadcasts and articles. They could have spent more time on games with little info like Zelda U. But the Cloud trailer was awesome and great to see one last Smash Broadcast on its way, also good that Star Fox Zero has improved since E3. I expected Cloud to get the most votes but I guess not a lot of people like seeing him in

Loved it! Cloud in Smash completely shocked me, and Pokemon RBY on VC and DQVII and VIII coming to the west were very welcome surprises.

Lots of RPGs coming soon!

It was decent, but very underwhelming knowing that we haven't had a Direct in a long time until now. Still, Cloud in Smash and Pokemon RBY on VC were nice announcements.

Mostly disappointed because lack of real footage of Zelda wii u.

I guess I was one of the ones that was disappointed. Outside of release dates of games we already know about and dlc they really didn't reveal anything. Sure TP HD was cool and all but I think almost all of us expected that. Now if Minecraft had been revealed or better yet a good reason why Cloud was in Smash as in FF7 remake to the NX then it would be something to talk about.

@Fink-Nottle I mean the English guy in the video not Satoru Shibata

It's not mentioned in the poll, but I was mostly happy with the mention of the 4 data packs Xenoblade X will be getting. I've been wondering about them for the longest time to see if North America would get them before release in December 4 like Japan did, and I'm glad they let us get them right away that same day. Since they're big in file size I've been wanting the ability to download them well before the game's release so I can be fully prepared beforehand.

Other than that, this direct sucked. Again. Don't care for anything they mentioned besides the XBX details and to a lesser extent, Cloud coming to Smash. His addition is confusing but I welcome any newcomers as long as they're not indies or King K. Rool, so hey. I think I'm mostly indifferent on the last bit with Smash because I was expecting Cloud to come out that same day. Nintendo making us wait ANOTHER month when the ballot has already ended a while back was so stupid and annoying that it killed any excitement I could've had over Cloud.

Actually, I also kinda liked Reggie mentioning Iwata at the beginning. It feels nice that they didn't ignore him passing away, and at the same time he quickly left it at that instead of dwelling on it for a long portion of the broadcast. The short mention of him was good enough, I feel like.

Can't be excited for Twilight Princess HD, it didn't look much different honestly, the amiibo was cool though. Cloud in Smash Bros. is excellent. Personally I liked the Fire Emblem Fates info and Linkle announcement. Solid Direct.

It honestly left me pretty bored and despondent—I actually caught myself staring blankly into the distance, eyes glazed over, and daydreaming at one point, before I snapped myself back to reality and tried to make myself care.

There were a couple of decent moments, the announcement of the classic Pokemon games on 3DS being a personal highlight, but for the most part it was very underwhelming imo.

Yes, there was a decently long list of stuff, but very little of it was genuinely surprising or exciting.

While e3 was depressing, I was very happy with this direct. There are actually a lot of things I want to play in 2016 (never thought I'd say this) on 3DS!

@maukenboost "Can't be excited for Twilight Princess HD, it didn't look much different honestly"

My thoughts exactly. It looks extremely lazy if you ask me. A simple port would've been fine. It just looks like they're continuing to avoid full-on Gamecube on Virtual Console at this point.

I really liked it, and I'm definitely not one of the crowd that says every Direct is the 'best one ever'. Usually I find them pretty meh because they are 90% showing us more footage of already announced games, and what does get announced is normally DLC for a game I don't really care of.

I pretty much accepted at E3 that Nintendo was done with both the Wii U and the 3DS. All they announced there was filler. Cheap and quick spin-offs. So with that in mind I knew there was going to be nothing truly new announced for either machine. What I hoped for was them to wisely use already created content, either games only available in Japan, or the Virtual Console. This was still had a load that bored me like all the amiibos and special editions, but there was some great new announcements in there.

The Dragon Quest announcements were probably the happiest I've ever been with any direct. That January 2013 one? They announced a whole bunch of games we all knew were coming. Dragon Quest was genuinely a fantastic surprise. Those DS ports and original DS efforts bombed badly and they seemed to be done with the West, but we have another chance. For us here in Europe particularly, DQVII is pretty much a brand new game as it was never released here on any format before. Original Pokemon games on VC? Another huge surprise. That's a series who's basic gameplay has changed very little in 20 years, and I think most of us figured they'd want us all to keep buying the latest iteration instead of giving us the old games.

Just about the only thing they could have feasibly done to make it even better would have been Cube games on the Wii U VC.

Because of the wait between directs there was a lot of info and because of that it seemed to drag on. 45 minutes is too long for a direct but given the circumstances I understand why it was so packed. Now I guess we know why they were giving out bits of info here and there, otherwise the Direct would have been over an hour.

Overall good job by Nintendo, they did what I always ask of a direct, more info on stuff we know, stuff we don't know, and a surprise or 2.

It was about what I expected, meaning nothing that flashy outside the admittedly surprising Cloud reveal for Smash Bros.. The truth is, I'm not expecting to hear much of interest from Nintendo again before the next E3 when we'll most likely be hearing about the NX as well as the next Zelda and any remaining Wii U projects. Everything aside from Xenoblade Chronicles X is a stopgap between now and then where I'm concerned.

It was fine. A few fun tidbits and a lot of whatever. Pretty much exactly what I was expecting, actually.

@llamareborn At least we're getting games from Square NX.

@llamareborn I didn't watch the whole Reggie and Bill skit at first because I thought it was too cheesy for me, but I regretted that action the moment I watched it again. If I hear "BEEEEEEEEEEL!" one more time, I'll break my ribs apart. XD

I thought it was a very good Direct. That chat thing could use some kind of overhaul, though. I'm just glad Directs are back in all their glory.

It was a fantastic Nintendo Direct to me. I wasn't expecting DQ 7 and 8 to be announced ! That was a great surprise
Pokemon Red, blue and yellow are pretty cool too, I'm totally getting those !
I'm also looking forward to Twilight Princess HD since I never played it before.

The sad truth is that after watching the European Direct live, I was only interested about two things:

1) The Wolf Link amiibo. That looks really good. I already have LoZ:TP for the Wii and I don't really feel like paying for it all over again, but the Wolf Link amiibo looks so good I really want to get one.

2) The compass watch revealed as part of the collector's edition for Hyrule Warriors Legends. Seriously, that looks awesome. I once again have Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U so I doubt I will buy the 3DS version but man, that watch would look nice on my wall, right next to my framed 25th anniversary Legend of Zelda poster.

Sure, Linkle is a fun new addition and some of the games they presented looked fun. Hearing about new stuff for Splatoon also warms my heart, just like the new Super Mario Maker website. But those weren't really anything that got me excited.

You know something is not right when the only things that get you excited in a Nintendo Direct are non-games. The problem may be at my end, I don't know.

I was gonna pick up a PS4 today so I could play the new Star Wars Battlefront game next week. I ended up no doing it. That says it all really.

I liked the most of the content shown, including Bill and Reggie's cheesy skit.
(I like cheesy things).

Though those who view themselves as "hardcore" gamers, I can see why they hated this direct and are busy giving Nintendo and the media an earful.
I'll be the first to admit this direct was practically void of "hardcore" and AAA content.

If you aren't a "hardcore" gamer or someone who only touches AAA games, then you thought the direct was at minimum good.

I have plenty to buy and not enough $$$$ to pay for it.

FYI I did get to preorder Twilight Princess HD and Fire Emblem Fates SE yesterday!
Also the Fire Emblem Fates SE game card has all 3 versions on it.

i only watched the EU one because that was the one that affects me

excited about the DQ 7 & 8 news and Cloud in Smash (which was really surprising, as FFVII was never on Nintendo, i would have thought it would have been a FF character from a game released on Nintendo and to be honest when i saw and heard the beginning bit i thought it was going to news about a Wii U FFVII release)

Zelda Twilight Princess HD it was great it was confirmed and i personally love that game plus Zelda U confirmed out in 2016 was great news too

StarFox looks good too

personally i found the Direct intresting

You know there's something wrong when the only thing I got slightly exited for was the free to play title Pokemon Picross /:

Watched the EU one and it was fine, but they should skip the British hipster presenter guy... Found him to be extremely annoying in the way he talked and overall mannerisms.

The material and how they showed all that is dandy smandy, but rather have Satoru Shibata do the whole thing (not counting guests, like the guy for steamworld heist. That was neat in its own way).

The best announcement of the direct (paper jam's release date) isn't here, so there's nothing really of interest to me in the direct.

The thing about Nintendo Directs is that they're 90% updates on games we already know about and 4% minor stuff that most people probably don't care about, and that kind of dampens the excitement. So in times like these when the lineup in general is disappointing, a Direct isn't going to do much for you. So with that in mind I can't really say any non-E3 direct "fires on all cylinders" because it's just giving you more details on what they've already discusses, it's not the time or place for them to reverse their reputation.

From an objective standpoint, the Direct was very informative. However, I personally am majorly disappointed by how uninspired and lazy Nintendo titles are becoming.
The direction Nintendo is taking moves them away from innovative fun, and more into fanservice hell, slowly losing the style of their titles in favour of widespread recognition that isn't backed up by good game design anymore. This Direct reinforced my impression, and before I end up loathing Nintendo, I'd much rather just distance myself from their shenanigans.
Most things Nintendo showed since the end of last year further reassured my intention to quit console gaming with the WiiU, and this Direct gives me the feeling I'm not gonna miss anything worthwhile once WiiU and 3DS are obsolete.

I thought it was pretty good. There was stuff in there I liked, a couple of surprises (like Cloud being in Smash), and overall I think it did a good job at getting things started again.

@Bolt_Strike
The line up is not objective disappointing.
This direct focused heavily on Western localization announcements and a few new games.

It was also quite 3rd party heavy.

@Kaze_Memaryu
I fail to see your complaints.

Nintendo over the past 12 years has been given hell from the media, gamers and others for focusing too much on gameplay, innovations, and trying to make everything fun while not focusing on tried and true methods of real gaming.

Even Splatoon was heavily criticized for being too innovative and different, while ignoring the design principles of shooters.

Nintendo has also been heavily criticized since Wii years for heavily crapping on it's fans and people who like their staple IPs in order to appeal to others.

Nintendo is currently stuck with their main teams working on NX, while their smaller teams are finishing up projects on Wii U and 3DS.
This direct is not directed at you, but direct at gamers and others who wanted more traditional styles of games.

Fast Racing Neo, Splatoon DLC and Typoman.

I continue to be really excited for 3DS in 2016 (2015 has sucked), but Wii U still looks abysmal. Just Xenoblade this year, then Pokken and SMxFE (which we have no date on) and thats it. Maybe the Zelda port

I was actually pleasantly surprised at how the direct turned out, after this much time gap it's hard to come out with something that meets expectations. I had a couple gasp moments at some of the reveals and the humor for some of the presentation carries on the spirit of Satoru Iwata well. I look forward to more like these in the future, Iwata's idea is well taken care of.

There was no mention of GIR#FE, so definitely not "all cylinders"

Meh, wasn't even expecting that much and was still underwhelmed...only thing I liked was Twilight Princess HD.

Direct was fantastic! My favorite part wasn't on the list through! The Zelda U clip was stunning!

@Mando44646 Don't forget about Star fox Zero and Zelda U! Personally I really like how the line up is looking.

It was ok, what I hated the most was more amiibo being shoved in everyones faces, some being more important then others, my most favorite part of the direct is that I can expect more smash DLC soon! and good DLC at that!.

@Xenocity I never said they were objectively disappointing, just that they're mainly dependent on existing games and not really going to change the fans' perception. If you like what Nintendo's doing right now, then you're going to like it. If you don't, you're not. But you're not going to have a sudden 180 in your opinion of Nintendo from a bunch of updates to previous games and minor or third party announcements, that comes from more major games that you're more likely to see at E3.

The US Direct was great. The EU one was just okay. We didn't get Reggie or Bill, no humour or skits, Instead we got Shibata, who does his best, but I have trouble understanding sometimes, and a British man in an ugly jumper. We also got lots of German text. I have nothing against German, but just... WHY

The whole thing was great!

What I will say about the Direct is that it mainly appealed to RPG fans. If you're not an RPG fan, then this Direct would probably be pretty disappointing for you, and there's a lot less for you to be interested in going into next year.

I had fun. Cloud in Smash made the Direct, even setting aside all the other great stuff.

Didn't watch the us one. Europe's was just good. nothing more. I liked that it packed so much info. Still no new pokemon :/ Who ever asked for pokémon picross? Mildly interested in FE Fates, Fast racing Neo and zelda twilight princess. The timing could be better next time.

@Bolt_Strike
It's far too late in 3DS and Wii U's life span to change how people feel about them.

it's believed that how people view a system cements by the second year on the market.

The Direct was fine, but the production quality could be a little higher especially with the European broadcasts. It felt a bit lazy. America had a skit and some better graphics.

The content was good, although showing such a tiny clip of Zelda U was too cruel! It was too little. ;3

DRAGON QUEST. They won me with those two.

I thought it was good. I honestly wasn't expecting much, especially after the hideous E3, but 2016 now looks like it will be a decent send-off for both the 3DS and Wii U.

The big news for me was Dragon Quest VII being confirmed. Not as excited for VIII as I still have the original, but his will be my first opportunity to play VII.

Very pleased that Zelda U has been reconfirmed as a Wii U title. I was beginning to worry that it would skip the console altogether. It looks absolutely gorgeous and I liked the little snippet of sound. Also looking forward to Twilight Princess HD, which I think looks nice. The Wolf Link amiibo looks great and I'm interested to hear how it will work with the game and transfer data over to Zelda U.

Even if I am in Europe, it was good to se details of FE Fates as I'm assuming it'll be the same release format as the US version. Very pleased with the release of Dragon Quest. Those games will keep me busy in 2016! Very touching to see the tribute to Iawata at the beginning of the broadcast too.

while I do likes me some FF7 and erhgeiz.. wtf is cloud doing in smash? cloud, to my knowledge, has never appeared on a nintendo console to date... why is he in smash? makes no sense! geez, I mean, Crono from Chrono Trigger would have been good, he started on the SNES, and reappeared on the DS.

There's no deny that this direct blew many of us here. But I do wish that Bill like improves on his acting a lot more. Certainly looks like he's just doing stuff just for the sake of keeping his job. Doesn't feel engaging like Iwata-San's actions.

Q) Was it a triumphant return?

A) My opinions on this Nintendo Direct have been mostly mixed, but if I had to choose between just a positive or negative rating... I'm afraid I'd lean more so to the negative rating. That is honestly quite rare for me, as I usually like all the Nintendo Directs, including the one's most people don't seem to be interested in. I have made a video of my thoughts on this direct, although I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link it within these comments, so I'll just leave some brief thoughts on the direct below.

I guess my problem is that the majority of the positive points were not significantly positive for me. For instance, I liked seeing Pokkén Tournament, Star Fox Zero, and Bravely Second get some showing, but they didn't reveal much new about these particular games or discuss them for long. I was pleased to see indie games get some focus, but I have no intention of purchasing either of the three that were showcased. Hyrule Warriors Legends does continue to tempt me, but due to it being on the 3DS, I'm still not sure on it.

Then there were negative points for me such as the Twilight Princess HD reveal, which honestly seems like a very pointless HD remake to me. There was also Cloud in Super Smash Bros, whose inclusion disappointed me in the fact that it's another 3rd party inclusion, let alone who it is, as well as things like there being yet another Pokémon free-to-play game (with no mention of that detective game still).

It wasn't all to great of a direct for me, though the few positive spots for me do lead me to consider it mixed overall, even I lean on the negative side more so.

The direct made my want either a 3ds or a Wii U, so I would say Nintendo did pretty good, and it came at a time where they really needed to show something good.

Should be called the 3DS DIRECT as once again Wii U gets shoved to the back seat. Looks like Nintendo has all but given up on the U. Maybe i should too. If their hearts aren't in it. Why should mine.

@Inkling-Inc
Their hearts are in it, it has gotten more 1st party games than N64 and Gamecube.

The main teams are already on NX.

Though to be fair gamers and the media have been highly critical of all their Wii U releases complaining about how they either were too innovative or they went the wrong direction with their releases.

Why bother making more high profile releases if the bulk of people aren't happy with them?

This is just a hunch, but FFVII may not be PS exclusive, anymore...

@Williaint
FFVII remake and PS1 port were announced from the beginning to be a TIMED EXCLUSIVE on PS4 first.

@Xenocity I think i said that alittle wrong. It just feels like it because with E3/Treehouse and with the direct. It was around 80% 3DS stuff. New releases and whatsnot. Where as the U, there wasn't any new stuff apart from the DLC Cloud for Smash.

@Xenocity Think adding Cloud to Smash is possibly an advert for the upcoming remake on PS4. We'll never see a Final Fantasy game on Wii U. To be honest though. I would be happy with FF6/FF3 and Chrono Trigger but alas they are nowhere to be seen

@khaosklub
He's been in four games on Nintendo consoles so far: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts: coded, and the two Theatrhythm games.

@Inkling-Inc I feel the same way. 3DS had announcement after announcement. WiiU got one "new" game announcement and that was a remake (maybe there were more but I don't remember them). Clearly any new home console games are being saved for NX (though I suspect some might become WiiU games too but just won't be announced until the NX announcements). It was still a good direct but just shows that WiiU is over.

@Inkling-Inc
Nintendo is gearing up for NX, which is why new 1st party game announcement for both 3DS and Wii U are essentially not existent.

Nearly all the games shown are games coming over from Japan.

Wii U had more new 1st party content announced in this direct for Western release than 3DS.

Final Fantasy XV and XIV will most likely come to the NX.

Anyways Nintendo is just finishing up releasing the 1st party games that are nearing completion, while gearing up for NX.
They saw how many people are refusing to touch their 1st party games due to them being on Wii U.

Though if Nintendo does a huge 1st party blow out at NX launch and Launch Window you can kiss most 3rd party support good bye!

Solid Nintendo Direct in my opinion, they showed some great games.

it was when they said DQ VII for 3DS! it was everything!!
DQ VIII icing on the cake. Yokai is here and TP is finally using buttons again coming full-circle to its original design minus the waggle.
Star Fox keeps looking more dynamic thanks to the help of Platinum surely.
and amiibo are taking over the world but its a cute, beautiful siege.
Missing Iwata but great to see reverence paid by Reggie; the Trinnen donut skit:DD
It was a very game-focused direct and the Nintendo tone was still present, humorous and child-like weird.
Theres no reason to be disappointed imho as theyr really truly delivering on most fronts - unique games (barring the desire for PS4ONE games) certain ones with gamer-centric SE like the FE fates package or TP wolf amiibo/soundtrack.
Given theres Stella Glow, XCX and im still conquering all that is Woolly World and Persona Q... and then #FExSMT!!!
theres really no end in site, good to see Ninty back in the game. not dissapointed but reassured of their direction. hip hip! hooray!

@Xenocity Even if only FFXIV comes to NX. To me that's reason enough to pick one up as I'm a massive fan of the game and personally the only reason i keep my PC around.

@LFiM
Oh yeah, kingdom hearts, forgot that he exists in those games... though they are mostly a playstation series no? Sora would have been more appropriate though anyway then

What I'm not seeing brought up is the fact that we now have regional Directs, rather than a unified one. Before, we had Iwata that brought us altogether. Yes, there was a Japanese version, but it was more similar to the English version. You could talk about presentations globally with ease and... well, personally, Iwata made Nintendo feel like a global product. Now, I love the fact that Reggie brings more diversity to the team, but I don't think his Japanese is good enough to seriously approach the homeland fans.

I know, there probably isn't any higher ups that speak fluent English and can do double duty, but... I'd be fine with translators too. Nintendo's always felt like a family affair to me, and having regionalized directs makes it feel like the family's going through a bit of a divorce.

I just realized Japan is getting mother 3.

@Inkling-Inc
Square's talking bout bring FXIV to NX.

I did not watch any of the Directs as I wanted to see and hear more about Metroid Prime Federation Force. Of the announcements I've heard about though, I'm happy about the addition of Cloud to Smash 4 and the addition of Linkle into Hyrule Warriors Legends. That said, if Nintendo wants to have a Direct running on all cylinders, they should talk about the Metroid game that they have upcoming.

@I-U The absence of Fed Force, and SMTxFE for that matter, is definitely interesting. I'm curious to see if Fed Force is getting reworked. As for SMTxFE, the localisation might have been pushed back to late summer/early fall.

It was a fantastic Direct, the only downside is the rest of 2015 and the first 2 months of 2016 still feels very lacking though maybe the Smash Direct will fix that in the form of several characters, stages and Mii Costumes coming straight after the presentation. Outside of that, the giant hype train starts at Twilight Princess HD's launch date (in case you're wondering, FE Fates doesn't have a release date in EU so I can't guarantee the February release that NA has)..

As a RPG person I have to say Nintendo ate my wallet whole... which I would say is technically a good thing as there was so many things in the Direct that I am looking forward to ^^. Nearly all the titles interested me and that probably says something.

Either way, right now I am looking forward to the Game Awards to see if we potentially see Zelda U or the Smash Direct/presentation there .

If you starve gamers of games (Wii u) for a while then release one, we are somewhat greatful. This is much like Nintendo Direct. Any news is good news.

There is some good stuff for the 3ds over the next 12 months as long as its not delayed and you like rpg's and the reviews are favourable.

We should not expect anything big for the Wii u next year, I think the revamped Zelda is being released because the new one will have more delays.

I don't like that every new game has to either have an Amiibo, cards or some sort of deluxe version. An Amiibo adds 25% to the price of a game and offers maybe 5% of extra game play. And that 5% a couple of years ago would have been included as part of the game anyway.

Yes its something for children to collect and profit for Nintendo; but every game. Nintendo is at risk of alienating core gamers. Nintendo Direct was as much about the toys and deluxe packs as it was about games.

After watching this video, it's blatantly clear that all resources have been moved to the NX. I'm happy to get some release dates (especially for FEF, so excited for that game), but I feel that any real hype for Nintendo won't happen until the NX system and NX game announcements.

I'm super excited for that Wolf Link amiibo, but TP HD looks like a very lackluster port. If I can ever find it for 20$, maybe I'll pick it up.
Also putting the 13 second clip of the new Zelda game right after TP HD really made TP HD look very ugly.... haha That was pretty hilarious.

Yes. It certainly surpassed my expectations.

I have to say this was a really good Nintendo Direct! I am hoping in their next one they will focus more on unannounced games. Like per se Pokemon Z maybe?

I like all directs in general!!

It was a very good direct. And I have to say I wasn't expecting something this good. Well done Nintendo.

I really liked that direct. TPHD, Cloud, Paper Jam, FE: Fates, the Mario Maker web portal, the new amiibo, and the Splatoon updates were my favorite things. It was a good comeback gnat has a good pace. Cloud got me really hyped, despite not having ever played a FF game.

No M&S at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games announcement in this poll? But, that's one of my favorite announcements, so I have to choose Star Fox Zero, Pokkén and Hyrule Warriors Legends announcements. I'm surprised that Shadow Mewtwo is a playable Pokémon in Pokkén. Here's hoping that regular Mewtwo will be playable in Pokkén as well. Not only that, but I'm also surprised that Wave, Dry Bones, Wendy, Ludwig, Sticks and Rosalina are also playable characters in M&S Rio 2016. If Jet and Wave is in, here's hoping that Storm will be playable as well because Sonic Riders is dead and Babylon Rogues need a new home, which is M&S Rio 2016.

@Xenocity I'm speaking within the Nintendo fanbase. The fanbase in general is already favorable towards 3DS and Wii U, but there's not much interest in their upcoming games for the consoles. The fanbase wants to see bigger and better games than what we got at E3.

Watched all 3 Directs eventually - watched the European one live as that is where I live. Love the formula of the Directs, simple, less-is-more, to-the-point approach works. Of course, Nintendo America always like to do their own thing with really childish/cheesy skits and slightly, overly, gentle speaking (which I notice Bill does a lot). All presenters did a good job for their region Direct. European's Ed seemed cool too. I see him as the 'Bill' of Europe; you go Ed! I may be a little bias, but the European Direct always seems the best one of the bunch. Shibata does a great job. Hopefully the next Direct presentation is in a few months time (minus the Special Smash one in December).

Lots of nice things for me.

• Star Fox is shaping up nicely. I actually felt excited this time!
• Paper Jam remains a solid looking game.
• Fire Emblem: Fates special edition will be mine!
• Fast Racing Neo is still one of the worst names but it looks amazing!
• Typoman got some time in the spotlight, which was nice to see.
• SteamWorld Heist is so soon! Can't Wait!
• Animal Crossing cards s2 is soon! Maybe too soon for my wallet but I'm excited nonetheless.
• Pokémon Picross!!!
• Zelda WiiU still looks beautiful.
• Tri Force Heroes is getting free DLC.
• Splatoon maps looked ace! Played the art gallery one today and it is ace!
• Badge collection is a fun distraction. Though there was a Splatoon badge on the title screen but no Splatoon set which was disappointing (was ready to pay real money for that one!)

So lots of great stuff! Not fussed about Twilight Princess HD, I liked the game but I don't need a fourth Zelda remake. Pokémon Blue, Red and Yellow on VC felt like pandering to the awful genwunners (seriously it's the buggiest, least balanced and dullest gen. But hey let's hate on the ice cream and keychain Pokémon whilst we lap up the nostalgia of eggs, magnet and mime artist Pokémon). Cloud was not my choice of Smash addition but I get the hype, hoping to Smash Direct brings some love to more of Nintendo's own IP. But these things don't matter, there's more than enough for me to enjoy

@Bananaman678 12 seconds of Zelda wii u wasn't enough to get fans talking and creating major excitement that could result in securing more console sells going into the holidays. Nintendo needs "Buzz". Zelda make it happen draws gamers who may be on the fence.

It was pretty great, honestly. But no Rhythm Paradise announcement... That made me a bit sad.

@IceClimbers
I really hope that if Federation Force is being reworked, it is simply to change the game's art style. That was my one problem with the game, that it just isn't familiar looking. Considering what Metroid Prime Hunters looks like on the DS, Federation Force should have looked much more like a Metroid title with its art style than it did at the E3 event. If Nintendo is waiting for that change to show off Fed Force again, I'm all for it.

The Direct did what i believe it needed to do and thats restore confidence that they are not abandoning the Wii U and 3DS in order for the future...im very happy with my Wii U and its library but knowing more games are coming is just awesome! I love the fact that no matter what Nintendo can still surprise us and makes me happy to be a gamer

No federation force?

I think it was alright. They spent a lot of time on things we already knew about which I expected, but left me disappointed. The news we did get was decent. Really nice we're getting the Dragon Quest games, but TPHD looked less impressive than I expected. It was a mixed bag, really.

@Xenocity I think a 3DS port may come or NX right now I also think final Fantasy 1 and the GB ones also may come to 3ds vc.

"Fire on All Cylinders?" I see what you did there. Yes, I did and I overheated all of my gems!

@Xenocity That has nothing to do with what I mean. I'm talking about the complete lack of depth Nintendo has developed recently. Just look at their recent "successful titles":

• Splatoon: basically worthless without multiplayer; meanwhile the Singleplayer content is just boring and unbelievably short
• SSB4: same issue as Splatoon, except that any sense of narrative was thrown out for no reason other than saving the need to justify design decision on top of that
• TLOZ Triforce Heroes: no actual sense of adventure, no world to explore, overly simplistic dungeon designs, inexplicable return to the Wind Waker artstyle
• Super Mario Maker: DIY level editor that lacks key features (like spin jumps, powerups, and autoscroll features), and simply dodges critical voices by pointing at everything being user-made
• Mario Party 10: streamlined to the point of event control, with planning and chaotic fun being rendered impossible
• Fire Emblem if: nonsensical fanservice designs, dumbed down gameplay, overpriced title

The Pokémon games don't fare much better, but that's TPC's fault, for the most part.
I'm not saying there's no quality left, but it's decreasing steadily to provide the playerbase with what seems to work better: by giving them controlled content instead of custom choices, and fun content with proper replayability. Instead they rely on what I like to call "blockbuster features" - stuff like online modes, superficial collectibles, toy integration, and extra content often serve as codewords to instantly raise attention, but not provide much substance otherwise, similar to how badly-made AAA titles manage to manipulate their fanbase into a purchase, except that Nintendo hasn't abandoned proper game design entirely yet.
The consequence often means that a quality singleplayer experience is simply disregarded. And that means I'm no longer part of their target field.

You don't have to understand what I mean, but rest assured that I'm not losing my trust in Nintendo because they didn't give me exactly what I wanted from them, but because they're not up to their on standards anymore in my eyes, and I stand firmly by that statement.

Although Reggie did pretty Good. I'm hoping they might let Bill Trinen have a shot at Taking care of the Nintendo Directs in North America. He has just the right amount of goofiness to entertain and is very good at describing what he is talking about. I think he would pick up where Mr Iwata left off (Rest in Peace). I really liked the presentation

Say what you want, but its clear from this Direct that they are prepping a transfer to NX. And Didn't Nintendo tease there were still unannounced Wii U games for 2015???? I didn't see any of that, and that probably was my biggest disappointement about this Direct, there was a LOT of stuff for 3DS, not so much for Wii U, sure there are still some great games coming, but Cloud doesn't make it all rosy.

It was good to receive an update from the Big N - almost a relief. So much has happened within the company since the last one, and no amount of reading reports on Investor Meetings can compare to the intimacy that Directs provide.

I thought Nintendo made a sensible move to divide the stream fully by region. Admittedly, I do miss the 'centralised' message given right from the top - I like the feeling of unity from knowing that millions of people around the world are listening to the same person saying the same thing (albeit in two languages). However, I think as the first Direct after Mr. Iwata's passing, it was better to simply deliver to each region in as straightforward a manner as possible, and not worry about emulating old formats.

There were plenty of nice bits of news. Paper Jam piqued my curiosity more than I thought it would, the Splatoon levels are excitingly different, Star Fox had a nice little segment, some of the eShop titles looked engaging, and it was nice to see some of the SMM levels paid homage to.

On the negative side, TPHD was a little underwhelming. Given that we'd known about it for weeks, there was plenty of time for imaginations to run rampant about what TP would look like if made 10 years later. I think many people had something more in mind than, "a little more detailed, but largely the same". I also share @zool 's concern about how much amiibo seem to be creeping into so many games (the two Zeldas and Paper Jam being the main examples), as well as features like 'buying Picrites' in Pokemon Picross. If they're well-balanced, it shouldn't make too much of a difference for those who don't partake, but it's a bit of a worry.

In terms of presentation, I thought Mr. Shibata was pleasantly earnest, though obviously not as warm and enigmatic as the late Mr. Iwata. All in all, I appreciated his efforts. I found the chap in the confusing jumper slightly... off. It must be hard to step into the limelight like that, but still... I can't quite place what didn't sit right with me, so I'll blame it on the jumper and his pronunciation of 'Pokkehmon".

But it was good to be back.

I thought it was great, had pretty much everything I wanted to see. However, there was nothing about the FE and SMT inspired game everyone's been complaining about, I'd like to see more of that game.

I like it alot, a much snappier pace which worked extremely well. It was announcement, quick details, then on to the next. Which I found a million times better than the boring developer stories (I really don't care what a dev was eating for lunch the day they come up with ideas)
In short, it feels like they trimmed the fat & gave us what we wanted: games!
I think Bill Trinen should be the new face of directs, he is fantastic (Reggie will forever be a muppet)

@IronMan28 Personally the game makes me feel a little queasy, but if you're interested, it got some coverage in the Japanese direct! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILOvAkmILV0 - Skip to 11:48).

I don't think it reveals anything hugely new; you start in modern day Tokyo, then some nasties invade and the world in plunged into peril. There's some info given on the upgrade system; both weapons and character skills/class seem to be able to be customised/changed/upgraded through various systems.

Oh, and the theme song is coming to Wii U Karaoke.

Anyway, please take a look.

I liked it a lot. It had good pacing and made you feel the games you bought are just getting better (although the SMM web portal should have been there from the very beginning).
I still thinking Nintendo is lacking content and this direct won't get anyone to buy a WiiU or 3DS now, but they showed of some stuff I'm really looking forward to. I feel like there is some change coming finally...2016 might be big!

I would've preferred Nintendo to have released the 3DS versions of OOT and Majora's Mask for Wii U download. They would look nice @1080p or even 720p and I imagine the Wii U would have little issue emulating 3DS games.

As for the DS ports? Meh. They should be on 3DS EShop.

@Xenocity You must have your head in the sand. The Wii U has topped most multiformat lists as the system with the best AAA games this generation. Everything Nintendo have released on it has pretty much garnered top notch scores with multiformat journos stating Nintendo have made their best games yet!

Nintendo have been heavily and deservedly critiqued for their lacklustre and mindless meandering throughout the Wii U launch period, lack of advertising, and general ignorance towards online and their fanbase initally but they have managed to turn the ship.

@I-U Federation Force needs more than a change in graphical style, at the very least it also needs a complete change in level design. Multiplayer style maps are not a good design approach for a Metroid spinoff, they should go for something more exploration oriented. I think they can get away with not having the same style of exploration since it's a spinoff, but it should really be there in some form. I think maybe something 3D World esque that's linear but still chock full of secrets and collectibles would be a much better approach to a co-op based spinoff. If they can rework the game in that way I think it'll be much more welcome, otherwise I think they should just cancel it.

I can't believe Twilight Princess """""HD""""" is the most exciting news for most people.

I though the Direct overall was pretty good. We've definitely seen worse. It was great to see the DragonQuest games finally getting a western release, and the Twilight Princess HD amiibo pack was cool. Shame they couldn't get it out by the end of the year. Seeing Cloud in Smash Bros. was mind blowing. Final Fantasy VII was a gaming event when it came out. Cloud is awesome. He was on my vote list and I got him regardless of the ballot. The only thing I wanted to see more of was Metroid FF.

@GrailUK But...but...Pockymon are delicious! You can dip them in chocolate or strawberry.

This direct was really disappointing, not being a Pokemon fan. This somewhat made me miss Iwata, since he did a lot of fun stuff in the direct. You will be missed.

@Bolt_Strike
Personally speaking, I saw more exploration elements going on within that ice level mission shown off at the Treehouse coverage than I've experienced out of much of 3D World. I want more exploration to be had in Federation Force, and I have faith that that is already going to be present in a number of missions. Nothing on level to exploring whole regions like in traditional entries, but enough to have a satisfying experience with a group of friends and even alone. Having said that, I still want the action heavy missions like that one they showed where the Federation Force was taking on Space Pirates at an outpost while taking out warheads. I really don't want Nintendo getting the weird idea that they suddenly need to go all out with exploration. Metroid is better when it has diversity.

Frankly I liked the content, but didn't actually like the presentation. Just spice things up and make reveals with a little suspense, like the Iwata days. I ask good with the contents 😀

@I-U The ice level doesn't provide much depth or purpose to the exploration, they're too small and bare for that. They need to be a lot bigger, a lot longer, and more detailed for them to feel Metroid like, not this bite-size nonsense. Even for a combat focused mission, they should be at least as big as the ice level if not bigger.

Where's the steam world heist option??

Overall I liked the Direct. Glad to see they're keeping their Nintendo-style approach, despite Iwata's passing. Star Fox is looking great and the Yokai Watch skit was hilarious! Good job Nintendo!

I have only seen a few segments (and read the news) and think it wasn't that bad! There was new, free Triforce heroes dlc
Finally the old Pokemon's come to the e-shop (I might try)
A new Smash character
A cool Paper jam trailer (seriously, the game looks better then many people initially thought)
And a new 2D picross (though its yet ANOTHER 2d picross and free-to-play nonsense. And where are my new 3D picross and Rhythm tengoku the best?!)

I think it was a pretty goof Direct show. If only Minecraft would have been revealed, what a disappointment. All the time I was hoping for this one huge announcement and the possibility to buy it right after the Direct show.
The rest was fine. Star Fox looks better now, Twilight Princess HD might be a must have and some of the 3DS RPG announcements sound great.

@luke88 And where are the stuff about Bravely Second announcements from european direct. These things weren't in the Nintendo direct summary either. I mean why, I am not completely sure what was in NA direct, but feels like all these summaries and stuff are based solely on NA direct, but like I said, I don't know, but it's just weird that things are completely left out.

@Shiryu Lol

Why isn't that 13 seconds of Zelda U mentioned? That was my highlight of the direct!

The direct was a letdown: No mention about any new or fresh Wii U games (tower-def Project Guard) and TPHD is 2016?! Just same delayed games on Wii U over and over again... Nothing to interrupt my CSGO until XCX then.

I liked the European Direct for the most part, but the lack of release date for Fire Emblem Fates over here really killed it for me. America are getting it on February 19th yet we in Europe still have a placeholder date of 2016. No month, no season - just 2016. 😔
Also, is it just me or did they reconfirmed a lot of release windows for games? I thought people already knew that Zelda U would be coming out next year and Fast Racing Neo was coming out sometime in December.

@Xenocity Wii U games consistently get great reviews, what are you talking about?

@Inkling-Inc I agree with you. It was like 80 percent 3DS and 20 percent Wii U lol

I don't like the fact that I have had to guess what the Japanese president of Europe was saying at certain times. I also didn't like the British guy. I would prefer young TALENTED PRESENTERS with normal English accent since it must be 100% easy for non native English speakers to understand the presentation in all of the European countries. When we say European Direct let's not forget that people from Greece, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany and so on are watching.

@RupeeClock
Well the Nintendo E3 experience was not just about the Digital Event and therefore it was good. Smash Direct/DLC, EarthBound Beginnings, Nintendo World Championship, Digital Event,Treehouse Livestreams (incl. indies like SteamWorld Heist, FAST, Runbow, Typoman). You can't just focus on the Digital Event and tear Nintendo's E3 performance apart.
So of course this Direct did not have more content. But the Direct was good. Some good and new stuff.

@Cosats
The "british guy" is no british guy. Satoru Shibata is the CEO of Nintendo of Europe. He always presented the european parts of the Directs. And he is damn awesome. He has a familiar style to Iwata - authentic, likeable and he doesn't take things to serious.

The lack of Mario Maker DLC still disturbs me. Everything else was fine.

@Balki I think when he was talking about the "british guy", he was referring to Ed Valiente (the one who kept saying Pok-eh-mon) and not Shibata.

For me, although it was nice to get a direct, it was kind of a buzzkill as a wii u owner. Ultimately we saw close to no footage of Zelda... again. The footage of Starfox, while proving the graphics and lighting have been polished alot, still only showed levels we've already seen, with a few brief stints of truly "new" footage. Thats how everyone is making comparison videos. Its almost the same trailer. For smash we got A new character that again, was not a reflection of the fighter ballot, so less space for characters fans actually want, great. More of Amiibo festival. Oh and a website to use because our game, thats up for game of the year, doesnt work and needs an external system for helping players locate each other's levels. Thats it??! Come on Nintendo. it was 70 percent stuff we've seen, a couple new amiibos, and three, count em, three 3ds rpgs in a row. Im sure 3ds owners were pleased but i feel a bit burned as a wii u owner.

@Balki No no no, the confusing jumper guy! The one with the British accent. He was the British guy! There were two guys in total; the Satoru Shibata guy, and the confusing jumper guy, AKA the Poh-keh-mon guy, AKA the Ed Valiente Guy, AKA the British Guy.

This is the very last smash direct in decem,ber

I know I should expect this as a Wii U owner by now, but the lack of content for the Wii U was painful. Europe appears to be adapting to the issue by ensuring that the Virtual Console is getting lots of Wii and 3DS games, but here in North America they seem to be fine with letting the console on getting a trickle of truly new releases and tout games that appeared elsewhere months of now years ago. But at least my wallet is safe.

I probably would have been interested in the two DS Zelda games since I never played them on the DS, but it will probably be Christmas of 2016 before NoA decides to release them (along with Metroid: Zero Mission and other VC games that released elsewhere).

The direct was a huge disappointment for me mainly because it highlighted how differently we're being treated between NA and EU. And once more, EU got left in the mud for NA regarding release dates and goods. We get a worse Fire Emblem Fates special edition, and we don't have a release date. Fking yay huh? Total bs.

Now I have to import the NA edition for the pouch and sell it again because of this ludicrous treatment. Might as well just buy a NA 3ds because screw EU, right?

Don't even try to tell me we get better treatment in 1% of all cases because it doesn't outweigh it

Honestly just gonna defect to NA region soon if this ridiculous favoritism treatment doesn't stop. Or maybe just give up on Nintendo, since they never seem to actually improve. I had hoped they'd go in a new direction what with there being a serious shift of power due to the unfortunate death after E3. But nope. Nintendo is Nintendo, and they are rooted in the past :S

Overall, a very good direct. Only downsides (not huge deals even just personal preferences) for me really is wondering why we got a guy from a Playstation game for Smash and something else a bit more constraversal, but it still really was a strong direct

I see you STILL don't care about 30% of your readers, NLife. Good thing I've moved off to a new, actually good, Nintendo news site.

@lewieboy124 @Maxz @Cosats
Oh, I see.

But It was ok too. It was like Damon Baker talking about inides in previous NA Directs. I think it's nice that Nintendo involves more employees. Not just focusing on the main guys.

@Maxz in fairness that is how it's pronounced over here. Poke-e-mon. It's like how Mario is pronounced Mar-e-oh in the US but we tend to pronounce it more Ma-ri-oh.
I often find hearing Poh-kay-mon incredibly jarring when watching American videos on it, so I can completely understand why it seems weird the other way around.

@Mega719 they ain't going to talk about Zelda Wii u. Are u serious? That e3 stuff. And basically they had to talk about stuff that already coming out and almost every direct does that.

@Kaze_Memaryu Almost everything you said about Super Mario Maker is wrong, you can do spin jumps in the SMW and NSMBU themes like in the original games and there is an option for autoscroll with 3 different speeds. Sure there's plenty of powerups I'd like to see as well as other things like slopes but I expect them to be added via a free update sometime in 2016.

I give this direct a 8.0/10.0
+pokemon red blue and yellow vc
+a ton of 3ds games
+cloud in smash
-too much Wii u
-too much amiibo

@Ogbert The Splatoon badges will come. There are 7 or 8 screens of them in the Japanese version.

I don't really care too much about the format of the Direct, as long as it has the information and content I'm looking for. Sadly this one didn't.

I'm not a JRPG or turn based fan, though I will get Pokemon Yellow for old times sake... There seemed to be far too many RPGs and not enough platforming or racing... Nintendo where are your racers!?

I can't see me buying anything for the Wii U for some time, no way will I get a HD remake of a game I already have that will work on the system!? ... If they produced a HD F-Zero or Waverace (something we currently dont have) I'd be putting my money down now...

The fact that the big surprise reveal was a single new character being added to Smash was really poor too... Not going to get excited about that either....

The Fox facelift looks a bit better, it almost looks exciting now, until seeing the slippy hacking bit and awful looking control method... Still, glad they pulled it back if these are the results. I'm more hopeful it will be an 8/9 game rather than a 6/7 now.

They hit the nail bang on the head for me with 3D World, MarioKart 8 and it's DLC, and now Maker I suppose... But it just isn't enough and release dates are too few and far between.

I'm at the point where I wish Nintendo would just release its games on the more popular platforms (PC/PS4) rather than messing with another new system.

The surprise Cloud announcement was cool, but they're making WAAAY too many amiibos now, and stuffing them in everything.

I just started laughing my head off when I saw the gold megaman amiibo. Like, that's something I would've come up with as a joke, for crying out loud!

I enjoyed the directions they're taking without being too bothered by the specifics.
Eg the old Pokemon games. Great to see more VC on the 3ds (its been so long) and some updates to them (replacing link cables.)

@Kaze_Memaryu Those are all your opinions, and the vast majority of people seem to disagree with you. Also, some of your points are simply wrong.

'Splatoon: basically worthless without multiplayer; meanwhile the Singleplayer content is just boring and unbelievably short' >> What? It's a multi-player game mostly, yes. That goes for 90% of all shooters ever, and moreover Splatoon was actually praised in most reviews for having a surprisingly meaty and engaging single player campaign, especially considering it's a multi-player shooter and had been positioned and promoted as such by Nintendo ever since its unveiling.

'SSB4: same issue as Splatoon, except that any sense of narrative was thrown out for no reason other than saving the need to justify design decision on top of that' >> Do you seriously want to make a point of Smash Bros. lacking a 'narrative'/storyline...? x'D

'TLOZ Triforce Heroes: no actual sense of adventure, no world to explore, overly simplistic dungeon designs, inexplicable return to the Wind Waker artstyle' >> Handheld Zelda games have adopted the Wind Waker artstyle ever since Minish Cap on GBA (barring the two 3DS remakes, obviously). Also, there are 3 other 'traditional' Zelda games on 3DS for you to enjoy, plus all the VC eShop ones. And I thought your whole point was that Nintendo isn't innovating any more. Tri Force Heroes is the definition of innovation concerning Zelda games. Sure, you personally may not like it, but it's the direct opposite of fanservice without innovation. XD

'Super Mario Maker: DIY level editor that lacks key features (like spin jumps, powerups, and autoscroll features), and simply dodges critical voices by pointing at everything being user-made' >> All lacking key features you mention are actually in the game. Everything's user-made? No. There are quite a few official Nintendo levels, and more keep being added.

'Mario Party 10: streamlined to the point of event control, with planning and chaotic fun being rendered impossible' >> Never played this game so I can't comment on it (something you should considering yourself, by the looks of it).

'Fire Emblem if: nonsensical fanservice designs, dumbed down gameplay, overpriced' >> Fire Emblem Awakening was like this, and was the first in the series to achieve mainstream praise and succes.

@Ogbert I live in a jolly little English town and drink copious amounts of tea (which is the liquid the English derive their accent from), so my pronunciation is actually probably closer to Ed's than the American 'Poe-Kay-Mon', but I still find the way he did pronounced it... odd. I think it was because of the short, flat 'o' sound.

This would be easier if I knew the International Phonetic Alphabet, but here goes:

American pronunciation: Pokémon -> Poe-Kay-Mon
My (and I think most of Britain's) pronunciation: Pokémon - Poe-Keh-Mon (I think in Britain the 'ké' ranges from 'kuh' to 'key')
Ed's pronunciation: Po-Keh-Mon ('o' as in 'hot', rather than 'oh' as in 'boat')

Ed's is probably actually a little closer to the original Japanese (although given that the Japanese is based on a contraction of two originally English words, this 'origin' is a little muddy), but I think it sounds a bit 'choppy' when thrown into an English sentence.

How would you describe your pronunciation?

@RainbowGazelle A good thing indeed. It was becoming rather irksome knowing that beneath nearly every article, there would be some petulant, poorly-explained, often incredibly pedantic remark for the readership to roll their eyes at.

This swan song of yours is a case in point; you've posted simply to draw attention to the fact you're flouncing away, whilst leaving a massively unhelpful and cryptic complaint. It's not at all clear from your post what, if anything, this 30% of readers have in common. Perhaps it's obvious, and I simply have the deductive capabilities of a dead shrew, but all I take from your post is a feeling of vague, self-important wingeing.

Bill and Reggie's skit was my favorite part.

They need to change the presenters for Europe - seriously , can barely understand Shibata "Let's take a Rook" - why can't we have someone like Reggie, more charismatic and relatable. At least Iwata was understandable.

@Maxz

I don't know anyone here in the states that pronounces it Poe-Kay-Mon, at least not in the northeast. We say Poe-Keh-Mon. Anything you may hear in an advert is not necessarily reality.

As for the Direct: I avoid having to see or hear Reggie at all costs, so I settle for recaps.

What a drag

It was arguably better than the E3 presentation.

@k8sMum Aah, thanks for clearing that up. So I guess we're all in the same boat, Poe-Keh-Mon it is!

The direct was a failure for me. The push of Amiibo and collectible editions alienates me, because I'm not that target audience anymore. They are relying on these core users and penny pinching them. And so many of these games don't really have that Nintendo stamp on them. Something is lacking. I may just boot up my gamecube and dive back into Eternal Darkness right now. One thing that was solidified during the Direct was that E3 was no fluke. They have little in the pipeline other than abusing their established franchises. For me, that means I'm done purchasing any new games for my Wii U, and there is no chance I come back with the NX.

@CB85 What critics say is hardly ever reliable (see COD: Ghosts, Assassin's Creed Unity, or Skyrim being lauded as polished, for example, despite their uncountable bugs), and Splatoon having good singleplayer is a flat lie. It's over in less than 2 hours, has no impacting characters, and serves only as a glorified tutorial. And the whole plot is a shoddy excuse that never makes any difference to anything, as the "lack of power" is entirely ignored in both the plaza (where only the big Zapfish is missing, but everything is still fine), and the overall narrative never even acknowledging this oh-so-important theft outside of the singleplayer campaign.
As for Smash, Brawl had an actual story (which wasn't all that great, but had a lot of unique content), and both the original Smash and Melee offer a passive narrative that is lampshaded by its trophy theme, with Melee at least offering new locations in Adventure Mode. This is degenerated into a little collectathon gimmick with Smash 4, with nothing within the unbalanced
Classic Mode playing into the existence of trophies, only showing them as a part of the "arena" that tells you what characters you fight next, and the Master Core being completely nonsensical, not to speak of the entire content of the game containing nothing that is special or intended for singleplayer experiences.
Then, calling Triforce Heroes innovative is really sad irony when nothing about the games' puzzles has any depth or creativity, but just the totem gimmick shoehorned in even in the most nonsensical places. All of it is in plain sight, and nothing poses any difficulty. And the whole "challenge" boils down to lazy enemy spam. And, not to forget, the game is extremely clunky when playing alone, heavily contradicting the intention of a portable system. For fanservice, look no further than the costume system that makes no sense (how do they know who the costumes originate from, and why do they give Link special powers?), as the specific outfits are almost entirely reliant on fan recognition, and look rather awkward otherwise. Also, I didn't mention A Link Between Worlds because it's not a recent title that has experienced a much more subtle recognition point of simply being a Zelda adventure that gives players everything they need to have fun all on their own, and the other two are remakes that change nothing except the visuals.
Now, Super Mario Maker is a more complex case, and I see you don't get it, but what I mean is that the entire game is constantly advertised through user-generated content, never mentioning Nintendo's levels as a part of the game. Furtthermore, gauging the game by these levels doesn't work, since user-made levels are the point of the game, nonetheless. That means all that can be gauged is the editor, which a UI, but there's no common content to base the game on from a quality standpoint. Now, for the omitted features, I admit to having portrayed my complaints very sloppily, but nonetheless, you cannot use the cape to fly any more, you don't get the iconic Tanooki Suit with the stone statue transformation, you don't get Mini/Mega Shrooms, and as far as I remember, adjusting scrolling directions in autoscroll to dynamic directions isn't possible, either.
And Fire Emblem Awakening still provided smart designs that properly reflected the fact that all these individuals wereat war, with a few exceptions. But FEif literally throws some of the most worn-out animé clichés into the party, both in design and writing, and thinks it's being witty when it's just a fanservice stand of the most unoriginal variety.

How many years has the virtual console been around? And they are just now releasing the most popular Pokemon games of old?! Regardless it will be nice to finally get Pokemon yellow since I always wanted but never got that one.

Pretty great on the whole. Better than their E3 to be honest. The only improvements I would've wanted would've been more of a graphical improvement with Twilight Princess and a bit longer footage from the next Zelda.
But I'll still buy Twilight Princess as it is. And my top announcement was DQ8, which I've been wanting to play for years.
Also Star Fox is looking a bit better.

@Maxz My complaint here is the same as on most of NLife's articles surrounding the Directs. They've posted every single piece of information from the NA Directs, but seemingly don't care about the EU news:

• They reported on the golden Mega Man amiibo, stating it will be coming with the Collector's Edition of the Mega Collection. However, that's only in NA, which they never mentioned.
• The Fire Emblem Collector's Edition was reported on as "coming to NA" without any mention of the fact that's it's also coming to Europe.
• Same thing with the Final Fantasy Explorers Collector's Edition.
• The Zelda Twilight Princess: Collector's Edition is reported as including the game and amiibo + CD if you preorder. The CD comes with all copies in Europe, but there's no mention of that.
• There has been no mention whatsoever of the Bravely Default 2 Collector's Edition that Europe's getting.

My point is that all of the articles have been directly solely at North Americans. Anyone reading from Europe will need to watch the EU Direct to check which of the announcements apply to their region, defeating the whole point of the News Roundup. The 30% I was referring to are the 30% of NLife's readership who watched the EU Direct only, and are likely to be European. That's 30% of their readers they are completely ignoring.

The Direct itself was fine but it was really 3DS heavy. Some of the stuff like DQ7 and 8 and Pokemon VC were cool enough, but Cloud in Smash and Twilight Princess HD are just gross, totally pandering. The whole Direct was a lot of Nintendo going after low-hanging fruit and little actual new games. The rest of the industry is doing this, I don't need it from Nintendo!

They need a game announcement direct and a DLC/Amiibo/eShop direct. Maybe alternating every quarter. This last direct was disappointing for me. Next to none of the games appealed to me.

I've not played any Dragon Quest, but it was pleasing to see more coming to 3DS. Other than that the only thing I could really take a positive from was that Fast Racing Neo is coming out this year.

The Star Fox release date of 22nd April was pretty disappointing, it's still absolutely ages away.

Call me unimaginative, but I can't really think how they can change up the format that much and still keep it 'Direct'.

Was ok. Nothing in there that really made me excited like I used to get for Nintendo games.

Looking forward to Paper Jam & Zelda though.

I'm going to save this poll so when you all start complaining about not getting new games and that Nintendo releases the same thing over and over again, I can point to the fact that out of all the titles coming in the next 6 months or so, Twilight Princess HD is what got you the most excited. Not a sequel or a spin-off or even a new IP, but a remake of a game you can play by just popping the disc in your system.

I can't believe how badly Nintendo keeps screwing up, over and over and over again. Unbelievable.