
It's an easy business to sit and discuss the failures of the Wii U — lacking purpose, chunky design, confusing name — but what about its successes? It's a much shorter list, we'll admit, but one of the things that many of us will agree on is its stellar games library (we mean, just look at how many have made the jump over to Switch).
With the console turning ten at the end of last year, we are now in the period of decade-old Wii U announcements popping back into our heads at a moment's notice. Once such anniversary took place yesterday as we noticed on Twitter (thanks to @NintenDaan) that a whopping ten years have passed since the console's 'Nintendo Games' Direct presentation aired.
Very much a one-man show with some occasional cameos, this Direct is a rather low-key affair compared to the presentation style that we see today; this being said, there were some quality announcements to be made. Some of these highlights are teased in the above Twitter post, but let's briefly rundown some of the top-notch content teed-up by the late, great, Mr. Iwata.
Aside from announcing updates to the Miiverse (some of which never materialised), this is a Direct that did its best to make the Wii U news last. We got confirmation of the brilliant Virtual Console service, pointing out that Game Boy and GBA titles would be added in the future *looks at the Switch and sighs*, the reveal of a Yoshi game that would later turn into Yoshi's Woolly World, updates on Bayonetta 2 and news of Super Smash Bros.'s delay.
All this isn't even to mention the reveal of Wind Waker HD and a teaser from Eiji Aonuma about another 'game-changing' title coming to the series in the future (what could that have possibly been, we wonder??).
It's true, the presentation might be a little more stripped back than the music-filled trailer-fest that we are used to these days, but it is a nice trip into the past all the same. You can watch the 'Nintendo Games' Direct in full down below to get reliving those decade-old memories.
The Wii U-years content is stretched pretty thinly across the 36-minute runtime, but there is something to be said for seeing real people in a Direct showcase instead of just a voiceover with video after video — and come on, we will always treasure those Iwata presentations.
What do you make of this old, personal tone to the Direct? Would you like to see it come back? Fill out the following poll and then let us know your thoughts in the comments!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 57
Trailer after trailer, without much inbetween. That's how I like it
I still miss Mr Iwata and the Iwata-era Nintendo so much
Maybe it's the nostalgia from the Star Fox puppets, or Iwata fighting Reggie with comical special effects, but I got to admit the modern direct works very well. I voted for a mix of both
Ahh, the initial reveal for the SMT x FE project that eventually morphed into a game that few people liked, it seemed. How our minds went wild at the possibilities of a strategy RPG with instakill magic spells and permadeath.
And instead, we got Persona lite with FE characters as the "personas". 😂
All in all, I think TMS turned out to be a good experience. Though I do miss Iwata's presentation. He added something extra to the experience.
Wish Windwaker would come to Switch.
Nintendo news really is slow at the moment, huh.
Ah yes, the Wii U direct that announced games 3+ years in advance: Xenoblade X, TMS#FE, and Breath of the Wild.
The new ones are missing that personal touch. But nobody will ever truly replace Iwata.
A lot of stuff happened in this direct. The Famicom 30th anniversary gave us those VC games for quite cheap (I really fricking miss VC, very underappreciated lost with the Switch). I do find it wacky that a good portion had to be dedicated to an update to promise a faster system. I remember being really excited for Xeno X (then X) when it was first revealed.
I would love for this type of direct to come back, but to be honest, I don't think we have any personalities as interesting as Iwata when it comes to these presentations.
@Mauzuri I still love my switch and it doesn't feel old to me. but man oh man I would love it if I could have a home screen like the WiiU's or 3DS where I can organize my games into folders and it is right up front and not buried in the entire library section.
I do miss when Directs used to be more entertaining and have more personality. Nowadays we really only see Miyamoto, Koizumi, and Takahashi with a little Aonuma. Even the Splatoon man Nogami isn’t seen much these days.
For me personally, Nintendo ending Miiverse was one of their worst decisions ever. I know there’s here, but it felt so great connecting with Nintendo fans, sharing and commenting on screenshots, feedback on custom stages in Smash and Yoshi designs in Woolly World for 3DS, and getting advice on a specific scenario. The Twitter page I call Splatverse in Splatoon 2 & 3 just isn’t the same and way worse quality. Why not integrate that into SplatNet 3? Even Smash Ultimate has had a place to share.
Without Iwata and Reggie, a Nintendo Direct doesn't feel that exciting anymore. It seems not a lot of hearts and dedications are put into these direct nowadays compare to when Iwata-san and the Reggie-nator both run the show.
"Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tensei" alone was a massive head-turner for me, even though at the time my work schedule had already taken me out of home gaming and thus out of Wii U market (and I saw the news separately, which is how I stayed ignorant about Xenoblade X and the rest of what would eventually end up among my all-time top fave franchises years later). The line itself was vague enough to let different fans imagine and get hyped for different things, so it's no surprise many were underwhelmed by the result (well, tough luck Atlus ultimately didn't feel like making another Devil Survivor), but Tokyo Mirage Sessions still remains one of THE games in Wii U and Switch libraries alike as far as I'm concerned. "We have Persona at home" but with talkative, fun and extra recognizable personae for a change? And a borderline musical to boot?
A mix of both would be nice, although Nintendo Direct without Iwata and Reggie wouldn't be the same.
Nintendo directs are fun. There is lot of stuff if it is a good direct.
Iwata being there made it 100x better <3
God, these older Directs were boring. Nintendo has effectively mastered the Art of the Direct since then, turning them into rapid-fire announcement reels that always get the blood pumping.
TMS#FE would have been more well-received if they'd marketed it as MegaTen x Idolmaster, with just a splash of Fire Emblem on the side, which is what they actually ended up making.
I mean it's hard to beat finishing with Xenoblade X.
@Cheez The game that Nintendo pretends dosent exist haha
30 cent famicom games sounds like the right price.
I don't mind the current style, but it was fun to see Iwata and Reggie. Gave them personality.
I remember this one. The Wii U era was sparse but it had something special.
When is the next Direct anyway?
What the heck is happening with NSO+?
@Browny SMT x FE is such a strange game. In many ways I applaud the devs for subverting exceptions. The final product however is a strange bag of mixed ideas. I think the setting centered around stardom turned people off more than anything.
The gameplay loop is fun if a bit repetitive, but the dungeons, plot, and MC were forgettable. I did bust a gut at the final battle though. That one scene was random and hilarious.
Also, for a game that features FE characters, they barely played a big role in the game.
I'd say SMT x FE is game you should atleast play once for curiosity. It's definitely not a universe I would want to explore again though.
@Bobb Can't say you missed the Iwata era without taking the failures into account along with the successes. I.E. the flop of the GameCube, initial failure of the 3DS, disaster of the Wii U. He did redeem himself with the Switch though
@ZonaiResearcher it isn't really about the successes and failures I miss those times. Nintendo customer relationship, business model and transparency felt different. I could be misremembering, though
I still remember the Wind Waker HD reveal and how hyped I was. To this day it's one of the only reasons beside Twilight Princess HD and Xenoblade X to own the system.
SMT X FE was also pretty cool to see announced back then even though the game turned out to be basically Persona X Idol Masters with a little bit of Fire Emblem. Still a fun game that many people passed on.
Funny enough FE Engage might have taken some ideas from it since both games have you fusing with past Fire Emblem heroes to fight off enemies.
Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, an all new 2D Zelda and an HD remake of OOT are what I want to arrive inbetween TotK and whatever comes after TotK.
Never understood why people want them all now. Everything arriving all at once is just plain silly!
TotK launches in just a few months, and when it does launch we are all sat squarely at day zero of potentially 1500 days plus before we see a new 3D Zelda.
That is when Windwaker HD will arrive. Helping to fill that awful Zelda void we all can see coming on the horizon!!
@Bobb Hey, nothing wrong with missing Iwata. He made some mistakes in his career (who hasn't) but also made good choices too.
Missing the good parts of the past without the bad parts is totally acceptable.
When are GBA games coming to Expansion Pak? Where’s Goldeneye?
@Bratwurst35 the man himself sounded like an amazing person
It's when Nintendo news seems to have slowed to a crawl like this that I start to feel like we are due for a Nintendo Direct announcement any day now...
And as much as I like the over the top skits of old Directs, I much prefer having information presented in quick succession. That way, if it's something I'm excited for, then it's a quick burst of happiness that could be followed up by another burst of happiness, and if I'm not excited for something, at least I don't have to wait too long unless they decide to talk for a solid 1-2 minutes about a single game.
One thing I do miss about old Directs is having the executives come out to present information. How cool was it that Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, came out to record himself giving us the news? Reggie became a legend for many of his appearances. But nowadays, I can only remember one moment with Doug Bowser, where Bowser Koopa thought he would present Nintendo's E3 Direct. Dude hasn't appeared since.
Watching this just made me want XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X for Switch that much more.
@Don Don't worry, Goldeneye is "Coming Soon"!
Any year now...
@KayFiOS Have to disagree. Those old directs helped Nintendo stand out. It made advertisement fun and silly, in a time when all Xbox and Sony cared about was the next AAA M rated game for "big boys" only.
In many ways those directs still felt like how old Nintendo saw themselves. A toy company.
Gods, I wish Iwata-san had been able to see the success of the Switch. Still very missed, and will be for a long time indeed. Looking back on his Direct presentations is a fun, bittersweet reminder of just how special he was, and I appreciate that Nintendo continues to honor him with the format today. Others may copy it now, but none have the excitement of an incoming Nintendo Direct.
Despite getting very different from what most people imagined at the time ... I really enjoyed Tokyo Mirage Sessions. It is an overall good-crafted and fun game. After reading the comments, I wonder if I am the only one who enjoyed it ...
@TioRogerio TMS isn't a terrible game. I just say it's very middle. It takes all the best parts of Persona, Megami, and FE, but doesn't mix them very well together.
The battles themselves are f un, but for me it's just everything outside of that which is meh. The side quests are boring, the relationship system feels undercooked, The FE characters feel thrown in (It feels more like Persona guest starring FE), The dungeons are boring, and the overall story is eh.
On the plus side, atleast the game embraced it's goofy setting, and didn't try to take itself seriously.
Oh, and the guy with the red hair (forgot his name) was the best character in the entire cast.
I would take ANY Nintendo directs at this point. Leadership is seriously dropping the ball lately with marketing.
I seriously think Nintendo needs to be transparent. Tell us what's going on, what's planned and scrapped, and how Metroid Prime 4 is coming along
@Bobb,
It's those nostalgia goggles, makes everything seem much better in the past.
No nostalgia here for that era. Nintendo were in a bit of a mess and the skits and wackiness were filler to hide the lack of games.
Strongly prefer the fast paced Directs we get now. Man, that Miiverse portion is pretty brutal. In a modern Direct, that would've been a 1st party game trailer followed by a couple of 3rd party games.
There are definitely some positives here: Iwata hosting it, Xenoblade X, Wind Waker HD etc., but yeah, give me modern Switch Directs all day.
Wii U might not have been the best console Nintendo ever made, but the 3DS was (and still is) a great handheld imo.
@Vexx234 Red hair ? That guy is Touma Akagi, the live Tokukatsu (superhero drama) actor. Yeah, he is the coolest. You said well, it's a game that does not take yourself seriously and I think this is what made it interesting to me.
The miiverse grief will never pass, will it. So much love for that era. Every time we got a glimpse of Xenoblade Chronicles X there was a collective stopping of hearts, followed by a rush of giddy excitement.
Speaking of 2013, it's the first year when Nintendo went pre-recorded for their E3 presentation. But that's a topic for April.
@mariomaster96 yeah. I don’t need a show or puppets and stuff. Just show me trailers
@TioRogerio nope it has its fans,we just get lost in the sea of everything else.
I feel that Nintendo does fewer Directs these days. I really wish they went back to three big directs a year (Feb/Spring, June/E3, Sept/Fall) and game-specific directs or smaller mini directs in the other months of the year. I guess occasional Indie World presentations make up for the lack of other Direct-style news.
I miss some of the skits they used to do, especially with the Robot Chicken and Muppet collab they had for E3 2014 and 2015.
What a horrible Direct. Almost as bad as the Wii U itself. I don't even recall seeing it before, probably because I did boycott the Wii and WU era. Nintendo really lost me with this gimmick era. While I could accept the Wii and its power to expand the gaming audience, I was hoping for a return to tradition for the successor. When I saw the announcement presentation of the WU and the game-pad placed on the floor as you swung an imaginary golf club at it, it was over. It was really only the Virtual Console that offered some enticement, not that I ever got close to buying one.
I recently saw that video again they made as a tribute to Iwata San and I cry every time I see it. This man was such an icon for the industry. I still miss him dearly. I would love to see more faces in Directs again. Especially Miyamoto San!
I still love my Wii U and I fire it up every now and then, mostly to play GBA games in handheld mode.
Voted for a mix which is actually what modern Directs already do: they focus on trailers which is what matters the most, but still have, if to a lesser extent, people and skits.
Ahhh virtual console and Windwaker. Sounds more appealing than the Switch.
I enjoy how relaxed these felt.
Iwata chatting away about how happy it makes him that MiiVerse is being used the way they hoped it would. ^^
I had this running in the background just to hear his voice again.
You know, all the coverage for this Direct you made back then was what attracted me to this site for the first time...
Back then Nintendo wasn't afraid of talking about games too far from release, that's how they hyped E3 2013 and probably gave us a promise that the Wii U generation would be awesome and filled with masterpieces like those! ... then came the rest of the Wii U lifetime.
I wish they gave us a mix of classic and modern presentations, when they were more "direct" to the viewers about a specific game or announcement, but also like now where there are a a lot of quick trailers.
I really enjoyed this direct at the time! Really was excited for the future possibilities of the Wii U, bless it!
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