FlaygletheBagel

This was probably the most interesting part of the Hyrule Warriors Direct, alongside the Ganondorf reveal of course. I'll be waiting for the review before I buy it, but the Direct definitely helped ease some of my concerns about it.

Went ahead and picked up Starfox in hopes that the Wii U VC version will come out soon and I can upgrade for a discounted price.

I'm all for Nintendo fizzling out the physical rewards on Club Nintendo, but if they do that, they need to start getting a bigger and better selection of games to choose from. If I already had Starfox, this would be a pretty crappy lineup to choose from.

I'm not a fan of monopoly, but I'd get it if only for its collecting value. Stuff like this might become really valuable and could sell for a lot one day.

Fan project looks nice but I doubt we'll ever see their finished project, whatever that may be.

Calling it now though: I think the unannounced 3DS Zelda title will feature Majoras Mask and will maybe even take place in Termina, but will be an entirely new Zelda game. Sort of like Link Between Worlds shared similar concepts with Link to the Past, but was very different and fresh.

If I remember correctly, a recent interview had Anouma say that the new 3DS Zelda will further explore new ideas and concepts, continuing to build off of what they learned with Link Between Worlds and the Wii U Zelda. So I doubt we'll see a straight up remake, but I fully expect to see Majoras Mask in the next 3DS Zelda; I'd actually prefer it if they added some new twists to the formula anyway.

I think the release of a physical NES Remix disc is actually a smart strategy for three reasons:

1) As others have said already, a physical release makes it look like there are more "new" Wii U titles on store shelves than there actually are. That way the public perception is less "The Wii U has a drought of games" and more "Look, Nintendo is putting out a steady stream of new games now!"

2) The product packaging would catch the eye of consumers who grew up playing the NES. Nintendo has a bigger nostalgia factor than almost any other company out there. By putting a game on store shelves that shows Nintendo is still doing things with their old 8-bit titles, they're catching the eyes of adults or parents who may want to expose their kids to titles they grew up playing. Physical copies of NES Remix may not be system-sellers, but they certainly give people more incentive to purchase a Wii U than they might've had before.

3) NES Remix, while it is a good game, had an incredibly quiet release. We got the first one as a surprise at the end of a Nintendo Direct, and the second one came out with little notice or fanfare, too. Honestly, not many people outside of Nintendo fans or Wii U owners are that familiar with it. Putting it on store shelves gives it more public exposure.

It would be awesome if this were an actual ad. Seriously. This would turn heads if it came on TV, and would probably sell a bunch more copies of the game. I wish Nintendo advertised like this.

@Octane Thanks for going around and clarifying that a lack of online co-op doesn't mean there's no online period. It seems people are jumping to conclusions an awful lot on this thread, but it's nice to have someone clarifying what this really means for the game.

Anyway, I was on the fence about this game as it is, and a lack of online co-op definitely sucks, but maybe Nintendo can change my mind with their Direct on the 5th.

@Cyberbotv2 Well said. I'm with you there. I love Nintendo, but the VC on 3DS/Wii U is one of the worst services I've ever seen. They keep overpromising and underdelivering.

Still haven't decided on whether or not Hyrule Warriors will be a purchase for me. Hopefully Nintendo can sell me on it during this direct. And if not, I guess I'll be waiting for reviews.

I think ever since February, when Nintendo had their last general, non-game-specific Direct, Nintendo was building up ammo for E3. And now that E3 was a success for them, they've probably shown everything they've got, save maybe a couple surprise games. It's disappointing, no doubt, because even if there isn't any retail game news, they could at least be working on their miserable Virtual Console. You know, the one Nintendo announced we'd have N64 games for LAST January.

On the retail side of things though, I don't really have a whole lot of complaints. I mean, Nintendo demoed almost every game they had announced during their Treehouse event. What else would they have to show? It seems like they expended themselves a lot already. It makes sense that their next Direct would be game-specific. Although it does unfortunately rule out any VC announcements.

@mr_nihilism That'd be one hurdle they'd have to jump. Ideally, the way I'm picturing it, they could sell it in two versions, so to speak. One that only includes the handheld and one that includes the handheld and the TV anchor. The handheld could stand on its own if you wanted it to, but the TV anchor could include additional features like extra controllers, HD resolutions, some additional game functionality, peripherals, and so on. The same OS would run on both, so there's no issues with things like cross buy or separate eShops, unlike the case between Wii U/3DS.

I'm totally spitballing here and there's probably a lot more to figure out about this than I even know about. But hey, it's fun to dream.

My gut tells me Nintendo isn't going to put out a new handheld until their home console has expired too-- That's because I suspect that them merging their handheld and console development teams a couple years ago was a sign of what's to come, namely, a console that doubles as a home console and a handheld.

That might be reaching a little bit, but it might solve some of Nintendo's problems. I think the reason there have been droughts of games on both platforms is because Nintendo has to split their game developers between two consoles: a home console and a handheld. If they had all their dev teams working on one console, there would be far less gaps in the release schedule. A console that you could take wherever you wanted, but also mount to your HDTV at home, would probably entice consumers a lot, particularly consumers of the Pokémon series, who would finally get to play a main series entry on their home console (or take on the go if they want). If something like that is marketed correctly and the technology allows for it, it would be one of Nintendo's most impressive consoles ever.

Just my two cents. I doubt we'll see another handheld anytime soon, but who knows? Nintendo always tends to do the unexpected, for better or worse.

This sucks for you European folks. Hopefully this doesn't happen with Smash Bros. The Wii U NEEDS a good game this holiday season. I understand if they need to delay Smash to make it as good as possible- no one wants a crappy or unfinished Smash Bros., but if they push it (and Captain Toad) back, there's really nothing coming out from September to 2015. Bayonetta is nice, but it's not the big name game most people will buy a Wii U for.

Nintendo needs to wise up and start padding their game droughts with more VC games. It would be less painful to wait for their bigger releases if I could play N64 games, like they promised I'd be able to LAST January, way back in 2013.

@Imagamerboi I guess since the GameCube could always be held as a lunchbox, it must be considered a handheld now.

I wish we'd get a Paper Mario stage on Wii U, too. It got its start on consoles anyway, so imo it would've made more sense on Wii U. All the Mario RPGS seem to have migrated to 3DS lately, and that kinda sucks. I'd kill for a new Paper Mario game on a home console.

@DestinyMan Awesome, thanks for the update. I must've totally missed the Classic Mode footage. Now I'm even more pumped for this game.

I don't know if I like the idea of Smash Run taking up such a prominent space on the main menu. I didn't realize that was their main single player mode on 3DS. It's okay, I guess, but I was hoping there'd be more single player modes revealed than just that one. Even a revamped Classic mode would've been nice... I don't know. Maybe they hid something like that in the "Smash" or "Games and More" buttons.

I trust Sakurai as far as content is concerned though, so 3DS is still a day one purchase for me.

Wow man, that stage looks amazing! I'm glad Sakurai always includes the Great Fox stage in Smash Bros. It's been one of my favorites since 64.

Favorite in the last reveal is Robin by far. Never been a big Captain Falcon user. My favorite newcomer so far is Little Mac, and my favorite character in general is Mario. Not the typical choice, I know, and they nerfed him in Brawl, but I grew up playing as him in every installment. I'll give him a try before anyone else when I play Wii U/3DS.

@Haxonberik I was thinking the exact same thing about the gematsu leak. Unless Shulk and Chorus Men are for sure not in the game, I wouldn't count it debunked yet.

@Haljalikakick64 Fair enough, and I agree with you. I only used the Melee argument because I've seen people discredit the entirety of Smash 4 just because of the roster. That would be as silly as if I said Melee was crap because of all the clones. I don't really consider Toon Link a clone either, but I included him for the sake of argument, to concede that he had at least had a similar moveset as Link and that some might call him a clone based on that.

This article should shut down peoples' complaints about Lucina, not encourage them. She's essentially an alt costume for Marth (with extremely minor differences) separated into her own character slot. This is like if people complained that the Male Wii Fit Trainer would be an option in addition to the Female one. Just because Lucina has a slot on the roster doesn't mean she's taking the place of a "more deserving" character. She's essentially an alt with her own character space.

Sheesh. Everyone worships Melee but there were way more clones in that game than in this one. Dr. Mario, Falco, Ganondorf, Roy, and Young Link were all clones in Melee. It surprises me that having one or two characters like that in Wii U/3DS (Toon Link and now Lucina) is making people complain this much.

Sorry to hear it didn't live up to expectations; I would've thought the London Symphony Orchestra doing Zelda music would be awesome to listen to.

I love the 25th anniversary CD that came bundled with Skyward Sword, and I'm a HUGE fan of the Twilight Symphony.

Not gonna lie, I like the idea of download-only, but the game selection is awful. IMO if you spend 600 dollars on Nintendo stuff in a year, you should be offered a bigger selection than this. This is basically Nintendo flipping their middle finger to their biggest supporters.

Guess I'll pick up Game and Wario since it's one of the few I haven't actually played.

I have a PS3 for its exclusives, its Blu Ray player, and the occasional multiplatform game, and a Wii U for Nintendo exclusives. And to be honest, I don't really see myself getting a PS4 anytime in the next couple years. It's got nothing that appeals to me, and nothing at E3 stood out to me either. MGS5 will be for PS3 AND PS4, so why drop 400 dollars on a console that currently has nothing unique?

Funny thing is, as I get older, I get less and less interested in the "hardcore" consoles of Sony and Microsoft and get more drawn towards Nintendo for its innovation and unique gameplay experiences. With most people it probably works vice versa, but not for me. I don't have much time these days for video games, but when I do, I like the pure, unadulterated fun Nintendo offers.

Anyway, on-topic, I think Sony is reading their data wrong. Most casual gamers who were only Wii owners have just moved on to their smartphones.

HECK yeah, this is a sweet promotion! Time for me to pick up Mario Golf and Bravely Default.

It amazes me people are upset over the character reveals today. What would you have preferred, Chrom? He's just another sword user who would've had a slightly different moveset from Marth at best.

Robin is an incredibly unique fighter, and Captain Falcon was revealed as returning (which Sakurai really has no obligation to do), and Lucina, even if she turns out to be a faster and weaker clone of Marth (which I doubt she will be), that still makes her one of only two clones in Smash 4 (correct me if I'm wrong. I'm counting Toon Link. I don't count Falco or Luigi as clones since they have distinct movesets).

Point is, this is one of the most diverse rosters in Smash Bros history, and people are still hating on it. Heck, you have Mario, Mega Man, Pac Man, and Sonic all in the same game and people are still complaining.

Be excited to play the game and enjoy it for the awesome game it will be, or don't buy it. It's as simple as that. I for one am going to love this game and can't wait to pick up both versions.

The < 30fps thing kinda makes me nervous about this game. This is one I'm definitely going to wait on reviews for before I buy.

At least if this game doesn't turn out to be all it's expected to be, Smash 3DS is right around the corner.

I'm keeping my expectations low. Let's be honest, how much is Nintendo going to cover in a 40 minute Digital event? Probably not much.

-I expect to hear more about the games we already know about (but probably not all of them), like Zelda U, Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, Monolith Soft's X, Yarn Yoshi, Hyrule Warriors, Smash Bros. If they do that and reveal nothing else, I'd honestly be pretty satisfied with it. That's a solid lineup of games.
-I bet Super Mario Sunshine is getting an HD remake, a la Wind Waker.
-Nintendo will talk in great length about the NFC figurines and how they will operate with Super Smash Bros. and one other new crossover game.
-They will give some quick new info on Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
-Super Smash Bros is likely getting a 3DS bundle.
-We'll see a new Smash character getting unveiled.
-One surprise 3DS reveal is coming. They have to talk about it for 90 minutes, so it's got to be something complicated and in-depth. It can't just be a platformer. My guess is it's Advance Wars 3DS.

Thats all. Even a couple of those things are probably not going to happen. But either way, I'm excited for Nintendo' event and I'll keep on buying their stuff regardless of how much or how little of it there is.

Question. Is it actually confirmed that the new Super Smash Bros games don't have their final titles yet? I'm just curious if Sakurai ever said anything about changing the titles. Believe me, I hate the titles "Super Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS" as much as the next guy, but I don't think they ever said anything about giving them new names. Idk, maybe I'm just not remembering.

Nintendo should buy M2 and use them for all the classic VC ports. They said they were looking more into mergers and acquisitions, didn't they? Get on it, Nintendo!

I'll be buying most, if not all of these. Gotta show my support of the Virtual Console. Maybe if these sell exceptionally well it'll inspire Nintendo to put more effort into the VC.

NoA has the worst Virtual Console out of all of them thus far. I want to have faith that they'll release Advance Wars and a few other GBA titles to get things off the ground, but who knows at this point? They've withheld SMB3 for months, so a delay in GBA games honestly wouldn't surprise me.

It's a shame that I even said that. Nintendo's sure figured out how to keep my expectations low lately.

Come to think of it, Nintendo of America is doing a lot of weird stuff at the moment. Dropping out of PAX East (which they've never done before), staying quiet about games (VC and otherwise)... Makes me think something else is going on over there.

I think Nintendo's going in a confusing direction in a lot of ways, not only with the lack of synchrony between 3DS and Wii U, and not only with the slow, pitiful trickle of Virtual Console games, but also in their long-term planning.

Take the Virtual Console as an example. Just about any game from the Gamecube era and back could (potentially) be mapped and emulated on the Wii U (analog trigger quibbles aside). But what happens when Nintendo tries to start emulating Wii games on future consoles? Or Wii U games, for that matter? Is every Nintendo home console that comes out in the future going to need to be compatible with Wii Remotes in order to download old Wii titles? Will future consoles need to have a Gamepad-like accessory in order to play or emulate Wii U games?

You see what I'm getting at here? Nintendo introduced innovations in the Wii and Wii U that they ultimately have to include in future consoles, if they want to keep up with their tradition of backward compatibility. That could potentially hamper their console development in a lot of ways.

Granted, Nintendo isn't bound by backwards compatibility, nor is it an obligation that they make the next console compatible with Wii U games (Gamecube obviously was not compatible with N64 games, nor was an N64 compatible with SNES titles). But considering Nintendo is a company with such a rich back catalog of games, it seems disheartening to consider the possibility that future consoles will need to cap their selection at the Gamecube and exclude games that require the Wii's motion control or the Wii U's Gamepad. But who knows? Nintendo has come up with some crazy stuff before, so it's possible they can do it again. With or without their more recent titles.