Ah, Nintendo Direct. I'm a fan of these, since to me, it shows that the current E3 is not really the future of the game industry getting out its message and previews of new games. That aside, Nintendo opted to have another Nintendo Direct in lieu of a huge stage conference. They had some really good trailers in it, too!
First off, we got some new info on the next set of Pokemon games, Pokemon X and Y. They now have a release date, October 12, which is always good news. In an effort to balance out Dragon type Pokemon, they are adding another type- Fairy. Yeah, I know... Well, dragons did need to get knocked down a peg, since they made ice types harder to get, and the ones from Pokemon Black and White were just terrible and ugly. They showed the first 4 fairy types, one of which is...wait for it...a new Eevee evolution. Who didn't see that one coming? The rest are: Jigglypuff (might be useful now? ...No, I doubt it), Gardevoir (awesome Pokemon, even if I can't spell it's name correctly) and Marrill. I'm not sure how a water balloon is a fairy, but whatever. There's also a mode that allows you to play with your Pokemon like Nintendogs. I don't think this is necessary (or wanted by the older fan base), so hopefully I can ignore it entirely.
A few other games were shown: a new Mario or two, Pikmin 3 and some of the two "new" Legend of Zelda games. I don't really like the Mario games, including the new Mario Kart (shocking, I know, considering how much I loved the first Mario Kart), and I still haven't gotten around to trying Pikmin (I have one of the remakes on Wii). As sad as it is, I don't like the Wind Waker art style and I'm not really a fan of the 3D Zelda games, so I'm not really excited about that. The re-imagining/ sequel to A Link to the Past does look really cool, as that is my favorite Legend of Zelda game. A day or so after their Nintendo Direct, they talked more about it. It seems Link now has an ability to make himself a 2 dimensional cave drawing looking thing and travel along walls. I have no clue why in an actual 3D game, the hero has a power to make himself 2D. Almost seems counter-productive.
Before I get to the final awesomeness of what all they covered, I want to talk about the new game being made by the team that made Xenoblade. It looks similar, but you can also summon a "doll", or giant mech suit that you can pilot in battles or even while moving around the map. As a robot fan, and fan of the team's other works, Xenoblade and Xenogears (currently my third favorite game of all time), I want to play this game. If I don't have the Wii U by the time that game comes out, I will probably get it. The game is right now just called "X" (which looks a lot like the Xenogears/ Xenoblade "X" in the titles), so hopefully it gets a real name soon. Maybe Xenodoll? Oh, and at least one of the mechs you run around in can transform. I can't wait to roll out, even though the game appears to have multiplayer. As long as I can play the whole game solo, I will be a happy camper!
Now to the star of the show...Smash Bros! Being developed by a team at Namco Bandai (whom I affectionately refer to as "Bamco"), there were some trailers released that showed three of the new fighters. First up (in reverse order of excitement) is the nameless Villager from Animal Crossing. Yeah, I don't care either. Next up, the generic Wii Fit trainer girl. She'll likely be a joke character, like Game & Watch, so I don't mind her, even if there were much better choices for a character (the princess from Archaic Sealed Heat? Anyone?) However, all other character reveals shall pale in comparison to the character I was pulling for last game. The one, the only, super fighting robot...Megaman! Yes, the Blue Bomber, in a 3D-ified version of his 8-bit self has finally come to the world of Smash Bros! He's a perfect addition. They showed several of his moves, but I'm still hoping he has a similar mechanic to Kirby, but he copies the move of the last opponent he killed. The only sad part is Nintendo (or Bamco) is picking up Capcom's slack.
Since some of Nintendo's games from the show floor were also playable at Best Buy stores, but curiously not in the area near the Nintendo of America headquarters, I'm sure some of these will be at PAX Prime so I can get some first hand impressions. Check back in September!
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