Nintendo Direct - April 1st - 11pm BST

[Wii]

Was SMT x Fire Emblem known to be a Wii U game?

 

Yes. Our thread in the Nintendo gaming discussion is called "MegaTen x Fire Emblem" which can confuse people. It's Shin Megami Tensei abbreviated. Here's the initial trailer from over 2 years which was all we seen or practically heard until yesterday. There had been rumours of tension and disagreements between the Atlus and Intelligent Systems on its direction and even that it had quietly been cancelled.

 

Wii U - Shin-Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem Trailer

 

 

[Happenstance]

Yes. Our thread in the Nintendo gaming discussion is called "MegaTen x Fire Emblem" which can confuse people. It's Shin Megami Tensei abbreviated. Here's the initial trailer from over 2 years which was all we seen or practically heard until yesterday. There had been rumours of tension and disagreements between the Atlus and Intelligent Systems on its direction and even that it had quietly been cancelled.

 

I had always thought it was, the reason I asked was because I read some quick rundown of the Direct this morning (cant remember who by) and they had seemed suprised that the game was coming to Wii U and not 3DS thats all.

[V. Amoleo]

Really enjoyed the Nintendo Direct. My only dislike moment was Streetpass VIP. What exactly does that offer which would make it worth a purchase?

 

Fatal Frame looked good, I hope people actually buy it.

 

Also: Please bring DS game downloads to the 3DS. Please please please.

[lostmario]

A really strange Direct for me. Fantastic showing from Nintendo no doubt, content wise it was great for nintendo fans but for me, nothing interested me apart from Mario Kart 200cc mode and the DLC date.

 

I don't care for the Amiibos, never will but I do like how they are using them in as many games as possible.

 

The DLC for Smash Bros, again, no interest in the game so that meant nothing to me but letting the fans decide who the next DLC character will be is very clever. Is it restricted to Nintendo franchises or not?

 

Splatoon, looks good but its an online multiplayer without a certain option (I won't say it) that it will badly need if it is to be taken seriously by certain gamers so I'll be giving that a miss too.

 

N64 and DS virtual console announcments, fantastic but I don't think the N64 has aged well at all compared to the 16 bit era so I doubt I'll be going back to any of those games plus I still own Super Mario 64.

 

Mario Maker looked great but I'm not creative at all so I'm still on the fence with that one.

 

and Mario Kart... good old Mario Kart, that 200cc announcment, that woke me up alright (I started watching the direct at 5.30 this morning). I'll be back playing it until I have 3 stars on all the cups and after the DLC 2, there are quite a few. 200cc is going to be CRAZY, I'm already looking forward to the league nights.

 

That Animal Crossing course, oh my and that music!

 

 

Well done Nintendo for continuing to support there recent games.

 

I wonder what they are holding back for E3.

[Ramar]

£3.59 for Mewtwo, Nintendo are off their tits.

[Glen-i]

£3.59 for Mewtwo, Nintendo are off their tits.

 

I like to think of it as "too narrow-minded to realise the 3DS version is great" tax.

 

Because it is.

[Debug Mode]

I like to think of it as "too narrow-minded to realise the 3DS version is great" tax.

 

Because it is.

 

A tax where I save nearly £30? Fuck yes!

[Glen-i]

A tax where I save nearly £30? Fuck yes!

 

You and many other like-minded gamers make me sad.

The 3DS version gets such a bad rep despite having a superior Classic mode, way more interesting stages and the glorious (if you have local friends, granted) Smash Run.

 

Golden Plains, Pac-Maze and Magicant alone are better than almost every WiiU stage. (Gamer is the exception, that stage is brilliant)

[Wii]

I don't think it's right to charge for Mewtwo. He's a returning character. It's not our fault he wasn't ready in time. If Christmas had come around a few months later would we have had to pay for him? It's the same with Lucas, another returning character but no details on his pricing. You've a cast of nearly 50 characters, tonnes of content, stages, music, trophies, mini games, etc, all for €50. So how is one character worth €4 and that's for just one platform? I mentioned it before but this could be the thin end of the wedge. Nintendo are no different than any other company, they want money and they see what other companies are doing and they're following suit with amiibo and DLC. But they're new to the table so they've got to soften people up first.

 

It's no longer a €50 game, job done. MK8 as an example, that's €50 plus at least one amiibo(€15), plus DLC(€12) and I bet there's going to be more packs. Smash Bros. looks like it's going to take it up a notch with DLC and milking it. Whatever happened to Sakurai saying that Mewtwo was going to be the only DLC? They've got their foot in the door and they'll take whatever the market will tolerate. Yes the MK8 DLC price was sweet but that may well have been an icebreaker and a precursor of things to come.

[Ronnie]

 

No one's forcing anyone to buy an amiibo for Mario Kart. And £11 for 16 tracks, 6 drivers and loads of new vehicle options is incredible value for money. Stop always complaining things are too expensive. Game development costs money, and if you hadn't noticed, Nintendo's financials aren't exactly in the healthiest state at the moment.

[Serebii]

I don't think it's right to charge for Mewtwo. He's a returning character. It's not our fault he wasn't ready in time. If Christmas had come around a few months later would we have had to pay for him? It's the same with Lucas, another returning character but no details on his pricing. You've a cast of nearly 50 characters, tonnes of content, stages, music, trophies, mini games, etc, all for €50. So how is one character worth €4 and that's for just one platform? I mentioned it before but this could be the thin end of the wedge. Nintendo are no different than any other company, they want money and they see what other companies are doing and they're following suit with amiibo and DLC. But they're new to the table so they've got to soften people up first.

 

It's no longer a €50 game, job done. MK8 as an example, that's €50 plus at least one amiibo(€15), plus DLC(€12) and I bet there's going to be more packs. Smash Bros. looks like it's going to take it up a notch with DLC and milking it. Whatever happened to Sakurai saying that Mewtwo was going to be the only DLC? They've got their foot in the door and they'll take whatever the market will tolerate. Yes the MK8 DLC price was sweet but that may well have been an icebreaker and a precursor of things to come.

They don't just port the character. They have to update the model, new animations, moves, balance testing & tweaks etc. so yes, it is right for them to charge for it. They have a right to be paid for their work.

[Ramar]

I like to think of it as "too narrow-minded to realise the 3DS version is great" tax.

 

Because it is.

 

Please don't ever go into politics.

[Phube]

 

No one's forcing anyone to buy an amiibo for Mario Kart.

 

My current problem is no one is ALLOWING me to buy Amiibo's for MK8!! Due to the frankly ridiculous limited release of them...

[Wii]

They don't just port the character. They have to update the model, new animations, moves, balance testing & tweaks etc. so yes, it is right for them to charge for it. They have a right to be paid for their work.

 

O.K. maybe a couple of Euro. Have you watched those comparison videos I posted in the Smash Bros. thread of the 2 characters in previous Smash games? Don't bother with the Mewtwo one, it's just stills but the Lucas one, the similarities are uncanny. And isn't Lucario basically a clone of Mewtwo? I don't know because I don't care about Pokemon anything. They didn't have to start Mewtwo from scratch. If every character, stage and everything else in the game were all charged like Mewtwo the game would probably have cost thousands. I just don't agree with it but thankfully what's been announced so far I can live without. It's so hard to remember everything Sakurai ever said. I know at one point he said Mewtwo would be the only DLC. But did he say that he'd only be available to those who bought both games when he was first announced? If he did I'd consider that a bribe and an unfair one. I'll have to look it up and...uh...I can't really be bothered. I'll see...

 

Edit: They just said he'd be available for free to those who purchased both games and left it at that. They didn't say he couldn't be bought later to be fair.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Wii

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

@dazzybee To be fair to @Wii - he posts a lot of Nintendo-centric stuff (articles, videos and what not), hes 'involved'.

 

And I can relate with how he feels, this Direct did nothing for me and theres nothing on that pipeline that really grabs me by balls and says "buy me".

 

I guess I feel I need something new and grand - the NES remixes and Mario Makers doesn't cut it for me, and with the platformers, while that Yoshi one looks delicious, its still another platformer - I'd wager that if it was any other genre it would have far more appeal.

 

Anyway, not to side track or be negative, I can understand if a Nintendo fan isn't exactly excited by whats coming out.

[Debug Mode]

You and many other like-minded gamers make me sad.

The 3DS version gets such a bad rep despite having a superior Classic mode, way more interesting stages and the glorious (if you have local friends, granted) Smash Run.

 

Golden Plains, Pac-Maze and Magicant alone are better than almost every WiiU stage. (Gamer is the exception, that stage is brilliant)

 

But to me, despite being a very good game, I can't justify paying the price it demands. I was really looking forward to Smash Run, but the lack of online for the mode killed a lot of my interest. Maybe if I was still in Japan when it launched, I probably would have bought it.

 

I'm happy with Smash Bros Wii U, don't be sad for me, I saved money and bided my time for the superior version.

[Grazza]

I don't think it's right to charge for Mewtwo. He's a returning character. It's not our fault he wasn't ready in time. If Christmas had come around a few months later would we have had to pay for him? It's the same with Lucas, another returning character but no details on his pricing. You've a cast of nearly 50 characters, tonnes of content, stages, music, trophies, mini games, etc, all for €50. So how is one character worth €4 and that's for just one platform? I mentioned it before but this could be the thin end of the wedge. Nintendo are no different than any other company, they want money and they see what other companies are doing and they're following suit with amiibo and DLC. But they're new to the table so they've got to soften people up first.

 

It's no longer a €50 game, job done. MK8 as an example, that's €50 plus at least one amiibo(€15), plus DLC(€12) and I bet there's going to be more packs. Smash Bros. looks like it's going to take it up a notch with DLC and milking it. Whatever happened to Sakurai saying that Mewtwo was going to be the only DLC? They've got their foot in the door and they'll take whatever the market will tolerate. Yes the MK8 DLC price was sweet but that may well have been an icebreaker and a precursor of things to come.

 

Absolutely. It cracks me up that at first Nintendo was defended as a purveyor of "morally-acceptable DLC" (if you like). Now it feels like every Direct is about adding bits onto Smash Bros, Mario Kart and Hyrule Warriors. Yes, it's optional but it takes up resources. Why are they using their staff for this when (apparently) they can't even show us Zelda at E3?

 

@dazzybee To be fair to @Wii - he posts a lot of Nintendo-centric stuff (articles, videos and what not), hes 'involved'.

 

And I can relate with how he feels, this Direct did nothing for me and theres nothing on that pipeline that really grabs me by balls and says "buy me".

 

I guess I feel I need something new and grand - the NES remixes and Mario Makers doesn't cut it for me, and with the platformers, while that Yoshi one looks delicious, its still another platformer - I'd wager that if it was any other genre it would have far more appeal.

 

Anyway, not to side track or be negative, I can understand if a Nintendo fan isn't exactly excited by whats coming out.

 

Completely agree with this as well. I feel that to fully enjoy Nintendo in its current state, you have to like the mascots. Whereas NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube felt like they were at the cutting edge of gaming, for the past couple of years Nintendo has seemed like it's just for existing fans. To put it another way, someone who was drawn to Nintendo by Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime may not see any attraction to the character-centric way the company behaves today - amiibo figures, Pokémon and Earthbound fighters in Smash Bros.

 

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but as I say, they still haven't got Zelda or Metroid out for the system - or anything like it. As far as I'm concerned, the Nintendo that launched the 3DS (in 2011 - not that long ago, really) was a really great company, but they are very quickly becoming something I'm not interested in at all.

[Retro_Link]

@Wii you should be looking at the ML8 DLC as half of a sequel. It's fantastic value for money!!

 

You know what DLC Smash Wii U needs?

 

HD Melee :p

[Blade]

I think it's good that Nintendo are adding bits to their games months after release. It's now standard practice so I really don't see it as the end of the world.

 

Nintendo delaying games isnt new either. They have been doing that for decades.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Completely agree with this as well. I feel that to fully enjoy Nintendo in its current state, you have to like the mascots. Whereas NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube felt like they were at the cutting edge of gaming, for the past couple of years Nintendo has seemed like it's just for existing fans. To put it another way, someone who was drawn to Nintendo by Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime may not see any attraction to the character-centric way the company behaves today - amiibo figures, Pokémon and Earthbound fighters in Smash Bros.

 

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but as I say, they still haven't got Zelda or Metroid out for the system - or anything like it. As far as I'm concerned, the Nintendo that launched the 3DS (in 2011 - not that long ago, really) was a really great company, but they are very quickly becoming something I'm not interested in at all.

 

I completely agree with this, especially your first paragraph where you mentioned you have to be in it for the mascot and your closing line in the final paragraph.

 

One thing that I've discovered since looking elsewhere is that there's not that many narrative-driven games on the WiiU and it's not really something that Nintendo do well at all. It's something that I'm really craving at the moment.

[Blade]

Hasn't Nintendo relied on their 'mascots' for years? Or am I missing the point. Nintendo has a wide range of successful IP so they use them.

 

Konami has a wide range of IP but don't really use them and get slated.

[FireMeowth]

One thing that I've discovered since looking elsewhere is that there's not that many narrative-driven games on the WiiU and it's not really something that Nintendo do well at all. It's something that I'm really craving at the moment.

 

We really do need CiNG back, don't we?

The Wii U would be the best console ever if we could just get Another Code 3...

[Serebii]

Hasn't Nintendo relied on their 'mascots' for years? Or am I missing the point. Nintendo has a wide range of successful IP so they use them.

 

Konami has a wide range of IP but don't really use them and get slated.

Pretty much. People complain about it, but Sony, Microsoft, Activision, Ubisoft etc. would all kill for IPs with the longevity and recognisability of Nintendo's.

 

If all they did was annual Mario or Zelda, then people would have a point, otherwise no.

[Mr-Paul]

I really don't get the mascot comment, either. Nintendo have always been character and gameplay driven rather than story driven. I guess it's mainly the amiibo that makes them seem even more focused on them?

 

A lot of people I see that aren't happy about the state of Wii U haven't played Hyrule Warriors. My favourite Wii U game, tons of content, a lot of fun. Satisfies a Zelda itch alongside the 3DS games, so I don't mind waiting for Wii U Zelda too much.

 

Sure, there could be more stuff that has a serious narrative, but that's never really been Nintendo's thing. They haven't changed a lot really. People just really want Metroid and F-Zero by the sound of it. It is a shame there isn't much third party stuff which could provide this "narrative focused" stuff, but that's not gonna change now, so why spend time moaning about it? Enjoy what there is, get another console if your needs aren't being fulfilled, and hope for better next time around.

[Fierce_LiNk]

We really do need CiNG back, don't we?

The Wii U would be the best console ever if we could just get Another Code 3...

 

Thanks for reminding me that they're gone - I'm off to go cry in a corner now.

 

Hotel Dusk was awesome. I also need to carry on with Another Code: R, which I very much enjoyed playing. Dat Little King's Story...dammit, CiNG.