Nintendo Direct : 23.09.21 (11pm UK time)

[Sheikah]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

I'm surprised by the business model tbh. I feel like Nintendo would make more money charging £5-10 per game for people to own it outright, than £18 a year for all of them. Ok it'll be more when they add N64/Mega Drive but still.

I suppose over the course of 4 years you'll have spent £70 which may be more than someone buying a handful of games in that time.

Probably people are getting fed up of the fast one that Nintendo keep pulling with regards to selling the games individually but then not allowing people to download them again on the next console for free.

I'd never spend say a tenner buying Mario 64 again, you just know they'll try and sell it to you again in future.

[Glen-i]

Honestly, having an official way of playing online N64 games is appealing enough for me.

A pity that N64 isn't a great console for co-op stuff, but the mad amount of competitive multiplayer gold there is quite exciting.

[Cube]

So, on top of the footage used in the direct looking different, the images also use different versions of box art. It seem if a game had multiple languages, it will be the PAL version, while other versions are NTSC.

 

https://twitter.com/LuigiBlood/status/1441396625704849417/photo/1

 

Hopefully there will be an option to choose which version while inside the app. Apparently you can create a US account and download the NSO "game". One issue is that it will affect multiplayer due to being different versions of the game (Lylat Wars will be the main issue from the announced games).

[Glen-i]

15 minutes ago, Cube said:

Hopefully there will be an option to choose which version while inside the app. Apparently you can create a US account and download the NSO "game". One issue is that it will affect multiplayer due to being different versions of the game (Lylat Wars will be the main issue from the announced games).

Yeah, it's to be expected.

I'd be shocked if the app gave you the option to choose, but it's not hard to make an American account, that little bit of faff is worth the 60Hz.

[Dcubed]

Sucks to hear, but at least it isn’t a major issue this time since you can just download the US version of the app with little trouble.

Hopefully Nintendo will just allow you to choose your preferred version within the NSO N64 app, but even if they don’t? It’s not gonna be a major problem this time around.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Dcubed

[killthenet]

That's pretty annoying, I guess it makes sense if most of the European languages are confined to the PAL release but the SNES classic were all the 60hz versions weren't they? Hopefully they do give you the option of playing the US versions, I haven't bothered fiddling with extra accounts for other regions so I'd rather it just be an option within the app

[Glen-i]

9 minutes ago, killthenet said:

That's pretty annoying, I guess it makes sense if most of the European languages are confined to the PAL release but the SNES classic were all the 60hz versions weren't they? Hopefully they do give you the option of playing the US versions, I haven't bothered fiddling with extra accounts for other regions so I'd rather it just be an option within the app

Almost every SNES game doesn't have other languages built in, so there wasn't a need to have the PAL versions really.

That changed around the N64 era, hence the necessity now.

[RedShell]

Well, can't say I was massively impressed by this latest Direct, apart from the new Kirby game that is. Definitely the star of the show for me, looks fantastic!

I'm sure the Monster Hunter Rise DLC will be good, but it's a long way off. And won't the PC version also be out by then? If so, I think I'd prefer to re-purchase the game plus the DLC on there, rather than subscribe to Switch Online again.
Yeah, N64 and MD games have done nothing to convince me to resubscribe.

The Mario movie cast... Only recognise a couple of them (the ones playing Mario and Bowser) so no idea what to expect with that really. It does seem kind of wrong for Charles Martinet to be involved with the project but not as Mario though.
Anyway, it was nice seeing Miyamoto make an appearance in the Direct, but man, I wish it was to present a new game instead.

As for Splatoon 3, it's still just way too close to the last game for me to be interested in it. Played the hell out of Splatoon 2 but this doesn't seem different enough to warrant a sequel so soon and especially not on the same platform.

And then there's Bayonetta 3. Get the feeling development has not been going smoothly, it's still looking pretty rough at the moment. They also appear to be shifting away from the kind of stuff that made Bayonetta such an appealing character in the first 2 games, which is a shame, but I guess expected given the current social climate.  Although there is also a chance that it isn't actually the Bayonetta in this trailer. Time will tell.

So yeah, not necessarily a bad Nintendo Direct, just not one that I can get excited about, unfortunately.

Quite looking forward to the Smash character reveal though, not because I'm naive enough to think it'll be a character I like, but because no matter who/what it ends up being, the reactions are guaranteed to provide some entertainment at least.

 

[Mokong]

1 hour ago, RedShell said:

 

I'm sure the Monster Hunter Rise DLC will be good, but it's a long way off. And won't the PC version also be out by then? If so, I think I'd prefer to re-purchase the game plus the DLC on there, rather than subscribe to Switch Online again.
 

 

 

[Glen-i]

Yeah, there's no way in hell it'll support Rocket League style crossplay. It'll be a pity not having that Bowgun insanity going on though.

[Scratch]

Man I can't wait to replay OOT and Ecco the Dolphin on Switch. The next month's waiting is gonna be slow lol. xD

[Jonnas]

Games of Winter? More like... lying out of their sphincter.

Forced rhyming aside, here're my opinions on the Direct, in broadcast order:

• Mario Party Superstars made me glad I watched the Portuguese stream. There was a nearly-missable bit of info where they said the game would have Brazilian Portuguese as a language option. So bonkers, the subtitles actually translated "Woody Woods", and it's just as silly. Regarding the game itself, I didn't care one bit;
• Voice of Cards is one I had heard about before, actually. It was reported that Yoko Taro was working on a card-based game of sorts, but it sounded like a Visual Novel when I first read about it. I have now played the demo and... it feels like a very regular RPG with a creative presentation, and not much else. It had some humorous writing, but it'll need to do a lot more to make me excited;
• Hyrule Warriors DLC wins the award for most uninformative trailer in the Direct. Amazing, how little it says with so much footage;
• Chocobo GP perked my interest. Mostly because STEINER IS PLAYABLE! Great to see FF9 get some love;
• Smash Bros Announcement Announcement. Called it! Kinda. October 5th is a holiday in Portugal, so that's neat;
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Called it as well! Been calling it every other month, sure, but still. What matters is that here is something I thought I'd never see: 3D Kirby! This was so delightful, I loved what I saw. It's also one of those really good trailers, you know?;
• Triangle Strategy should've been named Three Trousers, missed opportunity. Otherwise, I'm just thankful for the QoL improvements, especially the dialogue thing;
• Metroid Dread made me cover my eyes and plug my ears, I refuse to be spoiled on anything beyond the first trailer;
• N64 and Mega Drive on NSO was a pretty nifty surprise. I saw the N64 coming, but hearing "SEGA!" was a sudden tickle on my nostalgia bone. Ironically, I'm more interested on several games from the N64 library than the Mega Drive one (because I own most of those games on Steam already), but it's a solid thing to see. I likely won't return to a NSO subscription until Advance Wars comes out, though;
• Shadowrun Trilogy... I think I own this. Do I own this? *checks backlog* Yeah, on GOG. Nifty. Haven't touched it, though #justgamerthings;
• Castlevania Advance Collection is super groovy. Not sure what Dracula X is doing there, but I love that they finally started rereleasing the GBA Castlevanias. Is this the first time they rereleased Harmony and Aria since the GBA days? Might be;
• Actraiser Renaissance wins the award for most unexpected game reveal. The moment I saw that Mode7 spin, I flashed back to DCubed talking about the first level music... and then it played, with "Fillmore" in large letters. What a world;
• Mario Film Casting wins the award for most surprising reveal(s) in general. It's like Miyamoto was trying to one up himself with every actor revealed. Jack Black gave me a lot of pause, but Seth Rogen made me feel like this was an Onion article. Also, Cranky Kong!? And friggin' Keegan Michael-Key!? What's next, Jordan Peele playing Yoshi? I need to see and hear this for myself, it's so bizarre;
• Bayonetta 3 trailer got me good. Thought for sure it'd be Astral Chain 2 the moment I heard the soldiers speak Japanese. Excellent trailer, by the way, there's a lot to glean and theorise regarding gameplay, story, art direction... and they even snuck that cheeky "unfashionably late" comment. I really should check this series out properly someday.

And that's it. Despite there not being much to personally hype me (that space in my heart is taken by Metroid and Advance Wars already), I feel like most of the stuff they showed is worthy of discussion (especially that Mario casting). I think it's reasonable to call this an excellent Direct. Lots of good stuff to show and reveal, and barely any dull moment.

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Jonnas said:

 

• Bayonetta 3 trailer got me good. Thought for sure it'd be Astral Chain 2 the moment I heard the soldiers speak Japanese. Excellent trailer, by the way, there's a lot to glean and theorise regarding gameplay, story, art direction... and they even snuck that cheeky "unfashionably late" comment. I really should check this series out properly someday.

See, this is amusing. You can kinda tell who hadn't played Bayonetta from whether they thought it was Astral Chain or not.

You see, @Dcubed and I immediately knew it was Bayo 3 as soon as one word of dialogue was uttered because of one specific thing.

The subtitle font gave it away.

[Dcubed]

Oh and the colour scheme being used was another key giveaway.  The greens & purples that were reminiscent of the original Bayo 3 E3 2017 teaser immediately removed any doubt about what it was.

9 hours ago, RedShell said:

Well, can't say I was massively impressed by this latest Direct, apart from the new Kirby game that is. Definitely the star of the show for me, looks fantastic!

I'm sure the Monster Hunter Rise DLC will be good, but it's a long way off. And won't the PC version also be out by then? If so, I think I'd prefer to re-purchase the game plus the DLC on there, rather than subscribe to Switch Online again.
Yeah, N64 and MD games have done nothing to convince me to resubscribe.

The Mario movie cast... Only recognise a couple of them (the ones playing Mario and Bowser) so no idea what to expect with that really. It does seem kind of wrong for Charles Martinet to be involved with the project but not as Mario though.
Anyway, it was nice seeing Miyamoto make an appearance in the Direct, but man, I wish it was to present a new game instead.

As for Splatoon 3, it's still just way too close to the last game for me to be interested in it. Played the hell out of Splatoon 2 but this doesn't seem different enough to warrant a sequel so soon and especially not on the same platform.

And then there's Bayonetta 3. Get the feeling development has not been going smoothly, it's still looking pretty rough at the moment. They also appear to be shifting away from the kind of stuff that made Bayonetta such an appealing character in the first 2 games, which is a shame, but I guess expected given the current social climate.  Although there is also a chance that it isn't actually the Bayonetta in this trailer. Time will tell.

So yeah, not necessarily a bad Nintendo Direct, just not one that I can get excited about, unfortunately.

Quite looking forward to the Smash character reveal though, not because I'm naive enough to think it'll be a character I like, but because no matter who/what it ends up being, the reactions are guaranteed to provide some entertainment at least.

 

I really don’t think Bayo’s new design has anything to do with contemporary social norms, so much as it has to do with evoking Cereza’s look (we’re discussing this in the newly resurrected Bayo 3 thread; but it looks like you’re actually playing as a grown up version of Cereza rather than the Bayo we currently know  ).

There’s a ridiculous amount of hints and stuff that they’ve crammed into this trailer for Bayo 3 that they’re literally begging for fans to speculate over; I’m pretty impressed! I think it looks great so far myself!  

Edited September 25, 2021 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

Anyway, I was waiting for Jonnas to post his thoughts, so I can counterattack with my own!

• Monster Hunter Rise: Massive Expansion (in my pants). That announcement happened quicker than I expected. But yes please! Monster Hunter Rise is one of the best games on Switch and an Iceborne like expansion is very welcome. But please let there be some non-Capcom crossover monsters ala Final Fantasy Behemoth!
• Mario Party Superstars looks about what I expected, however, the continued lack of playable Boo is an unforgivable crime! It's just not Mario Party unless Boo is falling off stuff for no good reason! I also kinda hoped that some of the GC era boards that have tweaked rules would've shown up instead of them all being N64 ones. At least the minigames are more varied.
• Voice of Cards looks neat. Unlike Jonnas above, I'm actually more interested in this after finding out it is a straight up RPG. Yoko Taro is kinda bonkers though, so I hope there's some fourth wall shenanigans hidden in there. Also, that monster on the left is adorable and I want one!

• Hyrule Warriors DLC tells us very little. I've 100%-ed the damn thing and even I'm pretty clueless as to what to expect. All I can say is that there's more story based cutscenes and that Purah and Robbie are being added as playable characters. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a third hidden character in there to unlock. My money is on that Astor dude, even though Kass would be a better choice. Oh well, I'm still all in (I already bought the pack). Any excuse to continue busting out that hilarious Master Cycle moveset with Zelda!

• Chocobo GP. I can't say I expected Chocobo Racing to get a sequel. Looks neat enough. BTW @Dcubed, hate to ruin the fun, but that white mage isn't the one from Mario Sports Mix. She's from Chocobo Mystery Dungeon. So chances of Ninja and his "YOOOOO!" voice clip getting in are slim-to-none.
• Smash Bros Announcement Announcement. ARGH! Don't give me a date! I can handle it when I don't know, but now I know it's less than 2 weeks away, it's unbearable! General consensus is that it'll be a Pokémon, but who the hell knows? I've mentioned it a few times, but Gen 8 has some great Pokémon designs that I'd be perfectly OK with. Except Cinderace. Cinderace blows. Luckily, Incineroar is the latest Pokémon smasher, and that's already a Fire starter, so hopefully that quashes that chance.
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land is naturally the big new announcement from Nintendo. And it's so gosh darn cute! I'm looking forward to digging into that deep lore and finding out what's up with this post-apcalyptic city. Maybe it's where Haltmann Inc. was first established? Or maybe it's where the Shiver Star inhabitants escaped to after ruining their own planet? The possibilities are really exciting!
• Animal Crossing Update Direct Announcement. You know, I never understood why people were so desperate for Brewster to come back. I always thought it was consistently the most boring establishment. Ah well. I'm sure there'll be more stuff then that coming. Hopefully some more crocodilian villagers so I can have a true "Crocodile Isle".
• Triangle Strategy, as expected, has taken feedback from the earlier demo and acted on it. Still not that interested. Strategy RPG's are very hit or miss with me. Looks gorgeous though, to be expected.
• Metroid Dread made everyone here mute the TV and look away in disgust at even more stuff being shown. GIVE IT A BREAK ALREADY! I'm still very apathetic towards this game. I hate stealth. I hate stealth that basically kills you for getting caught even more. I really don't think I'm going to enjoy it. I also didn't like the brutally difficult direction Samus Returns had, so not keen on this game. Which is a shame, because the plot implications from Fusion and the 100% secret from Samus Returns and what it means for this game is actually quite exciting. Definitely a "sponge off of Dcubed to try it first" game if I ever saw one.
• N64 and Mega Drive on NSO. About bloody time! Shame about the extra charge, but official online N64 multiplayer? Yes please! And Microsoft finally make their play to capitilise on Banjo's newfound popularity through Smash. I always maintained it was only a matter of time before we saw Banjo-Kazooie on Switch. And the possiblity of Banjo-Tooie with a good controller and un-awful controls is very nice! Mega Drive was an unexpected bonus, even if I already have most of the games on my Mega Drive Mini... The moment Diddy Kong Racing happens, I wanna play through Adventure online with someone on N-E!
• Castlevania Advance Collection is a neat surprise. From what I've seen of Dcubed's short stint trying it out, they're solid ports. I've never been a huge fan of old-school Castlevanias, but a Metroidvania collection? Definitely one on my wishlist.
• Actraiser Renaissance took me completely by surprise! And here I was thinking a Chocobo Racing sequel was gonna be the weirdest move from Square. Even better, it actually seems to be more of a "Metroid Zero Mission" kind of remake. The level design is very different and there's loads of new mechanics. I don't actually like Actraiser that much, to be honest, so I'm content with just enjoying that godly soundtrack!
• Deltarune Chapter 2 for Switch happened sooner then I expected! It only just got released on PC. It's a really cool RPG! And both chapters are free if I remember rightly. So you have no excuse to not give it a go at least. The plot has nothing to do with Undertale, so you're perfectly fine playing this first. PLAY IT!
• The Mario Film Casting felt like a fever dream throughout. Completely hilarious. Mario not being voiced by Martinet is still wrong, but Jack Black as Bowser is something I never knew I wanted until now. I can just see the fanart of that particular casting now! It's gonna be so funny. Still, Illumination are quite mediocre, so I'm still apprehensive about the whole thing.
• Splatoon 3. Nope, don't care. Playing as Inkling in Smash is way more fun. Moving on...
• Bayonetta 3 has a great trailer going. I'm not keen on the recasting. The new voice doesn't quite hit the sassy level well. Probably been playing too much Smash, but Helena Taylor basically is Bayo to me. Now, if there's an actual good reason for the different voice, then I can deal with it. But if not, well, it's David Hayter getting snubbed all over again. Rest of the game looks great though! I'm all in!

But yeah, solid direct and it didn't even play the "Easily please Glen with a Smash character" card!

Edited September 25, 2021 by Glen-i

[RedShell]

11 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Yeah, there's no way in hell it'll support Rocket League style crossplay. It'll be a pity not having that Bowgun insanity going on though.

What makes you say that?

I'm hoping it will (ideally with cross-progression too) and the fact there hasn't been any Nintendo themed DLC this time around would make things simpler.
Even though crossplay wasn't a thing with MHW, Capcom did manage it with SFV.

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, RedShell said:

What makes you say that?

I'm hoping it will (ideally with cross-progression too) and the fact there hasn't been any Nintendo themed DLC this time around would make things simpler.
Even though crossplay wasn't a thing with MHW, Capcom did manage it with SFV.

Because that would actually justify the lack of Ninty DLC and also be nice.

And we can't have nice things.

[RedShell]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Because that would actually justify the lack of Ninty DLC and also be nice.

And we can't have nice things.

Well, sometimes we can:

https://crossplaygames.com/games

It's definitely a growing trend (and a great one I might add) so I'm going to remain optimistic.

[Jonnas]

12 hours ago, Glen-i said:

 

• Voice of Cards looks neat. Unlike Jonnas above, I'm actually more interested in this after finding out it is a straight up RPG. Yoko Taro is kinda bonkers though, so I hope there's some fourth wall shenanigans hidden in there. Also, that monster on the left is adorable and I want one!

I mean, it wasn't the genre that gave me pause, it was the demo. There's a lot to improve, from what I saw.

22 hours ago, RedShell said:

Only recognise a couple of them (the ones playing Mario and Bowser) so no idea what to expect with that really.

Oh, you're not familiar with Keegan Michael Key?

His comedic skits with Jordan Peele are fantastic. I swear, we'll see tons of parodies with his Toad as "Peach's Anger Translator"

22 hours ago, RedShell said:

Yeah, N64 and MD games have done nothing to convince me to resubscribe.

That's understandable, but hypothetically... considering Konami already contributed with Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corps, do you think they'd be willing to make more of an Impact and have their N64 titles Dash, Dash, Dash onto the service?

Edited September 25, 2021 by Jonnas

[Glen-i]

17 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

I mean, it wasn't the genre that gave me pause, it was the demo. There's a lot to improve, from what I saw.

Ah right, I getcha.

I should download that demo...

18 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

That's understandable, but hypothetically... considering Konami already contributed with Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corps, do you think they'd be willing to make more of an Impact and have their N64 titles Dash, Dash, Dash onto the service?

*Gasp* Swinging with the gut punch there, aren't you?

I didn't even consider that possibility! I've not played that particular game, it'd be great if I got a chance to!

Man, I hope I'm actually right on what game you're implying there...

[Dcubed]

10 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Ah right, I getcha.

I should download that demo...

*Gasp* Swinging with the gut punch there, aren't you?

I didn't even consider that possibility! I've not played that particular game, it'd be great if I got a chance to!

Man, I hope I'm actually right on what game you're implying there...

Considering how ridiculously expensive those games are in their original cartridge form… They had better be coming!!

Edited September 26, 2021 by Dcubed

[RedShell]

13 hours ago, Jonnas said:

That's understandable, but hypothetically... considering Konami already contributed with Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corps, do you think they'd be willing to make more of an Impact and have their N64 titles Dash, Dash, Dash onto the service?

Possibly, but the fact they didn't put any of the Goemon titles on the SNES app (not even Legend of the Mystical Ninja) isn't a good sign.
Konami clearly don't give a shit about Goemon any more.

Would be fantastic if Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon did make it to the N64 collection though, for the sake of those that have never played it before.

But really, I think the closest thing we're going to get on Switch, is actually the upcoming game by Good Feel:

Serious Goemon vibes! 
And with Etsunobu Ebisu (aka Ebisumaru ) involved, chances are it'll be great.

[Glen-i]

3 minutes ago, RedShell said:

Possibly, but the fact they didn't put any of the Goemon titles on the SNES app (not even Legend of the Mystical Ninja) isn't a good sign.
Konami clearly don't give a shit about Goemon any more.

Maybe so, but Nintendo clearly care enough to negotiate a deal for that Mii costume in Smash.

It all banks on whether Ninty take that first step and offer up some money.

It's a long shot, but not completely impossible.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Maybe so, but Nintendo clearly care enough to negotiate a deal for that Mii costume in Smash.

It all banks on whether Ninty take that first step and offer up some money.

It's a long shot, but not completely impossible.

Worth keeping in mind that Nintendo have put enough money into the N64 NSO service to secure Banjo Kazooie (and presumably Rare’s other titles).  The first time we’ve ever seen these games get a VC/NSO re-release.

So that’s a good sign that they’re willing to pony up some cash to make the Expansion Pack worth the money  

[RedShell]

23 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Worth keeping in mind that Nintendo have put enough money into the N64 NSO service to secure Banjo Kazooie (and presumably Rare’s other titles).  The first time we’ve ever seen these games get a VC/NSO re-release.

Would be super interesting to know exactly what was going on behind the scenes with stuff like this, especially when it comes to the kind of costs involved. Wonder just how much Nintendo would've had to spend to get Rare's N64 titles, and the thought of them even doing so is just bizarre considering the history.

Is GoldenEye 007 also a possibility? That would be a pretty big deal for sure. Although if there is indeed zero modification being done to any of these games, playing most of them online is probably going to be a horrible experience. I mean most N64 games run terribly as it is, factor in potential lag plus the fact it'll still be split screen and it could get quite messy! I think Mario Tennis is basically the only game I'd even bother trying to play online if I were to use this.

It's a shame Nintendo couldn't have done more with this service really, there was a lot of potential there if they would've been willing to rework the games for proper online play and therefore provide a unique way to experience these classic games. For example, imagine Super Mario Kart with true 8 player online where everyone gets their own full screen (well, full screen + map ) display of the action! Or Super Mario World with simultaneous multiplayer! Or games that didn't originally even have multiplayer getting it added!

Many moons ago I got the opportunity to play a modified version of F-Zero in multiplayer on PC, and it was absolutely glorious. Having always had to take turns when playing that game with friends on the SNES, suddenly being able to race at the same time was mind-blowing!

If fans can get that kind of stuff going, then Nintendo definitely can, and although obviously much more effort, it would certainly make the service a lot more appealing.