Round Table: The First Nintendo Direct of 2015

What did the staff think of yesterday’s broadcast?

By Nintendojo Staff. Posted 01/15/2015 09:00 1 Comment

Yesterday morning, Nintendo aired the first Nintendo Direct broadcast of 2015, and it certainly started the year off on a good note. Between new footage of anticipated titles like Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, to new game reveals and the announcement of the New Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo fans were treated to a deluge of exciting news from the presentation. Now that the staff have had time to reflect, what did they think of yesterday’s broadcast?

Robert Palacios

The dollars struggled to burst free from my wallet this morning as new Amiibo waves were announced. Having a five year old Nintendo fan in the house ensures most of these will be thrown into the buy pile! I am also excited to get some games that I didn’t play the first time around, namely, Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Prime Trilogy. Really surprised we didn’t get extensive details on Star Fox or Zelda Wii U, but the year is still young. I thought I would need to bolster my video game playing with an Xbox One or a PS4, but it looks like Nintendo is really trying hard to crank out content. Great start to the year for me.

Robert Marrujo

There’s just too much to digest from yesterday.

I’m thrilled that New 3DS, Majora, and Monster Hunter 4 are right around the corner. I’ve been looking forward to all three for months, so it’s cool knowing that the wait is almost over. Wave 4 of Amiibo is shaping up just about how I thought it would, though the Mario Party 10 set/limited edition has me especially fired up. I’m glad to see that Nintendo has enough faith in the line to branch out in a slightly different direction. Plus, the figures seem like a natural fit for Mario Party, no?

I was not thrilled that the US is only getting the XL version of New 3DS. I’ll have to experience it for myself, but the current 3DS XL isn’t as portable as its baseline sibling, and I was also looking forward to becoming obsessed with faceplate collecting. It has been hinted at that the base model might come our way, but that was a big letdown.

Overall, though, this was one heck of a way to start off the new year. Nintendo’s reveals of new games (including finally flirting with cross-buy!), the Amiibos– it was all just pitch perfect. We haven’t even gotten to E3 yet! Nintendo is something else.

Iain Farrell

There I was, looking at the eshop at new year and thinking to myself,

“Go on, treat yourself. The new year is always quiet for new releases. You’ve got time to catch up on Bravely Default and Shovel Knight …”

I couldn’t have been more wrong! By this time next month I’ll be swamped with new releases. I can’t wait to see what they’ve done to Majora’s Mask, a game I reviewed quite unfavourably first time around. Bigger than that for me is the Monster Hunter 4 release in March! I am giddy at the prospect of more monster slaying action and have already played the demo that is being sent around to Club Nintendo members. It’s excellent, you can jump onto a Great Jaggy’s back to attack it!

Beyond those highlights for me, it’s lovely to see a strong lineup of titles on Wii U which also includes some odd new releases like Blek, a game which sounds like a person from New Zealand describing the colour of their rugby shirt but in reality is a puzzle game where you draw shapes. I’m not sure how to describe it, check out the trailer. 2015 is, as some of us predicted only days ago, set to be a splendid year for Nintendo.

Kyle England

I have always been fairly on the ball when it comes to Nintendo releases. I usually pick up and enjoy nearly every big game they put out. But I don’t think I can handle this anymore. There’s… there’s too much! I’m playing catch up from 2014! I still haven’t played Hyrule Warriors or NES Remix Pack. I barely scratched the surface of Captain Toad. I have copies of Bayonetta 2 and Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright that I have not even turned on yet. There’s a ton of older retro games I’ve accrued that need playing. And Nintendo shows all this stuff in the Direct?!?! I can’t do it! Please! I already spent way too much money collecting the Amiibo figures that are already out. And now there’s a Super Mario series coming? AND a brand new revision of the Nintendo 3DS?

This Nintendo stuff is going to send me into a nervous breakdown. Iwata, what have you done to me? Calm yourself down, Kyle… Just focus on the games one at time…

Jon Stevens

Living in the UK, I watched the European Nintendo Direct and could not have been happier with it.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask in less than a month? The New Nintendo 3DS in less than a month? Check and check. It is a shame that those of you in North America won’t be able to pick up the non-XL version of the New 3DS, but it’s great to hear that those of us in Europe will still get the choice (I have to admit, I was going to pick up the XL version anyway though!).

I was particularly pleased to hear that Nintendo is finally making a cross-buy offer with the new Mario vs. Donkey Kong game. There have been so many great games that have featured on both systems, so I have been waiting for Nintendo to offer this. I really hope that this is the first of many to come!

Marc Deschamps

There was a lot to love during today’s Nintendo Direct. What really impressed me was the sheer quantity of product. Last year treated us to a lot of great Nintendo games, but 2015 looks like it will far surpass it. Even games that I had no prior interest in playing, like Mario Party 10 and Xenoblade Chronicles X, really impressed me today. The latter title looks absolutely gorgeous. I skipped the original Xenoblade, but I think I might have to cave on the Wii U sequel.

Unfortunately, I think I’ll be opting out on the New Nintendo 3DS. I just bought a Zelda XL a little over a year ago, and it’s hard to rationalize the purchase. I am, however, very excited about the next couple waves of Amiibo. I’ll be picking up Charizard, Pac-Man, and Toad for sure! I wish The Toad figure was based off the Captain instead, but it’s hard to resist the temptation of extra content for Treasure Tracker.

I was quite surprised we didn’t hear more about Mario Maker or Yoshi’s Woolly World. I assumed both of those games would be early releases in 2015, but with so many other games coming out in the first half of the year, it’s probably not a bad thing!

Anthony Vigna

I typically fall in love with the lower profile announcements when it comes to Nintendo Directs and this one is no exception. Out of all the announcements, I have to say that the localization of Puzzle & Dragons Z excited me the most. I’ve been waiting years for developer GungHo to announce the release of this game after they promised they localized it, so it’s fantastic to see that it’s actually happening. Not only that, it’s being bundled with the upcoming Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, which was a game that I was already planning on buying! What a deal!

Don’t get me wrong though! I was definitely pleased with the higher profile games shown off during the direct as well. A brand new Fire Emblem game is coming our way? Majora’s Mask 3D is already coming out next month?! Tingle is playable in Hyrule Warriors?!?!?!