The official Nintendo Direct for November ended today with a tonne of new announcements for Nintendo titles. You can watch the entire Nintendo Direct for yourself down below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyanDsW9gMs The Nintendo Direct opens up with Reggie addressing the passing of the late Satoru Iwata, and thanks the fans for their support, which I thought was very nice. After that he goes straight into the first announcement:
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD -Wii U - Confirmed for March 4th, 2016
Twlight Princess is getting the Windwaker HD treatment in 2016 for the 3oth anniversary of the series. The preview footage in the Nintendo Direct starts at 24 minutes. Looks really clean and polished as expected. It'll be interesting to see how well it'll actually hold up on the Wii U, and what they'll add or change.
A new "Wolf Link" Amiibo will be released with the game, and will function in some way with the game. The current Smash Bros Wii U Amiibo for Sheik, Zelda, Link, Ganondorf, and Toon Link will also function with Twilight Princess HD. A bundle with the Wolf Link Amiibo and the game will be released on March 4th. Preorders for that bundle start today with the official soundtrack available as a preorder bonus.
Also hey, a team in Melbourne, Australia called Tantalus Media are helping with the port! According to Reggie, they have "a good track record" with ports. I sincerely hope that is true. Looking at their Wikipedia page, their previous work has been fairly low key with mostly budget titles. The last development listed before Twilight Princess was Pony Trails for iOS in 2012. That doesn't fill me with confidence exactly. But hey, good to see aussie devs getting work.
Legend Of Zelda for Wii U (2016)
Right at the end of the Twilight Princess HD announcement, Nintendo teased the brand new LoZ game for the Wii U. A short video with a cel shaded Link on a horse in a field with "2016" overlayed on top was all we got from the teaser. Data saved from the Wolf Link Amiibo will carry over to this new game in some way.
Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes Free Update - 3DS - Available December 2nd
The co-operative 3DS Zelda game that released last month is getting a free update, which adds a new area called "The den of trials." It differs from regular dungeons in that it has over 30 stages in comparison to 4 stages in regular dungeons. You also have to defeat every enemy in the stage to move on to the next. It's designed to be a bigger challenge than the regular game, but there are checkpoints throughout to save your progress.
Along with that, two new outfits will be added. "Linebeck's Uniform" pictured above, which allows you to see into chests before you open them, and the "Fierce Deity Armor" pictured below, which increases your attack power, and allows you to shoot beams in four cardinal directions.
Seems like a nice free update to increase the challenge and longevity of the game. No complaints here.
Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - 3DS - Comes out November 20th:
Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon is coming to the 3DS on November 20th. You play as one of 20 selectable Pokemon to explore a world with dungeons and turn based combat. The plot revolves around figuring out why Pokemon are turning to stone. Apparantly you can encounter every single known Pokemon up to this point, which right now is 720 unique Pokemon. The dungeons you enter change every time you go back in, and on the way you can get other Pokemon to join your party. Gameplay revolves around being properly equipped for combat with the right special moves, Pokemon, and items.
They show off a galaxy type map called the "Connection Orb" that allows you to take on quests given by other Pokemon. Along with the game, a Super Mystery Dungeon 3DS theme, pictured below, is included with the game, which is a nice touch.
Splatoon free content update - Wii U - Available now (Museum d' Alfonsino available 13th November, 6pm PT):
New content for Splatoon has arrived today, featuring new stages and over 40 new pieces of costume gear. 3 stages were added, including "Museum d' Alfonsino," which features 5 rotating platforms in the centre of the stage, and "Mahi-Mahi Resort," a water resort featuring differing water levels which fall halfway through the match to reveal more paintable terrain. Along with this update, new multiplayer game modes, team matching, private matches, weapons, and gear have been added. Nintendo promises to add more stages and balance patches in the coming months. Quite a bit to sink your teeth into if you were hanging for more Splatoon content. Nice show, Nintendo.
Super Mario Maker content Update - WiiU - Portal Site available December
The latest Super Mario Maker update added long awaited checkpoint flags, and status dependent powerups, allowing for more robust level design. Nintendo have opened a portal website for searching Mario Maker levels more effectively on your PC or smartphone. You can find courses you want to play, and it will queue them on your Wii U when you boot up Mario Maker. A neat little feature for a game that sorely needed it.
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - Wii U - Available November 13th 
Animal crossing: Amiibo Festival is a new game coming to Wii U on November 13th. It looks very Mario Party, but instead of turns, you play out 30 days, or a month of your animal's life. Depending on random events and challenges, players are awarded "Happy Points." The player with the most happy points at the end of the month wins.
The game will launch as a bundle with 2 Animal Crossing Amiibos, "Isabelle" and "Digby," that will work as playable characters. They are apparantly only available in this bundle, and Digby will only be in the bundle while supplies last. So I guess there will once again be a black market for certain Amiibos, although Nintendo promises that more compatible Amiibos will be available at launch. The Animal Crossing Amiibo cards will also work with Amiibo Festival.
I'm not too sure on this one. It seems very basic and barebones Mario Party style gameplay. I've been wrong before many times, so maybe this will take off.
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash - Wii U - Available November 20th
Mario Tennis Ultra Smash is the familar singles or doubles wacky tennis action that we are used to. This game features a new jump shot move, allowing you to hit the ball back way before it bounces, and activate special ultra shots. Mega Mushrooms are also added, greatly increasing the reach and power of the player affected. Ranked and unranked online and local play is available, as well as a simple mode that rids the game of the more silly additions for those that prefer the classic gameplay. Certain Amiibos will also be compatible, acting as doubles partners for knockout challenges.
Xenoblade Chronicles X - Wii U - Available December 4th
Xenoblade Chronicles X is an RPG adventure game coming to Wii U on December 4th. The Nintendo Direct footage showed off a sprawling map and customizable mechs called "Skells" that you can pilot throughout. The battle system is familiar to the older Xenoblade title, utilizing a real time action based battle system, where you control the main character, and party members auto attack when enemies come close. Graphically the game looks really solid, definitely one of the most impressive titles on the Wii U. 
In a rather odd move, people who preorder X will get access to what Nintendo is calling "high-speed data loading packs," or in conventional terms, being able to preload the game data to speed up load times before release. I guess it's so new for Nintendo they didn't really know what to call it. Decent move for what seems to be a large game, however.
Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow - 3DS - Available on Nintendo E-Shop February 27th, 2016
Finally! Fun fact: they are coming out on the same day as the original Japanese releases in 1996. Trading and battling also works as it did, but via wifi. Not much else to say about this one.
Hyrule Warriors: Legends - 3DS - Available on March 25th, 2016
Yes, there is a genderswapped Link, and yes, her name is freakin "Linkle." I wish I was joking. Hyrule Warriors: Legends is a 3DS version of Hyrule Warriors, a hack and slash game with Zelda characters on the Wii U. The 3DS version adds new playable characters including Tetra, Toon Link, the king of Hyrule from Windwaker, and Linkle, the female Link. The Nintendo Direct pulls no punches either, stating that she looks "very familar."
Don't get me wrong, it's a cute design, but that name is just awful. She does dual wield cross bows though, so that's pretty cool. Is it enough to sell Legends on 3DS?
Super Smash Bros for Wii U - Cloud from FFVII - Release date unknown
Nintendo revealed that Cloud from FFVII will be a new playable character in Smash 4. His flashy reveal video shows Japanese voice acting, similar to how Marth speaks Japanese.
His known moves from the trailer and origins are listed below: (From SSB Wiki)
-A series of slashes that creates kanji, resembling Cross-slash. Possibly side B special.
-A trapping series of slashes similar to Great Aether which is to be Cloud's Final Smash, based on Omnislash.
-A high slash upwards used as a recovery move that resembles Climhazzard. Likely Up B special.
-Creation of a green beam that resembles Blade Beam.
-A horizontal overhead lunge, possibly based on Braver. Possible Forward aerial
-Two consecutive low stabs back and forth. Possible down tilt
-A move that charges his LIMIT meter, providing a temporary boost (and animation change) to certain attacks at full charge. Possible neutral B special
He seems to play in a matter similar to Ike, but faster. Two costumes are shown off, one with classic cloud Apparel, and one with a fetching trenchcoat from his appearance in the Advent Children.
A new stage based on Midgar is teased throughout the trailer. The stage is a simple Battlefield style, but in non-omega mode it seems to have several transformations based on summons from FFVII, the five shown in the trailer being Odin, Leviathan, Ramuh, Ifrit, and Bahamut Zero. Oh, and there's Chocobo Mii hats at the end, yay.
Nintendo certainly know how to theme the hell of out a reveal trailer. Cloud looks like an interesting character to add to the lineup, along with the December Nintendo Direct where Nintendo promises to have more Smash 4 news. This 40 strong roster is about to get even bigger.
StarFox Zero - Wii - April 21st, 2016 in Japan
The newest entry in the StarFox series, StarFox Zero, first shown to us in Nintendo's showing at E3, has a release date set for Japan on the 21st of April, 2016.
Believe it or not, this Nintendo direct had even more to offer in terms of announcements. But for the sake of brevity, I will just direct you to this press release that should fill you in on some of the other announcements. I didn't cover here.
What did you think of this month's Nintendo Direct? Let me know in the comments!
