Here is the link to the Direct itself: click me.
Nintendo Directs that aren’t focused on any particular game are often filled with major surprises that many other companies would save until major events like E3. Case in point was the announcement of Majora’s Mask 3D on the 3DS at the start of this Direct. The time limit from the N64 original game remains to maintain challenge, but Iwata specifically stated that steps have been taken to improve ‘smoothness’ of the experience. CODENAME: S.T.E.A.M is shaping up to be Intelligent Systems’ response to XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Players take control of four-character squads to fight the alien menace threatening the world in a strategic hybrid shooter. Steam power is finite each turn: every action uses steam in some fashion. Character-specific weapon abilities, revealed today, are the game’s version of Commanding Officer powers from the Advance Wars titles. Both games are slated to come out in North America in the Spring of 2015. The last major piece of 3DS news was the announcement of Ultimate NES Remix. This title combines the content from the Wii U NES Remix titles with the previously-exclusive Japanese content, known as ‘Famicom Remix Mode’, leaderboards and a much faster version of the original Super Mario Brothers into a full retail title. Ultimate NES Remix releases on December 5th.
There were more details on the Wii U about upcoming titles and cross-compatibility among those titles. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker had a new trailer with the statement that the optional challenges on the 70+ stages will provide the primary replay value in the title. These challenges unlock extra content, which should be incentive on its own for completionists. Four player co-op was unveiled in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse where the other players take control of Waddle Dees to help the player using the Wii U Gamepad to guide Kirby. Amiibo functionality was briefly discussed to quell any suspicion of incompatibility based on characters absence from a game. For example, one could use a Samus Amiibo with Mario Kart 8 to get a Mii racing suit styled after Samus and then get a random item or rupees in Hyrule Warriors with the same figure. The exception to this rule is the Link Amiibo unlocking a particular weapon in Hyrule Warriors. Nintendo discussed their efforts to secure exclusive indie titles through what they call ‘Nindie Advocacy’. Miyamoto appeared to discuss the availability of Pikmin animations to purchase on the Nintendo eShops on the 3DS and WiiU. Additionally, a Pikmin 3 demo is now available for later Wii U adopters who missed out on the game initially. Duck Hunt will be coming to the Wii U Virtual Console sometime in the near future.
Then there were more details about Xenoblade Chronicles X and Splatoon. Xenoblade Chronicles X revolves around humanity trying to start anew on an alien world after being driven off of the Earth. New Los Angeles is the hub city, at least in the English translation, where the player interacts with characters to find quests and more. Gamepad integration is mostly to help with navigating the world as the player must collect resources. Nintendo and Monolith Soft are aiming for a 2015 release window for this title. Cue the first Splatoon information of any kind since E3 happened in the form of a trailer confirming a single player campaign. A fair amount of platforming and puzzle solving is shown in the brief glimpses during the trailer, which only continues to add to the Splatoon mystery. Iwata personally stated that the story is about the ‘epic battle’ between squids and octopi for supremacy. Splatoon will be available Q2 2015.