Here’s one last present for you all before we roll into the public holiday: a Nintendo Direct, featuring ARMS, Splatoon 2, and a whole bunch of 3DS games. Let’s watch.
8:01 AM: The Direct has begun! Hey Pikmin! has kicked off proceedings:
8:02 AM: Ever Oasis is coming out for the 3DS later this year as well on June 23. Followed by that is a new Monster Hunter game: Monster Hunter Stories. It’s coming out in the spring. Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Spectres is dropping for the 3DS, and so is Culdcept Revolt on August 29.
8:05 AM: Hello, Miitopia. It’s basically a JRPG:
8:07 AM: A “new multiplayer action game” is in development for the 3DS. It’s a Kirby game; that’s all Nintendo would say. Bye-Bye Boxboy got some love as well, and demos for the whole Box-Boy series are available on the eShop.
8:09 AM: New amiibo for Zelda and Bayonetta. But now, it’s ARMS time.
8:11 AM: ARMS will let you earn in-game currency that can be used to unlock new, well, arms, that have various attributes (such as fire, which knocks opponents down, and ice which slows opponents).
8:13 AM: Minmin is the latest character – and she uses ramen noodles for arms, and can deflect punches with kicks.
There’s a lot of abilities designed to trigger if you press them right before a punch hits or lands. ARMS was more of a counter-attacking game than anything when I tried it earlier this year, and all the new abilities seem to lean right into that.
Also, this arena is shaped like a bowl. A noodle bowl.
8:17 AM: Before more Switch games, Nintendo are releasing new Joycons:
Tournaments will be built directly into the Switch port of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe:
Oh look, it’s Ultra Street Fighter 2 as well. The game will have 19 fighters at launch, as well as a weird 2v1 mode, and a special touchscreen mode:
8:20 AM: Minecraft is coming to the Switch, because of course it was.
8:21 AM: More NEOGEO games, and now it’s time for Sonic Forces. It’s a new 3D Sonic game, and it’s out around Christmas:
8:22 AM: Project Mekuru is a working title, but it looks … kind of rad? It’s a board game where robots jump up and down to flip tiles like it’s Othello.
8:24 AM: Puyo-Puyo Tetris gets a roll now. Also, Ubisoft just announced they’re bringing a multiplayer version of Monopoly to the Switch. And just after the Nintendo Direct ends, a demo of Puyo-Puyo Tetris will drop on the eShop.
Monopoly also makes use of the HD rumble packs in the Joycons. Yes, I’m serious.
8:26 AM: Sine Mora EX is coming for the Switch in winter, and THQ Nordic is also bringing Battle Chasers: Nightwar to the console. Nightwar is launching first on the Switch as well.
More importantly: PAYDAY 2 is coming to the Switch.
8:28 AM: Namco’s bringing a bunch of classic arcade games later this year, and limited quantities of the standalone Switch dock will become available from May 19 through the Nintendo store or “participating retailers”.
But let’s get into Splatoon 2 already.
8:29 AM: OK, this is baller as all hell. It’s like a Grizzco training video, done up like a shitty VHS:
A new mode called Salmon Run is being introduced:
It’s basically a wave-based PvE mode:
The presentation basically intimates that you’ll get rewards for playing through the various missions. And there’s three new Amiibo for Splatoon 2 as well:
Splatoon 2 is coming out on July 21:
8:37 AM: So that’s it for the latest Nintendo Direct. Little bit underwhelming in terms of major surprises, but then we knew this wasn’t going to be talking about Mario Odyssey or Zelda DLC. ARMS continues to look good, though, and the Mario Kart tournaments could be interesting.
You can rewatch the presentation from the video link above, or scroll down to see the announcements as they happened.
Comments
13 responses to “Rewatch The Nintendo Direct With ARMS And Splatoon 2 Here”
In for Boxboy, Miitopia, MK8 & Splatoon, going to need a demo for ARMS
I was in Japan in January and the sight of all the Miitopia boxes and download cards got me really down since there’d been no news of any potential release here. Glad to see it! 😀
I’ll probably get arms, I saw some interesting stuff like the cross punch and using boomerangs around the environment, but nintendo seems to be botching the marketing fairly hard. I still think it’ll be better than expected.
Splatoon 2 is looking good, more modes for more fun.
Payday 2 was surprising as hell! I played the arse out on it when it launched, but now I might be able to get a few friends in for another go round.
Wait for reviews of PayDay2. Everyone is saying it’s horribly broken with no support on other consoles.
OK, Sine Mora and Payday 2 were completely unexpected.
If they’re decent versions, I’ll stump up the money.
If not, I’ll just continue on with the stuff that’s worth a damn on there (ie Nintendo’s output).
Rising tides lifting all boats and all that.
Where was Skyrim hahahahahah.
Overall, yeah that was good. It looks like E3 could be a whopper.
How is everyone liking their Switch so far?
I’m worried if I get one I will actually use it too much. Being tied to the projector actually helps me get other stuff done 🙂
nothing new for me, arms still looks shallow and too much like random flailing imo, a bunch of ports of years old games. Still just mario kart and splatoon 2 on the horizon for me
I think arms looks way too slow for random flailing to be viable.
Arms looks like shovelware, but they certainly are backing it in. Plenty of exposure so far from Nintendo. I’m not interested in it in the slightest.
even if it turns out good at the moment it reminds me of toads treasure tracker, i liked that game but i paid $20 for it if i’d paid full retail i’d feel a bit ripped off. we’ll see though maybe arms has more to show off.
Captain Toad was game of the year. I paid ~67 or whatever it was when it first came out and it was totally worth it, 20 is a steal.
Huh, Splat2 amiibo functionality actually sounds half decent. Also interesting is the Namco Museum stuff using the Switch tablet in portrait mode. Nintendo totally should have given it a stand to allow portrait and landscape.
Probably most interested in the battery grips for the joycons. I mean I don’t picture myself actually using them with batteries at all, but the added grip should make them more comfortable to use. Just a shame you can’t use them in handheld mode.
I thought this was a pretty good showing to be honest. It’s not E3 where the big news will drop, but as an interim I’m very happy.
The 3DS games looked great to be honest. I can imagine a time when all those are on the Switch along with standard console games.