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Nintendo Direct March 26th 2020 Recap

Just like that online Ganon player hit you with that warlock punch you weren’t prepared for, Nintendo just hit us all with a surprise mini-direct out of nowhere. Despite its diminutive qualifier, the presentation weighs in at a nearly 30-minute length, so we’re here to catch you up to speed on everything you missed.

Nintendo began by confirming what most of us probably expected at this point: the COVID-19 pandemic will potentially push release dates back, with that possibility even extending to the titles shown in the direct.

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With that in mind, the real show begins with a whopping 3-minute long trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. The carefully crafted world of The Bionis still looks stunning in high definition and the trailer’s emphasis on story gives a good look at the game’s redone character animations. They surpass not only the original’s in terms of fluidity and expression, but arguably even the Nintendo Switch’s very own Xenoblade Chronicles 2. And as if that weren’t enough already, we also got a tease of some new story content. Future Connected will be an epilogue exclusive to the definitive edition, but it looks like we’ll have to wait for the May 29th release date to know more.

The next and probably less expected segment came courtesy of 2K Games, who will be bringing Borderlands Legendary Collection, Bioshock: The Collection and XCom 2: Collection also on May 29th. These collections all seem to be running well on the Switch’s hardware, but there doesn’t seem to be any new content, so let’s jump straight to…

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, whose DLC expansion passes can be purchased for 3 postgame campaigns. Curse of the Vampire, which gives some love to the Marvel Knights stories, an adaptation of a classic X-Men storyline in Rise of the Phoenix and the new Shadow of Doom which will mark The Fantastic Four’s long-awaited return to the world of gaming. All passes are already available for purchase.

A quick trailer followed for the undersea 2D adventure Shinsekai: Into the Depths, promising exploration, combat and—best of all—a jukebox feature that will allow players to create their own remixes of the game’s soundtrack. It also is available right away.

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But the news we were probably all waiting for came with the belated announcement of Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ free update that launched earlier today. No, it’s not just about taking duplication glitches away, it will also allow Zipper T. Bunny to visit players from April 1st-12th to celebrate Bunny day and invite them on an egg-hunt. The trailer shows eggs being found in the ground and sea, albeit initially appearing identical to your run-of-the-mill fossils and fish before being uncovered. A second update was also promised for later next month, bringing Earth Day events and some other as of yet undisclosed goodies.

But if indie is more your scene, the following trailer for Good Job! gave a quick demonstration of the labor-simulator’s puzzle-oriented gameplay to promote its launch today. Speaking of puzzles, Catherine: Full Body also had a trailer, preparing us for its July 7th, 2020 release date.

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The following announcement featured Ring Fit Adventure’s new rhythm game mode, with tracks from Mario, Zelda, and Splatoon to choose from. Other audio additions include a new female-voice option for your ring buddy and the ability to play in different languages. Jogging was also showcased as a new free-play style alternative to the main game’s missions for those who want to take their workout at their own pace.

But the other news we were probably all waiting for came with the announcement of the new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character… kind of. Nintendo confirmed the new fighter would be from ARMS, but also confirmed we’ll have to wait until their release this June to learn who it will be (hopefully Twintelle). But those not familiar with the early Switch title can catch up thanks to the game going free to play for Nintendo Switch online owners from today until April 6th.

If this already seems like a lot of information for you, strap yourself in, because Bravely Default II got a 4-minute trailer showcasing its story, world, and combat. All of these will be familiar to seasoned RPG veterans. In addition to the returning BP system, characters can now be equipped with items called asterisks, effectively acting as jobs in a way reminiscent of Final Fantasy V. An eShop demo has been released for the game too.

Following that, the direct took us to some quick presentations for:
  • Tabletop game collection Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics releasing June 5th, 2020
  • Free-to-play gum-based ninja multiplayer arena combat game Ninjala releasing May 27th, 2020
  • Re-released third-person action game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy releasing today alongside
  • On-rails dragon shooter Panzer Dragoon: Remake
  • Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer confirmed for release at an unconfirmed date.
  • Action-RPG Trials of Mana releasing April 24th
  • Pop-focused rhythm game Fuser is set to drop this fall
  • Mobile action game The Elder Scrolls: Blades for spring
  • Sci-fi strategy game Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus in May,
  • Grim survival shooter Vigor’s closed beta on April 9th
  • Racing classic Burnout: Paradise at an unconfirmed 2020 date
  • Goofy sandbox crime game Saints Row IV - Re-Elected on March 27th
  • Hardcore JRPG juggernaut The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III on June 30th,
  • Adorable puzzle game Mr. Driller DrilLand on June 25th
  • And the self-explanatory Minecraft Dungeons in spring.


Not had enough yet? Well, neither did Nintendo, who launched into a showcase of the upcoming Pokemon: Sword and Shield expansion pass: The Isle of Armor. The most significant announcement is of the two trial towers trainers will be using to test their mettle: The Tower of Darkness and Tower of Waters. Players will select one of the two towers to train their new legendary Pokemon Kubfu, with the choice of tower reflected in the form the new creature will adopt when evolving into Urshifu. The Tower of Darkness will grant a single strike style, whereas water will grant a form focused on rapid strikes, each naturally bringing exclusive attacks. Other points of interest include the previously seen gigantamax forms of the starter Pokemons’ evolutions, new cosmetics, new League Card backgrounds, and an increased chance of finding gigantamaxed Copperajah, Duralodon, Garbador, and Charizard in raid battles.

And with that, we’ve finally reached the end of this ostensibly Mini Nintendo Direct. It had a lot of information to take in and a lot of new game releases available right now, so we hope you all enjoyed it.
 
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Will "Octrockandroll" Bertazzo Lambert

Comments

i am so looking forward to having some more arms stuff in smash, even its the one character of the gang i dont like ill probably get it just for the stage and music
 
From what I gathered, Animal Crossing has had a crossover with Silent Hill and they've brought the rabbit from the third game? Ok.
 
I wonder what the chances of it being a Corrin, Hero, or a Bowser Jr. situation might be? Spring Man / Ribbon Girl swaps like Male / Female Corrin would be neat. I haven't played ARMS and I'm guessing that characters have unique movesets, but looking at some gameplay those two look pretty similar.

Either way, I'm happy for all of the ARMS fans!
 
I wonder what the chances of it being a Corrin, Hero, or a Bowser Jr. situation might be? Spring Man / Ribbon Girl swaps like Male / Female Corrin would be neat. I haven't played ARMS and I'm guessing that characters have unique movesets, but looking at some gameplay those two look pretty similar.

Either way, I'm happy for all of the ARMS fans!
The movesets are similar due to how simplistic the game is (being designed with motion controls in mind and all), but everyone has unique gimmicks and while everyone can use every arm after a LOT of grinding, each character starts off with different ones, which can greatly change what your overall game plan is.

The only two characters where it makes some level of sense to give the alt treatment is Spring Man and Springtron, and even then, it's only because they look very similar, since both play very differently due to unique gimmicks.
 
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ARMS character in the roster is interesting to say the least.
 
Probably the weakest announcement I've seen in a Smash game, not because of the character mind you (although I couldn't care less for ARMS myself), but how...lacking in excitement it was. No trailer, no render, and leaving just the very vague hint of "it's from Arms!". I get why this is probably the case, but it doesn't really change my feelings that this had no fanfarre whatsoever. I don't see myself getting this DLC regardless of the choice, but if they're gonna play up the mystery of who, it'll better not be just Spring Man or Ribbon Girl.
 
Probably the weakest announcement I've seen in a Smash game, not because of the character mind you (although I couldn't care less for ARMS myself), but how...lacking in excitement it was. No trailer, no render, and leaving just the very vague hint of "it's from Arms!". I get why this is probably the case, but it doesn't really change my feelings that this had no fanfarre whatsoever. I don't see myself getting this DLC regardless of the choice, but if they're gonna play up the mystery of who, it'll better not be just Spring Man or Ribbon Girl.
Sadly true, I just hope that this will be the opposite of fighters pass one, where we had epic fighters until the last one, which wan't exactly a great crowd pleaser, but I hope that they have that one hee, then big hits until the end.
 
I think I'm more surprised that they didn't put Spring Man and Ribbon Girl in the base roster as a playable character and echo to be honest. I think Smash is a good platform to push their first party games, and ARMS did reasonably well for the genre of game that it is. While it's possible it's a Rex situation, I think that being purely first party, Nintendo could have shown Sakurai the character far in advance to not be a problem.

Either way, I'm sure they'll be fun, and I don't really have a problem with them pushing a first party game for more exposure. I am a bit confused why they couldn't have just announced who it is though, it's not like they don't know at this point. Unless it's some sort of ARMS DLC or update coming that introduces a new character, or a sequel, and they want to promote that. Though it'd be a first to rep a playable character and not have it be the "main" character of a series, so I can't help but think it'll still in some capacity be Spring Man.
 
Probably the weakest announcement I've seen in a Smash game, not because of the character mind you (although I couldn't care less for ARMS myself), but how...lacking in excitement it was. No trailer, no render, and leaving just the very vague hint of "it's from Arms!". I get why this is probably the case, but it doesn't really change my feelings that this had no fanfarre whatsoever. I don't see myself getting this DLC regardless of the choice, but if they're gonna play up the mystery of who, it'll better not be just Spring Man or Ribbon Girl.
I guess it's because of the delay. The felt like they had to announce something for Smash but couldn't wait until June, and since nothing is ready yet we had this. That being said, I don't care much for the reveal itself, the characters themselves are way more important for me than the way they are announced.

Never played ARMS by the way, but I'm glad it's not Fire Emblem, a Pokémon, or a thid-party I never heard about.
 
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Not great but still interesting.

Bravely Default II, and Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass looks interesting.

Also Arms getting a rep is great! Can’t wait to see who it is.
 
Why isn’t this post mainly about the Arms selection?

This is an ssbu forum.. why not lead with the ssbu info and give a little analysis
 
Probably the weakest announcement I've seen in a Smash game, not because of the character mind you (although I couldn't care less for ARMS myself), but how...lacking in excitement it was. No trailer, no render, and leaving just the very vague hint of "it's from Arms!". I get why this is probably the case, but it doesn't really change my feelings that this had no fanfarre whatsoever. I don't see myself getting this DLC regardless of the choice, but if they're gonna play up the mystery of who, it'll better not be just Spring Man or Ribbon Girl.
Very likely that Covid-19 affected the amount of coordinated work / final product here. Pretty impressive they still got this off in some fashion
 
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