The Nintendo Direct that came out yesterday had a lot of great information in it.

The whole thing started with a trailer for a new Smash Character. While very dramatic, and appropriate for the tone of Xenoblade, it took a sudden more comical tone when Pyra reveals that she has gotten the invitation to the Smash Brothers Ultimate Roster. While she is another Sword User, the Aegis is not your typical weapon since she can reach out to mid, at least, with it. Just a little into the reveal, her secondary form, Mythra, is revealed to have come along with her. While Pyra fought with some thrown weapon attacks, Mythra has a variety of ranged attacks, letting her reach out into long range. Her Foresight ability seems to have come through either has a counter with some movement to it. Of course she is coming with a new stage, set on the back of their friend, Gramps. The reveal ended with Pyra/Mythra running into Shulk and the trio talking. She is expected to come into Smash Ultimate in March 2021.

After the Smash reveal (which is always important), the first speaker came on. It was Shinya Takahashi. He explained that it had been a while since they were able to do a direct in this style. He then let the reveals continue. Each of the games either were a simple trailer or a short teaser for the game.

Next were trailers announcing upcoming games:
Fallguys: Ultimate Knockout - Summer 2021
Outer Wilds – Summer 2021
Famicon Detective Club: The Missing Heir & The Girl Who Stands Behind – May 14, 2021
Samurai Warriors 5 – Summer 2021
Legend of Mana – June 24, 2021
Monster Hunter Rise – March 26, 2021
Mario Golf: Super Rush – June 25, 2021


Fallguys was just a teaser trailer, showing no actual gameplay footage. But just it coming over to the Switch with this edition should tell people plenty with the popularity of the game itself.

Outer Wilds is a time loop exploration solar system. Every 22 minutes, the sun will explode, decimating everything inside its system. But somehow, everything in the system is caught in a time loop. It resets to just that short while before the blast. The player gets to explore the area, figure out mysteries and possible prevent the inevitable explosion.

Famicon Detective Club is a pair of visual novels. They explore 2 old games from the Famicom, finally being localized, and modernized, on the Switch.

Samurai Warriors 5 is the first entry in the series in over 5 years. The hack and slash game play remains. It is drawing more from its sister series, Dynasty Warriors, with the leads taking on the impossible odds normal in the series.

The Legend of Mana is coming to the Nintendo Switch with a HD remaster. With an amazing soundtrack, gorgoeous graphics and very deep weapon crafting, there is a lot to this game. Want a custom world? The player is literally building the map each time they play! By placing the map pieces called artifacts, it will shape the world, and the story. The score has received a new arrangement, but the option remains for the original. A new mini-game has been added: Ring Ring Land. Thankfully, this version DOES look to retain the 2 player co-op that the original PSX release had.

The new Monster Hunter looks have a stronger Ninja Element to it. While this game has been known about for a while, getting an extended look at the gameplay was nice. The villagers have a number of arenas to slow the advance of the incoming monsters. The Hunters are more on the defense then heading out to seek out the beasts at first. There looks to be more an emphasis on traps in addition to the usual giant armaments and stylish armor. This game will also be releasing with its own version of the Nintendo Switch featuring custom artwork on it.

After Monster Hunter Rise, Shinya Takahashi came back briefly to help emphasize Monster Hunter. Then it was back into the trailers. He came back after Mario Golf Super Rush.

The next set of trailers started with Mario Golf: Super Rush. In it, we can see the improved environmental systems in play. It also showed a good variety of characters: Bowser, Daisy, Donkey Kong, Luigi, Mario, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Waluigi, Wario and others. It also looks to have a number of useful tools that the player will be able to use freely to get every advantage they can while taking their shot. This game will also feature both button and motion controls for the golfing. They also talked about a new mode: Speed Golf. Every tees off at the same time. Then it is a dash to get to your ball and keep it moving toward the hole. Of course there is a Story Mode to go along with this. You will be able to use your Mii for this. They will level up as you play through the game, granting you points to invent into your stats. It looks to be a good time.

Next was another set of upcoming games:
Tales from the Borderlands – March 24, 2021
Capcom Arcade Stadium – February 17, 2021
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse – March 16, 2021
No More Heroes 3 – August 27, 2021
Neon White – Winter 2021
DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power – June 4, 2021
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for the Neighborhood Complete Edition – March 19, 2021
Miitopia – may 21, 2021

“Tales from the Borderlands” is coming to the Switch. This will have all the humor and wit that everyone knows the series to have. It will be the full collection of episodes as well. No waiting this time. Just dive in and see what happened between Borderlands 2 and 3.

The “Capcom Arcade Stadium” is a massive collection of 32 classic games. It comes with all the normal features for a collection like this: difficulty selection, rewind, display options. The games will also be featuring the often overlooked local co-op gameplay feature as well.

“Stubbs the Zombie” is a very overlooked game for all it keeps coming back. Follow the eponymous zombie as he buildings his army of the undead. Plenty of hijinks are about to ensue as you play through this classic Xbox game.

“No More Heroes 3” was next. Its off the wall humor showed right from the start. Travis has aliens to fend off now. To participate in the tournament to save the world, as Earth's last hero, Travis will need to take odd jobs to pay the entry fees and fight his way to the top. The game also continues the trend of having numerous mini-games and a variety of styles mixed into it.

In “Neon White,” the player will be controlling members of a group that is exterminating demons in Heaven. This game looks to be a first person on-rails shooter with unique card-based mechanics for gameplay. The cards look to deplete with usage. They can also be sacrificed for a more powerful attack against your foes.

“DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power” looks to be a pseudo-chibi style. A third person game. With a variety of the Super Heroines sets in their teenage years attending Metropolis High, there will be a lot going on. It looks to have a good spread of heroes in it. While it makes mention of keeping the secret identity just that, one can always wonder how core that will be.

The next trailer didn't need to tell much for anyone to figure it out. The new “Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for the Neighborhood Complete Edition”. It looks to have the variety of modes from the other versions compiled into one. This version will be offering plenty of off-line content as well. It does have the multi-player modes as well. There will be a question of what might be offering in local co-op.

“Miitopia” looks to be expanding on the mini-games from the Nintendo 3DS street pass. The Mii will have a variety of roles that they can fill. It will also be offering a much greater variety of Mii customization options. This will let you continue to customize your Mii well after their creation, as you should be able to do. And just like with other Mii games, the bounds between Miis will be key to your success. The more they like each other, the better they will do overall working together. A good bond can have them attacking together. On the other side, if Mii don't like each other, they could start fighting each other in the middle of a battle. This game will finally let the Miis have a horse. Taking good care of it will not only help the Miis get around in the world but the horse will join in on fights as well.

The next one was for upcoming items that will be added to “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.” Mario themed items will be getting added. There are a number of outfits, and items that will be available for other through Nook's Cranny and other sources. This will include the famous Warp Pipes. The Villagers will be able to place a pair of these on their island and be able to use them for travel. This free update for the game will launch February 25th, 2021. The Super Mario items will unlock on March 1st, 2021.

Shinya Takahashi came back here. He talked about the recently released “Super Mario Bros 3D World + Bowser's Fury.” He also explained that a number of other games are forth coming, but it will be a while longer before they are out. Each of these trailers will likely feature a working title for the game. These are going to be releasing in 2022 at the earliest, but there could be some releasing at an indeterminate point in 2021.

First was “Project Triangle Strategy.” It showed 4 primary characters, implying a choice between them. The style of the game was very much that of “Octopath Traveller,” and espouses to a Tactical RPG. Likely the protagonist will be going on a long journey to help their kingdom with several key choices to be made along the way. This continued on in what seemed like a second trailer, but was just expanding on the first, giving us the following information. It was talking about the continent of Norzelia and its 3 nations: Glennbrook, Aefrost, and Hyzante. Each looks to occupy a different geographical region. All 3 are competing for the resources of Salt and Iron. These 3 kingdoms had fought each other for a long time over these precious resources. Once again, the flames of conflict are beginning to smolder. After that, the trailer showed that it was shifting to talk about the combat in the game. It will have elevation and the weapon will be the key determining factors in what a character can reach and do in battle. Friendly units are shown to have reponses to your commands to attack nearby foes. These can be opportunity strikes, having them join in a quick attack against the same target or a coordinated attack. With the coordinated attacks, the effects of subsequent attacks can add up. For example, casting Ice Magic on a burning tile to create water and then casting a Lightning Spell on those tiles to create a much larger area of effect. The trailer shifted against here to start talking the decision making that will be in it. There are 3 key elements: Utility, Morality, and Liberty. Your choices will shift your convictions which will, in turn, shift and change the story. This effects what can happen as well as what characters will be willing to join your cause. Here is where a unique element comes into play, with the Scale of Conviction. These scales can be influenced by the opinions of your allies. The PC can sway them to a similar opinion by appealing to the appropriate parts of their nature. From there, we got a closing example of what these alternate outcomes could be. The game has an expected release in 2022. A demo of this game was released just after the presentation.

The next game was “Star Wars Hunters” With a release date sometime in 2021, this was a surprise. It looks to feature Imperial Forces and Jedi. This will be a competitive free to play online game. It is set between episodes 6 (The Empire Strikes Back) and 7 (Return of the Jedi). It will a third person shooter, but no gameplay footage was shown to help clarify anything about it.

The next trailer was for “Knockout City.” It showed Lt. Alex Johnson (A Counter-Strike Soldier), Corgon, Son of Rthkar (an Orc), Princess Charm (a 16-bit Princess) all for Gold Team. They all have something to say before the twist is revealed that they are playing a different third person team based game. The team is working on passing a ball throughout the city, which they can use to smash into (and knock out) the competition. After seeing some gameplay, the interview shifts to the Blue team with Capt Wrangler (Futuristic Soldier),  and Max Splints (an American Football Player). When the trailer was wrapping up, they added in some good in-character jokes for the Gold Team. The game has a release date of May 21, 2021.

The next game was from the same creators of “Dangonrampa”  and “Zero Escape”series comes “the World's End Club.” This will put the characters in the game in a literal fight for their lives. While it starts in an abandoned underwater amusement park, the game gets cancelled. The 12 people within, the “Go-Getters Club” released back to Japan. When they arrive though, there is no one else to be found. The group will need to make their way back to Tokyo. Along the way, each will either be working solo or in a group. They will need to conquer a number of challenges and plenty of monsters. This game has a release date of May 28th, 2021.

The next game was hardly a surprise, “Hades.” The surprising part was that it was for a physical release of the game for the Nintendo Switch. If you are working with just the base memory of the Switch, this is a great version of the game to get. It will be coming with a PC download code for the game's soundtrack, and a  32-page Character Compendium Book. This will be released on March 19th, 2021.

The “Ninja Gaiden Master Collection” was the next game. But this is not the collection of the NES series, but “Ninja Gaiden Sigma,” “Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2,” and “Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.” All 3 of these masterful hack-and-slash games will be coming to the Switch. The trailer went on to give a basic summary of the collection itself. As Ryu Hayabusa, the player will be using the series's varied and powerful arsenal of weapons. Ryu will be working a number of other powerful Ninja to complete his quests. This collection will have all previous DLC and costumes included. This will be released on June 10th, 2021.

“Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity” is getting more content. If you have gone through what the game has to offer already (which is no small feat),  then there is more coming for you soon. The game is getting an Expansion Pass. It looks to include new characters as well as weapons and costumes for the preexisting characters. On May 28th, Link will be getting a new Weapon and Costume. In June 2021, Wave 1 of content will begin. This will include an expanded roster, new weapon types. It will also add new challenges within the Royal Ancient Lab as well as new, more challenging enemies. The second wave of content has a release in November 2021. Characters will be getting new skills and vignettes. More stages will be added in addition to an expanded roster. This Expansion pass is priced at $19.99 USD and is already available for purchase.

Next was a montage of upcoming games:
Bravely Default II – February 26
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection – February 25
SaGa Frontier Remastered – April 15
Apex Legends – March 9

Each got a short trailer explaining the new additions for the remastered games. The new games got a brief description of the game. After these few trailers, Shinya Takahashi came back to introduce the next segment.

This brought Eiji Aonuma onto the screen, the present producer of the “Legend of Zelda” series. He was upfront about the announcements regarding the sequel to “Breath of the Wild.” While development is proceeding smoothly, there is no new information available at this time. He did say though that more information should be available later this year. He followed this with the announcement of another Legend of Zelda game coming to the Nintendo Switch.This started trhe trailer for “Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD.” Originally released on the Nintendo Wii, it focused very much on the Motion Controls. It was also one of the earlier games to feature the stamina meter. The motion controls of the original game are coming forward to the Switch, but they have also added in a traditional controller option. The sword motions will be tied to the right-control stick. As long as  the lock-on is as sharp as the original game, this should work out fairly well. There will also be a set of specially designed joy-con Controllers released for the game. All this will be coming out on July 16th, 2021.

With 5 minutes left,  Shinya Takahashi came back after the Zelda announcement. He reiterated the upgrades that “Skyward Sword” had gotten coming to the Switch. This was followed by him saying the next announcement would be the last one for the Nintendo Direct.

This final announcement was a trailer for “Splatoon 3.” We got to see an Inkling sitting in a wasteland. As they revealed themselves, the character was customized. This was followed by the hair-style options for their “Lil' Buddy,” a strange fish-like creature. The Inkling would make their way across the desert to a train station. A few inhabitants of the city could be seen there. Making their way to the big city itself, its taken on a very different look from Splatoon 1 and 2. The frantic squad-based multiplayer combat looks to have survived with a variety of new weapons. The game is scheduled for a 2022 launch. Nothing was shown about the story, but that's to be expected.

There was a lot of games announced here as well as a number of returning games. The new Smash character, especially one NOT from Fire Emblem is a nice change of pace. The remastered games are also impressive. Seeing titles from the Famicom era that was never available commercially in the West is wonderful.