Well it happened. After recently predicting that Directs were a thing of the past because Nintendo replaced them with something I figured was better, Directs are making a comeback after not having any full-length ones since September 2019. I really liked the style Nintendo went with in 2020, with them doing shadow drops of game announcements 2 months before releasing the game, and having mini Directs for third-parties and indies. There’s many advantages to that, like keeping expectations in check (unlike, say, Cyberpunk, which had a fake “gameplay” trailer YEARS before release with a ton of features that weren’t even in the final game) and compressing the entire hype cycle to almost no time at all. It was just great seeing a game and knowing it would be in my Switch in just 2 months… even if Origami King sucked. I’d argue it’s objectively superior to announce games that way than having Directs and similar types of events. I mean, E3 is always just a pile of “here’s all these games you won’t be able to play for another 3 years and they’ll suck anyways”.

But I can’t deny the appeal of a Direct-style presentation. A bunch of announcements and such in one spot is fun. So even though I don’t usually post reactions to Directs… why not this time? The last proper non-mini Direct was literally in 2019, and this is a long boy with 50 minutes of content. Not gonna even attempt predictions, we just know about a Smash character (I mean, what else would they announce for Smash that’s worth even having the game in a direct for?) and… games for the next 4 months. Not much to go by and there’s not any rumors of note. My expectations are not very high, but it’s mostly because the Switch already has a lot of stuff announced for 2020, so who knows how much more it might get.

Note that I am writing this intro before seeing the Direct, and that I’m writing my reactions as I’m watching. I’ll include a more thought-out overall thoughts section at the end once the Direct is over (and I’ll edit my reactions to make sure this is readable).

Well it’s starting in a minute now, so let’s go!

Xenoblade 2… 2? Rex is on the flying thingy and talking about Pyra disappearing… This is a Smash trailer, isn’t it? There’s Pyra, Rex found her… IN SMASH. Okay, not quite what I was expecting there. But it’s not Rex and Pyra like people assumed, it’s just Pyra. And she can transform into Mythra. That’s pretty cool. Not a bad addition. But there’s some third-party stuff I’m still hoping for.

Hey there Shinya. Bring us the goods. Oh, Pyra coming out in March, sounds good.

Fall Guys. Isn’t this game basically dead? Well it’s coming to Switch. Alright. Summer 2021. I don’t care.

22 minutes until the solar system is destroyed… sounds familiar… Outer Wilds? Yeah. Not a game I’m particularly interested in, but I’ve seen some gameplay for it and it does seem like a pretty interesting game. Summer 2021.

2 classic murder mystery game. 2 Famicom Detective Club games? Oooooh. Well that’s interesting. These are japan-only Famicom games getting a huge update with anime cutscenes and obviously the first time they’re released in english officially. The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind. May 21. Very awesome. Never expected these to ever make it out of Japan. Quite hyped for this.

A new age of battle. Is that Warriors Orochi? Close, Samurai Warriors 5. I’d rather just play the Zelda versions of Warriors games.

Legend of Mana remake with somewhat HD graphics. I’ve actually never played this one (I think it was on PS1), I’m very hyped to try this out. Seems to have some cool features. June 24.

This looks like Monster Hunter. I’ve not been a big MH fan before, but the Rise demo was really interesting to me after I gave it a good chance. Pretty excited to play this, but it’s also a bit of a waste of time in this direct.

Hey Shinya. You still got 35 minutes to go, don’t waste too much of it!

Mario Golf. This was predicted for quite a while, and Camelot have been quite quiet since the pretty-okay Mario Tennis Aces (a game that’s fun but needed a bit more, like a story mode with RPG elements). Mario Golf Super Rush. Sure looks like Mario Golf. I’ve actually never played thid series, so this could be my first one, if I decide to get it. It sure is golf. Speed golf looks really fun. And the story mode with RPG elements too. Okay this does look like something I’ll buy. June 25.

Tales from the Borderlands. This has been out on everything else for a bit. Not particularly interesting for me. TellTale story games without much actual gameplay, not interesting. March 24.

Capcom Arcade Stadium is a cool collection of arcade games. Launches today. Includes 1943 free (and Ghosts ‘n Goblins) and you can buy other Capcom arcade games separately.

Stubbs the Zombie. This is an older game, I never played it. Not sure I’m that interested, it looks okay. March 16.

No More Heroes 3! Travis Touchdown fighting aliens. Are we finally getting a release date? Okay this does seem to have really interesting gameplay, with some of the RPG elements and diffeerent gameplay styles. August 27. Good to have a confirmation.

Annapurna Interactive. Not a company name that inspires much confidence to me (EDIT: Just noticed Outer Wilds is also Annapurna-published, so they do have SOME interesting games). This is a first-person shooter where you kill demons in heaven. It gives me a roguelite feel, not sure if it is. You seem to get weapons and moves as you traverse the levels, some which are single-use. It’s called Neon White. Seems like it could be fun. Winter 2021.

DC Super Hero Girls. 3D action platformer thingy with super-deformed cartoon versions of DC Heroines. Not a fan of the visual style but it does seem like it could be… okay? Maybe? June 4. I dunno.

Plants vs Zombies, the online third-person shooter one. I’m curious why it took so long to get to a Nintendo platform, I was always assuming it would jump in to cash in on the Splatoon craze, either on Switch or Wii U, but it took so long. Not interested. March 19.

Miitopia? It’s the Mii-based RPG from the 3DS I think. Yeah that’s it. Seems to be an HD version of the same game. It looked kinda okay-ish, not sure I’m particularly interested. May 21. Eh.

Free update for Mario items in Animal Crossing. I’ll just sleep during this part, I don’t care at all 😀

Hey Shinya. This is going okay, but we need something BIG now. Let’s see what you got. No I don’t need to hear about 3D World, that’s out already.

Next in the HD-2D series? Was that a series? This looks Final Fantasy Tactics-ish. It looks quite good visually, whatever it is. Project Triangle Strategy. So I think this is from the team that made Octopath? Certainly looks similar. The strategy gameplay looks quite nice. The graphics are very pretty. Yeah that is from Squeenix, so this is for sure the Octopath team. Cool to see more from them. Demo after the presentation, nice. Coming 2022. Very excited for this.

Something something Star Wars. Star Wars Hunters. That gave… no info at all, free to play online game. Coming this year. Whatever.

Knockout City. EA logo. Gonna not care then! Doesn’t look particularly interesting. You walk around a town and throw balls at people. May 21.

World’s End Club. A game by the creator of Danganronpa. A bunch of students and stuff being put into a death game scenario, but the game gets cancelled so the kids go out into the world but there’s no one there. Seems to be mild action and adventure. Could be interesting, I shall inform myself more on this one. May 28

Hades getting a physical release. Okay whatever. Hades is good, but that’s not particularly noteworthy.

Ninja Gaiden Master Collection. It’s Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Sigma 2 which isn’t as good IMO and 3 which… I didn’t like when I played it, felt pretty crappy. Still a pretty cool release. June 10.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Expansion pass. As a rule I tend to avoid DLC unless it’s Smash, so this doesn’t particularly interest me.

Bravely Default 2, Looks good, not much to say since it’s out so soon. Okay so this is a set of quick clips. Next is the new Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Looks pretty good. This is… what? Oh, Saga Frontier Remastered. Actually never played the original, I’ll be checking this one out. April 15th. Apex Legends on Switch which is coming soon. No idea why you’d want to play this on a console, FPS games suck with controllers.

Hey Shinya. 8 minutes left, it’s time for the big guns.

Eiji Aonuma eh? No BotW2 news, so this is gonna be some 35th anniversary stuff maybe? The Switch is getting another Zelda game in the meantime. And it’s Skyward Sword HD. An okay game, really not the best in the series. They’re doing the same motion controls, but also doing non-motion controls (putting the sword on the right analog stick? Weird). New joy-cons, whatever. July 16. Not great if that’s all the 35th anniversary Zelda stuff.

And I guess they’re not actually doing 35th anniversary. Still 4 minutes left, Shinya. What’s the one last thing?

Desert, ruins… Inkling? With a bow. Guess we’re getting a Splatoon 3! This certainly looks weird for a Splatoon game. Seems… bigger. And now we’re in a more familiar-style location, not sure what that desert thing was about. This certainly looks to add some interesting gameplay elements with the cube launch thing at the start of battles. Coming 2022. Okay. Not too sure what to think about this since I refuse to pay for Nintendo Online (or any console online service, I don’t like paying for literally nothing), but I’ll probably get it for the story mode anyways. I love me some Splatoon, though I will miss the online.

Overall

I really do think Directs should be a thing of the past, but I did enjoy this one. The biggest surprise was the Famicom Detective Club games, they never came out here so that’s super cool.

Otherwise there were several cool things. Pyra in Smash is not a bad addition, Project Triangle Strategy (definitely not the final name) looks really awesome, we have a date for No More Heroes 3, Mario Golf looks cool, Legend of Mana is cool, Saga Frontier is cool, and there’s a few smaller titles that seem like they could be interesting like World’s End Club and Neon White. And Splatoon 3 is a very big reveal too. And I’m sure some people are happy that Skyward Sword is getting an HD remaster.

Not a bad direct, but I feel after over a year without directs we needed something a bit bigger. To be fair, Splatoon is a HUGE franchise for Nintendo, but it doesn’t quite have the oomph of actual BotW2 info/dates, or a new Mario game or something. They did add a shitload more stuff to my “games I’m buying on Switch this year” list, which is already pretty sizeable. The Switch is getting so much this year already.

Also I’m pretty surprised there’s basically no Zelda 35th Anniversary stuff at all except for Skyward Sword. Kinda disappointing.

I’m thinking we’ll have some Pokemon Direct very soon too, maybe even next week since I think that’s when Pokemon Day is?