Okay well I did say in the not-E3 posts that I would post a reaction for the Direct Nintendo would put out. I ignored the Xenoblade one because it’s dumb to spoil yourself too much on a game, but this is a bit closer to a normal Direct so… there you go.

Nintendo isn’t saving E3 this year, but hey, this might have… stuff.

I expect Dragon Quest Treasures to be shown (to what extent, who knows) since that is meant to get new info this month and there’s only a few days left, Mario + Rabbids 2 needs a release date (which got leaked by Ubisoft yesterday lol), and Bayonetta 3 has been very quiet since the trailer last year and it’s meant to be out this year still… That’s my only real predictions. The rumor mill has been going, but it always does, and it’s always wrong (even when it’s right, it’s just lucky guesses).

AS PER USUAL I am writing this intro before watching the Direct, and my reactions are written live as I’m watching it.

Let’s go I guess.

Presentation Reactions

Capcom, so that’s a Monster Hunter highlight I guess. Just some cinematic stuff, and a note about the first title update.  Nothing of interest here, the game is out in 2 days so yay.

That’s Nier Automata. It’s getting a port. Yay I guess. Should’ve happened much sooner. October 6th.

Ah, it’s a puzzle game. Looks kinda meh. Lorelei and the laser eyes. Next year.

Bomberman. Hey they’re making a sequel to Super Bomberman R, kinda cool. Looks interesting. 2023.

Battle Network! Okay so it’s the entire series, except for the side games. Very nice. Other than 4, these are all great games. 1 not as much, with 2 and 3 being the best. Definitely worth checking out if you never played these. Separated into 2 volumes, next year.

A remake of Pac-Man World. I see a few people really hyping these games up, I missed it back in the day, looks like a pretty average 3D platformer. August 26, cool.

Some pencil-drawn style… walking simulator? Doesn’t look very fun. It’s called Blanc. 2023.

Monkey Island. I don’t recall if platforms were announced, but hey, now we’re seeing something more substantial for it. Really not sure about the art style, but it’s the original creator so… fun. And they’re keeping up with the 2022 release.

Here’s the Mario + Rabbids. Pretty hyped for this since the first was so surprisingly good. Like I said in the intro, Ubisoft decided to leak the release date for this, which should be October 20, going against the rumors of it being delayed. This looks super fun. There it is. Can’t wait.

Little Noah: Scion of Paradise. Looks like a fun semi-roguelite platforming action game. Out today, cool. Never heard of it before.

Railgrade. You make train stations and rails and stuff.

This is a game that came out on PC and Xbox with no one at all talking about it (a month after it came out there was ONE review for it on youtube, no one bought this). RPG Time! The Legend of Wright. I don’t know if it’s good.

Sonic Frontier, let’s see if they’ll show something that looks more interesting than the IGN gameplay demonstrations. This does look like it was captured on Switch because those graphics are blurry and the framerate has issues. Weird how this smaller, less focused, highlight-covered thing looked more interesting than “in-depth” gameplay demos.

Some Disney thing. Disney Dreamlight Valley. You seemingly need to rebuild a city with Disney characters that live in it. Doesn’t look particularly fun. September 6 in early access.

Just a quick Live A Live trailer. Still hyped for this. Demo later today, won’t touch that though.

Doraemon Story of Seasons. I guess it’s a new one. Cool I guess.

Minecraft Legends. Still looks kinda interesting. Next year.

Dragon Quest Treasures! Looks like it’s a bit Dragon Quest Monsters-ish as you collect monsters and level them up, but the monsters also have different environment traversal abilities. December 9 let’s fucking go!

Quick highlight reel. Fire Emblem Warriors, No Man’s Sky, Plague Tale cloud version (oof), Captain Velvet Meteor (no idea what that is, looks kinda cool). Okay.

Portal is out today. Okay.

Some farming simulation RPG, where you also fight monsters… That I guess isn’t Rune Factory even though it looks pretty similar. Looks kinda cool. It’s called Harvestella, it’s out in November.

Last announcement. It’s Persona, I guess it’s the same announcement as at the Xbox presentation. Yeah, P5R on October 21. P4G and P3P also coming, no dates.

Overall

I don’t know how, but this managed to be a bit more interesting than any of the Not-E3 things. It wasn’t massive, but there was a lot to like. It kinda had what it needed for what makes a presentation good. New announcements (Harvestella, Battle Network collection, Pac-World, Super Bomberman R 2, I think Little Noah: Scion of Paradise is a new announcement because all the actual info I can find from before this presentation is a “leaked” trophy list),release dates for some of them (Harvestella got one, as did Pac-World), gameplay for games that didn’t have much before (like Dragon Quest Treasures), release dates for previously announced games (Mario+Rabbids, Dragon Quest Treasures)… That’s what a good presentation needs.

Not everything was a banger, but the bangers were great. Highlights for me are definitely Dragon Quest Treasures being out this year and Mario+Rabbids not being delayed like the fake rumors said. There were a bunch of other cool things, like finally Battle Network getting a collection, Pac-World getting a remaster (hopefully they make a sequel soon), Super Bomberman R2 looks fun, Harvestella looks interesting even if it’s obviously very Rune Factory-inspired… This was definitely not a bad presentation.

As far as a more standard general Direct, I figure they decided not to do a general Direct for E3 because there was no E3 and the not-E3 stuff was obviously gonna suck, and instead are just. I’m fine with this approach of spacing out announcements. Maybe the