Nintendo Direct: N64 games coming to Wii U Virtual Console
Including Super Mario 64 and Donkey Kong 64. Plus Splatoon gets release date, and Mario Kart 8 gets even faster
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Your support makes all the difference.At 11pm last night, Nintendo hosted its latest Nintendo Direct video stream, announcing a variety of games and features set to hit the Wii U and 3DS in the next year.
Presented by Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata, and the President of Nintendo Europe, Satoru Shibatu, the pair gave fans a closer look at a number of upcoming games including the as-yet unnamed 3DS Fire Emblem game (given a 2016 release date), Yoshi’s Wooly World, Mario Maker, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Splatoon, Attack on Titian and Pokemon Rumble World.
While there were no internet-breaking announcements, fans were given a lot to digest, so here are six things we learnt from the Nintendo Direct stream.
Nintendo love Amiibo
Yes, those £10.99 plastic character figurines are here to stay. Nintendo announced a bunch of new amiibo’s set to hit shops soon including two new waves of Super Smash Bros amiibos, three new Yoshi figurines made of yarn to celebrate Yoshi’s Wooly World - which will be released on 26 June, and three Splatoon figurines to coincide with the game's release, which was announced as 29 May.
Amiibo’s are also getting their own Wii U app called ‘Amiibo Tap: Nintendo’s Greatest Hits’, allowing users to tap their figures onto the Wii U Gamepad and receive a three minute demo of a completely random NES game. Iwata went on to describe it as like “opening a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get”.
Not only that but Nintendo also announced Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer amiibo playing cards - yes cards - which are compatible with the game.
If you’re not a New 3DS owner, don’t worry, you won’t be missing out on all the amiibo fun. Nintendo also announced an all new NFC adapter, which will allow users to scan amiibo compatible objects onto their 3DS/3DSXL/2DS using a large tic-tac like device.
Mario Kart just got a whole lot harder
As if 150cc wasn’t hard enough, at the end of the video stream - and after a montage of every Mario Kart game - Nintendo announced that the eighth instalment in the series will soon be updated to include a 200cc mode from 23 April.
Nintendo are entering the DLC market full on
After years of reluctance towards DLC, Iwata confirmed that extra content would be available to purchase for both Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS.
While the 200cc mode will be a free download, the new Animal Crossing DLC, featuring new characters, vehicles and tracks, will set you back a few pounds much like the current Zelda DLC which currently costs £7.
Smash Bros. will also see plenty of downloadable content made available, including the playable character Mewtwo added on April 28, followed by Mother 3’s Lucas and a number of Mii fighter costumes soon to be downloadable.
Free-to-play Pokemon games are now a thing
Even after our one-star review of the free-to-play-but-pay-to-play game Pokemon Shuffle, Nintendo seem intent on carrying on down the same road, announcing Pokemon Rumble World, their latest foray into free-to-start-playing gaming.
With Nintendo’s recent partnership with DeNA, known for their free-to-play mobile games, could we be seeing Nintendo trialling future mobile games on their own devices first?
N64 and DS come to the Wii U
While many expected GBA/DS downloads to be added to the 3DS virtual console store it was actually the Wii U which received the latest update, with N64 and DS games soon to be available on its virtual console.
Super Mario 64 and Yoshi’s Island DS are available now, and Yoshi’s Touch & Go, WarioWare Touched, Donkey Kong 64, and Mario Kart DS will all be available later in April.
No news on Nintendo NX, Star Fox or Zelda
Often these types of events are characterised more by what isn’t on show rather than what is. After revealing earlier this year that the company were working on a new console, codenamed NX, some gamers speculated more details may be announced through the video stream.
Many more expected Nintendo to say whether the next The Legend of Zelda game had been delayed to feature on NX or some news on the latest Star Fox adventure. Unfortunately, none of this happened.
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