Nintendo Direct: 14/02/14 Report – Kicking off 2014 with a BANG.
February 14, 2014
For the first Nintendo Direct of 2014, Nintendo didn’t reiterate any of the announcements made recently, they focused squarely on game announcements, reconfirmations of existing games and interesting tidbits for upcoming games.
Firstly, Nintendo kicked off with a brand new trailer for Super Smash Bros for WiiU and 3DS – which confirmed Little Mac from Punch-Out!! will be a playable character, following his appearance in Super Smash Bros Brawl as an assist trophy. The game was confirmed to be released in 2014. From here, Nintendo spent quite a bit of time focusing on its upcoming 3DS wares, and even had time to announce some new games! The new game, Steel Diver Subwars, is a F2P FPS, and is available right now on the 3DS eShop! The second new game announced was Pokemon Battle Trozei, a match three game in the style of Pokemon Trozei. With all Pokemon included, as well as co-op play confirmed, you’ll be able to pick this one up in March. Level-5 announced a new eShop game during this time, Weapon Shop de Omasse – wherein you run the weapon/armour shop in an RPG.
The remaining 3DS news included details on the single player mode of Mario Golf World Tour (a more traditional progression model where you use your Mii), extended looks at Kirby Triple Deluxe and Yoshi’s New Island, and reminders on the imminent releases of Professor Layton X Ace Attorney, Inazuma Eleven 3: Team Ogre Attacks!!, and reminders of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Nintendo Pocket Football Club. Finally, Nintendo announced that Atlus’s Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl will be hitting Europe. There was mention of Shin Megami Tensei IV.
From here, Nintendo shifted focus to the Wii U. Arguably the biggest news was that Wii U Virtual Console will be recieving Game Boy Advance games in April, with the initial lineup confirmed to include Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island and Metroid Fusion. The only new game announced was NES Remix 2, a new compilation of moments and remixed levels. One new remix revealed was “Super Luigi Bros”, in which you play as Luigi, and you’re only able to run to the left. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze had a new trailer, ahead of its release next week. Bayonetta 2 also received a new trailer, and Monolithsoft’s X was surprisingly shown off. Mario Kart 8 was also trailered, which confirmed that the Koopalings (formerly the Koopa Kids), will be playable.
Over on the Japanese side, Nintendo revealed quite a bit more – including a new Ace Attorney game, which promises to be completely different from past games . Furthermore, the lineup for the Game Boy Advance WiiU Virtual Console will feature (in addition to the three games mentioned above), The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Wario Land 4, Mario Tennis Advance, Metroid Fusion, Advance Wars, WarioWare, F-Zero and Golden Sun.