Nintendo Direct Micro Dumps a Ton of Game Announcements Two Weeks Before E3

Following a May 31st Japanese Direct, Nintendo kicked off the month of June with a surprise Western version of the presentation that featured many of the same announcements. The “Micro” Direct (sigh, you’ll see) was hosted by Bill Trinen, Nintendo’s Senior Product Marketing Manager.

[WizzroSupreme]

Curious if Nintendo's really shown off all its big guns this pre-E3 or they've got an Animal Crossing or a Metroid under their sleeve.

[deafdani]

Nintendo never shows all of their big guns before E3, don't be silly. I don't know whether they will have an Animal Crossing or Metroid like you suggest, but there's a good chance they will have something under their sleeve nobody will see coming. They're pretty damn good at showing things out of left field.

:P

[AJBACK2FRAG]

Some dude I met at a party said Team Ninja is helping Nintendo on Metroid Prime 4 but he was really drunk!

[sammwagner]

At the very least they've got to have a new Animal Crossing. Did you see this interview? It sounds to me like it could be coming. I'm hoping for a new Metroid, personally. Its been a long time since we've heard what Retro Studios is up to!

http://www.engadget.com/201...

[shaw98]

I think Nintendo made this small direct to get all the small games we really don't care about before E3. Like, do people really care enough for a new MaSATOG or a small Dr.Mario game for it to be announced at E3? E3 is focused on the big titles so it is good to get this out of the way.

[Venoxn4g]

well at least Bravely Second was announced for the west :) plus I really like Chibi robo :)

[shaw98]

If bravely second would have been announced at E3, it would have been overshadowed by bigger games. With it being the biggest reveal of the direct, it gave it a lot more publicity and got more people taking about it.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Dunno about you, but that Little Battlers X game gave me some SERIOUS Custom Robo flashbacks.
And I loved those games to death, so this has my interest.

[hobowan]

I would like to think that this is a sign that there is so much in their e3 digital event they couldn't fit it all in so have had to release this stuff to make room!

Surprised by the project treasure trailer. It would have got sooooooo much more attention as a mature title at e3then leaked before hand when noone's looking except Nintendo fans

[sammwagner]

A. I'd like to think this that too!
and
B. I'd like to see them go into more detail about some of their previously announced mature titles too. What ever happened to Devil's Third?!

[AJBACK2FRAG]

Tomonobu Itagaki has said that his body is ready. He'll be at e3 with Devil's Third and it's new improved graphics. He also stated the game is almost finished. Who knows this bad rider could be going gold any second! Psyched!!

[BigDuo]

Project Treasure was first shown as a teaser trailer back in January 2015 when featured in a Nintendo Direct. It honestly looks quite iffy and it's free-to-play. I'm not confident at all that it's a game that will in interest many Wii U owners. It looks low budget and low effort based on what we've seen of it. I do hope I am wrong about it.

Devil's Third was confirmed last year by the game's director to be on track for a 2015 release and it has undergone some development improvements since its first appearance at E3 for Wii U. Obviously, Nintendo is planing to share info about it at E3. We'll probably even get another live-stream of its gameplay by the Treehouse team too.

We know this E3 is focused on only games coming out this year and by early 2016 based on Bill Trinen's statement in the last Direct video. On a separate occasion, Iwata pointed out on a that there's some new games that will be coming to Wii U and 3DS that will be released by April 2016. With that info now known to us, I have doubts that we'll see Retro's next tittle revealed and it may even call into question the chance of learning about Next Level Games' new project as well, but of course, anything can happen. For all we know, the games could be revealed even if they are not necessarily coming out anytime soon, so keep those fingers crossed for good luck.

As for Retro Studios, Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe had said that its new Wii U project had begun early development as of late 2013. Retro will likely need more than 2 years, more like close to 3 years, really. For example, according to Iwata Asks interview, DKC: Returns development began in April 2008 and the game was not at E3 2009, but it finally was shown at E3 2010, where it was released 5 months later. As for Tropical Freeze, Kensuke Tanabe said Retro was not yet sure of whether it would do a sequel to DKC: Returns back in March 2011, 5 months after DKC: Returns came out. So Retro probably didn't even start early planning for Tropical Freeze until perhaps mid-late spring 2011. Tropical Freeze was not shown at E3 2012. Instead the game was revealed as the only new Wii U title announced at E3 that was initially planend for release for the holiday, but because Nintendo was lacking games for the first halfd of 2014, it ultimately delayed Tropical Freeze to February 2014.

[sammwagner]

I completely forgot that we got a Devil's Third stream during the Treehouse live-stream. Makes sense that we'll see more, and I hope this includes a hard release date.

With regard to Retro, I think they might have struggled, along with other Nintendo-owned studios, to get up to speed with HD development. Shigeru has mentioned on a couple occasions that Nintendo's unfamiliarity with HD development has led to quite a bit of unnecessary production time. Pikmin 3, specifically, could have come out much sooner. I think 2 years is more than enough time for Nintendo/Retro to be ready to announce what's happening next. Don't hold me to it, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see either of Retro or Nintendo Tokyo EAD's new projects revealed. EAD's last big project before Majora's Mask 3D was Super Mario Galaxy (IMO).

My main point being, Nintendo should have a better handle on its in-house HD development process, and therefore should be able to kick games out a bit more quickly. And let's be honest, whether or not things are ready to release the next day, Nintendo knows it needs to show a bit more of its hand.

[Activemessiah]

Trimming the fat on the main dish... excited for their E3.

[BigDuo]

EAD Tokyo did Mario 3D World in 2011 followed by Mario 3D World in 2013. Also, a smaller team there handled Captain Toad in 2014, but it was a small-scale spin-off project. In an interview dating back to April 2014, EAD Tokyo commented on having begun work on a new project, presumably in relation to Super Mario, but did not saw what platform it is for. However, at the time they mentioned that if it turns out to be a project for Wii U, then they would have to consider better use of the GamePad's capabilities.

Then there's Miyamoto's comment from December 2014 which shot down the chance of Super Mario coming out until the next generation. So maybe EAD Tokyo is working on a spin-off game based on Super Mario. Initially, I thought there's a chance EAD Tokyo is making a new 3D Mario title for 3DS, possibly exclusively for the new 3DS. However, after reading Miyamoto's comment again, he makes it sound like there won't be any new major Mario game until the next generation. Perhaps whatever EAD Tokyo is working on, it evolved into a Super Mario-related spin-off, something similar to Captain Toad, but perhaps a bigger project.

[gangsta_red]

That was a good direct for any 3DS owner.

[Sly-Lupin]

Not for those of us who are DQ fans....

[kakashi81]

Hope project treasure will be a surprise success!

[MSBAUSTX]

Depending one the level of micro transactions in Project Treasure, i might actually give that game a try. It looks kinda cool. Other than that, nothing here is really very big so they were probably just getting some stuff out of the way now to ckear space for the big daddy releases at E3. That way they can hmshow us some star fox for Wii U for hours i cant wait.