Yesterday saw yet another Nintendo Direct wherein Nintendo saw it fit to throw even more things on the 3DS, finer-tuning their laser focus while....mostly ignoring the Wii U still. Which is kind of the exact opposite priorities they should probably have at the moment considering the 3DS can probably carry on its own momentum for a while, whereas the Wii U needs help desperately, but hey, what do I know. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the disparity of success between the -other- things in the respective markets or anything like that. Regardless, like most Directs, there was some reiteration of some points while also providing a few rather large announcements that deserve a mention.
The biggest news, certainly, is that a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is in the works for 3DS. Yes, a sequel. A direct sequel. In Legend of Zelda. (Yeah, it's happened before, but that was a -while- ago) Or at least a game that takes place in the exact same world as A Link to the Past, albeit with a brand new story, new dungeons and the like. Something else that it adds that I'm a little undecided about is Link's ability to turn paper-thin and walk along walls which is, obviously new to the series and a decided reference to Paper Mario. While it is an interesting mechanic, I can't help but look at it, scratch my head and say "Why? because it is...more than a little confusing. It seems superfluous at best and the only thing I can figure is that it's the answer to the "Dark World" transformation that, for a little while, turned Link into a bunny. But that was not a mechanics thing and it wasn't permanent, so I don't even know what to think.
Those aren't the only sequels that are now heading for the 3DS however! Joining LTTP2 is yet another Mario Party and a sequel to Yoshi's Island, also known as "That game with Baby Mario". And yes, Baby Mario returns and yes, he probably cries very horribly once again. Possibly. From what I can tell, there is damn near no information on either game except a screenshot of Yoshi's Island 2 (probably not the title) showing Yoshi with Baby Mario on his back in an area similar to the original with a slightly different aesthetic. One comment states that it looks more watercolor than crayon which is very astute. Yoshi's Island, I can understand since that was a game that people liked, despite its issues, but when has Mario Party been relevant after the first three iterations? No online play was mentioned which probably means there will be none which means....there is very little incentive to buy it unless you are constantly around people who have 3DSes and you all want to play what amounts to a board game on them, I suppose.
It's not like there wasn't -any- Wii U news announced at this Direct thing, however! Next week, the oft-mentioned Spring System Update is hitting, which brings a lot of little improvements to the Wii U's overall workings. Faster Load times, the ability to boot right into Wii Mode and some fancy things with downloading games and updates for said games in the background are all included as well as the actual, really real Wii U Virtual Console. As in the platform that will allow you to buy NES, SNES and eventually GBA and N64 (and possibly other systems) games and play them with full integration to the Wii U's features, including the ability to play directly on the tablet to free up your TV. Also Miiverse stuff, which I suppose is good since it is apparently to thank for Earthbound getting a VC release. Apparently a flood of Miiverse posts and the like wanting Earthbound is what inspired them to do that. That's...you know, probably not true, since doing something like this isn't a magic wand type of deal, but it's nice all the same.
Of course, the bit I'm most interested in, if you couldn't tell, is that the Animal Crossing 3DS XL Bundle is coming to NA, which is the thing at the top of this post. It's not exactly what I want, and I know I'm going to be disappointed by New Leaf, but I want a 3DS XL and my only other options are Washed-out Red or Blue, maybe pink, and the special Pika-Nipples Yellow unit. (Seriously, I bet you can't unsee it now) So I figure, I'm getting New Leaf, I'm getting a 3DS XL and that one's not -bad-. Besides, the version of the game is digital, coming pre-loaded on a 4 gig SD stick (that is easily moved to a bigger stick which is exactly what I'm going to do), so I'll be able to have it available whenever in case I feel like just hopping into it for a bit between Harvest Moon sessions.
There were a few other announcements, but those are the main ones that grabbed me in any way, so they're the only ones I'm really concerning myself with bringing up. It seems pretty divisive, with either people being in the "oh shit the is all of the amazing at the same time" camp or people being in the "meh" camp about it. With the people from the former camp being absolutely disgusted at the people in the latter, it seems. Obviously, I'm more in the latter camp since even a sequel to my favorite Legend of Zelda game only has me wary instead of excited, but maybe that'll change when we start getting some more information about it. Still, I guess it's a successful Direct, since they've finally convinced me to part with 220 of my dollars come June 9th, and I'm probably going to pick up a few 3DS games between then and now in preparation for when I actually get my system.
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