SUPER NINTENDO WORLD DIRECT: November 11

[Nester the Lark]

Direct:



Press Release

Quick thoughts:

Awkward intro, but I think the movie, itself, looks pretty good. Jack Black sounds really good as Bower. My first impression is positive.

[Shrikeswind]

First impression for me, unedited from the private Discord I first posted it to.

Surprisingly, this movie actually looks like it'll be really good. Surprising exactly nobody, Mario's VA is not a contributing factor to that opinion. Like, it's not bad and this is an opinion based on all of about two lines. But it's very mid. Good news is, it's not just Chris Pratt as Crisp Rat. But the performance is blandly safe, which is a far cry from Jack Black's awesome performance as Bowser or the hilarious surprise that Illumination's animation team can make something gorgeous.

Also here's the trailer on its own.

[Nester the Lark]

Maybe it's because there's such an emphasis on him in the trailer, but it's hard not to think that Bowser won't be the highlight of the movie. It's a little weird to hear him talking when he first opens his mouth, but the voice fits him well enough that I want to hear more of him. Also, Jack Black is doing an actual voice, and not just his normal speaking voice. (Same with Keegan-Michael Key as Toad.)

Chris Pratt... is fine. I don't think it sounds quite like his normal speaking voice, so he is doing something. It's not Charles Martinet's high-pitched voice, nor the gruff sound of Bob Hoskins or Lou Albano. If anything, it's closer to Peter Cullen from the original Donkey Kong cartoon in the early '80s. More of a "regular" voice, but I do hear some weight behind it.

I wonder if the criticism stems more from the baggage Chris Pratt brings with him rather than the performance, itself.

[Shrikeswind]

I mean Chris has a lot of baggage to unpack even ignoring both the very real libel and slander and the simple fact that Chris is a really boring actor because so many of his characters are just Crisp Rat, generic everyman protagonist (re: white guy with barely any more personality than "sarcasm.") But even ignoring the baggage, Chris is definitely doing something (in those two lines) to show he's going to try to make Mario a unique performance, but it's the absolute bare minimum. It's really just fine at best, and with as energetic of a character as Mario, and especially with the rest of the cast being as energetic as Khary "Cyborg" Payton, Charlie "Pepe Silvia" Day, and Jack "I need no exemplifying nickname" Black, "fine at best" really just doesn't cut it.

[Nester the Lark]

[Da Robot]

Quick predictions

- Zelda trailer or future Zelda direct info.
- DLC updates for Pokemon S/V, FE:E, Splatoon 3, MK8.
- Pikmin 4 info.
- FE4 remake?
- Advance Wars release date.

Less likely.
- Game Boy and GBA on NSO with a 6 month plan.
- F-Zero (I heard a rumor, probably nothing though).

I want to say something Metroid but it feels unlikely at this point.

[Nester the Lark]

OK, overall, I didn't get too excited about this Direct, but there are a few things of note.

- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC Wave 3 & 4

Wave 3 is due out February 15, so not long to wait. I'll talk about this in the XC3 thread.

- Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection

Just a day or so ago, I was wondering to myself why they never brought Etrian Odyssey to Switch, and assumed it was because it didn't have dual screens. And now, here it is! I assume you can still use the touchscreen if playing in handheld mode.

I'm not normally into first-person dungeon crawlers, but I'm a little bit interested in this. It's low priority, though.

- Game Boy for NSO and GBA for NSO Expansion Pass

This was surprising, but hey, I'm glad us low-tier NSO subscribers haven't been forgotten!

- Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 HD Remaster

This has been rumored for a while, and it was more or less confirmed just before the Direct due to some leaked artwork. (Also, the original artist tweeted some cryptic emoji yesterday.)

File these under my "games that got away" category. They came out during my phase of not wanting to play RPGs, even though they looked enticing. I've since regretting missing out on them, and now I'm happy to have the chance to right this wrong.

This will get its own thread.

- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Another two-minute trailer. At this point, I assume this game will simply get its own big Direct sometime between now and April.

I'll talk about this in its own thread.

BONUS - Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg

This was not in the NA or EU Directs, but it is being released outside Japan. I wonder if this would be a good Atelier game to try...

Overall

I feel a bit lukewarm about this Direct. Even with Zelda and Xenoblade, I think Baten Kaitos is the most exciting thing for me because it's something I've been hoping for for a long time, and there wasn't much shown of the other things.

Grade: C

[nocturnal YL]

Didn't expect much, didn't get much. I'm glad to have confirmation on Pikmin 4's release date and got a peek on Kirby Wii DX's Magolor Epilogue mode, but there isn't much to get excited about when there's no full-fledged new Nintendo game announcement at all. Just DLC info, release date confirmations and Metroid Prime 1 remaster.

We have remasters of Katamari Damacy, Etrian Odyssey, Ghost Trick and Baten Kaitos, and a new Professor Layton entry being announced. This presentation is trying its best to appeal to mid-2000s players.

And hey, Atelier Marie Remake is coming. I'm glad they didn't just make a console port of Atelier Marie DX (mobile) and call it a day. Kind of hoped the final 25th anniversary game to be a Nelke-styled crossover, but this is good too. I don't know what changes it will bring, but the original is considered one of the easier and newcomer-friendly games even with the time limit present. Except that you'll have to take notes by hand because it's a 1990s PS1 game and not the user-friendly database frontend that modern Atelier is known to be.

[Da Robot]

Man, was I wrong about Metroid not showing up.

I'll admit I didn't realize until now they didn't announce any new games in the direct, but I enjoyed it overall because it felt like it managed to have an acknowledgement of nearly every fan base, especially with the GB/GBA games.

Here's some Mario for you, some Metroid, more Metroid, got some Kirby and look here's some obscure Kirby (shows Tilt N Tumble), Hey! Pokemon fans you can't say we excluded you! (show Pokemon TCG GBC game) Look! Golden Sun, Fire Emblem and look we even remembered that game series Captain Falcon come from! (with a game Falcon isn't in), you like Yoshi? There's a Yoshi Island track in MK8D DLC! Hey! Metroid fans, the shows not over! . . .

It's like outside of Donkey Kong, most of the major Nintendo series got referenced.

The only negative I can think is that Nintendo should have teased more GB and GBA games for future, including games that haven't been re-released yet. Showing Kirby Tilt N Tumble was good, but could have better if the GBA line up could have had WarioWare Twisted or Yoshi Topsy Turvy/Universal Gravitation or some of Bit Generation/Art Style GBA games.

The GB still has unreleased games like Wave Race, F1-Race, Solar Striker, Play Action Football (NA only), Magnetic Soccer (EU only) and there's still the unreleased English translation of X/Lunar Chase.

Another side effect of this, is that there should be less stress over the closure of the 3DS/Wii U eShop now that we know that GB/GBA games are on/coming to Switch.


Pikmin 4's Ice Pikmin are an interesting idea, while the dog/mount creature looks overpowered. So we can freeze water, or just swim thru it on the dog? Does the dog have any weakness?

Vehicle building in Zelda was unexpected, though will it be just for traversal or could we fight or solve puzzle with them. Watch as I beat the final dunegon and boss, using a Thunderbird 2 knockoff!

[Nester the Lark]

Movie Direct incoming!

[Da Robot]

But first, there's the Pokemon Presents on the 27th!

[Da Robot]

I'll admit, that was a terrible Pokemon presentation and I regret staying up to watch it live. If your a Pokemon fan you probably got something out of it like the expected S/V DLC news.

I really think that TPC should have said something before hand about what content was going to be revealed because there were some strange false leads/speculation (Eg: like saying there would be no retro/GB/NSO content in the presentation).

- The promo video focusing on gen 1 sprites (and a balloons being colored red/blue/yellow, with some green in the background) didn't lead to anything . . .
- The theory that a Pokemon Gen 1/2 and 3 and Pokemon Stadium release date/announcement would occur didn't happen . . .
- The Japanese NSO video removing the "no Game Boy connectivity disclaimer" when showing Pokemon Stadium . . .
- The copyright date for a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series/Spike Chunsoft on the Pokemon website being a sign of a new PMD didn't happen . . .

I know I shouldn't have hyped myself up, but yeah, it was pretty meh and that the big surprise was Pokemon Sleep news (first announced all the way back in 2019).

[Nester the Lark]

I'm not sure what I expected from this, but given how it was hyped up as the final trailer, I feel like it wasn't that exciting.

[Nester the Lark]

So, not exactly a Direct, but just 10 minutes of straight-up gameplay?

I wonder if someone had to twist Aonuma's arm just to show off something.

[nocturnal YL]

This game is coming out in 7 weeks. I don't know what's the norm for Nintendo to go in full-scale advertisement mode for a game like this, but with games that aren't as big as Zelda, this usually comes about a month before release. And usually the game wouldn't be shrouded in mystery at this point.

I guess they really want to keep things in wraps for as long as they can.