Nintendo Direct News January 14, 2015

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Nintendo announced a bunch of new things today! Allow me to skip the fluff and jump right into the exciting wonderfulness.

Fire Emblem fans have a new game to look forward to this year. Although it’s still untitled, the art and character design will still be handled by Kozaki Yusuke. Shin Kibayashi, known for his manga, generated the story content for this one. We don’t know much about the game just yet, other than Nintendo’s promise that the choices you make during gameplay will be bigger, with greater consequences.

  • New puzzle games are launching on the 3DS in May, including two different versions of Puzzle and Dragons (one will feature the Mario universe), and Pokemon Shuffle, which looks a lot like Bejewled, but with Pokemon.
  • Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate now has a release date of February 13, 2015.
  • Nintendo is finally making Wii titles available for download to Wii U. New games available will include Super Mario Galaxy 2, Punch Out, and the Metroid Prime trilogy, with more on the way. These titles will all be available at half price during release week. Count me in.
  • To celebrate the release of Majora’s Mask 3D; Hyrule Warriors will be getting a DLC, which will include Tingle and Young Link as playable characters, along with a new adventure mode map and new costumes. Tingle fights with a balloon and a bag full of rupees, which sounds quite fun!

  • Amiibo fans, rejoice! Nintendo will be launching 11 new amiibo in February, with more arriving in spring. The spring release will include new Mario-themed amiibo.
  • Several games will be adding amiibo modes, including Mario Party 10, which will be launching March 20. A new Toad amiibo will be available for use with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
  • New games from Nintendo and third-party developers were announced. Titles include Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Codename S.T.E.A.M (with amiibo), among others.
  • The original Xenoblade Chronicles will be coming to Nintendo 3DS in April.

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  • Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars will be released on both Wii U and 3DS; with the purchase of one version, you’ll receive a free download code for the other.
  • The most exciting news we leave for last, since Nintendo Direct did things the same way. We’ll be seeing a new 3DS XL model in February. The new version of the console boasts a “C” control stick on the right side, Amiibo & NFC support, faster processing, longer battery life, and 3D face tracking, which allows the camera to follow your face.
  • Last but not least, two customized versions of the new 3DS XL will be available, both for Monster Hunter 4 and Majora’s Mask. Not surprisingly, the Majora’s Mask model has already sold out from most available sources.

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While I personally haven’t played some of the games on this list, fans of Xenoblade and Fire Emblem should definitely be excited for what’s coming next. I’m super stoked about both Majora’s Mask and the customized 3DS XL console; I can’t wait to get my hands on one.

Let us know which announcement you’re most excited about!

Published by Abigail Reinemann