Nintendo Direct EU 13/11/13 News Breakdown

Another Nintendo Direct has come and passed, and with it, a wave of new information.

 

 

First, we get brand new footage from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and a brand new trailer. Shibata (Nintendo of Europe CEO Satoru Shibata) introduces a few new characters and locations before a trailer which does include quite a heavy spoiler. Be wary.

Shortly after, Shibata displays more new game footage, this time from Square Enix‘s latest 3DS RPG, Bravely Default, known as Bravely Default: Flying Fairy in Japan. Plenty of new gameplay is shown, including English-language battles and menus, as well as the overworld, of course.

Next up is Mario Party Island Tour for 3DS. The latest in the long-running Mario Party series offers the familiar minigames and board-game fusion, which promises plenty of multiplayer fun with friends. A key thing to note is that to play multiplayer, only one copy of Mario Party Island Tour is needed, up to three other 3DS consoles can run the game without a cartridge thanks to Download Play, a huge boon for those who have pals who own a 3DS, but not necessarily the game.

Afterwards is Inazuma Eleven 3: Team Ogre Attacks, following the release of Inazuma Eleven 3: Lightning Bolt and Bomb Blast earlier this year. Team Ogre Attacks is a sequel of sorts to Lightning Bolt and Bomb Blast, offering a brand new storyline, due for launch February 14th 2013.

Next, Shibata talks about YouTube. Those with a Wii U will know that the Wii U YouTube application is awful. Just, awful. Luckily Shibata promises a new YouTube update which vastly improves the UI and functionality, and interestingly, YouTube compatibility is confirmed for 3DS.

And that’s not all for 3DS updates! Next Shibata confirms Miiverse for 3DS will come in the form of the next firmware update, reportedly coming very soon. How many communities will be available at launch is going to be limited, but more will be available over time. With Miiverse comes Nintendo Network IDs (NNID) for the 3DS, and these can be the same you currently use with your Wii U! There will be more compatibility between the Wii U and 3DS in the near future, but it doesn’t seem like account-tired purchases are here quite yet.

After that bombshell we get Nintendo’s latest eShop Reel, which is a trailer displaying small clips from all the latest games on both the 3DS and Wii U eShop.

And for a surprise, Shibata introduces the 3DS title Nintendo Pocket Football Club, accompanied with the hashtag #NPFC, which went ignored. NPFC has cute, simple pixelated characters, and focuses more on a strategic football-manager style approach to the beautiful game, as opposed to the realistic action of a game like Fifa.

Shibata then confirms some new updates coming for Animal Crossing Plaza for Wii U, the application used for discussing Animal Crossing: New Leaf on Miiverse.

Pikmin 3 has had a few minor DLC packs for it’s Mission Mode, but they have shuffled versions of familiar levels, but now a brand new update and DLC pack will bring new stages and new missions. The update will add the new stages and bring with it two free missions, but the other can be purchased from the eShop.

Next Shibata reminds everyone about the availability of Wii Fit U and Wii Sports Club on the Wii U eShop. Nothing new here.

To finish up, Shibata displays a trailer that has ten reasons why you should play Super Mario 3D World, which includes Super Mario Galaxy’s Rosalina joining the character roster, offering the spin from Super Mario Galaxy as her special ability, giving her a slight boost in midair.

 

And that’s it, that’s the EU Nintendo Direct 13/11/2013. Loads of brand new information, the highlight certainly being NNIDs being compatible with 3DS, hopefully pointing towards a future where the Wii U and 3DS share the level of compatibility we see on the PS3 and PS Vita.