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Nintendo Direct roundup: Multiple Sonics, Luigi and Best Buy E3
This morning's Nintendo DIrect, hosted by the ever gracious Satoru Iwata, covered NIntendo's plans for the summer. The company has another Nintendo Direct planned closer to E3, since it isn't holding a press conference at the mega show. Here's the highlights from this morning: Sonic: Lost World was confirmed as a Wii U and 3DS exclusive. This comes after yesterday's trademark, domain registration leaks. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons will be discounted at $4.99 for the first three weeks after launch on the Nintendo eShop May 30. Mario and Sonic are teaming up again to sell millions of copies in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. No release window was given. Super Luigi U is both downloadable content and a standalone product. The Wonderful 101 are set to save the Wii U the best they can on September 15 in North America, flying into Europe on August 23. Sega's Game Gear lives again with several more games for the 3DS virtual console. And, finally, if you can't attend E3, Nintendo will hold special demo sessions of unreleased games at Best Buy. Specific locations will be detailed in the future.
More Sega Game Gear titles coming to virtual console
During this morning's Nintendo Direct, company CEO Satoru Iwata announced more titles from Sega's Game Gear handheld were on their way to the 3DS via the Virtual console service. We've placed the announced line-up after the break.
Play unreleased Wii U games at Best Buy during E3
In a "one more thing" moment on the latest Nintendo Direct, Big N president Reggie Fils-aime announced a special partnership with Best Buy. During the week of E3, the big box electronics store will be hosting playable demos of unreleased Wii U games. Presumably, these will be the games that Nintendo is showing off during the industry's annual trade show, but Fils-aime did not reveal specific titles. The week of E3, incidentally, begins June 9. Your friendly Joystiq staff will probably be too busy to make it to Best Buy though.
Wonderful 101 arrives on Wii U September 15 in NA, August 23 in EU
Nintendo has revealed that Wonderful 101 will land on the Wii U on September 15 in North America and on August 23 in Europe. Coming from Platinum Games, Wonderful 101 sees players wielding ordinary citizens as weapons. It's as nutty as it sounds.
Super Luigi U arrives as DLC June 20, packaged standalone August 25
The Super Luigi U DLC for New Super Mario Bros. U is being released as a digital download for the game on June 20 in both North America and Europe. However, it's also coming to retail as a packaged standalone. It'll be available August 25 in North America, and July 26 in Europe. The DLC will be priced at $19.99, while the standalone is $29.99. You won't need NSMB U to play the packaged game. This morning's Nintendo Direct also revealed that Nabbit, a little critter who you chased in the first game, is a playable character in the new content. He'll be available in multiplayer games as an easier alternative to Luigi and the Toads. He won't take damage when he touches enemies, but to balance that he won't be able to use power-ups. Super Luigi U makes changes to NSMB U's campaign to make every course "all-new" - it's essentially a new Luigi campaign.
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games coming to Wii U
A new Mario & Sonic game is headed to the Wii U. Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games reunites the members of the Mushroom Kingdom with Sonic and friends for a bit of snowy competition. Winter Games will offer lots of events that make use of both Wii Motion Plus and the Wii U GamePad, sometimes in combination. For example, the Biathlon uses the Wii Remote for skiing, while the GamePad is used as a scope for rifle sections. (Side note: The Biathlon is a weird event.) Other events shown include bobsledding, snowboarding, skiing, skating and more. Launch timing was not announced, though winter seems like a good bet.
Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons discounted for first three weeks on eShop
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons was previously announced to launch on the Nintendo eShop on May 30, but now we know its price, which will be discounted for a short time. The game will launch on May 30 for $5.99, but for the first three weeks it'll be one dollar off. From May 30 until June 20 it will cost $4.99, so get the complementary Zelda games for $10. Although complimentary Zelda games sounds so much better.
Sonic: Lost World announced, launches 'exclusively' for Wii U, 3DS
Sega and Nintendo have entered into a "worldwide partnership" on three upcoming Sonic games, and the first fruit borne from it is Sonic: Lost World. It's coming to Wii U and 3DS, and there'll be more news on it prior to E3. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said on this morning's Nintendo Direct: "Sonic: Lost World is a brand new action-adventure platforming game that will launch exclusively on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS."
Watch this morning's summery Nintendo Direct right here [update: and it's done]
We're not sure today's Nintendo Direct will announce much in the way of new Wii U games. Well, it' unlikely to reveal any new EA ones, anyway. What we do know is that the North American broadcast covers Wii U and 3DS games coming in the summer. As ever, the North American stream intertwines with simultaneous ones from Europe and Japan. Ninty's Euro division says its stream is about spring and summer Wii U games. Should you prefer, you can find both those streams after the break. We hope you're ready to rumble, because this summer party gets started at 10AM ET (7AM PT, 3PM UK) right here on this post, right here on this Joystiq. We'll have all the news for you as it's revealed, like lots of little suns peeking out from behind an Iwata-shaped cloud. Update: It's all over, friends. And there was a new game...
