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Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze trailer is cranky, probably needs a nap
Nintendo showed off a new trailer for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze during its Nintendo Direct presentation today. The video briefly spotlights the Wii U game's fourth playable character, Cranky Kong, who was first announced for the game during the VGX awards earlier this month. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was previously scheduled to launch this month, but was delayed to February 21 back in October. Our time with the game at E3 this year playing cooperative multiplayer was largely positive, and at some points "seemed really difficult, even by Donkey Kong standards."
Nintendo Direct round-up: Hyrule Warriors, Dr. Luigi, free Celebi Pokemon
The last Nintendo Direct of 2013 was a doozy, with host Nintendo El Jefe Satoru Iwata delivering plenty of goodies for Nintendo fans and Wii U owners. Watch the whole Nintendo Direct or check out the news highlights here: The Legend of Zelda gets a dose of Dynasty Warriors with Hyrule Warriors, announced this morning and planned for next year. The Wii U game is a collaborative effort between Nintendo and Tecmo Koei. Yoshi's New Island will welcome tourists next spring and the series' original creator, Takashi Tezuka, was revealed this morning as working on the project. Yoshi's Island Zone will also be a free DLC stage in Sonic: Lost World. Bravely Default will courageously add a side-story demo not found in the core game on January 2 through the eShop. Wii Sports Club is hitting the lynx today. Links? That would make more sense. Homophones! Wii Sports Club gets golf. Dr. Luigi does the rounds starting this month in North America, travels to Europe for more training in January. Rosalina of Super Mario Galaxy will join the Super Smash Bros. roster. Oh yeah, she's also bringing along her Luma.
Use Pokemon Bank by September 30, get free Celebi
Pokefans that download the Pokemon Bank storage app for Pokemon X/Y and access their Pokevault by September 30 will be offered a free Celebi, this morning's Nintendo Direct announced. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata noted that Celebi will "also available during the free trial period" for the storage app, so you won't need to pay the annual $4.99 fee to get your legendary Pokemon.
Watch two whole minutes of Mario Kart 8 right here
Actually, make that two minutes and four seconds of high-octane Nintendon't-know-how-to-slow-down kart racing. Mario Kart 8 will launch in spring 2014 on Wii U and will feature new buggy-type vehicles, as announced during today's Nintendo Direct livestream.
Yoshi's Island Zone is one of two Sonic: Lost World DLC stages, out now
Sonic: Lost World will receive two pieces of downloadable content on Wii U, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced during today's Nintendo Direct livestream. The DLC stages will be based on Nintendo properties, the first being a level pulling inspiration and elements from Yoshi's New Island, Nintendo's 3DS entry in the series due out in spring 2014. Called Yoshi's Island Zone, the first piece of DLC is available now for free, and has Sonic "speeding through areas filled with pipes, coins, Shy Guys and Piranha Plants." A brief look at the level can be found in the archived Nintendo Direct presentation.
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Kirby: Triple Deluxe includes Kirby Fighters, Dedede's Drum Dash modes
Kirby: Triple Deluxe, the pink puffball's upcoming 3DS game, features a Super Smash Bros.-like mulitplayer mode, as well as a rhythm platforming mode starring King Dedede. Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata revealed the modes in this morning's Direct broadcast, but didn't offer a western release date, and the game remains pinned to a 2014 window. As for the new modes, The Smash-like one is imaginatively called Kirby Fighters, and it's based around 10 of the hero's copy abilities (the main game offers 20 including four new ones). Kirby Fighters can be played alone (presumably with bots), or with up to three other players, although it wasn't noted which of local and/or online play it supports. Meanwhile, Dedede's Drum Dash features Kirby's regal rival in a rhythm platformer. King Dedede bounces on drums across the two 3DS screens, with players tapping buttons in time to music to help him avoid enemies and collect coins. While Iwata made mention of high scores, it wasn't noted if Dedede's Drum Dash supports leaderboards or any other online components. While the game proper remains without a release date in the West, it's only a few weeks away from hitting Japan on January 11, which hopefully augurs for further details soon.
NES Remix mixes up 16 games, available starting today on Wii U eShop
NES Remix, a mashup encompassing elements from 16 NES games, will be made available today on the Wii U eShop for $14.99, Nintendo revealed during this morning's Nintendo Direct. The reveal trailer showed stages from Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Ice Climber that weren't quite the same scenes we saw on the NES years ago. For example, Link was hopping over barrels in DK in place of Mario, while World 1-2 of SMB was mirrored and being played backwards.
Chibi-Robo returns January 9
Helpful Chibi-Robo with a heart of gold is back and looking for NostalJunk beginning January 9. Revealed during today's Nintendo Direct, the new game, Chibi-Robo Photo Finder, will be exclusive to the Nintendo eShop, where a demo will also launch "soon." The game tasks players with a real-life photo hunt, as they take photos of objects based on silhouettes with their 3DS, which are then incorporated into the game. NostalJunk Challenges will also be added shortly after launch, along with some insane-looking minigames. No word yet when actual Chibi-Robos will be produced for home use.
Rosalina, Luma to pummel little ones in Super Smash Bros.
Rosalina will bring along a Luma to help her knock around other Nintendo characters in Super Smash Bros., this morning's Nintendo Direct revealed. Footage showed her controlling Luma from afar with her wand as well as fighting along beside it.
Dr. Luigi announced for Wii U, hits eShop this month
Dr. Luigi, an other-sibling-themed spin on Dr. Mario, closes out the Year of Luigi with a bang when it hits the Wii U eShop on December 31 in North America - as for Europe, the doctor isn't in until January 15. Dr Luigi features an online mode for 2-player biological warfare, and traditional Dr. Mario-like modes that support online play. As revealed in this morning's Nintendo Direct, Dr. Luigi plays like the classic 90s puzzler, with players trying to align capsules with color-matching viruses. The most obvious twist is that Dr. Luigi's main mode, Operation L, features L-shaped blocks of two capsules fused together, with at least three matching-color blocks within the block. So, while players have to match four colors together, it's still easier than the original Dr. Mario; as Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata explained during the Direct broadcast, play will be swifter, but less punishing in terms of hitting a Game Over screen. If players prefer the traditional single-capsule, two-colors-matching mechanics of Dr. Mario, they can take up the Retro Remedy mode, which features button controls, or Germ Buster, which let you position capsules using the touchscreen and stylus.
Wii Sports Club adds Golf
Wii Sports Club, the Wii U HD-make of Wii Sports, adds Golf to its roster today, including a course based on NES classic Golf. As revealed in this morning's Nintendo Direct for Europe and North America, the additional sport is being made available on the eShop today. As the image above shows, you can watch the GamePad as you make your swing to see your club impact with the ball. Per the other modes, you can take Golf for a spin in a 24-hour free trial. You'll then have to pay $10 to permanently unlock it as an individual sport, or cough up $2 to unlock all available sports across a 24-hour period.
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy to get side-story demo on January 2
A demo for Bravely Default: Flying Fairy will reach the eShop on January 2 and follow a side-story not featured in the game itself, Nintendo announced during their Nintendo Direct event this morning. The full game will is set to fly on February 7 and is getting a statue-less collector's edition.
Yoshi's New Island arriving in spring 2014 [Update: Trailer added]
Nintendo announced that Yoshi's New Island will launch in spring 2014 for 3DS during today's Nintendo Direct livestream. What's more, the series' original creator Takashi Tezuka is working on the project. Yoshi's New Island was first announced in June and was originally expected to launch this holiday season. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata also announced a new Wii U action game known as Hyrule Warriors during the stream.
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'Hyrule Warriors' 3D action game announced for Wii U [Update: Trailer added]
Nintendo announced Hyrule Warriors during today's Nintendo Direct livestream. Gameplay video for the Wii U action game showed The Legend of Zelda's Link hacking and slashing enemies with an over-the-shoulder camera angle similar to the Dynasty Warriors series. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata stressed that the game is not a new installment in The Legend of Zelda series, but is a collaborative effort with Tecmo Koei. Hyrule Warriors, which is not the game's final name, will launch in 2014.
Watch the last Nintendo Direct of 2013 (probably) right here [Update: It's over!]
Just when we thought we were out... Nintendo pulls us back in. 2013 isn't done just yet, because the House of Mario wants to end the Year of Luigi with one more Nintendo Direct. The official line is that today's broadcast is on Wii U and 3DS software due before the end of spring 2014, but if 2013 has taught us anything, it's not to trust the official line. Who knows where we'll be by the end of proceedings - perhaps we'll be sinking beneath a deluge of release dates and juicy details, or maybe recovering from the sight and sounds of Nintendo execs singing carols for 30 minutes straight (shudder). Instead, let's deal in certainties: You'll be able to watch your pick of the North American, European, and Japanese Direct streams right here on Joystiq. They're all scheduled to start rolling at 9AM ET (6AM PT, 2PM UK time), and as ever we'll have the North American stream up top, and the European and Japanese streams below the break. We'll also be serving up the stories as they come in - even if they're limited to a reluctant breakdown of Reggie's crooning abilities, or lack thereof. Update: While the stream is no longer live, feel free to pretend it's all happening right now as you watch the Nintendo Direct replay we've embedded above. Here's all the news from the event.
