Where’s Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei?
Nintendo led off the new Nintendo Direct strong with the announcement of a new Fire Emblem game in the vein of Fire Emblem Awakening. Exciting news for many to be sure, but the announcement is somewhat worrying for the status of the crossover game, Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei. Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei was announced almost exactly two years ago on January 23, 2013, and following the announcement, there have been no other details shared outside of vague confirmations that the game was still being worked on. With a new Fire Emblem on the way, it’s looking less and less likely that this unexpected crossover will ever be finished.
Project Treasure is EXTREME
Project Treasure was announced with a small clip of Katsuhiro Harada, chief director of the Tekken series, explaining the basic concept behind the game with perhaps one of the most dramatic developer interviews ever seen. Tense music plays in the background, Harada’s words are repeated with an echo effect to provide emphasis, and there are lots of quick flashes to extreme close-ups on the faces of characters from the game. What makes this even more bizarre is that Project Treasure was announced to be a Free-To-Play title, so it’s hard to say why Nintendo thought it necessary to announce it with such intensity.
Nintendo REALLY Wants You To Buy Codename: S.T.E.A.M.
Nintendo seems to be uncertain about Codename: S.T.E.A.M.‘s popularity, because they announced that if you pre-order Codename: S.T.E.A.M. at Gamestop you would receive a Majora’s Mask pin, despite the games not having any connecting points. Not only this, but it was announced that those with Fire Emblem Amiibos would be able to use them with Codename: S.T.E.A.M. to get their respective characters as playable units in-game. Both of these things seem to say that Nintendo believes that Codename: S.T.E.A.M. isn’t going to sell well, so they’re being forced to try and incentivize fans of other Nintendo IPs to give the game a try. Whether it works or not is yet to be seen, but considering the popularity of all Majora’s Mask items, it certainly can’t hurt.
The New 3DS’ Features Are Explained… Then Explained Again, But Longer
Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime took control of the presentation to introduce the New 3DS and talk in-depth about how it works. To do so, they showed a trailer that discussed some of the new features, such as the pictured C-Stick, Amiibo functionality, and enhanced processing power. After the trailer, Reggie then told us about, well… the pictured C-Stick, Amiibo functionality, and its enhanced processing power. Reggie’s commentary really didn’t add anything to what had been covered in the trailer; the trailer displayed it all rather succinctly, and then Reggie ended up repeating everything that was shown. It smelled of padding out time to make the presentation longer, which is unfortunate since usually Nintendo barely has time to cover all of the games they discuss in each Nintendo Direct.
The New 3DS Will Not Have A Charger…
While discussing the features of the New 3DS, Reggie made note of the fact that the New 3DS would not have an AC adapter included in any of the hardware bundles. While I certainly appreciate Nintendo being upfront with this fact, it leaves a large question dangling in the air– why? Is it to cut costs on shipping the New 3DS? Perhaps they assumed everyone buying a New 3DS would have a compatible charger already? Or is it for something almost comically evil like making sure that the customer would have to buy a new charger along with it if they did not already own one? Just a quick explanation would have been great, guys.
…Or Majora’s Mask (In North America)
As the big reveal at the end of the presentation, Bill Trinen showed us that the New 3DS would be getting a special Majora’s Mask edition. What he failed to mention is that the Majora’s Mask edition does not actually come with Majora’s Mask 3DS, as confirmed on the box above. Now, this wouldn’t be that large of a problem normally; Nintendo sells special edition 3DSs without their accompanying game all the time– Persona Q, Super Smash Bros., and Pokemon X + Y, to name a few. However, it seems that in Europe, the exact same New 3DS model will come with Majora’s Mask pre-installed. This again leaves the huge question lingering in the air: why is it pre-installed in Europe but not in North America? Your guess is as good as mine, but as it stands this seems like it could be trying to squeeze a few extra dollars out of the fans in North America.
Honorable Mention: Kooloo-Limpah!
Nintendo announced that for the Majora’s Mask DLC pack for Hyrule Warriors, one of the playable characters would be the ever-infamous Tingle, armed with his balloon and wallet full of Rupees. Tingle’s inclusion isn’t all that surprising, considering his popularity in Japan and Europe, but that doesn’t make it any less bizarre to see the wannabe fairy in a game with the scale of Hyrule Warriors. Even so, his oddball weapons and strange personality should make for an interesting playable character one way or another.
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