Peter James Mann
Breathe, Peter. Just take a deep breath in and release fully…
There was, yet again, a Nintendo Direct that was hyped up as epic with huge announcements. And, bruised and beaten by my own self-loathing and hatred for being a Nintendo Fanboy, I emerge humiliated and defeated.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad.
There were many games that were announced during the show and most of them made me feel, well, blank. VideoGameDunkey, a popular YouTube personality, joked about something that actually happened to me twice: I thought there was an Octopath Traveller sequel being announced, only to have it be another game that was literally the exact same game as Octopath Traveller. Luckily, one of them was a spiritual successor, Project Triangle Strategy: Working Title. Yeah, that’s, that’s a title alright.
There was some new stuff to chew on for Monster Hunter: Rise and that Apex Legends was coming to the Nintendo Switch. Which, I have to say, I genuinely thought that was already on the Nintendo Switch. Outer Wilds looks really cool, actually. I’ll probably pick that up, along with Splatoon 3 and maybe Mario Golf: Super Rush if my kids twist my arm a bit. I don’t see myself getting much else on the list, which you can find below at the end of the article.
I posted about this on Facebook, to our own Community page, with joy and excitement for what was to come. There was buzz about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, which I waited for like a lonely puppy. Then, Eiji Aonuma, the producer of The Legend of Zelda series, appeared on the screen. I perked up and I heard him say:
“I’m sure a lot of you saw me and thought there might be news about the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything to share right now.”
“Zh-huh?!”I didn’t know I could make the same noise Link makes when he gets surprised, but I do now. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an alright game to port, but it isn’t one of the more classic games like The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. And the clips they showed made the game feel so much smaller in scope than what I’ve grown accustomed to. They even tried to punch it up to make it feel like less of a letdown with saying how similar mechanics were the grandfathers of the ones we love in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Wow, I did not realize how many times they’ve used colons in their titles. That’s a lot of colons. A legendary amount, am I right?!
Maybe it’s because my son and I have been playing through our Master Mode run still (we have the Master Sword now, by the way, and freed Divine Beast Ruta!), but I was really looking forward to at least more news, or a new trailer, or a picture of someone saying “zh-huh,” into a microphone, or literally anything. But we got a game where we now don’t have to swipe the joy con as much now, instead using the right stick to swipe. That kind of sounds clunky.
I own Super Smash Bros: Ultimate and I’ll be doing a piece on it later in the Dad Plays series, but I’ve been a tiny bit underwhelmed by the characters. Don’t get me wrong, they’re definitely fighter characters and it feels like Soul Calibur or Injustice when they get put in the match, but that’s also my problem with it. It’s more interesting and fun, to me at least, to experience the UFC-like fights between someone like Link and someone like Fox McCloud and who would win. Now, it’s a ton of somewhat obscure characters that all play like Link and Fox with some classic characters sprinkled in.
I will say we are a Splatoon household, so the Splatoon 3 announcement was awesome, but waiting until 2022, barring no delays, is still very far away. And I’m not sure how great Mario Golf: Super Rush is going to be. Golf games, even with crazy courses, are a little too one note for me. I’ve never really been into the sport. It’s a fine filler until another Mario Party or Mario Kart comes out. But just like Mario Tennis, I’m probably going to just wait and see when there’s some news on those other titles first. I won’t even mention all the hardware reveals because, well, I’m not that big into custom hardware. It’s nice to have options though!
Are there any games on the list that you were excited to see? Any ones you wish you heard more on? Let us know below! As always, See you soon!
All the games announced in the February 2021 Nintendo Direct Release:
- Neon White (Winter 2021)
- Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (March 16, 2021)
- Apex Legends (March 9, 2021)
- Hades’ Physical Version (March 19, 2021)
- Tales from the Borderlands (March 23, 2021)
- Monster Hunter: Rise (March 26, 2021)
- Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville (March 2021)
- SaGa Frontier: Remastered (April 15, 2021)
- Famicom Detective Club Bundle (May 14, 2021)
- Miitopia (May 21, 2021)
- Knockout City (May 21, 2021)
- DC Super Heroes Girls: Teen Power (June 4 2021)
- The Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection (June 10, 2021)
- Legend of Mana: HD Remastered (June 24, 2021)
- Mario Golf: Super Rush (June 25, 2021)
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity DLC 1 (June 2021)
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (July 16, 2021)
- No More Heroes 3 (August 27, 2021)
- Fall Guys (Summer 2021)
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity DLC 2 (November 2021)
- Outer Wilds (2021)
- Star Wars: Hunters (2021)
- Project Triangle Strategy: Working Title (2022)
- Splatoon 3 (2022)
Total Colons: 12
