Let's get this out of the way right at the beginning: Nintendo revealed during this morning's Nintendo Direct broadcast (watch it
here) that it's finally bringing the New 3DS to North America on Feb. 13.
Unfortunately, it appears the company's only giving us the XL version of this stopgap system, as the smaller New 3DS--the one that can be personalized with all sorts of fun and colorful "cover plates"--was completely ignored.
I'm hopeful we'll get the non-XL New 3DS eventually, but I'm not sure I care one way or the other at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to own one of the smaller New 3DSes some day, but I'm plenty happy with my pink-and-white XL and I'm not in any particular hurry to replace it (or my red OG 3DS)--especially since I have yet to buy a Vita.
Anyway, four New 3DS XLs will hit North American store shelves on Feb. 13: a black one, a red one and two special editions (one of which is gold and features a
Majora's Mask design and the other of which is silver and features a
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate design).
Oh, and speaking of
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D and
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, both of those 3DS games will launch alongside the New 3DS XL in North America. Sounds good to me.
A few other 3DS games were revealed during this morning's North American Nintendo Direct, namely the New 3DS port of
Xenoblade Chronicles (due out in this region in April),
Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition (coming in May) and a new entry in the
Fire Emblem series (see screenshot below) that's being called
Fire Emblem If in Japan and supposedly will see the light of day sometime between now and the end of 2015.
I'll be picking up the latter two titles, no question, although I'll very likely pass on
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D even if I change my mind and pick up a New 3DS XL at some point down the road. (I liked what I played of the Wii version of
Xenoblade Chronicles a year or two ago, but I don't have much interest in revisiting the experience.)
The Japanese Nintendo Direct (watch it
here) was far more thrilling for me thanks to a single announcement--that being that a new
Rhythm Tengoku game will be released for the 3DS this year.
As far as I can tell, it doesn't yet have an official name or a solid release date. What is known is that it will feature more than 100 mini-games, with around 70 of them being taken from earlier
Rhythm Tengoku titles and 30 of them being new (including the one seen below).
I'll be pre-ordering this sucker as soon as
amiami.com allows me to do so, of course.
Another interesting 3DS-related announcement made during the Japanese Nintendo Direct revolved around the
Girls Mode series, known as
Style Savvy in North America. Specifically, the 3DS' home region will be getting
Girls Mode 3 on April 16.
It's been a while since I played my copy of
Style Savvy: Trendsetters (the North American version of the second
Girls Mode), so I can't really say what's new about this entry, but it looks interesting all the same, so fingers crossed that it somehow makes its way to our shores in the coming months.
Other than the above, I continue to be impressed by a trio of upcoming Wii U games--
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse,
Splatoon and
Xenoblade Chronicles X--that were shown as part of the North American Nintendo Direct.
All three look absolutely marvelous, although I have no idea when I'll actually get to experience any of them myself, as my home remains a Wii U-free environment. Who knows, maybe that finally will change later this year.
Now that I've had my say, what did all of you think about this morning's broadcasts? Did they satisfy you? Anger you? Or maybe they made you feel some other emotion entirely?
