Nintendo Direct 06-18-24 - Predictions, Hopes, and Followup

[Jotari]

3 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

This was probably one of the best direct's over the Switch's entire life cycle, objectively speaking. Not a whole lot for me personally.

 

Though Dragon Quest looks great, the announcement of 1 & 2 HD is a big deal.

 

Phantasian on consoles is good. I've heard good things.

 

Finally a Saga game whose characters don't look like inbred demon muppets.

 

Metroid Prime 4 is finally here.

 

Looks like Fire Emblem is probably next gen or cross gen. Same for any future licensed Warriors games. Probably the right call.

 

My brother will be delighted with new Mario Party and Ace Attorney games.

Edgeworth 2 getting a localization is a pretty big deal. I'll definitely buy it, though I'm not sure I'll play it. Moral compass, lol. Will be weird adjusting to the official names that are guaranteed to be completely different to what the fantranslation went with.

Edited June 18 by Jotari

[Dayni]

The maybe final Switch direct? Better to assume there'll be some stuff still, but I just have the feeling an announcement for the next big thingtm is coming this year and this will be about it for major Switch stuff. Supposedly not today though. Supposedly. Just, don't expect your heart's desire. Don't get your hopes up. That is the way to disappointment.

Spoiler

16 seconds late, tut tut. Start off with Luigi and Mario running from bees, only for Luigi to Wile E. Coyote off a cliff and they open a portal only to reveal it's Mario & Luigi getting a new game? Get a gameplay montage as they explore another world (L&M Isekai) and combat looks about as you'd expect I suppose, not much for me to say here. Bunch of socket heads, an island with a boat and the game's called Brothership. It's out 7th November. And yeah, it's been 9 years huh. Who's the dev? Next is NWC: NES Edition which was already known and confirmed 80 challenges with online. Speedruns are confirmed and competitive, out 18th July. Next we get a Fairy Tail game and apparently it's from the end of the manga? So it's a real time RPG? Couldn't tell too much and the date is Winter, so a bit vague. Next is a game called Fantasian (with Sakaguchi and Uematsu involved) that I'm pretty sure is a mobile game originally and it had to adapt the mobile combat with flicks, it's also out Winter. Next Nintendo Switch Sports gets a Basketball update (Well that's late) that has 4-player, so that's not too bad. It's out in the Summer which is too vauge for the time left. Next is a trailer for some futuristic place and a little robot pops out of it's room to go exploring what was obviously a desolated world, I saw that coming and I wonder what about Mio Memories in Orbit will stand out. It's out next year. Disney Illusion Island gets a free new storyline with a detective involved today, neat. Then Hello Kitty gets a game that's definitely trying to be Animal Crossing, but next year. Then there's a sports game with Loony Tunes involved and it's out Autumn. Then Among Us gets the update with new roles today.

The next game is a monster raising game called Famagia where you have farm sim and monster raising elements with combat that feels like it's RPG Pikmin to be honest. It comes out 1st November. Then we get a DKC Returns port that does not impress at all visually. When I'm saying that, oof. It has the 3DS levels, but it really doesn't seem impressive. It's out 16th January. We then get two staff wielders, a big bird and that's the Dragon Quest HD2D revealled. It's just III apparently, poor everyone who was hoping for the trilogy. Fair enough about some of the monsters in motion, that troll looked pretty cleanly animated. It's confirmed for 14th November. Then the notes for the series play and we get the reveal of the first two, coming out together next year. So hey, it happened. Yuji Horii's still around huh. Next is the Funko Pop game, fuck that noise. I'm not interested. Next we get Luigi's Mansion II again, which is out 27th June so we won't see it next time, The New Denpa Men (Is this actually new?), which has co-op and I can see people getting into it but it's FTP and out July 27th. Then we get Metal Slug Attack Reloaded, which isn't Metal Slug Tactics and has multiplayer for the combat and it's out today, RIP Tactics. Then there's Darkest Dungeon II which hey that's alright, out 15th July.

Next is some more NSO stuff, with the LttP + 4 Swords GBA port, Zero Mission (Sick), Turok and Perfect Dark (Actually pretty solid lineup, especially with multiplayer for Perfect Dark), out today. Then we get a game called Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, which is a tactics game where you summon people into objects and fight with them? I didn't look right, it's out next year. Then there's an MvC collection where MvC 1 + 2 are 2 of the seven games, no 3. If you want the other games that's neat. They keep meming on us though. It's out some day. Then we get a new Mario Party (SMP Jamboree) and they explore the boards and I have no idea about that, so moving on. It's even out October 17th, so that will be.... maybe okay? No idea. Next up is a Legend of Zelda game in the Link's Awakening style that looks like it might be new or an Oracle remake. Then Link gets absorbed and instead Zelda's the protag now. IT'S HAPPENING. We instead play Zelda in a new game called Echoes of Wisdom. It finally happened and I'll admit I don't know how to feel about the Link's Awakening style. A good chunk of Hyrule has been put into the void and Zelda fights with a staff that can copy objects and summon them (Speedrunners will shatter this game) and hey, that's different enough. Monsters can be copied too, making Zelda a summoner as well. this might just be the highlight. You know what, I'm intrigued. She even used beds to climb up. It's out 26th September, which hey it's a Zelda game this year.

Then we get Just Dance again. Eh, it's another year of this. It's out October. Next is a Lego Horizon Adventures- Wait Horizon is on Switch now. But it's a LEGO game anyways, so cool for those who want that. It's out Winter. Stray then gets a port what the fuck I wasn't anticipating that would happen. Sure, looks worse, but I didn't expect it at all. It's also Winter. Then there's that Hobbit game with the Shire sim. It's exactly what you'd expect. Also out Winter. Then we get Ace Attorney Investigations finally coming out it's finally here! The sequel gets an international release at last and looks to have . It's out 6th September, pretty soon too. Then there's another game where they protag's world gets apocalypsed and a ghost gets him stuck inside a school where some cutesy invaders attack and you probably lose people regardless (and of course it's the Danganronpa people), called The Hundred Line, Last Defence Academy out next year. Then there's a remake of Romancing SaGa 2, which seems like an unfortunate choice made with how the other SaGa titles have been received. It's out 24th October though. The final trailer looks like It's Metroid alright, but is that a new ship? Maybe. Anyways, it's a Metroid Prime for sure, but yeah, a bunch of Space Pirate and it's confirmed Metroid Prime 4 Beyond, confirmed out 2025. It's a 2itch launch title calling it now.

TL;DR: Oh look, surprises can happen (Stray? New Mario & Luigi? Ace Attorney Investigations 2?). Nevertheless, still feels like the successor is being prepped for. Highlights personally? Echoes of Wisdom..... I mean, I'm not surprised the list is short and it felt like MP4 was there to give the direct something big. The NSO titles added are neat and all but it still feels small enough total, most of those 2025 titles are the first three months but still, kinda underwhelms. Calling it now, September Direct either is the announcement or is disappeared to allow for the announcement.

3 minutes ago, Florete said:

Metroid Prime 4 is not cancelled!

Genealogy remake, however, does not exist.

Back on the road everyone!

[vanguard333]

13 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

1. A brand new 2D Zelda game. There hasn't been a new 2D Zelda game since Tri Force Heroes back in 2015; the closest thing to a new one being the Link's Awakening remake back in 2020. I would love to see a new 2D Zelda game be announced.

To say I got what I hoped for would be a massive understatement. I had somehow forgotten to also hope for a game where Zelda is the protagonist, and even then, I would've only hoped for a spin-off, not the next mainline 2D Zelda game!

I am so happy right now: a brand new 2D Zelda game, and it's a game where Zelda is the protagonist! That's awesome. I also really like the echo mechanic; being able to create copies of objects and enemies is awesome, and it seems there's a limit to either the number of objects that can be on-screen at once or how long they can be on-screen, which will definitely keep it from being too overpowered.

 

22 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well it's not an Oracle game they've been making all this time with the Link's Awakening engine, it's a whole new Zelda game finally actually playing as Zelda (outside of the CD-I)

Yeah, I saw the direct. I originally was hoping for a brand new 2D Zelda, and this is even better than I was hoping for.

One small correction that's somewhat beside the point: Zelda was playable in Spirit Tracks; she just wasn't the protagonist.

 

The rest of the direct was also pretty good. I was mostly imagining just a bunch of remakes and ports, and, while there were plenty of those, I was surprised by how many new games were announced as well.

A brand new Mario & Luigi game is definitely cool. Metroid Prime 4 finally being shown is also really cool; since the ship flies off after Samus starts moving, I wonder if we will be able to have the ship do various things in the world like in Prime 3.

HD-2D remakes of the first three Dragon Quest games is quite interesting. That said, these three games have had plenty of remakes and remasters, while I can't find the original versions anywhere. Seriously; I can't find any ports of the original NES versions anywhere, while the 16-bit remasters are available on Nintendo eshop and now they're getting HD remakes. Are the original versions just doomed to be lost to history?

When I saw the Switch port of Stray, my first reaction was, "Huh; I thought that game was already on the Switch." I'm just not interested in Stray.

[Hrothgar777]

Millions of Fans: "Hey, Nintendo, you know how we've been holding our breath for that Genealogy remake the last 3 years or so? Well, we were thinking, since the Switch is almost done, you could-

Nintendo: "Ah, say no more. We know what you want, fellow hip trendy youth."

Millions of Fans: "Really? Does that mean-

Nintendo: "FUNKO POP! Yes, a Funko Pop video game! See, we can take a hint!"

Edited June 18 by Hrothgar777

[maru]

It's cool to see Metroid Prime 4, but the main thing I was wondering was whether it would return to the more solitary feeling of the first game — Prime 2 still largely felt desolate and alone, but you had a "report", someone you spoke to, and it shattered the idea of just being absolutely alone figuring out what happened to a place. 

[Jotari]

37 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

One small correction that's somewhat beside the point: Zelda was playable in Spirit Tracks; she just wasn't the protagonist.

Well if we're going to be really pedantic, she's also playable in Super Smash Bros. and Hyrule Warriors as well (and probably some other stuff). But I think the spirit of my meaning was clear. This is the first Zelda game that we can really say is Zelda's Zelda game.

[Florete]

18 hours ago, Florete said:

If Metroid Prime 4 doesn't appear here, it's cancelled.

If Genealogy remake doesn't appear here, it doesn't exist.

Quoting myself for context.

While I was dead serious about MP4, I want to say now that I was actually not 100% serious about Holy War. If there's a September direct I think it's possible to be revealed there for an early 2025 release, like Engage was. I do not think it will be a Switch 2 exclusive, though, unless it is actually still years off. The main thing keeping this idea alive for me is that we know from internal numbering that there is a missing FE title between TH and Engage.

[EricaofRenais]

Ok one game I want the new Zelda which looks fun.  For me nothing else I really care for, but I was not expecting anything so a new Zelda is better then I thought it would be.  

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm a bit overwhelmed. Still my earlier prediction that the Direct would just be filling time would be too harsh. There were some good things. Metroid Prime 4 looked very promising, the Mario and Luigi rpg has potential and the Edgeworth games being released in the west is very nice. Its all decent enough. It just lacks the wow factor.

The biggest disappointment for me is actually the Zelda game. I've long been a fan of the idea of giving Zelda her own game and I feel this one isn't giving the princess her due. On a personal level I think BOTW Zelda would be the ideal protagonist, but her absence isn't much of a problem since any Zelda has potential. My issue is more that the game feels like a quirky side game rather than a big project that would make better use of Zelda. And I'm very much not a fan of the playmobile artstyle they used in Links Awakening and now use here too. 

Edited June 18 by Etrurian emperor

[Fabulously Olivier]

They should have called this one The Legend of Link. Because that would be hysterical.

[Etrurian emperor]

16 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

18 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

 

I wonder what type of robot food item they will send back in time to prevent the Imprisoning War; a robot celery stick? A robot asparagus? A robot broccoli?

Zelda's the sage of time again so she can just go do the time traveling herself this time around

[Zerius]

4 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

They should have called this one The Legend of Link. Because that would be hysterical.

Fr its such a Missed opportunity plus we weren't expecting for Zelda to be playable for the first time in that new Legend of Zelda game so a game called Legend of Link would've been better

 

Quoting Myself:

About the direct it's mediocre at best and i'm really not mad about it, the direct showed and gave us a lot of interesting good games especially Metroid Prime 4, i'm really interested on the new Mario Party game, Mario/Luigi RPG game & Dragon Quest III other 2 games since I played those franchises before still I hope they don't bomb the direct with a lot of Farming RPG games soon when they do that again in another direct it'll just sound like there about to send Harvest Moon into the direct which is another farming game and we all know people from the commentaries are about to talk or quote about them, still my feeling towards my expectation are a bit high for me.

Edited June 18 by Zerius

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Well. This was my tentative preface to my monthly writeup of games

Quote

I’ve been in the mood for some zelda-like games. Nintendo may be done making them, but I don’t have to be done playing them.

But then again still accurate? I can't really say that I manifested a new classic Zelda game based off this trailer. That's a spinoff. Congrats to Grezzo (I'm guessing?) for getting to do a whole game. I can't say it looks particularly good. I winced when I saw the looooong inventory of objects you can plant down. The biggest pace breaker of zelda games is having to dig into your inventory for the thing you need, and zelda games have gotten strictly worse at this since the move from 3DS to Switch. Can you really only equip one object at a time...? Also, and I don't wanna be mean, it doesn't look good. The art style looks cheap. Chibi without any attempt at expressiveness. It works better as an Earthbound-like rpg, where characters with vacant stares give you dead pan jokes. But Zelda writing is always entirely earnest and unironic. Reminder that THIS is what Links Awakening looked like before the Switch remake

Mario & Luigi Brothership is a big deal though. Legit told people the series would stay dead after their developer shut down, and there's big egg on my face now. I'm hungry for Bro Moves again (instead of consumable items). The Artwork isn't great, but they definitely have the western animation inspired slapstick down. It's not so much Cell Shading as it is gradient shading. It's cheap, but at least it doesn't look bad and that's all I can ask for out of a Switch game. Censoring Luigi's socks is a big No from me, but I'm In for this game.

Metroid Prime's trailer is pretty much exactly what I had in my head "We spent eight years just doing Prime 1 again, no release date". It's legit concerning to see a Metroid trailer with no "And Samus can do THIS now" moment. But the game will probably be fine. I know it's an obnoxious juxtaposition to read me championing a Mario and Luigi game being the same damned thing while also complaining about Metroid Prime being the same damned thing. But at least the mario game is a new Announcement for a dead franchise. Prime 4 was a known quantity. And I'm sitting there looking at the Scan Visor and just getting annoyed. We solved the Scan Visor in Other M. It should always have been automatic, not a separate visor you "equip". This is what you get when you make a sequel to one game instead of its whole franchise.

[vanguard333]

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Well if we're going to be really pedantic, she's also playable in Super Smash Bros. and Hyrule Warriors as well (and probably some other stuff). But I think the spirit of my meaning was clear. This is the first Zelda game that we can really say is Zelda's Zelda game.

Sure, but those aren't mainline Zelda games. Yes; this is the first Zelda game where Zelda is the protagonist.

 

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The biggest disappointment for me is actually the Zelda game. I've long been a fan of the idea of giving Zelda her own game and I feel this one isn't giving the princess her due. On a personal level I think BOTW Zelda would be the ideal protagonist, but her absence isn't much of a problem since any Zelda has potential. My issue is more that the game feels like a quirky side game rather than a big project that would make better use of Zelda. And I'm very much not a fan of the playmobile art style they used in Links Awakening and now use here too. 

I can understand not liking the art style. For me, that art style worked in the Link's Awakening remake because the game takes place inside a dream and the playmobile art style contrasts with the anime-style cutscenes that take place outside the dream. This game presumably isn't taking place within a dream, so it does make less sense here. I personally think the art style has plenty of charm, but I can definitely understand not liking it.

As for the game coming across as a spinoff, it honestly seems very mainline to me: explorable overworld, emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving, etc. It even has an adventuring companion that's a fairy. Most Zelda games have at least one central quirk, be it time travel, sailing, transformation makes, manipulating seasons, flying through the sky on a bird, motion control swordsmanship, crafting vehicles out of zonai materials, etc., so Zelda's echo ability comes across to me as yet another mainline game gimmick.

 

2 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

They should have called this one The Legend of Link. Because that would be hysterical.

Yeah, that would've been hilarious.

 

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Zelda's the sage of time again so she can just go do the time traveling herself this time around

That would be particularly annoying since Tears of the Kingdom thoroughly established and kept consistent that the form of time travel that her powers are capable of are closed time loops. Mummified Ganondorf recognizes Zelda on sight before Zelda travels back in time; her presence changes nothing as she was always supposed to be there. Establishing in a spinoff that she can in fact change the course of events would be rather annoying.

[Armagon]

4 hours ago, Florete said:

Quoting myself for context.

While I was dead serious about MP4, I want to say now that I was actually not 100% serious about Holy War. If there's a September direct I think it's possible to be revealed there for an early 2025 release, like Engage was. I do not think it will be a Switch 2 exclusive, though, unless it is actually still years off. The main thing keeping this idea alive for me is that we know from internal numbering that there is a missing FE title between TH and Engage.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the leaker saw Engage Sigurd and confused it for a remake. 

56 minutes ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

That's a spinoff.

50 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

As for the game coming across as a spinoff, it honestly seems very mainline to me: explorable overworld, emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving, etc. It even has an adventuring companion that's a fairy. Most Zelda games have at least one central quirk, be it time travel, sailing, transformation makes, manipulating seasons, flying through the sky on a bird, motion control swordsmanship, crafting vehicles out of zonai materials, etc., so Zelda's echo ability comes across to me as yet another mainline game gimmick.

If Triforce Heroes can be mainline, then so can Echoes of Wisdom. And honestly, the latter feels more mainline than the former anyways.

Notably, every mainline title save for Zelda 2 has The Legend of Zelda moniker so that's a clear indicator of whether or not the game is considered mainline or not.

 

[vanguard333]

8 minutes ago, Armagon said:

If Triforce Heroes can be mainline, then so can Echoes of Wisdom. And honestly, the latter feels more mainline than the former anyways.

Notably, every mainline title save for Zelda 2 has The Legend of Zelda moniker so that's a clear indicator of whether or not the game is considered mainline or not.

I completely agree. This upcoming Zelda game is definitely mainline.

In any case, even though Zelda can create as many jars as she wants, players will inevitably destroy every jar they find.

[Lord_Brand]

I'm relieved that the "Zelda saves the day" game doesn't just completely and arbitrarily invert her and Link's personalities. They even have Link rescuing Zelda first, so she can then repay the favor with an adventure of her own. That's both clever and respectful.

I'm curious to see if this will affect Zelda's Smash moveset come Smash 6. Depending on what all she gets to make Echoes of, I could envision a moveset that's all Echo objects. Whole new definition of "Echo Fighter" there. :P

Edited June 19 by Lord_Brand

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

so Zelda's echo ability comes across to me as yet another mainline game gimmick.

This is something that was kind of bothering me as I watched it. I was thinking "it could easily be Link doing all of these things" as if it feels too similar to a Zelda game. But that made me question myself because how could a Zelda Zelda game feel different to a Link Zelda game? Link has had so much diversity in what he can do over the years, at this point the Zelda series could release almost any mechanic and it could fit in. The origin of this mechanic is obviously inspired by Tears of the Kingdom and it's construction mechanics, only now in 2D. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I do think it very much feels like a mainline game, but I kind of wish it did feel more like a spin off so playing as Zelda would feel more unique compared to playing as Link...but there's no solid idea as to how that could really be accomplished given how different Link has played to Link over the years.

1 hour ago, Lord_Brand said:

I'm curious to see if this will affect Zelda's Smash moveset come Smash 6. Depending on what all she gets to make Echoes of, I could envision a moveset that's all Echo objects. Whole new definition of "Echo Fighter there". 😛

My thoughts naturally went there too. I feel it likely they'll remove her Phantom and put her Echoes in there instead. Because it's kind of doing the exact same thing and despite Phantom being the only attack in Zelda's moveset actually taken from what she does in one of her games, the interpretation of it in Smash Bros. is really how it functions in Spirit Tracks. Either that or make it not be a special at all and make it a gimmick that lets her clone items or something by filling a meter or taunting or something.

Edited June 18 by Jotari

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Lord_Brand said:

I'm relieved that the "Zelda saves the day" game doesn't just completely and arbitrarily invert her and Link's personalities. They even have Link rescuing Zelda first, so she can then repay the favor with an adventure of her own. That's both clever and respectful.

Yeah; in particular, I liked how, as Link gets pulled into the rift, his first instinct is to shoot an arrow to free Zelda, not only reminding us of his mission to save Zelda, but also implicitly trusting Zelda to figure out what's happening.

Another thing I liked about the opening is that it creates a mystery as to whether or not Ganon is involved and to what extent, as the rift only begins after Ganon's defeat and it is centered around the trident.

 

EDIT: I also like how they avoided giving Zelda a sword & shield and have her rely entirely on the echo magic. One thing I really hoped was that, if a Zelda game with Zelda as a protagonist was made, then she should be a spellcaster, not a fighter. Her creating objects and enemies out of magic was not what I was thinking (I was thinking more along the lines of Hugo Fact's gameplay in Ys Origin, but with a puzzle-solving focus), but it is definitely reflective of her being a spellcaster.

It's also refreshing because it's surprisingly very rare to see a spellcaster be the protagonist of a video game. 

Edited June 18 by vanguard333

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

1 hour ago, Lord_Brand said:

I'm curious to see if this will affect Zelda's Smash moveset come Smash 6. Depending on what all she gets to make Echoes of, I could envision a moveset that's all Echo objects. Whole new definition of "Echo Fighter there". 😛

"So that's it, huh? She's some kinda... Echo Fighter?"

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Notably, every mainline title save for Zelda 2 has The Legend of Zelda moniker so that's a clear indicator of whether or not the game is considered mainline or not.

 

5 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

They should have called this one The Legend of Link. Because that would be hysterical.

Building off of this, had the game been titled "The Legend of Link", we would be dealing with way more "oh, this is just a spin-off, not a mainline Legend of Zelda game!". So I'm glad they forewent such a joke.

Would it be funny if the first Nintendo game to star a playable Zelda lacked "Zelda" anywhere in the title? Yes. Would it have sent the wrong message about what this game is trying to be? Also yes.

7 hours ago, Florete said:

While I was dead serious about MP4, I want to say now that I was actually not 100% serious about Holy War. If there's a September direct I think it's possible to be revealed there for an early 2025 release, like Engage was. I do not think it will be a Switch 2 exclusive, though, unless it is actually still years off.

It's time to cut myself off from the Hopium. Maybe it'll come, maybe it won't. But that shouldn't stop me from appreciating all the other games they have to-

7 hours ago, Florete said:

The main thing keeping this idea alive for me is that we know from internal numbering that there is a missing FE title between TH and Engage.

cranks Hopium valve back up to 100%

8 hours ago, Jotari said:

Edgeworth 2 getting a localization is a pretty big deal. I'll definitely buy it, though I'm not sure I'll play it. Moral compass, lol. Will be weird adjusting to the official names that are guaranteed to be completely different to what the fantranslation went with.

Likewise. I'll play it, sure, just as soon as I beat The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. Which I haven't yet touched. Not even beaten Winston Payne's ancestor once.

8 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said:

Millions of Fans: "Hey, Nintendo, you know how we've been holding our breath for that Genealogy remake the last 3 years or so? Well, we were thinking, since the Switch is almost done, you could-

This might be overstating it a bit. The original FE4 sold about half a million copies in Japan, best as I can tell. And many of those players, I have to assume, aren't gaming anymore. Sure - Nintendo Switch Online has given younger (Japanese-literate) gamers a new chance to play it. And sure - many outside of Japan have played it via fanslation and fanslation, through... less than legal methods. But a full million? Or multiple millions? I'm skeptical of the game receiving that degree of success or exposure*.

An FE4 remake would be lovely, and was my biggest desire going into this Direct. So I was disappointed by a stellar presentation. But, let's not pretend like we're much more than a niche audience.

*I forgot, until now, about the Jugdral characters showing up in Awakening... and Engage... and most of all, Heroes. Given those games' success, you could make a case that the "audience for old JPN-only FE titles getting remade and re-released" is subtantially larger than "audience that has actually played old JPN-only FE titles".

[vanguard333]

Something neat I just noticed from watching the trailer for the Zelda game again: the triangles behind the fairy's head indicate how many echoes Zelda can currently create. Whenever Zelda creates an echo, one of the triangles disappears. I wonder if the number of echoes that can exist at a time can increase through plot progression or exploration, or if it will remain the same amount for the whole game.

 

14 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Building off of this, had the game been titled "The Legend of Link", we would be dealing with way more "oh, this is just a spin-off, not a mainline Legend of Zelda game!". So I'm glad they forewent such a joke.

Would it be funny if the first Nintendo game to star a playable Zelda lacked "Zelda" anywhere in the title? Yes. Would it have sent the wrong message about what this game is trying to be? Also yes.

Excellent point; it would've been hilarious, but it would've also likely led to confusion about if the game is mainline or a spinoff (or quite possibly made people think it will be a side-scroller like The Adventure of Link). I'm glad that they refrained from making the joke as well. 

[Jotari]

17 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

This might be overstating it a bit. The original FE4 sold about half a million copies in Japan, best as I can tell. And many of those players, I have to assume, aren't gaming anymore. Sure - Nintendo Switch Online has given younger (Japanese-literate) gamers a new chance to play it. And sure - many outside of Japan have played it via fanslation and fanslation, through... less than legal methods. But a full million? Or multiple millions? I'm skeptical of the game receiving that degree of success or exposure*.

An FE4 remake would be lovely, and was my biggest desire going into this Direct. So I was disappointed by a stellar presentation. But, let's not pretend like we're much more than a niche audience.

*I forgot, until now, about the Jugdral characters showing up in Awakening... and Engage... and most of all, Heroes. Given those games' success, you could make a case that the "audience for old JPN-only FE titles getting remade and re-released" is subtantially larger than "audience that has actually played old JPN-only FE titles".

Is any of that not equally true for Gaiden, the game they actually did make?  Genealogy of the Holy War has also been available digitally to Japanese fans in some form since the Wii era, being available on Wii, Wii I and (apparently) 3DS. So I don't see it unreasonable to say it has millions of fans. All that being said, the remake probably just plain doesn't exist. The gap between New Mystery and Shadows of Valentia is just as long as Shadows of Valentia and the present day. We mistook the Echoes subtitle to suggest they were going to do more remakes when the entire time it's just been a play on words with Gaiden, and Nintendo hasn't disguised that as they've consistently referred to Shadows of Valentia as Echoes. We probably will see a Genealogy remake some day, but it's clear one has not been planned. Just like they had no plans to remake Gaiden when they made Shadow Dragon on DS. There's even a good chance that, much like New Mystery skipped over Gaiden, we could see Jugdral skipped over in favour of the GBA games. I don't personally want that as I think the GBA games are fine and don't need a remake, but at this point it seems as equally likely as a SNES remake.

[lenticular]

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

This is something that was kind of bothering me as I watched it. I was thinking "it could easily be Link doing all of these things" as if it feels too similar to a Zelda game. But that made me question myself because how could a Zelda Zelda game feel different to a Link Zelda game? Link has had so much diversity in what he can do over the years, at this point the Zelda series could release almost any mechanic and it could fit in. The origin of this mechanic is obviously inspired by Tears of the Kingdom and it's construction mechanics, only now in 2D. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I do think it very much feels like a mainline game, but I kind of wish it did feel more like a spin off so playing as Zelda would feel more unique compared to playing as Link...but there's no solid idea as to how that could really be accomplished given how different Link has played to Link over the years.

For me, what made it feel distinct from playing as Link wasn't really what Zelda could do but rather what she couldn't do. Link has a sword, almost always. If we aren't using a sword then it wouldn't feel like Link. If we aren't using a sword or any of Link's other usual weapons (boomerang, bow, boms, etc.) then it really wouldn't feel like Link. So, yeah, Link could be doing all the things we see, but he couldn't be doing just those things. If we were Link we'd always have the option of saying "to hell with all this summoning nonsense, I'm just going to solve this problem with my sword instead". That we seemingly don't get that option is what will make the game feel distinct, I think.

[Lord_Brand]

6 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

It's also refreshing because it's surprisingly very rare to see a spellcaster be the protagonist of a video game. 

Suddenly getting a mental image of "Puyo Pop but with Zelda". Chuchu Pop?

25 minutes ago, lenticular said:

For me, what made it feel distinct from playing as Link wasn't really what Zelda could do but rather what she couldn't do. Link has a sword, almost always. If we aren't using a sword then it wouldn't feel like Link. If we aren't using a sword or any of Link's other usual weapons (boomerang, bow, boms, etc.) then it really wouldn't feel like Link. So, yeah, Link could be doing all the things we see, but he couldn't be doing just those things. If we were Link we'd always have the option of saying "to hell with all this summoning nonsense, I'm just going to solve this problem with my sword instead". That we seemingly don't get that option is what will make the game feel distinct, I think.

That's a pretty sound analysis. Link can do many things, but there are a few things he always does. For a game like this to work, those things have to be taken away, thus it wouldn't feel like Link. So, a game like this only works if Link isn't the main protagonist. I wouldn't be entirely surprised to hear that's what lead them to make Zelda the protagonist this time around.

Edited June 19 by Lord_Brand

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, lenticular said:

For me, what made it feel distinct from playing as Link wasn't really what Zelda could do but rather what she couldn't do. Link has a sword, almost always. If we aren't using a sword then it wouldn't feel like Link. If we aren't using a sword or any of Link's other usual weapons (boomerang, bow, boms, etc.) then it really wouldn't feel like Link. So, yeah, Link could be doing all the things we see, but he couldn't be doing just those things. If we were Link we'd always have the option of saying "to hell with all this summoning nonsense, I'm just going to solve this problem with my sword instead". That we seemingly don't get that option is what will make the game feel distinct, I think.

Well, we'll need to wait and see on that front. It isn't at all impossible they'll give her a close range striking attack. Because really, how would combat actually work out if it's pure summoning? Summoning spam is going to stop being entertaining very quickly if that's all you can do. Unless combat is going to be more puzzle based and enemies function like a rock paper scissors system where you have to match the right combat to the correct enemy. The bosses I certainly expect to be puzzle based using various echoes from a surrounding area to defeat them.

Edited June 19 by Jotari