Nintendo Direct 4/17/2013 April 17, 2013

Ladies and Gentlemen, one more time with Mr. Iwata.

Okay, let’s get this all out there right now.  First, the Virtual Console is going to be stepping up on the Wii U very soon.  The biggest surprises without any doubt is the announcement EarthBound will be coming to the Wii U Virtual Console service in North America and Europe this year!  The Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages games, two classics from The Legend of Zelda series originally released on the Game Boy Advance, are being rereleased to the Nintendo 3DS.  For those of you who loved these games because of their unique capability to interact with each other’s story, Nintendo promises all of the linking capabilities of the original games are remaining intact in this rerelease.

What about new retail games?  Well, the 3DS will be getting a long-awaited official sequel to A Link to the Past in glorious 3D.  Donkey Kong Country Returns, which was originally released for the Nintendo Wii, will be getting a 3DS facelift with an entirely new gameplay mode which will improve the experience for handheld players.  Don’t worry, you’ll also going to have the option to play the game as it was originally designed if you prefer.  But I think the biggest announcement is there is also going to be a brand new Mario Party game exclusively for the 3DS this winter, and it is going to bring entirely new boards and minigames which you’ll be able to play with friends online or locally.

On the Wii U front, more Wii U system updates are coming, which will bring faster load times, and the ability to download and install games in the background during gameplay.  Wii Panorama View, which I mentioned during an open editorial I wrote to Nintendo a few weeks ago, is getting a free demo release shortly after the Wii U’s next major system update.  Nintendo promises that you’ll be able to download new videos through the service for about $2 US a piece.

Oh and for those of you interested in the New Super Luigi U DLC for New Super Mario Bros U, you’ll be happy to know that Luigi is bringing all new moves to the game.  He can jump higher than Mario, but it is more difficult for him to stop his momentum.  Because of that, the 82 levels in the original game are being reworked around this.  Oh, and you’ll only have 100 seconds to complete each level.  New Super Luigi U is coming Summer 2013.  You’ll need New Super Mario Bros U to play it.

I know, there is just way too much for me to post up here.  You can be sure I’ll be covering more about all of this news in the days to come!