Today's North American Nintendo Direct stayed on mostly familiar territory with a few surprises, including a release date for the next Fire Emblem. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime guided us through the proceedings with a little help from various versions of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
Fire Emblem: Awakening, the first 3DS entry in the long-running tactical RPG series, will hit the U.S. on February 4, 2013. Players will customize their gear, improve relationships for battle bonuses, and meet up with some dude who looks an awful lot like Marth in their battle against the Risen undead.
LEGO City: Undercover, landing in "the first part of next year," will let players the Wii U GamePad to scan the open-world city for collectible items. Protagonist Chase McCain will swap between several costumes to perform different tasks, and kick brick in a combat system that looks to be inspired by Batman: Arkham City.
Wii Fit U will also arrive in the first part of 2013 (how many "parts" does a year have?) with balance board support and a gaggle of new fitness-centric minigames. It comes bundled with a Fit Meter, a small pedometer-type gadget which keeps track of activity in your day away from the balance board. Tape it to your Pokewalker for twice the strolling fun!
Those are just a few of the highlights from the half-hour-long Direct presentation--check out the archived stream for more on the games, and our previous coverage from the Japanese presentation on Pikmin 3 and Wii U's spiffy Google Street View features.
