Nintendo E3 2014 press conference recap

What do U want to play?

With E3 2014's Nintendo Direct press conference in the bag, it's safe to say that this may be one of the best E3s ever. That's because, like Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo had an amazingly strong showing of games, with all the franchises you know and love. We expected to be impressed by new Smash Bros. additions, Bayonetta 2, and Xenoblade Chronicles--but we were equally delighted by the new Wii U Zelda, Mario Maker, and Yoshi's Woolly World.

Mii Fighters enter the Smash Bros. arena

Nintendo began with an outstanding, choreographed rendition of a real-life Smash Bros. fight between Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime before revealing some exciting new details about the new title in the series. The two biggest announcements: you can play as your Mii in Super Smash Bros. Wii U, and the game will support the long-rumored NFC figurines.

Amiibo, Nintendo's NFC figure line, will debut this Hoiday season

Super Smash Bros. Wii U is getting NFC figure support called Amiibo. The figures work much like the Skylanders figures and their games. They scan into the Wii U through the Gamepad and will interact with compatible titles. Characters used in the battle will save states and develop its own attributes and skills.

Not only will the new figures work with the new Smash Bros., Amiibo is said to work with games like Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, Captain Toad, and other unannounced titles in the near future. It's still uncertain what the characters will actually do for your gameplay, but judging by the design of the Mario figure they showed on Nintendo Direct, the new figures definitely look to be high quality and are extremely detailed. We can't wait to start collecting them.

Yoshi's Wooly World unraveling on Wii U

Good-Feel wasn't tasked with creating a direct successor to Kirby's Epic Yarn when making Yoshi's Wolly World; they had to create a bit more depth due to the HD nature of the Wii U console. To that end, there's a bit more versatility to the fabric of the game; batches of yarn will form and break apart (particularly eggs, which are now represented by balls of yarn).

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker gives Toad his own spin-off

In a surprise announcement, Nintendo showed off the first footage of Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, a Super Mario 3D World spinoff starring Toad. It was only a brief trailer, but it looks to be those Captain Toad puzzle-action stages from 3D World extrapolated into a full game.

The Legend of Zelda on Wii U takes on an epic scale

Holy frijoles! You're not going to believe it, but Nintendo announced the next full The Legend of Zelda Wii U title. The game is coming in 2015, it looks beautiful in all its cel-shaded glory, and it is completely open world.

Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire updates getting more new evolutions

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were already announced, bringing the X and Y advancements to the GBA classics. Of course, you're getting more than a 3D upgrade and poke-voices added to the decade-old 2D originals. You can likely expect to create your hero from scratch as X and Y allowed when it released late last year.

Bayonetta 2 to include the first Bayonetta remastered for Wii U

Nintendo and Platinum finally decided to placate Bayonetta fans with new footage of Bayonetta 2, and it looks appropriately bonkers. It was a brief gameplay trailer, but we got a couple of huge new details about the project. For starters, we finally got a firm release window of October 2014; and on top of that, Bayonetta 2 will include an updated port of the original game with some Nintendo fan service. We saw the heroine rocking a Link outfit, complete with Master Sword, as well as Samus's iconic armor.

Hyrule Warriors lets you play as Midna, Princess Zelda (with multiplayer)

Nintendo showed another glimpse of the action heavy Zelda title, Hyrule Warriors. Most notibly from the gameplay shown was the new playable characters like: Zelda, Midna, Impa, and Link. Each has their own unique move sets to take on the Ganon's armies.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse gameplay shown

Not to be outdone by Yoshi's yarn-based adventure, Kirby is setting out to prove his transformative abilities can reign supreme in 2015 with a new art form. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse seems to be implementing a clay-based visual style to mix with the pink puffball's yarn-focused repertoire, making for a pretty unique follow-up to the Nintendo DS Canvas Curse.

Xenoblade Chronicles X shows mech wars

Among the hot-and-heavy reveals at Nintendo's show was a new trailer for Monolith Soft's sci-fi RPG Xenoblade Chronicles X, formerly known simply as X. We saw some new story details, with what looks to be a tyrannical dictator antagonist, and spaceships, and lots of long-winded dialogue.

Mario Maker lets you create levels block by block

Nintendo kicked off another trailer that was just a high rez version of the classic 8-bit Mario Bros.--which looked totally amazing in of itself, but then the screen paused and a hand made edits to the level. Mario Maker allows you to play and create your own 2D Mario game in the classic 8-bit graphics and the 2.5D New Super Mario visuals.

Splatoon is definitely the first-ever squid-ink arena shooter

If Nintendo's going to make a competitive online shooter, then darn it, they're going to do it their own way. Splatoon is an original game coming to Wii U where teams of four human-squid hybrids face off to cover the majority of the map with their squad's color.

As a human, you'll be able to cover the map with your color, but a match can't be won with one species, as people will trudge slowly through enemy ink. A squid can dive into their team's ink to cover large distances in short amounts of time. Regardless of what species you're playing as, you'll be able to keep an eye on the map and the paint progress via the Wii U Gamepad. While lagging behind a teammate is a commonplace problem in traditional shooters, the Gamepad offers a pretty simple, yet innovative solution; just tap on a teammate, and you'll blast across the map to meet them. We saw a few other weapons at play (a roller, and some sort of triangle mine), so we still have much to learn before Splattoon splatters on our Wii Us in 2015.

Palutena confirmed for Smash Bros.

To close out their E4 show, Nintendo gave a quick anime teaser, showcasing Link engaging in combat with Pit, with Palutena quickly intervening to shake things up. It turned out the video was simply a reveal of Palutena's inclusion in the new Super Smash Bros. roster.

Nintendo showed off some footage of what Palutena will look like in-game, and she looks like she'll fit in nicely. She had a screen-filling super which prompted her to shout "mega laser!", which sounds appropriate for the context. One GamesRadar editor (who shall remain anonymous) remarked that she "looks OP." The trailer closed out with some more anime footage with Dark Pit, potentially hinting at a new skin for Pit--or a whole new character.

Miyamoto was totally playing Star Fox Wii U

Last but not least, Shigeru Miyamoto made the final appearance right at the end of the E3 2014 Nintendo Direct. He didn't make any specific announcements about any other games that Nintendo is working on, but he was playing a game on the Wii U which had a blurred out screen in the video.

Oh, and there's a ton more Amiibo figurines!

Tbought that Mario was the only Amiibo shown? Think again! Shortly after the Nintendo Direct, Bill Trinen showed off the full suite of Amiibos for Super Smash Bros., and also teased which games will support the figures in the future (for the full list, see our previous Amiibo slide).

Mario Party 10 is all about Bowser

Mentioned only in Nintendo's after-show recap with no footage, Mario Party 10's announcement was a bit of an after-thought. It was briefly discussed by the after-show's hosts, and all we saw was a logo, but we did get one important detail about the new title: It will support Amiibo, Nintendo's NFC figurine initiative.

Live and Direct

That does it for this year's Nintendo Direct--now it's time to get some hands-on at the E3 2014 show floor. Tune back to GamesRadar.com for a host of in-depth coverage; until then, tell us in the comments below which Nintendo announcement brightened your world (and frightened your wallet)!

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