Nintendo of Canada held their annual holiday media day on Wednesday and presented many of their upcoming holiday titles in playable form. A few games which are recent releases as well as games that are still a ways off were available to play, including Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U.
I missed out on trying Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival but some of the figures were on display and I did get to see them. We will have more coverage on amiibo Festival in the near future!
Here is a list of the games that were present at the event:
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Wii U)
Nintendo released some new details and a few new screens for their upcoming sports title in the last several days. The demo that was available at the event was just a short singles match but it was quite a lot of fun. In my match I played as Mario and of course I took on Bowser. The game plays quite well and the controls are very intuitive.
One thing of note that was kind of interesting is that while the mega mushroom can really give you that added edge in thwomping your opponent (pun fully intended) it can also get tricky when the power up wears off. If timed wrong you can end up out of range of the ball when you shrink just as ball passes by.
The game comes out November 20th for the Wii U.
Yoshi’s Wolly World (Wii U)
Another one of our staffers will be knitting up a full review of this game in the near future so I won’t spoil anything, but this game was a ball of fun today. Again, fully intended that pun there.
This is about the cutest Yoshi title to date, which is saying something with the previous games in the series one of the cuddlier series since the first Yoshi’s Story game out for the N64.
Aside from the softer look and feel to the game, Yoshi’s Wolly World is a serious platformer with a nice challenge. Though the addition of a friendlier winged mode does soften the difficulty for novice players.
Yoshi’s Wolly World is now available for the Wii U.
Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)
Finally in playable mode the game looks amazing. With a definite vibe and feel of the Monster Hunter games, Xenoblade Chronicles X is simple to pick up and play while at the same time very deep and complex. Like any good RPG there is a ton of items to pick up, gear to customize and things to do.
And speaking of customization you can fully customize your character when you start the game. I didn’t get a chance to try this out today though in fairness to the others in attendance (getting a character just right can take a lot of time) but I did get to play for a good chunk of time in the start of the game.
In the demo you’re trying to get your character from the point he was taken out of stasis to the marooned ship, New Los Angeles. You have two routes you can take: a quick route filled with high level creatures or a longer path filled with weaker creatures. Being new to the game and not the most adept at the genre (from my time with Monster Hunter) I chose the longer path.
The battle system is nice and weapons, especially the guns, auto-attack. This frees you up to do a lot of the tertiary things like keep your self out of danger and keep you and your team healthy.
Xenoblade Chronicles X will release on December 4th for the Wii U.
Super Mario Maker (Wii U)
See our review of the game here.
Super Mario Maker is now available for the Nintendo Wii U.
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon (3DS)
In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, the player will be transformed into one of 20 Pokémon as they set out on an adventure in a world inhabited solely by the 720 discovered Pokémon. As in previous games the dungeons are randomly generated, so you’ll never explore the same dungeon twice.
Also from what I was told which Pokémon you become is based on how you answer a few questions to start the game. Sort of like a personality quiz similar to how your character look is chosen in Animal Crossing.
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon will be released on November 20th for the Nintendo 3DS.
The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes (3DS)
The demo was showcased at the event. See our demo impressions here.
The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes is now available for the Nintendo 3DS.
Yo-kai Watch (3DS)
The demo was showcased at the event. See our demo impressions here.
Yo-kai Watch will be released on November 6th for the Nintendo 3DS.
[…] Super Mystery Dungeon has been released. We had a little bit of hands on time with the game at the Nintendo Canada media event and this game is pretty […]