#oneaday Day 1104: Direct to you

I haven't fully caught up on the Nintendo Direct as yet because I was playing Muramasa and got so wrapped up in it that I really didn't notice the time. I also got the bad ending, so now I need to figure out how to make that not happen, but that's a job for another day — I definitely played enough to write about it tomorrow!

I have, however, skimmed some of the headlines, and man, it sounds like that was a complete banger of a Direct. Chrono Cross! Front Mission! Live a Live! 48 new Mario Kart tracks! Xenoblade Chronicles 3! Fire Emblem Warriors! Doubtless plenty more things I haven't seen yet!

After the last Direct I paid attention to (I think it was the Metroid Dread one?) was a fairly moribund affair, they've absolutely come out swinging this time around. While both Sony and Microsoft continue to be really, really, really boring — woo, they each bought one of the companies behind some of the most uninteresting games on the market today — Nintendo continues to set an amazing example by proving that yes, for them, it is indeed all about the games and nothing else.

Even the most hardened of anti-Nintendo fanboys would be hard-pressed to claim that tonight's Direct wasn't full of genuinely amazing stuff — including things that people have been asking for for ages, and things that people have been certain were probably going to happen, but unsure when. And a significant number of them are Switch exclusives, too — all without needing to buy anyone.

I think one of the most interesting things is the number of remakes of PS1-era classics that were showed off in this Direct. That demonstrates pretty clearly that Nintendo has a very good awareness of the people who make up a significant proportion of its audience — and while they're still of course keen to court the family-friendly image they've always had, providing a solid string of rereleased or remade classics for Switch is going to very much endear them to gamers of my age or thereabouts.

Anyway, I'll likely do some more analysis over on Rice tomorrow once I've had a chance to watch the presentation properly, but for now… a hearty, enthusiastic thumbs up. Just the thing to cheer me up after the bleakness of tonight's Muramasa session!