Alright so yesterday when vibes were low I had an idea to lift things up in in here...
Quote reply to this message with your favorite memory of a Direct Announcement.
Be specific: where were you when you were watching, how many tears did you shed, what were your Direct snacks?
I’ll randomly pick one of the (valid) replies tomorrow (Saturday) morning and gift them an eshop game of their choosing, $20 max! (or I suppose credit if a code isn't possible) Include the game you’d be hoping to grab with it in your reply to give the devs some love
I'm really enjoying reading everyone's replies and memories! Thanks for this generous giveaway totofogo and great topic of conversation.
The Nintendo Direct that immediately comes to mind for me is the E3 2014 presentation. I had just gotten super back into gaming the previous year, including purchasing a Wii U and playing a lot more 3DS than I had been. This included venturing deeper into the backwards compatibility libraries for both systems. That led me to playing Kirby Canvas Curse which is a really under-appreciated DS hidden gem. I used to see people chat about it all the time online but as a function of gaming discourse mostly being about the present and the recent past, there's a lot less talk about Wii and DS games now in general. So things that were semi-hidden gems have now become all the more tucked away. (And btw
@MP! I'm right there with you as a huge fan of the January 2014 Direct! That was one of the things that got me back into gaming...the idea of what the new Zelda could be...the promise of HD Wind Waker and Yarn Yoshi...super exciting!)
Anyway, I really enjoyed that game and never expected to see a sequel for it. This was a period where I was playing a ton of Kirby games on DS, too, including Squeak Squad and Mass Attack, so you could say I was undergoing a major resurgence in a Kirby fandom that goes back to my childhood. One of my first games as a child was Kirby's Dream Land. The Animal Kirby plush and a little Waddle Dee gacha with a Maxim Tomato sit proudly in our home. So when E3 2014 Direct showed off Kirby and the Rainbow Curse I was beyond amazed and elated. I really never anticipated that would get its own game. The end product was a bit surprisingly slower-paced but to me it was much better than the reviews suggested (2D platformers in general were under-appreciated by reviewers in that era). The animation and music were absolutely incredible, one of the peaks of gaming presentation for me. So just seeing that when originally announced was a huge grin-inducing surprise.
And then the re-reveal of Yoshi's Woolly World after over a year plus of no word, with the game looking better than ever. This was really the Direct of fun, lighthearted colorful games for me, the kind I especially love. I was seriously gleeful to see the section in the next year's Direct about how Nintendo came up with the IRL yarn Yoshis to help think about how to develop the game. And then Yarn Yoshi and Poochy, the amiibo, became the true realization of that gaming concept back into reality. More than almost any other amiibo those Yoshi ones have a special place in my heart and soul, with so many fond memories of cute pictures taken with one of our kitties snuggling up with them. Anyway, this first in-depth look at the game was very exciting for me. I hope more people get to play YWW one day. I imagine a Switch port will happen one day down the line. It's so adorable and charming and thoughtfully-designed. Like
@MisterSpo I'm eager to see what Good-Feel cooks up next (as I type this baking some gluten free waffles with minor end of week kitchen disaster on my hands
). I'm personally hoping for an Epic Yarn 2 or something brand new, but whatever they make I can't wait to see it.
The hits didn't stop there, though. Equally exciting and surprising to me was the reveal that the wished-for Captain Toad (aka El Capitan Todd, thank you
@Aostia82 for one of my favorite memes there!) was really happening. Ever since 3DW came out 8 months prior, fans had been clamoring for a spin-off but I think we mostly believed it wouldn't happen. Nintendo leaks were much, much rarer prior to 2015, and usually fan hopes for dream projects, especially spin-offs, would remain just that. I could instantly see that Captain Toad was everything I hoped for and more.
Unfortunately, when it released I found out the way the camera and zoom worked in the game caused me motion sickness. That was super disappointing. I eventually found a way to play it on the GamePad that didn't bother me, but it was still not exactly how I hoped. I finally got a large enough TV in 2019 that solved the problem of no "midzoom" option in the game. Part of the reason I hadn't been able to play it on the TV was that the zoomed out option was too zoomed out and would give me a bit of nausea to spin the camera, whereas the zoomed in angle was too zoomed in to see enough of the level. The Switch port added the midzoom option but also added a blue dot cursor that I found a bit less enjoyable than the GamePad implementation on Wii U. So for me, one of the first things I thought of when getting a bigger TV was that I'd be able to play Captain Toad, and I went back and replayed it to get all the gems. And it was an even more wonderful experience. The storybook page level select retains the date of when you originally played the level, too, so it was very nostalgic to reminisce about when I'd originally played the levels. I still have more to do in the game, too, and am looking forward to revisiting it one day soon. You can see the hype from this game is still sustaining me 7 years later!
This wasn't even all, though! A lot of recent Nintendo Directs have focused on games and franchises that aren't of interest to me personally, but this specific Direct made me feel like what a lot of the recent ones have felt like to all of you who watch a Direct and get hyped for several things in there. On top of all the games I already mentioned, we got the first look at a character with a blue tunic reminiscent of the Hero of the Winds... I honestly couldn't even quite fathom what the game would be like. Just the scope of the tiny sliver of world they showed filled my imagination with possibilities. At the time it was exciting, but I really didn't know what to expect from the finished game. So the other games I mentioned hyped me considerably more since they were fully-formed. But it's definitely too important a reveal not to mention. I really would like to rewatch this whole Direct sometime.
What did I eat at the time? I think around this time I was really into Enjoy Life brand cookies, they make this soft, chewy double chocolate cookie that's super addictive. So I imagine it was a few of those and perhaps some delectable pretzel crisps.
Thanks again for the opportunity, totofogo! If I win, I'll finally go for Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon on Switch. I've been really wanting to check it out and see if I can push through the high learning curve. I love a good puzzler and the last two SK expansions are two of my favorite recent indies.
Looking forward to reading more memories, all!