A Nintendo Direct has been announced! Half a year of waiting, and one is airing tomorrow. What could be coming during it, no-one really knows. Except the leakers and those in-the-know. Which so happens to be me, as well. Wanting some of that glorious fame, I’ve been snooping around the Nintendo offices, putting my Hitman training to use in being stealthy. Not a single person was harmed in the collection of this information.
I was in and out, and no-one knew I was there. What information did I get? Some very interesting announcements. Now, if it’s not clear enough already, this is totally legitimate and not in any way made up by me. Like come on! Who’d be crazy enough to think of these concepts other than Nintendo? So, without further ado, this is what I’ve learnt Nintendo are cooking up.
The Magic Roundabout game…s
No, not the weird road network of Swindon, or the newest and unique… est? club of London. This is the old TV series about a bunch of animals, a few humans, and that thing you’d find in a jack-in-the-box enjoying time together as a community. These pint-sized stories only came in at five minutes in length, but there was a charm to the stop-motion portrayals of them and the narration used to tell the stories that it’s a fondly remembered series for those who grew up with it.
In 2005, there came a film, using CGI to bring these characters to life in new ways, with an all-star cast to bring their voices to life in a way only previously dreamt of. I’m a big fan of the film, in case you can’t tell. A full hour and a half of adventure as these friends head off to right their wrongs. Or at least undo the mistake that Dougal made. It was a great adventure, and was popular enough to bring a reboot of the series using the same style.
But that was more than ten years ago! What’s Nintendo doing with the licence now, of all times? Well, I found out that Nintendo have the licence to create games for that 2005 movie. Yes, you read right. Games. Nintendo are planning to milk this licence dry in the most creative way possible. By having multiple games each representing a console from their past and a genre of game. But don’t worry, they’re not going to overload the release schedule with them.
No, this is a game a year. A 2D platformer, a life simulator, a rhythm action, all the way up to an open world adventure to represent the Switch era of consoles. The handhelds are also going to be represented, so you won’t be seeing the full collection of releases until almost fifteen years have passed. And yes, there’s also going to be a VR game to represent the Virtual Boy.
Animal Crossing… IN SPACE!
Yup. You heard that right. The next step for Animal Crossing is heading for the wide depths of the galaxy. You can’t stop Tom Nook, after all. Not content with an island paradise, he didn’t just go for a city, or even a country. He went and took over an entire solar system for his next project. And what’s even worse is he’s giving away spaceships and planets to anyone who wants to come live at the Nook System. Which unfortunately, is you.
I managed to find plans for this galactic take on the series, and was surprised that the core gameplay is much the same as it is in New Horizons, just that this time you own an entire planet. Which for some reason is as small as the islands of New Horizons. But, hey. Different planets mean different biomes and weather. You could have a planet that’s always cold and winter-like, with snow always on the ground. You could have a desert, where there is no sea at all.
And since you have a spaceship, you can fly around the Nook System to visit other islands where your neighbours live, or visit the jewel of space that is Nook World. Like a mini Coruscant full of the shops you’ll need for living. Life will be hard at first, as you have to manually control your spaceship everywhere, but soon enough you’ll be able to upgrade it with a fast travel system.
Which no doubt will cost a million bells. And since Nook’ll be working on your ‘ship, you won’t be able to get home. So that’ll be another 100,000 in rent for a one-night stay in one of his 5-star hotels. The greed of that Tanooki has no limits.
Want Moo Excitement?
Remember that minigame on Wii Play where you raced a cow through a farm? Nintendo decided to turn it into its own game. But not just lifting the mechanics directly. Oh, no. They’re using the mechanics from Excite Truck.
Yes, this weird crossover of games is coming very soon, but it’s one that is very weird. Much like Excite Truck, you’ll control the steering with motion, pulling off spins and rolls when in the air. The more tricks you pull off, the more energised your cow is. Being energised means it can utilise more boost power, by… um… letting rip. Yeah, gas power seems more appropriate a name, I think.
As for the locations you’ll be racing on, it’s very much like Excite Truck in that this is a world tour of the continents. None of the locations featured in Excite Truck were present from the track list I’d found. I can’t remember too much about them, since I’d heard someone heading for the room I was in and quickly (but silently) scarpered, but I do know there’s a special cup featuring Nintendo properties.
Oh, and much like Excite Truck, there’s various designs for the cows you’ll be riding, with the ability to customise them. I can only assume that there’s some stats system in play, as why would there be different varieties to choose from? Smaller ones no doubt get more air, while the larger ones potentially have a higher top speed? Who knows, but considering Excite Truck was fantastic fun, I have no doubt this one will be either.
Three totally real games, then. All of which will show up at some point in that Direct tomorrow. And now I can retire from leaking information. I’ve done my bit after all, and now I’ve revealed my brilliant skills I learnt from Hitman, I won’t be able to utilise them again. It’d end up more like that Katana Kill challenge I made a video of if I tried.
Images Taken From:
The Magic Roundabout stills from IMDB
Tom Nook from the Animal Crossing Wiki
Galaxy background image from The Conversation
Charge Minigame of Wii Play from WatchmeplayNintendo’s YouTube
Google Streetview
