Nintendo has made this release graphic of what to expect so far in 2020 from both first and third party, and they are also teasing many more announcements to come.
There’s a good mix of games here so far! Though, it is more or less lacking on the first party side from now, and a direct at this point can’t get here soon enough, so that we can know more about what’s going on the first party side of things. Though, we do have Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and of course the biggest first party release at the moment being, Animal Crossing: New Horizons which both comes out in March.
We also got some big hitter third party titles, being, Bravely Default II, DOOM Eternal, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition which is coming this Summer. While it does look a bit bleak, there are some things to still look forward to for everyone.
As said earlier, Nintendo did say that they did teased that they still have more to come that hasn’t even been announced yet. So, we could still look forward to some more surprises as the year goes on! We’re still hoping for a BIG January direct to happen sometime, but, it’s possible that it may not be this month, but there is still some little time left.
The Super Smash Bros Ultimate DLC fighter video presentation is underway and it has been unveiled that Byleth from the acclaimed Fire Emblem: Three Houses will join Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Byleth isn’t quite ready to join the fight just yet so we will have to wait a little longer to get our hands on the character as Byleth will be available on January 28th.
More details from Nintendo of America:
Garreg Mach Monastery stage
Combat class is in session! Byleth, the renowned mercenary and professor from the Fire Emblem series, is ready to teach Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players a lesson in battle. In a video released today, Masahiro Sakurai, the director of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, unveiled for the first time the battle-hardened Fire Emblem character in action, who will enter the arena on Jan. 28 as the game’s newest fighter. Sakurai demonstrated Byleth’s unique ranged play style, and revealed the Garreg Mach Monastery stage and 11 new music tracks from the Fire Emblem series, all coming to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game for the Nintendo Switch system later this month.
NOTE: All of this new content will be available to players who own the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass or purchase Challenger Pack 5 separately.*
In addition to Byleth’s reveal, new details were announced about the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass Vol. 2, which will include six more fighters currently under development. By purchasing Fighters Pass Vol. 2 for a suggested retail price of $29.99, players will get access to six more yet-to-be-announced Challenger Packs as they release. Each pack includes one new fighter, one stage and multiple music tracks.
Those who purchase Fighters Pass Vol. 2 will also receive an exclusive costume for Mii Swordfighter, the Ancient Soldier Gear from the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game, available in-game starting Jan. 28.
“As Super Smash Bros. Ultimate continues to inspire friendly competition and heated matches on Nintendo Switch, the addition of Byleth from the beloved Fire Emblem series, along with the announcement of six more upcoming fighters, represents our commitment to supporting the game with new content that further enriches the overall experience,” said Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will continue to welcome both newcomers and veteran players alike to enjoy the thrill of battle while exploring its unparalleled lineup of gaming icons.”
Byleth joins the ranks as the 80th legendary video game character included as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which features the biggest crossover of video game characters in history. Drawing upon Byleth’s chivalric exploits, their inclusion in the roster will change the tide of every battle they appear in, with clever strategic choices motivating each defensive posture and offensive attack in their move set. With a sword, axe, lance and bow in hand, prevailing in combat will often come down to selecting the right moments to hold ground or advance.
Byleth’s accompanying stage, the Garreg Mach Monastery, also features a variety of cameos from popular characters in the Fire Emblem series, including Edelgard from the Black Eagles, Claude from the Golden Deer and Dimitri from the Blue Lions.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will also receive a new Spirit Board, which features some of the other popular characters from the Fire Emblem series, along with a new classic mode route, “A Heroic Legacy,” which highlights classic Fire Emblem stages throughout the series’ storied history.
Additionally, new Mii Fighter costumes inspired by Cuphead, Rabbids, Altair and various Mega Man games will be available for purchase on Jan. 28. Players who purchase the Cuphead Mii Fighter costume will also receive a new music track, Floral Fury, which was originally featured in the game’s classic Cagney Carnation boss battle.
Finally, two fighters from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will have amiibo figures available for purchase at select retailers beginning on Jan. 17: Samus’s mysterious doppelganger, Dark Samus, and Simon Belmont’s whip-wielding echo fighter, Richter.
Additional new fighters, stages and music will also be coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate through the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Players can also continue to purchase the current Fighters Pass for a suggested retail price of $24.99 to gain access to the first five Challenger Packs. Playable fighters Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie and Terry Bogard are all available now, with Byleth joining on Jan. 28. For only $5.99, players can also purchase the packs individually.
As of tomorrow the saga of Character/fighter #5’s mystery would be revealed and known by the time of me writing this post. There are couple of characters that come to my mind as to who this character could potentially be, so let’s break down some characters that are being talked about as some possible front runners here.
Join Super #SmashBrosUltimate director Masahiro Sakurai on 1/16 at 6am PT for a roughly 35 minute video livestream featuring an in-depth look at an upcoming DLC fighter, which he will unveil in the video! pic.twitter.com/aOz0ilAiXU
I’m going to try and make this post as short as possible and try not to rant and rave. I can honestly go for along time if Smash Bros. is involved but I’ll try to keep in short and simple with this, especially with how late it is over where I live currently, I need to sleep to get ready for this 35 minute presentation.
So, a lot of people are taking that pose that Sakurai is doing for this pic from the announcement tweet from both his Twitter and the NintendoVS account on Twitter, people have been going gung ho about this pose since the announcement of this presentation for tomorrow. I’m going to give three characters as to who I think that particular pose could be referencing hinting towards and maybe two honorable mentions to who it could go for but I’m not so slightly confident in these two picks, but I do think they are worth mentioning.
3. SORA (KINGDOM HEARTS)
Honestly, this is still my most wanted ever and the fact that he’s been bought up in specualtion a lot since this DLC cycle has started has made so happy to know that he’s been popular within the Smash fanbase.
Sora does have some things going for him with the number three! Kingdom Hearts III being the most recent entry of the series just came out last year. The series does have some Nintendo history behind it with being on Nintendo consoles, mostly on the handhelds.
Not to mention if Sora is the character, it would also be a great way for Square to hype up the DLC for Kingdom Hearts: ReMIND DLC which actually comes out a week after this presentation, albeit only on PS4. Then we do have Banjo, and even Sakurai and Nintendo gave a shout-out to Microsoft and XBox One, so there’s that.
2. CRASH (CRASH BANDICOOT)
Crash is another most wanted, but he does somewhat fit the whole three pose deal. In his most recent renders. Crash will have his fingers out in the form of a three. Not only does he have the three thing going for him, but Crash does have history with Nintendo and has even been on Nintendo platforms, even back when he was known as a Sony boy.
So, to get Crash in a game alongside with other iconic characters like Mario and Sonic would be straight in his wheelhouse. Plus, Crash become more relevant as of years, especially after so many years of being somewhat dormant, putting him in Smash would make all the 90’s babies who grew up during that particular era in gaming (including myself) just cry!
1. DANTE (DEVIL MAY CRY)
Possibly, the BIGGEST frontrunner as of currently amongst most of the fandom right now. Dante is probably the most interesting currently with some both hints for him and even against him. As for him Dante’s voice actor, Brian Hanford from DMC V had went on a podcast to say that Dante may actually be in Smash Bros.
Though, it was apparently suppose to come off in a more jokingly way so, as usual, take this with a grain salt. Voice actors usually are under NDA’s when they are working on something. So, just take note of this.
Mark these dates on your calendars… 🍕 January 16 🎸 January 30 😈 February 13 https://t.co/SvXZz4sXGV
Also something that was pretty big for Dante was that the DMC V Twitter account did put up three dates for importance as to whats going on with DMC currently. One of those dates just so happen to be the Smash Bros. Ultimate presentation which slated for tomorrow, being the 16th. Though as of recently, Devil May Cry 3 did get an update for the Switch as of now. Some already think this may be somewhat of a hit against Dante, but he still stands for now even with that possibly against him.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
ARLE (PUYO PUYO)
Yeah, even though there is somewhat eveidence ofr her, these could also just be added on coincindences for her too. I honestly don’t know that much of Puyo Puyo, but I did play some of the more recent games. It does look like a series that Nintendo and Sega seem to want to push to get more popular and known over in the west. It worked with Dragon Quest with Hero, so why not do the same with Arle and Puyo Puyo.
Plus, she would be the first female within the Fighter Pass, and it is pretty alarming that this DLC pass does not have a female character at all, so she would be a point for that. Though this is one of the characters I said earlier that I’m not to confident in, in terms of chances, but I do think she is at least worth noting with how much the fanbase has speculated about her within past couple of days.
yeah that sure is Puyo Puyo Series Producer Mizuki Hosoyamada RTing the Smash Bros announcement, huh pic.twitter.com/hUHsAwZHlX
Also one of the main guys of Puyo Puyi has apparently RT’d the direct announcement from Twitter. So, there’s also that, but this could also be just another coincindence. Something like this happened with Xenoblade when one of the main guys developing XC 2 had also RT’d the direct, but we ended up getting just a Rex Mii costume. So, the Puyo Puyo director could be excited for Puyo Puyo content in the game and thats why he RT’d it, not because Arle is a playable character. Just saying it has happened before.
TRAVIS TOUCHDOWN
Travis is probably the darkhorse of these choices, considering he has been deconfirmed by his own creator being Suda 51. Though, it’s possible he could just be saying that to leave off a trail. Who knows Travis also his fans so he is popular enough with the base.
He also does fit the whole finger pose being associated with three, considering No More Heroes III is coming soon to the Nintendo Switch, and this seems to be another series that Nintendo wants to push harder though on a more global scale, considering No More Heroes is already quite popular within the State side of things its really everywhere else.
So, these are my choices on who I think are likely and who aren’t likely! I hope you enjoyed this read and hope that your character ends up joining the fight! Also, who would like to see as Fighter 5 or even as future DLC.
I feel like no matter what the character is, Sakurai is going to end up surprising us!
Welp, once again Sony is going to be skipping out on E3 for 2020. There are numerous of reasons as to why Sony has been absent for E3 for the past two years in a row. Here’s going to be a breakdown as to why Sony may not want to be involved with E3 anymore and not just these past two shows.
Here’s a good reason as many bought up from Twitter and even other gaming forums, E3 as a whole from influence and cultural relevance has been slowly evaporating. From last year there’s only been 60,000 people that was in attendance last year. This is a bit of a troubling number even when you compare it to other gaming events and conventions who will pull out hundred thousands of people from all of the country or the world. Conventions such as PAX, GamesCom, TooManyGames, are starting to take over and fill in the gaps in between the year and not just for one part of the whole year.
Don’t E3 can still be an exciting show and event to go to. Though without Sony, it does feel like a BIG gap is missing in between the other two big dogs being Nintendo and Microsoft. Another thing as to why Sony has been skipping E3 may be the cost to put on a show. It’s probably expensive to hold and host a part on the show floor.
So, I do think money could be a factor, but not the MAIN factor. Sony does have other ways they could be able to show off their own stuff and their own announcements. Probably the biggest thing they have for this is their State of Plays. As of now, it’s not currently as popular as the Nintendo Directs has gotten over the past couple of years, but whose to say it won’t get to Nintendo Directs levels of popularity.
If given the time and patience this could be Sony’s new way of giving out announcements. If Sony’s State of Plays ends up getting bigger for them, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this is how they do their E3 formats like how Nintendo has been doing their E3’s through Nintendo Direct presentations and pre-record them and send it to E3 to be streamed.
Honestly, the news of Sony skipping E3 again, doesn’t surprise me! Another reason is that they could just not be ready to show much of anything for the upcoming PS5. Even if that were also the case, Sony doesn’t really need E3. It’s really E3 that needs Sony. Again, the attendance level from the past two years haven’t been that great from what been said by press who actually do go to that event. It almost feels somewhat empty. While it’s probably easier to manuever around for press, that does sound a bit not worth to attend. Sony may also be feeling, is it worth it to go to an event, where’s there not many eyeballs watching as their once use to be.
As of these days it feels like E3 doesn’t feel like much of a big thing anymore. Every time the summer rolls around, for gamers it’s like an early Christmas because of E3 and to see what companies have in store for not just the rest of the year, but also for the holiday season as well.
So, in a way it kind of sad to see how much E3 has somewhat fallen, but with Sony not going again, isn’t much of a big deal for them. It’s more of a big for E3 and the event itself. With the hype around PS5, who knows maybe after the reveal this could be Sony’s return to E3 and this is just them waiting for PS5 to be revealed, known, and released to the general public and we could end up seeing them back again at E3 2021.
As far as what I think reasons for Sony has been for not possibly attending goes to three things: money for hosting a booth and room for press, E3 almost not being relevant, having their own event to showcase news (i.e. State of Play), and they could just not have much to show. Well, I guess that’s technically four things, but whatever.
Who knows what this could mean for E3 going forward. Not to mention Microsoft has already put their confirmation of attending this years show almost shortly after Sony dropped out. So, there goes monkey-see-and-monkey actually not do. As far Nintendo we don’t know their status as of yet, and we probably won’t know until maybe April or May of this year if I had to guess on a confirmation of Nintendo’s status for E3.
What do you guys think about Sony dropping from E3? Do you guys think Sony needs it or don’t? What do you think Sony’s reasonings are for not going to E3 2020. Please, let me know in the comments.
Just a reminder that we are less than 2 days away from Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore on the Switch! If you are a fan of the RPGs, please go out and support this game!
Today has been crazy in terms of gaming news both good and bad. The good well, if you are a Smash fan we are getting a 35 minute long presentation to be held on Thursday (only downside, is that it’s very early morning). The bad news for today, if you look delays as a bad thing, Square Enix has announced that BOTH highly anticipated games being the Final Fantasy VII remake and Marvel’s Avengers game has indeed been delayed that Square announced from earlier this morning.
The Final Fantasy VII Remake didn’t get delayed by much though. Only month of it’s original release. For the Final Fantasy VII Remake, producer Yoshinori Kitase did give a reason for the games delay, being wanting to give it more of an “extra polish.”
As it was going to be an April release game. The somewhat concerning one to look at of these two delayed games is Marvel’s Avengers. Marvel’s Avengers was bumped from May, to now being a September release instead. The heads of Crystal Dynamics has also said something similar for the game’s delay.
“To that end, we will spend this additional development time focusing on fine tuning and polishing the game to the high standards our fans expect and deserve.”
Another unexpected presentation, that’s not a general Nintendo direct is coming later this week, on Thursday, January 16th. Join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s director, Masahiro Sakurai for a 35 minute long livestream that will bring in details on the new fifth DLC fighter for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter Pass!
Here’s the Tweet from the NintendoVS Twitter account:
Join Super #SmashBrosUltimate director Masahiro Sakurai on 1/16 at 6am PT for a roughly 35 minute video livestream featuring an in-depth look at an upcoming DLC fighter, which he will unveil in the video! pic.twitter.com/aOz0ilAiXU
Another Smash Bros. character and game representative has been crushed! This actually breaks my heart but at the same time its understandable, because Astral Chain is more of a new IP, and Sakurai usually don’t bring in certain characters when their game hasn’t been proven yet.
Though, at the same time, it shouldn’t have took them this long to have been spirits. We should have gotten these before or after when the game launched long time ago!
(I.E. look at Inklings for Smash 4 and Olimar for Melee).
With 2020 FINALLY here and possibly looking like it could become a BIG year for gaming with some new and upcoming console hardware with Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s XBox Series X, but is it possible that Nintendo will step up once again and put out a more powerful version of an already successful console at the start between a new console generation?
Let’s get into somewhat solid and less solid information that we possibly have about a new Nintendo Switch Pro!
Back last week, it was DigiTimes that reported that Nintendo is planning ro release a new model of the Switch within mid-2020. If the name, Takashi Mochizuki sounds familiar to you, he is a tech reporter and writer for the Wall Street Journal put out on Twitter on January 6th with this:
I reported in Aug 2019: "Nintendo has ideas for further updates to the Switch lineup after those two models to make the platform’s lifecycle long"
DigiTimes on Jan 6: "Nintendo is reportedly planning to release in mid-2020 a new model of Switch"https://t.co/giypufcW4A
We have heard for a while now that Nintendo does want the Switch brand to be long and to be somewhat expanded even pass the current Switch and to an extent with the Nintendo Switch Lite. Of course we have seen both Microsoft and Sony do this with their half-step consoles with Microsoft’s XBox One X and Sony with the PS4 Pro. Nintendo wanting to get in on this path but obviously in their own way doesn’t surprise me. As said earlier, Nintendo has already started it with the Nintendo Switch Lite, but in a more smaller degree than a whole new revisioned console.
I think a lot of Nintendo fans are awaiting for a new version of the Nintendo Switch. It has been around for almost three years now, and it would be nice to see Nintendo try and balance a new Switch version especially with the new arrivals of the more powerful PS5 and XBox Series X.
So, that DigiTimes article, let’s break some of that down, shall we! Sadly, you need a subscription to look at the articles if your not signed in with DigiTimes already, but here’s what some of the article entails.
One of things being said within the article is that this new Switch will have a magnesium alloid body instead of a plastic body. It will also come with a better CPU,
Now, I do have to point out there have been times where DigiTimes (haha, pun) have had a spotty record when it comes to Nintendo rumors/leaks. So, just to let you know take this article still with a “grain of salt,” mentality obviously.
Though, it’s not just DigiTimes who has been hearing things about a new Switch version coming, there’s been a lot of buzz from a good bit of people within the industry whose been hearing a Switch is indeed coming.
Here’s another somewhat source, though this is more of a prediction than anything. Another name that has bought up the possiblity of a Switch version has been Dr. Serkintoto. For those that don’t know, he is an industry analyst and in his 2020 predictions, “Absolutely no doubt that a 4K Switch Pro is coming in 2020.”
So, it seems like a good bit of the industry are pretty much hearing and are saying the same thing. Now of course, we don’t really know what Nintendo is going to do. You should again, take this as rumors not an actual fact. Let get that out of the way. As far as Nintendo’s line up for 2020 all we know for now is that we have Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE coming later this week (which I’m personally am excited for), and some upcoming Wii U ports, but that’s basically what is known for now.
At this point, I’m anticipating that we could be getting a January direct hopefully for later this week, almost all signs have been pointing to one possibly coming soonish here at the time this post goes up. We HAVE to know more of their line up anyway.
Now, I do think we are going to eventually get another version of the Switch like the Switch Lite is already doing. Though I do think this new Switch is going to be a new full on from what it already is just more on a powerful scale. It’s probably not going to be on the same power level as the PS5 or the XBox Series X, and most of us fans aren’t really asking for that. We just want to make the Switch feel somewhat new again with maybe some better features. That’s not too much to ask from a new console is it? The way I look at the Switch Lite is that it’s a response to their handheld side of things while whatever this new revision for the Switch can be their response to the actual home console side of things.
The Switch has been around for a good while now, and it’s already got most of the big major tentpole franchises on there from: Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Kirby, Smash Bros., Splatoon name it and its probably there in some shape or form already. If we really are going to get something of a massive game, like Breath of the Wild 2 for Zelda, then maybe it really is time for a brand new Switch to take reign. It will still keep Nintendo in the conversation within this new console generation that’s coming, that’s going to push fram rates, resolutions, and insane games from both old and new IPs.
I think that something big is going on here, and the fact that so many people that seems to be in the know that are saying the same thing, maybe Nintendo is going to hold off and wait for the right time to reveal this thing. With most of the big hitters already on the current Switch, and being so successful with it already, maybe they really are looking at to see what more they could do with this brand.
Now, as far who do I believe more with these statements, even with their spotty record, I’m more so leaning with what DigiTimes is saying than I am to what Serkintoto is saying just because from what the latter is, it’s mostly just a prediction from what he thinks Nintendo might do for this year. To me the DigiTimes articles does hold a bit more weight and has more details as to what could be going on here. When you have big name new sites reporting on stuff like this, I do think this something that needs to be payed attention to. This isn’t some usual random fake 4Chan or Reddit poster or some Twitter leaker whose trying to back claims for some fame to have a track record.
Even if the 4K part does come to pass, let’s just be reminded, even with it being 4K let’s just remember the system being 4K almost means nothing it’s just going to make the games look better it’s not like its going to become this console that’s going advance a whole generation. Sony kinda already did it first with the PS4 Pro. It being 4K merely just means that its going to better the games that are already on the system and future games that would be coming out for the system. So, even if we do get something like a 4K Switch Pro just remember that it’s only an enhanced system. So, even if you still have the original Switch or the Nintendo Switch Lite or the new Switch, you could still play the games on which one you want! Which is the big picture here, to create and expand a brand that would appeal to all different sorts and kinds of new players.
They’ve already tapped into the portable, young kids and family market last year with the Nintendo Switch Lite, maybe it’s time to get into that hardcore fanbase to try and get some of that shine from Sony and Microsoft before their even able to get their own systems out of the gates. If their really is a Switch Pro for this year, then it would definitely come out before both, yes BOTH the PS5 and XBox Series X come. It’s already looking like those might be holiday consoles anyway for November possibly if I had to guess releases. Maybe we could see something in September like how they did with the Nintendo Switch Lite, and it would line up with Serkintoto’s prediction since he said it would come out after the summer holiday season and it would still fall into that mid-2020 release window.
So, that’s basically where I stand with this whole Switch Pro deal. Didn’t think it would go for this much, but seem like I did have some things to talk about. I do think we will get a beefed up Switch, now what it will entail I don’t know whether it would be 4K, or have major modifications. It’s already weird hearing something being 4K coming from Nintendo of all things, and it’s already something that’s not usually within their wheelhouse but, hey, Nintendo has surprised us before. I just think that a new, bigger, and better system after three years makes sense to come.
A Gaming Girl's Diary ❤️ 