Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase July 2020 Reaction
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Nintendo and today they held the first in a new series of Nintendo Direct’s called Partner Showcase. Nintendo fans around the world are desperate for news related to Metroid, Breath of the Wild 2 and the expected Super Mario Remasters, however, this wasn’t going to be the place where we got information on those selected first-party titles. The following is an overview of the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase July 2020 reaction.
This is a new series of videos showcasing games from development and publishing partners, so expectations had to be set beforehand. There have been rumours flying around related to a Nintendo Direct and July 20th was mentioned in the rumours, and that turned out to be true when Nintendo tweeted out that a Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase would be available today. The hype went into immediate overdrive, followed by many appealing for calm and to set expectations accordingly – this probably wasn’t going to be the time for Zelda, Mario or Pikmin news.
Cadence of Hyrule DLC
Nintendo kicked off the showcase with an update to Cadence of Hyrule Crypt of the Necrodancer featuring The Legend of Zelda. 3 additional DLC packs were announced. The first is the Character Pack with 5 new characters including Impa, Aria, Shadow Link, Shadow Zelda and Frederick. The second pack is the Melody Pack with 39 added songs, where you can change the background music of the game. The third and final DLC pack is Symphony of the Mask which is new story content where you play as Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask in a brand new adventure. The character pack is available for download today with the second and third to be released before the end of October 2020.
Rouge Company
Next up we had Rouge Company. This is a free-to-play online multiplayer third-person shooter. Crossplay is available for your friends across PS4, Xbox One and PC. This one comes from the team that bought us Paladins and Hi-Rez say about the game “Rogue Company is a top-secret syndicate of elite mercenaries around the globe. To most of the world, the elusive mercenaries are a rumour at best. However, to those in the know, Rogue Company operatives are indispensable to solving the world’s deadliest and most challenging missions. As a Rogue Company mercenary, players will grab their weapon of choice and dive into iconic locations to compete online in various PVP game modes.” More info is set to be released later on today.
WWE 2K Battlegrounds
WWE 2K Battlegrounds was then shown off which looks like an arcade-style wrestling game. It looks pretty good fun, it’s not trying to be realistic in terms of a wrestling simulator, it’s definitely got that arcadey feel with players covered in fire when they attempt their finishing move and also opponents are thrown high into the air. It looks like there’s an array of characters from past and present with Andre the Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jeff Hardy and John Cena featured. This one is available today!
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne III
Nintendo saved the best for last with what seemed to be the main announcement of the direct with Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne III HD Remaster announced for Spring 2021. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game for the PlayStation 2. It is the third entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series, the central series in the Megami Tensei franchise. Multiple versions of the game have been published: the original version was published in Japan by Atlus in 2003, while a director’s cut was released in 2004 in Japan. The director’s cut was localized and released in North America and Europe in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
Nocturne follows the Protagonist, a high school student in modern-day Tokyo, as he is transformed into a half-demon after the world undergoes Conception, an apocalyptic event triggered by a sinister cult to trigger the world’s rebirth in a new form. With Tokyo transformed into a Vortex World filled with demons, the Protagonist becomes instrumental to the schemes of the Reasons, beings who seek to remake the world in their image, and Lucifer, the lord of demons. The gameplay uses a turn-based battle system based on exploiting weaknesses, and a Demon recruitment system allowing the player to recruit demons found in the Vortex World to fight alongside them.
That wasn’t the final announcement as Shin Megami Tensei V was announced for 2021. This is a very popular series in Japan, although it’s not something I have played and know much about. Judging from the positive reaction online, it looks like fans are super excited about this one coming back.
This may not have been the announcements we wanted – we’re all waiting to see what Nintendo has in store for us in the back half of 2020, as at the moment we just don’t know what else Nintendo has for this year. Normally around E3 time, we’d get some insight into the first-party titles coming up later in the year.
Last year, for example, we found out more about Pokemon and Luigi’s Mansion 3, and many expect multiple Mario Remakes to be coming out in and around September for Mario’s 35th anniversary. Fans are also waiting for news related to Metroid Prime and a rumoured new 2D Metroid game and then there’s the big one… Breath of the Wild 2. It’s been over a year since we found out it was in development and many had been hoping Breath of the Wild 2 may release later this year.
Today wasn’t the day we found out about all those things, and we’ll have to wait a little more time before finding out what’s coming next from Nintendo. The Cadence of Hyrule updates look pretty good, and that was an awesome game which you should definitely check out if you haven’t and you’re a fan of the Zelda franchise. The Shin Megami Tensei announcements are interesting and it’s always great to see new games and existing franchises coming over to Nintendo Switch.
Let me know what you think down in the comments.
That’s it for this look at the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase July 2020. For more features check out more on This Week In Video Games or subscribe on youtube for all the latest video game content.