Nintendo Direct Reveals South Park, Okami, And More

The Nintendo Direct that took place during the afternoon of March 8th revealed tons of new content coming to the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS. There were tons of new games announced, especially for the Switch, including South Park, Okami and lots more.

The Nintendo Direct was posted on the Nintendo YouTube channel, and featured half an hour of new announcements, including the huge news about Super Smash Bros _coming to the Nintendo Switch. There was also the revelation of the all new Octo Expansion for _Splatoon 2, which features a brand new story for the single-player campaign themed around a special agent who must uncover a conspiracy. All new levels are being added to the game, including new music, new clothing items, new multiplayer maps and the ability to play as the Octoling, hence the name of the expansion.

The Splatoon 2 expansion will go live this April, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch, for $19.99.

Nintendo also revealed that Capcom is bringing Okami HD to the Nintendo Switch, and that the game will make use of two different types of control schemes, including the ability to use the touchscreen controls to draw brushstrokes or using the Joy-Cons similar to the way the Wii-motes were used on the original Wii version for motion-controlled brushstrokes.

The release date for Dark Souls: Remastered for the Nintendo Switch was also revealed, which falls on May 25th. The spring will be jam packed with game releases on the Switch, though, with Ubisoft's South Park: The Fractured But Whole set to release in the spring along with Tarsier Studios' Little Nightmares. The latter two games have already released for other home consoles and PC, and are a year late for the Switch, but, better late than never, eh?

Two surprising games that will make their debut on Nintendo consoles for the first time are Toby Fox's Undertale and Activision's Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Vicarious Vision had to make some obvious cuts to the graphics to get the game to run on the Nintendo Switch, but it still seems to retain the appeal of a standard Crash Bandicoot game.

A large portion of the Nintendo Direct was also focused around Mario Tennis Aces, which is set to debut this June for the Nintendo Switch. The game features standard controls and motion-controlled gameplay, along with all new trick shots, zone shots, and blocking. There's an interesting underlying skill factor to the new gimmick shots, where players will have a risk/reward for making high-risk shots versus attempting to block them. If you're unsuccessful in blocking a shot you'll damage and eventually break your racket. Alternatively, high-risk shots zap your energy and could leave you vulnerable for an opponent to score easily.

The Direct also revealed that Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is being ported to the Switch on July 13th.

There weren't many new Nintendo 3DS games announced compared to the Switch, but Nintendo did reveal that Dillan's Dead-Heat Breakers was set to arrive at the end of May. You can also look for WarioWare Gold to launch on the 3DS starting August 3rd. Other hotly anticipated games like Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey are set to release for the 3DS in 2019.