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Tech

Nintendo Direct Is Still the Best Event in Gaming

Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata may have left us, but his spirit lives on.

A few years ago, Nintendo came to a realization: In the age of streaming internet video and near-instantaneous dissemination of news, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to spend time and money on live, press conferences you can't get into without an invitation. Thus began Nintendo Direct, an ongoing series of web-based video presentations where Nintendo would announce and give details on upcoming games and hardware. It was a fantastic idea that's been working brilliantly for the company since the broadcasts began in 2012, with social media transforming every Nintendo Direct broadcast into an eagerly-anticipated event that sets timelines abuzz.

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Part of what makes Nintendo Direct so beloved is that the people hosting it aren't paid celebrities, but folks from Nintendo and its affiliated developers. There's something about it that feels genuine: the people introducing this stuff really love games, and are just as excited to talk about it as you are to hear what's going to be announced.

This Thursday marked the first lengthy Nintendo Direct in quite some time. It's been a noticeably long period of time between shows for one major reason: former Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, who would frequently host the show, died suddenly in early July.

It's hard to understate just how big a part of Nintendo Direct Iwata was: So many of the presentations would begin with him waving to the viewers, greeting them with a gentle, radiant warmth that made Iwata stand out amongst his executive-level peers. He'd smile, he'd take part in silly skits, and he'd even apologize when necessary—his "Please understand" upon announcing something like a product delay quickly became a meme. In fact, much of Iwata's Nintendo Direct imagery reached meme status, making him a constant face in numerous game-related discussions.

There was understandable anticipation from the announcement that a Nintendo Direct would be happening this week: could the show possibly manage to fill the void left by Iwata's passing?

As it turned out, yes. As they say, the show must go on, and it did quite spectacularly.

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While Iwata was the central figure in many of the previous North American Nintendo Direct broadcasts, the role this time went to Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime and longtime member of Nintendo's product development team Bill Trinen. Iwata's absence wasn't glossed over: Reggie began the broadcast noting that this was the first Nintendo Direct without Iwata's presence, and thanked fans for the outpouring of love and support received in the wake of his passing. The European Nintendo Direct, which featured different staffers from that particular branch of the company, also began in the same way.

But the team didn't dwell too long on this, knowing full well that this is a show about fun Nintendo things. Everything we'd come to love about Nintendo Direct was still there: friendly, enthusiastic presentations, announcements and new game footage, weird little skits, in this case, Bill Trinen gorging himself on donuts to promote the recent Yo-Kai Watch 3DS game.

5 minutes into nintendo direct and chill, and he gives you this look pic.twitter.com/u7uBziqD8F
— Tiny Cartridge (@tinycartridge) November 12, 2015

The announcements weren't bad either:

  • A high definition remaster for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

  • Release dates for games like Starfox Zero (April 22) and Fire Emblem Fates (February 19)

  • New stages for Splatoon

  • Showcases of some neat limited edition game-and-goodies bundles for the holidays

  • New Amiibo, the collectible figures that connect with various Wii U games via RFID chips

  • Two Dragon Quest titles for 3DS.

It was an exciting lineup and presentation overall, and that's not even taking into account the final bombshell: the "that's never gonna happen" announcement of Cloud from Final Fantasy VII joining the roster of Super Smash Bros., with the promise of more Smash news forthcoming next month. One only needs to see how long "Cloud" was trending on Twitter to see how well that went over.

While Iwata will certainly be missed, it's clear that Nintendo Direct still has the power to ignite the hearts of nerds the world over. Nintendo's got a great thing going here from almost every conceivable standpoint, and it's great to see it make a return in such fantastic form.