Y'know, I have to say: this Direct wasn't as bad this time around! A significant improvement over the last one, and we only got one farming game this time! And sure, they might have only announced like one new Mario thing and we still know jackshit about ToTK, but the sheer plethora of incredible third-party announcements
more than makes up for it. I've been more interested than ever to check out Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, since it's made by the people behind Danganronpa; I'm absolutely psyched that We ♥ Katamari ReRoll is actually,
finally a thing; and the Mega Man Battle Network series getting ported to Switch was a pleasant surprise as well, since I've been meaning to check it out for a while.
That's not to say the Direct wasn't completely barren of great first-party announcements, though: the reveal of an entire side-story featuring Magolor in Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe was a pretty cool one, I'm happy to see Birdo finally make it into a Mario Kart console game after almost 20 years, and they've practically totally sold me on Pikmin 4. Definitely gonna have to play through Pikmin 3 Deluxe before it drops.
I can't tell you how relieved I am to see not just me, but practically the whole internet genuinely satisfied with how a Direct came out for once, because it really did have something for everyone. If, by the time the next Direct releases, they could possibly tweak the formula a bit so there's a more equal balance of first-party and third-party/indie stuff without one outweighing the other, we might have a truly satisfying, hype-worthy winner on our hands. Overall: C+. Can't wait for the next one!
