Nintendo Direct: The Announcements

Morning.

In case you couldn't keep your eyes open / were otherwise engaged last night when Nintendo rolled out it's newest Direct, here's everything you needed to know (plus some lovely trailers).

Wii U Release Dates
Splatoon arrives May 29th, Yoshi's Woolly World is due June 26th. Mario Maker is due sometime in autumn, letting you create your own Mario levels.

Virtual Console
Wii U's Virtual Console gets N64 and DS games. and the first wave dropped directly after the presentation. Alright, so it's Mario 64 yet again, but the inclusion of DS titles is something different, and the Wii U lets you configure the dual screen setup in a number of ways. Next up? WarioWare: Touched! for Nintendo DS on April 9 and Donkey Kong 64 for Nintendo 64 on April 16.

New Fire Emblem news for 3DS
The next instalment of the series is being developed for the 3DS for a 2016 release, and your customised avatar will play lead in the story, which will offer two paths: a traditional one and a more complex one with a higher difficulty setting. One point worth making? Nintendo state the game's for "the Nintendo 3DS family of systems" - suggesting it won't be a New 3DS exclusive.

Lucas joins Smash Bros, Players can vote on newcomers
Earthbound's Lucas joins the Smash crew this June, and Nintendo are opening up an online voting page to let players weigh in on who they want to joini the cast next. Also Mewtwo will be available as a downloadable character on April 28th - it's a one-off buy that'll let you use him in both versions of the game.

Mario Kart 8 DLC
Obviously the new track/racer combo's working out for Nintendo; there's more incoming. April 23 will see the cast and locales of Animal Crossing roll into the Wii U racer, with three characters, four vehicles and eight tracks. There'll also be a free update that sees a 200c division join the series for the first time.