The Best Announcements From E3 2021’s Nintendo Direct

After faltering last year during Mario’s big 35th anniversary extravaganza due to the pandemic, Nintendo returned to E3 2021 for another Direct presentation featuring new announcements from their legendary first-party developers, third-party supporters, and indie partners. From Mario and the gang’s second blowout bash to a slew of The Legend of Zelda reveals in celebration of its upcoming milestone, these are the biggest and best announcements from E3 2021’s Nintendo Direct that premiered today!

Kazuya Enters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is closing in on its inevitable end and today that date only came one step closer as the second to last fighter made his grand debut. The highest selling entry in Nintendo’s iconic fighting series will once again cross paths with Bandai Namco’s Tekken franchise, but this time a new challenger is entering the competition not as a Mii Fighter but as an actual playable character. Tournament fighter antagonist Kazuya Mishima will enter the competition soon and made one heck of a first impression as he menacingly dropped some of Nintendo’s finest into a lava-flooded chasm during “The Iron Fist of Darkness” trailer. The latest trailer showcasing Kazuya gives viewers the expected cinematic charm of the game’s other trailers while flaunting the fighter’s large moveset. Mr. Sakurai will of course be holding a dedicated Super Smash Bros. Ultimate presentation on Monday, June 28th to give more information on Kazuya.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Splits Open

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania will bring back the beloved arcade platformer series with a new coat of bright paint. This updated high-definition collection features the original GameCube Super Monkey Ball, its sequel Super Monkey Ball 2, and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe all in one package. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the series, the latest triple pack comes off the not-so-hot heels of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz’s remaster. According to Sega, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania will include more than 300 recreated levels all from those three aforementioned titles and refined versions of their 12 multiplayer mini-games. The remaster will also include online leaderboards and time-attack modes, though the mini-games will be restricted to local play. Fans have been waiting long enough and the time to go bananas is certainly now! Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania will release on Tuesday, October 5th.

Mario Party Superstars Returns to its Roots

The party is officially back in town and ready to celebrate. Mario Party’s next entry will be going back to its Nintendo 64 roots as the game appears to be both a new entry in the series and a remastered hodgepodge. Mario Party Superstars is set to feature five classic Nintendo 64 boards (so far) including Peach’s Birthday Cake and Space Land. Additionally, the title will contain 100 mini-games from across both the fifth generation system entries and its GameCube followups. Every mode in the game will come included on day one with local multiplayer and online capabilities — as to be expected following Super Mario Party’s recent oddball update. The Nintendo Switch’s various line of controllers will also work with the title this time around (yes you can finally use that pro controller or perhaps head back to the GameCube’s wonderful button layout)! The party will start this fall on October 29th.

Metroid Dread Makes a Striking Debut

Metroid Prime 4 may be deep in development but Spanish developer MercurySteam is back to explore the space pirate-infested galaxy once more. From the developers of the Nintendo 3DS exclusive Metroid: Samus Returns, Metroid Dread will tide fans over until as the first original 2D Metroid title from Nintendo in almost 19 years. Players will once again suit up as Samus Aran to hunt alien and robotic creatures on another uncharted planet. The latest entry in the series will take heavy inspiration from its predecessor as Samus appears to play similarly to her previous appearance in Samus Returns at first glance. Metroid Dread is set to release on Friday, October 8th. While the wait for the latest bounty-hunting exploration adventure is already dreadful, fans in the meantime can get caught up to date on the game’s development history with Metroid Dread Producer Sakamoto Yoshio!

WarioWare: Get It Together Is Micro Mayhem Again

It’s finally lightning micro-game mayhem time again! The greedy and joyful opposite of Mario is back to unload players’ pockets to Nintendo and the head of a shady fictional company. WarioWare: Get It Together will bring the micro-series of mini-games back to the spotlight after its curious public absence on Switch. Wario and his colorful crew of fools return for another round of chaos with new tricks, trolls, reactions, and graphics. The newest entry in the WarioWare series will feature a two-player mode so you and a friend or family member can suffer together. Get ready to blast through over 200 quirky quick times! WarioWare: Get It Together will release on Friday, September 10th.

Advanced Wars 1+2 Are Headed Back To Base

Up on your feet and back to base soldier! It’s time to hit the battlefield once again as Advance Wars is back and better than ever with a shiny reboot. Before there were the medieval times of Fire Emblem in the West, there were the Advance Wars in America and it’s about time the series was given another chance with a remaster. The original campaigns have been completely built from the ground up with refined mechanics and updated chibi-style visuals. According to Nintendo, the remaster will also feature a Versus Mode for up to four players to battle on dozens of maps, though it’s not known whether both games or one of the two titles will contain this feature. Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp will release on Friday, December 3rd.

Celebrating 35 Years With Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda

Last year, Super Mario Bros. received the Game & Watch treatment as the first entry in the series released on the micro-size handheld for a special 35th-anniversary console. The world of Hyrule will be doing the same once again this November, as Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda will come packed in with a playable clock and timer along with four classic games — that’s right, one more than Mario’s run! The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Game Boy Color version) will all come packaged into the system. Like its older brother, The Legend of Zelda variant of the system will feature one Game & Watch title. Vermin will take the place of Ball this time around with Link entering Mario’s role and replacing Mr. Game & Watch again. It would not be E3 without hardware rumors followed up by a super small reveal!

The Sequel to Breath of The Wild Gets a New Look

Following up the announcements that will help usher in the franchise’s 35th anniversary, fans of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were finally graced with a first look at the highly anticipated upcoming sequel. The newest trailer of the game showcases how the world of Hyrule will not only dedicate its time to exploring the ground but also the sky. As Hyrule Castle rises above the atmosphere from the powers of what is presumably the return of Calamity Ganon, the game will clearly be doubling up in size as new structures can be seen across its beautiful horizon. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild‘s sequel has received a tentative release date of 2022, though the game’s director Eiji Aonuma didn’t seem too confident in that release window. While the team is aiming to release the title sometime next year with progress moving along well enough, do not be surprised it follows in the footsteps of its predecessor with more delays.