Nintendo took advantage of the E3 event this year to show off several first-party games coming for the Nintendo Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS game systems.
With the release of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, Nintendo fans have watched their limited third-party game support crumble, and most have now come to grips with the fact that most third-party games aren't released on the Nintendo Wii U. Nintendo isn't blind to the situation though, and the company is working hard to support the system almost entirely with first-party games.
For most companies this would be a tough situation, but Nintendo is trying hard to carry the burden of supporting the Wii U almost entirely alone. Nintendo announced plans for 13 more games that will be released for the Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS over the coming year that will hopefully satisfy Nintendo fans.
Game | Release Date | Game Console |
---|---|---|
Starfox Zero | N/A | Wii U |
Xeno Chronicles X | 12/4/2015 | Wii U |
Yoshi's Woolly World | 10/16/2015 | Wii U |
Yo-Kay Watch | Holiday 2015 | Wii U |
Mario Tennis Ultra Smash | N/A | Wii U |
Mario Maker | September 2015 | Wii U & 3DS |
Mario and Luigi Paper Jam | N/A | 3DS |
Hyrule Warriors Legends | 1st Quarter 2016 | 3DS |
Metroid Prime Federation Force | 2016 | 3DS |
Fire Emblem Fate | 2016 | 3DS |
Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer | Autumn 2015 | 3DS |
Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival | N/A | 3DS |
A 14th game was also announced with a Japanese title, only called FE in English. Outside of the two English letters on the cover, no images of the game had any English, and the game demo was entirely in Japanese. For these reasons, I doubt the game will be released outside of Japan.
Of the other 13 games, six will be released for Wii U only. The most anticipated of these new games are Starfox Zero and Xeno Chronicles X. Although everyone loves to play a round of Mario from time to time, it certainly isn't the only game you would want to play. These two games are unique because they add some much needed diversity to the Wii U library.
The Nintendo 3DS will also see six game releases not available on Wii U. Though the Nintendo 3DS won't be getting the new Xeno Chronicles X, it arguably has a better list of games coming soon. The Fire Emblem series is probably the highest rated exclusive on 3DS, and the release of the new Fire Emblem Fates will undoubtedly be one of the top selling games on the console.
In addition to Fire Emblem Fates, 3DS users can also look forward to the release of Hyrule Warriors Legends, an adaptation of the earlier released Hyrule Warriors ported from Wii U. Hyrule Warriors Legends is just like the original but contains all the DLC and added characters from Hyrule Warriors, in addition to new stages and characters from the Zelda Wind Waker universe.
The remaining game will be released for both systems. Nintendo has been talking about the development of Mario Maker for at least a year now, and the game is nearly ready to come out.
All of these games should be released either in 2015 or the first part of 2016, but exact dates for most titles have not been set.
Update 6/16/16 9PM ET: Updated release date information for some titles.
Follow Michael Justin Allen Sexton @LordLao74. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.