Nintendo Direct kicks off on the eve of the holiday season

Details on Super Mario 3D World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Bravely Default and more appear in Nintendo‘s latest direct.

Reggie Fils-Aime hosted NoA’s Nintendo Direct, starting off with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. The trailer gives us a metric ton of content, such as some of the dark world, extensive footage of the wall ability, combat, exploration, and street pass gameplay. Afterwards Reggie shows off the new Zelda edition of the 3DS XL, which includes a digital copy of A Link Between Worlds. Bill Trinen wraps it all up with a special treat for fans anxiously awaiting A Link Between Worlds; 15 second mini trailers will be appearing on Nintendo’s instagram page all the way up until its release. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds will be hitting stores and the eshop November 22nd for the Nintendo 3DS.

Continuing the Direct, Trinen talks about Mario Party: Island Tour. Some cool new features show up, such as Bowser’s Tower, where you face off against several of Bowser‘s forces back to back. As you climb the tower you’ll be met with a boss on each floor, enemies such as a stack of goombas, giant chain chomp, and more await you in this treacherous climb. You can face off against other player’s street pass data in Mario Party, testing your skills in mini games they’ve played. Mario Party: Island Tour will be available for the Nintendo 3DS November 22nd.

Bravely Default is next, with some new battle footage, and information on the battle system. Trinen explains the Brave and Default system, where various actions can be performed during fights. The default action, for example, puts your characters in a defensive position for an entire turn. He also notes that by choosing the Default option, you build up brave points, which can be saved for future turns. With brave points, you can perform a variety of powerful abilities in battle. Finally, we have long awaited release date for North America announced; Bravely Default will arrive in North America February 7th for the Nintendo 3DS. Like Bravely Default before it, Professor Layton and Azran Legacy finally gets a release date. Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy comes out February 28th for the Nintendo 3DS. After Trinen finishes up, Reggie comes back to cover some upcoming eshop games.

Following these titles is a holiday favorite, Super Mario 3D World. In the trailer revealed for this direct, Nintendo highlights 10 new features for 3D World. You can blow into the microphone to interact with stage environments, and even control certain obstacles in the game using your finger. A throwback to New Super Mario Bros 2 makes an appearance, and it’s called the golden train. It appears on a beautiful looking golden bridge at night, with a full moon in the background. The train is golden, and is filled to the brim with coins; making it an asset for players looking to stock up on lives. Captain Toad is featured yet again as he travels through a small stage controlled by the gamepad. Speed run challenges are present in this game, and they’re a serious challenge for veterans. Like New Super Luigi U each of the levels will only have a 100 second challenge.

If you were fond of the mystery boxes from Super Mario 3D Land then the mystery houses ought to be right up your alley. Like the mystery boxes, each mystery house contains a mini challenge that you must complete in order to earn a green star. These can range from defeating a certain amount of enemies in a short manner of time, to outrunning a banzai bill making it safely to the end. The new creepy looking jester boss shows up; this guy has a copy ability akin the cherry power up that you find in the game. Beating him will acquire clever use of the cherry ability, so be sure to pick it up while fighting him. Top-down shooter stages turn up, and they seem to be a real challenge. Like a shoot ’em up, these levels are played in a top down perspective, and you dodge enemies firing projectiles at you while platforming.

A Mario Kart style stage is included in Super Mario 3D World, and it’s fashioned after Super Mario Kart. You speed along on a track, touching dash pads and jumping over gaps along the way. An unlockable game called Luigi Bros is available to you from the very beginning, so long as you have New Super Luigi U data on your Wii U. Finally, the biggest surprise of all, a playable character arrives to the scene. Rosalina can be played, and her moves resemble that of Mario‘s from Super Mario Galaxy.

That wraps up the Nintendo Direct, be sure to be on the look out for more Directs in the future.