Everything announced at July’s Nintendo Direct mini

By Tom Caswell Published July 20, 2020

Nintendo announced over the weekend a Direct mini partner showcase less than 12 hours before it was to premiere. Fans online expressed their excitement and hoped we would see more of games like the Breath of the Wild sequel and the reworked Metroid Prime 4. The biggest announcement for the Nintendo Direct mini, however, was that Shin Megami Tensei V, a game that’s been in development for quite a few years, would be coming in 2021.

An RPG set in a modern-day, demon-infested Tokyo, it will feature gameplay that is a hybrid between Shin Megami Tensei IV and Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Speaking of which, before V‘s announcement, a trailer for Nocturne‘s HD Remaster was shown with a spring 2021 release date.

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The Nintendo Direct mini kicked off with new content for Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the Necrodancer. The Zelda rhythm game will be getting three DLC packs, the first of which brings new characters Impa, Aria, Shadow Link, Shadow Zelda, and Frederick. It is available today.

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DLC pack 2 is all about melodies, as it will introduce 39 new songs to the game, some of which are remixes of prior tunes. The final DLC for Cadence of Hyrule is entitled Symphony of the Mask and is new story content that has players rhythmically controlling Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask. DLC packs 2 and 3 will release before November, and a bundle of the base game with its additional content will drop on October 23.

Rogue Company, a game revealed in a Nintendo Direct last September, is an online multiplayer third-person shooter by Hi-Rez Studios. It will feature tactical 4v4 game modes, and there’ll be more info coming later today on the company’s Twitter.

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And finally, a fun gameplay trailer featuring some of wrestling’s biggest names debuted for WWE 2k Battlegrounds, which is coming to the Nintendo Switch and other platforms on September 18.

Nintendo also said this would be the first of multiple Direct minis this year. Perhaps the coronavirus pandemic has forced it to switch to leaner and quicker productions. The company currently has no first-party titles announced with release dates, so if it hopes to compete with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X this holiday, it’s at some point going to need to bring out the big guns.

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