Today's Nintendo Direct broadcast contained an unusually large amount of RPG news, including several long-anticipated announcements. Here's the skinny on all the RPGs discussed this morning. We will continue to add trailers and images to this story as they are released throughout the day.
The broadcast introduced new story information about Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. As usual, it's a bad idea for the Mario crew to go on vacation, as this excursion results in Princess Peach being sucked into a dream world. Luigi has to sleep on a magical pillow in order to allow Mario to explore the dream world and save the princess.
Gameplay will switch back and forth between the real world, in which Mario and Luigi co-operate as normal, and the dream world, in which the sleeping Luigi can be manipulated on the touch screen in order to solve puzzles. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team will launch on August 11 in North America and July 12 in Europe.
Square Enix's charming classic-style portable RPG has finally been announced for Western release. It is coming out later this year in Europe, and in 2014 in North America.
Packaging information was given for Atlus' latest demon-summoning adventure. Each copy of the game's initial shipment will include a music CD, a strategy and design book, and a fancy outer slip case.
Shin Megami Tensei IV will release on July 16 in North America. It has been announced for European release, but without a specific release date at this point.
Nintendo is creating a brand new top-down Zelda adventure set in the world of A Link to the Past. The 3DS screen will be used to create a sense of height and depth in the world, and Link will be able to enter and move within walls for exploration and viewpoint-swapping fun. A Link to the Past 2 is coming out later this year in both North America and Europe.
Virtual Console and Remakes
The Wii U will be receiving its own enhanced Virtual Console, which allows for off-screen play, in the upcoming spring update.
After many passionate fan requests, Nintendo has decided to release Earthbound for the Wii U (and possibly Wii, the company wasn't clear) Virtual Console in both North America and Europe later this year.