Nintendo sure gave us a treat tonight with their latest Nintendo Direct. Check it out below.

-There’s a ton of information in the 21 minute video, but down below, if you want a little more detail, check it out…especially the quotes from Masahiro Sakurai and Masaya Kobayashi themselves.

– 3DS XL is coming out in North America on August 19th for $199.99. In addition to both top and bottom screens being 90% bigger, the system will also have a longer battery life of up to 6.5 hours while playing 3DS games. In Japan it’ll be called the 3DS LL and though that version won’t come packed in with an AC adapter, XL unit planned for the west coast, will. The screen resolution will remain the same as the current 3DS. It’s coming in Red and Blue and will be bundled with a 4GB SD card. Europe will get the system on July 28th in Red, Blue, and Silver.

– eShop has a demo of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance available RIGHT NOW in North America.

– Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask will come out for 3DS in November in North America.

– Fire Emblem will hitting 3DS in North America next year and feature its own DLC.

– New Super Mario Bros. 2 features full co-op throughout the entire game in local play. Coin Rush DLC hitting North America as well, post game launch.

– Buy Super Mario Land on 3DS for less beginning tomorrow and for the week.

– Legend of Zelda, Kirby’s Pinball Land, and WarioLand: Super Mario Land 3 will be hitting the 3DS VC soon in North America.

– July 2nd photoshowcase.nintendo.com launches in North America for 3D photos. You can vote and share them via social media.

– Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2 will be debuting in North America, this Fall.

– Kirby’s Dream Collection: Special Edition is a 20th anniversary bundle of awesome pink puffball fun, featuring 6 different classic Kirby games, and art book, interactive Kirby timeline, and bonus challenge stages from Kirby’s latest Wii outing. It’ll be hitting Wii later this year.

– Super Smash Bros. 4 for Wii U and 3DS is being developed by Namco Bandai as revealed by my friend up above, Nate Bihldorff. In addition to Masahiro Sakurai and past Smash Bros. team members, so too will Masaya Kobayashi and Yoshito Higuchi from Namco Bandai. The game has been in development since Kid Kicarus: Uprising wrapped up and the early build is already looking good.

Masahiro Sakurai

“Hello, I’m Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the Super Smash Bros. series.

It’s my personal belief that the only time a creative product really resonates is in that first moment when it’s actually in front of you.

With that said, I’ve realized that if we keep the new Super Smash Bros. title’s development structure secret, it’ll only create more and more speculation, and I won’t be able to develop the game with any freedom. That’s why I’ve decided to announce this news right now, even though it’s still very early on.

I would love to provide more information, but for now, I’m going to stay quiet until I have something solid to show you.

The project has just gotten started. Bear in mind that not only are we developing two titles simultaneously, but we announced the project before we even started actual development, so I’m afraid we will likely have to keep you waiting for quite a while. Please be patient.

Currently, the prototype prepared by NAMCO BANDAI Games and NAMCO BANDAI Studios’ special team looks pretty good, and it’s working great. In order to take advantage of the fact that there will be versions for two different systems, and to maximize and offer fun new gameplay elements, the entire team is going to work hard together. Thank you.”

—————

Masaya Kobayashi

“Hello, everyone. I’m Masaya Kobayashi of NAMCO BANDAI Studios. I’m so honored to be able to join the Smash Bros. team–that globally popular series of which Japan is particularly proud—and to work alongside of Mr. Sakurai.

In order to make Mr. Sakurai proud, we will take on this project with NAMCO BANDAI’s best staff! Yoshito Higuchi, the producer and the director of the “Tales” series, Tetsuya Akatsuka, producer and director of “Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs.,” the art director/sound director of the “SoulCalibur” series, the main development team staff from the “TEKKEN” series…and that’s just for starters. All the top creators from NAMCO BANDAI are gathered here to create a never-before-seen dream team for this project. We will fully utilize our experience and knowledge in action/fighting game development, technical capability, and organizational strength, and we hereby promise you that we will develop the best and most powerful “Super Smash Bros.” title ever! Don’t miss it!”

Representative works:

Masaya Kobayashi
“Ridge Racer” series
“We Ski” (Wii) series
“Go Vacation” (Wii)

Yoshito Higuchi
“SoulCalibur” series
“Tales of the Abyss”
“Tales of Vesperia”

Thank you, Nintendo.com