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Here’s what the newest Nintendo Direct event looked like to an 11-year old

“There’s a new old controller you can use to play old games on the Switch”

Mario and sonic go the the olympics tokyo 2020
Image: Nintendo

I usually catch almost all Nintendo Direct shows, but the September Direct happened to catch me in a bumper-to-bumper commute. I knew we had Jake covering the full thing but I’m not one to completely pass up some great content, so I made a quick phone call. I asked my 11-ear old son, Aiden, to do me a favor and watch the Direct and let me know if he saw anything worthwhile.

Apparently, he did, because when I got home, he had two and a half pages of Nintendo Direct notes waiting for me. I had to grill him for some specifics, but I had to share! All of this before I watched the Direct myself.

Keep in mind, this is probably the first time he’s watched anything like this and doesn’t share the same knowledge you or I have of the industry. Also, I doctored some of his punctuation because he has none. His notes are bolded.

New Remake of Trial of Mana – not the one dad bought?

Yeah, I just bought The Collection of Mana as an attempt to share one of my favorite games with my sons. I made a really big deal of explaining to him that Trial of Mana had never released in the US and this was the first time we could legally play it.

I kinda forgot about the fancy remake coming. Turns out he was paying attention to what I told him.

Little Town Hero – looks good, hero fights with an axe and ideas. I want to play this.

This is one of the first games that he was excited to tell me about. I don’t know much about it yet but he said “they said something about Game Freaks or something” which leads me to believe this is that anticipated non-Pokemon Game Freak title. Cool.

Smash Bros updates- Banjo and Kazooie get a release date and Terry (from Street Fighter, I don’t know) is coming to Smash Bros. Sans? There’s going to be memes.

Yeah, I need to teach him that when a date is announced, that’s the news, not that there is a date. That date is now, by the way. Also, Terry “Buster Wolf” Bogard isn’t from Street Fighter, he’s from Fatal Fury and he’s awesome.

I also thought he had confirmed Sans from Undertale, but after jumping on Reddit, I saw it is just custom skins for Mii-Fighters. Whew.

New Legend of Zelda game where you play as amiibo Link and amiibo do things.

I mean, I get where he could get that confused. Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening looks like the art styles could be based off amiibo and according to him, those amiibo we do own can influence the custom dungeons.

New Dragon’s Quest XI S is coming with multiple changes including old graphics. Don’t think this is new.

Ah, my son is unfamiliar with the concept of definitive editions and remastered releases. He knows I own this for PS4 but is too young to truly appreciate the 8-bit aesthetic of the new parts of the game.

Deadly Premonition 2 looks boring


So, when I read this, I had to make sure he didn’t write something incorrect. The most B-movie game in the history of B-movie games is getting a sequel. That’s pretty hype. I may coerce him into playing the original so he can appreciate it.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 coming to Switch, it’s on everything now.

Hilariously, he knows Divinity: Original Sin 2 exists because he saw a Youtuber playing it online a while back. I think I own it on PC and PS4, so I believe he bridged the gap.

Rogue Company online game looks OK, probably free like Fortnite and I can play with other people. Lots of guns and skins.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to think about this blurb. I looked online and saw that Hi-Rez is making an online military-style shooter.

I’d be excited but I’ve known Hi-Rez long enough to know they only seem to believe in Smite, so the jury is out on this one. The playing with other people must refer to the cross-platform ability of the game. That’s big, but bigger for him because he loves playing games on PC, while his friends usually use consoles.

What Aiden thinks of Pokémon Sword and Shield news from Nintendo Direct

Nintendo pokémon sword and shield

Image: Nintendo

At this point, we enter the second-best part of his notes. A pretty detailed account of Pokémon Sword and Shield for the Nintendo Switch. Aiden learned to read so he could play Pokémon and has beat the current games in the 3DS lineup. This must’ve been a big deal for him. (Note: His contributions are bulleted for the rest of the article)

  • Pokémon Sword and Shield – you can customize your looks a lot more that other games. There are Pokémon camps where you can hang out with your Pokémon or visit other people’s camps. You can make curry on rice and your Pokémon help, plus you add ingredients. There are lots of different recipes and other flavors of the whipped cream Pokémon.
  • Cramorant is a new ghost Pokemon that lives in a tea set. It’s super awesome. I’m going to catch that one. Is it tea? There’s also a stupid looking bird. The stupid bird spits fish at other Pokémon. Is the fish a Pokémon or just a normal fish? Who knows?

After the Pokémon info, he jotted notes on a few other things.

The internet tells me this is about the SNES games coming to the Switch. There’s a hell of a line-up and it includes one of my favorite JRPGs. Super Nintendo isn’t old games and the SNES controller is peak controller. Fight me.

  • Mario and Sonic Olympics has old graphics and sports I don’t think are in the Olympics.

You know, he isn’t wrong. I saw the trailer, some of those sports are Olympic sports, but I don’t think rock climbing is one. Still, this looks like the first Mario and Sonic Olympics I’d ever play.

Also, CLASSIC graphics, and CLASSIC controllers, Aiden. They aren’t OLD.

  • Demon Machine game is getting prologue demo. Graphics are bad but it has Gundam in it so Dad will like it. A Gundam yeeted a giant sword at another big Gundam.
Daemon x machina preview nintendo switch

Image: Jake Vander Ende / KnowTechie

Daemon x Machina is what he’s referring to. Yes, it looks awesome but I can see where the graphics are off-putting to a snobby kid. I’m a sucker for mechs and mech combat, he knows me well.

  • Animal Crossing: Island Life – Mom will be really excited. Looks like you live on an island this time.

My wife loves her some Animal Crossing and she doesn’t keep that a secret. Aiden used to play with her all the time but now is into faster-paced games. These days, she plays with my youngest son, Drake. I think he just likes to listen to music from K.K. Slider.

  • Doom 64 is coming AGAIN

Oh, well, that’s sure an announcement. In a world of Doom and Doom Eternal, we have Doom 64. Cool cool cool cool…

The last thing worth noting in his pages of notes is that he repeats the name Overwatch a few times. After looking online, it looks like Overwatch is coming to Switch as well. I don’t know how I feel about that overall. That’s pretty big news though.

So there you go. I ended up paying my son $5 for going way beyond what I expected him to do, but I was surprised that he left coherent enough notes that I could figure out most of what he saw without having to look it up. I thought it was pretty wholesome, if you all do as well, maybe I’ll have him cover some more in the future.

What do you think? Should we hire Aiden and get rid of Josh? Did you enjoy September’s Nintendo Direct? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Longtime games journalist and Florida resident. I'm a Guinness World Record holder, wordsmith extraordinaire, MOBA fan, devoted dad and husband. I'm here to spread the gospel of video games.

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