Nintendo needs to release a Daigasso! Band Bros-branded 3DS LL (plus a few more musings on yesterday's Nintendo Direct broadcasts)

As soon as I realized that yesterday morning's trio of Nintendo Direct broadcasts (one each for Europe, Japan and North America) would focus entirely on previously announced 3DS and Wii U titles, I decided to take a pass on them.

At least that was the plan until someone suggested that the latest entry in the company's Daigasso! Band Bros. might show up in the Japanese one.

So, I watched it. And guess what? That random NeoGAF commenter was correct. And not only did the game pop up, but it was given a couple of minutes of airtime. 

In many ways, it looks to very similar to the first two Daigasso! Band Bros. music games that were released for the Japanese DS back in 2004 and 2008, respectively. (The second also earned a European release, as Jam with the Band, in 2010.)

That's not to say this third one is going to be a total rehash of its predecessors. For example, there's a hilariously weird (and kind of creepy, admittedly) looking mode in this one that allows players to snap a photo of their faces and have them applied to in-game singers.

It also appears as though another of the game's modes features an entirely new style of gameplay, although I may be wrong about that.

And then there's the fact that the title, which will hit Japanese store shelves (and presumably that region's 3DS eShop) later this year, is going to be called Daigasso! Band Bros. P, with the "P" standing for both "Producer" and "Professional"--which implies we may be in store for additional gameplay surprises between now and whenever the finished product ships.

Regardless, I'm on board, and I'll be pre-ordering this sucker as soon as amiami.com allows me to do so.

That said, you know what would get me even more on board (if that were possible)? If Nintendo of Japan announced that a Daigasso! Band Bros.-branded 3DS LL system--especially a purple one, in honor of Barbara the Bat--would be sold alongside copies of the game.

As for the rest of the Japanese Nintendo Direct: about all I can say is that I think The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (boy, is that a mouthful--and not the good kind) looks marvelous, while The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds looks better than I thought it did at E3.



Oh, and I absolutely adore the look of the One Piece: Unlimited World R "Chopper Pink" 3DS LL system that will launch in Japan on Nov. 21 (just in time for my birthday).

If you missed any of yesterday's Nintendo Directs and would still like to see them, the European one can be seen here, the Japanese one can be seen here and the North American one can be seen here.

A few thoughts on this morning's trifecta of Nintendo Direct broadcasts

So, the folks at Nintendo provided us with another trio of Nintendo Direct broadcasts this morning. (The last ones arrived less than a month ago.) Unlike the company's previous Nintendo Directs, the three that aired today--watch the North American one here--focused (mostly) on the 3DS. And not only that, but they focused on 3DS games featuring Luigi.

Here are a few brief thoughts on the three 3DS titles that fit the above-mentioned bill:

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (aka Luigi Mansion 2 in Japan)--This long-awaited game, which will, at long last, hit store shelves across North America on March 24, looks as gorgeous as always. Also, the online-enabled multiplayer modes sound like a lot of fun.



Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (aka Mario & Luigi RPG 4: Dream Adventure)--This one was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it? I mean, I assumed Nintendo would release another Mario & Luigi game at some point in time, but I never imagined they'd do so as soon as this summer--especially since Paper Mario: Sticker Star only came out a few months ago. Anyway, this iteration looks superb, and it'll likely be my first foray into this AlphaDream-developed series.



Mario Golf World Tour--I guess you could say this announcement was less surprising than the one above given that a new Mario Tennis title has already appeared on the 3DS, but I still found it a bit shocking. The question is: will this game, also due out this summer, be more worthy of purchasing than Camelot's earlier effort? I hope so, as I've been itching to experience another Mario Golf game for some time now.

After Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was done dropping those bombs, he turned the reins over to the crew at Nintendo of America, who chatted about Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC and (finally) pulled back the curtain on Animal Crossing: New Leaf's North American release date (June 9).



They also revealed that Game Freak's highly anticipated rhythmic platformer, HarmoKnight, will hit the eShop on March 28. (A demo of the game will be made available on March 14.) Oh, and HarmoKnight will soon be joined by a curious-looking title called Kersploosh!, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move and Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger--the last of which will appear on April 11. All of the above looked good to my eyes, although I'm most interested in HarmoKnight at this point.



Finally, it was announced that Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D hit the streets of North America sometime this summer. I'll probably pass on the title myself, despite the fact that I enjoyed the Wii version of the game, but I'm sure a lot of 3DS owners will snap it up.



One other piece of news a select few of you may be interested in hearing: during the Japanese Nintendo Direct, Iwata discussed the next Daigasso Band Bros. game, saying that it will be able to access and play the more than 9,000 tracks that were created for Daigasso Band Bros. DX. Unfortunately, the title is still without a release date.

Another (Japanese) Nintendo Direct was promised for next week, by the way, and apparently it'll cover third-party 3DS titles. As such, expect a similar write-up about that event to appear here shortly after it wraps up.

Five Japanese 3DS games I'm hoping to pick up (and play, too, of course) in 2013

Would you believe it if I told you I recently bought a Japanese 3DS system? I hope you replied in the positive, because that's just what I did shortly after my recent birthday.

I'll share the curious story behind its purchase and also share a few photos of it in all its gloriousness shortly, but today I'm going to focus on something else entirely--with that something being the following five Japan-only (for now, he says with fingers crossed) 3DS games that I'm both keeping an eye on and hoping to buy sometime in 2013.

1. Daigasso! Band Brothers 3DS--How can I say it's likely I'll buy this game when it hasn't yet been given an official name or release date? Because I completely loved playing both of its DS-based predecessors, that's why. Unless the folks who are busily piecing together this iteration muck up the formula that worked so well for past Daigasso! Band Brothers titles, you can count on the 3DS version being added to my collection shortly after it's released in its country of origin.

2. Dragon Quest VII--To be honest, I only plan to pick up this much-anticipated remake if it fails to come to North America like Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D and Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3 did. Considering there's about an 80 percent chance of that happening, though, I probably shouldn't be too cavalier. Anyone know a quick and easy way to learn the Japanese language?

3. Labyrinth no Kanata--This is another import-only game, known to most westerners as Beyond the Labyrinth, that I desperately want to play, but I'm just not sure it would be a good idea to buy considering I don't know a lick of Japanese. Should I ever come across a reasonably priced copy of it, though, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to resist its beautiful cover art (or its dungeon-exploring gameplay).

4. Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb--Despite the fact that I love rhythm games and that I find this series' mascot to be one of the cutest I've ever seen, I've yet to experience a single Taiko no Tatsujin title. Granted, only one has been released in my neck of the woods. Anyway, this one looks pretty darn good to my eyes--thanks in no small part to the "chibi dragon" mentioned in its subtitle--so why not start with it?

5. Zoo Keeper 3D--Go ahead. Look down your nose at me for including this game. I'm not ashamed of the way I feel about Zoo Keeper, no sir. That said, I'll admit to straddling the fence when it comes to this particular version of Success' animal-themed puzzler, as I haven't seen enough of it to know whether it would be a good or bad title to buy. For now, though, I'll just pretend that it would be worth every precious penny I'd spend on it.

Should you realistically expect me to pick up all five of these games? Probably not. I think there's a better-than-good chance, though, that the first and fourth ones will be purchased at some point in 2013.