Kazuya In 'Smash,' 'Metroid Dread' Headline Mixed Bag Of Nintendo's E3 Direct

Nintendo's E3 Direct presentation wrapped up about a half hour ago, and as you might imagine, it left fans with a wide array of opinions, as the 40-minute presentation gave some exciting updates, announced some surprising new titles, but lacked the blockbuster announcement on one of Nintendo's IPs that fans were hoping for.

The Direct started off with an unexpected addition to Super Smash Brothers Ultimate: Kazuya Mishima from the Tekken series. The trailer showed Kazuya dropping several Smash characters into a pit of lava, ending with Kirby, who thankfully flew out of danger at the end of the trailer.

i have never screamed like that in my life pic.twitter.com/7ryoCLFGuk

— Ashley Oh (@itsashleyoh) June 15, 2021

KIRBY NOOO #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/asDyjZo38r

— DitzyFlama (@DitzyFlama) June 15, 2021

kirby fucking dies pic.twitter.com/z5AIsILpFV

— QUINN (@darkstrwastaken) June 15, 2021

Other major announcements included a new Warioware title coming to the Switch, as well as Fatal Frame V, a Mario Party collection called Mario Party Superstars, Danganronpa titles, and intriguingly, a 2D Metroid game called Metroid Dread. Metroid Dread will be the first 2D Metroid game released in 19 years—though there was again no significant news on Metroid Prime 4.

Side-scrolling Metroid is the only Metroid that matters.

— Jeff Gerstmann (@jeffgerstmann) June 15, 2021

Metroid Dread pic.twitter.com/EcBmiMDHCa

— Video Game Aesthetics (@game_aesthetics) June 15, 2021

However, one of the major stories of Nintendo's E3 was what games didn't show up. Fans hoping for Bayonetta 3 and Hollow Knight: Silksong news were sorely disappointed. Furthermore, there was only a small update on the The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild sequel that's had fans hyped since Nintendo first announced it. A trailer at the end of the Direct promised Link would be able to "explore the skies" in the upcoming sequel, but no other solid details were released beyond a broad release date of "2022." Still, fans were excited for the new information given out by Nintendo.

YEAHHHH LET'S FREAKING GOOOOOO 🎉🎉
this game looks SO good!!!!!!!#BreathoftheWild2 #Zelda pic.twitter.com/a3w4Mjx90b

— Croton 🍞 (@CrotonZelda) June 15, 2021

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's sequel is coming 2022 pic.twitter.com/yEBDU77521

— best of video games (@bestofvidgames) June 15, 2021

Breath of the wild 2, revealed with out a title but we got a new date! pic.twitter.com/n7U8NoB82F

— Zelda Dungeon (@ZeldaDungeon) June 15, 2021

As per usual, the overall impression of the Nintendo Direct left fans split.

I don’t care what anyone says, this was a great Nintendo E3 #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/b9op0Ftz3F

— Ocko (@Ockomet) June 15, 2021

How I feel after watching the #E32021 #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/I5sZuYFohS

— That Red Haired Dude (@MikeyClewer) June 15, 2021

the result of today’s #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/ooNdJC3vDK

— georgia ?! (@odathinker) June 15, 2021

switch users: please give us some quality of life updates for acnh or mario cart
nintendo: here is a zelda watch#NintendoDirect #NintendoE3 #Nintendo pic.twitter.com/Ps4zGgzCzK

— Oc34n (@oc34_) June 15, 2021