After all of the hype and drama surrounding yesterday’s Sony and Microsoft press conferences, it is time to give the microphone to Nintendo. A lot of people seem to have  forgotten about the big N, and maybe that’s because a lot of people don’t consider the Wii U a next-gen console and they the think the name Wii U is freakin’ stupid (which it is). Regardless of the reasons, Nintendo still has things to say about what lies ahead for its new system, and I will be breaking it all down in this post.

The first big announcement is that Super Mario 3D World is coming to Wii U this fall. The game will feature the same type of gameplay found in the 3DS version of the game and will contain four unique characters to control. Each character has their own traits that give them a different playing experience compared to the others. For example: Toad can run faster than everyone else and Peach can float through the air. This is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 2, which is a nice little nod to the classic era of Mario. The game will also feature a multiplayer component, and contain a new suit for Mario to wear, called the cat suit. While wearing this suit, Mario can climb up walls and slash at enemies with his claws.

The next big news also involves Mario, as Nintendo announced that Mario Kart 8 will be hitting shelves spring 2014. I’d like to know why Nintendo randomly decided to start giving them numerical titles. If they had been doing it the whole time then that’s fine, but Mario Kart 7 was the first game to have a number in the title. Maybe they’re too lazy to come up with a better name. Yeah, that’s probably it. The game will feature both cars and bikes, and all of the fast paced and frantic road-rage you know and love is intact. However, the new spin on this game is that vehicles will be able to glide and drive underwater, and will also be able to shape-shift to enable anti-gravity abilities, which will apparently open up entirely different concepts of what they can accomplish with race-track design. An extended online component and Mii integration were also mentioned.

The sharpest dressing ape in gaming will also be making a scene this year, as Nintendo announced Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. This will be DK’s first HD outing, and adds bloodthirsty vikings into the fray. These vikings come to DK’s island and wreak havoc, which forces DK to go to five other islands in order to defeat them. The game will have a two-player mode that will contain Diddy and Dixie Kong. Tropical Freeze will hit shelves this November.

Nintendo also officially confirmed that The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD will be hitting shelves this October. This remake of the GameCube game will be displayed in 1080p. Along with the sharper visuals, there will also be enhanced Miiverse functionality that will allow you to do things such as write a message in a bottle and send it off to sea to be picked up by other players. You can also attach a screenshot if you’re too lazy to think of something to write.

Perhaps the most anticipated announcement was Super Smash Bros. Nintendo showed off both 3DS and Wii U gameplay for the new title, with a lot of mayhem ensuing. The 3DS version of the game will contain cel-shaded graphics, while the Wii U version will have the traditional graphics that all previous games in the series have had before. The biggest surprise for the game is that Mega Man has been added to the fray, and has a wide array of moves that is sure to make him an exciting new character to control. The game was only given a vague release window of 2014, so more details will probably surface in the near future.

Following the end of the Nintendo Direct broadcast, Nintendo uploaded a brand new trailer for the highly-anticipated sequel to The Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past. The trailer confirms that the game is called The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and showcases more gameplay taking place in the beloved Zelda universe. No release date was announced, but you can bet that this new trailer will demand some answers that will hopefully come sooner than later.

That ends the wrap-up for today’s Nintendo Direct wrap-up. Overall, it’s a solid line-up of game, though it certainly isn’t anything that is gonna shock the world. Still, at the end of the day their system is still looking a hell of a lot better than Xbox One. More announcements will probably come along, and if they do, you can find them here!