Nintendo loves to make game announcements in rapid succession, and even a day notorious for literally unbelievable news isn't enough to deter a parade of updates and trailers. The most recent Nintendo Direct just aired on April 1, with a slew of new info and reveals that shouldn't be missed. But what if you don't have an hour to spend scrubbing through the looking for the breaking news? That's where we come in.

What follows is a list of the biggest announcements from the Nintendo Direct, with all the really good stuff front-loaded for your convenience. Check out what you might've missed, then let us know in the comments which games and new amiibo you're personally pumped up for. You can even imagine us speaking in the same dulcet tones as Satoru Iwata or Bill Trinen, if you like.

We still don't have a title for the new Fire Emblem game on 3DS, but we do know that it's . Alongside the release window, Nintendo revealed a ton formation about the game's single-player campaign, which casts your created character as the star (rather than as a companion to the real hero of the story). That doesn't just mean more dialogue - your character will literally determine the entire course of the campaign.

Early on, you must make the choice between fighting for the peace-loving Hoshido faction or the warlike, revolutionary Nohr faction. Striving to preserve peace with Hoshido will provide a more traditional Fire Emblem experience that's also more welcoming to newcomers, while fighting for glory with Nohr will make for difficult battles and a more complex narrative. Sounds like a pretty awesome excuse to play the game twice, whichever side you decide to start with.

The Nintendo Direct had no shortage of updates on and 3DS. First off, the Mewtwo DLC will be out this month. If you registered both games on Club Nintendo, you’ll be getting a download code on April 15. Everyone else will be able to buy the character on April 28, costing $4 on either version, or $5 if you want the Legendary Pokemon on both platforms.

But that’s not all. This June, Mother 3 protagonist Lucas will join the game as a downloadable fighter for a yet-to-be-named price. Additionally, new costume packs are coming for the Mii fighters, all as paid DLC on April 15. There are themed costumes for Legend of Zelda and Mega Man, plus cute animal outfits that are 75 cents separately, or $6 in a bundle.

Ready to write a 500-word treatise on why Ridley absolutely, positively belongs in the Super Smash Bros. roster? Get your thinking cap ready, because Nintendo is about to let fan demand influence who might be the next DLC character.

By hopping over to , you can fill out a survey suggesting who deserves to join the Smash Bros. cast next. Who knows how long it'll be until this survey is botted out of control, but it's a nice sentiment for Nintendo to let the fans make direct suggestions. If we all type in Goku, do you think it’ll finally happen?

After it was teased more than a year ago, we were told little about this crossover game beyond a few facts: It's on the Wii U, is being developed in tandem by Atlus and the Fire Emblem team at Intelligent Systems, and brings together two of the most hardcore series in gaming. The was finally shown during the Nintendo Direct, and it blends the SMT and Fire Emblem influences into a dazzling, anime-riffic display.

As in most Shin Megami games, the main characters are Japanese teens with special abilities, and they look to be battling monsters in a near-future version of Tokyo to the tune of a catchy theme song. From the Fire Emblem side of things, the turn-based battles show classic FE characters helping out the the team. No official date or title has been given to the game in North America; it’ll be out this year in Japan with a title that roughly translates to Illusory Revelations#FE. The rest is still a mystery, but hopefully we’ll hear more around E3 this year.

Amiibo are fun and all, but Marth and Wii Fit Trainer break way too easy when you try to cuddle with them. Thankfully, Nintendo plans to get out ahead of the snuggle issue with a new line of amiibo planned to release alongside - one green, one pink, and one light blue.

Aside from being oh-so soft, squishy, and lovable, the Woolly World amiibo will let you play as Double Yoshi when you tap their little bottoms to the GamePad. You control both characters at once, letting you slurp up the second Yoshi into an egg, toss him to new areas, and run around with him once you get there. You'll also be able to swap between the difficulty-determining "Classic" or "Mellow" modes in the middle of a level, the latter of which gives your Yoshi wings… if you can ever stop cooing at the figures long enough to play, anyway.

Because people will buy up amiibo figurines faster than bottled water before an impending earthquake, you know Nintendo isn't about to stop making them any time soon. The newest wave of Smash-themed amiibo is now know, with Dark Pit and Palutena coming this July, and Olimar, Zero Suit Samus, Bowser Jr., Ganondorf, and Dr. Mario set to debut in September. That noise you just heard was your wallet screaming, by the way.

In addition, Iwata assures us that amiibo toys for Smash Bros. DLC characters like Mewtwo and Lucas are also on the way, alongside the aforementioned Yoshi's Wooly World and Splatoon amiibo sets. You'll also be able to boot up demos of classic games with the amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Hits app, which releases this spring on Wii U as a free download. By tapping your amiibo to the GamePad, you'll gain access to a limited demo of a randomly selected game from Nintendo's storied archives. It's basically like a , only better.

For Western fans of Fatal Frame, who haven't seen a localized release in the snapshot-happy horror series for ten years, it may feel like this franchise has one foot in the grave. But apparently Nintendo has a resurrection planned, with a U.S. localization of Fatal Frame 5: Oracle of the Sodden Raven set for release later this year.

Little is known about the title as of yet, aside from the standards common to every Fatal Frame game: you play as a (presumably) teenage girl stuck in a haunted locale and use a camera to protect yourself against homicidal specters while trying to solve the mystery of their deaths. What makes this Wii U release special is the use of the GamePad, with the inlaid screen functioning as the only access you have to your life-saving camera. And you thought these games were nerve-wracking before.

If you've had your fill of space battles, planting flowers, global conquest, and battling ghosts, Nintendo has a pair of new games to freshen up your StreetPass Plaza. Ultimate Angler sees your Mii travelling to the StreetPass Islands to bag more than 150 varieties of fish, using bait that they receive from fellow travellers. Meanwhile, Battleground Z lets you engage in action combat with hordes of zombies using weapons pulled from each Mii's hobbies.

The two games will be available on April 16 together for $7.99, or separately for $4.99 each. "StreetPass Mii Plaza Premium" will also launch on April 16, letting you store designated Mii characters in a VIP room and set StreetPass birthdays for your virtual travelers on a new calendar. StreetPass Mii Plaza Premium will be sold separately for $4.99.

Do you enjoy collecting amiibo, but wish they were easier to fit in your pocket? That’s what the upcoming amiibo cards are for. They function similarly to the figures, meaning the cards are scanned via NFC to unlock features, and the first set is themed around Animal Crossing. As it so happens, a new Animal Crossing spin-off will launch alongside the cards by the end of the year.

Called , the game focuses on the series’ indoors action, making players do some interior design to the desired specifications of their animal neighbors. And you get unique assignments by scanning different amiibo cards for characters like Isabelle. The game and cards launch this fall, along with the long-promised NFC add-on that allows non-New 3DS handhelds to scan amiibo and add the content to their games.

Go-karts are fun, but as far as racing goes, they're not actually all that fast… unless you drop an even bigger engine and some Super Mushrooms in there. Nintendo plans to add a 200cc racing class to in a free downloadable update on April 23, enabling a new, super-speedy mode on all tracks. Get comfortable with tapping that brake button, because taking corners at full speed is about to get a whole lot trickier.

The free update will release alongside DLC Pack 2, which adds three new characters (Animal Crossing's Villager, Isabelle, and Dry Bowser), four new vehicles, and eight new tracks, giving you plenty of new wheels and pavement to tear up as you zoom around at ludicrous speeds. You do have to pay $8 for the DLC pack, mind you.

It may not have the established fanbase of series like Smash Bros. or Fire Emblem, but is shaping up to be a fun, inventive shooter that still retains Nintendo's classic sense of whimsy. Two online modes were shown off during the Nintendo Direct: Ranked Battle, with 4v4 matches that determine your (what else) rank, and Splat Zones, a king-of-the-hill style melee where everyone's fighting over one central location. Offline multiplayer will also be available in the Battle Dojo mode, a 1v1 skirmish that puts one player on the TV and the other on the GamePad in a race to pop balloons.

Being that it's a relatively big game for Nintendo, you knew there had to be some amiibo involved. Three Splatoon amiibo will be available starting on May 29th: an orange humanoid Inkling girl, a blue humanoid Inkling boy, and a green Inkling in squid form. You can buy the humanoids separately, or pick up all three in one convenient pack.

Super Mario Bros. is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and Nintendo revealed has a bunch of surprises in store for the occasion. Thankfully, Mario Maker's release date is no longer one of them: it will finally democratize the piranha plant placement process in September.

The Wii U game / level-creation workshop will feature four different visual themes pulled from across the 2D Mario canon: the original 8-bit goodness of Super Mario Bros., the classic look of Super Mario Bros. 3, the SNES-talgic Super Mario World style, and the 3D-rendered visuals of New Super Mario Bros. You'll be able to swap between the four at will and easily share all of your creations online. No better way to celebrate Mario history than by making some of your own, right?

If you've been pulling your hair out waiting for for the day you could play Super Mario 64 on glorious new-gen tech, then yank no more! , starting with Super Mario 64 and Yoshi's Island DS, which are available immediately - yeah, right now! Go get them! Other titles you can play on your Wii U in the coming months will include Donkey Kong 64 and Mario Kart DS, and we can undoubtedly expect more nostalgic goodness in the future.

In addition, Nintendo has shown off a slew of games for the eShop that'll be released throughout the next year. The headliner is Pokemon Rumble World, a free, simplistic brawler starring toy versions of pocket monsters. And in addition to previously announced games like Don't Starve: Giant Edition and Runbow, games like forma.8, Dementium Remastered, and Starwhal will join Nintendo's collection of indie offerings.

Phew! Of all those announcements, which are you the most excited for? Do you plan on diving headfirst into the JRPG goodness of Fire Emblem and SMTXFE (the best acronym ever, pronounced 'smit-ze-fee')? Or are you gearing up to take part in the battle for those precious amiibo? Let us know in the comments below.

And if you're looking for more, check out .

Getting tired of checking your kill-death ratio in Advanced Warfare or fruitlessly searching for the best sniper rifle in Destiny? Sometimes video games can feel a little stale - I've been there too, buddy. Luckily, there's a whole industry of indie games shaking things up. Ever play Braid or The Binding of Isaac? Then you know what's up.

Now is a great time to check out the most promising indies on the horizon. If you're still enjoying your triple-A experiences, don't worry: these guys borrow from modern and classic blockbusters, but each title brings its own twist. Let's get started - severed limbs, dance floors, and cupcakes await!

Why should you try it? You have to be a fan of big, tough boss fights if you've played through Shadow of the Colossus, and Titan Souls serves up the same menu of ginormous entrees. It's not about whittling down a giant health bar, but figuring out how to damage each Colossus. Most strategies involve latching onto limbs as the boss draws near, and many of Titan Souls' contenders require a similar level of trickery.

What's the twist? Colossus killer Wander wields a bow, and so does the hero of Titan Souls… except he only carries one arrow. Fire it, and you'll have to manually pick it up or draw it in like a boomerang to fire again. Legolas would surely kick butt regardless, but the rest of you will have to take careful aim - especially since you die after a single hit.

Why should you try it? For a game set deep under the sea, BioShock sure has "atmosphere." Oxygen jokes aside, the enrapturing art deco style is definitely evoked by We Happy Few's retro-futuristic 1960s London. And where Infinite's white-washed Columbia was packed with psycho supremacists and pseudo-religious freaks, Few's city is inhabited by Brits at a disturbing level of constant happiness, thanks to a government-mandated drug

What's the twist? If the Splicers or the Order of the Raven gave you a hard time, you could dispose of them with a few shotgun blasts or semi-magic Plasmids. That sort of behavior is a no-no in Few's overly enthusiastic world. All you can do is sneak around, blending in with your perpetually smiling neighbors. Trust me, you don't want them catching you.

Why should you try it? I'd like to tell you that the team behind Guacamelee secured a Mike Tyson cameo, but alas, the ear-chomping boxer is not to be found here. That said, taking down Severed's enemies and bosses is a matter of memorizing patterns, just like with Punch-Out's totally-not-racist cast. Swiping across the Vita screen to parry attacks or deal damage is all about timing and memorization. There's even an equivalent to the Star Punch: the game takes its name from a finishing move that slices baddies to bits.

What's the twist? But unlike Punch-Out, you're not stuck in a boxing ring forever. Severed's world is explored in first person by moving from screen to the next, much like iOS cult classic Infinity Blade. The team also calls Severed an "RPG-lite," since you can collect bad guys' dismembered body parts to boost your health and strength.

Why should you try it? You leap across boulders in a river of lava, scale a tower, and slay a Space Pirate - all to reach a chamber containing the heat-resistant Varia Suit. Now you can run right through that lava river! Powerups like these are what make Metroid games great, and Axiom Verge delivers the same wardrobe of game-changing apparel and attachments. It's all about exploring, finding new abilities, and re-exploring in new ways, all across a mysterious alien world.

What's the twist? The 60-plus items and powerups in Axiom Verge are already impressive. Even better, some weapons in Axiom Verge have two modes of fire. The Nova, for instance, can fire a large single shot or burst into six smaller ones. Bet the Galactic Federation doesn't have that in its arsenal.

Why should you try it? Call me crazy, but finding a unique way to off someone and get away with it is exciting… in Hitman, of course. Party Hard offers the same opportunities to set traps and find multiple routes through places like clubs and crack houses. There's an intensity to trying to not get caught, and a sense of satisfaction if you manage to pin the blame on someone else.

What's the twist? While Hitman provides chef hats and clown costumes to let you move around undetected, the 'hero' of Party Hard has no disguise. In fact, you can only hit the dedicated dance button to boogie and blend in with the plebes you're trying to murder. And yes, that's plural. Agent 47 has one target to off, but your party guy must kill everyone in the place. That's hardcore.

Why should you try it? "What's so special about platformers anyway, Ernie?" "Gee, Bert, it's just great jumping around and using fun things like jetpacks. It's the way we move that's so fun." The Sesame Street bros are right, and NES classic Bionic Commando proved it by replacing the ability to jump with a robo-arm-embedded grappling gun. Although Ronin's heroine can jump and grab ledges, she also has a handy dart rope for swinging around, and it's the key to slipping through windows and rooftops undetected.

What's the twist? Nathan 'Rad' Spencer never stopped for a turn-based battle, but our Ronin warrior certainly does. Combat isn't about aiming a gun - you'll have to plan your moves to avoid enemy fire, leap around, and slash foes with your trusty sword. Not bad for a one-armed warrior.

Why should you try it? Turn-based RPGs are fine and dandy, but tactics games like Fire Emblem and The Behemoth's tentatively titled Game 4 set combat atop a grid system - it's much better than standing in a line taking hits one at a time, really. Moving about the grid puts an emphasis on troop placement and attack order, so you have to strategize instead of spamming fire spells each turn.

What's the twist? When the team behind Castle Crashers gets into the tactics game, you can expect two key features: cuteness and absurdity. Where Fire Emblem includes archers and infantrymen, Game 4 sends hordes of living cupcakes and blonde cyclopses after you - don't be surprised if the ambush is interrupted by crashing pirate ships or UFOs either. It's also more forgiving than its hardcore counterpart: there's no permadeath mode, and fighting your way out of corners is very doable.

Why should you try it? If you're play Dark Souls, you're going to die. As for Necropolis, well… 'necro' ain't the prefix for 'life,' pal. The Souls series isn't just about dying though; there's a ton of little quests that can turn NPCs against each other. Likewise, the creatures of the Necropolis have a designated food chain - you can use survival of the fittest to your advantage.

What's the twist? The thing about Dark Souls is that you can memorize enemy and placement and environments, making your journey a tad easier. As for Necropolis… well, 'necro' doesn't mean 'repeatable' either, bub. Necropolis is procedurally generated, making each dive into the hellhole just as dangerous. You can manipulate the layout to get around, solve puzzles, and uncover treasure, but that doesn't mean the adventure will be any easier.

See? Not every video game is a near-future shooter or a medieval RPG - there's some intriguing stuff out there. And these are just a few of what's coming. Did one catch your fancy? Is there another indie you want to spotlight? Let me know in the comments!

Looking to get into some more obscure titles? Here are .