UPDATE: You can now watch the conference at the top of this post

The Nintendo Direct conference has come and gone, and in case you weren’t able to see it yourself, here is your summary of what was shown!  The entire conference was based around 3DS software, so if you were only interested in Wii U stuff, you can turn back now.  It started of talking about the upcoming release of Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and informing us of what was in store.  As was known you have to collect stickers through various means (whether it be from the environment, from a store or from enemies) to perform attacks in battle.  Also, in compliance with what was also known, there is no experience in the game unlike past Paper Mario adventures.  You gain upgrades through various means such as beating bosses and helping NPCs, and those upgrades involve anything between health upgrades and additional pages to your sticker book.  The conference then touched on the upcoming Professor Layton game, which is set to release next week.  The game was said to be a great starting off point if you’re new to the series, because it flashes back to the earliest point ever in the Professor Layton game’s timeline, Layton’s high school years.

Next Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime began to talk about the downloadable titles available and coming to the eShop.  There was mention of a few titles from earlier periods in the 3DS life time that were now available for digital download, along with upcoming titles such as Crashmo, the “sequel” to the hit title Pushmo where new challenges await eager players.  Reggie also made note about the three titles from Level-5 that we had reported about earlier this month, saying that starting with Liberation Maiden, which is available for download now, the three titles will be available on the eShop before the end of the year.  After some minor babel about DLC for New Super Mario Bros 2, a montage was shown of upcoming eShop titles, including virtual console titles, that will be released in the coming months.  This montage included:

Liberation Maiden
Aeroporter
Crimson Shroud
Wario Land 2
Crashmo
Castlevania the adventure
Night Sky
Zelda 2
Ninja Gaiden
Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels
Tokyo Crash Mobs
Ikachan
Fluidity Spin Cycle

For those wondering, Ikachan is brought to us by the same guys behind Cave Story, and has pretty much identical graphics.  As for Tokyo Crash Mobs, well, it’s an odd title for sure, but it’s a lot like Zuma, but with people.

The final bit that was touched upon are two upcoming retail titles that won’t be hitting stores until early 2013.  The first title was Fire Emblem: Awakening, and besides info on the story, a little bit of gameplay info was also given.  Like past Fire Emblem games, each character in your army is unique, and if they fall in battle they’re dead for the rest of the game.  But unlike past games, at least to the knowledge of this gamer, relationships between characters play a heavy roll, even up to the point where characters can even marry each other.  If two characters have a good enough relationship, they can even get bonus stats when working together on the battle field and even protect one another from harm in battle.  Also new to the series is the ability to create your own custom character that will fight alongside the main hero in his quest.  It is unlikely your custom character will play a significant roll in the story, but that matter was not touched upon.

And the final title to be touched upon was the well anticipated Animal Crossing game, Animal Crossing: New Leaf.  To anyone that has been following the game, not a lot of new info was given, but fret not for I will spill the beans just in case you haven’t been stalking this particular game.  In the new game, you’re not just the denizen of your new town, you’re the mayor!  And with the seat of power comes responsibilities and new-found customization options for your town.  You’ll be able to build official landmarks around your town, encourage new shops to open up, and even currently running shop’s hours of operation.  But that doesn’t mean the old customization is gone, oh no sir, it’s back and better then ever.  Now your character not only wears a shirt and a hat, but also pants, shoes and even socks, you can literally dress your character from head to toe.  Designing your house is just as big as ever, and now even bigger with the ability to put your custom designs on the furniture you put in your house, adding a brand new level of “feng shui”.  Also included is a tropical island where you can go to “relax, earn medals and even go for a swim”.  Just like Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing: New Leaf won’t be coming to us until early 2013.
Well, that’s the jist of the conference.  If you want to go see for yourself you can go to nintendo.com/nintendo-direct and watch the video for yourself.  If you see anything I missed or should add to the article, please feel free to comment about it.