 Folks, I got a few stories that I wanna bring to you today. Just some great news updates, the latest and greatest from Nintendo that should create some interesting discussions. One of that being that, hey, it looks like Nintendo may have been teasing more rare NSO games. That's right, rare LTD. Look, we just got that nice little five pack of games at the developer directory yesterday. Shadow dropped on Nintendo Switch Online. You guys know about Blast Corpse and Killer Instinct and all the rest, but they actually looked like they are teasing for more of them. So we gotta talk about that. On top of that, we have some launch sales in, just like one of the few places we get real numbers coming out of Japan. So we get to look at the launch sales for Mario versus Donkey Kong. And on top of that, we also need to talk about Nintendo really making some fundamental changes to their marketing likely because they're heading into a new generation if we actually look at the history of their marketing changes. First, let's dive into this one over here that's very interesting. I actually found out about this through GameXplain, so full credit to them, linked to their video down below. But during the NSO trailer yesterday, there is this scene where there are four games that are surrounded by constellations making the shape of a box. You actually look at the background, there's four more games or well, four more constellations at least making the shape of game boxes. Two of them are quite tall, likely featuring NES titles. And two of them are wider, which could be Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64. Now I obviously don't know what games these are going to be, none of us do. This could just be nothing. It also feels sort of like a subtle tease for those that pay enough attention. Look, we've been getting some rare games trickling to NSO over time. And in my opinion, if some of these games are featuring Nintendo IP, maybe Nintendo wanted to save that for a regular first party direct. And that's where I come into here and say, diddy Kong racing anyone? Look, there's a lot of really good rare LTD games from back in the day, but diddy Kong racing with full online multiplayer would really make my day and would be something we'd even probably live stream for a little bit just for fun. So I don't know, what do you guys think about this? Do you think this actually means anything? Do you think we're actually going to get some of these games? Or do you just think that we're reading too much into this? Let me know down in the comments. Next up, we need to get into the Japanese sales charts because look, Mario vs. Donkey Kong launched last week and a lot of people might wanna know how it's doing. So we're looking over here at Nintendo Life and they put up this interesting article that says Japanese charts, Mario vs. Donkey Kong takes its fight to the top, over 60,000 copies. So we need to get right to the list here out of Famitsu. So we see it at number one, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is sitting there at 61,930 units sold, pretty decent launch right there followed by Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Momotaro Dantetsu World. I'm not even gonna try to pronounce the rest of that. By Konami, actually super close to having three Mario games at the top with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at number four. So you can take a look at that list there and that's really, really interesting. Another notable one that was brand new last week that a lot of you guys may have heard of is Skull and Bones from Ubisoft. That one launched into 6,635 units only on PS5. Now when we go down here, this list is quite interesting. This is the hardware for last week and you look at, they did the math there. It says, you know, 48,391 total switch consoles were sold compared to 38,212. So around, you know, 10,100 or so more systems of switch sold than PS5. And that's fascinating, of course, is Switch is still maintaining a slight edge over PlayStation 5 in week over week sales in 2024. What I also always find hilarious is, look at the bottom at number nine, new 2DS XL. That's right, baby. While these things are no longer being made, right? Nintendo does not make these anymore. Somehow, a grand total of 14 of these bad boys sold brand new all across Japan last week. I don't know. Look, I just find it to be really interesting to think about and man, when I look back at Nintendo, I always wonder what is it about their systems that keep them selling well after they're even out of print and I guess that's just having stock available. I don't even know. Look, it's whatever. Let's go ahead and get into our last story. So our last story is actually quite fascinating because Nintendo has these big marketing changes they make seemingly when new systems are coming out or when a new generation has begun. What are we talking about? Well, the other day we did have that partner direct and that's really exciting stuff and honestly, I really enjoyed it. But maybe one of the most notable things that come out of it is that they updated the graphics for Nintendo Direct which they haven't really done at all since 2017. Look, the Nintendo Switch came out and then we switched era Nintendo Direct style graphics. We had Wii U era ones. In fact, fellow content creator arrow posted up this nice little video clip looking at the three next to each other over on Twitter and I gotta be honest, it is quite interesting to watch how each era has had its own style of visuals for Nintendo Direct. Now I would argue that this new style isn't as big of an evolution away from what they set up with Nintendo Switch but that would also make sense if we're heading into a Switch 2 situation where you don't wanna make it seem like we're completely different than what we were before because we're building on top of what made Switch successful. So look, obviously this doesn't really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme. It's just nice to look at and talk about but it is interesting to think that Nintendo might've already have their marketing in 2024 changed up for Direct's and they're already implementing it now signifying that we are getting kinda close to Nintendo actually showing us a new system. I know, I know, okay, delayed and all of that stuff. I'm just talking about in the here and now like, hey, Nintendo made a major change to their graphics on Nintendo Direct's and they haven't done that for a long time not since obviously the beginning of the Switch era. Now, one thing I also wanna note about this that I find to be just a little interesting is they didn't call that Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase a mini even though in hindsight it behaved exactly like Nintendo Direct Minis in the past. So this could suggest also a marketing shift heading into the next generation where they get rid of that mini branding and just stick with the subnames like Partner Showcase, Indie World, Nintendo Direct without a subtitle is literally just a big Nintendo Direct. Maybe there's no such thing as the Nintendo Direct Mini. So I find this just to be something to pay attention to as the year goes on, as the years go on and see if we ever get that Nintendo Direct Mini branding back. I don't know, I never really mind you the branding to be honest, but for some of you guys maybe you're just happy it's gone or maybe you're confused, maybe you want it back. I have no idea. Let me know what you think about this whole Nintendo Direct Madness stuff down in the comments below. That's it folks, a three pack of news for you today. There's other news floating out there, some updates on some of the games that were undounced in the Direct. Honestly, none of it was really that fascinating to me but I'm sure it is fascinating to you. We'll link to some of the best stories down below that might interest you as an example. There's one out there about Shimagami Tensei 5, Vengeance, it's like twice as long as the original game. We'll put some information down there for that. Didn't cover it in today's video because frankly, it's just not a game I'm that interested in. Thank you guys so much for being here and I'll catch you in the next video.