3DS Nintendo Direct event recaps Japanese releases, Monster Hunter 4, Shin Megami Tensei IV

Nintendo decided to sneak in a surprise 3DS-focused Nintendo Direct event for its Japanese audiences last night while the most of us while most of us were passed out after a full day of PlayStation 4 news. Luckily, community member Rabla was there to back us up and help with coverage. While most of the news is related to upcoming Japanese releases like Monster Hunter 4 and Shin Megami Tensei IV, but also a couple of smaller announcements.

Here's a breakdown of the material covered at the event, from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages on Virtual Console to the latest Monster Hunter 4 trailer:

• Tomodachi Collection 3DS announced, a curious title showing off the user's Mii (Iwata in this case) in an arcade with Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games. The actual game, however, looks like a sort of slice of life sim of some kind. The arcade seems to be just a place to visit. Hooray for Miis on 3DS?
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages announced for the 3DS' Virtual Console, available Feb. 27 and available as a bundle for a lower price.
• Shaun the Sheep, episodic title coming to the eShop. Not really sure if this was a new announcement, or just a reveal that it's now available.
• Professor Layton and the Azran Legacies shown off, as impressive as ever. As Rabla says, "solve some puzzles and swag like a gentlemen." We posted a new trailer in our initial news post on the Nintendo 3DS Direct. Coming out next week with over 500 puzzles in-game.

• Youkai Watch shown off, a title announced in Japan last October, but still no word on a North American release. It really seems like Level-5's take on a Ghibli-less Ni no Kuni... but with ghosts and a spinning wheel to switch out party-members in combat.
• Touch Detective: Funghi's Big Breed is shown, coming out next week. Not really sure about this one. It seems like some sort of match-3 puzzle game, only with mushrooms.
• Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission arcade card game coming to 3DS, where you use cards to make up a party of five characters to battle with. Both a single player campaign an multiplayer modes, along with everything from the arcade version of the game, coming out next week. Rabla makes note that there's a scouter mode you can use to SCAN YOUR OWN POWER LEVEL.
• Super Robot Wars UX will feature new characters, have its own 3DS XL bundle, comes out on March 14. Franchise has rarely come stateside before, unfortunately. Licensing issues prevent it.
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate coming out March 20. One of the best looking 3DS games I've yet seen and definitely some of the best action.
• Guild-02 to be  released as three separate download titles. Guild-01 came stateside as individual titles, where in Japan they were all grouped together in one box. Each of the games this time around were developed by Level-5. A dark and spooky dungeon crawler named Spaceship Damray, Keiji Inafune's third person miniature tank vs. bugs action game, and Monsters' Friday, where giant robots are battling in broad daylight while a child looks on.

• Shin Megami Tensei IV trailer debuts with dungeon crawling, demon negotiation and fusion. The game will feature over 400 types of summonable demons, which are kept in the character's wristband computer. Releases May 23 in Japan, with a special 3DS bundle. Whoa that one character is voiced by Kamina from Gurren Lagann. Looks like the best ShinMegaTen game yet!
• Monster Hunter Tri G online multiplayer features being added, but they have to use a workaround where the player connects their 3DS to their Wii U, using a Wii U LAN adapter.
• Monster Hunter 4 available summer 2013, new trailer debuts. Lots of huge monsters, great looking multi-purpose weapons, living NPCs, and a purple mist that brings monsters back from the dead? Very big monsters.
• Event closes out with a reminder that the Wii U's Dragon Quest X beta begins March 6.

As usual, Nintendo does a great job of organizing a lot of information and great looks at upcoming games in a relatively short amount of time. That was what, over a dozen games that they covered? And now I don't have to write stories on each seperate one! Keep in mind that this event was Japan-only, so there is no news for North America at this time. A majority of these titles have not been confirmed for localization, and may very well not get here for quite a while -- if ever.

Here are the Monster Hunter 4 and Shin Megami Tensei trailers that were revealed today:

Look forward to Nintendo's March Nintendo Direct event, which they'll hopefully give us more than a day's warning for. Thanks again to Rabla for helping us with our coverage! Watch the full Nintendo 3DS Direct from February 21 right here: