Surprise Mii Plaza update means you won't have to check your 3DS as often at cons.

https://youtu.be/IpXQtFbRChg

Nintendo hosted another of its YouTube-only press conferences on Thursday, but if you came expecting news about the forthcoming Nintendo NX console, too bad; that's coming later this year (possibly this month). This presentation instead focused on the Nintendo 3DS system, and its announcements of early-2017 software may mark the portable console's last hurrah before the launch of the NX, which is rumored to be a home/portable hybrid.

Leading off the news was a still-unnamed, side-scrolling version of Pikmin. The long-running "garden strategy" series has been reimagined as a puzzle-platformer with Lemming-like elements—meaning that your main character, Olimar, will throw different-colored Pikmin to solve small puzzles and progress through linear levels. The brief demo footage looked pretty rough, with simple puzzles, low-poly characters, and a rough frame rate, so we imagine there's a lot to be done on this game before its "spring 2017" launch. This may very well be the upcoming Pikmin game that series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has been teasing for some time—unless there's another Pikmin coming to NX, at any rate.

Also launching in that vague "spring" window is Mario Sports Superstars, which looks like a last-gasp mash-up of other Mario-branded "action sports" games. At least it won't be small, as the game appears set to feature full takes on the Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, and Mario Sluggers games—along with the first 11-on-11 Mario soccer mode and Mario's first-ever horse-racing game. Sadly, this release won't include a refresh of the three-on-three, arcade-minded Mario Strikers soccer game, but it will at least feature online multiplayer. Still, this looks mostly like a "greatest hits" bundle of older 3DS games to prolong the aging 3DS' lifespan a few more months.

Meanwhile, the Super Mario Maker series is finally coming to the 3DS this December—which is peculiar only because the game was originally slated to launch on the 3DS, before it reappeared on the Wii U after delays. Nintendo insists the portable version will be nigh identical to its Wii U sibling... with the exception of, er, online level sharing. Should you want to get new levels for your 3DS Mario Maker, you'll have to either share them with friends via local wireless or hope to receive some from strangers on the street via Streetpass. Any major fan of the game knows that its replayability mostly comes from an infinite supply of Internet levels, so this limit seems pretty out of touch on Nintendo's part.

Nintendo is also nixing Amiibo support for Super Mario Maker on 3DS, even though the company remains bullish about its game-compatible toy line with newly announced Amiibo toys in the Mario Party, Animal Crossing, and Legend of Zelda series. What's more, the 2013 Animal Crossing: New Leaf game is getting a patch this fall to add Amiibo support. That welcome patch might finally help the company sell the series' most heavily discounted toys and cards, which might not be selling because they're currently only compatible with the ho-hum Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer spin-off game.

The other major 2017 3DS game announced was a port of the Wii U game Yoshi's Wooly World, which will arrive on the 3DS in February with the series' Poochy dog (no, not that one) as a playable character. Unfortunately, this port really spotlights the 3DS' clunky visual filters, as the Wii U game's impressive fuzzy-yarn effects look awful in the preview footage shown by Nintendo Direct. (Toy lovers will appreciate the fact that the cute Poochy character is getting an Amiibo, at least.)

The presentation was light on brand-new announcements, with the exception of new 2017 RPG series Ever Oasis, six-player combat game Tank Troopers (which, weirdly, won't work online), and a brand-new entry in the Picross 3D series. 3DS fans will love one "gosh-that-took-forever" announcement, however: a boost to the console's Mii Plaza. It used to be that you could only receive 10 "visitors" (via the wireless Streetpass feature) to your plaza before you had to stop, open your system, and receive their bonuses for the Mii Plaza's various mini-games before you could accept more visitors. Now, Nintendo's upping that limit to 100 visitors between refreshes. While I long ago gave up on the Mii Plaza precisely because of that obnoxious ten-visitor limit, I'm sure Mii Plaza addicts will appreciate the boost—especially with Streetpass-heavy conventions like PAX West around the corner.