Between the hype, and controversy, around “Bioshock: Infinite”, big upcoming titles like “Grand Theft Auto V” and “The Last of Us,” and Sony and Microsoft’s next gen consoles drawing their initial buzz, there hasn’t been much press from Nintendo, especially considering the somewhat disappointing sales for the Wii U, and how badly they could use some good publicity right now.

However recently Nintendo has unleashed a plethora of news via their Nintendo direct service, that reveals that things have in fact been very busy at the mushroom kingdom.

Among quite a few announcements are a new “Yoshi’s Island,” a re-released “Donkey Kong Country,” a new “Mario Party,” a new “Mario and Luigi” RPG title, a new “Mario Golf,” a sequel to “A Link to the Past,” and, by far the biggest news at all, the long, long, long awaited US and European re-release of the cult classic “Earthbound,” which is now automatically the best game on the Wii U.

I’d say that’s quite a lot of new titles in a short span, but that’s not exactly true is it? Most of the big announcements are sequels, remakes, or re-releases, with nary a strictly new property in sight. For most companies this would be seen as lazy at the least, but Nintendo isn’t exactly most companies are they?

Instead this is not only a satisfying announcement for fans, but a smart one for Nintendo as well. It’s not a stretch to say that the Wii U and 3DS aren’t exactly setting the world on fire, so Nintendo is doing what they always do in times past when they need to spark a system sale or two, and that’s go to the franchise well. Sure they’re drawing deeper from the well than usual (an “Earthbound” re-release pretty much scrapes the bottom), but they’ve proven before that they have the ability to use these franchises to not only boost figures, but show other developers new and exciting ways to creatively explore their hardware (though the Wii U could still use some more Nintendo love).

Whether or not that ends up being case here, if you’re a Nintendo loyalist, you’re about to get a wave of highly anticipated titles that, if history stands true, will be of equally high quality. For everyone else, it’s a reminder that even at this point in the game, Nintendo’s big guns change the focus of any war.