For better or worse, Nintendo decided to handle E3 a little differently this year, and now it's easy to see why. Nintendo simply didn't have enough to show, unfortunately. At any rate, I decided to follow suit and do things a little differently this year myself. I spent most of Tuesday on Miiverse, sharing my thoughts as they came to me. Then I decided to wait until the end of E3 to do my traditional blog. Unfortunately Nintendo didn't take advantage of the extra time to announce anything else. A shame.
Show Pros: Direct and to the point - MEGA MAN! IT'S F- MEGA MAN!!
Show Cons: Nothing shown that wasn't announced before hand - No notable 3rd Party support announced - Wii Fit Trainer
Super Mario 3D World
The mystery 3D Mario title has been announced to little fanfare. Which I think is actually a shame because it looks great to me. I loved the mix of 2D and 3D Mario conventions in the 3DS iteration, and I'm happy to see more. It also looks like it's going to be a great multiplayer game; being able to use four unique characters again will be a treat. The cat suit looks great too, and I love the clear pipes!
Day one buy.
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Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Retro's mystery project is finally revealed, and the results have proven to be pretty disappointing for many fans. I dunno, I'm not really upset that they're not doing another Metroid, however I would have been a lot more excited to see a new IP or a series revival. That said, while I feel it didn't actually have a lot to do with the original trilogy and that this looks to be more of the same, I enjoyed Donkey Kong Country Returns and I'm sure this'll be great as well. With Dave Wise back for the music, it'll at least sound more like classic DKC I'm sure, and it's nice to see Dixie Kong back again.
Day one buy.
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Mario Kart 8
Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Wii combined and on steroids. Graphically the game was impressive of course and the anti gravity gimmick looks interesting. That said... I feel like the stages have been getting maybe a little too complicated lately and it looks like that's only more true here. Still, I'm definitely willing to give it a chance.
Day one buy.
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Monolith's "X"
This is the prettiest game I think I've ever seen. That said nothing really new was shown, and since it looks like we're not even far enough in developement to have sorted out the title it looks like we're going to have a loooong wait. I'm sure it'll be worth it.
Day one buy.
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Bayonetta 2
This definitely looks cool and I was interested in the original... but I never played the original, 'cause I don't have any consoles that it was released on. So I'd definitely be more interested if they'd make it available on the eShop for me to enjoy. Until then, I'm not going to be first in line for this sequel.
Probably later.
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Super Smash Bros.
Honestly I was not blown away by their presentation. That is until the introduced Mega Man! I've wanted that forever, and Nintendo has decided to keep things classy by using the original Mega Man and not X. Graphically it looks like a slightly more vivid Brawl--nothing to get excited about, which is a shame because Brawl was certainly a visual stand out on Wii. Villager seems like a really (and surprisingly) awesome addition, and I just love what they did with him. Wii Fit Trainer gave me some nerd rage... The roster had better be damn impressive to not feel short changed with her taking up a spot. It's nothing that'll stop me from buying it though... I guess.
Day one buy.
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Pokemon X and Y
Obviously Pokemon is going to be amazing. This is fact. I guess we get a Fairy type now, which is pretty cool. Anything to balance out those dragons. Over the course of E3 a handfull of new Pokemon were revealed. The standouts for me were Noivern and Talonflame, but nothing shown was offensive so I'm liking the sixth gen Pokemon a lot so far. Aerial battles were showcased and seem interesting, as well as horde battles. It also looks like the game is going to make fantastic use of streetpass. Overall, very excited. But you already knew that.
I will do anything it takes to get this at midnight.
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Closing Comments
So that was the show. As far as what was shown, I'm very happy with it all. As far as what wasn't shown, I'm worried. The Wii U's third party support looks like it's going to be much worse than Wii's, and that's saying something. The only 3rd party game I'm actively anticipating is Sonic: Lost World. Nintendo sadly didn't have any surprises of its own, either. Nothing was shown that wasn't known about before hand, and most of what was is slated for a 2014 release, so I guess we'll have plenty of time to save up. It's also worth noting that no new 3DS games were announced--yes, I know that the system is doing relatively well, but I can't remember the DS going without any announcements at E3. I certainly wasn't impressed with Nintendo's showing, and it's looking more and more like I'll have to get a PS4 too. No Kingdom Hearts!?