This was my most anticipated "conference," although with Sony's incredible conference, Nintendo would need to follow up with a few surprises of their own. To my knowledge, this didn't really happen, and it seems Nintendo played it pretty safe by announcing new installments in hit franchises, which is still okay. The most important news from Nintendo is the reveal of Super Smash Bros. 4, but I'll get to that in a while. As I said last post, I am writing along with the Nintendo Direct so that I can be more thorough with this "conference." For this whole conference, Satoru Itawa speaks about the many new games Nintendo has up their sleeves, and what better spokesman for your company than its own president (especially if it's Itawa, that guy is like Santa Claus and Nintendo his North Pole). So even though this Direct may be a little too safe, it is still certainly comfortable with plenty of games to offer. As a matter of fact, not following the trends of the other conferences, Nintendo literally solely focuses on games, makes no mention of TV shows based on games or entertainment features on the Wii U. So Nintendo is already many steps ahead of Microsoft in this year's E3.
The Nintendo Direct begins with the latest trailer for Pokemon X and Y, which discusses the new region and some new Pokemon. They introduce "Fairy-type" Pokemon, which some pre-existing Pokemon will already be rebranded as. These Pokemon are strong against Dragon-type Pokemon. The trailer also shows off a new feature called Pokemon-Amie, which is like the interactivity with Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow, but with far more interactivity. You can play minigames with your Pokemon, pet them, feed them treats, and copy their expressions somehow. My brother thinks this Pokemon is entirely different from previous Pokemon games, but I think he was thinking of Pokemon Conquest. Pokemon X and Y will be released October 12th of this year.
Next on the slate is the latest 3D Mario game, Super Mario 3D World. When it starts, we see Mario acquire a new ability never seen before, which allows him to climb up walls. We also see a new multiplayer feature in 3D world, where four players can play as Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad. Each character will have abilities that throw back to Super Mario Bros. 2. Iwata discusses this multiplayer for a bit before revealing the new power up: Cat Mario. What was that? CATS??!! Awwww yeah! The Mario series officially has the greatest power up ever. Cat Mario, as I mentioned, allows the player to climb up walls. As with the frog and tanooki power ups, the cat power up will put Mario in a cat suit. Mario will also be able to scratch at enemies, which doesn't sound too extraordinary, but maybe it will be useful for particular enemies. Super Mario 3D World will be released sometime December of this year.
Nintendo has so far done their own thing from the other conferences, and they've been doing it right. The next game they show goes back into following the trends of the other press conference: showing off a racing game. However, you would have to be entirely devoid of a soul to consider Mario Kart to be just another racing game. Nintendo might not always make the latest installment in the Mario Kart series as good as the previous, but every now and then they do find ways to freshen the gameplay. Also, who doesn't enjoy a racing game featuring stages based on your favorite Mario games and characters? The latest Mario Kart game is Mario Kart 8, which will be for the Wii U. The music in this trailer sounds kind of like something from a Sonic game, I think, but so far there's nothing on whether this will be it's own game or a crossover with the Sonic Racing games, which could happen given Nintendo's partnership with Sega. Iwata explains the latest mechanic in the series, which will be an anti-gravity feature, allowing for more variety within the race tracks. Release is slated for Spring 2014.
Iwata discusses Wii Party U, which looks like a Mario Party game featuring Miiverse stuff. He takes this time to announce that release dates for Wii Party U and Wii Fit U will be postponed for launch. He then bows in apology for having postponed many release dates for Wii U games. He then discusses a bit about the latest Art Academy game, which some features will be released for Miiverse. Iwata then discusses some new titles from third party companies, showing off a montage of games such as Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed 4, Disney Infinity, Rayman Legends, Splinter Cell: Black List, and Sonic Lost World. Sonic Lost World looks amazing and looks like it will finally return to the level-centric design that made the older titles so wonderful. Then there's a montage of many different indie games being released for the Wii U Eshop.
Following the discussion on third party games is the HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. This game features a higher resolution and better shading than its original version. Most of this is stuff we already know, but there was one thing that roused questions: what will become of the Tingle Tuner? It will be replaced with a new thing called the "Tingle Bottle," which is essentially a message in the bottle to share things with other friends on Miiverse. This title will be released in November.
The next game, which I'm not too sure if it's a new Nintendo IP or a third-party one, is The Wonderful 101. In this game, you'll use the game pad to organize the one hundred and one heroes into many formations, from swords to cannons to shields and more. It looks to me like an action-based version of Pikmin. There will also be a multiplayer mode that allows multiple players to command different groups from the hundred of people. The Wonderful 101 will be released September 15th.
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is shown next, which features an interesting dynamic scenes from the camera, allowing for a variety of angles and depth to the platforming. For example, you can enter a barrel and be launched into the background. Dixie Kong is also a character in this game, although I'm not too sure of what she does. In this game, Donkey Kong's homeland is apparently under attack by "vikings," a.k.a. penguins and walruses with viking hats and ships.
Nintendo then shows a little bit of Bayonetta 2, which shows Bayonetta with a new, shorter haircut... that's about it. They also show some gameplay, where Bayonetta seems to summon some kind of giant monster to her aid. Not too sure about what seems different because I've only played a small bit of the first game. They also show a new Xenoblade, which features the use of mecha suits to fight with.
This whole direct, I've been wondering: are they actually going to show Super Smash Bros.? I was afraid they wouldn't when Iwata said he had one last game to show, but then the trailer began with the Smash Bros. logo cutting into the screen... and a scene from Animal Crossing? We see a player character open his mail, which he reads and immediately runs off, tossing the envelope aside. And imprinted on that envelope is the Super Smash Bros. logo, telling us that the villager is, somehow, the next fighter in Super Smash Bros. We then get a montage of all the core veterans, and then the trailer starts by showing gameplay from the 3DS version of the game, in which the characters are outlined and somewhat cel-shaded. We see some stages, one based on The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, where the players fight on a train commandeered by "Toon Link." There's also a Nintendogs stage, where the players battle in front of a dog in a living room. The trailer then transitions to what the game will look like on the Wii U, and shows off the Villager as a fighter. Here, he is shown using his tools from the Animal Crossing games to attack the players, from digging them into the ground with the shovel to using an axe to knock a tree over onto the player. And then finally, they reveal somebody who many will be so happy for: Mega Man. I personally am not into Mega Man so much, but I know so many people who have wanted him as a playable character in the game for a long time now, so it's cool to see he's finally a fighter in the game. There are other details about the game, but that'll wait for later.
Iwata finishes the Direct with an inside look at the Nintendo booths at E3 to prove that Nintendo was going to be at E3... I don't really understand why this had to be shown to us when only press officials are allowed to attend E3. Showing this to millions of people around the world was kind of pointless, but I guess it was to prove that there will still be press coverage on hands-on experience with the demos they had available. I'm sure that they had a plethora of other demos there than they did share at Best Buy, but at least they brought some of that hands-on E3 experience to many people, although only in North America.
As I think about Nintendo's Direct, I seem to realize that I probably only really liked it because Super Smash Bros., but I'm sure it was appealing to many Nintendo fans and gamers. Still, I don't think anyone was prepared for the surprises Sony had at their conference, from revealing the PS4 (might have been expected, but nobody knew for sure), to announcing console debuts for many popular indie titles, to finally, and who could forget it, having the announcement for Kingdom Hearts 3. It was an unforgettable night for Sony, so it makes sense to feel a little less excited for Nintendo when they have to follow such an incredible conference. But I still like what Nintendo had to show, even if some of the games didn't interest me. You may say that Nintendo did the exact same thing as Microsoft and just announced a bunch of games, but here's the thing: that is what they were supposed to do. Nintendo needed to announce some new installments in their hit exclusives, along with a couple of new games and such, to get people excited for the Wii U. Super Smash Bros. 4 will be reason enough for my brother and I to get a Wii U now. Microsoft needed to give details on how the Xbox One is a gaming console at its core, and all they did was show off new games. New games are nice and all, but it's hard to get excited for them when you don't know a thing other than the negatives about the console you are playing it on.
What's hilarious about this is that Full-Retard Microsoft is already kicking back and saying, "We got this, our console has great value." We'll see what the sales charts say when all three consoles are out in the market, then. I already heard reports of the Wii U sales skyrocketing since the Xbox One reveal, but I think those numbers didn't turn out to be statistically significant. If they were, I wouldn't be surprised.
There's still more E3 to look at, concerning many specific titles, but I am going to give it a rest for a while. I will probably release a collective post getting into detail about several games that interested me next week. Hope you enjoyed E3 this year! Even with Microsoft's horrendous failure, which actually provided some entertainment to me, there are many things to look forward to and be excited about. What will we see next year? Hopefully, it'll be higher steps up from Nintendo and Sony, and, for Xbox fans, redemption for Microsoft's ill-conceived next-gen console.
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