Wii U and 3DS owners have a lot to be happy about.
Nintendo has always been a company that dances to the beat of its own drum. While Sony and Microsoft have been duking it out since 2001, Nintendo has been content to stay the course, remaining profitable while leveraging their wildly successful franchises. It shouldn’t have been surprising, then, when the company announced that they would not be doing a traditional E3 press conference this year, but instead would be issuing one of their very popular Nintendo Direct streams. What was shown was light on surprises, but pure Nintendo, through and through.
Satoru Iwata kicked things off in style, with tons of gameplay for Pokemon X and Y for the 3DS. This fully polygonal entry into the mega popular monster catching series features a plethora of new pals to collect, and even a new Pokemon type: Fairy. In addition, the games have a kind of Nintendogs mode where players can interact with their Pokemon, feeding them, petting them, and playing mini games with them. Pokemon X and Y are due in October.
Hot on the heels of all that “gotta catch ‘em all goodness” was the announcement of Super Mario 3D Word, the Wii U sequel to Super Mario 3D land for the 3DS. For the first time in a 3D Mario game, four player co-op is available. Long time Mario fans should be very happy that Princess Peach nee Toadstool is a playable character for the first time in the series since Super Mario Bros. 2 on the NES. Just like that classic side-scroller, each character has unique abilities, in addition to power ups such as the new cat suit, which allows for climbing up walls. Super Mario 3D World is scheduled for November.
There are only three things that are assured: death, taxes, and a Mario Kart game for a new Nintendo platform. This time it’s the Wii U’s turn, and Mario Kart 8 is sure to impress. Nintendo has the luxury of getting to trot out all of its popular games for the first time in HD, and Mario Kart 8 looks very nice. The tracks are a trippy, loop de loop-filled affair, recalling some of the crazier tracks from the F-Zero series. Karts can now drive up walls or completely upside down, and motorcycles are also on offer to players. Wii U owners will have to wait a bit for this one, as its due next spring.
Third party support has been a big problem for the Wii U since launch, and though a lot of major titles are still missing from the holiday lineup, big games like Watch_Dogs, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will give Wii U owners plenty to play. The Wonderful 101 is on track for a September release, and Iwata promised that a future Nintendo Direct would highlight this Platinum Games title. Likely that same ND will show off Bayonetta 2, which got its first full trailer today. The sassy witch has gotten a haircut and a new look, but she still kicks plenty of angel tail, and the game looks to be an order of magnitude crazier than the original.
More of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD was shown, and the game looks mighty impressive in high definition. The highly popular Miiverse will make an interesting appearance in Wind Waker HD, thanks to the Tingle bottle. This item allows players to share notes or drawings by putting them in the bottle and sending them out to sea. These bottles will then wash up on the shores of other people’s games, creating a unique sense of community for the title. Wind Waker comes out in October.
Retro Studios finally got to reveal their mystery Wii U project, and it’s another Donkey Kong Country game, which is very good news to players that enjoyed their take on the franchise for the Wii. This November, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Daisy Kong join up in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. The side scrolling platformer makes full use of the HD graphics of the Wii U and some dynamic camera angles to bring life to the five islands that the Kongs will ultimately visit.
Another teaser for Monolith Soft’s next big RPG was shown. The game, simply titled X, looks every bit the big budget, HD sequel to the mega popular Xenoblade Chronicles. Sadly, this was all that was shown, and players will have to wait for more information.
The direct feed ended with the big game that everyone was hoping for: Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and 3DS. The 3DS version uses a pseudo-cel shaded graphical style, most likely to help players keep track of the insanity on the smaller screen. The Wii U version of the game looks incredible, with tons of detail in the backgrounds and characters. The “Villager” from Animal Crossing was shown as a new character, but after the “end” of the trailer a new challenger appeared. The Blue Bomber, Mega Man, is throwing down with the Nintendo roster, and he looks like he might be completely overpowered thanks to having so many abilities stolen from evil robots, but isn’t that what fans would want? At the actual show floor, Nintendo announced that the fitness trainer from Wii Fit is also joining the fight. Yeah.
Nintendo could have really blown people away today with a new Zelda and Metroid to go along with all of the other big titles, but they still had a solid E3 lineup. It’s safe to say that if you own a Wii U or a 3DS the Big N has got you covered, at least from now until next spring. After that, well…that’s what Nintendo Directs are for, aren’t they?
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