So Nintendo kind of won E3.
We got the best of both worlds from their Spotlight presentation and their Treehouse livestream. The spotlight presentation gave us trailer after trailer that showed off everything about them without the need for buzz word-filled drivel. It also looked like actual gameplay instead of highly sterilized vertical slices. But then we got the Nintendo Treehouse livestream which gives us a way more in-depth look at the games announced at the presentation with concrete facts about each game and actual, live gameplay. So we got a presentation that was both tightly and quickly paced and informative. More importantly, it just felt way more genuine than the other conferences.
I loved Rocket League in 2015, so I’m very happy we’re getting a portable version.
See Also: E3 2018 Games
Kirby for Switch is my second favorite thing to come out of the presentation. Not only do we get co-op, but the power combining that we got from Kirby 64 is returning which I always wanted. However, many of the combined powers were just “water bomb” or “water hammer” instead of the more clever combinations like ice and stone turning into a curling stone. I hope we get more of that.
Yoshi’s Woolly World was one of my favorite games of 2015, so I’m very happy that its getting kind of a spiritual sequel for the upcoming Switch game. Though unlike Woolly World, this one appears to take less inspiration from Yoshi’s Island and more from Yoshi’s Story with it taking advantage of the 3D plane which is cool. I hope that the bosses are a bit more interesting than in Woolly World.
I’m so happy that Metroid games exist now. While Metroid Prime 4 is certainly exciting, it’s Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS which has me excited since we actually have some gameplay and a set-in-stone release date of September 15, 2017. It’s great to see Samus return in 2D gameplay after all these years and even better to see it on the 3DS after the cancellation of a Metroid game from Next Level Games. Samus looks appropriately badass and the shooting looks action-packed with full aiming instead of just certain directions like older games.
Fire Emblem Warriors also looks promising. I’m not a huge warrior’s fan but this may be the first time I properly dive into it. Why? Because I love Fire Emblem. And judging from the footage during the Nintendo Treehouse livestream, it looks over-the-top just like you’d expect from a Warriors game and plenty of nods to the Fire Emblem games. Hopefully they don’t load it up with too many characters from Fates and Awakening. I know those are the games that put the series on the map put we’re getting a bit too tired of seeing them.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks cool. I quite liked the first one and this one looks to be more Xenoblade with the awesome music and sense of scale as well as much better graphics. Though the voice acting was a bit rough.
Super Mario Odyssey is not only my game of the conference but my game of E3. We haven’t had a proper 3D Mario game in ages with collect-a-thon elements and everything and I’m so glad that its finally happening. The new powers look super fun too, with Mario being able to possess enemies and do all sorts of other cool tricks. The presentation is also spot-on, with everything looking so expressive and vibrant. I know the pairing of Mario with more realistic environments is off-putting to many, but I think it’s just brilliant. After going to so many wacky worlds, the only logical way Mario can top all that is to go into the real world. Wacky, weird, and just plain delightful, Super Mario Odyssey is my most anticipated game of 2017.
Nintendo proves that you don’t need a fancy stage, musical performances, vertical slices or any other tacky stuff to get people excited. All you need is some awesome-looking games and some actual gameplay and information to get excited over.
Rating: Five Jazzy Theme Tunes Out of Five
