Dear lord, where to start! Nintendo has totally killed E3 so far. They opened up with the new Zelda titled The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The gameplay that was shown was a little unflattering, mostly due to some wireless communication issues. Think back to when the iPhone 4 wasn't loading. Yeah, it was awkward. One of the things I did notice was a much more streamlined pull-out and use of items and I was really digging the art style. It's like a cross between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. As predicted, it also uses Wii Motion-Plus for 1:1 tracking which plays heavily into the sword, shield and other items like the crossbow and whip. More cartoonish than TP but not going as far as WW for a perfect blend of fun-to-look-at landscapes. Anyway, it's a new Zelda and I am excited.
Nintendo proceeded to get the casual junk out of the way right quick. They unveiled Wii Party-- a collection of mini-games a la Mario Party-- and Just Dance 2. Not much to say there. Oh and more Mario sports games. Looks like fun if you're into that sort of thing.
Fortunately, the rest of the show was Nintendo just unveiling awesome games. On the Wii side of things, we get a new Donkey Kong game which is going back to it's roots. Donkey Kong Country Returns. Sure, the title is iffy but damn does it look fun. Hopefully the inclusion of Diddy Kong means two player madness.
They also showed off a new Kirby game for the Wii. Kirby: Epic Yarn-- again, weird title-- is this an incredibly stylistic 2.5-D side-scroller. It's like when they first released Paper Mario on the N64. It takes advantage of string elements and warps the environments around it. Really neat stuff, you gotta see it yourself.
We finally got to see some gameplay for Epic Mickey. I was glad to find out that it is a platformer and has some side-scrolling portions too. One of the major game mechanics is being able to destroy and recreate the world around you by using pain and thinner. This plays into what is apparently the usual be the good or bad guy morality system. I hope they're not riding too heavily on that.
And finally with a release date to go with it, Metroid: Other M is coming August 31st. I've been really excited for this game and this new gameplay trailer just pushed me to the edge. It is such a sweet mix of retro style Metroid exploration elements and newer next-gen shooters and platformers. Looking forward to that.
That is an awesome line-up! I thought they were almost done but then they dropped the bomb and revealed the new 3DS! Complete with a widescreen up-top and a touch pad down be low. With the top screen featuring full-on 3D without the need of glasses. I have been really skeptical of how great 3D could be but the reaction from people who have seen it for themselves sound amazed. Also, it has an analog stick! Woot! It has a had a huge graphic overhaul falling short of what the Gamecube was possible of. Maybe even on par with-it on some instances.
Just as impressive as the system was the games being released for it. I seriously freaking lost it when Nintendo announced a new Kid Icarus game for the 3DS! I'm not sure what to gather from it except that it has so much packed into it for a portable game and looks like buckets of joy. Not to mention, Nintendo has deals with several popular developers to release new games on the 3DS including Metal Gear Solid, Professor Layton, Resident Evil and KINGDOM HEARTS! Holy crap! Such great franchises and it's going to be in this tantalizing 3D and THE GRAPHICS ARE SO GOOD NOW! It totally changes on what I can expect from a DS game. It's such a widened field for bigger and better games.
The show finished off with a goofy little video of how immersive the 3DS is by showing, Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto getting sucked into the games and then Reggie got his face burnt off by Bowser. It was awesome and hilarious. It also effectively revealed that they have Mario, DK and Zelda games in the works for the 3DS. Also, Nintendo has contracts with certain movie publishers to display full 3D films on the new system.
I will never doubt Nintendo again. They're listening to their fans. Even right now...
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