E3 – Nintendo Digital Event Highlights
Today was the first official day of E3, but before the show officially began, there was the still one more event. A big event. A digital event, for which the hung-over press were probably grateful, but potentially the BIGGEST event.
The Nintendo Digital Event!
Laugh at them if you will, many have before, but they lie dead and buried as the juggernaut still rolls on. Their presentation even acknowledged this, opening with a caricature game journalist sarcastically wondering if Nintendo was going to release a another Mario game this year and yelling at them to release Mother 3. He was then being brutally burned alive by Nintendo of America’s Reggie Pils-Aime (see above).
Ok, he used a fire-flower, but still. That’s what usually happens to journalists at EA events.
While Mother 3 may not be coming out anytime soon, Nintendo is releasing a whole host of games, foremost of which, to me, is Super Smash Bros. I grew up with this game, I went to college with this game, and I probably have clocked more hours in it that I have in any other title. The big innovation in this new version is the ability to import your own Miis into the game. Considering some of the Miis that people have made, I am sure the new Smash Bros. will become the greatest fighting game in history. The 3DS version looks decent too.
Mario and Mii of Reggie Fils-Aime, locked in epic combat.
Another standout were the new Pokemon Games, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. My biggest complaint with recent Pokémon games has been that they use the same terrible sounds for all the Pokémon that they used in the original Game Boy versions. Here they’ve upgraded more than the sounds, and the game genuinely looks like the show. I haven’t been genuinely tempted by a Pokémon game in years, but here is a series where graphics really can make all the difference.
Legend of Zelda was the franchise that got the most attention of the show, with two games being presented. The first one was a vast open world, still in the early stages of development. The seem to have, for lack of better words, given it the Elder Scrolls-treatment, and will allow Link to wander the length of breadth of Hyrule. This sounds great, and I can’t wait to try it out, but I am curious about how Zelda’s intricate dungeons will be effected. The second is the already announced Hyrule Warriors, a mix between Legend of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors. I’m still not sure about this one, but I like idea of finally seeing Ganon’s army in an actual battle.
Link fights a bucket headed monstrosity, from the new open world Legend of Zelda.
Finally, Nintendo did introduce a new IP. It’s called Splatoon, an 8 player online multiplayer game, and it looks both absurd and brilliant. In the game, players start as humans spraying coloured ink over a level, and then can turn into squids to swim through the ink. Squids go super fast in their own ink, and slow down in their enemy ink, and the video makes it clear all the different strategies that can evolve from this. If there is one game from Nintendo that is truly different and innovative, it’s this one. I also love the thought of the next big tactical multiplayer combat title being on the Wii U. Maybe gaming is starting to move out of its broody teenager phase after all.
Ink shooting were-squids. And you thought Nintendo was running out of crazy.
Even for a purely digital event, there was a heck of lot of impressive stuff on display. I’m looking forward to seeing more details, both on these games and on those we’ve already seen, during the show and in the months ahead.
