Nintendo Exclusive Hands-on Preview!
If you’re a Nintendo fan, you’ve no doubt eagerly followed E3’s extensive coverage for a glimpse of the upcoming titles for the WiiU and 3DS. But what good is simply looking at footage? You have to PLAY the game to get an idea of the game. Which is what I did last night at Nintendo’s Post E3 preview….because being a reviewer is AWESOME.
As my friend Dan and myself crowded into a room full of WiiU consoles all waiting to be played, there was only one word to describe the evening: Epic.
We managed to play a good chunk of Bayonetta 2, which is basically Bayonetta 1, but with butterfly wings! And let’s face it, it’s always great to see that hair in action.
And a pixie hair cut no less!
There was also Hyrule Warriors, Nintendo’s answer to Dynasty Warriors. Playing as a variety of characters from the Legend of Zelda franchise, your job is to obliterate as many enemies as you possibly can while at the same time turning the tide of battle to your advantage. For me, a big lover of all things Zelda, it was a thrill just to get to play as my favourite characters like Midna and let their powers loose on the battlefield. I didn’t play long enough to get a sense of the strategy, but I can’t wait to get this into my house to try it out for myself.
Plus look who makes an appearance!
There were other smaller titles on display that we caught glimpses of. Mario Maker, in which you actually design your own Mario game, looks a bit like an improved version of Mario Paint but also looks like a ton of fun for those of us wishing to design nightmare levels for our friends to play. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is adorable claymation style fun. Project Giant Robot is exactly what it sounds like and I can’t wait to try it out. Captain Toad will please anyone who enjoyed the extra levels in Mario WiiU.
Honest, this looks adorable.
Personally, the game I was most excited about was Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright for the 3DS and I easily spent about 25 minutes trying it out. And it’s…crazy in all the right ways. It’s tough to fully judge a dialogue and story heavy game like that in such a short timespan (after all, other media wanted a chance to play it) but I’ll be interested to see just how these two franchises are fully mashed together.
I MIGHT need to get a 3DS now…
Phoenix Wright has the familiar court room goodness with many previous characters present. The good Professor has all his usual puzzle shenanigans but this time around the 3DS is utilized to actually include some movement puzzles such as a “sneaking past the guard” puzzle that was entertaining. And the game simply looks fantastic with seamless anime style cutscenes and 3D models that don’t feel wonky. I do have to say, it was almost disconcerting to hear Phoenix with a voice. I can’t wait to see the rest.
It was pretty awesome to see this face again
The big ticket item, unsurprisingly, was the new Super Smash Bros. To be honest, I am not actually a huge fan of the franchise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s a great game. But a confused button masher like me is definitely the last person you want reviewing a button crazy fighting game. Thankfully, Dan is a huge fan and has been extremely excited about the upcoming release so he had far more useful feedback.
A couple of our friends…were slightly jealous
Even as a non-fan, the game looked pretty darned impressive with some interesting new additions to the roster of fighters. I ended up picking the Wii Fitness Trainer because I am the sort of person that actually gets a kick out of that sort of stuff. Dan played multiple rounds with various characters. The big change that has been getting attention has been the ability to use Gamecube controllers with the WiiU. Neither Dan nor I had ever owned a Gamecube though, so we found it a bit difficult to get a hang of the controllers with little instruction. But Dan also used the WiiU pad though, which was far more intuitive for him.
FIGHT!
But if you really want to judge the success of the game, you only had to listen to the shouts of glee and frustration from the crowd in the room as the multitude of Nintendo characters punched, kicked and exploded their way through battles. There were power-ups, there were giant crashes, there were moments when the arena itself turned on us. Of all the games present there, Dan was most certain he would be buying this one right away.
Look! You can even fight on a plane!
It was a great way to pass two hours and we left excited for our favourite franchises. So far, Nintendo seems to be delivering what it does best: bright, fun games that can be enjoyed alone or be the life of the party. Here’s looking forward to the full games!
Incidently, if you’d like to see some video footage, Dan did a quick little vlog covering some of the games we played. You can check it out here.
