E3 2014 - Nintendo

An unconventional start for Nintendo with a self parodying and E3 mocking animated intro starring Reggie Fils-Aime. I can only assume it was written and made by or at least approved by the Robot Chicken guys as it is completely in their style. Then the first segment is introduced and the insanity officially takes over as Reggie and Satoru Iwata straight up have a super-powered fist fight...i'm not joking, it actually happens and it's both baffling and kind of amazing.

Even if you watch none of the game trailers, you owe it to yourself to see this.

 This ultimately leads into a Super Smash Bros trailer introducing the new feature of playable personalised mii characters. Not only that but you can define your mii into one of three classes or types. The "brawler", "sword fighter" and "gunner" all of which should be fairly self-explanatory but come with their own unique movesets. Director Masahiro Sakurai goes on to mention how this can pave the way for Abraham Lincoln, Elijah Wood, or any other character you can create in mii maker becoming a Smash Bros fighter. If you've ever seen some of the vast variety of creations made by gamers in Mii Maker, you'll know that this adds a world of comical potential match-ups. Perhaps this is perspective and bias due to being a big Smash Bros fan myself but this signals a strong start to the "conference/digital event/stream thing.

More footage shows old and new features such as the character trophies, mini games, classic bosses, improved online systems and match customisation options. It's never explicitly said but the director also talks about working with a large number of variables on 3DS, which probably translates to fixing bugs and ensuring performance is solid. That may explain the delayed release date of "3rd October 2014" when the 3DS version was scheduled for summer 2014.

We next move to real Reggie who gives details of the "Amiibo". A selection of toys or figurines you may have heard were in the pipeline and were utilised briefly in the earlier Iwata-Reggie DBZ showdown. These figures, coming in designs of all the classic Nintendo characters, can transfer and receive data to and from the Wii U. In regards to Smash Bros this results in supposedly "unique" versions of the character portrayed, appearing in the game and either assisting you in fights or actually being your opponent. Reggie continues in stating that Mario Kart 8 will also implement the Amiibo with a sly bit of footage acknowledging "Luigi's Death Stare" that has become something of a trend across the internet.

A monologue about the greatness of Nintendo and how they'd really please like more Wii U's sold follows into a segment interviewing two Japanese chaps. A vaguely titled employee of Nintendo and an employee or presumed manager of "Good-Feel". A company seemingly specialising in yarn. This appropriately leads into introducing Yoshi's Woolly World due for release in 2015. A sequel to Kirby's Epic Yarn with similar yarn based aesthetics and gameplay features. Besides obviously Yoshi and now a co-op mode i'm unsure how this will significantly differ from K.E.Y but it appears a polished, chirpy, fun platformer and Nintendo are usually very good at those.

Up next is a polished, chirpy, fun platformer called Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, due winter 2014. There seems to be a mining theme involved but apart from that it's classic 3D Nintendo fare of traversing obstacles, simple colourful combat and puzzles. The bigger question is whether anyone has ever actually wanted to play as Toad? He has never starred in his own game before but maybe there's a reason for that. Usually he is the backup, filler character, players are resigned to choosing when all their favourites are taken or who they regrettably end up being as the third or fourth member in a multiplayer Mario game.

It's nice to see 50-a-day smokers can still get voice acting work though.

A short and uncharacteristically tame robot chicken skit later and a new Zelda game is introduced. Open world, with an art style somewhat similar to Skyward Sword. A brief cinematic trailer shows Link fighting some kind of laser demon on horseback (i should clarify Link is on horseback sadly not the laser demon) Then the big reveal seems to be as tame as Link wearing blue for a change although i have since heard rumours and developers have hinted that this character is not in fact Link, so that could be interesting.

A wild trailer appeared for the remakes of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire due November 28th 2014, which confirms that they're also getting the X/Y treatment with full 3D, Mega evolutions etc. Bayonetta 2's trailer promises much of the same Devil May Cry-style action as the first, which they even acknowledge with a direct quote from DMC1. It also includes novelty Link and Samus costumes...if you're into that kind of thing...

Hyrule Warriors footage follows and interviews with the developers claim lots of playable characters, memorable boss fights suggesting requiring more thought than simply "where's the massive glowing weak spot?" and a two player mode through the use of the Wii U gamepad. They treat this as a vast improvement over splitscreen but it just seems to me like an uneven balance of screen size between players. Somebody gets the full television while the other gets the reduced gamepad screen. That's still technically a splitscreen, it's just an unevent split. That aside, the large scale battles and other playable characters  besides Link do intrigue me and there isn't a long wait as Hyrule Warriors releases September 19th 2014.

The imaginatively titled "Kirby" gets a brief trailer looking like another polished, chirpy, fun platformer where the most interesting thing is the bizarrely lacking title. Are they implying this is a reboot? Probably more likely the game simply doesn't have a name yet since there's nothing immediately obvious to distinguish it from past Kirby games.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a spiritual successor to Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii, which is apparently praised for reinventing and revitalising the JRPG genre. I'll have to take the critic's word for that because to me it appeared like a thoroughly generic Japanese, sci-fi mech adventure in its trailer. Also the character's faces are a worrying homage to the Gamecube-era of graphics. Adding to the slow descent of excitement in the conference is Mario Maker. A game where you can customise and build your own Mario courses in either the classic or modern style...sure, that's cool i guess...

A fleeting spurt of new ideas breathes momentary life back into the event as Splatoon is introduced. An online (hopefully not solely) multiplayer cartoon third person shooter based around firing ink over as much of the level as possible to mark your territory, whilst wielding an assortment of ink guns, bombs, bazookas and paint rollers. The characters can also transform into squids ('cos ink, i guess) at will that give different abilities and increased speed and such. It's an interesting concept but will it actually be fun or satisfying to play? or will it feel like interior design that never gets finished? Regardless, Splatoon deserves credit for being a new and fairly creative IP, especially amongst Nintendo's worn out and stagnating franchises. It's due for release sometime in 2015.

Aiming is apparently gyroscopic...hopefully that's optional...

 The stream finishes with a Super Smash Bros anime of all things but this is ultimately just another character reveal for someone called Palutena who i believe is from the Kid Icarus series. Considering how hype many people got for this anime trailer alone, perhaps Nintendo should've considered making a separate project of that instead of the bait and switch trailer we ended up with.

Nintendo's "conference" started on a high that Sony and Microsoft didn't even reach in their shows but it fairly consistently slipped downhill from then on. With only one new IP and limited innovation in their established franchises, it's overall a fairly mediocre output from Nintendo when they could've potentially pulled out all the stops (cough, Metroid) to win back support in the Wii U.