I haven’t paid a lot of attention to 2019’s E3 outside of the surprise Keanu Reeves appearance, but today was Nintendo’s time to shine.
That’s all the introduction you need.
Here’s the 40-minute video. Let’s talk about it.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Kicking off the Direct was a flashy cinematic of Ultimate’s World of Light in which Link was rescued by The Hero, our next DLC fighter and Dragon Quest representative.
You’d think that would be the big news. Yet Nintendo had one more trick up their sleeve to conclude the Direct:
I’ve never played a DQ game or Banjo-Kazooie, but I know plenty of people who love those series and I’m happy to see them so happy.
Especially given the love and attention both fighters are getting. The Hero has multiple alternate costumes and a final smash featuring different protagonists from that series, Grant Kirkhope was involved in doing the music for Banjo…
It’s just perfect.
Masahiro Sakurai truly is the king of reviving Nintendo history, and looping in Rare was a great way to include a fighter with die-hard fans who fits in the roster far better than Minecraft Steve or Master Chief.
Great way to bookend the Direct.
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Subtitle: Hotel Mario 2?
Though I wasn’t a huge a fan of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon compared to the original, this game looks pretty incredible. It has a creepy atmosphere directly reminiscent of Ghostbusters mixed with a Super Mario Sunshine vacation plot.
And it has built-in Gooigi multiplayer, unlike the shoed-in stuff for the Luigi’s Mansion 3DS remake.
I’m pretty into this game honestly. Especially after seeing this kaiju boss reveal Nintendo put out after the Direct:
It’s just too bad Nintendo has a billion other great games coming out, or Luigi swinging a chair around with a vacuum would be at the top of my list.
Link’s Awakening
Here’s one of those games that unfortunately pushes Luigi’s Mansion aside.
I was incredibly excited for this remake of a Zelda game I’ve always heard praised but never took the time to play when they announced it a few months back.
The new trailer didn’t show too much more than its Sept. 20 release date…
EXCEPT FOR A TOP-DOWN 2D DUNGEON CREATOR.
THE THING I LITERALLY ASKED FOR WHEN I GRADUATED:
Thanks Nintendo, you always make my dreams come true. Just be sure to add Minish Cap into the official Zelda Maker.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I wrote a Fire Emblem Heroes post just this morning, so of course I was going to talk about this game.
All we got today was a cinematic trailer that mostly stood out because some character had a sword that turned into a bone whip. Which is fine because we got a big gameplay trailer already.
It mainly featured lore that won’t make a ton of sense until the game releases in…
Wait, late July?
Damn, I thought I had more time. Stop making so many games I want to buy Nintendo, I’m still addicted to Stardew Valley for the next few months!
Pokémon Sword and Shield
I wasn’t expecting any new Pokémon news after the recent Direct, but Nintendo truly is a benevolent overlord.
During the presentation we found out that the Pokéball peripheral from Let’s Go can act as a modern day Pokéwalker and that the Water-type Gym Leader will be Nessa:
She’s a little derivative of Shelly from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but not a bad design at all.
During the Nintendo Treehouse we discovered the existence of a perfect Electric-type pup named Yamper and a little Dark/Fairy gremlin named Impidimp:
Images courtesy of Serebii.net
One of them is God’s perfect child and the other is his greatest mistake.
However, we also found out that not every Pokémon in the National Dex will be compatible with Sword and Shield, which is a step in the wrong direction after Sun and Moon already didn’t have a Pokédex entry for every monster you could collect.
Go check out Serebii’s page, because they have the full list of everything from today.
Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Then there’s this.
Look I played the first couple Olympic crossover games with my sister and they were decent minigame collections.
But the fact that this series is still going astounds me.
Some of you would probably prefer I put Cadence of Hyrule in this major slot since it looks cool and is only $25 bucks, which definitely entices me to buy the game when it drops this Thursday in spite of never playing Crypt of the Necrodancer.
But… I just did.
So there.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Like Reggie Fils-Amie, I put a lot of time into Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
New Horizons not only looks like a wonderful graphical update to the series, but an update that allows for 8-player simultaneous action while potentially building a town from scratch.
That’s… Pretty god damn incredible. Definitely worth pushing the release date to March 2020!
Already Nintendo has me feeling all:
But we’re not done just yet.
The Highlight Reel
The reel always has a billion things, so let’s lightning round what stood out to me.
- Spyro Reignited Trilogy — A good get.
- Hollow Knight Silksong — WHY NO RELEASE DATE?!
- Minecraft Dungeons — This Diablo-style spin-off was announced during the Microsoft conference and I’m intrigued.
- Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein Youngblood and Alien: Isolation — Glad to know Nintendo is sticking with mature titles.
- Stranger Things 3 — A Zombies Ate my Neighbors-esque Netflix crossover? I’ll look at this with Alyson…
- Catan — What can I say, my Gaming in American Culture class made me a fan.
Breath of the Wild 2…?
Time to address the elephant in the room.
I made a big deal out of returning to Breath of the Wild. Yet… I didn’t actually finish the whole game.
Turns out I should get moving on that again.
Breath of the Wild is getting a direct sequel, bringing it in-line with Majora’s Mask and the Wind Waker series. A sequel where Link and Zelda are going to be traveling the ravaged Hyrule together and discover some demented shit.
The trailer was just an “in development” teaser, but they sure did succeed in making it emotionally provocative. I’m curious to find out more… Though a lot of that is based on hype from my friends’ speculations.
Which means I guess I have to go finish Breath of the Wild.
Damn you, Nintendo. Quit monopolizing my time when you’re about to monopolize my time with all these new games!
Those were the big ticket items out of this E3 Direct for me, but there were a lot of smaller things that piqued my interest too.
A Final Fantasy Tactics-type game for The Dark Crystal, No More Heroes 3 with weird Star Wars jokes and Gundam fights and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 among them. Plus the Switch is getting the return of Contra, The Witcher 3, Secret of Mana, Resident Evil 5 and 6 and a Panzer Dragoon remake.
Nintendo really knocked it out of the park this year, especially considering the rest of E3 wasn’t phenomenal from what I’ve heard.
Though was there any doubt when they began their Direct by capitalizing on the “Bowser is Nintendo of America’s new president” joke?
All they’re missing is this:
Let me know what you thought of Nintendo’s E3 Direct! What game are you most excited for?
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