Pre-Conference Thoughts: Nintendo has been hit or miss the last two years, with last year’s Direct presentation being underwhelming in terms of content that was not Smash Bros. This year, they don’t have a game that they will spend a significant amount of time showing off (based on their promotional materials), which means that they can potentially show off a lot of games. In a year that started off slow for the company, I want them to show us stuff we can look forward to from now to the end of the year.
Games I Want To See: Reveal 1-2 Smash DLC Fighters (one of Dante, Rex/Pyra, Elma (Xenoblade Chronicles X), Chrono, the Luminary (Dragon Quest XI), or Crash Bandicoot), Mario Baseball, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Teaser of a New 3D Zelda game
Presentation: This E3 is definitely an example why Nintendo Directs are more successful than typical press conferences. Within 40 minutes, they were able to cram a lot of information for a lot of games without a lot of fluff. There wasn’t a point where I felt bored watching the Direct, while other conferences had a moment or few that felt like it dragged on a little too long. Just like Microsoft, it felt that they had a variety of games announced or shown off that made the presentation appeal to a variety of gamers. Being able to have something for everyone is the best way to get everyone hype. They also did a good job of placing announcements at the right parts of the Direct.
Announcements: First of all, I am most excited for the teased the sequel to Breath of the Wild. I am very excited not only because Breath of the Wild is in my top 5 Zelda games, but Hyrule in that game is very interesting. They could go in the direction of Link and Zelda restoring Hyrule to its former glory, but the trailer made me think that they were trying to find the origin of Calamity Ganon under the castle. There is so much potential with the game’s story, I can’t wait to see more of the game (probably next year or 2021).
Luigi’s Mansion 3 looks more promising than what I originally thought. It seemed like it was going back to Dark Moon’s structure, however once I learned that it was going to take place in one hotel, I got excited. The design and environments in the hotel with Luigi’s new techniques makes me think that the game will be fun.
The concept of living on a deserted island is interesting for Animal Crossing New Horizon. Crafting items is a concept that makes so much sense for Animal Crossing, yet for some reason I did not think about it when I was wondering what could they do new in this game. I wonder how you will get villagers to join you on the island if you are the only one at the start. It was predictable that the game was going to be pushed back to March 2020, but I am okay with it.
The Hero made sense for the next Smash character, since Dragon Quest is one of the most popular game series in Japan. One of my friends who moved to Japan introduced me to the series, and although I haven’t beaten a Dragon Quest game yet, these games are legit fun. I like that there are 4 costumes that are the protagonists in the iconic games in the series (including Erdrick). And Banjo-Kazooie finally made the cut! I know that he was considered for Melee or the first Smash game, so it is cool that they are in. I haven’t played the games and I have no nostalgic connection to them, but I’ve seen gameplay all over the internet and could see why they are iconic. I’m looking forward to see more how both characters play.
Here are some other games that I am excited about:
- Trials of Mana
- Link’s Awakening
- No More Heroes 3
- Astral Chain
- Ni no Kuni
Final Thoughts: With all of the variety of games announced and little to no fluff throughout the presentation, I believe that Nintendo’s E3 Direct had the best conference this year. Even though it’s a bummer that Animal Crossing New Horizons will come out next March, I like that there seems to be something I’m interested in playing coming out almost every month into 2020. This is just like the Switch’s release schedule in its first year. The presentation was definitely not perfect, but did a lot right. Grade: A-
J Chang Gaming 