E3 2017 - Nintendo Overview

Nintendo’s E3 showcase featured massive hints of what’s to come as we saw a bigger look into how Super Mario Odyssey is shaping up.

The event had a very formal tone throughout and felt more like an extended Nintendo Direct, until the end where it ended very abruptly. Despite this, plenty was discussed in the 25 minutes Nintendo had allotted. Announcements in the shape of Metroid Prime 4 and a new Pokémon RPG from Game Freak stole the show, alongside more gameplay and a release date for Super Mario Odyssey.

Opening up the event was a bold introduction to a bunch of games we can expect for Nintendo Switch in the near future. Footage was shown from ARMS, Pokkén Tournament DX, FIFA 18, Splatoon 2, as well as Rocket League, confirming its release for Nintendo Switch.

Reggie popped up, conjuring up how games are a door to new worlds and journeys and the Nintendo Switch is the key. He lead us into a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 trailer giving off some details about the game’s narrative with plenty of gunfire and complex melee attacks to boot. Xenoblade looks to offer deep open-world exploration and follows-on from the 3DS game - Xenoblade Chronicles - contrasting a totally different art style and story.

Next up, Kirby and Yoshi. Both of the adorable Nintendo characters will have their own games with them as the main protagonists - named simply: Kirby and Yoshi, respectively. They are both side-scrolling and feature puzzle challenges and enemies to overcome. Yoshi and Kirby are both releasing in 2018, a common theme for most of the games discussed.

The two big announcements were comments surrounding a new Pokémon RPG that’s being worked on by Game Freak for Switch (no news other than that) and that Metroid Prime 4 is in development. That latter news may be just enough to restore people’s faith after Nintendo’s negatively received Metroid Prime: Federation Force last year.

Fire Emblem Warriors was briefly discussed with noticeable English dubbing. Character animations didn’t match the dialogue at all, but series fans will undoubtedly be excited for this one’s frenetic combat and memorable characters.

Details on Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s DLC were clarified including some hints as to what the story additions would feature. Korok seeds and armour await to be collected, and new Shrines are ready for conquering upon release this Summer and Winter. Reggie mentioned a few events that were happening on and around E3 before bringing us onto more gameplay of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, that initially surprised everyone with its turn-based strategy genre despite informal narrative - August 29th for that one.

From Rabbids to racing with Rocket League. The developers at Psyonix were happy to announce their huge multiplayer arena game was coming to Nintendo Switch. Nintendo-themed car-toppers, local wireless multiplayer and exclusive yet to be announced cars will be making their way onto the Switch this Winter. (Nice Shot!)

The final game we were treated to featured Nintendo’s star in red overalls: Super Mario Odyssey. After new gameplay footage was teased it turns out there’s more to meets the eye with Mario’s hat. The hat seems to allow him to control any enemy he throws it on, from Frog to T-Rex. More will be revealed in the near future but the launch date of October 27th is enough to keep us interested.

Nintendo’s affair felt very rushed this year after them taking a different approach to proceedings with multiple events spread throughout E3, rather than one big blockbuster event. The Nintendo Switch needed a boost when it came to games and I think Nintendo were smart to focus all their attention on such to please many, rather than fiddling around with accessories/peripherals to please a few.

There wasn’t an obvious sniff of 2DS/3DS in Nintendo’s jam-packed event as all the games shown were played on the Switch. Nintendo Treehouse event programmes will shed more light onto what’s coming there, so keep your eyes peeled for those.

There was no talk of the expected Animal Crossing, a Super Mario Sunshine remaster, or what Suda51 is doing to restart Travis Touchdown’s videogame career after teasing it during Nintendo’s Switch announcement. We can probably expect more from Nintendo in future Directs or gamescom - for now, Nintendo fans will be happy to see what’s coming soon but anxious to discover details on what’s next.