Do Better Than a Barrel Roll; Nintendo E3 Digital Event Wrap-Up
While not appearing on stage at E3, Nintendo's digital event is always fun. This year, here's what you missed;
- The show began with adorable puppet Nintendo executives; suddenly, they transform into animals! Harkening back to the Star Fox SNES covers, Reggie, Iwata, and Miyamoto become Fox, Falco, and Peppy to reveal Star Fox Zero coming this Holiday season.
- Miyamoto took centre stage in the 'Developer Story'. He was inspired originally by the Thunderbirds television show and how each character had their own drama. The game will feature two screens using the Wii U Gamepad as a cockpit view and gyroscopic movement. All controls have been simplified; two sticks to move, one button to shoot, one to flip, one to pull a U-turn, and one to transform your vehicle! A feature originally set to appear in the unreleased Starfox 2.
- Reggie Fils-Aime then appeared on camera to bring up Nintendo's E3 theme: transformation, referred to in the opening short. The company is always transforming; Nintendo NX is coming soon with more to be heard in 2016, plus franchises are refusing to stand still. For example, Super Mario Bros, is hitting its 30th anniversary and to celebrate, Super Mario Maker is coming soon.
- Speaking of franchises moving forward, Donkey Kong and Bowser are both coming to Skylanders Superchargers with complete move sets and upgrade trees. The toys work both as Skylanders and Amiibos but only for Nintendo consoles.
- Next to be announced is new 3DS Zelda title The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes which features three player co-op. You must work together to solve puzzles and survive dungeons but, to prepare yourself, you can craft new outfits which feature brand new abilities such as Lucky Loungewear and the Big Bomb Outfit. You will be able to work together by standing on each other's shoulders with the new Totem mechanic!
- Hyrule Warriors is coming to 3DS as Hyrule Warrior Legends. It's a reimagining of the title and will include all DLC characters. Also, it will come with additional characters and stages from Wind Waker. It'll be available in the first quarter of 2016.
- Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a 3DS title which will feature four-player co-op missions in the Metroid universe. It's first person shooter, featuring 3 v 3 sports battle multiplayer, available next year.
- We didn't get many details but Fire Emblem Fates is coming next year as well.
- Altus revealed a new game with a musical trailer and anime visuals; a tale of youth and heroes guided by destiny. The game seems to be titled FE and features characters named Mirages which seem very reminiscent to the Shin Megami Tensei Persona series. It's coming out next year.
- Monolith Soft brought mankind's new threat to the stage: Xenoblade Chronicle X.
- We saw new footage of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer with player characters putting together lovely new rooms for the resident's of your town. Plus, a new Animal Crossing board-game video game will be arriving soon for the Wii U which seems to require Amiibos to play.
- Yoshi's Woolly World will be getting a plushy Amiibo for Yoshi! Also, the game will use current Amiibos to change Yoshi's appearance throughout the game such as Mario and Samus.
- Level 5 presented Yokai Watch with a new trailer which shows off Yokai Lens gameplay, allowing the player to collect and become friends with numerous Yokai to battle against the evil spirits plaguing Springdale this holiday season.
- Two Mario worlds collided in a trailer for new Mario title Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. You'll have to use each world's special abilities in order to work together such as creating a giant paper craft Mario to squash enemies. It will be available next Spring.
- We were also treated to a new gameplay trailer for Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash!
- Finally, we were given a short interview and gameplay footage for the upcoming Super Mario Maker and discovered how the Mario games were initially designed on graph paper. In the game, you'll be have access to all sorts of new mechanics such as programming movements of objects.
- Mario will also be able to take on the appearance of Amiibos when he eats a Mystery Mushroom. To go with the game, Nintendo is releasing a large 8-bit Mario Amiibo which will enlarge the in-game Mario when tapped. It will be available 1st of September.