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E3 Day Three 6/12/2018: Nintendo

"Nintendo provides a lackluster, yet promising end to the E3 Showcases of 2018"

 

Cozy Pre-Show - I expected nothing and was still disappointed. My brother was extremely hyped for the new Smash Brothers game but I really was not what to expect from Nintendo. Which can usually be a great thing but this year, it was pretty much a let down. If I had one expectation, it was a new IP. I have enjoyed seeing Arms and Splatoon emerge in Nintendo's roster these past few years since it was refreshing on their roster of games. They actually experimented with current genres of the generation and made it their own. I think that is what I was hoping for. Another crazy mix-up with the ingenious minds at Nintendo since these past few days lit us up with so many game titles. It seems as though Smash is the priority for this entire year though. Which is thoroughly disheartening for me. I know a lot of you are excited but no one title should be the defining factor. I love seeing the unique rosters of exclusives come together to breathe life into a game company.

Glossary:

Daemon X Machina

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country

Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee

Super Mario Party

Fire Emblem Heroes Three Houses

Fortnite Switch

Overcooked 2

Killer Queen Black

Octopath Traveler

Nintendo Showcase

Super Smash Bros

Daemon X Machina - Although this is not the original IP style I was expecting, Nintendo is delivering new ideas. Giant mechs and they look pretty awesome. I do not like the whole, mech anime aesthetic but it does look pretty crazy. Super vibrant colors, energy blades and giant robo baddies to drop. Daemon X Machina (weird name) is launching later next year in 2019.

 

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country - Xenoblade returns with an upcoming sequel with a long title. I have no idea what this game is about but it seems to have made a nice big step in it's quality from the last installment (from what I looked up). Xenoblade 2 is aiming for a September release later this year.

 

Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee - Reggie what are you doing. Selling us Pokeballs now? The recently announced title, Pokemon Let's Go got some spotlight with an extra reiterative amount of attention to it's existence and now... Pokeball joycons! That is right, Pokemon Let's Go will get an exclusive palm sized Pokeball that will serve as your optional controller piece while playing this title. it is actually a pretty cute concept and will be available with the game when it launches in November on the 16th of 2018. It also will include Mew, the rare first generation Pokemon, to be used for friend versus friend battle mode. And after watching the Nintendo Treehouse segment, I saw that there was actual battling in the game! I was under the impression it was nothing but catching Pokemon but trainers do provide battle opportunities just like the handheld versions. Pretty hype!

 

Super Mario Party - The friendship apocalypse is back and from the looks of it seems to be,ditching the whole, single group movement party pacing. Which is fantastic. And with the new joycon controllers for the Switch and the capability of linking screens up together, the mini-game potential looks absolutely curious! Like, the trailer showed two Switch screens clicking together and creating a stage where players needed to blow each other up. That is the Mario Party I am use to knowing, the gimmicks! The whole Switch is a gimmick and it is a match made in heaven that Super Mario Party is honing in on this oppurtunity. I think I am truly ready to enjoy Mario Party again. Even the infamous Goomba is ready to party on!

 

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Fire Emblem returns with a pretty epic presentation for it's new title migrating to the Switch. It looks absolutely breathtaking and the perspective of battle really gives off a large spectacle to anticipate in the heat of battle. I know it is a turn based strategy game but it still looks pretty sweet. Again, this another series I have not really touched base on but I know enough that the fans must be pretty happy to have this hit the Switch. Fire Emblem on the go and on their primary platform of play away from handheld. The dream is real?

 

Fortnite (Switch) - Fortnite is on Nintendo Switch. The only thing I can add to this announcement is that, if you linked your Unreal account to the PS4 version of this game, you are never going to be able to play it on Switch. Why? Sony does not like any of that cross-play stuff. Have a good day Fortnoot and I am excited to see some little kids playing this all over the place and doing silly dances.

Overcooked 2 - Oh look, another indie game coming out of nowhere that I absolutely adore! I could not even beat the first one but I wanna torture myself even more with the sequel. It is so elaborate and so well designed in it's fast paced cooking mayhem formula that it is an absolute must play in my book of recommendations. And from the anarchy showed today, it looks like it killed the ability to follow up on a proper sequel. So happy to see Team 17 indie titles doing well. Even indie games in general! So many have been crawling out with sequels these past few days and it makes me so happy to see. Also, moldy bread for the win!

 

Killer Queen Black - Then there was reveal right after Over Cooked for a game called Killer Queen Black. I have never heard of this game but it looks super cool. Giant hornet knights trying to destroy each other's hives and enemies in a nicely trimmed arena. It is coming out for Switch and Steam so I might check this out later this year! It is coming out in 2018 so just gotta keep my eyes peeled.

 

Octopath Traveler - The awesome nostaligic turnbased RPG comes back for Switch's Showcase to let it's players know that it can install the demo and have it's save data carry over June 14th. Quick announcement but definitely a nice gesture to try and build up hype!

Nintendo Showcase - Just like ID@Xbox, Nintendo showcases a slew of indie title and critically acclaimed titles aiming to hit the console over the course of this year. The third party involvement was such a great choice on the Switch's part and to be honest, I may be willing to start investing in a Switch starting next year. Roll the tapes!

 

Super Smash Bros Ultimate - The highly acclaimed Nintendo brawler returns to make it's biggest debut yet on the Switch. The director, Masashiro Sakurai, proudly announces the title and spend almost half an hour giving us the most well laid out explanation of what is to come and what to expect coming out of this game. As well as a big thank you to the fans and that this project is the love child of so many requested features, additions and hopes of future content. The trailer below lists everything single character on it's way to SSBU and afterwards, big balances changes and additions that come with more than half the cast.

Things like Ryu being able to constantly face opponents for better special move inputs, Samus charging her projectiles in mid air and costume changes for so many members of the cast for optional pleasure. Even quality of life additions like voice casting and artistic detail were taken into count to the tiniest of details. Sakurai does mention that adding characters is not going to be a priority anytime soon so remastering all of these characters practically makes up for the lack of content in this case. Every character seems to be getting a lot of love and attention to make this their strongest delivery yet in the Smash Series. There are so many more things but ahead but unless you are a pretty intrigued fan, a lot of the info is worth missing out on since it continues to add quality of life aspects fans of the series will notice.

A big thing as well that came up with the Final Smash's for a lot of characters got reworked. At this rate, almost the entire cast now possesses auto-execute finishers or giant AOE triggers. The ability to control characters during their Final Smash's seem to have been a huge design rework to both speed up the game, and most likely make more characters accessible in their most powerful forms. I feel like this could be a step back for this installment as it takes away what makes these characters unique in the first place. However, I am sure it is meant well especially since there are over 65 characters in total on this roster thus far. That's a whole lot of work to focus on for just Finishers alone.

As this Smash overview closes out, Sakurai does put his fans at ease by announcing one more character to the roster after the entire cast got some spotlight. Ridley, the Smash communities joke of never being added to the game, is now in the game. Yeah, Sakurai is not taking any of your doubts in vain. The fans already are complaining that he is too tiny but seriously... what did you expect? Though the character looks completely generic in it's game-play, at least to me, it's there and he looks pretty cool. Smash is on the way this holiday season this December on the 7th, 2018.

 

And that's it. That was E3 everyone. Everyday was full of amazing reveals and news. Though the start and end were a lot less intense, it was amazing regardless to see gaming come together once again. Nintendo's lineup, though not hype inducing for me, definitely has convinced me that this is a console worth getting soon. Plenty of games are coming to the system and the new exclusives are coming around for fans of the company like new Mario titles and Super Smash Bros. With all of this said and done, I am walking away happy, exhausted and beyond hyped for the next year to come. Let us continue to unite our gaming communities and get these developers coming out with even better games than this year. They listened, we received.

I will be posting my, "Best of E3", blog in the coming days but may wait until this week blows over. I got a lot of work to catch up now that E3 is handled and to my followers and readers, thank you so much for stick around and I will see you all this year as we cover this massive line up together. Though I will not be getting every single game, you can bet I will be on as many titles as possible. Stay Cozy!

 

This news was gathered off of Nintendo's live-stream during the E3 2018 Showcase. Note, all images and videos provided were taken from official press releases advertising the games mentioned above or recorded with the live version of the current live-stream.

Disclaimer: I was not paid nor offered any incentives to write this review by the accompanying publisher, developer or any outside force. This is solely for personal production and interest. My opinions and recommendations are based off my personal interpretation of the product and it's design.

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