E3 2013: Nintendo Direct Wrap-Up

If there was a theme for this E3, it would be technical problems. Between the audio glitches during Microsoft’s press conference, Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag crashing during Sony’s, and now Nintendo’s bandwidth woes during today’s Nintendo Direct stream, this E3 has been a rocky, bumpy ride for us all. Praise be, then, that Nintendo usually posts their Direct videos to YouTube within seconds of them airing live. This was the first year Nintendo chose not to do a traditional press conference, meaning no stage demos of games, no theatrics, just pre-recorded information, plain and simple. It almost felt kind of rushed, in a way: there were no appearances from Reggie, and no appearances from any developers. Just Satoru Iwata standing in a green-screened room, dishing out trailer after trailer, often with little to no setup. As such, the stream whizzed by – clocking in at just over 40 minutes, Nintendo showed more than ten first-party games.

They opened with Pokemon X and Pokemon Y, revealing several new Pokemon and even a whole new Pokemon type – the long-rumored “Fairy” type, which is strong against Dragon-type Pokemon and weak to Poison-type. Also included with the game is a feature they’re calling “Pokemon-Amie”, which seems to be some kind of Nintendogs-esque way to directly interact with your Pokemon by petting them, feeding them, and more. Nintendo intends to trickle out more information about the game between now and its October 12th release date, and Iwata urges us to stay tuned. Pokemon is followed by our first look at Super Mario 3D World, a Wii U follow-up to Super Mario 3D Land on the Nintendo 3DS. Super Mario 3D World takes many of the concepts of both 3D Land and New Super Mario Bros. and extends them out to this new game, with the introduction of four-player co-op (with Princess Peach making her return as a playable character). Also added in to the mix is a brand new cat suit power-up, allowing Mario and co. to climb up walls and attack using sharp claws. It looks exactly as one would expect the sequel to Super Mario 3D Land to look. That isn’t necessarily a complaint, given that, at least personally, I consider 3D Land to be one of the best Mario games, and certainly one of the best 3D Mario platformers.

From there, Mario Kart 8 gets unveiled – and despite mugging from Sumo Digital’s Steve Lycett regarding Mario and Sonic appearing together as kart racing rivals, the blue blur is nowhere to be seen. That hasn’t stopped Mario Kart 8 from having some seriously gravity defying tracks, however – in addition to Mario Kart 7‘s glider and underwater modes, a new, third mode is revealed, causing your vehicle to magnetically stick to surfaces as you race along ceilings and floors. The biggest benefit this adds seems to be tracks that now split off in all directions – some racers may choose to drive up the side of a wall and take a shortcut across a line of buildings while others stick to the traditional road, and even the game’s own logo suggests a twisting, looping mobius strip track. Iwata also suggests some kind of Miiverse integration, but completely fails to detail what that even means. After Mario Kart we segue in to Wii Party U, which is exactly like it sounds – a version of Wii Party for the Wii U. Essentially just Mario Party divorced from the Mario franchise, you send your Mii roaming around various board game environments, playing minigames using the unique features of the Wii U and more. It’s completely unnecessary, especially given Nintendo also has a Mario Party game in development for the Wii U, but one interesting feature seems to be that some minigames require two players to use the Gamepad together at the same time. The game was originally slated for this summer, but is being delayed so that they can work on it longer. The same goes for Wii Fit U – both titles will now be launching near the end of 2013.

A special version of the forthcoming Wii U version of Art Academy will be releasing in the future, as Nintendo hopes to allow budding artists a greater set of more robust tools to share artwork with over the Miiverse. Unfortunately, even though this sounds like a glorified demo for Art Academy, Iwata suggests it will, in fact, cost money – though how much has not yet been decided. After that, we’re treated to a brief third party games montage, including Assassin’s Creed IV, Batman: Arkham Origins, Deus Ex Director’s Cut, Disney Infinity, Just Dance 2014, Rayman Legends, Scribblenauts Unmasked, Disney’s Planes, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Skylanders SWAP Force, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Sonic Lost World, and Watch_Dogs. Though quite a sizable list of games, it comes from a relatively small number of publishers, doing very little to change the growing stigma that third-party developers are abandoning Nintendo. Maybe big name developers are, but smaller independent developers seem to be doing just fine, as a second montage follows dedicated exclusively to eShop releases like Ballpoint Universe, Cloudberry Kingdom, Mutant Mudds Deluxe, Scram Kitty, and Shovel Knight.

We’re offered another look at The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, showing a further evolved visual style that seems to better preserve the original game’s cel-shading aesthetic. Iwata promises that this is not just a straight-across port of Wind Waker, but details on what exactly has been changed are to be revealed at a later date – though one change is clearly visible in the footage being shown: an improved sail that allows you to travel much quicker than before. The only other new feature being talked about is a new bottle you can get from Tingle to exchange messages with players via the Miiverse. Following Zelda, we get yet another look at The Wonderful 101, a game that you might remember was originally announced with the Wii U more than a year ago. Players draw shapes on the touch screen to form weapons out of a group of characters known as the Wonderful 101, and new formations and maneuvers can be bought from the shop between stages. Like a lot of games during this Nintendo Direct, more information is forthcoming – more specifically, in a special Nintendo Direct dedicated exclusively to just The Wonderful 101.

Next up is the announcement of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, a Wii U sequel to Donkey Kong Country Returns. This time around, vikings have taken over DK Island, turning it in to a wintery wonderland full of killer penguins, walruses, and other icy hazards. According to Nintendo, the biggest change over the original Donkey Kong Country Returns is a dynamic camera that pans through the 3D environment as you play – something other 2.5D games have been doing literally for decades. Visuals also look fairly basic – not much better than the original Wii game at all. After DKCTF, we’re finally shown the first gameplay footage of Bayonetta 2. The most dramatic change is the design of Bayonetta herself – gone is her long flowing hair, now trimmed down to only ear length. Gameplay footage looks about as you would expect from Bayonetta: acrobatic, stylish combat in the vein of Devil May Cry, featuring the signature Witch Time dodge system and climax attacks. Also of note is perhaps a hint as to what happened to Bayonetta’s hair – near the end of the footage, we’re offered a brief glimpse of her fighting what appears to be one of the hair creatures she originally controlled in the first Bayonetta game.

Nintendo Direct winds down with a pair of trailers – one for the still-untitled “Project X“, a spiritual successor of sorts to Xenoblade on the Wii. Characters are shown running around massive fantasy environments, exploring futuristic cities, encountering monsters, and piloting giant robots. As we see this, Iwata explains that the team’s overall goal is to provide players with a huge, seamless world to explore – but what that means in gameplay terms is not really explained. After “X“, we’re left with one final tantalizing sneak peek at the long-awaited successor to Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii. Now simpy titled Super Smash Bros., we’re treated to footage of Mario, Link, Samus, Pikachu, Kirby and Donkey Kong fighting it out on both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Each game has a unique art style, though seem to be functionally identical beyond that. New to this game are a villager from Animal Crossing that attacks using bug catching nets, potted plants, and fallen trees. Though not shown at this specific Nintendo Direct, Nintendo also unveiled the Wii Fit Trainer as a fighter,  who unleashes the deadly power of yoga and exercise upon the Smash Bros. world. But the biggest talking point is, of course, the reveal of classic Mega Man as a playable fighter. He comes complete with all the moves you would expect him to, including a smattering of Robot Master abilities like the Crash Bomb and Metal Blade.

And that wraps up Nintendo Direct. Overall, it was pretty light on actually giving out information – most games were presented with the qualifier of “we will release more information about [specific feature] at a later date”. Presumably, as they have done in past years, more information regarding what was shown on Nintendo Direct will come out over the course of E3 – already Nintendo has posted a sizable number of developer interviews to its Youtube channel, and a whole extra Super Smash Bros. character has been revealed separately of this broadcast. Rather than actively court the press or its fans, Nintendo seems to be content letting everybody come to them for information and only give out what is being asked for. It’s an odd tactic, one that makes Nintendo look possibly more out of touch and reclusive than ever before.

With that out of the way, we’re done as far as pre-show E3 conferences go. I’ve generally ended these asking for the community’s feedback on the subject, but by this point, I’m pretty sure you guys know the drill.