While the hype and demos and possibly some surprise announcements will continue for the next few days, we’ve come to the end of most of the main conferences for E3 2017. For Nintendo, it was a Direct marked by intense speculation, even more rumors than normal, and the leaking months ago of what could have otherwise been perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the event: a crossover between Super Mario and Raving Rabbids in the form of an X-COM and Fire Emblem style tactical RPG. But Nintendo did manage some big announcements,most notably the existence of two new Metroid titles, and overall had a respectable showing. We’ve rounded up all the information up through June 13th right here:
We’ve also brought together several members of the SG staff to offer their immediate thoughts on the Direct, what we’ve seen from Treehouse Live, and E3 so far:
Wolfman_J: Mario Odyssey looks and sounds goddamn amazing.
I do wish they’d have shown more from Metroid Prime 4, especially considering it’s being made by a new team, but it’s telling for the series’ prestige that literally all they needed was an announcement. The new Kirby game also looks rather fun, and I’m assuming Fire Emblem Warriors will be as enjoyable as its Zelda crossover predecessor. I’m also interested in learning more about the second DLC pack for Breath of the Wild. But really, it just keeps coming back to Mario, his Driver: San Francisco-esque possession of dinosaurs, and that incredible show tune ode to New Donk City.
I rarely watch a ton of E3 outside writing up the Nintendo stuff for Source Gaming, but the new Wolfenstein looks pretty cool – makes me want to try The New Order, too. Cuphead still looks good.
Nirbion: Kirby. Enough said.
PushDustIn: For this year’s E3, I had my expectations pretty low (as Nintendo has held pretty unremarkable conferences) — but this year they had a good show. It wasn’t as fast paced as the last Nintendo Direct, but there was still a lot of information revealed during the spotlight. I think Nintendo could’ve benefited from showing more from Metroid Prime 4, or the new Pokemon game — or at least talking a bit about them. They really felt like lackluster announcements since we don’t really know nothing about these titles. However, the Spotlight didn’t feel like it overstayed it welcome. …also, no memes! Kirby and Yoshi look like solid entries into their series as well. Yoshi looks particularly interesting with the flip mechanic for its’ levels. Super Mario Odyssey looks absolutely amazing and continues to surprise. I really look forward to exploring Super Mario Odyssey when it launches this year.
In the treehouse Nintendo announced Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS. I think they should have thrown it into the spotlight, but it in the end it doesn’t really change that much. Also, it’d help publicize the Treehouse event, which are several long promotions for all the games.
epicmartin7: I thought Nintendo’s E3 was really good. They went out and put out some really good franchises. Metroid finally made a return which I think a lot of fans like. I really liked how they highlighted their key franchises. Kirby and Yoshi are back. Rocket League is coming to the system which is what a lot of people wanted.
Super Mario Odyssey looked god tier. It looked really great and the fact that YOU CAN CONTROL ENEMIES is amazing. That game is something I’m going to buy Day 1. No doubt.
I will admit, disappointment did get the best of me. I was hoping Smash would be there in some form. But in all honesty, the press conference was good, even without it. Nintendo didn’t really need it this time. I think they’ll save it when they need it though ;).
Overall, it was solid.
LIQUID12A: Nintendo is listening, folks. We got two Metroid games announced in the same day. This is actually unbelievable. I’m dead.
Oh, and everything else was fine. No Smash was a bit surprising, but I don’t mind. Mario Odyssey looks amazing. Nintendo has a very bright future ahead.
TheAnvil: Honestly I think this E3 has been rather lackluster across the board. I didn’t have any particular expectations, though I did certainly have hopes.
I’m not sure there’s a single game I didn’t know about prior to the event that I am anticipating. I’m sure both the Yoshi and Kirby games will be fun, but they’ve received a fair few games in recent years so the excitement level isn’t there.
Super Mario Odyssey, Sea of Thieves, and Cuphead are high points.
Cart Boy: I thought Nintendo had a commendable showing. Super Mario Odyssey, while not calling back to my favorite 3D Super Mario formula, looks incredible and refreshing. Plus, Mario can possess dinosaurs, a concept I never knew I wanted.
Beyond that, I was pleased with the Pokémon and Metroid Prime 4 confirmations. This way, anxiety concerning whether or not they exist can subside. And, of course, a new 2D Metroid is always a victory. I’m also pleased with the new Yoshi game, which screams Good-Feel, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 continues to look aces.
Seeing Minecraft and Rocket League with cross-platform play is great, on the topic of third-parties. Conversely, my enthusiasm for Sonic Forces diminishes more every time we see it.
As for what wasn’t present? I’m a bit let down at the absence of Donkey Kong and Smash, but they’ll come eventually. Finally, I’m scratching my head wondering what Retro Studios is making. Hopefully it’s that Birdo dating sim we all secretly want.
NantenJex: First of all as hype as I would’ve been for a new Sin & Punishment I am glad that rumour was wrong. It really allowed for a lot of surprises. Super Mario Odyssey was the biggest take away and a perfect way to end the show. It look fantastic and the ability to posses stuff was brilliant. Anything from enemies to frogs to a freakin’ taxi. It was glorious. Also Pauline is actually back and singing. Her reinsert into the Mario canon makes me hope for her to appear in more spin-offs now.
As for the other games we knew about, both Fire Emblem Warriors and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looked fantastic. Xenoblade has that british voice-acting that made the first game so charming and that was really all I needed, but the idea of you and your blade fighting side by side is really interesting. I want to see more. Fire Emblem confirmed the three characters I expected to see although female Corrin was a nice touch. I imagine male could be a costume to appeal to both fans but female is the preferred choice here.
Mario + Rabbids looks very good and very interesting. It really does look like X-com which is bizarre but I like X-Com and will likely pick this up. Skyrim as well is a game I am interested in replaying but it depends on when it launches. Rocket League looked cool and I’m glad Fifa is there, even if I won’t be picking it up.
Now for the NEW games. Despite being the Yoshi guy I have to say the new game didn’t grab me very much. It looked a lot like Woolly World, which is good, but Yoshi himself just looked off. Kirby on the other hand was like a dream come true. Combination attacks from 64, animal friends from Dream Land 3, helpers from Super Star, multiplayer from Return to Dreamland. All we need now is the Robobot to have the ultimate Kirby experience. Last but not least we got the confirmation of Metroid Prime 4. The lack of any footage makes this sound like a new game but boy am I excited. I was not expecting it yet.
Outside of the spotlight we got Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions (i hate that title) & Metroid: Samus’ Return. The former we knew about for a while and looks fun but the latter was a massive shock. Two Metroid games. TWO. Seems like Samus got a belated birthday present. It’s also the return of 2D Metroid after over a decade. This is going to be awesome. Lastly, we have yet to see Kirby 3DS but I guarantee it’ll be shown off on Treehouse another day. They’ve said more games are coming. The same goes for Smash. I don’t think we will get a port anymore but a soft confirmation that Smash is also in development seems possible. But who will announce it…
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I don’t tend to be as easily excited these days as I was in my youth, but damn, two Metroid games? That had me literally shaking.
Nintendo had a solid showing all around. Mario and Xenobalde both look fantastic. Fire Emblem Warriors, Super Star Saga, and Mario + Rabbids (of all things) seem like they’re worth keeping an eye on. I’m a bit disappointed the Kirby game seems to be another Return to Dreamland clone but maybe the ability mixing will be enough to set it apart. Switch Pokemon is nice I guess, though unlike Metroid it seemed like a given. I didn’t really register anything about Yoshi since I was still recovering from the Prime 4 announcement.
The only real issue I noted was a lack of third party games. Kinda standard for Nintendo at this point but hopefully not something that’s going to remain an issue with the Switch’s success. Nintendo themselves had a great showing though, probably their best in years.
Nintendo’s E3 showing this year was pretty solid. Super Mario Odyssey looks incredible, and I’m glad that Pauline (who appearently is the mayor of New Donk City as revealed by some gameplay footage, very cool) is back in the mainline Mario games. As a fan of the Mario & Luigi games, I’m looking forward to the Superstar Saga 3DS remake. The gameplay of the crossover between Mario and, urgh, the Rabbids does look nice but nothing that keeps me interested.
It was cool to see that Metroid Prime 4 will happen, though I’m a little surprised to hear that its not being made by Retro Studios since I assumed MP4 was Retro Studios’ game that VG composer Alexander Brandon (one of my favorites) was making music for.
Though I always keep my expections low when it comes to E3, I was a little bit letdown at the absence of anything Wario-related, especialy considering this year is his 25th anniversary. Even a new WarioWare title would have been nice, even if I’m no fan of that sub-series.
On topic of non-Nintendo games shown at E3, seeing more gameplay of IG’s Spiderman title was awesome and I’m keeping an eye on The Last Night, Cuphead and Unruly Heroes.
I just wish people would stop treating Prime like it’s not the spin off in that series.
All in all, it looked good. Rabbids+Mario looks delightfully fun, Odyssey looks great, didn’t see much of Yoshi and Kirby personally but combining abilities in Kirby is awesome. Now, if they will just confirm Lucina and Male Robin as the main Robin in Warriors, it will be a pretty good year for games for me.
As much I was watching the Nintendo E3 Direct…after I got back home from work…I was well excited with a good hype. Well, actually I was calm in the end, but not that things weren’t impressive, but trying not have so much expectations as hyping responsibly. The Direct was solid and great, with so much new things and more information on the already introduced games…I give it an applause. I’ve only watched the Japanese version of the video, so here are my comments of the introduced games in order through the video.
Xenoblade 2 looked so fascinating. Characters looked liked Kingdom Hearts to me, but the designs were great. Even Pyro (or Homura in Japanese) looked great…a heroine who has an anthropomorphic ability to change into both human and weapon, kinda reminded me of Fi from Skyward Sword, who I really liked in that game (shut up anti-fans, I don’t care about your complaint about the battery warning). The storyline looked so exciting along with the music, so I do see this game will become successful in the near future.
Too bad they didn’t introduced the new Kirby game on the 3DS, the Switch version looked so great! Not just the graphics looked so magnificently fantastic, but the Helper system from Super Star/Super Star Ultra is back! The only difference was not by separating from Kirby’s copied ability, but giving his love to them and befriending them? …Now that is something I’ve never seen it coming. Even 64’s Combination system is back, which was so nostalgic to see Kirby using two fused copy ability to bash enemies up. And the combination move of Kirby and the helpers to become a wheel and crushing enemies? I was stunned because I never seen that coming too… But everything looked so great, even I did sense this gotta be the actual cancelled GC Kirby game, because this brought back the Helper system and the planned combination move. I was even happy to see Burning Leo return because I love that character. I can’t wait to see the game coming next year, and definitely gonna get it!
While there weren’t any brief information regarding to Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon, I was surprised that Gamefreak was making another Pokemon RPG for the Switch. Usually this kind of game supposedly been supported by second/third party companies, but Gamefreak is taking over the production this time. I wonder if this is that rumored Pokemon Stars? It would make sense. Too bad Mr. Ishizuka didn’t give out brief information, but I’m looking forward for it!
I do see many Metroid fans, even Liquid12A, is well surprisingly excited about two Metroid games coming. Metroid Prime 4 and Metroid Samus Returns…a new Prime sequel and a GB remake…I’m not a fan of Metroid, but it’s good to see it back in the game! Even the Metroid amiibo…being squishy? Now that’s gonna name it Squishy and become everybody’s Squishy. (lol) Too bad Prime 4 didn’t give out brief information, but we do see Sylux will get involved for real.
The Yoshi game looks cute. Although they kept Yoshi being Wooly, the whole world’s concept is made out of cardboard. It does remind me of the infamous Yoshi’s Story, which that game’s background was cardboard too. Things looked so cute and softly touched, as it looked like that Little Big Planet game. It looks great, and I would like to see it coming.
Fire Emblem Warriors looks great. Although they still don’t have an exact gameplay, its good to see more characters joining the game, which I’ve predicted the most. We knew Chrom and Marth would be there, but the Fates trio was an unexpected inclusion for me, even Corrin is female in this game! That would make sense, even she was voted as #1 popular female character in Fates. I still don’t know how the game’s gonna be like, but would like to play it as I enjoyed Hyrule Warriors.
BotW DLC is something we’ve already known, but the second pack was something different. Champion’s Ballad? What does this mean? Will this mean there’ll be a moment we’ll be playing as them? Or a hidden story of how these characters join the team? There’s so many questions need to be answered to this game, and I’m looking forward for it!
Mario+ Rabbids…I serious don’t accept this game’s existence at all. The gameplay does look interestingly well made, but just can’t accept its taste. I do see the game’s gonna be more brutal than the original Mario, so I don’t know how well this game’s gonna be. I think I’m the only one here being deniable, which I would apologize, because I still don’t get this crossover at all. Even I do see this game’s gonna be released in Japan too, but as I checked the comments in Nico Nico Douga, some were interested with it, while most were unfamiliar with it because they don’t know Rabbids at all. I don’t know if this’ll sell well in Japan due to its unfamiliarity, so I can’t expect anything for this game. Sorry guys.
Skipping Rocket League, the last game was great. When I saw the beginning part, this is how I responded…”Oh great, it’s Monster Hunter…wait, was there a T-Rex in Monster Hunter? Wait, what’s that red thing on it’s head?! WWWHAAAT?!?!?” I was laughing so hard when that happened. (lol) But this game was full of surprises. First, the new ability to possess anything from Goombas, Hammer? Bros., Bullet Bills, Cheep Cheep, Froggy…now that’s the REAL Frog Mario. (lol) I mean, this is the dream come true…the moment you can finally control the enemy characters…I truly never seen that coming. Not just only that, you can change costumes from the nostalgic Mario golf outfit and Picross outfit, to the recently known Super Mario Maker outfit. Even Mario’s ex-GF Pauline returns as the mayor of New Donk City! This is like BotW, there’s so much freedom that you can do anything in this game, and I’m definitely looking forward for it!
Outside of Nintendo, there were several games that came into my sight. Sonic Forces does look more great, and even the newest trailer introducing the villains were surprising as well. I knew Metal Sonic would be returning, but why Shadow’s on the villain’s side? And Zavok returns…wasn’t he dead last time? And Chaos…wasn’t he reformed?! And who’s this new villain!? Could be the real villain behind the storyline? I do feel these villains has to be from the past, like how Classic Sonic was brought back to this game. It’s good they brought new things for this game, and I’m definitely looking forward for it as a Sonic fan!
Dragon Ball FighterZ…besides Xenoverse, I’m pretty much not impressed having so many Dragon Ball fighting games that doesn’t change a lot, but I find this is more different. Although it’s made by the Guilty Gear staffs, I do sense they fight in Marvel VS Capcom style, and everything looks so awesome! And speaking of Marvel VS Capcom, it’s also good they brought more characters to this game too. But I do sense everybody complaining too much that there’s not many new characters in this game, and I do agree as the game seems too biased as nothing seems to have changed than the previous one. I do hope I’m wrong, but this game should do better than the previous if possible.
Yes, everything was great to see! But if I say nothing was disappointing, then you know I’d be lying. It’s too bad there were no info regarding to the Smash for Switch port, but I’ll explain that later on (since I posted this comment so late…). Another disappointment was the absence of Animal Crossing. There should be a new game of it anytime soon, while they should already reveal the mobile version as well too. But even I was disappointed, I was calm in the end as I wasn’t expecting things much as possible.
So far, the Nintendo presentation was great. I wouldn’t say to be ultimately perfect, but it gave out few information upon what we really needed to know. There might be more new infos outside of E3, so we can expect something in the future. Anyways, sorry for my lengthy comment.