Nintendo Week - Stealing The Show At E3 2011

Posted by: Dom Cook on July 4, 2011 at 12:12PM
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The 25th Anniversary of Zelda at E3 2011

Say what you like about Nintendo, but they sure know how to put on a good E3 show. Starting off with a montage of all the Zelda games in chronological order, with an orchestra playing a medley of The Legend of Zelda music, Nintendo celebrated the 25th Anniversary of one of the most beloved series of all time. Shigeru Miyamoto, Zelda's creator, strolled onto the stage and bowed to a cheering audience. Unfortunately, the magic was broken slightly when Miyamoto had to speak Japanese while a translator spoke English. It was fairly difficult to understand the two of them speaking over each other, but what he had to say didn't really matter. He proceeded to unleash a wave of awesome announcements: the classic LoZ: Links Awakening for for the 3DS e-shop, Four Swords as a FREE download, the long awaited Ocarina of Time 3D (which is out now!), and of Skyward Sword this holiday for the Nintendo Wii. In addition to game announcements, there will be Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concerts in various regions around the world, explaining why the orchestra was there. The music sounded fantastic, if you're a diehard Zelda fan you really shouldn't miss your chance. If for some reason you can't make it to one, there will also be a CD based on the symphony concerts, and will most likely be released at the same time as Skyward Sword.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword looks fantastic. As Miyamoto himself said, "I really feel like I'm the one fighting those battles, perhaps you've noticed but it feels like my arms have gotten a little stronger." The game requires the WiiMotion+ or a controller with Motion+ built in, so rather than flailing, you'll be doing some precise slashes with your sword and accurately shooting enemies with your bow. He went on to mention that Skyward Sword is packed full of content, here's hoping that this means tons of collectables and replayability!

Bring on the new 3DS titles!

Then came the new games for 3DS, in a neat little montage using fake 3D. Mario Kart 3D, Starfox 3D (accompanied by the soundclip, "DO A BARREL ROLL!"), Super Mario 3D, Kid Icarus Uprising, and Luigi's Mansion 2. Reggie rocked onto the stage, introducing videos of the games that were just shown. Naturally, only 2D videos could be shown. Mario Kart looks familiar to what we all know and love, with some new features such as kart customization and the ability to glide while going off jumps. Star Fox 64 3D looks excellent, you can even use the 3DS to steer your ship. What grabbed me most was the ability to see and hear your opponents in real time thanks to the 3DS camera. Awesome. Super Mario 3D was up next, and showed a combination between the traditional sidescrollers and the more recent 3D games. Kid Icarus Uprising is nothing new, however, what was new was the announcement of multiplayer and the use of Augmented Reality Cards, offering some sort of AR card game where you have Pit and other Kid Icarus characters battle it out. Luigi's Mansion was a fantastic game back on GameCube, but that appeared to be the first and last of the series until now. Luigi's Mansion 2 is "an entirely new game making extraordinary use of 3D," offering multiple mansions to explore.


Pokedex 3D was also announced. An e-shop exclusive, and a free download, the applications name should give away what it is and does. One of the neatest features is the ability to superimpose Pokemon into real life. This means you can play with Pokemon in Augmented Reality, and even take a photo of yourself in the living room, and have it look like you have a Pokemon right there beside you. Naturally, you can view Pokemon in 3D, as well as see their stats, moves, abilities and so on. The application is more of a resource than anything but it's free, so no one can complain. Pokemon are obtained via SpotPass, AR Cards, and exchanging with friends.

Nintendo joins the HD race with a bang

Naturally, the Wii U was the biggest announcement of the show. They focused on the new controller, which frankly does seem pretty neat. The controller can take over the game play from the Wii U console, meaning if you want to change channels and watch TV, you can continue playing on the controller's screen. The Wii U is also HD, and fully backwards compatible with Wii games. The console is supposedly backed by many 3rd parties, Darksiders 2, Tekken and Ninja Gaiden 3 are just a few "hardcore" titles available on the console. The montage video was pretty impressive, showing that you can place the controller on the ground and use a wiimote to hit an imaginary golfball off the Wii U controller into the TV. You can also use it to voicechat with friends. There are a lot of possibilities. The name is still rather silly though, Nintendo should change their name to "The Ministry of Silly Console Names." A new Smash Bros. was announced for both Wii U and 3DS, which the audience cheered wildly to. Unfortunately, no details were revealed.

Needless to say, Nintendo did amazingly. Announcing a new console was a big move, while Microsoft continues to flail about with the Kinect and Sony's conference was awkward and especially weak after the recent hacking incident. Watch Nintendo's full conference here.