E3 2017: Nintendo Spotlight Brings the Dunk

Nintendo held their digital spotlight on Monday morning, and despite a few blockbuster announcements, we are still missing keys to the Switch’s future like the Virtual Console.

Totally new announcements:

The digital spotlight had a fair few totally new announcements to make.

Kirby, set for release in 2018, was shown. It appears as though Kirby can capture different enemies and have them fight alongside him (her? it?). Otherwise, this looks like a Kirby game. Its whimsical, cute and has familiar faces.

Check out the trailer below:

Nintendo also announced a new Yoshi game coming to the Switch in 2018. The art is akin to yarn yoshi, but there is no indication of that in the title. Catch the trailer below:

The biggest bombshell, in my opinion, from the digital spotlight was the announcement that Matroid Prime 4 is indeed in development for the Switch. We don’t have any information about what that really means, though. It wasn’t given a prospective release date or even range.

That doesn’t matter though, because Metroid. I wish it were a classic 2D style, but I will take whatever I can get.

Here is the trailer, showing a lot of nothing:

Pokemon Company also announced that a “core” Pokemon game is in development for the Switch. It will likely not release in the next year, however.

Some stuff we were expecting:

It is with a heavy heart that I report that there was no new F-Zero, Animal Crossing or Smash Deluxe announced. I’m not too broken up about that though. We got new trailers for a bunch of previously announced games.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was shown. Going in a bit of a new direction, the game seems to be a bit more cartoonish than the first and second games were, but I’m not too broken up about that.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is coming out “Holiday 2017,” and is one of my most anticipated games of the year. Check out the trailer:

We also received a new trailer for Fire Emblem Warriors. This is the Dynasty Warriors type game focused on combatting tons and tons of enemies.  Here is the trailer:

And finally, Nintendo showed off Mario Odyssey. While I could sit here and try to explain to you readers everything the trailer shows, I would fail. Mario is going to be going around diverse and incredible worlds collecting coins and moons, spending the coins and performing platforming exploits that would make Nathan Drake proud.

Mario also has a neat little hat that allows him to “Cap-ture” enemies and control them. Again, super cool and I can’t wait to get my hands on it October 27, later this year.

Here is the trailer:

The add-ons and the little things:

The downloadable expansions for Breath of the Wild were shown and teased. The first expansion, The Master Trials, includes the Trial of the Sword, Hero’s Path, new armor and a “master mode.” The second expansion, which is coming Fall 2017, is called The Champions’ Ballad. We don’t have much more than that though.

Here is the trailer:

At the beginning of the presentation, Nintendo had a brief montage of games coming to the Switch. Rocket League will be coming to the console later this year with exclusive gear and cars. Psyonix also confirmed that cross-network play will be possible, allowing Switch players to play with players on other platforms.

And one more thing:

After the presenation, Nintendo dropped another bomb.

Metroid: Samus Returns will be debuting on the 3DS in September of this year. I can’t believe we are receiving a new 2D Metroid, as you will have noticed in my comments on Prime 4, but I am excited.

Here is that trailer: