Nintendo E3 Wrap Up: A Smashing Good Time

Nintendo took to their digital platform as the last major player to take part nin this year’s E3 shows.

The long-time royaltyof videogames brought some  cool looking new games, some things people were expecting and one bombshell big enough to steal the show.

The big news:

The biggest news came during the shows 20-something minute breakdown of the newly announced and upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo teased the game several months ago with the news that the Inklings from Splatoon would soon be joining the fight.

Nintendo broke the game wide open on Tuesday’s show by announcing that every fighter who has ever taken part in the fight will be joining the fight this time. Solid Snake, Pac Man, Mega Man, Bayonetta, Cloud, Ice Climbers and many many more are coming together to make this the biggest brawl yet.

In addition the the entire returning cast, the Inklings are one new character joining the fight. The other newly announced fighter is the much anticipated Ridley, Samus Aran’s arch nemesis. Ridley has been a fan favorite for years, and his inclusion is really something special.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is set to launch on December 7, 2018. Take a look at the 25 minute discussion below:

Some other big news:

A new story mode for Zenoblade Chronicles 2, Torna, The Golden Country, is set to launch on September 21. Owners of the game’s expansion pass will have access to this, and it will also be available as a standalone purchase.

• Super Mario Party: Inspired by the original Mario Party board game play, the beloved series is coming to Nintendo Switch with new mini-games and play styles that make use of the Joy-Con controllers. Super Mario Party includes features like character-exclusive Dice Blocks that add depth to players’ strategy. Up to four players take turns rolling the dice, and individually race across the board searching for Stars. In Toad’s Rec Room, new gameplay links two games and two Nintendo Switch systems for side-by-side fun. The game launches Oct. 5.

• Fire Emblem: Three Houses: A new episode of the Fire Emblem series comes to Nintendo Switch for the first time in spring of 2019. The player can maneuver the main character freely and interact with other characters to build relationships and gather information at various points within the game. This turn-based tactical RPG will put new strategic twists on battling, with formations of troops supporting individual units on the battlefield. Players will get to know three main characters – Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude – who play key roles in the story.

 

• Overcooked! 2: The kitchen mayhem returns in this sequel from Team17 and Ghost Town Games that’s brimming with even more recipes, characters, kitchens and co-op madness. Bake, barbecue or broil with up to three other players in wireless local and online play modes. Save the world from clumsy cooking when the frantic food-juggler arrives on Aug. 7.

And everything else:

Courtesy of Nintendo, here is a brief rundown of some other things the company announced during the direct:

• DAEMON X MACHINA: A new fast-paced mech action game from Kenichiro Tsukuda is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2019. Players take their customizable Arsenal powered suit on a variety of missions to thwart the enemy at all costs. They can choose and equip their Arsenal with a multitude of weapons, obtain more from downed enemies and swap them on the fly to suit their strategy in the face of ever-changing threats.

• Killer Queen Black: Redesigned from the ground up, the acclaimed arcade extravaganza that became a multiplayer phenomenon is coming to Nintendo Switch. Players can hop on a snail, hoard berries or wipe out the enemy’s queen to claim victory for their team in Liquid Bit and Bumble Bear Games’ Killer Queen Black, when it launches first on Nintendo Switch later this year.

 

• Hollow Knight: Venture through the beautifully hand-drawn, mysterious landscapes of a vast forgotten kingdom in Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight, an action-adventure filled with gripping combat and haunting secrets. Hollow Knight on Nintendo Switch also includes the new items, areas, characters and bosses from the currently released contact packs – all available today.

 

• Octopath Traveler: Players can take another early look at Square Enix’s upcoming fantasy epic when the Octopath Traveler Prologue Demo arrives June 14 in Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch. Play the demo, then use the save data transfer feature to carry your choices into the main game, once purchased, where players can live the stories of each of the eight travelers and freely explore the world of Orsterra. Octopath Traveler is scheduled to launch on July 12.

 

• More great games are coming in 2018, including Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dark Souls: Remastered from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus from Bethesda Softworks, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate from Capcom, EA Sports FIFA 19 from Electronic Arts and Starlink: Battle for Atlas from Ubisoft, which includes characters and content from Nintendo’s Star Fox franchise that are exclusive to the Nintendo Switch version of the game.

In addition to these, Fortnite and Palladins are now available on the eShop.

My thoughts:

This was a great showing for Nintendo. They showed lots of games we knew were coming, but also dropped a few neat nuggets of great looking games.

Games like Daemons X Machina look incredible. I may have missed it before, but it looks awesome. Changing up your mech on the fly will be an extremely satisfyig game mechanic.. Otherwise, the new Mario Party looks great, and Overcooked 2 looks as good as the first one.

Some people might argue that the Smash information should have been its own direct, but it did an incredible job of bringing up the hype levels for me.

The only things missing was the announcement of a new Animal Crossing and some kind of information on Metroid Prime 4. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we hear something on those.