Nintendo’s triple-E Digital Event is exactly 1 week away. Before the June 16th event arrives, follow me through the green pipe and let’s see if Nintendo’s promises of last year’s E3 either delivered or disappointed.
Nintendo’s first ever Digital Event started off with a huge bang with Super Smash Bros. [DELIVERED]
Many out there voiced their skeptical concern over Smash, not knowing if Bandai Namco hands would somehow tarnish the successor to Brawl. After in-depth testing of the demo on the show floor, however, Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and 3DS were one of the main talking points of E3 and we couldn’t wait to get our sweaty little hands on it!
Let’s not forget that Smash was also the launch title for none other than amiibo. [DELIVERED]
Underwhelmed was the initial reaction to amiibo. At first, no one thought the their functionality was noteworthy or if there was even space for another competitor in the toys-to-life category! But the ever-growing number of compatible amiibo titles and owning toy characters as rare as a unicorn proved to be more than compelling enough to make amiibo Nintendo’s next success story!
After seeing next to nothing for months, finally Nintendo pulled the string on Yoshi’s Woolly World. [DELIVERED]
Beyond the beautifully knitted wool aesthetic, footage showed just how the wool and yarn would intertwine in the new type of gameplay! Stateside, we’re still waiting for a release date, while the rest of the world will be getting their copy soon!
Then we got our first discovery of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. [DELIVERED]
Super Mario 3D World gave us just a small taste of what this title eventually came to be. Was this Captain Toad big enough to be a retail title, or was it eShop only? Actually, Treasure Tracker became Nintendo’s charming compliment to Smash with a December release and at $40 price point!
Who of us could forget the début of The Legend of Zelda for Wii U? [DISAPPOINTED]
When Eiji Aonuma snapped his fingers, in that very instant, Zelda won E3 for almost everyone! Why, then, the disappointment status? I’m sorry if I’m the first to tell you, but Zelda likely isn’t making its release this year. Not only that, their revisiting of the conventions of the original Zelda, having a vast connected world, has fostered new ideas for series! The disappointing part is that before we can play this epic journey, it’ll be an epic journey in this game’s development!
Next up came Pokémon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire. [DELIVERED]
The trailer showed just how grandiose this remake would be! It’s a Pokemon classic reborn, need I say more? Well, Nintendo sure didn’t. Again, they decided to only show the trailer, because they knew they caught lighting in a pokeball!
It was our second chance to see Hyrule Warriors, and boy, it did not disappoint! [DELIVERED]
Slash, evade, special move, massive combo! Granted, this “Warrior” type gameplay was different for the Zelda series, but it end up fitting so well! Tecmo Koei saw a huge spike in sales and elongated the title with great DLC all the way until Spring of this year!
Dreams came true with the announcement of Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. [DELIVERED]
Kirby never looked or played so good, as the clay really looked to come to life and had this pink ball hero transform to take on the needed tasks! A platform title where you draw the platforms, guiding Kirby and friends through a sequel that everyone secretly always wanted!
The long wait and anticipation for Xenoblade Chronicles X can be felt at this point! [DISAPPOINTED]
There was a gigantic mech filling the room, what was it? X was originally talked about in early January 2013 and promised a 2014 release! I don’t live in Japan, so I’m still patiently waiting to explore this unknown planet I’ve yet to emergency crash land on!
We at first couldn’t tell if the leaked images of Mario Maker were legit or not. [DISAPPOINTED]
As it turned out, Mario Maker is as real as you and I! So real, in fact, we’ll be able to fully realize our 2D Mario fantasies in the level creator, a franchise first! All the content we’ve seen so far has been amazing, showing just how robust the title actually is! Even though the release of this title is just a short Goomba stomp away, we were expecting to already be playing other people’s created Mario levels already!
To seemingly close out their Digital Event, new IP Splatoon was débuted! [DELIVERED]
Bewilderment was not only your inner feeling, I felt the same way too! Then, hearing the Directors and Leads detailing Splatoon had me quickly changing my mind faster than a squid could transform into a kid! A team-based, 3rd-person online shooter that only Nintendo could create! I still love the sound of that!
If Splatoon wasn’t enough action for you, the revival of a console-sized Star Fox for Wii U was teased and touted! [DISAPPOINTED]
But when not much of anything is shown, you’re excited merely on the concept, not on the actuality. We do know it’ll make major use of the Gamepad and the 2 different viewpoints that 2 screens can offer.
I definitely have to give it up to Nintendo for running the risk of a Digital Event for last years E3, and even more acknowledgement goes to Nintendo for living up to their own promises, for the most part!
With only single digit days remaining until E3, and still unfulfilled promises on the table, I can hardly wait to see how Nintendo comes through on all their promises – old, and especially new!
