Another day of E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) coverage, today featuring Nintendo (7:00 am). =) Bud
Nintendo
- First, Pokémon X and Pokémom Y (3DS) was confirmed to be awaiting your capture October 12. There’s this cute new feature called Pokémon-amie (get it? Mon ami?), letting you pet or feed your , not unlike Nintendogs and cats. Awww.
- Next was Super Mario 3D World (Wii U, December), a sequel to Super Mario 3D Land, featuring a new Cat Mario powerup which lets Mario run quadrupedally, climb walls and dive-bomb enemies with claws out. Luigi, Princess Peach (who can hover mid-jump), and Toad (who can run faster) are playable individually or multiplayer!
- While I’ve always preferred Mario Kart on my handhelds, Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U (spring 2014) looks gorgeous, especially the Luigi’s Mansion. Underwater and flying elements return, as well as motorcycles and, this time around, anti-gravity driving.
- Wii Party U (delayed ’til October) was next, combining party games with board games, features 80 different minigames, as well as some games which can be played exclusively on the GamePad.
- Wii Fit U has been delayed to December. You just can’t get mad at Nintendo for these delays when their president thanks you for your patience and bows humbly.
- With the amazing user-generated art showing up on Wii U’s Miiverse, Art Academy for Wii U (in development) expands on the 3DS experience to the GamePad and lets you post ’em to Miiverse.
- Third party games scheduled to launch this year include Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Wii U, October 29), Batman: Arkham Origins (Wii U, October 25), Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (3DS, October 25), Deus Ex: Human Revolution- Director’s Cut (Wii U, 2013), Disney Infinity (3DS/Wii U, August 18), Just Dance 2014 (Wii U, October 8), Rayman Legends (Wii U, September 3), Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure (3DS/Wii U, fall 2013), Disney’s Planes (3DS/Wii U, August 6), Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS, July 16), Skylanders SWAP Force (3DS/Wii U, October 13), Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Wii U, August 20), Sonic Lost World (3DS/Wii U, Christmas), Watch Dogs (Wii U, November 19).
- Upcoming Wii U eShop releases: Ballpoint Universe, Cloudberry Kingdom, Coaster Crazy Deluxe, DuckTales: Remastered, Dungeons & D: Chronicles of Mystara, Mutant mudds Deluxe, Oddworld: New ‘n Tasty, Scram Kitty & His Buddy on Rails, Shovel Knight, Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party, and A World of Kelflings.
- A GORGEOUS trailer for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (remastered for Wii U) was shown, making me very very very drooly about playing this game in HD. The music, the battle mechanics, the cuteness . . . it’s all coming back to me now.
- Of course, the Tingle Tuner (connecting your GBA to your GameCube) doesn’t apply here. In the new game, ou can put a message into a Tingle Bottle, and it’ll post to Miiverse. You can then receive others’ messages when bottles float to your shores.
- More details for The Wonderful 101 (Wii U, September 15) were shown, including its multiplayer mode.
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U, November) was premiered, featuring all the platforming madness of previous titles with hilarious sound effects, wildly varying settings, and new camera angles (from above, below, following, etc.).
- Bayonetta 2 (Wii U, 2014), teased last time with only a rear-view of our heroine, was given another CG trailer which started with, well, a below-view. Gameplay footage looks action-tastic, as ever, and the faceless enemy holds the standard creepiness most enemies without faces engender.
- A new game from the developers of Xenoblade, teased only with a red X (in development for Wii U), is an open world (and there were a number of worlds) game featuring Final Fantasy-like humans and transforming mecha.
- They coyly closed with what appeared a stylized Smash Bros (3DS/Wii U, 2014) trailer, featuring characters from Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, Star Fox, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong, Pokémon, and more, with environments from Kid Icarus, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and Nintendogs (yes, Nintendogs) and teasing Villager from Animal Crossing and Megaman (with other -man abilities) as playable characters! I’ve never wanted a Smash Bros game before today.
Have you the time, you can check out the 40 minute presentation here.
Following the presentation, Nintendo also released some individual trailers. The 3DS reboot of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, has been officially titled The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.