By Jamaal Ryan
The Wii U as been determined all but dead. Sales are abysmal,
third party support is scant, both matters in which would kill any other
console. Nintendo’s E3 digital event, marking their second year in bowing out
of doing a traditional E3 presentation, had to be set to justify the Wii U as a
viable platform not just for existing system owners, but most importantly:
untapped audiences as well.
Super Smash Bros has been leading the charge for Nintendo
since its announcement 3 years ago. New character reveals were expected, as
we’ve seen here with Palutena from
Kid Icarus, and a tease at a possible alternate costume for Pit. But what’s
most exciting was the introduction of Mii Fighters which can be customized
based on three different fighting styles: Brawler, Sword Fighter, and Gunner.
It’s a step above the expected effort from Sakuri and his team in allowing
character customizations for the series, and allowing players to design
fighters to their strengths.
Of course, Smash will be the first title that will feature
the Wii U’s NFC capabilities, Amiibo. Sure, it’s neat that the same figure that
you use for Mario Kart will work in Smash; but what’s unclear to me is how
Amiibo features differentiate themselves from simply picking the character in
game, and how the use of the Amiibo figures add to each game differently.
With Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Hyrule
Warriors, Nintendo is showing some serious lacking in third party content
(perhaps they’re considered second party, but I can’t keep up). We’ve seen each
of these titles on at least two different occasions, none of which have had
anything to add at this digital event. Why are we seeing yet another gameplay
demo of Bayonetta 2? Why aren’t we seeing new gameplay footage of Xenoblade? What
makes Hyrule Warriors more than a Dynasty Warriors game skinned in the Zelda
universe?
The only title that had a worthy return was Yoshi’s Wolly
World, the seemingly final state of the Kirby’s Epic Yarn inspired Yoshi title.
Previously seen games aside, Nintendo debuted some exciting
new games at their digital event. Capitan Toad is a full realization of the
mini games that were spliced in Super Mario 3D World which operate like cubic
puzzles that have players navigate a mining masquerading Toad. It very much
works like Nintendo’s take on puzzlers such as Echochrome and Monument Valley.
The much rumored Mario Maker was unveiled, allowing players
to design their own levels ala LittleBigPlanet. This is arguably Nintendo’s
first Mario platformer that pulls from the ideas of modern day conventions. UGC
is quite common among side scrolling platformers, and Nintendo would be wise to
give Mario Maker tremendous support post release, supplying players with new
level editing tools.
But among all their announcements, Splatoon and the new
Legend of Zelda stole the show, and have climbed to two of my most memorable
announcements at E3.
The new legend of Zelda appears to be the Zelda title that
fans have always wanted. There have been many clamoring for a Skyrim like Zelda
game, setting a new adventure in an authentic open world setting. Zelda
producer Eiji Aonuma discussed how
the franchise has “faked” open world design in the past, and how that
differentiates from what they’re planning for the franchise’s next installment.
It goes without mentioning that the new Zelda is one of the
most visually striking games at E3, adopting Wind Waker and Skyward Sword
inspirations and crystalizing them from the ground up on HD hardware. Just as
Mario Kart 8 has become one of this year’s most visually impressive titles, the
new Zelda looks to wield an art style so impressive that it negates the
limitations of the system that’s powering it.
Splatoon on the other hand has a special place in my heart
for various reasons. Splatoon is Nintendo’s take on the shooter genre, a genre
in which they’ve never developed in-house, and has stayed away from since Geist
on the Gamecube. However Splatoon wouldn’t be a Nintendo title if it were just
another hair trigger/direct conflict type of game. Instead of shooting one
another, Spatoon arms players with paint guns that’ll be used to mark the
entire level in their team’s color. Whoever covers the most real estate wins.
Splatoon is Nintendo-esque in the sense that it takes a
genre and makes it accessible in which this case, standard twitch shooters
aren’t. But what makes Splatoon the biggest surprise out of Nintendo’s digital
event is that it’s an entirely new IP. Nintendo has justified the repeated use
of Mario as a Trojan horse for new gameplay ideas in place of completely new
IPs because, to be quite frank, Mario sells. This is Nintendo taking a complete
risk with a new IP in the shell of a new genre. Bravo Nintendo.
Nintendo’s digital event was exclusively focused on their
home console, something that they’ve never done before. They’ve made an extra
effort in presenting the Gamepad as integral part of the console. We saw it in
the unveiling of the new Wii U title Kirby and the Rainbow Curse and its very
DS inspired functionality. Gamepad features have also been baked into other
announced titles as well such as assembling levels in Mario Maker, and viewing
your team’s painted level progress in Splatoon. Nintendo closes their event
with Shigeru Myamoto speaking directly to audiences about the importance of the
Gamepad and their priority in making its utilization synonymous with future
game design [update: with what looks to be Star Fox running in the background].
Absent from Nintendo’s digital event was Devil’s Third, the
new third person action/shooter title from former Team Ninja director Tomonobu
Itagaki. Itagaki stated in an IGN interview that his team has done research on
contemporary shooters, and it shows. Custom loadouts and killstreak rewards
appear in the multiplayer trailer. These modern conventions were accompanied by
goofy spin-offs such as chicken chasing and watermelon carrying multiplayer
modes. Unfortunately the shooting looks rather stiff which can hamper the
multiplayer significantly.
Framerate issues were claimed to be on the stream end
instead of the game itself. Nonetheless, the game looks to hover around 30
frames at best with some stiff animations, somewhat unlike that of what was
seen in his previous work on the Ninja Gaiden series
One would assume that the Devil’s Third was missing from
Nintendo’s digital event because of its sexuality, profanity, and gratuitous
violence. However Nintendo’s tone this year was wildly different from that of
past E3s with a Robot Chicken powered skits and a second showing of Bayonetta
2.
Nintendo’s digital event was the best Nintendo’s done in
years. While void of much third party support, their first party line-up on Wii
U was strong with a brief glimpse at the new Zelda and Splatoon as the show’s
highlights. However, outside of Bayonetta 2, Nintendo’s event was very
Nintendo-esque in tone, bashfully confident and self-aware Robot Chicken bits
aside. While Nintendo displayed charm and confidence, I’m not so confident
their digital event will grab the attention of consumers who’ve avoided picking
up a Wii U. Nintendo is still doing Nintendo, just better, however that might
not align with where the larger gaming audience’s focus.
But it certainly did a hell of a job preaching to the choir
and rallying existing owners such as myself with a diverse line-up of almost
certain to be successful titles.
No comments
Post a Comment