E3 2010: Nintendo Conference wrap-up

Holy. Crap. Nintendo pulled out all the stops with this year's E3 presentation, and while I would have liked to have seen them focus on some of their new IPs (Xenoblade and The Last Story, for instance), they basically made anybody who's been a Nintendo fan for the past, well, ever very happy. Warning: there's going to be a LOT of trailers posted below. I'm also going to try to keep my inner Nintendo fanboy at bay. Seriously. I'm going to try SO HARD.

The conference started with Reggie Fils-Aime, the head of Nintendo of America coming out on stage and generally being the gigantic (and when I mean gigantic, I mean like holy crap, that guy's like eight feet tall!) badass he is. Luckily, this conference didn't get too bogged down in the virtual peacocking of last year's conference. CEO-speak was kept to a minimum, and the games did all the talking.

And what a way to start. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is one of the most fantastic-looking games I've ever seen, basically meshing together the look of Ocarina of Time with Super Mario Galaxy in a half-cell shaded kind of way. Shigeru Miyamoto came out on stage next to show off the game for the next fifteen minutes, and although he was having some serious troubles with the controls (apparently because of IR interference, which is a pretty common problem with the Wii – it's something that'll happen in rooms that are lit too brightly, basically), according to reports from the show floor, the controls are absolutely flawless. The game utilizes Wii Motion+ for nearly 1:1 sword fighting. It's nice to see that motion control can be used for immersiveness and not just to sell crappy games to people who don't really know better. I'm very hopeful for this game. All we know about it so far is that it has Motion+ controls and looks really nice though, so hopefully it's not a disappointment in the story/game world area. The game's not set to release until 2011.

Next up, Nintendo showed off Mario Sports Mix, which looks pretty fun, if a lot like Mario Power Tennis/Mario Super Strikers. Both of those games were enormously fun, though, and this looks to be in the same vein. This isn't one of those "holy crap, that game just made me wet my pants" kind of games, but it will probably sell quite a lot and looks to be hells of fun to play.

Reggie then took the stage again to, yes, prattle off more sales statistics. This is a common theme at Nintendo conferences these days, but thankfully, he kept it extremely short. In fact, besides the extended Zelda opening, this whole conference went by in a blur, with only a short amount of time spent on each game. In many ways, it was the E3 version of Super Mario Galaxy 2 – it refused to bore.

Even the games that don't look particularly interesting to me (Wii Party, for example, looks exactly like Mario Party but with less personality. Still looks fun, but meh. And Nintendo should have left Just Dance 2 for the Ubisoft presentation) were done in a flash. Just quick trailers and onto the next game. I realize that the Kinect presentation had to make some concessions in terms of showing people how their games would work, but Nintendo wisely sidestepped the "forced fun" segments and just showed games.

In terms of all the games shown, the next one looked fantastic, and in the wake of games announced today, maybe is a bit of a dark horse. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is easily one of my most anticipated games on the DS, as it's a sequel to Golden Sun on the GBA, which was a fantastic JRPG. This one looks real purty, and it's nice to see somewhat forgotten franchises getting the big budget reboot.

Next up was Goldeneye, and unfortunately, it looks like Activision is set to fuck around with this game. Regenerating health, a "badituded" Bond with Daniel Craig in for Brosnan. Despite the fact that it's built on a pretty rock-solid foundation, looks pretty, and will probably have some of the best local multiplayer in this generation, you could just play the original. Although, having nice, smooth Wii controls will also be a bonus.

Reggie then invited Warren fucking Spector up on stage, who is just a normal-ass dude who makes fantastic games. And Epic Mickey – wow, does it ever look good. Very Mario Galaxy, very stylized, and it has a really cool style and story. This game could make Mickey cool. I want this game very badly. I would talk more in depth about it, but I think I'll just post the trailer from today's conference – easily one of the coolest looking games I've ever seen.

Then we got Kirby, and once again, allow me to say HOLY FUCK. Kirby's Epic Yarn is a 2D platformer where everything is made up of yarn, strings, etc. It looks like a fantastic game and comes with LittleBigPlanet-style level creation tools. This looks like a really ambitious and inventive game, and also adorable.

THE HITS KEEP ON COMING. Retro, possibly one of my favourite developers and the makers of the Metroid Prime series (easily one of my favourite game series of all time) is updating the Donkey Kong Country games with Donkey Kong Country Returns. This game also looks fantastic – tight controls, really stylized and great graphics. If it's even half as good as it looks and their pedigree suggests it will be, it could be one of the best games of the year.

Then it was time for Nintendo to unveil the 3DS, which, as it turns out, is its actual name. That's cool, and probably a good move. Also, it's the first time in forever that Nintendo hasn't opted for a really strange official name after unveiling a pretty good code name. So, here's what we know about the 3DS. It's shiny and looks a lot like the DS. It has a wider top screen than bottom screen, an analog stick, a d-pad, and Wii-style Home and Plus and Minus buttons. As well, it has motion sensing and a gyro sensor.

Because it's compatible with DSi games, it also has a DS slot. The raison d'etre for the console, though, is of course its 3D, which is apparently quite impressive, and led to this hilarious trailer. I have to say, there's very few people more charming than Miyamoto, Iwata and Fils-Aime in terms of gaming dudes. The 3D is only on the top screen, however.

Other cool features were mentioned. The DS can take pictures in 3D, which actually kind of boggles my mind a little bit. As well, it has an XBox Live-type connection system, but it's free, and there's a very good chance that the Wii's Virtual Console will be coming over to the system. In terms of features, the 3DS sounds, dare I say it, like one of the best consoles of all time. There were no bum notes with its presentation – everyone seems enthused about it.

Oh, and then they showed Kid Icarus.

Like, holy fuck Nintendo, nobody actually expected you to make this game. And to make it with Project Sora – that's Masuhiro Sakurai, maker of the Kirby and Smash Bros. games, mind – wow. The game looks like "Pit and Punishment" and has Wii-quality graphics. Umm, let's not talk about the voice acting though. But if there's one game that's got people excited about the 3DS, it's that.

They finished off the conference by announcing that they're making Nintendogs and Cats, effectively taking the wind out of the only game I was remotely excited for on Kinect (in Kinectimals).

Unfortunately, the conference came to a close on a bit of a weird note. While it's cool that they allowed everyone in the room to see the 3DS and the new Zelda in action, the way they chose to do it was weirdly… misogynistic. See, they had "hot gurlz" come out with the 3DS tethered to them (only girls) and that was the only way that the gaming press would get to see the 3DS there. It was a weird, weird note to end on in an otherwise fantastic conference. Seriously, one of the best Nintendo conferences ever, even better than 2006's. These games look fun, inventive and joyful – a real antidote to oppressive brown FPSs, for sure, and a way to prove that making great games is the best way to appeal to both the perceived "casual" and "hardcore" markets without making anyone feel left out.

(Oh, and if that wasn't enough for you, they announced the full list of 3DS games being developed right now, including: Star Fox, Animal Crossing, PILOTWINGS, Paper Mario, and Mariokart, as well as the mysteriously titled "Steel Diver". How's that for covering your bases?)

(And how could I forget? There's also – Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Professor Layton, Shin Megami Tensei, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, and Assassin's Creed coming to the platform. I'd really like to see some new IPs, but I'm confident they're down the pipeline.)