To sum up Nintendo’s E3 spotlight video, I simply have to say it was short but sweet.
It kicked off with a trailer featuring upcoming titles such as ARMS and Splatoon 2, before getting into a announcements for games that I am very much looking forward to.
Out of all the games featured, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is probably my most anticipated. I’ve said before that Xenoblade Chronicles is up there as one of my favourite RPGs, and getting a direct sequel on the Switch is a very exciting prospect. It will be released during winter of this year as well.
Seeing that there’s a new Kirby game coming out for the Switch is also something that pleases me greatly. From the trailer, it looks like you’ll be able to combine powers and at least one animal friend from Kirby’s Dream Land 3 makes an appearance. It also seems that multiplayer co-op will be making a return as well. It will be released sometime in 2018.
It was only a brief mention, but development of Metroid Prime 4 was confirmed. It’ll be interesting to see where they go with that story-wise, as Metroid Prime 3: Corruption pretty much concluded the Metroid Prime series.
Yarn Yoshi returns in a game simply known as Yoshi, which features the woollen dinosaur exploring stages made out of cardboard. It also involves flipping levels around. This game looks utterly charming.
Fire Emblem Warriors showcased a few new characters joining the roster. In particular, characters from Fire Emblem Fates: female Corrin, Ryoma and Xander. We also got an idea of the story, too.
During the Nintendo Treehouse segment on the game, they revealed amiibos of Chrom and Tiki – I very much desire the latter. Perhaps the Tiki amiibo is hinting towards her being playable as well. It would be pretty neat to take control of a Manakete – or for those who are unfamiliar with Fire Emblem lore, a dragon girl.
Further details were revealed about the DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with the first set due out on June 30th. One of the best trials in Breath of the Island was a small island where you are stripped of all your gear and you have to overcome challenges with resources found on the island. The Trial of the Sword looks to be similar to that. It also adds a harder difficulty mode, as well as the ability to see where you’ve been on the map.
The second set of DLC, due out in winter, seems to have something to do with Zelda and the four Champions. Oh, and there will be amiibo of the four Champions released as well.
I was indifferent towards Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle before E3, but seeing it during the Ubisoft conference has warmed me up to it. It looks genuinely fun, and many people hae been comparing it to XCOM. It’s due out relatively soon as well, with an August 29th release date.
Rocket League will be coming to Switch, and it will be possible to play against opponents on other platforms. There will also be Switch-exclusive content. The game looks pretty fun, and it is due out in the winter.
Finally, Super Mario Odyssey. The game looks great, and the idea of possessing enemies and other things with Mario’s hat is fun. It is due for release on 27th October, and I certainly can’t wait to get my hands on it.
The video ends there, but Nintendo had at least one more announcement up their sleeve during their Treehouse Live stream.
That was Metroid: Samus Returns. It is a 3DS remake of the Game Boy title Metroid II: Return of Samus, and they showed off some gameplay from it. The counter melee move looks so satisfying to pull off, and it leads to combo moves.
New features will be included in the game, and it looks to be pretty great. Metroid: Samus Returns is due out on September 15th, and two Metroid series amiibo will be released alongside the game. One is Samus in her pose from the Metroid II cover, and the other is an actual Metroid. The best thing about the Metroid amiibo is that it is squishy.
Nintendo probably has more stuff up its sleeve for the Treehouse Live stream, which I ended up deciding to watch in the end…
In fact, as I type this, they are showing Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions. I loved Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga on the GBA – I still own the cartridge.
So yeah, I’ll continue watching Treehouse Live, because you never know what other surprises Nintendo has in store.
But as for the Nintendo Spotlight: E3 2017 video, I already said how I feel about it at the beginning of the post: short but sweet.
Rory Muses 
^-o Nintendo E3: when they are forced to show us what is coming.
Do you feel disappointed that there were no indie titles hinted during the spotlight?
*That was one of the allures of the switch.*
It gives off the impression that Nintendo has no faith in the sales of these 3rd party developers.
I’m totally happy with what Nintendo showcased here. Indie titles are more of a Nintendo Direct thing – the Directs are targeted at region-specific audiences, whereas E3 is pretty much just about showing off to the world what is in store for those who own a Switch.
As indie games tend to have different release dates across Japan, the Americas and Europe, it may not have been entirely viable to include them in a global presentation.
On the flip side, they could have shown them off without mentioning any specific release dates, I guess.
Considering Nintendo made a big deal of indie titles – or ‘Nindies’ as they’re calling them – I’m sure they do have faith. E3 may not have mentioned indie titles, but they’ll almost certainly appear in the next Nintendo Direct.
It’s also possible some indie titles may get mentioned during the last day of the Treehouse Live.
Microsoft and Sony don’t make there games in house and they manage to bring up other companies without worrying about region date releases.
Even If they had brought up more titles from different companies I would have been more happy (There must be more coming this year then that tiny puddle of games).
The entire point of E3 these days is to give your investors an idea of what games are coming. The only game *excluding skyrim (that’s not really a risk to sell).* that has not been heavily monitored by Nintendo is
Starlink: Battle for Atlas and even then they won’t acknowledge it on there own site.
The showcase was just a more shiny direct (I can watch it on my switch as if it was a direct).
Nintendo need to put more trust in games not tampered by them (be it a nindie or an company).
*I’m starting to think it’s more of a greed thing (if they are involved they get royalties)*
Oh, Do you know that if you want to play minecraft online on the switch you will need an xbox live account. madness! That doesn’t bode well for the new Nintendo online service coming soon.
I just want to see them take risks on new games.
Not just stuff that are already tried and tested to sell.