E3 Part 1

I know I haven't written anything in a while, but don't worry. My entry for the Gamer Luna contest is going well, and might even be finished in time for the contest deadline (ha!). I've also gotten some work done on the newest chapter of 'Days of the Past', and some work done on a fun little Discord one-shot. So when something comes, expect quite a few small things. But obviously you're not here for my fanfiction. No, what you probably want - considering the title of this blog post - is to hear me go on about the year's biggest gaming event - E3! And when I say E3, I mostly mean 'let's talk about why Nintendo stole the show and are absolutely incredible', because I payed very little attention to the other conferences, which I shall sum up for your convenience:

Sony: We're better than Microsoft!
Microsoft: We're better than Sony!
EA: SPORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS! MICROTRANSACTION! SPORTS! SPORTS! DRM! SPORTS! DLC!
Ubisoft: The patented 'Ubisoft game formula'. (Summed up here: http://games.on.net/2014/06/ubisoft-game-the-review/)

So with that out of the way, the one company that had the most to work for. The underdogs, the ones who had to pull it out of the bag or face financial ruin. The one company with an ounce of originality, and the one company that blasted everyone else out of the water.

That's right, Nintendo. Now, before you get all annoyed at me, I do like Sony and Microsoft, and I love a lot of what Ubisoft does (Rayman Legends was brilliant.) EA is an exemplification of everything wrong with gaming today, but the others are all right. I just feel that Nintendo are better, and if you disagree then please feel free to comment about it. I love a good argument about videogames.

So, what did Nintendo do? Well, that's quite a long list, so I'll be splitting this in to two posts talking about Nintendo's announced games, with this first post being a little shorter than the second as I've already rambled on quite enough.

Let's start with some of the smaller things, and build up to the inevitable smash hype. I'm going to need quite a lot of space for the fangirling.

First, Yoshi's Woolly World, for the Wii U.

I don't have a huge amount to say about this one, if I'm honest. It looks absolutely adorable and I enjoyed Kirby's Epic Yarn quite a lot as it was one of the most fresh and original - yet brutally underloved - games on the Wii. But that's the problem; this game isn't helping the case for people who say Nintendo are being fresh and original and not rehashing the same ideas over and over, as so many people believe. Amongst a lineup that finally didn't feature a single main series 2D/3D Mario platform game, it stands out as being almost criminally similar to Epic Yarn and after the complete train wreck that was Yoshi's New Island this really won't help the cute green dinosaur in any way. However, if Nintendo does something original with this, and makes it as different to Epic Yarn as it needs to be in order to succeed, this could be a fantastic return to form for Mario's favourite mount that brings the world of wool on to the Wii U in glorious HD, with gameplay to back it up. I'm not too sure about this, but I'll just have to pray for the best. Let's hope Iwata pulls through, eh?

Next up, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, again for the Wii U.

A Kirby game for the Wii U, with a claymation art style and gameplay almost directly taken from a previous Kirby title - Canvas Curse, or Power Paintbrush if you live in a sensible country. This doesn't look good, does it? The only thing that looks good here is the fact that there appear to be quite a few new ideas sprinkles in to the already incredible formula behind Power Paintbrush. Claymation art styles are all well and good, but without strong gameplay to back it up this will just be another case of graphics covering up for weak software. Power Paintbrush had the gameplay down, yes, but this will fail if they don't change it. I'm slightly more hopeful for this than Woolly World, as spinoff kirby titles are always brilliantly inventive and make fantastic use of the hardware. Hopefully Rainbow Curse uses the dual screens in a way that Power Paintbrush couldn't, or I'll be incredibly dissapointed, especially coming off the back of the delightful Triple Deluxe. I'll just have to, once again, pray and hope.

And rounding off the trio of (major, I'll be missing a few games like the new Mario Party and new Minis on the Move, both of which look pretty good, by the way) games I have little to say about is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, once again for the Wii U.

A game that uses the gamepad in a brilliantly inventive way, is a somewhat original IP with original gameplay and rarely visited genre for Nintendo? That might sound like something completely ridiculous, but that's more or less what this game is. It takes the darkhorse levels from Super Mario 3D World, the Captain Toad levels that were - debatably - more interesting than the main game, and puts them in the spotlight as a whole new game with new and unique twists. There's not too much I can say about this game that hasn't been said, but I can say I'm ecstatic that Nintendo are branching out in to Mario IP's that don't star the eponymous plumbers. Yes, I love him, but he's admittedly getting stale even for a hardcore Nintendo lover such as myself. This probably won't sell well, as terrible as that is, but it represents the fact that Nintendo know what the fans want, and can come up with halfway creative ideas.

That basically rounds it up for this post, and in my next blog post I'll be discussing the games I really want to talk about, and that brilliant Robot Chicken-esque presentation Nintendo made. If you have any questions about my thoughts on the other E3 presentations, want my 3DS friend code - I'm not lonely, honest - or just want to comment on how much you hate me and everything I represent, please feel free.

Oh, before I forget. Fans of either series probably Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright was already released over here in the UK! And, being a huge fan of both series, I picked it up and completed it. So, I will close off this post by laughing at you Americans who have had games before us for years!

Haha!

I laugh at you foolish fools! *whip*