Nintendo Direct: E3 2019 - Not-so-live Impressions

Wow, remember when these things being two weeks late was the norm? 'Cause I barley do. :D So anyway, sometime - aeons ago, I think - E3 2019 happened. By all accounts a bit of a lackluster show this year. Sure we had Keanu and a few interesting reveals here and there, but also a ton of updates to previously released Games as a Service games, a real resurgence of (terrible-looking) mobile games and a near total lack information on Microsoft's streaming service and next console. Well aside from 'it'll have Halo on it'. Man, who could have seen that coming?

So, I was really looking to Nintendo's showing to, well, save E3, I guess. (Oh wow, am I one of those people now? Yikes!) But, with Luigi's Mansion 3, Link's Awakening, Mario Maker 2, Pokémon Sword & Shield, Animal Crossing, Astral Chain, and more already announced, coming soon, and sure to pop up here, what else could they possibly pull out here in service of E3's salvation?

Predictions!!!

- A New Zelda - The case against this is obviously the the presence of both the LA remake and Cadence of Hyrule on the horizon right now, but don't forget that BoTW was announced unexpectedly early too, and they should probably have something to show of the next game at this stage. I think we'll at least get a glimpse of it here.

- No Metroid Prime 4 - I'm sure they really regret announcing MP4 when they did, given what happened. I'll bet we don't see it again until it's a year out from release at most, and they're very confident they can actually hit that date.

- Some Square-Enix Western Announcements - S-E seem pretty on board with the Switch right now; haven't seen too much from the western side of the company yet though. I could definitely see the likes of Life is Strange, Sleeping Dogs, the 360/PS3 era Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Just Cause games, and the S-E Collective stuff hitting the Switch in the not-too-distant future.

- No Bayonetta 3 Either - I saw, I think on Nintendo-Life, a recent statement from Platnium that development was 'proceeding well' or something along those lines. I get the sense from that that we're not due to see anything at least for a while yet.

- The Smash Character is from Dark Souls - So I'm sticking with my prediction that the DLC characters are all going to be third party characters that I'm not going to care about in the slightest. There was a rumor going around that the Dragon Quest character has been delayed, so I'm going with Dark Souls. We've already had the first game remastered on Switch, and an amiibo, and you could easily see this being tied into an announcement of Dark Souls II and III being Switch bound too.

- Fatal Frame - Still no sign of a Fatal Frame announcement for Switch, and I doubt Nintendo are done with it yet, especially given how much RE has bounced back with the last couple of installments. If there's going to be a Switch release, I'd imagine it'll be revealed soon.

- No Project X-Cloud Stuff - Yeah, judging by Microsoft's conference, their streaming stuff isn't quite ready for prime time yet. People have been expecting Xbox streaming to come to the Switch for months now. I think there's a pretty good chance it will, but I don't think it'll be announced here.

- A Ninja Gaiden Remaster/Remake - The 2004 one has never been on a Nintendo console, and I can see a portable version generating some interest, especially with there being a bit of an opening in the Switch library for character action games given Bayo 3's continued absence.

- Hitman 2 - If it's technically possible, I think there's a pretty good chance of this. Doesn't feel like Hitman 2 quite did the same business as the previous game. I can see it going portability as quite an attractive prospect for a lot of people though. It could be a big hit on Switch.

Huh. So yeah, in conclusion I guess E3 this year is pretty much doomed. :D

• 00:02 - Hmm. Always interesting to see the rating on these things. What could possibly be 18 rated coming up?.... Oh! Could just be the two id games. Both do look awesome, but man, I had my hopes up for a second for Bayonetta.

• 00:06 - Focusing prominently on Breath of the Wild here. Liking my chances of getting that first prediction right.

• 00:29 - Oh, come on!! I got very excited until I saw freakin' Marth here. :D Guess this is the new Smash character. Well, certainly looks grimdark enough for a Souls character.

• 00:47 - Hm, someone on horseback? Are there horses in the Souls games? Big expert here. Maybe this is the Dragon Quest guy.

• 01:18 - And there it is. Bleah! Or, idk, maybe he's a really cool character. Looking at him though, I don't really see any way that could possibly be true. :p

• 02:19 - Guessing these guys are probably the main characters from other Dragon Quest games. My Souls knowledge is only matched by my Dragon Quest knowledge.

• 03:01 - Oh, come on, Toriyama. That guy on the left is just Piccolo.
• 03:09 - So, from this, it looks like "The Hero" move set might be largely menu-based. That'd be weird. Also, you can maybe tag in other versions of the character, Pokemon Trainer style. Kind of different, but I just have no knowledge of Dragon Quest, so yeah, this is another pass for me. Feeling pretty good about not buying the Fighter's Pass right about now.

• 03:35 - I thought I was "The Hero". Jeez, make up your minds, Square-Enix.

• 04:45 - Oh snap! Guessing we're about to meet Doug Bowser.

• 05:15 - Okay, this is pretty cute.

• 05:32 - Oh, 'related'. Wow, I thought that said something very different for a second there.

• 06:12 - Okay, Luigi's Mansion 3. Really hoping this is a bit more like 1 than 2, or at least that it has freakin' checkpoints before it's very annoying bosses. (Literally just back playing some Luigi's Mansion 2 today. Thought 'man, why haven't I finished this?'. Got to the boss in Stage C-2. Annihilated by bombs and ghosts. Twenty minutes playing through the stage completely wasted. 'Oh right, that's why.')
• 06:42 - Ah, just like I deduced from that first trailer, this is set in a single location. I just hope the mission structure from 2 is gone and we're back to more open exploration in this.

• 07:31 - I was starting to get worried that all this swinging around meant motion controls, but with the button prompts showing up on screen, could it be QTE-based? Wow, that'd be way worse! :D
• 07:35 - Okay, it looks like the swing is on A every time. Luigi's Mansion not about to go full Shenmue just yet.

• 08:07 - Gooigi is an abomination, and must be stopped.

• 08:33 - Return to the abyss from which you came, Gooigi!

• 09:36 - Hm, strange that they haven't locked down a date for this yet. Wouldn't be surprised to see it slipping into next year.

• 10:01 - "...content you've never seen before, including the entire contents of Reggie's laptop. It was company property after all. Let me tell you: it gets pretty wild."

• 10:36 - Netflix? Gameplay? I'd imagine people would be much more excited about a Netflix app finally coming to the Switch than any game they have to show off here.
• 10:42 - I guess this must be some tie-in to that Dark Crystal series they're making.
• 10:55 - Looks like some kind of strategy game maybe.

• 11:06 - Yep, this is literally a Fire Emblem game. Which I now know, having finally played through most of the first GBA game! Fire Emblem: it's pretty good, you guys.
• 11:18 - Jeez, if this is the kind of quality dialogue that can be expected from the Dark Crystal though, I don't think I'll be racing to renew my Netflix subscription anytime soon. (Actually that's not true at all: desperate to see Season 4 of Lucifer, and Sabrina; just wrapping up some shows on Now TV first before that sub runs out. Westworld Season 2: I might prefer it to the first one. Oh yeah, I went there.)

• 11:47 - Link's Awakening time. Man, I can't believe there were people moaning about the look of this. It's so cute! I just hope they don't way overcompensate with the next mainline Zelda game. (But if they do, Link definitely needs to tell Zelda she's the princess of jack shit at some point.)

• 12:46 - Kind of remembering some of these bosses here, not so much the rest of the game though, so it's all going to feel pretty fresh to me I'd imagine. Yeah, this looks really good; looking forward to it.

• 13:16 - Hmm, what's this? Have they built a Zelda Maker into this game?
• 13:32 - It seems to to allow you to use prefabricated rooms only, but yeah, I think they kind of have! 'Explore them at your heart's content' though? I don't think there's going to be any ability to share dungeons here.
• 13:49 - September 20th. Cool. I wonder what the pricing is going to be though. Probably at least €40, right?

• 13:59 - Square-Enix, huh, Doesn't look like anything they showed off at their own presentation. Possibly that Mana collection coming over here? I think there was a trademark listing that went up for it pretty recently.

• 14:13 - I guess not.

• 14:36 - Trials of Mana? If it's getting a 'global release now I guess it's come out in Japanese before. Don't think there's been a Mana game released anywhere for a while though, so, hmm, possibly a PS2 game? Can't Google right now; spoilers abound.

• 15:01 - Oh! The collection is coming too.

• 15:06 - Aah! Trials of Mana is Seiken Densetsu 3. So we're getting a remake, and the original game. That's awesome!
• 15:14 - Oh wow, it's available now. I'd maybe prefer a physical copy, but I wonder if they're even doing one.

• 15:20 - Skyrim Remastered... Again.

• 15:26 - No, mercifully not. This looks a bit Dark Souls-ey though. Guessing we're safe for now from a Souls character in Smash, so Dark Souls II?

• 15:31 - No, wait. Is this The Witcher?

• 15:35 - It is! I need to give that franchise a go at some stage. I'm a bit medieval RPG-ed out for now though. Just finished the first Dragon Age. That game: bleh. Loved Mass Effect, so I had high hopes for it; played as a female warrior Dwarf; thought her origin story was pretty good, but neither the gameplay nor the story really did anything for me; very few engaging or enjoyable side quests; and man, everyone in that game, from party members to NPCs is pretty much an asshole. Morrigan I did like though, and Zevran. Still: bleh. Was going to grab the expansion pack, but now I think I'll try jumping straight to DA II, which at least looks a bit more appealing combat-wise.
• 15:51 - Oh, right yeah: The Witcher. :D Surprised they're porting the third game here and not maybe the second one. Hey, good on them. Looks like there's going to be a fair bit of visual downgrade judging by the footage though.

• 16:15 - Looks like another Fire Emblem: Three Houses trailer. So now that I'm a Fire Emblem superfan, will I pick this up? Eh, maybe at some point. TBH the one I'm most interested in checking out right now is the GameCube one. Surprise though: it's really freakin' expensive. Damn it, GameCube Virtual Console, you were the chosen one! Why couldn't you have been real?
• 16:13 - You know what though, the one thing I wasn't really digging that much about FE on the GBA: the story. So many rulers and lands clashing, yet so little reason to care about any of them, I thought. I wonder if they do a better job of establishing the different sides involved in these later games. I hope so.

• 17:50 - Wha..? Resident Evil? Surely not a port of RE2, or 7, unless it's streaming only. Maybe that HD version of Code Veronica?

• 18:40 - So that's just REmake. Wait, isn't that out already? They can't have just shot a trailer for that and Zero, right?

• 18:49 - And here I was thinking I'd make it all the way through E3 without any embarrassing, scripted gamer banter this year.

• 19:36 - Oh right, RE5. Much like everyone else these days, I totally overlooked that. Not a bad game, some.. troubling aesthetics aside. Years since I played it, but I definitely had fun at the time; never even had any real problems managing Sheva. Oh man, I wonder if the other game here is 6?

• 19:39 - It is! Haven't actually played this, but I am planning to very soon. With it being so long since I played an RE game though, and how weird and obtuse RE6 apparently is, I thought I'd warm up a bit by playing Revelations first, which has been pretty fun so far. Very much looking forward to delving into RE6 though. Aside from reacting to a couple of the trailers on this very blog, I have very little idea of what that game even is. Once the word was out that it was weird and bad, I just kind of tuned it out entirely.

• 20:18 - Huh. This has kind of Suda vibe to it, and I'd swear that's the voice actor that did Travis Touchdown.

• 20:43 - That sure looks like a beam katana to me. This has to be a Suda game. Hopefully better than Travis Strikes Back. Oh no, what if it's just some kind of Travis Strikes Back DLC?

• 20:47 - There's Travis. Please be No More Heroes 3, please be No More Heroes 3. And please give Suda a budget this time, anyone!

• 21:00 - Hell yeah! This is No More Heroes all right!

• 21:29 - Wooooooooooo!!!!!

• 21:58 - Damn, this Direct is trailer-packed. Hold on, is this... Contra?
• 22:37 - Oh yeah, it definitely is. Seems like a pretty over the top rendition of the series. I'm into it.

• 22:43 - Contra Rogue Corps. Konami still somehow a video game publisher.

• 22:55 - And this is the Contra Collection. Haven't picked up any of these yet. I've got most of the games in them already in some form or other, so I'm holding off for a sale.

• 23:14 - Daemon x Machina now. Missed out on that Beta, but apparently it wasn't so hot.
• 24:15 - I don't know, this still looks pretty cool, but with Astral Chain on the way and now both NMH3 and Bayo 3 on the horizon, and along with those early impressions, it's hard to get too excited for this.

• 24:25 - What the fuck!? That's the Panzer Dragoon theme.

• 24:25 - Holy crap! It's a remake of the first game, I think. Kind of ashamed to admit that I've only ever played the first couple of levels of this. Got the Windows version years ago: it played great, the music was awesome; always meant to get back to it, but it never happened. Probably didn't help that that version was super low res: either 320x240 or 640x480, but letterboxed. Once they don't screw this up, I'm looking forward to playing through the whole game finally.

• 25:15 - Awesome, will definitely keep a close eye on this.

• 25:39 - Didn't watch that Pokémon Direct, but very interested to check this game out. Pokémon Yellow is still the last one of these I've played though. Hopefully the amount of systems at play in modern Pokémon games aren't completely unfathomable to me. :D

• 27:15 - Yeah, Astral Chain!

• 28:49 - Yep, still looks great. Seemed to be a bit of puzzle platforming in there too, which looked kind of neat.

• 29:36 - Romero Games. Yeah, I heard something about him making a new shooter. Well, I guess it's gotta be better than the last one.

• 29:30 - Not actual gameplay? Pre-oder cancelled.

• 29:52 - Oh, it's a twin stick shooter? With a prohibition era setting? Eh.

• 30:19 - Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Can't say I'm excited for either of the Marvel games currently on the way. Man, that Crystal Dynamics one; I don't think they did a single thing to sell me on it. At the very least, if you're not shackled to the MCU license, why have the same boring, vanilla-ass Avengers line-up as the movies? More like Earth's white-iest heroes. Hey-oh!

• 30:31 - Okay, points for getting Ian McKellen back as Magneto, but the freakin' infinity stones? Again, right away? Come on, Marvel! (Edit: Apparently not him. And why would it be, now that I think of it for more than a second? Hey, that's a solid soundalike!)

• 30:52 - Well, that sure wasn't Nic Cage as Ghost Rider.

• 30:56 - The only way I'm buying this game: if Bring Me to Life keeps playing on a loop anytime Electra is on screen.

• 31:36 - Ah, Cadence of Hyrule. Haven't actually seen any of this yet. Yeah, don't watch the Nindie Directs. I know: I'm a fake gamer boy.

• 31:58 - Playable Zelda though. I like that.

• 32:04 - Yeah, this looks pretty fun. I should probably check out Crypt of the Necrodancer too.

• 32:21 - Every hero has a genesis: it's Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. Seriously, if there isn't a bad movie Sonic skin in here, I'll regard this as a total failure of a product.

• 32:44 - I never realized until right now that seeing Yoshi skateboarding was all I ever needed in my life.

• 32:59 - These games always look so stupid. How have I never picked one up!?

• 33:42 - Oh yikes, I'm sure Nook Inc. airlines make Ryanair look like the lap of luxury. So, finally, after all these years: freakin' Animal Crossing.

• 34:04 - Hey the only reason they're showing this off at all? I didn't predict it being here for the first time in years and years. You're welcome, internet!

• 34:57 - Animal Crossing New Horizons. Yeah, looks like they've got some interesting new stuff in there, at least from the last one I played (City Folk). Still don't think I'll be getting this though. Loved the GameCube game back in the day, but I fear Animal Crossing is just too much like Busywork: The Game for me these days.

• 35:25 - Hey, got no problem with companies taking more time with a game. Pretty clear from all the crunch horror stories that a lot more of them need to do it.

• 36:10 - Highlight reel time!

• 36:22 - Ni No Kuni. Damn! That's been sitting on my PS3 hard drive for quite a while.

• 37:42 - Stranger Things 3 The Game. Netflix going hard on Switch. Just, you know, not with an actual app. Must take a look at Stranger Things when I get back on Netflix. It doesn't really seem like my kind of thing: I barley have any memory of the 80's and I have no real affinity with Speilberg-y 80's entertainment; but idk people seem way into it. (Edit: Still in the early stages of watching it now. Jury's still kind of out on it. Wynonna Ryder is great; not especially caring for the kids though, and the story: at the moment, I just don't see it going anywhere that I would be into.)

• 38:31 - Yeah, Mario Maker! Damn, I'd forgotten it was out so soon. Was kind of hoping we'd see Mario 2 get announced as a tile set here, but it doesn't seem likely now.

• 38:28 - Huh? Smash Bros. again????

• 38:37 - Uhh? Wait, this isn't like a Donkey Kong 64 sequel, is it. Holy crap, that would be wild!

• 39:01 - Aww, shit!! Can't say I really ever saw this coming. Phil Spencer's seemed up for it for years, but I never really got the sense that Nintendo cared about getting them in there. And hey, finally a Smash Ultimate character I give a crap about!

• 39:07 - Oh, fuck off, Nintendo! :D

• 39:24 - Yeap, there it is! Damn, I legit never thought I'd see the day that Rare content would back on a Nintendo console. Back when the takeover was announced back in 2002 I was so completley crushed. Welecome home, Banjo-Kazooie. Oh, wow... I'm... I'm actually tearing up.

• 39:55 - Whew! Okay, back to complaining! Ugh, Spiral Mountain looks generic AF! Gid rid of Banjo's House and that cabbage patch and you could mistake this for a Xenoblade stage. Getting some of the B-K soundtrack in Smash though: hell yeah!

• 41:08 - Oh, one more thing! Is it Zelda????

• 41:29 - Could be Metroid, I guess, but it has a bit of a BoTW look to it.

• 41:33 - A torch, some Zelda-ass looking cave paintings. I think this is Zelda.

• 41:39 - Boom! Link riding an elephant. I do hope this still has the sailcloth though; I almost never set foot on a horse in BoTW.

• 41:41 - Definitley Link on the right. I don't think that's Zelda on the left though. I'll bet it's the female playable character.

• 41:51 - No, it is Zelda! I really do hope she's playable this time though. Knock it off with the princess-kidnapping already, Nintendo. Don't make me come over there!

• 41:54 - I don't know, you guys, I think Gannon might be back this time.

• 41:59 - Ugh, gnarly. Guessing that's Gannondorf. looks like soneone's reviving him. Twilight Princess haters rejoice: Zant's back, baby!

• 41:59 - Ooh, maybe some new powers for Link.

• 42:01 - Hm, now the mysterious hand is helping Link up. Possibly some kind of Midna/Navi like character, maybe a nefarious one this time. What if it's Gannondorf's ghost? That'd be kind of rad. I've always wanted a Zelda game with a post-defeat Gannondorf as a kind of Vegeta-ish hero - helping but being kind of a dick about it. That'd be cool.

• 42:07 - Well, scratch that I guess. Looks like Gannon's still a threat.

• 42:09 - Looks like much the same Hyrule though. I suppose there's no chance this is just more BoTW DLC. It's a bit late for that at this stage, I'd imagine.

• 42:18 - What? Hyrule Castle's taking off. Gannon just shamelessly cribbing from Bower's playbook now I see.

• 42:28 - There it is! Day one! Hopefully there are some real dungeons this time around.

• 42:41 - And that's it. Damn, that was pretty good!

So yeah: Banjo, Zelda, No More Heroes III, Panzer Dragoon - E3 Saved! I think Nintendo pulled off a really solid presentation this year. It moved along at a nice pace, had a few great surprises, and just had a lot of solid-looking games to look forward to in there. I'm sure I could drill into this one in much greater depth, but in the interests of ever getting this uploaded, let's move right onto...

Amiibo Announcements!!!

Sadly, I think thee total absence of amiibos in the presentation kind of speaks volumes as to where Nintendo's head is at regarding that whole product line in 2019. They may very well be on the way out, but there were still a few announcements that slipped through the cracks at E3 and I'll be dammed if I'm not going to cover them here.



First up, this Link's Awakening Link. True, the last thing the world needs is yet another Link amiibo, but damn, look at how cute he is! There looks to be a prominent glossy sheen to this one too, which gives it a really cool look I think. Make no mistake: this one's already pre-ordered.



Also they announced some more Smash amiibos here: Random Fire Emblem Guy, Incineroar, and much more importantley: Dark Samus and Simon Belmont. I have to say, I didn't really expect much from a Dark Samus amiibo. I definitley didn't expect to want one, but damn, she looks incredible here. That suit looks awesome: the design, the texturing, the coloring, the detail. *chef's kiss* Simon Belmont: a little more on the basic side. I do like how the bottom of his tunic looks like it's been caught in motion though. Truth be told: I have no major affinity with Simon; I'd have much preferred if it'd been Alucard they'd put in Smash instead, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Yeah, I'll still pick him up though.

And so that brings us back to my predictions. In a rare, shocking upset I suspect I didn't do too well this time out. :D

- A New Zelda - CORRECT

- No Metroid Prime 4 - CORRECT

- Some Square-Enix Western Announcements - WRONG - Nope, not even one. Kind of surprising. Have S-E decided to stick with strictly JRPGs on the Switch. If so, I think they're probably leaving money on the table here.

- No Bayonetta 3 Either - CORRECT

- The Smash Character is from Dark Souls - WRONG

- Fatal Frame - WRONG

- No Project X-Cloud Stuff - CORRECT

- A Ninja Gaiden Remaster/Remake - WRONG

- Hitman 2 - WRONG - Still wouldn't be surprised to see this happen in the near future though.

Four out of nine. Eh, actually kind of about average I guess. And well, that just about wraps things up for another year I guess.

Right, time to obsessivley ckeck if there's anywhere I can pre-order that Dark Samus amiibo.