E3 2017 Roundup: Nintendo

Now that the biggest gaming trade-show of the year has wrapped up it's time to take a look back at what's been shown off and how much of a splash these announcements made.  To kick it all off I'm going to start with Nintendo's showcase.  This was the first E3 for Nintendo's new console and, as I mentioned in my pre-launch piece for the Switch, would prove to be a pivotal showing for it.  This was Nintendo's chance to really sell the Switch with solid first party support that will court relations with third-party developers in the future.  All in all, Nintendo has a solid performance at E3 but it also felt like they were treading water a bit, not really pushing the boundary of expectations.  Let's break down their showcase game-by-game and and see what each brings to the table.

Xenoblade Cronicles 2

Nintendo started off their showcase with a new trailer for the highly anticipated JRPG from Monolith Soft, Xenoblade Chronicles 2.  In the trailer we got a closer look  at the characters, environments, and story details players will be encountering in the game.  The world looks just as fantastical as you would expect from a Xenoblade game with wonder and mystery looming over every horizon.  We also got our first sampling of the English voice acting which leads to the first of some of my worries.  The voice acting is... not good putting it nicely.  The protagonist, Rex, in particular sounds stiff and unnatural in addition to sounding too mature for how young his character looks.  I'm normally pretty lenient when it comes to English dubs but this voice work particular is just plain bad and I hope that these samples are either not indicative of the full game or the original Japanese voice track is offered as an option.

Later on in the day we also got to see a gameplay demonstration of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 during a Nintendo Treehouse Live segment and that is where more worries began to crop up for me.  The battle system has been revamped from previous Xenoblade titles and has done away with the traditional screen-spanning Arte Palette in favor of a less cluttered UI.  Instead of having up to eight artes available at once you now have access to only three.  These three artes do not recharge based on a timed cooldown like in previous games but instead charge based on auto attacks your character makes.  Furthermore, your character now only auto attacks if you are standing still.  This lead to what seemed like a lot of standing around in battle during the gameplay demo, as the demonstrator would auto attack for many seconds before being able to use his artes.  Now Xenoblade games are rather notorious at this point for having combat systems that are slow at the beginning of their games, but XC2's combat seemed exceptionally slow even compared to those.  However, Xenoblade games' combat are also known for ramping up in intensity and becoming engaging affairs rather quickly so hopefully XC2 follows the same pattern.

Other worries I had were just small little things that pulled me out of the experience.  For instance, characters known as BLADE's assist their DRIVER's in combat by amplifying their power and abilities.  The way they do this, however, is by standing there with hands outstretched as sort of stream of light connected them to their DRIVER.  The BLADE's don't actually fight at all, they just stand there and don't seem to be targeted by enemies either, at least in this beginning portion of the game shown off.  It makes the BLADE characters feel non-existent, especially when they happen to be standing between a DRIVER and the enemy they are fighting.  I hope later on in the game mechanics are introduced that give BLADE's more of a presence during battle because from what we saw in the demo, they were no different from simply swapping out one weapon for another.

To the surprise of many people, including myself, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is still slated for a Holiday 2017 release.  Whether it will truly make that window is still debatable.  Monolith Soft is a highly regarded developer who has created top notch video games for years, with the original Xenoblade Chronicles being one of the best games of all time.  I have faith that they will deliver with another stellar adventure in the sequel but from what I saw at E3 I can't help but have my apprehensions.  I'm still very much looking forward to this game, and I haven't even touched on the good points about it I saw, such as the fact that there are multiple Titans to explore this time instead of just two.  When Xenoblade Chronicles X was being shown off in the same manner on Treehouse Live at E3 2014, though. I felt unreserved hype and excitement, and I simply am not getting the same feeling with XC2.

Kirby and Yoshi

The next two games to talk are about about the tentatively titled Kirby and Yoshi games.  Both of these games seem to follow the same tried and true formulas of their predecessors with Kirby adding a enemy recruitment mechanic and Yoshi trading in its wool and yarn aesthetic from Wooly World for a paper-mache world instead.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, by any means.  Yoshi's Wooly World was a well received game and sold well even on the dry well that was the Wii U.  Meanwhile, many people don't realize that the Kirby franchise has been one of Nintendo's most consistently high selling series on the 3DS.  Refining those formulas further and giving their visuals an upgrade on the Switch is a safe move for Nintendo, but not an exciting one.  From the reveal trailers alone players already have a solid idea of the kind of experience they're in for.  Both games will come out in 2018 and they will both be solid platformers.  There's nothing really surprising about the Kirby and Yoshi games so there isn't much to talk about for them.

Metroid Prime 4

What was hands-down the biggest announcement dropped during the Spotlight was the surprise reveal that a new installment for the Metroid franchise is in development for the Switch as Metroid Prime 4.  The teaser trailer was perfect in that it had the "Is this what I think it is?" quality right up until the tell-tale Samus insignia appeared.  Metroid fans have been clamoring for a quality, new Metroid game for ages after Metroid: Other M turned their favorite bounty hunter into a B-rate movie actor and Federation Force very nearly desecrated the franchise irreversibly.  Personally, the original Metroid Prime Trilogy were some of my favorite games of all time and seeing a new installment in the Prime series has me hyped beyond belief.

There are still some key questions revolving around the Metroid Prime 4 announcement, though, beyond the obvious fact we didn't see anything of the game besides a logo.  The primary question being who is developing the game?  While it was assumed Retro Studios would be at the helm as they developed the original Trilogy it was later announced that they are not actually in charge of development for Prime 4.  This also leads to the question of just what Retro Studios has been working on all these years.  It's well known at this point that Retro Studios has been working on their own project for three or so years now and we still have not heard even a whisper as to what that is.

The other question is why was Prime 4 revealed so early, a move that is very uncharacteristic for Nintendo.  Nintendo has revealed games unintentionally early in the past and then delaying them later on (e.g Zelda: Breath of the Wild) but it is exceptionally rare for them to announce a title so far in advance that there is no footage or even a release year available.  Well it turns out it has to do with those Metroid fans mentioned earlier.  In an interview with IGN, Nintendo of America COO, Reggie Fils-Aimé spoke to IGN that "given it's a franchise that we know people have been very eager to get some news - that's when, fine, we'll share.  We'll share it early." Reggie also spoke for the development of the game, saying that it will be in development for "a decent amount of time."  In video game time this most likely means a 2019 release at the absolute earliest, but a 2020 time-frame seems more likely.  This is a game we won't be seeing for a very, very long time but the simple announcement that it exists has fans riveted and has instilled the confidence that Nintendo is willing to put in the effort and give their franchises the treatment they deserve.  This is the same confidence that Nintendo so very much needs at this critical point in the Switch's life.

Pokémon

There was another teaser announcement dropped during the spotlight, one that should have been a big deal but was executed in probably the worst way possible.  Tsunekazu Ishihara of the Pokémon company made an appearance to briefly talk about the recently revealed Pokken Tournament DX game for the Switch.  After which he rather casually announced that Game Freak has begun development of a "core RPG Pokémon title" for the Switch.  No teaser trailer, no title, no logo, no anything.  Just the words of Ishihara-san.  This is almost the same level as a rumor as there is so little information to go on that absolutely nothing can be said about this announcement.  Furthermore, it was an inevitability that a core Pokémon game would eventually come to the Switch, being the hybrid console it is and Pokémon being a franchise that thrives on handhelds.  This announcement, quite literally, tells us nothing.  It's possible this announcement was in response to the negative backlash Pokken Tournament DX received during its reveal prior to E3 but if it is it's done little to assuage the disappointment Pokémon fans are feeling.

Fire Emblem Warriors

Next on the chopping block is Fire Emblem Warriors, Koei Tecmo's take on the Fire Emblem universe using their mow-down-hordes-of-enemies-with-flashy-moves musou style gameplay.  This isn't the first time Koei Tecmo has given a Nintendo franchise the musou treatment, with the Zelda themed Hyrule Warriors being a successful title on the Wii U back in 2014.  The trailer gave a very broad understanding of the story and revealed three new characters: Ryoma, Xander, and female Corrin from Fire Emblem Fates.  "Revealed" might be too generous a word, however, as these three characters were heavily assumed to be included when the news came out earlier that Warriors will be taking characters primarily from Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates.  It's for this reason that this trailer really didn't bring much to the table.  It and the Treehouse Live segment that followed essentially just confirmed to fans that this game will play pretty much exactly like the musou games they love.  The excitement for these cross-over musou style games come from surprise character announcements and without any such characters revealed this game's presence fell fairly flat.  Chances are that we will be getting those surprising character reveals piecemeal as we lead up to the game's September 28th Japanese release date (the US release is still just Fall 2017) but E3 is the place to stir excitement, and Fire Emblem Heroes failed to do that.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC

Following the Fire Emblem Warriors trailer we had a small segment on the Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC pack one that will be releasing soon.  Again there wasn't anything new in this info, just a little bit more footage of the new armor sets and Trial of the Sword.  The real news during this segment was the small teaser we got for DLC pack two.  Releasing in the holiday season it has received the name of The Champions' Ballad and is heavily implied to be a prequel story.  While no gameplay was shown off, the knowledge alone that this will be a prequel tells players quite a lot and is enough to satiate curiosities until more can be shown off at a later date.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Now next on the list is a game that absolutely no one saw coming... if it wasn't for the fact it was leaked in its entirety a week or so before E3 and heavily rumored with verified sources even before that.  Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.  Just let that sink in for a moment.  Mario: Nintendo's premier flagship franchise beloved by millions and known across the world as the symbol for video games.  And Rabbids: Ubisoft's feral abominations that originally stemmed off of the Rayman universe and eventually evolved into their own independent monstrosity.  These two universes are now in the same game.  A grid-based strategy RPG no less, a genre that neither franchises have even so much as dabbled in before.  When the full leak came out before E3 players were rather distraught by this concept.  There is a palpable hatred for the Rabbids as many find their comedy not funny and just flat out annoying.  It didn't help when people kept questioning why a Mario x Rabbids crossover was happening and not a Mario x Rayman crossover.  While I wasn't ready to flat out reject the prospect of the game I was, nonetheless, highly cautious and bracing myself for the worst.

Yet when the Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was officially revealed during Ubisoft's press conference then later expanded upon in Nintendo's something strange happened.  The game actually looked good.  Not just good, but really good.  From a visual perspective the game looks gorgeous with bright colors and fascinating scenery of a twisted version of the Mushroom Kingdom that gamers have grown so accustomed to over the years.  From a comedy perspective the game is legitimately funny.  You can tell Ubisot didn't want to fall back on the Rabbids yelling "BWAAAH!" at every little thing like they are known for and instead focus of having all the humor come across in their movements and actions and the result is something truly entertaining.  And most importantly, from a gameplay perspective the strategy RPG elements seem rock solid with a multitude of ways to tackle battles and the game rewarding careful planning of actions.  Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle isn't a throwaway title like many people thought it would be.  It seems to be a well thought out, well crafted experience with tons of love poured into it from both Nintendo and Ubisoft.  For that reason, while the announcement itself was spoiled ahead of time Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle still managed to capture gamers' attention.  With the game's impending release on August 29th, that is a huge success for both Nintendo and Ubisoft alike.

Rocket League and 3rd Party

Before moving on it's important to quickly touch on Rocket League's announcement for the Switch.  While not a new game by any stretch or means having such a massive 3rd party game available on the console while also supporting cross-platform play with Xbox and PC versions (Sony is still being difficult about that) is a huge get for the console.  With Rocket League not being a necessarily graphic intensive game the extra portability function of the Switch could be rather attractive to prospective buyers.  And with cross-platform play available from the outset those newcomers won't have to worry about not being able to play with their friends that are already on Xbox and PC.  This is a huge step for Nintendo to establishing favorable relations with 3rd parties and shows the company is making a legitimate effort on that front.

What Everyone Cares About Honestly

With that out of the way we have the grande finale of the Nintendo Spotlight and the game that spearheaded Nintendo's presence at E3.  Super Mario Odyssey.  The trailer was a massive hit, showcasing the new capture mechanic that allows Mario to take control of enemies by throwing his hat at them as well as the game's theme song with a snappy jazz track complete with vocals that feel straight out of a Broadway musical.  The trailer immediately took the show by storm and ignited a fire in the bellies of any gamer that has any fond memories with past masterpieces such as Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.  Not much needs to be said about Super Mario Odyssey as the trailer speaks for itself.  A new co-op mode was later revealed during a Treehouse Live segment, but that is just icing on the cake at this point.  Super Mario Odyssey aims to recapture gamers' imaginations and provide that feeling of whimsical freedom they first experienced with Super Mario 64 all over again, and I cannot wait for October 27th to roll around so it can do just that.

Metroid: Samus Returns

Before I close out there was one more big game revealed after the Nintendo Spotlight during the opening hour of Treehouse Live.  Metroid: Samus Returns is a complete remake for the 3DS of the 1991 GameBoy game Metroid II: The Return of Samus.  It's likely that this being a 3DS game is the reason is was excluded from the Switch focused Spotlight but nonetheless this was a huge announcement.  Samus Returns is the first pure 2D Metroid game to be created since Metroid: Zero Mission's release on the GameBoy Advance back in 2004 (Metroid: Other M had some weird 3D portions).  As I mentioned before Metroid fans have been clamoring for a new installment in the franchise for years and to receive not just one, but two announcements in the same day is a dream come true.

All that said, though, there are a few catches to this announcement that prevent it from reaching a truly high level of anticipation.  The first reason being the take-down of the Another Metroid 2 Remake fan game developed by Milton Guasti, otherwise known as DoctorM64.  AM2R completely redid the old GameBoy game with updated graphics, colors, and sprites and released in August of last year to critical reception.  The game quickly received DMCA take-down notices from Nintendo, however, and was promptly removed from the web.  The backlash at Nintendo for this action at the time was significant, and with the announcement of Nintendo's own remake of the GameBoy classic Samus Returns is bound to be compared to AM2R.  If Samus Returns doesn't meet those expectations then the resulting backlash could deal a rather heavy blow to Nintendo's public image.

The other complication to this remake announcement is its developer.  Mercury Steam is best known for their work on the 3D Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games during the 360/PS3 generation.  While the original Lords of Shadow was very well received, it's sequel was critically panned and it's spinoff 2D game on the 3DS, Mirror of Fate, was also received poorly.  This does not set a good precedent for the studio when it comes to making 2D games of beloved franchises on the 3DS and has many fans very worried.  The possible silver lining to this scenario is that Lords of Shadow 2 and Mirror of Fate were both being developed when Konami, the IP holder for Castlevania and overseer for the games, was going through some rather interesting times.  This is when we began to see signs of Konami moving away from the video game scene and instead making the questionable business decision to focus on their pachinko machines in Japan.  It's reasonable to think that Konami wasn't doing the best at overseeing these projects.  We can hope that Nintendo will have a more active role in the development of Samus Returns to ensure a quality experience.  For what it's worth, the gameplay shown off during the Treehouse Live segment looked to have the tight controls and heavy exploration aspects that fans would expect from a Metroid entry and has had a more or less positive response from the public.  Time will tell if this remake can deliver on expectations when it releases on September 15th.

The Verdict

So what does this all mean for Nintendo?  How strong was their showing at E3 2017?   Well, there weren't many surprises from Nintendo this year.  They pretty much showed off what everyone expected them to and expanded upon games that were already revealed during the January Switch event.  Kirby and Yoshi were both new announcements but aren't going to be lighting message boards on fire and while Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle had a very strong premier it was already leaked in its entirety beforehand.  Additionally, the Pokémon Switch announcement was pretty much a non-announcement that accomplished nothing.

All that said, sometimes it just takes that one big title to completely change the momentum of a show and that title here was Metroid Prime 4.  The announcement was a veritable bombshell that caught the media and public completely by surprise and served as a springboard for the Metroid: Samus Returns announcement later on.  The Metroid Prime 4 reveal combined with the absolutely stunning showing from Super Mario Odyssey brought an otherwise lackluster Showcase to new heights.

The lack of risk-taking in this conference shows that Nintendo is in a holding pattern, providing just enough to satisfy current Switch owners and using Super Mario Odyssey to coax potential buyers who were already on the fence.  It gave the feeling that Nintendo was gearing up for something big with noticeable absences such as Retro Studios' mystery game (seeing as it isn't Metroid Prime 4), Animal Crossing, and the Fire Emblem Switch game announced during the Direct a few months back.  Despite all of this Nintendo has come away with a solid report card from E3.  Their stocks increased to a 12-month high during the trade-show and the Super Mario Odyssey trailer was the second most viewed during E3 next to Star Wars Battlefront 2's trailer.  While Nintendo may not have blown E3 out of the water they have given their fans plenty to be excited about in the coming months and will, hopefully, ride that momentum into 2018 and beyond.