Nintendo’s 2019 E3 is about to begin in less than a week! With strong showings since 2017 with the launch of the Switch, the gaming industry is looking forward to what the House of Mario has to show. They’re known for being innovative, creative and fun. They’ve been pleasing their fanbase in the past couple of years with big fan favorites such as Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Smash Bros Ultimate and others, but what new surprises do they have in store for us? Or will they continue to focus on satisfying their fanbase with more new entries to familiar games and ports of popular games from other consoles? They’ve been successful so far, but the “New Gen” of consoles soon coming how will they step up their game?
With the unfortunate failure of the Wii U, fans weren’t able to get new entries of some of their favorite franchises on a modern console, that is until now. Games such as Fire Emblem, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing have been exclusive to Nintendo‘s handheld systems for over a decade, but now with the Switch selling off store shelves and being both a TV and handheld hybrid system, these beloved games are finally coming to a modern console. They won’t be limited to a small device anymore, so expectations are high for these entries.
Fire Emblem hasn’t been on a home console since 2005 on GameCube with Path of Radiance, since then its many sequels have been on handheld. The same can be said for Animal Crossing, which also got an entry on GameCube in 2001 and since then it’s sequels have also only been on handheld. A similar story goes for Pokémon which got different types of games such as Pokémon Snap and 2 Pokémon stadium games on N64 and GameCube but not a proper main RPG on console until now. These facts are part of what make these some of the most anticipated games for E3 and for this year!
Those aren’t the only highly anticipated exclusives to the hybrid console, but also some new IP’s and a sequel to a highly regarded Wii U game. The continuous flow of sequels to beloved franchises is always welcomed, but it also needs some new blood, fresh new experiences that will get the attention of even those that are not dedicated fans of Nintendo. Some have been announced that look very promising, and hopefully even more will be revealed.
Some great example of fresh new IP exclusive to Switch are Astral Chain and Daemon x Machina! Astral Chain is being developed by Platinum Games who are known for fast paced action games such as Vanquish, Bayonetta, and Metal Gear Rising. Not much is known about this game other than that it’ll be an action adventure game, so hopefully we’ll find out more at E3 before it’s release on August. Next up, Daemon x Machina is being developed by Marvelous and it is an action Mecha (Robot) game, in which you can customize you’re own fighting robot and take it out on missions. We were given a brief demo a couple of months ago, it’s very promising giving us a Gundam style experience so we’re looking forward to learning more at E3 and hope it doesn’t get delayed!
Super Mario Maker 2 and Lugis Mansion 3 are sequels to highly regarded games. Mario Maker 2 is a sequel to the Wii U exclusive, it takes the user creating functionality of games such as Little Big Planet and Minecraft and puts a Super Mario spin on them. Many thought the Wii U version would just get ported over, but Nintendo surprised us and went the extra mile. Lugis Mansion’s last console appearance was in 2001 on GameCube, almost 2 decades after we are finally getting a new home console sequel! Almost nothing has been shown other than its announcement so many are waiting to learn more next week with a possible release date!
There’s sure more announced games that people are looking forward to, but now let’s move on to an exciting part of E3, “Rumors and Predictions”! Some rumors have been circling around about some possible ports of popular current gen games, and some of those are The Witcher 3 and Apex Legends. CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 is very hard to believe that it can be ported to the Switch because even on higher tech consoles it struggled at times and needed many updates as it was a very detailed, long game with huge continents. If it does happen, it will be very impressive. Apex Legends seems more plausible as it is very similar to Fortnite and even a mobile port is in development, so this can very well be revealed next week.
Now for some speculation/predictions! For the past 2 E3’s people have been hoping for a port of Metroid Prime Trilogy to be announced but hasn’t happened. This E3 is the perfect time since Metroid Prime 4 was delayed and it would hold fans over until it is released. Something that’s being rumored but has no confrontation, is that Banjo Kazooie will be revealed as the next DLC fighter for Smash Bros Ultimate! It would make perfect sense as Microsoft is being more open to work with others, and it is a safe prediction that more of Smash’s fighter pass will be unveiled. My personal prediction is that we’ll see Square Enix announce exclusive games such as a new entry to Bravely Default for the Nintendo Switch!
Many other exciting games are coming to the Nintendo Switch such as Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening, and a host of indie games such as Cadence of Hyrule, Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous IX, among others. This Switch generation has been one of the fastest growing and one of the most celebrated in the history of Nintendo and it hasn't felt so good to be a Nintendo fan in a long time. There's something for everyone, from the hardcore gamer to the casual. Hopefully Nintendo can keep up the momentum.
In the coming week, we'll most like be surprised with more game announcements, confirmed release dates, and live gameplay demos. This is the year for Nintendo to catch fire and run with their console as the other consoles are ageing and new game releases for them are slowing down as their "Next Generation" is right around the corner. As a result, once the "Next Gen" comes the Switch will have to play catch up and innovate as it will be almost 2 generations behind in latest tech and specs. How will they keep the attention of gamers in the coming years? This E3 might give us a glimpse of that, but for now they are right on target.