To kick off the first official day of E3 2018, Nintendo put out their E3 2018 Nintendo Direct. In usual Nintendo fashion, they showed a few trailers for some upcoming games before a rapid fire montage of other games which culminated into a extremely deep dive into Nintendo’s next major release, Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate. The Nintendo Direct is usually the shortest presentation compared to other companies, and this year was an exception. Clocking in at just under forty-five (45) minutes, Nintendo had a solid, albeit a bit long-winded presentation. Hit the jump to read on!
HIGH – Nothing but Switch
For a long time it seemed like Nintendo would never let the 3DS fall by the wayside. But finally, it seems Nintendo is focusing more and more on the Switch. And if I’m not mistaken not a single 3DS title was mentioned during the conference. So that makes thirty-five (35) games are coming to the Switch this year and next year. Although, yes, some of those games are ports like Fortnite, Dark Souls Remastered, and Wolfenstein 2. However, the added bonus of having those games on Switch is that you can take these games with you anywhere. This is a big deal to a lot of fans, myself included. It might not be the ideal way to play a game like Dark Souls Remastered while riding the bus to work, but playing a game of Fortnite Battle Royale while laying in bed sounds like something I would love to do.
LOW – No major surprises
Although games like Super Mario Party were announced during the Nintendo Direct, there were some extremely notable absences from Metroid Prime 4 and Animal Crossing. It would’ve been nice to see at least a little teaser for either of those titles, but we got nothing. Another notable absence was whatever the rumored game from developer Retro Studios is. Retro is known for taking Nintendo’s stagnated franchises and refreshing them in new and interesting ways. These were the people who gave us the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Donkey Kong Returns, and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze. All of these games were met with almost universal praise, so it was weird not seeing what they have up their sleeves this year. But alas, maybe next year.
HIGH – Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate
We all knew this was going to be mentioned here. Smash Bros. is one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises and might even have the clout to be considered one of Nintendo’s flagship franchises. The Smash Bros. community is among the strongest and most tight-knit gaming communities in the United States, and I think only reason Smash Bros. Ultimate exists is because of the Smash community. Year after year Smash Bros. Melee is in the main roster of games being played at major fighting game tournaments. One of the main reasons for this is simply that Smash Bros. is a game that almost every Nintendo fan loves. Smash Bros: Ultimate is basically a love-letter to every Smash Bros fan from every era, from Smash 64 to Melee to Brawl and to Smash 4. Every single character that has shown up in a Smash Bros. game is present in Ultimate. And even then there’s two additional characters with Ridley from the Metroid series, and the Inklings from Splatoon. It’s games like this that solidifies Nintendo as probably the most beloved video games company in the world.
LOW – Literally too much Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate
The funniest thing about the Nintendo Direct is that the Smash Bros segment, although amazing, went on for far too long. The forty-five (45) minute presentation talked about Smash Bros for close to thirty (30) minutes. For a super fan like myself, that was a great use of time. Unfortunately, not everyone is a rabid Smash Bros. fan like myself. So there was a lot of complaining going on from other people about how long the segment went on for. It might have been a better idea end the segment after announcing every character was back and then have a separate Nintendo Direct that detailed all of the changes that were explained in the E3 showcase.
What was your favorite moment of the Nintendo direct? What do you think Nintendo should have spent their time on instead of Smash Bros.? Let us know in the comments below!