Last Day of Press Conferences

So, today was the last day of press conferences and before I get to Nintendo, I want to say I sadly don’t have much to say about Square Enix or PC Gaming. In general, anything that interested me had already been shown at another press conference. Just Cause 3 from Square Enix looked okay and it was nice seeing more footage of Beyond Eyes during the PC Gaming conference, but I wish there was more that really grabbed my attention (though, I’ll admit my attention/hopes for the latter were drained once we saw how they started with all the gore).

Nintendo, despite what a lot of people seem to saying, I feel did a good job for the most part. I really enjoyed it, I’m hyped up, and while I think some concerns are completely valid, I think throwing a fit because “omgthisgamewasn’tsaidanditshouldhavebeen” is incredibly silly. I’m disappointed Style Savvy 3 was not mentioned at all (and at this point, probably won’t be until shortly before the game comes out like Girls Mode 3 did in Japan where it was announced only about a month and a half prior), but that doesn’t make Nintendo any worse. Unravel does remain my “new game announced hype”, but Nintendo easily continues to have the most games I’m truly excited about.

I will say my one big issue with Nintendo though is just… it’s a digital event. There’s no reason they need to be as short as they are with several games only being tossed onto the Youtube channel as trailers. I know some eventually get brought up on the Treehouse, but I’d love to see the Treehouse used more just for gameplay and questions and showing features of things versus announcements and even then, some never get mentioned at all. I’m guessing the main thing is because these things didn’t work with the Digital Presentation’s “theme” this year, but I honestly think they still could’ve pulled it off in a good way. And as much as I enjoyed the silliness of both last year’s and this year’s Nintendo conferences, if it’d be easier for them to have more time and show off more without doing things like that, I’d probably prefer it. I do love dancing Miyamoto, Iwata, and Reggie muppets though:

This will never cease to be amusing to me.

Getting on to the actual games, rather than going in order I’m actually going to go by system. This is because a lot of games, despite being playable at E3, were only sent to trailers and I feel this will be a better way to get them organized. Some games will easily have more comments than others. I also quickly want to bring up the LetsSuperMario–It’s such a neat way to celebrate the anniversary and even helps a great charity so I think it was a really nice feature of the stream, even if the transition felt a bit sudden. I think it was a nice finisher in a way though. Now, onto the games! Or well, the ones that grabbed my attention enough for me to say anything :P

Wii U

• Super Mario Maker: This is a game I thought looked okay originally and just figured it’d be fun, so why not? But as newer and newer things are shown and more crazy levels are made and features grow, I just get more and more excited by it. Knowing this kind of formula is actually how some of the original stages were made is pretty unbelieveable in itself. I generally have felt I wouldn’t be able to make anything interesting, but knowing that makes me feel like maybe I can make something cool. Or at least something much happier and peaceful in comparison to the terrifying levels we’ve seen the Treehouse employees make. I also adore how they did the Amiibo feature. First of all, these old-styled Mario Amiibo look amazing:
  
  I honestly want both. I hope they won’t be too hard to get. Maybe one will be sold solo and the other will only be sold with the game? I just hope the supply is much higher when they come out. As for the other Amiibo feature, I’m not sure what character I will play as in Mario Maker–it’ll be hard to decide! But knowing that using other Amiibo can make it so you can play levels as Link or Isabelle is just really amazing. I mean, look how cute they look:
  
• Yoshi’s Woolly World: In a similar boat, Yoshi’s Woolly World also gets me more excited as I see more of it. The Amiibo for it look adorable, all the Amiibo are great, and I’m just very excited for it. My biggest issue is the fact that Europe & Australia get the game in June, Japan gets it in July, and we do not get it until October… This just makes no sense for me? It’s done. The Amiibo are ready. It’s in English… so why the delay? :( This is like the delay with Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney–there were no dub or line changes or puzzle changes and they didn’t even redo Luke’s voice so the delay made no sense.
• Star Fox: Zero: I will admit I’m not a big Star Fox fan–it’s not that I dislike it, but it’s a game that while I enjoyed, I never felt the need to play any additional games. My first and only Star Fox game was the one for the Nintendo 64. While I still feel kind of similar for this game, I really love the transforming Arwing:
  
  I can’t decide if it’s more cute or cool.
• Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival: This game seems to have angered a lot of people and for the most part, I’m not entirely sure why. I do think the start of it was a bit of a tease (though, the fact that they only showed NPCs and not a Villager meant it wasn’t as bad as it could have been in my opinion), but as someone who really enjoys Mario Party (and preferred it when there wasn’t a car), the fact that they are doing an Animal Crossing party type of game actually has me really excited. Plus, the Amiibo are adorable:

  
  I need them all. I really hope the Villager Amiibo will be useable as well and let you pick a Villager or something. That said, I do think it’s messed up that an Amiibo is required to play the game. Part of why I didn’t get into Skylanders and Disney Infinity is because so much of the game is locked unless you get these figures. I liked how Amiibo were bonuses if anything versus the main core of the gameplay so seeing a game that requires them is really disheartening–especially as the supply hasn’t been great either.

• Genei Ibun Roku #FE: I’ll be honest, I don’t really have much interest in the game. However, this intrigues me and I’m really curious about it:
  
• Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash: Mario Tennis is actually my favorite Mario Sports title. That said, I’ve felt the Mario sport titles just haven’t been as good as new iterations are made so I’m not sure how to feel about it just yet.

3DS

• Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes: In a similar reign to Star Fox, while I liked Four Swords, it was never one of my top favorites so this game doesn’t jump out at me either. Besides my concerns about what happened to purple!Link, I think the main way to sum up my feelings right now is intrigued. I have mixed feelings on the outfits due to my usual issues with tying skills/stats to outfits, but as I see them more as power-ups in this game, I find it doesn’t take as much away from it. Also, Link can wear Zelda’s dress:

  
  It makes me wonder what other outfits they may give him too (if there is a Cucco outfit, Link better be able to control an army of them.)

• Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer: When it comes to games I’ve already been excited about, Happy Home Designer is still #1. The more I hear about it, the more excited I get. I just love so much about it. So many people are criticizing it and the thing is, this shows so many opportunities for when we do get the next Animal Crossing game. We can place houses. We can set up exteriors. We can do so much more with interiors (and there are some new items in there and not to mention the new character that was shown). For all we know, we may be able to make the next town from the ground up. I feel people are focusing so much on the “but this isn’t a real Animal Crossing game” and not enough on what it could mean for a full Animal Crossing game. And personally, I have nothing against the spin-off. It focuses on my favorite parts of Animal Crossing and I couldn’t be more excited for it. I will say I am very worried about the cards though. There are 100 in the first set, it’s already been confirmed more sets are planned, and there are already over 330 different characters in Animal Crossing: New Leaf alone. Collecting them is going to be hard and I really hope there will be a large supply of them and I can find people to trade with. And also places to buy boxes of cards because I will need them. The card packs are also adorable:
  
• YO-KAI WATCH: This is one of those games where I’m just not sure how I will like it or not, but it looks cute and seems like a combination of Pokemon and Puzzles/Quests and those are two things I enjoy very much so I am looking forward to playing it at some point.
• Fire Emblem Fates: As long as Casual mode is back, I’m positive I will be getting this. I really enjoyed Awakening and it reminds me of Awakening a lot. I’m guessing there is no marriage in the game due to the fact that half the cast is your family or step-family, but I still find the characters interesting. I just wish I could decide which side to go with. Still super excited about the StreetPass feature too.
• Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam: I wish I could be excited about this game, but I mostly feel apprehensive. I’ve never been too big on the Mario & Luigi RPG series and the Paper Mario stuff in the game looks like it is more out of Sticker Star which I really didn’t enjoy. I think it would’ve been better throwing normal Mario & Luigi into the Paper Mario World instead if they wanted to do a crossover.
• Hyrule Warriors Legends: I’m still not fully bought over when it comes to Hyrule Warriors (though, I still love Zelda’s attire), but the ocarina at the end makes me hopeful Saria and the other sages will end up making an appearance in the game too at some point. I do hope they will let people buy the new characters as DLC if they have the Wii U version though.
• Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon: It has all the Pokemon and the personality quiz back so I’m pretty excited. I’m still sad that they didn’t add a few more options beyond the starters (Riolu is the only one and I don’t really count Pikachu)–I think adding other Pokemon who could Mega Evolve along with old PMD classics like Skitty, Meowth, and Eevee would’ve been nice.

Misc.

• Skylanders Amiibo: Honestly, the fact that they can be used for both games is really really cool. I also love the stands. But besides being official, they just feel like customs–they’re nearly the same Amiibo with some armor and a different base. I am curious if they will do more though. Maybe Skylanders can at least help with the stock problem. I do wonder what aisle they will be in though.
• I’ve already spoke about the other Amiibo in my last post so I won’t go over them again.

And finally, while technically mentioned over in Japan and not really part of all this:

I AM SO EXCITED THIS IS GETTING A SEQUEL AND I REALLY HOPE IT COMES OVER HERE!

And that’s it for Nintendo! Like I said, I really did enjoy a lot of their presentation and I feel most of the complaints were either because people assumed they’d talk about something they already said they wouldn’t or due to thinking too far ahead about rumors.

Anyway, expect show floor pictures sometime soon! I haven’t decided yet if I want to do them in parts or all at once–I think it’ll depend on just how many pictures there are. I am leaning towards putting them all together though.