E3 2018

[The Qu]

Rumor has it we're getting another character revealed at the Smash tourney, so y'all keep your eyes peeled.

[nocturnal YL]

Okay, here's the Smash site:

www.smashbros.com/

A lot of stuff was put there, so take your time to explore everything.

I'm glad Landmaster is gone. It's awkward, and it doesn't suit Falco. Everyone using Arwings is better than everyone using Landmaster.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's a video of the Treehouse Live segment where they announced Donkey Kong and Sky Skipper.



They even point out how Sky Skipper is completely unaltered (referring to the "Damn it. I'll escape..." message shown between levels).

...Anyway, E3 is pretty much over now. Overall thoughts? What were your highs/lows? What game announcements surprised you or were your favorites?

I'll post my detailed thoughts later after I've had a chance to think about it a bit, but my general impression is that while it had some pretty cool moments, it wasn't an overall spectacular E3 for me.

[The Qu]

REmake 2, Fallout 76, Spider-Man PS4 and Smash Bros. were the standouts for me. Lots of good stuff in the pipeline.

[Nester the Lark]

For me, despite not really caring as much about Smash as most people, there were still some pretty good announcements. Nintendo starting off the Direct with Daemon X Machina was unexpected, but it got my attention. The DLC for Xenoblade 2 was cooler than I thought it would be. We got a look at the new Fire Emblem. The surprise release of Donkey Kong arcade was really cool. Plus, Star Fox being in that Starlink game was a fun surprise at the Ubisoft conference.

But despite that, it was what wasn't there that seemed conspicuous. Wishful thinking aside (new F-Zero, Mother 3 localization, etc.), as well as not expecting either Metroid Prime 4 or Bayonetta 3 to actually make appearances, it still seemed like there were things missing. Yoshi for Switch was announced at last year's E3, and it was completely absent this year with not even a mention or update. Also, we still don't know what Retro Studios is working on, if anything (it's been over four years since DKC: Tropical Freeze's original release).

So, I guess it was the lack of teases for new games and updates for known games that made Nintendo's E3 feel just a bit subdued for me.

[nocturnal YL]

I do like this E3 overall. It's not that good, but it's a case of "expected nothing, got something".

Given how Japanese-styled my game profile is, I naturally didn't expect anything at all for any E3 shows, except maybe Nintendo's (who, since the Wii U era, didn't really differentiate their markets and would feel comfortable advertising Japanese games to the west).

So it all comes down to Nintendo. I expected, but didn't want to see:
- Nintendo 3DS stuff
- Any Wii U-to-Switch ports of any Nintendo-published games at all
- Indie stuff, as they tend to be announced by their own developers before Nintendo
- In-depth discussions on Mario Tennis or Pokémon

I wanted to see:
- Smash not being a total disappointment
- Some showcase of Fire Emblem 16, along with a relese date
- Actual new announcements

And it turned out that it did almost none of these, except a very impressive Smash presentation that addressed most of the fan complaints (game is too slow, Ganondorf not using a sword, directional air dodge, make all past fighters join…).

So yeah, positive impression on average, but not much. I'm glad they showed a good-looking new Smash, and we get a trailer of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Not impressed by the complete lack of other announcements (Super Mario Party didn't excite me, the Xenoblade 2 DLC isn't really news), and a 2019 release window for both Fire Emblem (I expect up to May when they say spring) and the Yoshi game (which I'm not interested in due to its use of a ready-made game engine, but it's still a disappointment).

At least they didn't show any Wii U-to-Switch port and 3DS games. They didn't even bring any 3DS demo units to the venue.

[Da Robot]

This was a weird E3.

Smash announcement and gameplay changes were good but it felt like there was a major lack of other game announcements that hurt it. Nintendo should have warned fans that over half the presentation (25 minutes out of 45) was going to be Smash instead of just saying the "end" of the presentation was going to be Smash focused (which makes it sound like it would be the last 10 minutes).
Yoshi delayed to 2019, no update on MP4 (couldn't they have at least given a mention of it's place in the time line?). FE trailer was good to see.

No 3DS games, even in Treehouse Live, I understand the 3DS is on it's way out but we still have Nintendo published games coming out to 2019. Couldn't they have at least previewed something already announced like WarioWare Gold or at least warned that there would be zero 3DS games to preview this E3? Even 2016's all Zelda E3 had 3DS games like Rhythm Heaven Megamix and the unveiling of Ever Oasis. While 2017 had the Metroid 2 remake come out of nowhere despite not being in the E3 presentation.

I think my problem is I got my expectations up to high from previous E3's.

[Boo Destroyer]

^ Eh, no need to fret. We've got more Nintendo Directs coming up for the rest of this year that'll announce more things.

[Leon]

I imagine there must a Direct scheduled for late July, get some promotion for WarioWare before it releases.

And announce Ashley in Smash.