E3 2019

[nocturnal YL]

e3.nintendo.com/

This year's E3 Nintendo Direct is on 11 June, 2019, 09:00 PT (16:00 UTC). It's said to be about upcoming Switch games.

That'd be 00:00 on the 12th for me, which is really convenient.

EDIT — Updated date. It's on the 11th.

[Nester the Lark]

It's one week until Nintendo's E3 Direct and Treehouse Live. I don't have any outlandish predictions to make, but here are my expectations:

- Tons of Fire Emblem: Three Houses gameplay during Treehouse Live. Announcement of DLC.

- They will show more of the Link's Awakening remake, and show off either new content or some new gameplay mechanic that wasn't in the original.

- I half-expect them to show Cadence of Hyrule, and do a surprise release on the eShop.

- Daemon X Machina, showing improvements based on suggestions from the demo that was released earlier this year.

- Maybe a Bayonetta 3 trailer.

Of course, the most exciting parts are often the surprises you don't see coming.

[nocturnal YL]

4 days to go.

My general expectation is that we won't see too many new games. The Direct is said to be about games in 2019 (although traditionally E3 Directs would at least show something for the next year), and Nintendo's 2019 schedule is already pretty packed. I hope fans aren't going to expect too much from them.

I also expect a Smash Ultimate fighter announcement, which would be available immediately or soon after the Direct. It's just a logical conclusion, as it will be 2 months since the last DLC fighter's release.

Personally, I mostly want to see more details regarding Luigi's Mansion 3, especially a concrete release date. Seeing that this game will have a showfloor demo, I expect this game to be at least mentioned in the Direct.

And that's it. The only other unannounced Nintendo games I want right now are the ones I think will never be made (things like an actual new Mario Kart, Metroid 5, or a 2D Zelda that's not Link's Awakening). There's nothing for me to realistically wish for.

[Nester the Lark]

All right, so I've sat through the press conferences for Xbox, Bathesda, and Ubisoft. I don't really have much worth commenting on, except that Ubisoft's Gods & Monsters looks kinda cool.



I have a little more to say about Square Enix's conference. I mainly watched hoping for more info on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition, and... I guess there kinda was?

We got a new trailer and a release window of "this winter." Also, it's coming to mobile, for whatever that's worth.



I was hoping for something a little more substantial, but I have to keep waiting, I guess.

Also, The Last Remnant Remastered has been ported to Switch, and should already be available by the time anyone reads this.



I'm kinda interested in this, but I don't really have room in my time or budget for it. It's very low priority.

Likewise, Romancing SaGa 3 and SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions are being localized for the West for the very first time, and both will be on Switch sometime later this year.

I still haven't played Romancing SaGa 2, but I do kinda want to get more into the SaGa series. I just never quite get the opportunity. But this news does make me happy.

Anyway, now it's Nintendo's turn. If I get the opportunity, I might hang out in my Twitch chat while watching the North American Direct, in case anyone wants to join me.

[Da Robot]

Quick prediction time

- FE Treehouse trailer
- Something No More Heroes related
- New quick gameplay features/improvements in Animal Crossing
- Smash reveal either a Dragon Quest character or Travis Touchdown
- Ubisoft's Gods & Monsters will get a gameplay trailer
- Secret of Mana collection
- Nintendo content in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3?
- Astral Chain multiplayer co-op trailer
- Luigi's Mansion 3 multiplayer co-op trailer
- 3D zoomable camera and co-op in Link's Awakening
- Something new from the ARMS team? I don't want to see a new Mario Kart. MK8D is already selling well and MK Tour is going to release soon.

No 3DS titles from Nintendo and no mobile or Labo content.

[nocturnal YL]

Well, almost nothing interested me. We got mostly trailers of games we already know exist.

Even the one thing I thought we would get (Luigi's Mansion 3 release date) wasn't there.

Also, Fire Emblem: Three Houses takes a dark turn. Can't say I didn't expect that. But I get the feeling that the Fire Emblem series and my own interests may start to drift away from each other. time will tell.

This rivals E3 2016 as one of my least favourite Nintendo shows. And E3 2016 had nothing.

[Nester the Lark]

That was a fairly dense Nintendo Direct, and there were some really cool announcements, but actually not that many that I'm personally invested in.

Let's get Zelda out of the way first. I just kind of assumed Nintendo was working on the next main game, and frankly, I'm not even all that surprised that it's a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild. I half-expected Nintendo would do something like a Majora's Mask to BotW's Ocarina if Time. At least there was a cool trailer. I look forward to GameXplain's analysis.

Also, Link's Awakening is coming sooner than I expected: September 20. It has a dungeon creator, so maybe it's kind of like a Zelda Maker minigame.

Cadence of Hyrule is out this week on the 13th. It's priced at US$25, which is actually exactly what I expected. However, after playing Crypt of the NecroDancer for 25 hours in a week-and-a-half, I feel a little burned out of that type of gameplay.

I'm disappointed in the Fire Emblem: Three Houses trailer. All anime cutscenes, no gameplay. Hopefully there will be a good Treehouse Live segment.

I was not expecting a new Contra. I would've been super hyped about it 8 years ago before I soured on Konami.

Panzer Dragoon Remake. Now we're talking. This was announced before, but good to see a Switch version confirmed. Doesn't look too bad, either.

And, uh... yeah. Mana Collection is being localized, plus a remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, now called Trials of Mana. Quick shout out to Crystal Chronicles Remastered. Banjo and Kazooie in Smash... Not bad.

[Spud]

Banjo's back, baby!

Video that doesn't work with the video tag.

[Nester the Lark]

Usually when I look back at a Nintendo E3 Direct a few days later, I feel a little differently about it then my immediate impression. In this case, I think it was better than I initially gave it credit for. Even though a lot of it didn't appeal to me personally, and there were several notable leaks, I feel like there was a lot of substance. It was an extremely strong showing with lots of games, and it didn't waste a lot of time. Plus, they even through in a comedy skit about Doug Bowser's name. (How could they not? Though they had to include footnotes for the Japanese audience.)

Overall, I grade Nintendo's 2019 E3 performance an 'A'.

Now, let's take a look at my predictions:

- Tons of Fire Emblem: Three Houses gameplay during Treehouse Live. Announcement of DLC.

No. Only one half-hour segment. No DLC. (Yet.)

- They will show more of the Link's Awakening remake, and show off either new content or some new gameplay mechanic that wasn't in the original.

Yes. The dungeon creator is new content.

- I half-expect them to show Cadence of Hyrule, and do a surprise release on the eShop.

Half-expected, half-right? They are going to show Cadence of Hyrule this morning as I post this (it's apparently indie day). No surprise release, but they did announce it only two days ahead of time.

- Daemon X Machina, showing improvements based on suggestions from the demo that was released earlier this year.

It wasn't during the Direct or Treehouse Live, but Nintendo UK did put up a trailer specifically showing what was changed based on the feedback from the demo, so I guess this counts?

- Maybe a Bayonetta 3 trailer.

Maybe not.

Eh, most of these were fairly safe guesses anyway.