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You wait years for a Nintendo Direct and then two come along in… well, four months. We got another direct this last month as part of the annual E3 videogame event, which this year was taking place virtually. Nintendo’s presentation was a whopping 40 minutes long. It was immediately followed by a long Treehouse Live event showcasing gameplay and more. As a result, we now have a much better sense of the gaming year ahead than we did this time last month.
We’ll cover some of the highlights and news from the event here, in a month that also saw the release of Nintendo’s big summer 2021 game, Mario Golf: Super Rush, their educational programming tool, Game Builder Garage, and also a Switch port of the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection.
I’m currently playing: Fire Emblem Three Houses (Golden Deer route as NG+)
I’m currently hyped for: Metroid Dread
Nintendo at E3
Nintendo’s Direct presentation is always a highlight of E3 - whether for good or bad. Hype levels were at an all-time high this year. Suffice it to say, the rumour-mill had been in overdrive, predicting wild game announcements and new hardware releases. But did the show live up to the hype? Did Nintendo deliver a presentation as good as their remarkable 2017 show, or did they return to the embarrassing days of the launch of Wii Music?
Well… the show got off to a smashing start. It opened, as so many Directs have in recent times, with the reveal of the latest DLC fighter being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This time, the character is Kazuya from the Tekken series. As this character comes directly from another fighting game franchise, he has a ready-made move set for Sakurai and his team to translate across. The reveal itself was a little lacklustre compared to some of the more extensive sequences for past characters (like Pyra/Mythra), although they added some nice humour with Sakurai’s own beloved Kirby.
Later in the month, Nintendo broadcast Sakurai’s follow-up presentation in which he explained the new character, move set and stage in huge detail.
Kazuya wasn’t the only DLC announcement in the E3 Direct. We also got more information about the Expansion Pass being added to last year’s excellent hack-n-slash game Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. We also learnt that the DLC for Doom Eternal will be coming to the Switch port. Then there was the announcement that Nintendo will be continuing to support the newly released Mario Golf: Super Rush, a game that came out at the end of June.
Amazing Anniversaries For Nintendo
This year sees a number of major milestone anniversaries for some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. The most notable amongst these is probably Zelda. We already know that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is coming to the Switch very soon - on July 16th. We got more information about this game at E3. However, the thing that all fans were waiting for was information on the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - one of the greatest games ever made (and my personal favourite of all time). At last, we were given another teaser trailer. The game was also given a release window - it’s coming (so they say) in 2022.
Nintendo also announced a new Zelda Game & Watch, akin to the Mario edition that was released last year. This time, the retro-styled handheld system will feature the original The Legend of Zelda game from the NES, the sequel, Zelda II, and the Gameboy version of Link’s Awakening.
Samus Returns… with Dread
Zelda isn’t the only franchise with an anniversary this year… Metroid is also celebrating a big birthday. Fans are clamouring for more information about Metroid Prime 4, originally announced back in 2017 but subsequently delayed due to having its development rebooted a couple of years later. We didn’t learn anything more about that particular game in the E3 Direct, but we did get a huge surprise - the unveiling of Metroid Dread, an original 2D Metroid. This looks fantastic (more gameplay was shown in the Treehouse Live after the Direct). The game will be released on 8th October this year.
Super Sequels
The E3 Direct also gave us more information about - and the announcements of - a number of fun looking sequels. There was Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, the sequel to Ubisoft’s surprise original game Kingdom Battle. The game looks appropriately bizarre and a lot of fun. Another game that looks brilliantly bizarre is WarioWare: Get it Together, the latest in the minigame collection series that now adds two-player modes and is released on 10th September.
Shin Megami Tensei V is a very different kind of sequel. Originally mentioned in the Nintendo Switch announcement event, we now know that the game will finally be available on 12th November. Then there’s Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, the first Monster Hunter game to come to the Switch since the hugely successful Monster Hunter Rise earlier this year. This game will be released on 9th July.
Brilliant Blasts from the Past
The Direct featured some new announcements of old games. There was Mario Party Superstars, a new Mario Party game featuring classic minigames and boards. There was also Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, which actually released on 25th June. Then, for the fans, Nintendo announced the release of a complete reboot of two classic games, Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2. We also learned that the original Life is Strange games are coming to the hybrid system later this year in the Remastered Collection. Additionally, the new game in the series, Life is Strange: True Colours, will be releasing on the Switch on 10th September.
Nintendo’s Noticeable Non-announcements
There were a number of things that were conspicuous by their absence from Nintendo’s showing at E3, or in any of their other general announcements this last month. Firstly, there was no reference to new Switch hardware. There have been endless rumours about a so-called Switch ‘Pro’ console. Many were convinced we were to hear about it this last month. This wasn’t to be the case.
Also missing from any news was the now seemingly mythical Metroid Prime Trilogy. There was also no updates the development of Bayonetta 3. There were rumours that the team behind Super Mario Odyssey had been working on a new Donkey Kong game that was due to be announced in the Direct. Nope! Also, there was no reference to any of the existing Zelda HD remakes being ported over to Switch. In fact, they almost seemed to rule this out. Although, I personally wouldn’t rule out a specific Zelda Direct sometime after the release of Skyward Sword in July.
One Last Thing
So, overall this month has given us a lot to look forward to. We now know there are a lot of very interesting titles coming to Nintendo’s hybrid platform this year - Metroid Dread, Shin Megami Tensei V and others all offer the prospect of great gaming ahead. And the appearance of the trailer for the still-unnamed sequel to Breath of the Wild will be enough to keep many going.
What did you think of Nintendo’s E3 presentation? What games stood out for you? Also, will you be going for a round of Mario Golf this summer? And will you be designing your own gaming masterpieces in the Game Builder Garage? Let us know over on Zatu’s social media feeds, where you can join in the conversation.
James Holden is a writer and nerd. He tweets as @CulturalWriter. You can find more information about his work on his website.