There’s been way more stuff shown off at E3 for Nintendo than I was expecting this year. I was really just expecting the new Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild (I’ll have a separate post about that later) and nothing else. Thankfully, Nintendo actually decided to show off some other stuff. I’m not going to cover all of it, just what I thought was interesting. There’s some that only got trailers and some that got gameplay video footage. If they have both, I’ll throw in both videos. Sit back and enjoy!
Dragon Quest VII
This is something that a lot of people didn’t think was going to happen. It’s been out in Japan since February 7th, 2103 and, up until a few months ago, Square Enix never mentioned it coming out here. This latest trailer shows the release date September 16th which is only three months away! It went from Square Enix having no intention of localizing it to, thanks to constant nudging from fans, being only a few short months away.
This version streamlines the original Playstation version and makes it a bit more accessible. I gave up on the original because, call me superficial, it was ugly as hell and took forever to really get going. It’ll be nice to get to give this entry a fair shake in a few months.
Ever Oasis
A new RPG from Grezzo, the studio that ported The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask to the 3DS, Ever Oasis looks like it adds in some town building, dungeon crawling, party building, and puzzle solving. Looks like one to watch. No release date yet on this one.
BoxBoxBoy
A sequel to BoxBoy, a puzzle platfomer that came out on the 3DS in April 2015 is due out now. If the first one was your thing (I enjoyed the hell out of it and I’m not that into puzzle or platform games), it’s definitely one to grab up when it releases June 30th.
Jotun: Valhalla Edition
This was already released on Steam, but this will be coming to the Wii U (as well as the Playstation 4 and Xbox One) sometime this summer. Reminds me a bit of Titan Souls. I’ll definitely be giving it a go!
Paper Mario: Color Splash
Vanessa and I waxed about how cool the Paper Mario games. While I don’t think either of us still think it’s going to save the Wii U, I do think I’ll pick it up. With a release date of October 7th, it is really the only major release anywhere near the holiday season. Hopefully it picks up some sales because of that.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
While Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is not strictly going to be on a Nintendo platform (it’s also releasing on the Playstation 4 and Vita), the Shantae games have alway been linked with Nintendo consoles. The first was on the Game Boy Color and later on the 3DS Virtual Console, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge originally released as a DSi Ware title (a director’s cut came to Steam, Playstation 4, and Wii U), Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse was on the 3DS first, with a Wii U port coming a few months later and a Playstation 4, Steam, and Xbox One version coming a few months after that. You’d be forgiven for thinking of it as a Nintendo title. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is being published by XSEED Games and developed, as always, by WayForward Technologies. It’s scheduled to be released September 27th.
Pokémon GO
Here’s what has the most intrigued. Pokémon GO is a smartphone game that will allow you to capture Pokémon on your phone. The original generation of Pokémon will be available to catch when it releases in July with more generations added through updates.
The below pictured Pokémon GO Plus is a wearable device that will let you know when Pokémon are nearby for you to catch. It will release in late July and be priced at $34.99.
I don’t know how far I’m willing to drive to “catch ’em all,” but hopefully the spacing of them won’t be ridiculous. It’d be weird for a then 34 year old man to be driving all over town (or further) to catch Pokémon on my iPhone, right? Probably going to do it anyway.
Pokémon Sun and Moon
I don’t know how much selling you need on a new Pokémon game. If you like Pokémon, you’ll probably get it anyway. You can watch a trailer showing it off if you were, for whatever reason, on the fence about it. Don’t forget your Pokémon from the 3DS Virtual Console releases of Pokémon Blue, Pokémon Red, and Pokémon Yellow can be transferred to Pokémon Sun and Moon through the Pokémon Bank.
