Header art by Empanada.
It’s been a few years since Nintendo has decided to eschew a traditional press conference at E3 in favor of a pre-recorded mashup. The beauty of this formula is that all of the extra fluff associated with a conference is pushed aside, so that the focus can be shifted to what we all tune in to see – the games.
At the same time, it made covering the E3 Nintendo Direct a challenge.
All the games!
This year, Nintendo went all out showing nearly every single game it has slated to come out over the course of this, and next, year. At least, it felt that way.
Here is every game Nintendo mentioned:
- Daemon X Machina (2019)
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna ~ The Golden Country (9/2018)
- Super Mario Party (10/5/2018)
- Fire Emblem Three Houses (Spring 2019)
- Fortnite (Today as of 10 am)
- Overcooked! 2 (8/7/2018)
- Killer Queen Black (2018)
- Hollow Knight (Available today)
- Octopath Traveler (releases July 15, with a demo available June 14th)
- Starlink Battle for Atlas (10/16)
- Arena of Valor (Fall 2018)
- Minecraft (6/21/2018)
- Sushi Striker (Available now)
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Donkey Kong Adventure (6/26/2018)
- Pixark (Fall 2018)
- Just Dance 2019 (10/23/2018)
- DragonBall Fighter Z (2018)
- Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion (Summer 2018)
- Captain Toad Treasure Trackers (7/13/2018)
- Crash Bandicoot NSane Trilogy (6/29/2018)
- Ninjala (Spring 2019)
- Carcassonne (Holiday 2018)
- FIFA 2018 World Cup Update (Available now)
- FIFA 2019 (9/20/2018)
- ARK Survival Evolved (Fall 2018)
- Wasteland 2 Director’s Cut (Fall 2018)
- Paladins Champions of the Realm (Available now)
- Fallout Shelter (Available now)
- Dark Souls Remastered (Summer 2018)
- SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy (9/7/2018)
- Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (9/28/2018)
- Wolfenstein II The New Colossus (6/29/2018)
- The World Ends With You Final Remix (Fall 2018)
- Megaman 11 (10/2/2018)
- Mario Tennis Aces (6/22/2018)
Pokemon
Nintendo took the opportunity to remind us all about the two Pokemon games announced earlier in the year – Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee.
Both games take the player through the Kanto region with either Pikachu or Eevee by their side. For the first time ever, these games allow co-op and battle mode on the same system. And, Pokemon can be imported from Pokemon Go. There’s even a new controller called the Pokeball Plus that can be used like a joycon controller. A Pokemon can be loaded inside of the ball to be taken anywhere. And anyone who buys one gets a free Mewtwo!
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate
Nintendo spent most of their conference talking about the new Smash Brothers game. While over half of the 43 minute conference revolved around the game, there are a few important take aways:
- Every fighter from every Smash game will appear in this one, announced with the tagline: “Everyone is Here!”.
- Nintendo took the time to go over many of the changes made to each hero and how it will affect the way they play.
- They revealed that the game would be compatible with Gamecube controllers!
- All Amiibo figures are also compatible with the game.
- They announced a brand new character – Ridley (an antagonist from the Metroid game series)
- Finally, the game releases December 7, 2018!
Short but sweet
Even though the E3 version of Nintendo Direct was shorter than any of the other conferences, it almost feels like they covered far more. I strongly suggest that if you’re interested in any of the games mentioned above (especially Pokemon and Smash Brothers), you check out Nintendo Direct: E3 2018 for yourself. As always, Nintendo is continuing it’s drive to deliver loads of fantastic content to everyone who owns, and loves, the Nintendo Switch!
