E3 2016: 4 Ups & 7 Downs From Nintendo's Treehouse

Zelda steals the show (duh).

Nintendo Zelda Mario
Nintendo

In recent times, Nintendo have eschewed the usual lavish E3 press conference in favour of their own smaller, more intimate Nintendo Direct and Treehouse livestreams, and 2016 was no exception.

The bulk of their presence at the show consisted of two days of Treehouse livestreams, where they showed off a fleet of new games and, of course, the big one everyone came to see: the new Legend of Zelda.

Intermittently entertaining though it was, their mixed bag of presentations this year really just made a lot of Nintendo fans pine for the fully-fledged conferences of yesteryear. Instead, the result was a combination of fanboy glee sandwiched in-between a lot of filler and questionable content.

Here are 4 ups and 7 downs from Nintendo's E3 2016 Treehouse conferences...

--

- Downs -

7. Paper Mario: Color Splash Still Looks Bad

Paper Mario Color Splash
Nintendo

Paper Mario: Color Splash was first revealed in a March Nintendo Direct and almost immediately attracted a negative response from fans, primarily for following the lead of Sticker Star and toning down the RPG elements.

The hate was so vitriolic that a petition called for it to be cancelled, but alas, it's still plowing towards its October release date all the same.

Sadly, while its appearance during day 2 of Nintendo's E3 livestream could've been a PR offensive to fan away criticism, it actually resulted in fans doubling down on their hatred.

What's to complain about, then? The gameplay footage just reminded us that there's no XP, no open world, no partners, and you have to use cards to battle.

In short, Nintendo would've been better off showing nothing from the game, because all this did was further explain to fans why they don't want to buy it in the first place. Yikes.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.