E3 2012: Examining Nintendo’s 3 Big Announcements

By Charlie Oldfield / June 12, 2013

Nintendo have no physical presence at E3 this year, instead choosing to stream a virtual conference across the internet. This was a smart move by Nintendo, as poor Wii-U sales mean they didn€™t really want to spend the thousands of dollars necessary to host a live conference at the LA event, especially when they already knew both Sony and Microsoft would overshadow them due to the current hype surrounding the PS4 and Xbone (a nickname the console thoroughly deserves). With Sony€™s body-slam on Microsoft still fresh in our minds from Monday, Nintendo€™s presentation came across as a little bit underwhelming. Despite the Wii being €˜the winner€™ of the current console generation, the Wii-U has provoked a remarkably small amount of interest, leaving the E3 show with a much smaller audience than that received by the two rival companies€™ presentations. Nevertheless, some interesting stuff did come out of the event, so for those of you who didn€™t manage to catch it (and let€™s face it, that€™s most of you), here€™s a rundown of the most notable parts...

3. A New Super Smash Bros is Coming

That€™s right, Super Smash Bros, one of the most popular brawler franchises ever made, is getting a new title on the Wii-U and 3DS. Super Smash Bros Melee was possible the only decent game on the GameCube, and Brawl was a pretty strong sequel, so the announcement of Super Smash Bros (which currently doesn€™t have a suffix) has already stirred up a fair amount of anticipation.

A few characters were confirmed for the game, including newcomers Mega Man, a cult classic who hasn€™t had a game of his own in some time, Villager, the main character from the quirky Animal Crossing series, and the Wii Fit Trainer, the strange featureless character from Wii Fit that demonstrates Yoga movements. The announcement videos show a few attacks for each character, but it€™s the Wii Fit Trainer that looks to have the most interesting set, comprised of what looks like different types of stretches and exercises.

Mario, Kirby, Link, Donkey Kong, Samus, Bowser, Pikachu, Pit, and Fox have all been confirmed to return, with at least six other characters set to be revealed before release. There€™s no indication yet as to whether these will be new additions to the cast or characters that appeared in the previous games, but it€™s safe to assume they€™ll be at least a couple more Pokémon in there somewhere.

The Wii-U edition looks pretty similar to Brawl in terms of graphics, and the gameplay€™s probably not too different from its predecessors either, but hopefully the developers have added enough new features to keep the experience feeling fresh.