Nintendo's E3 2018- The Hype Train

E3 seems particularly special this year.

With Nintendo on such a roll at the moment with not a whole lot of details about what the future holds revealed I can’t think of an E3 in recent memory with this much hype. A Smash Bros roster shrouded in almost complete mystery on fuels that speculation fire.

That being said, we have been let down before and to be honest there’s been more underwhelming E3s as of late than great ones.

So I’ve decided to write not one, not two, not four, but three lists today. Firstly my real prediction list- what I expect Nintendo to show based on the current speculation and what is realistic. Second is my dream list- if I was the boss of Nintendo just now, this is what I’d be getting my employees to work on.

Lastly and most depressingly will be the worst case scenario list- the E3 that if happened would probably make me sell my Switch.

So without a further ado here’s list 1, the actual prediction-

Some standard Nintendo direct music to start and as the ‘E3 direct 2018’ text disappears we see and hear that characteristic sword swish associated with whenever there was about to be a character reveal in Smash 4. A slightly updated version of the Smash 4 theme starts to play and quite a standard looking gameplay trailer starts to play on Smash Bros Switch that on the base looks very similar to the Wii U version. There’s Mario, Kirby, Pikachu- smashing it out. But ooh there’s Breath of The Wild Link and Zelda on a stage that looks like The Great Plateu. The next shot is a close up of one of the inklings tossing an ink grenade on a large inkopolis level. It still looks very much like what came before but when you look closer you start to notice little touches- an Odysee stage, a cappy item. The ice climbers are back.

It looks like the trailer ends but then we see Shulk running through a Xenoblade looking stage before he suddenly has to shield himself from a firey blast. The camera pans round- there’s Rex and Pyra from Xenoblade 2. They go to fight- we freeze frame and we continue with the direct.

A small introduction from Reggie then some quickfire segments similar to their mini directs. Here we see-

More on Mario Tennis Aces

Mario and Rabbids Donkey Kong DLC, maybe footage of a cool looking boss fight and a release date.

Is the new cross platform Minecraft out yet? If not, that.

Octopath traveller.

A new Mario Party for Switch! It seems to be a mix of the recent games and the more traditional games with individual turns and less car nonsense.

A few other independent titles with release dates.

Into our second big segment. Fire Emblem. Not knowing the series too well I don’t know what to expect but there’ll be detailed gameplay and story details ending with a Winter 2018 release date.

Back into quickfire mode.

Pokemon Lets Go! gets a smallish segment showcasing mostly what was in the previous trailer but with a few more surprise details.

Footage of the new single player Splatoon 2 campaign with release date.

Some 3Ds games no one really cares about.

A small segment on Yoshi.

The thumbnail for the next segment is a question mark. A cinematic starts to play. Darkness- but with a pulsing glow from off screen. It intensifies with a bassy rumble. We see a figure looking completely beat, slouched against a metal wall. Samus Aran. Some thumping, a loud bang and then she starts to run towards the camera- the area she’s in is being destroyed by some huge creature from the outside. She straddles bits of falling debris, blasts parasites in her way as she runs. The breathing intensifies as the creature on the outside gets closer and closer and…fade to black.

The Metroid Prime music plays slowly and quietly. Metroid Prime 4- 2019.

Nothing more said about prime 4 but back to Bill Trinen or someone else who introduces our next big reveal- Animal Crossing Switch! Gameplay is shown with a voiceover, it looks similar to new leaf but prettier. The new thing this time is you can get a job- we see a villager farming turnips in one section. One running a clothes shop in another. Animal Crossing Job Related Subtitle coming Q4 2018.

The last round of quickfire.

Mario Odyssey DLC. As many as 3 new kingdoms and a season pass. We have a quick look at a level with lots of slides down a mountain similar to Cool Cool Mountain in Mario 64 but bigger- Peguin Mario is seen sliding down said slides. In Another scene there’s a haunted level- there’s Boo Mario floating down a twisting corridor. Finally the biggy- there’s Delfino Plaza. Mario is seen kicking about fruit and in another he’s wondering round as a Pianta. All this will be Summer, Autumn and Winter DLC.

Bayonetta 3. Full trailer.

Some 3^rd party surprises including something from Bethesda- a Fall Out 4 port possibly.

Fortnite is shown. Probably Fifa 19.

We’re reminded that Crash Bandicoor NSane Trilogy is coming soon and then it’s confirmed The Spyro trilogy is coming soon as well.

A trailer starts to play. A Pikmin is seen running away from a large Bulborb holding a large coin. The bulborb suddenly falls over and the Pikmin with the coin escapes. Some laughing orange Pikmin suddenly appear who have been camouflaged and holding a chain of themselves to trip the Bulborb up. We then get an ace gameplay trailer of Pikmin 4 and it looks amazing. Different environment, mad looking boss fights and puzzles. Pikmin 4 coming Q1 2019.

Reggie thanks us for watching and reminds us treehouse live starts immedietly after this presentation. ‘We do however have one final surprise for you today. Take a look and we’ll see you soon in Treehouse Live’.

Peach’s castle music plays- we’re in one of the rooms of a Mario 64 esque plaza. Mario and Peach watch as some toads hang a new picture on the wall. Mario and Peach nod in approval. They suddenly have a look of concern however. The picture is one of a jungle and it has started to ripple. Slightly. A character is then thrown out of the picture to everyones surprise landing face down on the floor. Mario and Peach go to investigate and the character looks up looking dazed with a famous ‘woah’.

Crash Bandicoot is revealed to be the next playable character in Smash. Another 10 seconds of quick gameplay showing him fight various Nintendo characters is shown before a final Smash Brothers title appears with the release date of October 26^th 2018.

Reading that back I might be a little hopeful. That being said- here’s the dream list-

It starts with a Smash trailer. But not any old Smash trailer, a fully orchestrated epic new theme in the vein of Melees or Brawls. All cinematics, not even gameplay of Nintendo characters in their environments and before we know it bam there’s new characters left right and centre. Shit was that just Captain Toad?! Rex and Pyra! Nice! RIDLEY! It ends spectacularly with Mario and Link throwing down with out of nowhere- Travis Touchdown and Shovel Night- SUUUPER SMASH BRATHERS LEGACY!

A man can hope

We’re given details about Smash- extensive story mode conformed with cutscenes and giant boss fights. Tag mode is confirmed where you can switch between 2 characters on the fly. We’re promised more details to follow…

Mario Tennis Aces, Fire Emblem, Octopath traveller all shown..for 3 seconds each as they scroll across the background. Everything we know lots about already is saved for Treehouse Live.

Instead comes the previously mentioned Pikmin 4 I detailed in the predictions.

The quick fire reveals will actually be reveals. I’ll take that Mario Party. Sure throw Fortnite in quickly. That new New More Heroes game? Yeah it was just a warm up for No More Heroes 3.

Then comes that Metroid trailer. Some gameplay is shown after of an early boss fight and it looks stunning. The background shown is confirmed to actually be a stage in Smash Brothers where we see a bit more of Ridley.

The aforementioned Animal Crossing game is shown but only quickly. It’s heavily online focussed as well though and much bigger than any other Animal Crossing.

Speaking of exceeding expectations here comes the Pokemon Lets Go section and it actually looks a lot more complex and deep than we first thought. There are big episodes of story that are similar to the anime. The actual size of the game is double that of Yellow just due to the extra storylines and things to do.

Pokemon Snap 2 announced, why not, it’s my dream list.

And that rumoured Star Fox Grand Prix game, it’s real. It looks like Diddy Kong Racing with F-Zero style racing in Arwings, Tanks and Subs. You know what, make it an F-Zero crossover. Those 2 universes could work together.

All the Mario Odyssey DLC confirmed with playable Luigi, Wario and Waluigi.

Ports revelaed that I just want. Fallout, Cuphead even though it’s an Xbox exclusive. We’re also getting Red Dead 2. And Kingdom Hearts.

Reggie thanks us for watching and touches on a few other things happening in the world of Nintendo. We’re shown a still of the new Mario movie. A few new concept images from the upcoming Nintendo theme parks and a little from Mario Kart Tour on IOS and Android. ‘Thank you and we’ll see you in Treehouse Live’.

Peach’s castle, Toads hanging a picture etc. Some more Toads appear though, they have another picture too. As well as that jungle picture there’s a picture of some rolling hills peppered with sheep…and crystal dragons.

Two characters tumble out the pictures. Crash looks up with a ‘woah’…as Spyro the f**king dragon shakes himself off and the montage of them fighting the Nintendo giants starts.

Super Smash Brothers Legacy. September 21^st 2018. Mystery amiibo packaged with each game. Free demo available on e-shop from today.

A few notable exceptions from that list. No Zelda, it’s too early. And we can save Pokemon Gen 8 for late 2019 as previously stated.

And finally. The worst possible outcome.

We start with Smash. It’s a port of Smash 4 and looks identical. There’s no new characters other than the Inklings. Then shock- the big reveal at the end. Ice Climbers. No one really cares.

They talk about Smash for ages. A full rundown of the Inkling moves set. Loads and loads of details about The Ice Climbers and existing characters. An Odyssey stage is shown and it’s a static Battlefield clone.

An entire 10 minutes of Mario Tennis Aces. A further 5 on Octopath Traveller and 5 on DLC for Mario and Rabbids and Splatoon 2.

We look at the Pokemon Lets Go trailer again- it’s the same but with a voiceover. Battling is a simplified version of what it is in mainline Pokemon games. It all looks incredibly underwhelming.

Fortnite is shown with a lot of fanfare. Some other small independent titles are given huge importance.

A Mario Maker port is given 5 whole minutes.

Reggie appears. ‘Thank you for joining us. Now for one final surprise’. Dark mysterious trailer starts. Excitement mounts. It’s Fire Emblem. They show some overly complicated battle mechanics for a trailer. The trailer ends with a message saying that the new character no one knows about yet in Fire Emblem will feature is Smash and the Treehouse will start with them playing that character.

Happy E3 everyone. See you on the other side.