A Quick E3 Prediction

It's Nintendo's E3 tomorrow and, as per, I'm super hyped. I'll unfortunately miss it live but will hopefully go in spoiler-free a few hours later. 

I wasn't too impressed with them last year but my Timehop tells me that 2 years ago I was blown away. So I hope they might be following a good year - bad year pattern which would of course make this year a good one. 

Here's my quick predictions. 

It starts with a Star Fox trailer and it looks great. We'll then get shown how we fly the Arwings using the Gamepad before announcing the range of Starfox Amiibo that will all be available before Christmas. 

Realistic Graphics like above

Then some filler- maybe Yoshi's Wooly World and another Pokemon spinoff before going into more detail about the leaked Hyrule Warriors 3DS game. 

After that will come the new Animal Crossing Wii U announcment complete with Amiibo set. 

We'll get some Splatoon DLC afer that, first showing some new original arenas before announcing a Mario Sunshine inspired level. At a guess Delfino Plaza. 

This will segway nicely into the Super Mario Sunshine HD announcement. 

Then will come the third-party and indie game sizzle reel and maybe a bit more on Xenoblade X and the new Fire Emblem. 

A quick reminder of existing DLC for Smash brothers and Mario kart while announcing Pack 3 for Mario Kart 8 made up of 'expert' tracks. 

A wee bit more on Mario Maker including the new Amiibo for the 30th anniversary. 

And it'll end on an almighty high- the reveal of a 2D Metroid game on 3DS - Metroid Dread- the game that everyone wants. 

These are of course predictions. If I was to add to the wishlist I'd ask for some F-Zero as well. And I wouldn't say no to Mario galaxy 3 or some more Zelda footage- even though Ninty have said themselves these won't be happening. 

Tomorrow can't come soon enough!

The Smiler Incident

As I arrived home from my holiday after a week of fun at the beach and riding rollercoasters at Portaventura I immediately came face to face with news articles that made me feel physically sick. At first 'Alton Towers Rollercoaster Crash' sounded like a clickbait title, Nemesis would be stuck at the top of it's lift hill or something. But it became apparent that something serious had happened and it made me question the absolute faith I have, in terms of health and safety, in Merlin (who own Alton Towers as well as Thorpe Park, London Dungeons etc) and the theme park industry in general.

The Technicalities

For those still a little unclear on what happened on Tuesday, one of the The Smiler's trains slammed full force into the back of another train that had failed to make it all the way round the track. It's the equivalent of a car rear-ending another in a queue of traffic possibly made worse if the car in front actually had some backwards momentum as well.

Obviously rides of this scale and complexity have fail-safe system to prevent this type of thing happening but in the case of The Smiler these fail-safe devices...failed.

Rollercoasters nowadays are built in sections where a train can only enter the next section of track after sensors on the rides give the all-clear to say there is nothing blocking the track ahead. They act like the red and green traffic lights at the top of water slides.

For one of these to fail is the equivalent of a lift door failing to stop closing even though there is a body in the way and crushing that person. It just doesn't happen yet through some bizarre error the sensors have malfunctioned here and let one train through into a section of track even though the track wasn't clear.

The other puzzling question is why didn't the empty train in front make it round to make it roll back and block the track? If i was to speculate I'd imagine something must have been jammed in the wheels or on the track to slow it to such a speed that it couldn't make it all the way round the inversion.

Due to the complexity of the Smiler's track it became very dangerous to remove the passengers from the train as the safety mechanism holding them in was doing the job it was supposed to do. Coupled with the height and angle the trains were in it made an evacuation very difficult- if the incident had happened on a lift hill or somewhere more likely to have a ride error I'd imagine the evacuation would have gone much smoother.

The Industry

A crash of this scale has a knock on effect on not just Alton Towers but the theme park industry in general. People go on rollercoasters to feel fear without actually being in any real danger. Widely reported-on incidents like this make that faux-danger feel more real therefore ruining the experience of the rollercoaster.

As much as it pains me to say it I think this might be the end for The Smiler. It's a great shame for a number of reasons; firstly as it was as rollercoaster-god John Wardley's last project he worked on and was something he was especially proud of. After milestones such as Nemesis, Oblivion and Stampida in Spain his last masterpiece now carries with it a nasty reputation. The Smiler is a rollercoaster achievement- it's a genuine shame that it will probably not re-open, in it's current state anyhow.

Any chance of another coaster project at Alton Towers happening in the near future is wiped clean off the table. How do you advertise a scary looking ride so soon after an incident that brought with it real danger. Less people would ride the Saw ride at Thorpe Park if the blood up the walls was actually real.

This is a real blow for Alton Towers who will have to re-do all their theming and landscaping that went along with The Smiler. It's not a simple case of packing it all up and starting again like a travelling fun fair- The Smiler was supposed to be there for decades.

I don't know much about the stock market but I know what kind of effect this has had on Merlin. To clarify this just isn't Alton Towers's problem- it's also Thorpe park, Lego Land, Chessington as well as many attractions around the world. Their reputation has taken a beating. When you hear about an incident happening at a rickety old fun fair you can half understand why. This is the equivelent of finding half a mouse in your risotto at The Ritz. Merlin are world-class in the theme park world- you don't expect it to happen.

The Stigma

Perhaps worst of all is what this crash does to the public's opinion on theme parks in general. I've already seen a headline 'do you let your children ride rollercoasters?' as well as 'Are rollercoasters safe?'. In regards the second article I have the answer- yes. Rollercoasters are safe but nothing in this world is ever 100%. They could write a headline 'Do you let your children go on aeroplanes?' since in the past there have been plane crashes. It's just unfortunate that this 0.00000000001% incident of rollercoaster malfunction has happened at such a reputable theme park.

I urge people to continue to support Alton Towers and continue to ride rollercoasters. There's no way I can defend what happened on the 2nd of June 2015 but so much health and safety go into these rides that the chances of an incident happening is still ridiculously slim (although as has been shown still technically possible).

A dark time for rollercoasters but a time in which the industry and Merlin in particular can hopefully recover from.

The art and joy that come from incredible theme park rides is too grand to be killed by just one incident, no matter how gut-wrenching it was.

Nintendo Land - It's Finally Happening

Nintendo and theme parks. These are the two things in life I get a little fanatical about. For years I've always wondered how cool a Nintendo Theme Park would be. In 2012 I thought my dreams might be realised as 'Nintendo Land' was announced which actually turned out to be a mini-game collection on Wii U. But then today it happened- announced by no other company than Universal freakin studios. It's a match made in heaven and it's got my head running at 100mph with ideas and speculation of what the real Nintendo Land will look like.

I've got a good idea how Universal will do this but I may of course be completely wrong. As this news has come out the immediate thing people think of is a mario rollercoaster but this doesn't make much sense. Mario is a huge hit with kids so building a 100mph launch coaster with a 1.4m height limit with Mario's face on the side is pretty unlikely. They're also working on a Kong thrill ride over at Jurassic Park so it's likely Nintendo land will be family-aimed.

What I think might happen is that Nintendo Land will take over the bottom right side of the Islands of Adventure map.

This area here

But wait! What about Seuss Landing?! Universal need their colourful kid friendly mascots and merchandise. Who could possibly relate to the kid market like The Cat In the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 do?

I dunno? These 2 maybe?

For the most part the bright colours of Seuss Landings are not dissimilar to those found in the Mario games as well as similar kid-friendly franchises like Kirby. Therefore rather than all new rides I feel a re-theming of the rides in Seuss Landings will be in order. Let's take each ride one by one.

The Cat In The Hat - Super Mario Spin World!

Islands of Adventures's main ride for young kids in the park would become an animatronic heavy mario dark ride. The ride would go scene to scene through the mushroom kingdom stomping on goombas and hitting coin blocks as they chase a massive animatronic-bowser complete with fire breath. Well not fire but that steamy smoke stuff that get's sprayed in your face in a lot of Universal rides. Nintendo Land's e-ticket while not being the most thrill-packed ride in the park.

Caraseussel- The Yoshi-Go-Round

Let us remember Pina Park from Mario Sunshine- the original Nintendo theme park.

This couldn't make more sense.

One Fish Two Fish - Kirby's Super Stars

Another one for the little kids with the mascot whose games are aimed solely at them (for the most part). One Fish Two Fish is a standard Dumbo the Elephant spin ride so they could just turn the fish into little shooting stars and stick Kirby up top with a few Waddle Dees and such round the sides.


Seuss Trolley Train Ride- Pokemon Eye-Spy

The fun of the Seuss trolley comes from spotting the little characters scattered round the ride that are maybe a little harder to find. Relace the obscure Seuss characters with Pokemon and you've got a fun gentle super re-ridable ride on your hands. Gotta spot em' all! A real life pokemon snap.

Give us areal life version of this and a Wii u sequel pliz

Meet and greets with Nintendo favorites will also be scattered round the area. Who wouldn't want a picture with Mario, Link and Pikachu.

This is all very good for the young kids in the park but what about those looking for something with a little more excitement- something that isn't kids-based? Not all Nintendo fans are under 12 of course. This is where we move out of Seuss Landings and look towards The Lost Continent which is right next door. There's a little attraction there called Poseidon's Fury; a led walkthrough through a grand temple where guests work out the mysteries and puzzles inside and ends in a massive climatic battle filled with special effects.

Sounds familiar doesn't it.

Poseidon's Fury - The Legend of Zelda: Ganon's Fury

Guests enter the temple which is already conveniently built and are led through a series of new clever puzzles and rooms with special effects that ends with a battle with Ganondorf. It's the attraction at Universal that best mirrors the Zelda dungeon experience and the firey end-battle with Ganon would be quite spectacular.

Add a triforce and this tired attraction suddenly gets a whole new lease of life.

On a more boring note the setting of Hyrule would blend itself in perfectly with the entrance to The Wizarding World. The whole flow of the park would be improved.


This leaves the area with Sinbad's Stunt Show and franchise-wise Metroid and Star Fox. I suppose Fire Emblem could have some representation but characters from that could maybe just meet people occasionally in Hyrule.

So as just a wild idea- the area where the stunt show is held could be turned into a Star Tours style simulator featuring both Star Fox and Metroid elements. A few years ago there was that Metroid Star Fox crossover rumour so this is where it could be realized.

More likely- A Zelda stunt show- horse back riding, grapple hook swinging, sword fighting- t'would be quite the show.


So there's my predictions for Nintendo Land. Time to get saving for a ticket to Orlando I think.

I watch Disney's A Country Coyote Goes To Hollywood and write my thoughts

Here we go, Walt Disney, what could go wrong.

Opening credits over the walk of fame. Huge nostalge back to California. It's barely changed other than the big old Hooters across the street.
They're now singing a fun little song about Hollywood while coyotes howl along. AND THERE'S A FUCKING RACOON IN THE SWIMMING POOL!

Yep this is ace. The coyotes continue to go off their heads in time to the music.
The narrator is calling the coyote a coyOTE. Not coyoteeee. The film's first downside.
They have named the coyote Chico. We're back on track.
Chico is being chased and has found a friendly van driver to save him. It's essentially footage of a coyote running wildly round the desert as the camera pans slowly towards the back of the van.
Shots now of the terrified coyote in the back of the van, it's not got a clue what's going on.

They've definitely gone through about 7 different coyotes at this stage.
They've now blasted some hot steam just feet away from Chico. He continues to look terrified.
He's now in that bit from Grease with the car chase. There are now shots of coyotes scurrying through the storm drains. These coyotes all Chico of course.
Some physical humour as Chico steals a golfers golf ball. This amuses me more than it should.

The film makers now attempt to try and choke Chico with the gold ball. I'm guessing the coyote count at this point must be about 20 deep.
He's on the Hollywood sign now.
GASP. A possible love interest for Chico now. That looks exactly like Chico himself.
It's being made to look like he's met some friends and they're all getting on. Pretty adorable.
There are quite obviously production team members waving sticks and shouting at these coyotes so they run in the right direction.
They've trained the coyotes to open bottles. This is actually quite impressive. If there was a Chico the coyote show at Disneyland I'd definitely watch it.

It's gone a bit GTA5 now as the coyotes plan a heist on a house in the LA hills.
A coyote is a cross between a fox and a dog I've realized. The Fox and the Hound acts as this films prequel.
More chasing from the dog from Tom and Jerry. Well more Marmaduke. It's sad to know that that dog almost definitely caught that coyote a few times during filming.

More shots of the coyotes running about together as if they're friends. Cute.
Great shots of them now smoking out random animals. HOLY SHIT! They just set fire to a harmless toad?! Poor thing.
Actually, what happened to the ace raccoon from the intro? I was expecting him to play a major part.
Surprisingly tense scenes as it looks like Chico and pals may be burnt alive. More smoke is blown into their face. Real whimpering is heard.

Luckily one of the coyotes has manned a fire fighting plane and is putting out the fire. And they're now pouring some kind of toxic powder stuff directly onto the coyotes. Coyote count at this stage - 50.
OH- there's the love interest.
The music is getting a bit sexy. It's getting a bit weird.
They're adorably kissing and jumping around each other now. Everything but the humping.

'And that was Chico's que to pop the question'. Film of the year. Chris certified.
Now immediate baby Chicos. Chico's wife has baggage obviously.
My god. The story is now legit that the girl coyote was a whore who was only interested in dumping her children on the man. #reallifesatire.
Quite majestic looking animals. Animals that would almost definitely rip you apart if you went near them.
The humans are now trying to trap the coyotes. The coyotes are too clever obviously though.
Aaaand they've caught him.

It's fine though as whore-coyote's kids are trying to help him.
Oh wait they've failed.
Here comes the human to put the coyote out of it's misery and end the film. Genuine feels.
They're driving away with him in the cage. Oh noooo.
Being Disney the human was actually good and Chico has been returned home.
But he's had a taste of Hollywood! He wants to go back. Reminds me a bit of me last summer.
Oh shit there's now a van going to San Francissco. Please let there be a sequel.
O wait not San Fran. NEW YORK!

And so ends a Country Coyote Goes To Hollywood. Excellent ending, Excellent film.

My film month - January '15

Stop it everyone, stop being sad I don't write film reviews all the time any more. I fell behind and failed to catch up. 

But wait. Is this me starting up the review site again? Is this the beginning of a new era of film reviews?!?!?

Sadly not, well kinda. I'm going to write about the films this January though because my god it's been good. Taken 3, American Sniper...I saw neither of them. I did however see the following.

The Theory of Everything started the year on a high. It could have easily been very pandering and have an arseload of forced emotion. LOOK HOW SAD HIS LIFE IS! etc. But it came naturally. Like Tom Hanks as Disney in Mr.Banks, Eddie Redmayne just became Stephen Hawking, I had to remind myself at times it wasn't actually the man himself. He deserves an Oscar. If the Oscars made any sense.

And it was emotional. Good emotional though though, it came naturally. There's slowish bit but there's not much the film makers can do about that when it's the guy's actual life, we all have uneventful times. 

The very same day I saw Into The Woods. It's fairly split opinion but I thought it was really great. The first 2 thirds anyway. The atmosphere was perfect for the type of musical it was. And the songs for the most part were very enjoyable, highlights being Agony, Stay With Me and the stunning 15 minute opening epic. Without spoiling it, it'd be a perfect experience if it ended at the part that made sense. The stuff after that all got a bit muddled but it was my no means terrible. Excellent start, meh finish, not enough to ruin a great movie musical.

Speaking of Disney they can do no wrong at the moment. Big Hero 6 is fantastic. It's not Frozen but still very much Wreck It Ralph which is no bad thing. It was a Disney, Marvel movie featuring Fall Out Boy music. if it was set in a Zelda themed theme park it'd be my entire life. 

The animation short at the beginning was as per worth price of admission alone. Disney put every other animation studio to shame just now, no exceptions. 

Topping off the month was  Kingsman The Secret Service which was a mix of the Alex Rider books, Kick Ass and a James Bond parody. And it was near perfection. Not often a film can make you laugh out loud hard one minute while leaving you open mouthed at impossible looking action the next. The action moves along like a freight train (METAPHORS!) and every plot setting scene is immediately followed by some incredible looking ridiculousness. It takes some brave twists and turns too. Highly recommended. 

inconcuushion

The Theory of Everything - 8

Into The Woods - 8

Big Hero 6 - 9

The Kingsman - 9

I might make this a monthly thing, shall see in next month. February so far has The Interview and the main event- 50 Shades of Grey. Not tried my hand at a porn review before so should be interesting. 

Top 10 Films I Watched in 2014

Well it's not E3 so it must be a top 10 films list!

For me 2014 was a bit disappointing film-wise. Or so I thought before compiling the list of movies for this year's countdown. If I still rated films 1-10 I wouldn't give any 10s. But there's a couple of strong 9s. And the rest are definitely 8s.

There's a few films I didn't see this year either that could have possibly made the list. Edge of Tomorrow (or the much better named Live Die Repeat) was apparently fantastic as well as  Nightcrawler and Gone Girl. This as always is just a hugely subjective, bias list of the films I saw this year. My pretend critic days are over. For now anyway.

I'll throw out a few honourable mentions. I saw Non-Stop recently and it was a great way to spend an afternoon. In the same way, Jack Ryan was a surprisingly fun popcorn-film.
I also really wanted to include The Hobbit Part 3 on here but sadly it just missed out. Not a bad film at all but I think it hit it's peak with Smaug in Part 2.

So with that here's the top 10 films I saw in 2014.


10.The Inbetweeners 2

I expected the worst and ended up laughing a lot more than I thought I would. Sure it's not as good as the TV show or the first film but there are definitely shades of what made The Inbetweeners so good initially all the way through this. For the sole reason that the film was so much better than what I expected, it makes it's way onto the list. The Inbetweeners have survived the their run without a single bad movie or episode.

Best bit: As much as everyone remembers the toilet humour based water slide segment, I laughed hard at the rape whistle scene. I felt it was the closest to the humour that was present in the early series.

9.The Raid 2

The Raid 2 is totally nuts and makes every western action film look a bit silly in comparison. Again while not quite as good as the first one, The Raid 2 is pretty stunning to watch. The fight scenes look completely real, I found myself asking myself again and again how people weren't actually getting hurt on set. A bit story heavy at the start but the action more than makes up for it. Brutal stuff.

Best bit: After a slow start shit starts to really go down in prison. That first fight in the mud is where you realise that you're dealing with more than just a lazy CG heavy action film.

8.The Wolf of Wall Street

A fantastic performance by Leonardo DiCaprio that makes a 3 hour run time feel like 2. And a half maybe. Yeah it's too long but it's still keeps your interest til the end. Leo's character is the such an asshole yet somehow he's remarkably cool. I kind of want to be him while at the same time properly not.

Best bit: The drug scene stands out as the films funniest moment. Jonah Hill making it all the better.

7.X-Men: Days of Future Past

The first of some great super hero films we got this year. For me it was possibly the best in the whole X-men series, great action, humour, incredible cast. The problem I find with X-Men films is that there are so many of them no one really gets a chance to shine. And while it's still the case for the most part in DOFP many of the characters such as McAvoy and Lawrence really stand out.

Best bit: The Quicksilver section while feeling a bit disjointed to the rest of the movie had a really great end pay off in the escape scene.

6.Guardians of the Galaxy

People seem to be in 2 camps with Guardians. Either the 'it was very good' camp or the 'it was EXCEPTIONALLY good!' camp. I unfortunately fall into the first but that's no bad thing. Marvel are on form once again here and I hope it's the start in a long series of films. It's a modern day (good) Star Wars, ignoring episode 7 which is coming out this year.

Best bit: The prison escape balanced action with comedy perfectly. It was chaotic, fun and a contributing factor to why it was one of the biggest box-office hits this year.

5. Mockingjay Part 1 

It's a half a film but half of a very good film. if you were worried a Hunger Games movie wouldn't work without a Hunger Games you need to worry no more. Mockingjay part 1 shifts the focus to the politics of the world they live in and the lack of action is made up for in the scenes where Katniss and district 13 prepare for the final revolution. I have high hopes for part 2.

Best bit: The actiony bit in the trailer ends up being one of the only actiony bits in the film. But it's still fantastic edge of your seat stuff. The shot of the concrete tower slowly falling over is probably my favourite in the film.

4. A Million Ways To Die In The West

It's this years controversial choice. But honestly, I've not laughed this hard at a film in a long time. I was told a lot of the jokes fall flat but for me I found myself laughing all the way through. It's like a 2 hour Family Guy special set in the wild west. I'm sure that sounds like hell for some but for me I couldn't get enough.

Best bit: The moustache song. That is all.

3. The Amazing Spiderman 2

This split opinion but I honestly thought it was one of the best Spiderman films there's been, Tobey Maguire spideys included. Andrew Garfield still plays the character perfectly and the action scenes are in my opinion pretty stunning. Electro was a great villain and as much as The Green Goblin is a bit tacked on at the end it provides the film with a fantastic ending that pulls on the heart strings. 

Best bit: The emotional end scene. Oh and the Times Square bit was very impressive. 

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel created a film that didn't put a foot wrong. It's a tricky job to follow in the footsteps of Iron man or Thor when your super power is quite unspectacular. But bringing SHIELD into the story, making Black Widow interesting and punctuating the film with some fantastic action sequences I think Captain America 2 has become one of Marvel's strongest films. Top 3 for me at least. 

Best bit: Any scene where The Cap was kicking ass was hugely enjoyable which probably made up a good 50% of the movie. 

1.Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

The sequel to one of my favourite films of all time had big boots to fill. But it filled them well. The 10 years later scenario was a great direction to go in I thought and the disputes with both the human and ape societies kept me gripped. The story constantly kept me guessing and the action set-pieces really paid off. I now have to worry about Apes prequel 3 as it could potentially ruin a franchise that has become one of my favourites in all of film. Let's hope it doesn't. 

Best bit: I remember sitting in the cinema watching an ape dual-wielding machine guns and thinking this scene probably won't be matched in terms of awesome this year. I was not wrong. 



And now 2015. Jurassic World, 2 Pixar films, Star Wars, Avengers...I hope to see them all in next year's list.

Nintendo's E3 2014

Good old Reggie

I don't write as much as I should any more but E3 is always a time for big discussion. Or in this case me just saying what I thought about it this year.

After looking back at the final announcements I'd say I'm semi-happy about the outcome of this year's E3 for Nintendo. But it didn't start out that way. After watching the digital event I had to admit I felt let down. Annoyed even.

Nintendo are in trouble- even as a big fan I won't lie about that fact. Nobody can get behind the idea of the Wii U, the 3DS is hardly the success the DS was and there are a limited number of fan-favourite franchises on the horizon. The key to fixing these problems I thought would be simple. Just make the games that people have long talked about and have said 'how cool would it be if Nintendo made...'.

Sad lol :(

An example of such games are-

Pokemon Snap 2 - Everybody wants this. Everybody. There is no greater use of the Wii U gamepad and if there's one thing we all know it's that Pokemon sells!

A new 2D Metroid- Metroid Dread was at one point happening and everyone was stoked for it.

A futuristic Zelda - Bring some new life to the Zelda franchise.

Mario Galaxy 3, F Zero in HD, franchise crossovers - just things that would get people talking.


The Digital Event did none of this. It wasn't a train wreck but my god was it underwhelming.

Going through it step by step.

I thought it had a strong start. The Robot Chicken shorts showed that Nintendo aren't afraid to poke fun at themselves and know that it's time for a change of pace and direction. 'There are no new Mario games this year' peaks interest. No Mario this year? What direction will they go in?! What franchises will we see?

A Yoshi game, the mini-game from Mario 3D World and errr... Mario Maker. No Mario then.

The choice of Smash Bros characters to reveal was a little odd as well. I thought the Miis were okay to start the show slowly but then to finish the event with a Lady Palutena reveal was absurd. 'OMG PALUTENA WILL BE IN THE NEW SMASH BROS!?' tweeted no one.

Twas a hell of an anime though

I personally go into E3 every year anticipating the big reveals so I was disappointed how much time was spent on games we already knew existed. The news that Midna is playable in Hyrule Warriors was fantastic but I wasn't bothered about hearing all that info on Yoshi, X or Bayonetta 2. New trailers and gameplay was nice to see but I wanted new games!

Amiibo had to be there, I understand this. But as a 23 year old man it'd didn't interest me too much. What self respecting 23 year old still plays with toys? Apart from Lego. Lego is different.

And now to the most positive aspect of the digital event- New Zelda. It looked stunning but I was kind of hoping for something more...epic. Look at the reveal trailer for Twilight Princess for example. I'm sure a trailer like that will come soon but it was just a little disappointing to see only 20 seconds of moving footage after the initial excitement of 'holy shit new Zelda!'

This might not be Link, scandal

Splatoon looked cool but had far too much importance put on it. Like if Dillon's Rolling Western had a 10 minute feature a few years ago.

And that was kind of it for the digital event. That was all a bit mehNEW STAR FOX! Coming to Wii U! Pac Man is in Smash Bros! Surprise!

Why was no importance put on this info? Pac Man is a huge reveal, I'd say as big as Mega Man. Even now, fan's who watched the digital event are still unaware of the announcement that came after.

The best newcomer imo

And no Star Fox footage at all? They got away with showing the bare minimum of Zelda, I'd be okay with seeing the same for Star Fox.

There are good years and bad years for Nintendo at E3 and I sadly feel this year's was on the latter end of the scale. We still have one or two things to look forward to in the coming year though with Smash Bros and Hyrule Warriors coming soon.

Until next year Nintendo. And all the Directs in between.