BurtonReviews Nintendo Spotlight: Technically Not a Conference

(Image sourced from http://nintendoeverything.com/reggie-confirms-nintendo-spotlight-e3-2017-will-be-25-minutes-breaking-more-news-during-treehouse-lives-first-hour/)

And now we come to the last show of the year. No please, don’t cry, wipe away those tears because we still have days of E3 left with the main floor open and even more extensive looks into the games that shocked, stole our hearts, and made us unbelievably excited, still to come. But before all of that, I think Nintendo has a couple of words to say.

After hours upon hours of conferences, I audibly sighed with relief when I saw the Nintendo Spotlight was only 30 minutes long. And they used their brief but sweet time wisely, showcasing only the games that were most immediate to fans and could be purchased and played within the next 12 months, and here are the highlights.

(Image sourced from http://www.siliconera.com/2017/06/13/fire-emblem-warriors-adds-fire-emblem-fates-characters/)

1.    The Anime Games

Kicking off the presentation, after a rousing speech about the power and mind-blowing entertainment that comes with the Nintendo Switch were two games that fall into the category of Anime looking game: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Fire Emblem Warriors.

I have literally zero experience with either franchise, outside of Marth being one of my favourite Smash Bros characters to play as, but both games looked like fun, over the top, sword wielding adventures that have worlds and character that really pop in the anime style. However the English voice acting featured in Xenoblade sounded god awful on the most part and made me cringe every time a syllable of it passed through the speakers, most sounded not only unconvincing, but I could visualise some embarrassed guy in an audio booth not being really into the material and it just took me out of the trailer completely.

(Image sourced from http://www.gaming-age.com/2017/06/yoshi-for-nintendo-switch-set-for-2018/)

2.    The Traditional Nintendo Side Scrolling Games

The two games that fit into this category were simply titled Kirby and Yoshi.

This latest outing for the pink ball with the insatiable appetite looked like the usual cookie cutter side scrolling adventure that comes out of Nintendo every 2-4 months.

The same can be said about Yoshi, but the cute juxtaposition of the animated Yoshi’s to aesthetically realistic backdrop gave it an interesting and whimsical look that made it stand out from the other side scrollers of Nintendo’s past, especially with the games toying of perception where you could be having to bounce out enemies both in the back ground and foreground of the game.

(Image sourced from https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15782806/metroid-prime-4-nintendo-switch-announced-e3-2017)

3.    Announcements

While technically everything in this spotlight is an announcement, these were the short teasers, or simple news updates that made the most waves in the showing.

Metroid Prime 4 and a core Pokémon RPG were announced to be coming to the Switch, marking two games that fans have been clamouring for on this new console now officially on their way, even if there is little information on them except for there soon to be existence.

And Rocket League will be coming to Switch. This is an important development as this, coupled with Bethesda’s long overdue announcement of Skyrim’s arrival to the new console, marks the continuation of support from the system by the many third party developers that promised to be making games for the Switch.

(Image sourced from https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch/Super-Mario-Odyssey-1173332.html)

4.    Super Mario Odyssey: The Exorcist

Honestly there wasn’t much for me in this presentation. The spotlight was paced well and games shown all looked solid, but nothing was screaming out to me as impressive, that was until Nintendo’s choice of finishing move titled Super Mario Odyssey.

This game looks insane in all the best ways. Just from the sheer amount of worlds the little plumber who is a long way from home will be visiting, including a strange recreation of our own reality, the variety of environments looks to keep this game fresh and exciting for the many, many hours you will spend scouring the land for every single gold coin.

(Image sourced from https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15788152/super-mario-odyssey-nintendo-switch-preview-e3-2017)

Throw in a magical hat that allows Mario to possess both animals just trying to mind their own business, and iconic enemies from the Mario mythos, and then you have a real trippy Mario experience in your hands, literally, because the Switch is portable, get it.

This feature looks to be keeping the gameplay varied and new at all times as you swap from your traditional jumping and stomping technique to becoming a raging bullet cruising through the stage or a spikey toothed living plant hungry for abit of mushroom.

Mario Odyssey is shaping up to be another classic entry into the Mario series akin to Galaxy or even the blue and red plumber’s first 3D outing and it will be released on the 27^th of October this year.

(Image sourced from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gaming/what-to-play/nintendo-e3-2017-spotlight-can-expect-switch-super-mario-odyssey/)

So, overall Nintendo’s 2017 Spotlight wasn’t a homerun, but it wasn’t an utter failure either. While no games except for Mario Odyssey really grabbed me, the line-up seems to be a solid one that will maintain the Switch’s relevancy well into next year.

And with that E3’s show time is over. It has been a blast, and a solid to incredible year for games at this E3. Thank you so much to anyone who read these articles, I hope they could assist you in downloading all the need to know info bursting out of the conference halls.

Stay tuned to BurtonReviews for a best and worst of E3 feature as well as all your reviews and news on everything nerdy.

And hey while you’re here why not check out my YouTube channel, BurtonReviews, where I upload awesome gaming montages put to badass songs or scores every Sunday. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUfnyezvQsVsDgN3TGRh1Q