E3 Press Conferences: Nintendo

So I wasn't here yesterday to work on the articles, and missed the original airing of Nintendo's press conference (which I rarely miss each year). So I caught the end of the conference and looked up a lot of information, so the Nintendo conference won't be as in depth as the Microsoft one, but I will go over what I've researched.

The conference begins with ol' Reggie Fils-Aime coming out with his badass haircut, and hypes up all gaming, including the ideas from Sony and Microsoft, only to say their technology is only a tool. It's kind of odd, considering not only did they start this whole motion control technology craze, but also release ridiculous amounts of hardware (I'm looking at you, Wii Pulse). This year, oddly enough, Nintendo is focused on "the experience."

The first trailer shown is the new Zelda, flashing back to each major console game's Link, before revealing the new title and a bit of gameplay for Zelda: Skyward Sword. The graphics are nice, and Paul has said it looks like a mixture of Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. Next, Shigeru Miyamoto comes out and explains a little about the game, before turning the game over to Nintendo's translater and representative.

After he fails a bit, Miyamoto himself comes out (in a fairly magical manner and with a mass applause) and shows off a lot of Zelda. While Miyamoto has trouble at times (at one point blaming it on wireless interference), the game's 1:1 with Wii MotionPlus is impressive, as are some of the items and their usage. Bombs can be set, thrown, or bowled, and the whip looks pretty badass. I've been out of the Zelda scene for a while, but this game certainly looks good enough to pick up. They said it should be coming out in 2011.

Reggie comes back out and talks about universal appeal, and talks about how sports games can bring that out. He mentions NBA Jam, but sadly shows nothing of it. Reggie announces Mario is doing more sports, and a new trailer is shown, starting with Mario and friends playing volleyball. After a few scenes, it shows the crew playing ice and beach hockey. Next appears to be a game of dodgeball, which looks fun, before changing to basketball, looking very much like Mario Hoops. The title is revealed as Mario Sports Mix, and will be out next year.

Reggie begins talking sales, how great the Wii has sold, how the games have sold, all the records broken, etc. He talks about Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros Wii... He introduces a new "bridge" title involving Miis. New game is Wii Party, looking like Mario Party without the Mario. It looks silly; perhaps boring. Could possibly be the next Wii Music, new first party shovelware.

The Nintendo president introduces us to a new trailer for Just Dance 2. I know a lot of people hated the first game, but even if it was dumb I kinda enjoyed it - I know it's not graphically impressive; hell, I know it's not good. But something about making an ass of yourself in front of friends is always entertaining (or rather, watching your friends making asses of themselves), so with new Dance Crew battle modes and the ability for 8 players to dance in their tiny ass living rooms, I can't say I'm excited, but I'm not disappointed or surprised.

The new Golden Sun game is now subtitled Dark Dawn, and a trailer shows off the beautiful 3D graphics of the title. The battle scenes look wonderful. I haven't played much of Golden Sun, though I have wanted to, so I can't say if it's a remake of the original like it was hinted at last year. The game will be out this holiday.

As Reggie mentions another "golden" game, a trailer for a new Goldeneye game begins. Looking like a remake of the N64 classic, it's a pleasant surprise for this November, exclusive to Wii. Multiplayer is back (though looks limited to only 8 playable characters), there's new voice acted scenes, and the gameplay looks downright awesome. It'll be out this November - so let's hope it doesn't disappoint.

Next, Reggie talks about Mickey Mouse, instantly alerting the crowd to Epic Mickey. Warren Specter is introduced to the stage to show off the game. Gameplay elements is shown off, showing Mickey in a world called Wasteland that involves rejected movies, cartoons, and theme park locales and rides. The art style looks interesting in the cutscenes, but is shown as a 3D title outside of the cutscenes. Mickey appears to constantly be "dripping", but is armed with a paintbrush and paint and paint thinner. Mickey can erase items and repaint them to make them look better. He'll be able to tear out sections of rock and walls to find items, and you can even erase enemies to defeat them, or paint them to become friends and allies. There's a lot that can be done. The demo then jumps to a Steamboat Willie scene, which is also very exciting and entertaining. Expect to see a lot of characters that have been forgotten when the game comes out exclusively for Wii.

Reggie talks about keeping classic franchises fresh. Reggie hints at a new Kirby game, which is totally awesome. After 7 years, Kirby will be able to star in his own game. While Reggie makes some silly ass cloth and yarn annalogies, the trailer is revealed as the title comes up - Kirby Epic Yarn. ...Wait, seriously? This isn't a joke? Yarn? Gameplay shows a yarn outline of Kirby, using yarn to whip at enemies and throw them, or to manipulate the background (which is made up of other clothing related items, like zippers and buttons). Wait, seriously?! Kirby no longer eats things to steal powers?! According to the trailer, which shows NO instance of Kirby doing what Kirby's KNOWN for doing, he instead uses a yarn whip like a pre-school Simon Belmont, and changes into shit without the use of stealing powers LIKE KIRBY DOES IN EVERY OTHER VIDEO GAME EVER. He randomly turns into cars and parachutes now? Why the fuck is he a surfing penguin or a UFO?! A two player co-op mode for this abomination looks possible. I've argued about this game since I saw the trailer, and sure, I can forgive the cutesy yarn art style. Hell, I can even forgive the horrendously shitty music. But the fact that Kirby no longer does what he's known for doing is a fucking joke. Hell, how about we make Mario wheelchair bound, and he has this new power to smell his enemies to death?! Yeah, that's good! Shit, why don't we make a Zelda game, where Link is a merchant, and all you do is sell shit and not rescue Zelda or save Hyrule or anything? That's a pretty new and clever idea! Fuck it, why even keep Donkey Kong a gorilla anymore?! This trailer is, in and of itself, the worst thing I've seen about E3 so far. And yeah, I saw the Just Dance 2 trailer earlier.

Dragon Quest IX is mentioned for its sales numbers in Japan. It's a Nintendo DS exclusive with 120 mini-quests, 300 monsters, over 900 items to customize your characters, and unlimited randomly generated treasure maps, the game can seek out other players to add new stuff to your game. It seems like a lengthy game, and will be out on July 11. Other than this, nothing else is mentioned.

Metroid Other M, out August 31, shows off a new trailer. The game looks very impressive, and looks to have 2D levels, 3D levels, and first person segments. Cool morph ball sections are shown, a Mega Man X style wall jumping sequence is played out, several puzzles and fights look fun, and even some epic boss fights are seen. It's revealed it will be a more emotional game than previous Metroid titles.

Retro Studios, who has worked on Metroid in the past, reveals it's new work, a new Donkey Kong game. Surprisingly, this game doesn't look like a pile of shit! It appears as though the apes known for their shitty Nintendo titles is finally getting a legit adventure game as the original Donkey Kong Country theme is played. After showing off several really cool scenes and gameplay actions, the title is revealed to be Donkey Kong Country Returns, and will be out this holiday.

Satoru Iwata hits the stage to reveal some information on the 3DS. OH SHIT, A KID ICARUS GAME!! KID ICARUS UPRISING!! The game looks pretty amazing, looking like it could be a Gamecube or Wii title on a handheld. The trailer shows off Pit's ability to fly, his third person shooter bow controls, his close quarters dual knife fights, and as the trailer ends with the title, the eggplant wizard is shown, as does eggplant Pit. Kid Icarus Uprising will be a 3DS exclusive.

3DS will have a sleep mode that will still connect with other 3DS systems and WiFi networks. Nintendogs + cats is revealed to be a 3DS title. A list of companies to work on 3DS titles is shown, including EA, Harmonix, Atlus, Activision, Sega, Konami, Sega, Capcom, THQ, Namco Bandai, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and more. Iwata announces that Activision will have DJ Hero 3D, Level 5 will do Professor Layton, Square Enix will have Kingdom Hearts, THQ will have Saints Row, Capcom will have Resident Evil, Ubisoft will have Assassin's Creed, Konami will bring Metal Gear Solid... 3DS looks promising with software.

A trailer is shown with several developer's comments. Reggie returns to show off every game that's been shown, before talking about 3DS and showing off a trailer of Satoru Iwata walking out to play his 3DS. Mario jumps out and slaps a mustache on him before getting sucked up into the game. Shigeru Miyamoto comes out next, seeing a puppy pop out of the screen before also getting sucked up into the game. Arrows, Link's sword and shield, DK barrels, and an Arwing all jump out of the DS next, and Reggie walks out to the handheld, seeing coins and mushrooms pop out. He picks up the console, laughing at the two japanese guys running from Bowser, before Bowser jumps out and breathes fire on a screaming Reggie. Reggie returns to the stage in a burnt up jacket for giggles.

Reggie, being the man that he is, brings out a shitload of hot women with 3DS systems strapped to themselves for live demo testings in the theatre, and Wii consoles rise from the floors to allow testing of the new Zelda game as well. Reggie ends the conference here, but there's still plenty for the attendees to do. Nintendo, surprisingly, didn't show off a bunch of gimmicky new hardware like they normally do (and like Microsoft and Sony did this year... what the fuck?), and instead surprised in a way they should've been doing for years now - by revealing a load of kick ass games that we've been waiting for.


Excitements:
-Kid Icarus Uprising
-Donkey Kong Country Returns
-3DS title lineup
-The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Letdowns:
-Kirby Epic Yarn
-Some major franchises still missing new Wii titles (F-Zero, Star Fox)
-Nothing on Pikmin 3 or Wii Pulse (both teased about last year)
-Kirby Epic Yarn


Sony also did their press conference yesterday, which I did manage to catch. For those of you who didn't, I'll talk about it later tonight, and stay tuned, as the rest of the week we'll try to talk about some of our favorite games shown at E3!

The Pause Screen: Muppet Babies

Most of us remember the Muppet Babies, a show that came on after we got out of school or played on the weekends, and showed the Muppet cast as toddlers that let their imaginations take them to new worlds. The show brings a lot of nostalgia, especially if watched today, but within the show as well, as there were many parodies and references made to other entertainment, such as Indiana Jones and Star Wars to name a couple.

One episode, however, revolved around video games. In "It's Only Pretendo", the children play video games on their Nintendo -- or, rather, "Pretendo" -- system, and plenty of parodies were made from beginning to end. For any fans of Muppet Babies and retro gaming or Nintendo classics, this episode is practically a must-see.



Gonzo as Mario right from the start. That's the shit.

The show opens with a blocky construction site that resembles a colorful version of the first Donkey Kong stage. A dragon wearing a crown is perched at the top, throwing down what looks like fluffy yellow cloud balls at the hero, "Super Bario Weirdo," whom is Gonzo dressed up as Mario. He travels across the level, only to be seen outside of his dream world to be messing up everyone else's fun. He claims he's going to defeat the evil "King Koopa Cabana," although the clip shown on the nursery's television is clearly Donkey Kong.

Piggy unplugs the game, and they argue over whether they enjoy watching Gonzo play. When no one agrees with Gonzo, he gives the controller to Piggy, who plays Donkey Kong Jr. Upon nearly instantly failing, she tries again where the game is magically Donkey Kong again, and beats King Koopa Cabana on the first try. While everyone congratulates her, Gonzo decides to start a competition and find a game he can beat Piggy in.



Donkey Kong Jr.? In MY Muppet Babies? It's more likely than you think...

At this point I'll point out that most of the show's music is composed to sound synthesized and 8-bit. Most of it sounds generic or original, though a few sound like parodies. One sounds like a distant take on Tetris, while the RPG themed game ironically sounds like a take on the underground theme from Super Mario Bros 2. It's certainly a nice touch to the episode. On top of that, all the games are takes from real games, such as "Galaxy Invaders," and "Adventures of a Link Sausage." It's entertaining to see what they can come up with.

Fozzy finds a game he thinks he can play, which turns out to be a puzzle game that looks like a cross between Tetris and Q*Bert. When blocks continue filling the room Fozzy's in, they switch games, dumping Fozzy into a new game. The Skate or Die knockoff, called "Skateboard of Doom," leaves Fozzy on a skateboard trying to outrun three evil skateboarders that chase after him.



Skate or Die! Die die die die die!

Gonzo shuts the game off, throwing Fozzy aside in a wagon, in order to play "The Legend of Emelda: The Quest for the Golden Key" with Piggy. The other kids get up to defend Fozzy and his chance to play, until Piggy shuts them up to play with Gonzo. The two start the RPG, which looks like the beginning of Zelda II, and make their way to a swamp. Gonzo is attacked by completely round reptiles, but reveals he knows how to beat them using gumballs, which he had kept a secret from Piggy. The reptiles look like Pac-Man with sharp teeth, and the gumballs remsemble the pellets from the same game.

Gonzo runs into Animal, who teams up with him to find the Golden Key. On their way to a shortcut, Fozzy passes by, still being chased by skateboarders, before the duo try to beat Piggy to a distant village. Piggy is already there waiting, however, and a musical number begins where the two sing-argue about which one is better. The song has cameos of Space Invaders and Goombas from Mario, as well.



Totally looks like Zelda II's beginning...

After the song, Gonzo jumps over a pit, and Piggy tries but misses, clinging to the edge. Gonzo finds a 500-point banana and chases after it, leaving Piggy to fall; the screen shows a still from "Keith Courage", which was actually a Turbo-Grafx 16 game instead of an NES game oddly enough. The other kids, obviously having never heard of COMPETITION, scold Gonzo for not helping out his opponent, before Piggy gets up and chases after him. Once gone, Skeeter grabs a sports game and hooks up a "Mighty Mat," a play on the NES' Power Pad. She convinces Skooter to join her, despite him not wanting to play and would rather enjoy a chess game.

The two play a game, looking like World Class Track Meet, and start running down the in-game path. Fozzy once again goes by with his skateboard buddies, and upon being thankful that skateboarders aren't chasing them, find they've been running from a stampede of angry bulls. The two end up jumping off of the pad in order to escape them.



Mighty Mat, MIGHTY MAAAT!

Piggy walks up and throws the twins' game aside, putting in another game for her and Gonzo to play. The footage on screen shows Fantasy Zone, and when animated shows Piggy, Animal, and Gonzo inside the cockpit. When Gonzo and Piggy start arguing over who the captain is, their ship explodes. Gonzo and Animal escape with secret parachutes, and Piggy loses a second life. The crew gets mad at Gonzo again for being competitive, and Piggy once again chases Gonzo away.

Kermit decides he wants to play a game, and puts in a game like Frogger. Kermit tries to think of a way to cross, when another frog shows up on crutches and completely beaten up. He throws a beach ball with a frog on it into traffic, telling Kermit there's no way to cross as the ball comes back deflated and run over. Kermit, however, grabs some crossing guard gear, stops traffic, and helps his new friend across the street. Once there, though, the alligators in the river scare Kermit away from playing.



Fantasy Zone's cameo in Muppet Babies

Rofle decides to play a game, showing footage from Vigilante on the nursery television. The detective game, looking like it'd be either Sam & Max, Roger Rabbit, or Dick Tracy, has Rolfe looking for a case, when Fozzy comes in. Rolfe decides to try to find the skateboarders after Fozzy, and the two get seperated, where Fozzy is chased once again by the evil skateboarders, and Rolfe runs into Piggy, Gonzo, and Animal, who take the game back away from Rolfe.

Gonzo tells Piggy she needs to start from the beginning since she lost two lives, and Piggy, dressed as a ninja, starts to make her way back through the games. Gonzo, meanwhile, finds the box that holds the golden key, when Piggy shows up. The two fight over the treasure chest, only to find that Fozzy pops out. While hiding from the skateboarders, he says the key wasn't in the box, and saw it around there somewhere. Gonzo and Piggy find the key and have a tug of war over it, and decide to ask everyone else who truly won. To their surprise, though, no one was watching; they had all gone off to enjoy themselves with influence from the games they were playing. Animal, of all people, convinced them in broken english that it didn't matter who had won, but that they enjoyed themselves, and when Piggy agreed, Gonzo claimed himself as the winner, causing the two to fight all over again.



He looks so terrified...

Sure, it's a kids' cartoon, but to look back to a cartoon that came out over 20 years ago and see a lot of gamer love in it is pretty interesting and nostalgic. From the change in music to fit the episode, to the parodies of both game ideas and titles, there was a lot of thought put into this episode, and it feels like someone in the Muppet Babies' crew had a love for video games. It's like a wonderful little kids'-show-tribute to gaming, and gets a salute from The Pause Screen.