Last year was my very first year attending E3 in person, and it absolutely blew me away. Not only was I impressed by Nintendo’s E3 Digital Event, but the actual show floor was chalk full of Nintendo titles. The Wii U had around eight titles for display, most of which we had never seen before. While The Legend of Zelda stunned us from the Nintendo Direct, Super Smash Bros. drew massive crowds on the show floor. This year’s show floor reflected the failure of the Digital Event and was a stark contrast to last year’s show.
In theory, Fatal Frame should have been at E3. This horror title would have truly shown what sort of atmospheric, survival gameplay the Wii U was capable of. Unfortunately, Fatal Frame was absolutely nowhere to be seen. Another excellent title to put on display would be Devil’s Third. The media has not even touched Itagaki’s new action game, yet the title is supposedly preparing for launch this August. Project Treasure and Project Giant Robot also seemed to vanish from Nintendo’s mindset.
Even some notable titles that were shown off today at the Nintendo Digital Event were strangely missing from the E3 show floor. Xenoblade Chroincles X and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival are an excellent example of two titles that could have made a splash on the show floor.
In total, there were four Wii U titles on the floor, less than half of what was available to play last year: Mario Maker, Yoshi’s Woolly World, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, and Star Fox Zero. Half of those aforementioned titles were available to play last year.
The 3DS did have a stronger showing, but not by much. The 3DS had five games playable on the show floor: Zelda, Metroid, Yokai Watch, Chibi Robo, and Paper Mario. It is pretty safe to say that these games are bigger than the Wii U titles shown; however, several titles, such as Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Bravely Default, were missing from the show floor as well.
Many of Nintendo’s biggest fans were some of the most disheartened when Nintendo’s Digital Event turned out to be somewhat of a letdown. However, it was even sadder to see Nintendo’s booth at E3 this year. Last year, the area was crowded to the brim with fans excited about all of Nintendo’s newest offerings. The lines for Super Smash Bros. were massive, people were interested in Yoshi’s Woolly World, intrigued by Mario Maker, captivated by Captain Toad, engrossed in Bayonetta, amazed by Hyrule Warriors, and impressed by the art style of Kirby’s Rainbow Curse.
This year, however, it was Sony and Microsoft that brought out the big guns to E3. With new IPs from both companies, indie support on the show floor, and a large number of games to demo, Nintendo was left behind at E3, while the other companies enjoy nearly uncontested press time.
Yes, the Nintendo Direct yesterday morning fell short of many of our expectations. However, Nintendo’s presence on the show floor has been even worse. With a limited number of high-quality titles to demo and an omission of some of its biggest releases, Nintendo has resigned any chance of “winning” the E3 metagame to both Microsoft and Sony to duke over.
