There is no "essentially" when what you stated did not happen.

Cool.

Technically they showed more than one game, but I get what you are saying.

The thing is...
they got burned.
HARD.

But that was a month abo when they warned everyone: "Hey dont expect too much, were just showing zelda, not NX or anything big, that stuff will come later!"
From what I heard most if not all fans were pretty pissed.
Heck, I still am!
We've been waiting to get more Info on NX for what feels like eternety, finally its 2016, the year of new infos on NX, and E3 is around the corner!
After they showed so little last year they probably have tons for us now right? I mean theres no way in hell that they are not showing NX at E3, right?

RIGHT?!?!?!?

So, yeah that was pretty much my reaction when they told us about it, but since then I had enough time to accept it and get used to the thought.

If they had only shown that first trailer and maybe a standard-length (20 minutes) playthrough, we would have grilled them alive, but they showed us some 5+ HOURS! A whole day nearly completely dedicated to nothing but Zelda awesomness!
For me personally that helped immensly, even more because I know: Theres more! Not only have they barely scratched the surface with Zelda, the whole NX announcement with all the other games they have been working on is still coming!

Also, lets face it: Zelda looks friggin awesome!

That's a poor excuse. Vita is selling better than Wii U but Nintendo is at least trying to make games for both 3DS and Wii U. Of course, it's not great that they don't have much for Wii U at this point, but we all know why. Plus, we've already know Nintendo has received criticism for having only Zelda when they initially showed their E3 plans. That's why there were little expectations from gamers. In the end, however, they did show more than just Zelda and Zelda seems to have more than delivered as the premiere game for Nintendo's E3.

Thanks for being able to read between the lines and replying intelligently. I do agree that Zelda does indeed look amazing, probably the best iteration since Ocarina of Time for me.

Nobody was fine with nintendos e3. Everybody complained about it before it happened, by the time it came everybody had reached the acceptance phase.
If this was next e3 after nx has released then the world would have ended.

Nintendo fans are like this:

Nintendo shows only 3 games - That's ok, why do we need 10? We need quality.

Nintendo shows only 1 game - That's ok, why do we need 3? We need quality. This game is top-notch. The best game evaaaaaaaaaaaa

Nintendo shows only half a game - That's ok, why do we need 1 full game? Nintendo is focusing on quality, no problem if they delay it for 10 years.

Nintendo shows nothing - Blast E3. E3 isn't important any more. why they need to show anything?

Among the big 3, Nintendo is still the worst performer at E3.

Yeah, People cant read between the lines these days. Nintendo was only about Zelda and in my opinion, that wasn't THAT extraordinary. That Zelda is just Nintendo finally deliverying a modern open world adventure game with cute graphics.

Are you saying Nintendo fans are dishonest with themselves and others, and will do and say anything to justify the actions of their favorite company?

Or do you mean that fans of all companies and genres are capable of moving goalposts and displaying brand loyalty in the face of overwhelming negative evidence? And if so, why didn't you say so?

Well, I mean, let's be honest about something.  Nintendo-only fans are used to less games on home console and they're used to less choice.  It's part of the culture, at this point.  The fanbase has been culled of people who need the types of games Nintendo does not offer, which is substantial, and of players who want a great deal of titles to select from.  What's left are people who like what Nintendo offers and are willing to accept less overall content.

You do that with Sony or Microsoft and they'd lose the same types of gamer that Nintendo has already lost.  That's the difference.

Yes, that's true.  Link getting hit by a giant rock golem and popping back up is much more realistic.  In fact, I had it happen to me earlier this week and it didn't hurt a bit.  I also commute to work by flying in on a pillow case.

Heh.  Stop it.  None of these games are realistic.  I just watched Link get hit by an arrow.  He didn't even twitch, he just flashed a different color.

Goes to show what Nintendo can do with just one game. They have some amazing developers.