As someone who lived through the 80's, 90's and early 00's, it would be near-impossible for me to ever feel this way. I didn't just have Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Sonic, Streets of Rage, Punch out, FF, Chrono Trigger, DKC, SF, Mario Kart, Kirby, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Metal Gear Solid, THPS, Sly Copper, GT, Ratchet and Clank, RE, Castlevania, GTA, Halo, Smash bros, Kingdom Hearts, and on and on and on etc. I saw the birth of them, all of them, and I was able to witness them grow through each sequel in massive technological leaps and bounds until they finally peaked. For something to best that? Yeah, like I said, not impossible lol. I've been ruined.

Yeah that's the thing with me: Many of those games I listed were dream games. A sequel to Cuphead? The return of Spyro?!! Ocarina of Time Remake?! These are games that I've wanted for nearly a decade, many which tie directly to the original games from back in 2017 that got me interested in gaming. So from that perspective, I guess it makes sense why this showcase may have left me completely stunned... whereas for others? They're still searching for, as you mentioned, their Wipeouts or Crash Bandicoots.

I can see that, definitely. That's the only thing I really miss about E3,just how all out and "doing it live!" everything was. It wasn't this super polished presentation which saw higher-ups speaking off a script, rather you felt a lot more genuinely connected with the presenters. That said, however, I'd say its best to move on and look at things from a modern perspective, not critique things because they are no longer what they once were. Can't be complaining about the anime of today because it's no longer drawn with pencil-and-paper, y'know?

Y'know, you raise a good question about which year Nintendo delivered best during their summer presentation... honestly I'm not sure I have an answer.

- 2024 was incredible until the games actually released and ended up pretty middle-of-the-road (M&L Brothership, MP4:Beyond, SMPJamboree),
- 2023 was stacked with some power (Mario Bros Wonder, Pikmin 1+2 shadowdrop, Pikmin 4 overview, SMRPG Remake),
- 2021 was also quite strong (Metroid Dread, TotK teaser, Mario + Rabbids sequel).
- 2017 and 2018 have me by the throat as far as nostalgia is concerned, and I didn't remember really liking 2019 all too much.
- 2026 was pretty great given the context (i.e. Nintendo is shifting toward Nintendo Today info dumps and away from major Nintendo Direct presentations), but definitely does not compete with any of their other summer presentations.

Among all of these? I'd probably say its a tie between 2018 and 2023. Smash Ultimate was such a huge deal to me back in 2018, it was literally the only game I cared about; Mario Wonder, Mario RPG remake, and Pikmin 4 sit among my favorite games of all time.

2019 gave me. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Astral Chain. Dragon Quest XI-S. Panzer Dragoon Remake announcement. Daemon X Machina (most hours I have in a Switch game) and a remake of my fave Zelda game. Links Awakening. 2019 both in the Feburary Direct that year and Summer one plus released remains my fave year for Switch systems. Nintendo just knew my tastes that year. 

Still waiting for someone to announce ZOE3. VanQuish 2. Metal Gear Rising 2. Astral Chain 2. DMC6 and Bayo 4. 

1999 remains the best E3 of all time to me. Dreamcast and all the great stuff they announced. Omega Boost from Sony. Back then publishers had like 15 or more games each to show each year.

That's fair so what I'll try to do is judge all the future SGF seasons based on how they compare to other SGF seasons and not E3 since they're different experiences. I'll still wish for a eventual return to on stage presentations though.

Yeah that was fucking amazing.

Xenoblade Genesis, new Spyro, RE Veronica, tons of third party games announced for Switch 2 from Onimusha to Alien Isolation 2, the last few days have been a non stop roller coaster of awesome.

I'm still giddy from all the dopamine. Awesome stuff.

That's taking it a bit far IMO. You can compare simply from the perspective of game reveals— opting for no comparison at all would like saying you can't compare hand-drawn animated film to flash animation. It's certainly a different experience, but there is a common overlap which serves as a basis for comparison.

It can be tricky to look at that objectively is the issue since the fun aspects of E3 made the reveals more fun since the overall vibe was more exciting and enjoyable in general. Like even though it was leaked beforehand Miyamoto going on stage and having a moment with the CEO of Ubisoft still made the Mario + Rabbids reveal quite enjoyable.

Probably the best E3 season this decade, maybe even the best in about a decade overall.
Best? I'm skeptical to go that far.
While Nintendo had some cool stuff, I was more into Summer Game Fest and Xbox Showcase.

Eh. SGF felt big and important which is nice. I personally have really only got excited over the Xbox show, very disappointed in Nintendo's direct, but that's okay, they will have more games eventually that will appeal to me. Ocarina of Time Remake was cool though. That's about it for me as far as the Nintendo direct goes.