Nintendo’s E3 press conference took place at the Nokia Live theatre.  Are you a fan of classic Ninty titles like Zelda, Donkey Kong, and…Kid Icarus!?  Well read on then.



2010 is ‘year of the remake’ for Nintendo.  The show started off with a bang with the reveal of the next Zelda game called The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  In it, the Wii-mote and nunchuck control Link’s sword and shield, respectively.  To take out the sword and use it to attack enemies, simply shake the Wii-mote.  The controls are described as being 1:1 thanks to the Wii MotionPlus add-on.  Link will have many weapons at his disposal, including a slingshot, bow-and-arrow, and a whip.  Though the demonstration headed by Bill Trinen and Shigeru Miyamoto fell victim to some glitches by “some technical difficulties”, the new Zelda game looked quite good.  It releases for Wii next year.

These next few games aren’t necessarily “classics” but they were announced so here you go: NBA Jam from EA and Mario Sports Mix.  The Mario game includes sports like beach volleyball, basketball, dodgeball, and ice hockey.  It’s due out sometime in 2011.  Next up, Wii Party!  It’s another Mii-based game that follows in the Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Sports Resort genre.  It’s basically a bunch of mini-games you can place your Miis into.  Then there’s Dance Party 2 and it packs 40 new tracks and allows up to 8 players to get their groove on together.  It comes out sometime this year.  Then things started to bit crazy after Golden Sun: Dark Dawn for DS was announced, which releases this holiday season.

A revamped GoldenEye 007 is coming this holiday exclusively to Wii.  It stars Daniel Craig this time and features eight characters…yes, including Oddjob.  Next it’s Epic Mickey from Disney.  The game is set in a 3D world but there are 2D animated cut scenes abound.  Mickey wields a few tools, namely a paint brush and paint thinner, that expose or remove object from the game.  You are given a choice to find your way around obstacles by either painting around them or using paint thinner and in effect destroying bits of the world.  A side-scrolling Steamboat Willie level is included!  Next another “epic” game was announced, and this one stars not a mouse but a pink puffball; it’s Kirby’s Epic Yarn!  This sidescrolling platformer drops this fall.  Dragon Quest IX for DS, which supports up to four player local multiplayer action, lands in stores July 11.  A new trailer for Metroid: Other M reveals an August 31 release date.  Retro Studios, the developer behind Other M, is making another exciting game for Wii and it’s called Donkey Kong Country Returns!  This new side-scrolling platformer, complete with the soundtrack you know and love, plays very much like the original titles from the SNES and it comes out this holiday season.

After the game announced came to a close, new hardware entered the scene.  The next DS handheld is dubbed the Nintendo 3DS for it’s, uh, 3D capabilities.  That do not require 3D glasses!  It looks just like a DS, really.  The top (wide) screen sits at 3.5”, its got start, select, A/B/X/Y buttons, and a D-Pad.  Only the top screen is 3D, and the bottom screen remains touch-capable.  New additions include a home button, an analog nub (Nintendo calls it “Slide Pad”), a 3D Depth Slider (which allows you to control the 3D effect from 100% to totally off).  The graphics have been upgraded too, but the company did not go into technical detail.  Internally there’s now an accelerometer and gyroscope.  On the outside there’s not one but two camera that can take 3D pictures.  One camera still remains on the inside.  The 3DS is also capable of showing 3D “Hollywood” movies.  Avatar on my DS??  Maybe, but Nintendo did not go into any detail on the matter, except that they’d be showing off trailers from Disney, WB and DreamWorks at their booth.

Next it was announced that Project Sora, a new games studio headed by Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai, will bring new games to 3DS.  First up?  Kid Icarus: Uprising!  The graphics look and the soundtrack sounds phenomenal.

Back to 3DS specs.  It can access the Internet over a WiFi hotspot, and it’s continuously searching for said hotspots as well as other 3DS systems that may be nearby, even if the lid is closed.  New levels and other content will be automatically downloaded to your system.  There’s no monthly fee for the 3DS online functionality.

Miyamoto is working on another new game–Nintendogs (+ cats) is coming to 3DS soon.  And third-party devs are also working hard on their own titles.  New games coming to the Nintendo handheld & console include DJ Hero 3D, Ridge Racer, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Saints Row 3D, Madden, FIFA, Resident Evil: Revelations, Assassin’s Creed, Street Fighter, Professor Layton, Dead or Alive, and Metal Gear Solid (!).  A handful of developers (including MGS’s Hideo Kojima) praised the potential of 3DS.

The press conference ended with a bizarre video that featured Nintendo execs (like Reggie, Miyamoto, and Iwata) being sucked into the 3DS.  Then a bunch of extremely attractive women walked onto stage to oversee 3DS hands-on sessions with the crowd.  The show ended with no word on price or release date for the 3D-capable handheld.

Feeling nostalgic yet?