This past week I had the honor of attending my first ever E3! I know what you’re thinking, “Is Slogan Yams that important?”  My guess is that I must be humoring someone important, which then permitted me to attend the event.

I intended to have this post up earlier but complications prevented that from happening. Besides, I highly doubt I would be the first person one would go to to find out about E3.  But I decided to post about my experience and share what games I am most looking forward to on the horizon!

There were so many booths and so many games I didn’t know where to start looking….I lie I went to the Nintendo booth first to see if there was anything on Pikmin 3…Sadly there wasn’t…But what they did have was awesome nonetheless! The most prominent (playable) game from Nintendo was New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Which is (as the name suggests) a sequel to the DS game of the same name minus the “Wii” part. This game was an absolute joy to play and for a very simple reason: It’s like the old, 2D side-scrolling Marios, but with four-player cooperative play. I literally went back to play it like 3 different times on the first day alone, and every time I went back everyone who was playing had a smile on their face and were laughing on more than one occasion. I even got to meet the voice of Mario himself, Charles Martinet!

4-Player Mario? Oh how simply splendid!

Amongst Nintendo’s other games were Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports resort, which of course are the sequels to the similarly named games that that utilize Nintendo’s new “motion plus” for a more realistic approach to motion control.

Nintendo also had some cool games for the DS, like Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, both of which were playable, though unfortunately I was unable to get a chance to play Zelda due to there only being one playable demo and constantly had people swarming over it. The demo for M&L:BIS that I played was very brief, but fun, and I’m curious to see how the full game turns out.

Ever notice how Bowser's size fluctuates?

As for Wii games not developed by Nintendo some of the titles that caught my eye were Sin & Punishment 2 (you may know this as the sequel to that game that was only released in Japan until it was released on the Virtual Console), which was a fun, rail-shooter that proved difficult for me…Perhaps if I would have done a barrel roll? Another third party Wii game that I found to be very fun was Muramasa: The Demon Blade, which was a good old fashioned side-scroller/RPG hybrid that has a very fun Japanese painting visual style. And of course there was Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which was previously supposed to be a Japanese-only release due to some licensing mumbo jumbo with Tatsunoko, but I guess Capcom got it all worked out. I still had no idea this was coming to the western world at the time of going to E3, so I was pleasantly surprised by its presence. I was unable to play Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom until the final day of E3 due to how many fighting game fanatics were buzzing around it. And when I did finally manage to play it, I got royally bested by my opponent. Hopefully by the time it comes out I’ll get better at it.

You betta recognize sucka!

Will the real Princess Mononoke please stand up?

It seems most of Nintendo’s biggest titles won’t be here until around 2010.  Amongst them are a brand new Metroid game, titled Metroid: Other M (don’t ask I don’t know why it’s called that yet either), which is being developed by Team Ninja with help from Nintendo. It looks like something of a cross between the Metroid Prime games and the classic side-scrolling Metroids, with cinematic cut-scenes that rival those of Square-Enix. It will be very fun to see the finished product. But for me, the biggest news from Nintendo (and probably all of E3) was the announcement of Super Mario Galaxy 2! SMG2 will be the first time that more than one 3D Mario title has been released on a single console, and the first direct Mario sequel in the main series since Yoshi’s Island (Super Mario World 2, in case you forgot). Super Mario Galaxy 2 looks just wonderful, and from the trailer alone it looks to rival its predessessor in the creativity department, and Yoshi’s appear to have a big role this time around! I have to wonder, after Galaxy 2, what will the next Mario be/do? Look at me getting ahead of myself. Both Metroid: Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are scheduled for a 2010 release.

That's not a laser! It's a little light bulb that blinks!

Now if only Square would team with Nintendo for Mario RPG 2, then all my dreams would come true!

And for Nintendo’s slightly more distant future (2011 probably), there is a new Wii Zelda in development. so far, absolutely no information is known on the game, except for this picture…

That a ghost?

Apparently Link is older in this game than in any other game….I guess that random tidbit of knowledge gives a hint of the story perhaps? Also, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto pointed out that Link doesn’t have a sword in the picture. Wow if Link doesn’t have a sword this should be one unique Zelda experience.

It also seems I’ll have to wait even longer for my precious (Gollum! Gollum!) Pikmin 3, as the lord of games (Shigeru Miyamoto) said it’s still early in development and will take a while before it’s shown. Oh Pikmin 3, how you taunt me so.

*To be continued in part 2*