Nintendo's Worst Best E3 Ever… For Me At Least

E3! It has come and gone for 2010. Sony and Microsoft put up decent fights, but Nintendo stole the show. Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and even Wii Party, as a bridge title, stole press and consumer praise.  Really…what more can any Nintendo fan ask for? Well I can ask for quite a bit more. Zelda, that’s cool, so is Kirby, but these worn franchises that are expected and are predictable.

It is hard, for me, to get excited for these titles. These series have something they have to live up to. They provide well polished experiences that the franchise has been building on for, in some cases,  more than 20 years, but they can’t provide completely fresh and unique experiences.  At the end of the day, these titles are still Zelda, still Donkey Kong, still Kirby, etc. Nintendo believes fans are happy with just this, and most are. Most Nintendo fans are going to be in heaven for the rest of 2010.

Familiar names – familiar games.

(Image Source: GoNintendo)

So what do I want? Why was E3 so disappointing to me? There was a lack of new and fresh content. I’ll leave the 3DS hardware out of this, since it is something I can’t judge until I  get my hands on it. But the only title that really presented something new and fresh was Kid Icarus: Uprising. And the only reason that seemed new and fresh is because the team had complete freedom while reinventing the series for a modern market. They are pretty much just slapping the Kid Icarus franchise on the title, and basing the ideas around what makes sense in that universe.
Then there was a huge lack of announced localizations for original titles already released in, or only announced for, Japan. Xenoblade, Zangeki no Reginleiv, The Last Story, etc. were all absent. Honestly, most of these titles probably wouldn’t perform well here and it is a good business decision to not localize them, but I’m talking purely from a gamer’s perspective. And dey be wat I want! *snap*

“Pit and Punishment” – Grimschild

So really, all that was new and fresh was Kid Icarus: Uprising… which even looks a bit like Sin and Punishment. But in the end, there’s not much I can do but cross my fingers that some of the more unique titles get localized. Most of the games announced will probably sell extremely well, and I’ll probably end up with one or two myself via gift or purchase. I just hope Nintendo continues to release unique software for guys like me, instead of relying on completely on the old tried and true franchises.