The Geekly Grind - Quick Takes On Nintendo's E3 Direct
By: The Geekly Grind Staff
AlanV
This year’s E3 Nintendo Direct did a lot of things right. So much hype for JRPG goodness with Dragon Quest 11 definitive edition and the Collection of Mana. Luigi’s Mansion 3 just looks like a blast, and more Legend of Zelda is always a good thing. The only bummer is not seeing the rumored souped-up Switch, or a less expensive model. It feels like the right time for some hardware revisions. Hopefully Nintendo just wanted this Direct to be all about games, and we’ll get some hardware announcements in a later direct.
Archmage
Nintendo delivers in 2019, though not the blow out like they have in previous years. Starting with a silly intro of their new NOA President Doug Bowser and caping it off with a teaser for Breath of the Wild 2. Highlights seem to be the instant addition of many titles to the Nintendo e-shop including the Collection of Mana. Collection of Mana is going to include Trials of Mana better known as Seiken Densetsu 3 which has not seen an official release in the West. Other notable announcements include the long awaited Animal Crossing sequel, No More Heroes 3, and not one... not two... but FOUR Dragon Quest Heroes for Smash Brothers Ultimate.
Mithrandiel
And on the 8th day, Nintendo said - "Let there be JRPGs!"
Ok, maybe it's not inscribed in scripture, but man there were a lot of JRPGs in today's lineup! I'm certainly not complaining, especially with the surprise Collection of Mana launch today on the eShop. Luigi's Mansion looked pretty awesome, as well as Astral Chain and Daemon X Machina - though those titles are still a ways off. Animal Crossing was definitely a crowd pleaser, but the real showstopper was the Breath of the Wild 2 announcement. As someone hoping for a glimpse of Metroid Prime hope, I was a bit disappointed we didn't get to see everyone's favorite bounty hunter...but here's to next time!
Rae
I feel like the odd one out but I'm kind of lukewarm right now. There are a lot of games I'm really interested in, including the additions to Smash (Banjo!), Zelda, and Pokemon, for sure. But there was nothing really mind-blowing to get hyped about. Solid show - just mostly in the vein of "oh cool. About time that happened." I'm also curious about future hardware updates. They tried to re-hype up the switch by pointing out that it's portable and also can be used on your tv, which makes me wonder if there's nothing to look forward to for awhile.
Scarlette
Nintendo continues to give fans what they want: hype and games. Nintendo made some hard hitting announcements with Breath of the Wild 2, Luigi's Mansion 3 (technically it should be Luigi's Hotel huh?) Trials of Mana, Animal Crossing, tons of new ports coming to the Switch, upcoming DLCs and lots of game demo content. While I'm not an exclusive Nintendo Fangirl (blasphemy, I know) I can truly say Nintendo put on a great show, captured my interests, and continues to prove that my Switch investment was well worth it. Only thing left to do, besides wait for these releases, is to gather my courage to play Pokemon Sword and Sheild....because only when a Machoke runs at you in an open field do you truly know fear.
