What follows are my personal thoughts on Nintendo at E3 2014. I welcome all thoughts and criticism regarding this year’s expo!

If I can say one thing about the Electronic Entertainment Expo, it’s that the opening conferences are usually lacking. Nintendo definitely marched to the beat of their own drum this year. First, they opted out of the live conference shenanigans and did something quite interesting.

The entire pre-filmed show was broken up by comedic bits involving stop-motion versions of Reggie Fils-Aime and other Nintendo characters talking about how they wouldn’t be announcing a new Mario game this time around. The only thing I can say for these Robot Chicken-inspired bits is that they were funny as hell, and it kept me interested. I cannot say the same for the rest of the Nintendo presentation.

Super Smash Bros Wii U and 3DS (Gameplay)

We all have raccoon ears! Innovation!

As if the opening animation didn’t get your attention, we get an odd-looking fight between Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime in the weirdest bit of advertising I’ve seen so far at E3 2014. They duke it out, then show footage of their Miis doing battle with Nintendo characters as a newly introduced feature. A new character was announced by way of highly-detailed anime, which was interesting. I would have rather seen the Super Smash Bros anime over a new character, but that’s just me.
Apparently, there will be more features coming to the 3DS version, but we’ll just have to wait.

Amiibo (Add-on)

Figurines! We can have a new collection!

This is a system that will allow you to connect figurines to the Wii U tablet to import your saved character into the game. If you leveled Link up to level 10, you can save it to your Link figurine and play with that level Link on another Wii U console. This is how I understand it, at least. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but this sounds a lot like Skylanders or Disney Infinity.

Apparently, they will be bringing this figurine feature to Mario Kart 8, as well. Personally, I am satisfied. I said a few months ago that I didn’t understand why Nintendo didn’t just make both versions compatible since it seems like people would enjoy that a lot. I am happy as well because I now have my answer to my question. Nintendo isn’t doing cross-play between their console and hand-held because they are trying to cash in on plug-in figurines. Awesome!

Yoshi’s Wolly World (Gameplay)

Looks like we’ve… unraveled this mystery!

I’ve said that a few different things needed to happen in order to save the Wii U. They need new IPs, to work with 3^rd party developers, and to carry out cross-play functionality. With Yoshi’s Wolly World, they at least came up with a new IP… barely. You could think of Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the obvious comparison, but that may be giving it too much credit. They spent a lot of time describing the development of the game, but I zoned out near the middle.

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (Gameplay)

Move aside, Mario! Oh…

I said that Nintendo needed new IPs, and they delivered… barely. You could think of Super Mario 3D World for the obvious comparison, but that may be too easy. This is something of a disturbing trend that has popped up. Nintendo is simply taking games they’ve already made and putting new characters into them. That’s not really something I can get behind.

Zelda (Studio Interview)

A new Zelda for a new generation!

All I know about this game is that it’s open world and it’s another Zelda game. The trailer and tiny bit of gameplay looked decent but I was never into the Legend of Zelda. I can’t really say that I’m thrilled about it.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (Gameplay)

A throwback to our childhoods with the Gameboy Advanced!

This will be a remake of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire with a bunch of updates for the 3DS. And Mega Evolutions!

Bayoneta 2 (Gameplay)

Stop looking at her hair! She’s a person!

If you are interested in this franchise before, you won’t be able to play the sequel anywhere except for the Wii U! I’m pretty sure that Nintendo planned to get more people interested in the Wii U, but Bayonetta is the last franchise that’s going to get me interested in their console (Crotch! -Editor).

Also, if you buy the sequel, it will come bundled with the first game so you can get caught up.

Hyrule Warriors (Gameplay)

Fight!

If it seems like I’m lacking enthusiasm at this point, it’s because I am. I was totally bored with Nintendo at this point. The funny part is that they weren’t even trying to hide the fact that this game is a Dynasty Warriors rip-off (Rip off implies that they stole the idea completely from Dynasty Warriors, instead they actually got the Dynasty Warriors people involved. So it’s more like an homage -Editor). I guess they get extra points for being honest, and this is technically a new IP.

Splatoon (Gameplay)

Who made this mess?

This is a new IP (New IP from Nintendo, End of the world is here folks -Editor) that drops players into a four-on-four multiplayer paintball match. Your character has multiple abilities including being able to transform into a squid and being able to swim along the trail of paint that matches your team’s colour. This means you can move along the floor, as well as on the walls.

Finally! A new IP that has nothing to do with the usual suspects of Nintendo characters is exactly what we need.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Gameplay)

Kirby’s back and he’s better than ever! For Christmas this year…

From epic yarn to stop-motion clay, Kirby has made another transformation. It’s another attempt to use the Wii U touchpad.

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I have nothing else to say. The ability to make custom Mario levels, along with everything else in the presentation still isn’t enough to convince me to buy a Wii U. As a whole, I found the event dull Nintendo realistically presented one new franchise, and reused game concepts they’ve used before . The only difference is that they are using different, but equally known characters from pre-existing franchises. The most accurate description I can give for these games is that they are spin-ripoffs (More like Spinoffs, amirite? -Editor).

I will go over what my expectations are for next year, but this should have been a chance for redemption for Nintendo. Their Wii U sales have been declining for two quarters and no one seems care about it.

They are moving at their own pace and speed, so it’s hard to gauge what their strategy is. Perhaps this is all a clever rouse to draw attention away from something else. Then, when we’re not expecting it, they’ll spring the ultimate surprise.

Since I’m not looking for that to happen any time soon, I’ll say that reusing a piece of paper is okay. It’s not okay for video games.