It’s safe to say that people expected Nintendo to go all out for E3 this year. After all, they only just released their newest console a few months ago, with many major releases still on the horizon. However, the company didn’t just lazily show off their upcoming games. Nintendo is a company with personality, and they definitely showed it off with their E3 2017 setup.
Let me start off by saying that Nintendo didn’t just put together an E3 space, they constructed a city. Inspired by the heavily anticipated Super Mario Odyssey, the space featured an urban theme, with carpeted sewer covers and a Crazy Cap store sign brightly lighting one of the walls.
Everything about the space was simply oozing Nintendo. As soon as I stepped in, I saw a wonderfully constructed statue of Mario holding his new cap from Super Mario Odyssey. And who happened to be standing next to the display? The voice of Mario himself, Charles Martinet. Yes, I know what he looks like.
The most surprising part of the Nintendo E3 space was the focus on newer games. The company has been criticized for years now for their over-reliance on intellectual properties that are now twenty to thirty years old. However, two series were featured heavily: Splatoon 2 and Arms. Considering neither series is more than three years old, it’s pretty clear that Nintendo is looking forward.
Arms was the main focus on their big screen, showing off live battles and showcasing the game’s abstract take on boxing. Which is pretty much Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots meets Stretch Armstrong. Splatoon 2 (which many have said should have been called SplaTWOon) received a ton of attention, what with Nintendo staff donning paint-splattered labcoats (which makes more sense if you’ve played the game) and a line so long it would make Space Mountain blush.
I had the opportunity to try out the hard-to-obtain Switch (a euphoric experience I might add) with the recently announced Pokken Tournament DX. If you haven’t played the game, it’s pretty much Pokemon meets Tekken. So instead of catching ‘em all, you punch ‘em all. It’s pretty much as amazing as you’d imagine from that description.
And all of this isn’t even including the company placed next door to Nintendo, which just happened to have people playing Mario Kart in a ballpit. Seriously.
Nintendo didn’t just throw together some demos of their games and post up a few pictures of Mario for their E3 setup. Even though the lines would have probably still been extremely long. They used the personality of their iconic characters and their established style to their advantage. It was fun. It was quirky. It was undeniably Nintendo.
