Grazza

I still say the writing was on the wall when in March they announced Zelda would neither be at E3 nor be released this year. How can a game that they insisted would have a 2015 release now be too primitive to show? Even if it's not ready until Christmas 2016, it would still have been OK to show at this year's E3 because that would be exactly the same gap as originally intended (June 2014-Christmas 2015; June 2015-Christmas 2016). I'm afraid the only conclusion is that Nintendo are back to being their most dishonest and calculating. My theory is that the game is being reworked for NX, and is therefore the lead format. The Wii U will eventually get a port, but it will be based off the NX version (just like GC Twilight Princess was affected by the Wii). The problem is (and I'm only speculating here) that we know very little about NX. It could be a handheld and be less powerful than Wii U. So, for example, imagine that NX is powerful enough to run a facsimile of what they intended, it still may only be possible by simplifying the game. As a rough example, perhaps the Wii U version originally had a very complex town or village that was only possible because of the Wii U's (relative) power. The town could be simplified in secret and, say, the NX runs it at 480p and the Wii U 720p. As we haven't seen any more of the game since, we would have no idea that the game had been simplified. I do realise that paragraph was highly speculative, but I'm just trying to get across the general idea of why I think they don't want us to see Zelda until they can re-present it as an NX game. The current explanations just don't fit.

Thing is, I honestly think they knew what an underwhelming Direct they were preparing and wouldn't have done it any differently (or do any damage control now). Surely everything not shown has been switched to NX, and they don't want us getting the idea there'll be Wii U versions of them. It's like Twilight Princess on GC - even though I believe we will probably get a Wii U version of Zelda, the NX version is probably now the lead format (for good or bad), which is why they don't want to show it again as a Wii U game.

My take on VR is that it's exciting but not worth it until there are agreed standards and cross-compatibility. You could buy Oculus, Morpheus and the HTC one - any could be a flop, and yet you'd still have to use them on different platforms. I look forward to it one day, but Nintendo using it would just add enormous cost to their next machine and we'd have the same situation over again.

I think you might be right there. Not only would Nintendo fans still buy them, they'd also get coverage in Sony and Microsoft websites/magazines. Nintendo's biggest problem is that most gamers (quite understandably) don't consider them part of the wider industry. A few may buy Nintendo's console for Mario Bros and Mario Kart, but they're not going to have a clue about the rest.

The three I liked were Star Fox, Star Fox 64 3D and Command. Just my 2 cents. Honestly don't think this looks like a bad game at all, yet can still see what others are pointing out. Maybe if they dropped the GamePad usage they could improve the graphics. Anyway, I'm just pleased it's not a board game with Team Star Fox amiibos. Oh crap, I think I know which ones are coming next!

True. Maybe we'll get the GBA-enhanced version sometime now GBA is on the Virtual Console. OK, it's for the GBC, but I believe the emulator would have to treat it as a GBA game. Still wouldn't have a map, but would have the Tinkerbat transformation. One for the next handheld, I think.

And the best one was still 2011 where they had a game that didn't actually happen - the tech demo of Link fighting a giant spider.

Yeah, GBC game on the 3DS Virtual Console. The first three games are all definitely in the right order. Even though Half-Genie Hero is the 4th game in the series, I'm still not convinced it's set after the others, but we'll see. Regarding the first game, a little tip: I personally didn't find it playable until I used Restore Points. Everyone's different, but they were really useful to me.

This is basically what I was expecting when I saw the 3x3 football game, and I don't think it looks bad. Whether I will actually want to buy it depends on whether there is a single-player mode and how good that might be. Honestly, I can understand the annoyance though. The fact Nintendo can put out so many games but not a proper 2D Metroid is quite frustrating.

She's half genie in most of them. Another thing is I can't wait for Risky's Revenge: Director's Cut. I could never get the speed run in the original, but am more hopeful this time.

I enjoyed the GameCube Four Swords Adventure, but I think the idea has pretty much run its course. That said, if I'm honest, I wouldn't be very interested in a single-player Zelda (based on the A Link Between Worlds engine) either. The truth is, the 3DS is extremely outdated now. I can understand Nintendo making a number of sequels using the same engine + assets (this, Fire Emblem: Fates etc), but personally I think it's time for a new handheld.

That's what bugs me. They should have set out of the gate years ago with a Metroid, Zelda and F-Zero all planned - start the way you intend to go on. To me, E3 2012 was almost as bad as this one because you could see which way things were going. There was still potential then, but it rang alarm bells to me that they didn't have any big, 3D games (apart from Pikmin 3). So true. They are never going to get back on track until they see the importance of having a console as powerful as the others (in other words - part of the industry) with games as big and ambitious as theirs. They need young, passionate teams who actually want to make better games than The Witcher 3, for example, and that needs to be the standard rather than an exception. Metroid, Zelda and Kid Icarus could all do this. At the moment, all they're doing is re-using existing assets they have laying around. Same. My hope is that next year's reveal of NX is as good as 2010's unveiling of 3DS, when they had several games that all looked brilliant. I want to be back on board, I genuinely do.

Nope, I'm really chuffed they're going back to animal transformations. My ideal Shantae would be one where every creature let you explore a different type of environment. So, for example, monkey, elephant and mermaid are standard, but I'd also love a mole that lets you tunnel underground. I think that'd be excellent! By the way, Ike, do you know if the overworld is fully linked-up, or are areas accessed off a menu?

What a load of cobblers! OK, I did laugh at the puppets and I can see a lot of GIFs being made out of them. Like the Robot Chicken thing last year, Nintendo hires some decent talent in terms of presentation. Star Fox looked quite good. Unimpressive graphics, yes, but we've known the Wii U was underpowered since before it was out (and lots of extremely heated arguments with some insisting it wasn't). But this was like E3 2012 where the known game was shown first (Pikmin 3) and turned out to be the only decent thing! Oh man, I can't even remember what happened next. Nintendo's games are all merging one, where you can scan amiibos into them all and play as all characters in every one! Animal Crossing as an amiibo board game. Constant, endless re-emphasis of what Super Mario Maker is. I'm not bothered by the graphics of the Metroid Prime game, and would be quite interested if it was a single player adventure, but the multiplayer emphasis puts me off. Same goes for Zelda. I give up with Nintendo for now. I'll be back when they actually get that (Wii U?) Zelda out, but for now they can forget it. So, so bad it was almost entertaining!

LMAO! Hilarious start to the show, and Star Fox looks good.

I'm definitely thinking along the same lines as you, King V. If they announced Twilight Princess HD and it looked as good as this, it would make my E3. It's been quite a good show already, I think, although it will now actually be surprising/disappointing if there's no Animal Crossing, Earthbound or Metroid in the presentation. Revised predictions: Wii U Twilight Princess HD*** F-Zero U*** Metroid Prime 4*** Animal Crossing* Earthbound 3 or 4 (or whatever it's called)* 3DS Metroid V** Metroid Prime game of some sort* New Zelda (Link Between Worlds 2)* Super Mario 3D Land 2* * = predict ** = want *** = predict and want Although that's quite possibly being optimistic.

I strongly dislike some aspects of the art style. Although everything is well drawn and nicely coloured, I dislike the way they have made Shantae look like a little girl. In the first couple of games she looked like a young woman (could easily be 18, for instance) and had a broad appeal to most demographics, but they have made her progressively younger ever since. She was just about OK in the 3rd game (could have been 16), but she now looks about 12 or 13. Although the in-game sprite looks fine, she looks extremely young in the "portraits" (eg. the image at the front of the recent trailer) and I have no idea why they'd do this. A good graphic that illustrates the point: The DS version is the best, in my opinion. Good man! I'd love to hear your views on it. And yes, I hear Matt Bozon confirmed this as a sequel (in this case, the 4th game in the series). I assumed it was a prequel (for the reasons above), but apparently it's a sequel.

Every E3 I hope that a new Zelda will be shown, or (if one has been announced) a new trailer for it. With the announcement that Zelda will not be part of the show, this is probably the first one I'm not excited about. This year I'm just treating the Direct as something to enjoy whilst it's on, and to discuss with the people on here. It's nice to not have expectations, really. Apart from... Metroid Prime 4 Metroid V F-Zero U Twilight Princess HD

RedShell - the alchemist of N-Europe! I don't know how you do the things that you do, but I'm glad that you do them.

Awesome collection, S.C.G. You know what's great about it? It's easy to remember Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but your collection recalls what the N64 was actually like at the time. I didn't even know Tony Hawk games went as far back as the N64, for example. Great stuff!

New Half-Genie trailer: 0:27 - one of the sand creatures from the first game 0:51 - mermaids hooked on claws? I'm looking forward to it, but I don't think it has the same appeal as the others. EDIT - Brilliant music though:

Out of interest, @Agent Gibbs, how old is your girlfriend? As for the clothes thing, I often keep clothes for over 10 years too (depends when they wear out), but they do still fit.

There I was saying the 100% Speed Run wallpaper wasn't yet in the 3DS version, and now they've put it in: [spoiler=] You must have JavaScript enabled on your device to view Miiverse posts that have been embedded in a website. View post in Miiverse Anyway, with that, I'm done with Pirate's Curse! I absolutely loved this entry in the series - my Game of the Year, for sure. I've been playing it for four months, and it's simply dominated what the year has been about for me, gaming-wise. Of the four known Shantae games so far, this is the only one where the protagonist is without her animal transformations. This does mean it's slightly less Monster World-like (@Dcubed was very astute calling it "Zelda lite"), but it works very well and serves as a unique entry in the series. Shantae controls like a dream, eventually having the ability to float, run and triple jump around the overworld. Whilst, to me, the ultimate Shantae game would have the animal transformations (and unique zones that need them), this slightly different approach does work very, very well. As has been said, the graphics are absolutely gorgeous, and I for one think it would be a shame if this was the last pixel art game from WayForward. I won't say too much as I've already said most of it, but it was just a superb game that I'm now as familiar with (actually more) as other 2D classics such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario World, Metroid Fusion, Zero Mission and, indeed, the 2nd entry in the Shantae series. Now I just can't wait for Half-Genie Hero and Risky's Revenge: Director's Cut!

I set up my GameCube again and took Twilight Princess for a spin (ie. ride round the overworld, not play the full game). Whatever the intricacies of it, it's certainly a game set up with the right intentions - in particular, riding through the fields, towards and across the huge bridges (Eldin/Lake Hylia) as the GameCube controller rumbles in your hands. It has, however, convinced me even more that the next time we see this game it should be in glorious HD.

I thought the storytelling in general was outstanding - dramatic when it was meant to be, dark on occasion and frequently very, very funny. Melody-wise, Risky's Revenge is still my favourite soundtrack, but I do think Jake Kaufman's tunes serve the story even better in this one. There are two particularly dramatic moments where the music makes it all the more exciting. EDIT - By the way, the 100% Speed Run wallpaper was put into the Wii U version (but not yet the 3DS): [spoiler=] You must have JavaScript enabled on your device to view Miiverse posts that have been embedded in a website. View post in Miiverse