Nintendo E3 2013 Press Conference

Tuesday was Nintendo's turn to show off their slate of planned releases for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. To no surprise Nintendo has thrown in the towel on 2013 and conceded the year to the new consoles 6 months before they come out. Instead their focus seems to be on 2014 where they do seem to have a solid slate of new games but most will not be out until late summer or Holidays 2014.

The only big game for 2013 for the Wii U isn't even vaguely original but a remake of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. A fine game but its intentional cartoon design means that graphically the only real change will be smoother animation and widescreen but not a real dramatic improvement that makes it worthwhile to buy the system or buy the game all over again for $60. However, 2014's slate includes some pretty good looking games starring a slate of Nintendo classics. Games include Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, Super Smash Bros (which does something useful with classic MegaMan since Capcom is unable), and Bayonetta 2.
The Wii U eShop will also get a bunch of smaller games exclusive to them that have a lot of varied game play. A trailer for those games is here.

As far as the 3DS most of the focus was on the Wii U but the sequel to one of Nintendo's best games ever, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) is getting a sequel with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Its set for Holiday 2013 release. Other 3DS games in the pipeline include Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Sonic Lost World, and Yoshi's New Island.

No mention was made of a future new Legend of Zelda title, Metroid title or any other major character from their slate. The plan seems to be Mario, Mario and oh yeah more Mario. A decent plan that used to work but doesn't have quite the same draw considering only $50 more will get you a PS4 with a much wider variety of games. As a life long Nintendo fan, seeing them give up on 2013 and at least the first half of 2014 is disheartening. The chances of recovering from that kind drought and thriving as a company will be difficult. More and more its starting to look like Nintendo is going to Saga footsteps and give up the hardware side and farm out their characters to whatever other publisher is willing to pay the price to make games off them. I hope I am wrong but E3 2013 did nothing to help alleviate those doubts. Below is the full presentation while all the trailers can be found at the links below or at the Nintendo YouTube channel.