Nintendo round-up | E3 2019

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While Mario himself was fairly quiet, there was plenty of news from Nintendo’s special Direct for E3. Here are all the biggest announcements.

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by James Michael Parry

@pass_controller

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Link will return in Breath of the Wild 2

The biggest news of all was that the follow up to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now in development.

While it’s unlikely we’ll see it before next Christmas at the earliest, nor is it likely to be called “Breath of the Wild 2”, we did get a glimpse at the tone of how our next journey through Hyrule might feel.

The trailer features both Link and Zelda exploring some sort of underground cavern, filled with faintly magical-looking mist and a lingering feeling of dread.

This already looks like a darker, spookier tale, possibly with Zelda along for the ride for some sort of co-op, but we’ll have to wait to find out more details.

Ghost-busting with Gooigi

Luigi is back in the torchlight once again with Luigi’s Mansion 3. His customary poltergust now has some new abilities like slam, which can throw ghosts overhead to deal damage to them and nearby enemies, and suction shot, which lets you take ghosts’ shields from them, lowering their defences.

The playful Nintendo visuals are in full effect in this new title, and reach their peak in the globular form of Gooigi, an all-green copy of our protagonist who is controllable remotely or by a co-op partner to solve puzzles or tackle enemies - just keep him away from water.

There’s also an out-and-out online multiplayer mode, The ScareScraper, where up to four Luigis (and another four Gooigis…) must clear rooms, save lost Toads and solve puzzles in a spooky hotel.

Get away from it all with Nook Inc.

There was finally more news for Animal Crossing fans as well, as we got a first proper look at Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This latest chapter puts you on a deserted island in a tent to build up your town from scratch.

​You can have friends along this time too, with up to eight islanders able to explore the world at the same time and take part in a whole host of island activities.

Crafting makes its debut in the series and elements seen in mobile titles are being included to make this what looks like the most comprehensive Animal Crossing entry to date.

Fans will have to wait a little bit longer to get their hands on it however, as the game now comes out next year, on 20 March.​

The bear and bird come to Smash Bros.

​The Hero from Dragon Quest was confirmed to be entering the fray in Smash Bros. Ultimate (appearing as a number of forms drawn from across multiple entries in the series) and there was another Smash surprise in store: Banjo-Kazooie are raring to go.

Rising to prominence in the title of the same name back in the 90s, Banjo and Kazooie have long been fan-requested combatants, and finally those wishes have been answered.

The reveal showed off a few of their moves as well as a stage based on Spiral Mountain, the hub area for Banjo-Kazooie itself, and an ultimate move featuring the colourful critters the jinjos.​

The hits keep on coming

Elsewhere, we got a first proper look at Link’s Awakening, a remake of the Legend of Zelda title released on the Game Boy back in 1993, which will return with a cheerful new art style on 20 September.

We also saw the official, on-camera introduction of new Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser, complete with a suitably corny chit chat with his fire-breathing namesake.

There were a slew of JRPGs including Trials of Mana, Collection of Mana, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, as well as the return of Travis Touchdown in No More Heroes 3.​

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is on its way to the Switch, along with a number of other ports, including Resident Evil 5 and 6 and dozens of indie releases.

Finally, there were highlights like Astral Chain from Platinum games, a remake of Panzer Dragoon and, for all the sports fans, Mario and Sonic are teaming up again for the 2020 Olympic Games.

If you want to learn more, Nintendo will likely be sharing more information and gameplay footage on a number of the above titles as part of their Treehouse Live E3 coverage, which draws to a close tomorrow.

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Did you check out the conference? What are you most excited about so far? Let us know in the comments, and, from me and all of the team, thank you for checking out our E3 coverage.

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