At Nintendo?s press conference before the start of E3, the Japanese company announced its lineup as well as their new handheld which they promise will bring them back to the forefront of the gaming industry. A vast majority of the games that Nintendo presented involved many of their well-known characters claiming that what the public desires is the familiar faces and franchises.
The start of the presentation showed off clips of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Star Fox and Resident Evil 4, and then later, other games such as Pikmin 2, Paper Mario 2 and several Donkey Kong games.
Metroid Prime 2 will follow the style of its predecessor by putting you in first-person mode on an enemy filled planet. Echoes will boast the first ever multiplayer mode for this line, allowing you to play against up to three of your friends. Samus will have new weapons in her arsenal including the Light and Dark Beams. Among the villains the armor-clad heroine will face are the Space Pirates as well as a dark Samus similar to the SAX found in Metroid Fusion for the GameBoy Advance.
Star Fox follows the Fox McCloud crew as they dive into yet another laser filled battle (both in space and on the ground).
The survival-horror series, Resident Evil?s fourth game was also on display. RE 4 is filled with stunning graphics, as well as gruesome and intelligent monsters that will keep you on the edge of your seat and scared stiff for every minute of gameplay. Zombies (or are they?) will react depending on where you shoot them. Cap them in the face and they grab there nose and shake their head. A big improvement over the previous games in the series.
Other games that Nintendo showed the crowd was the rhythm-based Donkey Konga and Donkey Kong: Jungle Beast. Both of these games require a special controller in the shape and function of bongos.
Besides the slew of mascot-heavy games, Nintendo was proud to unveil the Nintendo DS, a dual screen handheld system designed as an answer to Sony?s PSP. More information on this new handheld will be released in a separate article.
As the press conference closed, Nintendo showed a preview clip of their latest fully 3D Zelda game for the GameCube. This game puts the classic hero in a new world and back in his non-cel-shaded style. According to Miyamoto (who was sporting a Hyrulian sword and shield), in order to keep the fans happy and Nintendo in the game, the characters and company will have to keep moving and always change.