As we look forward to one of the most exciting E3 Expositions in recent memory (particularly for Nintendo), N-Sider would like to take this opportunity to take a step back, breathe a little bit, and first take a look at what we should expect to see (and read about) at the show and what we could potentially see.
The Pre-E3 Storm is well and truly in high gear with less than two weeks to go until the big event. The current hot topics concerning Nintendo that are floating around the Internet are of companies flying the coop, long-awaited games coming out of thin air, Nintendos next pieces of hardware, and a whole host of new Nintendo games.
Now then, starting with all those developer relations that have recently hit the fan, we first had Factor 5 announcing that theyre developing for Sony and Microsoft in addition to Nintendo, and then we got news of a split between Nintendo and second party Silicon Knights, and finally that small tidbit that got released about the possibility of Nintendo working with Kuju on an as-yet un-named game.
Its all very exciting and you can bet that at E3, N-Sider will badger and annoy any individual from each respective company to get as many juicy pieces of information as possible to you readers. We promise well get to the bottom of each story, find out the games (if any) in development, and well try and glean any information we can about each companys future aspirations. There have been conspiracy theories on our forums about the truthfulness of the Silicon Knights announcement, and you can bet that well do our damnedest to find out once and for all if that Silicon Knights rumour is indeed true.
For two years, weve been looking forward to the game being developed by a team of ex-Rare employees who worked on the legendary Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64. We heard that they were working closely with Nintendo, and we thought it would be a GameCube exclusive, but we were in for a shock. That team is Zoonami and most of us logically expected an enormous FPS in the same mould as the two N64 classics. Instead Zoonami shocked us with the recent announcement that it is working on a multiplayer rhythm-action title called Funkydilla and that it would be developed for multiple consoles. E3 will hopefully reveal more to us.
Some time ago there was a report that Nintendo would be working with UK-based studio Kuju and publishing a title developed by them. Some of the N-Sider staff offered various suggestions on what the mystery game could be, and IGN recently hinted at a Cube Wars game. Again, E3 will tell us more and well of course bring you all the news direct from the show floor.
Moving on, our attention must now focus on the most relevant topic for our site - Nintendo. E3 2004 promises to be a massive exposition for Nintendo. Well be seeing the new Nintendo DS for the first time along with a rather hefty rumoured 30 games. On the next-generation hardware front, there have been some rather exciting developments on the successors to GameCube and Game Boy Advance. We wont bother going into any further detail because weve already got a great article on that topic, so well just move on to the most important thing, the games.
Well be seeing some truly awesome games coming for GameCube including some absolutely mouth-watering sequels and updates, first-time GameCube appearances for long respected franchises, and hopefully some all-new franchises from Miyamoto and Co.
Much of this article focuses on games developed by Nintendo 1st and 2nd parties, along with famous Nintendo franchises being handled by partnerships that Nintendo have commissioned. Weve also covered the big GameCube exclusives from 3rd parties, as well as some choice non-exclusive 3rd party N-Sider staff favourites.
Now then, lets get to it. As we said earlier, the Pre-E3 Storm is well and truly underway and the biggest noises being made are these bad boys:
The name of the game is somewhat funny if you havent played the first in the series, we know (how can it be prime and 2!?) So for those who dont know yet, the name Metroid Prime is actually referring to an in-game entity contrary to what many believed before release. Lets jump ahead to the present though, shall we? Austin, Texas based Retro Studios has been working hard on the next installment of what is possibly the most anticipated GameCube title of the year. The first title is what Jason would refer to as a fusion title and we expect the second to excel just as much in that department.
So far the official spiel weve been given from Nintendo is that our trusty heroin Samus Aran travels to a planet that is torn into light and darkness. One theory we are entertaining here is that Samus must travel to these light and dark worlds much in the same way that Link did in Zelda: A Link to the Past. This would give a certain amount of weight to the subtitle Echoes since the light and dark worlds would be semi-redundant yet changed in a great way. A giant temple in the light world might be reduced to nothing more than rubble in the dark world. The other interesting thing is that weve seen a particular screen shot that shows what looks to be another human with armour similar to Samus.
Finally, the announced multiplayer mode has been a hot topic these days leading to the show. Some feel the game has a huge potential of falling hard while others feel the pedigree of the team behind this title (lots of experience developing multiplayer games) is reason enough to believe it will be more than a foot-note in the history of the franchise. All we know so far is that the game will include split screen, will have players scrambling for weapons, and will allow the use of morph ball mode. Whether or not there are LAN capabilities (with more than 4 players), different modes to play, or even large maps is still unknown. This is truly the age-old case where every answer seems to raise even more questions. Make no mistake, were going to be on this one like white on rice at the show.
This time last year Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami told us dont pee your pants. Many of us had a good-hearted laugh at this comment. This year, however, we almost did exactly what he told us not to do. The moment Biohazard 4 (Resident Evil 4) in its current form was shown to the world, pants everywhere were thrust into nearby washers. Not necessarily because of the scare factor that we saw, but more so because we were blown away by how impressive the game looks in almost every regard. Not only do the visuals look to be head and shoulders above almost anything hitting the shelves this generation, but the gameplay is also more dynamic than almost any other (especially considering the bulky roots of the series.)
Without trying to reiterate what has been said before about the title, well try to focus on what to expect for the E3 show. In fact, we dont really expect any more at the show than what was already shown to the press in Las Vegas mere months ago. That is, we expect to have a romping good time with the demo. One of the biggest advancements we want to put to the test is the entire combat setup. Instead of zombies we now have zombie-like humans that can actually think. If you go to shoot them they might side step you for instance. There will be the inevitable ladder kicks and window jumping as well.
Will we be scared at E3? Probably not (considering were going to be in a giant room filled with techno music and flashing lights), but as far as we can tell, Resident Evil 4 looks to be a big advancement because it looks to have a lot of fun elements added to the mix. The dynamics of the horde is like nothing weve ever seen before and we want to put it to the test. And who knows: maybe if were really lucky well get to see some new areas that werent shown previously. Consider our fingers crossed.
Lets rock baby, yeah! Ahem. Every time Viewtiful Joe comes up we cant help but think of the crazy guy and how much ass he kicks. Viewtiful Joe was last years surprise hit. It was, bar none, one of the best titles released this generation or any other. Its not the flashy comic book graphics or even the amazing VFX tricks you can pull that won gamers hearts everywhere. Deep down the game succeeded because of a tightly knit gameplay system that relied on giving the player enough freedom with super moves and at the same time throwing rock hard enemies Joes way. It was as if you could see and hear the sizzle but then the steak arrived and it was a marvel to behold.
You can bet that were going to, as realultimatepower.net would say, totally flip out with Viewtiful Joe 2 at E3. With the addition of co-op, this could single-handedly be a replacement for those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat em up games we all loved on the NES. The only question left to ask is: how do two players use their VFX? One theory is that the two players share a pool of VFX and it will affect both players if used. Another is that the game could use a split screen and have one character completely independent of anything the other player does (including slowing down the world, where they might still be able to run around normally.)
There is no question in our mind that Joe is going to rock, and hes going to rock hard. Come on Six Majin!