Nintendophiles 06.03.09: The E3 Edition

Posted by Theo Fraser on 06.03.2009

E3 2009 is here and Nintendo has certainly delivered thus far, revealing Super Mario Galaxy 2, a new core gamer-oriented Metroid title, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and much more! Plus, check out the latest info on the all-new Trauma Team, as well as the glorious E3 trailer for No More Heroes 2.





Ladies and Gentlemen, you join us here at Nintendophiles for the busiest and most exciting time of the gaming year; the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short. At the time of writing, the Nintendo keynote address took place mere hours ago, so this week's edition will be a mix of pre-E3 build-up and analysis of some of the major announcements stemming from the first day of the show.

The latest ‘Tidbit News of the Week' comes to you from various sources in the days leading up to E3; I'll cover all the actual E3 announcements later. So let's get down to business!


-No Fatal Frame IV for Europe. Denied a US release, a PAL version was still intended, but for whatever reason the localization has now been scrapped. That's a big blow to fans of the horror genre on Wii, which really could have used the boost Fatal Frame IV would have provided. Let's hold out hope it sees the light of day in the West sooner rather than later.

-Renegade Kid are developing Dementium II, sequel to the acclaimed Dementium: The Ward, this time with the proceedings taking place in a treatment center. Renegade Kid really know how to push the DS hardware, so there's no doubt that this will look fantastic. If they can tweak the problematic areas of the first game, this could be something very special indeed.

-Saints Row and Red Faction titles could be Wii-bound, although developer Volition likely wouldn't be behind them, as Volition are concentrating on technological advancements in console development, i.e. raping the 360/PS3's horsepower for all its got. It's all down to THQ, apparently; if they make the call, Wii fans will be getting a double helping of core gamer goodness.

-Retro Studios big secret title won't be revealed or displayed during the course of E3 this year. No explanation was given, but perhaps Nintendo have enough in store to wow us and satisfy fans over the next 3 days.

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The Nintendo Keynote Media Briefing



I'm writing this almost in ‘real-time' and as such haven't had a chance to fully digest the announcements made in the Keynote speech, so this will be a case of ‘shooting from the hip', if you will. I'm not going to waffle on at you at this point, so without further ado, let's head over to the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles...


-Cammie Dunaway is here to talk to us, joyful times. Nintendo are apparently bringing us a surprise. Glorious. It better be good Cammie. Could this be the New Mario that has been rumored?

-AH, the live feed is not buffering! You are killing me, Firefox! I'm not even kidding, it cut out seconds before the actual announcement. Upon rebooting, it becomes apparent that that the 2D side-scrolling New Super Mario Bros. "series" is coming to the Wii! Single player and four player confirmed, the latter being a mix of co-op and competitive. This title is being demoed on the showground floor during E3 ‘proper', so hopefully we'll get an idea of how much depth there is to it. Looks like it could be a lot of fun though. New Propeller suit, where shaking the Wii remote lets Mario (or whichever avatar you're controlling) briefly fly around in the air. Sweet.

-New Wii Sports Resort games: Ping Pong, Archery, Skydiving, Basketball and a Samurai Sword showdown. Archery sounds particularly intuitive (and thus should be a big hit with the casual players), requiring you to pull the nunchuk back to draw the arrow, before releasing it with A on the Wii remote.

-Reggie takes the stage! I still love him. He's all business and doesn't seem to be ‘kicking ass and taking names' this time round. RPG fun; FFCC Crystal Bearers, Kingdom Hearts DS, Mario & Luigi 3 (now entitled Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story) ...I'VE JUST CUM, GOLDEN SUN DS! No actual gameplay is shown, but it appears to be based on a nice little 3D engine. Words don't do it justice really; let's take a look at the trailer in full:







-After a bunch of other stuff (including a GTA-esque DS game from Ubisoft called C.O.P. The Recruit), Satoru Iwata finally appears on stage. Lots of hyperbole and spiel about the Wii's success, and how Nintendo have to look to the future. The company want to create titles that appeal to both the hardcore and expanded audience. We've already seen the Mario announcement earlier, what on Earth could this be?

-HOLY FRICKIN' FRICKERY, it's a Super Mario Galaxy sequel!! The first time ever a 3D Mario game has received a sequel during the same generation. As you'd expect, Super Mario Galaxy 2 looks fantastic. Yoshi returns! I love the green guy. Good to see more trademark Mario humor, such as Yoshi swelling up in order to allow Mario to float around for a short while. No obvious graphical updates from the original, but Galaxy is still one of the finest looking Wii games out there, so no complaints from me in that regard. Can't wait to see more of this on the showroom floor.





-Third party stuff is shown, and while The Conduit, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, and Dead Space: Extraction are all cool offerings, everyone seems to be on a bit of a high from the Mario announcement and aren't paying as much attention. Can't blame them really.

-Reggie talks about Nintendo presenting an ‘edgier' side of themselves. OK, count me intrigued.

-Team Ninja collaboration with Nintendo?! Video with distinct sci-fi feel, this is a total departure from anything we've seen from Nintendo bef- SLAP MY SCROTUM, THAT WAS SAMUS! No way. I'm in shock here, and will attempt to carry on writing, trying to ignore my raging hard-on. Metroid: Other M is the name it is currently going by. This has a total space-opera feel to it, you can just tell this is going to be epic. Yep, words can't do this justice, its trailer time people...







That trailer is pure sex. What a radical departure for not only Samus Aran but for Nintendo themselves. The darker, grittier edge given to the proceedings add so much to the atmosphere, and for the first time it really looks like we'll find out exactly what makes Samus tick. At the helm of the Ninja Gaiden franchise, Team Ninja know their stuff when it comes to hardcore third person thrills, and I have the absolute utmost faith in them to pull this one off. 2010 truly can't come soon enough.


So there we have it. The E3 2009 Nintendo keynote speech, done and dusted. I'd say it was approximately 1,347 times better than last year's, and I'm only half exaggerating. Two big new Mario titles, a radical transformation for the Metroid franchise, not to mention some really decent third-party offerings makes this a conference to remember. We didn't see any mention of a new Wii Zelda, nor the rumored E3 titles such as Pikmin 3, F-Zero or Pilotwings, but I can hardly say I'm disappointed. Roll on the show itself, where our 411 representatives will get the chance to go hands-on with some of these future classics. In case you haven't already done so, bookmark 411 Games now!

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No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle E3 trailer
Credit: IGN

SUDA 51 recently mentioned that the No More Heroes sequel wouldn't be playable at this year's E3, but that didn't mean it would be totally absent from the festivities. In the run-up to the show, Grasshopper Manufacture released a fancy new trailer, showing off new enemies, new locales, badass weapons and some classic Travis Touchdown humor. Mildly interesting is the addition of the numerical ‘2' to the title, which was previously just No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. The optimist in me wants to read into this as proof of the franchise continuing on beyond this second instalment. If it sells well, SUDA 51 would have to be totally crazy not to succumb to the pressure and develop a third, but this potentially shows he's already thinking about it. Anyway, let's take a look at the trailer itself, shall we?





It looks fantastic, that's for sure. Animation seems to be a lot smoother, and a graphical sheen seems to have been added, with a little more detail given in character design. The dual-wielded beam katanas could indicate a slightly tweaked combat system, but apart from that it appears to be business as usual. We've yet to see the town of Santa Destroy to see if it's any more populated than the "am-I-in-a-nuclear-fallout" ghost town of the original, and likewise haven't seen what SUDA 51 has in store for us in terms of jobs and assassin missions, but we got to see a few new wrestling moves! I'm sure I spied a Half-Nelson Suplex in there somewhere. As for the trailer's ending...that was sheer awesomeness. Just for funsies, let's see it again:





Yay, that was fun. With the game nearing completion, I'm holding out hope Goichi Suda will start a countdown site, as he initiated with NMH1, with little 10 second clips to whet the appetites of avid fans the world over. Whatever happens, I hope it happens soon. I want to see proper, extended gameplay of this baby!

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Trauma Centre gets a name change as Atlus bring Trauma Team to the Wii
Credit: Famitsu




The term ‘name change' is actually a slight misconception, as Atlus are basically extending the Trauma Centre franchise and general structure by widening the gameplay to include all aspects of hospital life. Except changing the bedpans. That is one gameplay option my Wii remote can happily do without. Anyway, a whole team of surgeons will be at your disposal, and an RPG element will be brought into play, as using a different surgeon in each scenario results in a new storyline/event. Each surgeon has their own speciality, so let's meet the new cast:

• Gabriel Cunningham: The guy who runs the doctor's office and makes the first examinations.


• Maria Torres: The team's paramedic; has the ability to carry out first-aid on multiple victims, all at the same time. Handy girl to have around.


• Prisoner CR-SO1: Bear with me on this one. CR-SO1 is a prisoner who has been cryogenically frozen/imprisoned for 250 years. The lesson here? Don't ever steal a load of bread, kids. Nevertheless, CR-SO1 has his sentence reduced as his skills are needed for some advanced operations, such as you'd find in older Trauma Center games.


• Hank Freebird : Complicated surgeries are carried out by this dear fellow. Something tells me he's going to be a bit of a tool. Well, he is called Hank...


• Naomi Kimishima: Back from older Trauma Center games, Naomi is a forensic specialist, with gameplay taking on the guise of an adventure title when controlling her.


• Tomoe Tachibana: This little lady wears a doctor's coat over her kimono, as you do. Tomoe specialises in endoscopic surgery. Which is always fun.

A nice little eclectic bunch, I think you'll agree. At this early stage, we don't really know how they'll all interact, or how you'll move from one scenario to the other (presumably there will be a ‘main' character of sorts to provide narrative etc), but Atlus seem confident about this new direction for the series. Producer Daisuke Kanada said of the product:


Daisuke Kanada: "This game is the penultimate work of the Trauma Center team. It completes one of the goals for a medical series that we've been striving for before, and it's also a wholly new title, not a sequel to Trauma Center. It's not just a surgery game, but an entire hospital in game form."


It certainly sounds like an ambitious project, and one I really hope pays off. The different levels of gameplay provide the player with a constantly refreshing experience, so you won't ‘just' be stuck in the operating room. North America will get to try out Atlus' new approach to the Trauma Center series next Spring, which is when the title is currently scheduled to reach US shores.

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The 411 Games Crew

Jacob Lopez and Sean Garmer were there in person to witness the Nintendo Press Conference. Check out their recap here.

Mark Salmela weighs in with his pre-E3 B3yond the Report.

Armando Rodriguez brings you The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Scott Simpson and Joshua Richey duke it out in this week's 411 Games Fact or Fiction.

Alexandra Pusateri has another Reality Check for you.


Be sure to tune in next week for all of the fallout from E3, with thoughts and views on the games showcased on the expo floor. See you back here in 7 days! In the mean time, enjoy the rest of the E3 festivities!

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