You might not have heard of it, but next week is the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short. This annual event is the Super Bowl of video games, the place where the entire industry gathers to talk about what’s coming up for the next year or so. Needless to say, the hype around this event is palpable, whether you’re in attendance or watching from home.
E3 2018 is particularly interesting in that there’s so much we still don’t know, despite everything that’s been leaked or rumored so far. Every day brings with it new thoughts and predictions and spoilers, which makes actually predicting the event so dang interesting. I’m going to do my best to predict the Big Three (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) and guess just what the heck is going to go down next week. This time we're looking at Nintendo, the House of Mario.
Nintendo has pulled no punches in the lead-up to this year’s E3, teasing Super Smash Bros for the Switch in March and then unveiling Pokemon Let’s Go: Pikachu and Eevee last week. Both of these games will factor heavily into Nintendo’s E3 presence no doubt, but the real intrigue is what could also be unveiled. Heavily supported rumors suggest some major third party support coming to Nintendo in Fortnite and Dragon Ball FighterZ, putting the Switch in a place Nintendo consoles frankly haven’t been before. Nintendo was able to pack their E3 Direct with mostly first party titles, because third parties by and large ignored the Wii U. Now that the Switch is selling gangbusters Nintendo will have to find the perfect balance, and unfortunately I think that means a few first party games getting less screen time in the process.
Remember how brief that Metroid Prime 4 reveal was last year? I wouldn’t expect too much more than that this year. Maybe some gameplay, maybe a few little things here and there, but MP4 feels like it’s still a ways off. This rumored Star Fox racing game piques the interest, but it will probably only see about two to three minutes of time during the video. Same with the new Yoshi platformer announced last year, there won’t be much more than a brief trailer to take in. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see more via the usual Nintendo Treehouse stream after the main presentation.
Speaking of Wii U, there are a few first-party games that still haven’t been ported over to the Switch yet, so I’m thinking we’ll see one or two of those. Pikmin 3 (if not an entirely new Pikmin game) would make sense, as would the two Legend of Zelda HD remakes of Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. I personally would like to see The Wonderful 101 and Paper Mario: Color Splash make the jump, but those are more personal preferences than actual predictions.
Back to third parties, which companies will be joining the Nintendo Fan Club at E3? Based on the DBFZ/Fortnite leak FIFA 19, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, and highly popular underground arcade game Killer Queen are all coming to Switch soon as well. Ubisoft’s Starlink: Battle for Atlas and its small starship toys will be making an appearance also if this leak is to be believed, but that makes sense considering the starships probably work like amiibo. Most intriguing to me is Bethesda, who has seen success with Skyrim and DOOM on the Switch. Perhaps they unveil an all-new original game for the console from one of their storied franchises? That would certainly turn some heads.
All that aside, Smash Bros Switch and Pokemon Let’s Go are the two big time games here. Nintendo has confirmed hands-on opportunities with both games at the booth, so the E3 Direct will likely show off a lot of what those demos offer. Of the two I think we get more brand new info on Smash, as Pokemon is technically a remake of Pokemon Yellow. That Smash Bros info will center around the character selection, everyone from old favorites returning (hey there, Ice Climbers!) to brand new entries (Waluigi, it’s about time!). I’m not sure how many characters will actually be available in the demo, but I get the feeling we’ll see more in the E3 Direct than we will in the playable demo.
Nintendo’s E3 is probably the safest bet of good things coming, especially considering Smash Bros and Pokemon are two of the company’s strongest IPs. Third-party announcements and a few first-party surprises would be great, but this is shaping up to be the PokeSmash show and frankly there’s nothing wrong with that unless you like unpredictability. Nintendo’s not fixing what isn’t broken, and I suspect the loyal Nintendoites out there will appreciate them for it.
That’s a rundown of what I think is coming next week at the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Even with the rumors and leaks and retailers gone rogue there’s still plenty of things to speculate on, to wonder about, and to predict as the show inches closer. It’s the most wonderful time of the year to be a gamer, so sit back and let the E3 news tsunami wash over you. If you want more prediction madness, check out our takes on Microsoft and Sony for this year's show.
