Nintendo’s E3 presentation came and went, and while there is a lot of hype around Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and some other nice surprises–no one is arguing with a new Fire Emblem title or major Xenoblade update–there were a number of missing elements that we can only see as huge misses for the Kyoto-based company.
Super Mario Odyssey DLC was nowhere to be seen at the show. With a game that had great adoption as the series’ first return to its open-exploration style world in a number of years, and with a kingdom design that is perfectly suited to adding new content, it is quite surprising that nothing was announced for Nintendo’s most famous mascot.
Zelda was another franchise not shown off at E3 2018. While The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has completely wrapped and no new DLC will be developed based on what we know, there was a lot of talk of a potential Nintendo 3DS title in the vein of A Link Between Worlds. For a game that sold more units than the Nintendo Switch it was released on, it seems that fans would have eagerly awaited a follow-up to the previous 3DS title or new entry in the franchise.
Smartphone / mobile efforts weren’t exactly expected at the show, but would have been a really solid addition to the company’s repertoire. With a commitment to release more and more smartphone games over the coming years, and with word that a Zelda game is in the works for smartphones, E3 seemed like it would have been a great place to potentially show off a mobile entry in an existing franchise.
Metroid Prime 4 was shown off for the first time last year, albeit in the form of a very quick teaser logo. Similar to Nintendo’s mobile efforts not being completely expected at the show, it would have been great to see either a small bit of artwork, receive perhaps a quick update on development progress, or even a word from a team member similar to the announcement of a main line Pokémon game from last year’s presentation.
With a Nintendo Direct that focused almost exclusively on a single game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Nintendo may have put most of its eggs into one basket. Granted, that so-called gaming basket is adored by many fans, but the fact that there were no teasers or mentions of other games we may be fortunate enough to see in the next year left us wanting quite a bit more.