E3 2012: Nintendo 3DS Press Conference

Nintendo kicked off their 3DS Press Conference with the introduction of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. Created by Konami, this takes you back into the new reboot Castlevania series. A trailer and a detailed demo was given of the game, basically showing what is there and how it all controls. Visually, it looks very nice. This is an exclusive 3DS game with four total playable characters. This game comes out in the fall with a demo beforehand.

Up next was a little more preview of the upcoming Luigi’s game, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. This takes place across multiple mansions. Expect this game out this Holiday season. It has also been confirmed that this game will be released as both a retail version and a retail eShop version.

Mickey Mouse is certainly on a roll these days, and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is no exception. This takes the classic Genesis game, Castle of Illusion, and brings it to life again. The evil witch from that game is up to no good and imprisoning all your friends. Sounds like it’s time to defeat her once and for all. This game will be released on November 18th.

Paper Mario is back, and for the first time, on the 3DS with Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Like the sub-title suggests, this new version revolves around the use of stickers. These new stickers aren’t just for collections. These can be used as useful items to defeat enemies or to solve puzzles around the game. It is also back to being a turned back system. No release date was given, but it is slated for release this Holiday season.

Kingdom Hearts is back for another edition with Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance for the Nintendo 3DS. Due out on July 31st, this will be another epic adventure for Sora. A demo is scheduled to be added to the eShop before this releases to the public.

Scribblenauts is back once again with Scribblenauts: Unlimited for the 3DS. While a Wii U version is in the making as well, this version is pretty much different. So you can expect great things from both games.

Nintendo quickly showed off four games that are coming to the 3DS. This includes Lego Batman 2, Transformer Prime: The Game, Rabbis Rumble, and Heroes of Ruin. For those curious about Lego Batman 2, a demo is now available for free on the Nintendo eShop. Also expect a demo for Heroes of Ruin this Thursday for those of you who are in Europe and later on for those of us in North America. The Heroes of Ruin demo is also the first to support online play.

Some quick stats were made available to us about eShop usage for North America usage. 70% of gamers here have connected their 3DS to the eShop with an average of 4.7 games bought and downloaded. For those that use SwapNote, a total of 57 million messages have been exchanged. Lastly, there are now 5 titles that have been downloaded over 1 million times. This includes: Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Nintendo Video, Pokedex 3D, Netflix, and Swapnote. Nintendo video itself has also been viewed more than 60 million times.

eShop titles Pokemon Dream Raider and Pokedex 3D Pro have also been mentioned for the upcoming DS games, Pokemon White 2 and Pokemon Black 2. While these are DS games, the eShop apps will connect with the RPG to greatly enhance your gameplay.

You can expect a lot of future demos heading your way soon. The list includes, but is not limited to: The Amazing Spider Man, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance and more.

Lastly for the conference, New Super Mario Bros 2 was demoed to the audience. This game will be out August 18th as both in retail and on the eShop as a downlodable retail game. Coin Rush has been announced as a new mode in the game to collect as many coins as you can in 3 levels as fast as you can. This will be used in streetpass to see who can get the most coins. Also, in this mode, you only have one life, so don’t mess up! Co-op has also been confirmed for this game as well. With local multiplayer, a friend of yours can play as Luigi. No mention on if this is available online or not. But the game does feature the Nintendo Network, so there is hope it might.