E3 2014: What to Expect from Nintendo

Last year at E3, Nintendo pulled out all the stops. Games like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, and Super Mario 3D World were the sort of titles the suffering Wii U needed. 2013 also marked the first year Nintendo did not hold a press conference at E3. Instead, they opted to broadcast information in the form of a 40-minute Nintendo Direct livestream. Against two new next-generation consoles, they decided their efforts would be better not wasted in preparing a live presentation.

This year, they are doing the same thing. Without big game reveals, the outlook for Nintendo’s Wii U won’t get any better. Can they bring enough heavy hitters to turn their home console business around? Or will they focus instead on their successful handheld, the Nintendo 3DS? Below are our best guesses as to what tomorrow’s Nintendo Digital Event will have in store.

Definitely happening:

Nintendo previously has announced that the next Legend of Zelda game would be revealed at E3 2014. It’s going to be on Wii U. While we know nothing about this high-definition Zelda game, it’s possible that Nintendo will make a game based around the footage shown shown at their original Wii U reveal. However, it’s more likely that they’ll opt for something more stylized than the photorealistic tech demo we saw back then.

Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS is also confirmed to make an appearance. Nintendo is holding a tournament for the game later in the day, but they’ve promised to release new game info during their digital event. It’s likely that we’ll get release dates for both versions of the game, as well as character reveals. Rumored characters include Palutena from Kid Icarus Uprising, Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles, and the Chorus Boys from Rhythm Heaven. The new Smash will also feature NFC functionality — other NFC games are supposed to be shown as well.

Miyamoto has been confirmed to be showing off new projects at E3 tomorrow. We don’t know what these are, but since a major new 3DS game is confirmed to be shown tomorrow, it’s possible that it’s one of them.

Probably happening:

One of Nintendo’s big upcoming games for Wii U is Bayonetta 2. It’s probable that we’ll see a demo, as we don’t know much about the game and it’s supposed to release this year. The same goes for Hyrule Warriors, which has a date for Japan and thus will probably get one for America tomorrow. Sonic Boom is also likely to show up tomorrow as well, as its release is imminent.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were announced for 3DS last month. While gameplay has been teased, we haven’t seen any real footage yet — only a cutscene, which you can see below. It’s likely that we’ll see their full debut tomorrow at the digital event.

Hopefully happening:

Two Japanese Wii U games  thatNintendo has announced but not revealed much for are X and Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem. X is likely to be the direct sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles, and should be revealed as such when we see it next. Since the game is still set to come out this year and we haven’t seen it since E3 2013, it’s possible that it’ll appear again. SMTxFE is a crossover of two big JRPG series. While it’s not traditional for these to be shown much at American events like E3, the game was announced simultaneously in America and Japan in 2013, and we haven’t seen much from Atlus’s Shin Megami Tensei series or developer Intelligent Systems in a while. It’s not unreasonable to hope to see it tomorrow at the digital event.

Metroid is rumored to finally return. We haven’t an idea what Retro is working on now, and it’s possible that a 2D game or a new Prime is being made by them or another studio.

Nintendo has filed trademarks for Pokken Fighters. This sounds like a Pokemon crossover with Tekken, which would make sense given their relationship with Namco Bandai on Wii U. While we don’t know anything about Pokken, it’s possible that it’ll be revealed tomorrow.

Finally, another possible game to be shown at E3 is Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3Dfor the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo released Ocarina of Time 3D way back in 2011. With Iwata hinting at something having to do with Majora’s Mask and tons of fan demand of this Zelda remaster, it’s possible that they finally show them what they’ve all been waiting for.

Check back tomorrow for news on what actually happens!