Nintendo had just one game on its mind coming into the year’s biggest gaming convention, as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate grabbed the spotlight for over half the time of its E3 2018 presentation. Every other title from Fortnite to Fire Emblem had to make do with a couple of minutes each prior to that, alongside a bunch of indies.
Here are the biggest announcements from Nintendo’s E3 2018 event:
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Obviously, this was by far the biggest announcement of the night. During an extensive 25-minute showcase, Nintendo took us through various aspects of the game, be it the largest cast of characters ever assembled – every single fighter in series history, alongside new ones in Super Mario’s Daisy, Splatoon’s Inklings, and Metroid’s Ridley, for a total of 64 – for a Super Smash Bros. title, the dozens of arenas you’ll get to play in, and support for GameCube controllers and all existing Super Smash Bros. amiibo.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out December 7.
Super Mario Party
The franchise known for destroying friendships and which was likely shown in those first Switch teasers is finally making its way to the console, throwing you into several mini-games that will test your reflexes and patience. And as the trailer shows, the game will leverage the Switch’s features: players can play with a single Joy-Con allowing for easy local co-op, you’ll need to use motion controls in some mini-games, and you can even stack together multiple consoles to create a unified playground.
Super Mario Party is out October 5.
Fortnite
The massively popular title had been rumoured, leaked and confirmed in several ways for the Switch, and so Nintendo’s inclusion of Fortnite was just an official confirmation. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any exclusive Nintendo-themed content unlike ports of other famous titles, and no cross-play support with those on PS4. But what’s great is that it’s available right now on the Nintendo eShop for free, so there’s nothing stopping you from checking it out. Winner winner …oh sorry, excuse us.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Having been announced alongside the Switch in January last year, Nintendo finally gave us a look at the promised full-fledged mainline Fire Emblem title, its first for a Nintendo home console in over a decade. The reveal trailer gives us a look at the lore behind the new game, as well as the gameplay – yep, it’s top-down and turn-based – the dialogue trees, the visuals, and the (soaring) soundtrack.
Unfortunately, it won’t be hitting its planned 2018 release. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is slated for spring 2019.
And the rest: indies!
Despite the overwhelming focus on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Nintendo had time to squeeze in a few announcements: a sequel to the hard-to-master frenetic cooking game in Overcooked 2 is out August 7, the arcade-only strategy title is getting its first home release with Killer Queen Black later in 2018, and action-adventure title Hollow Knight is available later today.
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