There were some fantastic announcements during Nintendo’s E3 press conference this year, both announcements of new games, as well as an update on games we already knew about. This post is a quick summary of the games we’re expecting during 2010, which were all shown off during Nintendo’s press conference.
First up was Just Dance 2, a game made exclusively for the Wii by Ubisoft and follow up to the 2009 title. Just Dance 2 features 40+ tracks, crew face-offs with up to 8 players multiplayer, dance duets, a workout mode and more.
Next up was one of last year’s jaw droppers: Golden Sun DS, now subtitled Dark Dawn. The game looks a lot like the previous two Golden Sun games, but with an updated graphics engine. Something has gone wrong in the world of Weyard, and a new generation of heroes must rise to the challenge. The presentation video showed off three characters and we managed to catch the names Matthew and Taris on two of them. The Djinns and summons return from the first game, as well as psynergy powers, which are now controlled by the touch screen. Golden Sun Dark Dawn launches this holiday.
Warren Spector took the stage to demo Epic Mickey. He didn’t suffer the same problems during gameplay as Shigeru Miyamoto, and the audience was shown how the game works. “Disney’s Epic Mickey is the culmination of 80 years of Disney history,” Spector said, and promised that this game would “Make Mickey into the video game hero he deserves to be” but setting a new tone and direction for the famous mouse. The game’s basic mechanic is still centred around using paint and thinner to dynamically change your environment, characters, plants, everything you want. The world also changes around Mickey in response to how you play the game. Each playstyle will have its own rewards and options, and the game combines conventions from platformers, action games and RPGs. Epic Mickey launches September 16th.
Dragon Quest IX was a huge hit in Japan, so obviously it’s coming to the US. Players will be able to experience the grand interaction Japan has been experiencing on July 11th, less than a month from now.
And during the last days of August, we will once again be hooking up with Samus Aran in Metroid: Other M. Samus’ theme played during a stylish and atmospheric trailer which showed off a rainforest level, a space base, an environment in flux, the first person viewpoint, a lava level and finally a cinematic boss fight against a fire monster. Reggie Fils-Aimee promised that Other M would contain the same sense of isolation and exploration the Metroid series is known for. The game launches August 31.
