The Weekly Wizard: Issue #18: The Road to E3 2017

Welcome back to the Weekly Wizard, the segment of Miketendo64 brought to life through the experiments of the mad scientist behind Wizard Dojo, where I talk about stuff relating to Nintendo’s past, present and future.

E3 is upon us! Well…almost, anyway. The biggest gaming event of the year is right around the corner. And the best part (for me, anyway) is that I’ll be attending!

I’m not saying this to brag (well, maybe a little), but to say that I’ll be giving my perspectives of the games on the show floor both here at Miketendo64 and on my site.

While I’m excited to see all of the games on the show floor (please let there be Bloodborne 2!), I am a Nintendo man at heart, and so the first booth I’ll be visiting will of course be the big N’s.

Super Mario Odyssey is already confirmed to be playable at the event, and that alone is enough to have me salivating in anticipation for the show. Due to some obvious leaks, we also know that the Mario X Rabbids crossover is an actual thing. While I’m no fan of the Rabbids (to put it lightly), I will admit I’m curious to see what the game has in store, especially since it’s rumored to be some form of RPG. And the Mario RPGs are in a serious need of a revitalization (though I hope we’ll also be seeing a Rabbids-free Mario RPG down the road on Switch as well).

It’s also safe to say Arms and Splatoon 2 will have their presence on the show, but just what else will Nintendo have in store? Rumor has it that Nintendo’s working on a remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (once again going into the Mario RPG genre). I hope this rumor proves to be true, as Superstar Saga is one of the unsung gems of Nintendo’s history, and given that the last two Mario & Luigi titles were pretty disappointing, hopefully a remake of the sub-series’ glorious first outing will remind Nintendo what made this series special back in the day. And hopefully it’s on Switch and not 3DS.

Ah, but then what? Nintendo seems to be one of the few names in video games that can keep a secret until the last minute, and besides the aforementioned games, we don’t have much of an idea of what Nintendo will have in store for E3.

Now, if I were talking about what I’d like to see, I’d definitely love a follow-up to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (another unsung hero in Nintendo’s history), and I’m always rallying for a new Mario RPG (that doesn’t involve Rabbids). Though neither of those are very likely.

Then we have the prospects of other Nintendo franchises making their Switch debuts. Kirby is overdue for another console platformer, and fans are always clammoring for a new, 2D Metroid. Then we have Pikmin 4, a game which Shigeru Miyamoto once said was well in development. And though it seems unlikely since Mario Kart 8 became Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch just a couple of months ago, would Nintendo be willing to unveil (or at least hint at) a Mario Kart 9 at the event?

What about third-parties? Although Nintendo often gets flack for their general lack of third-party support, the Big N did reveal a list of third-parties who were already developing games for the Switch some time ago. I would love to see what FromSoftware is making for the Nintendo Switch, even if its just a re-release of the Dark Souls games. The idea of FromSoftware’s Souls-like games appearing on the same console as Super Mario is just too good. Could we finally see the third-parties open the curtain to their Switch endeavors at E3?

As of now, we have only rumors, speculation, and hopes to go by. But within just a few short weeks, E3 will be upon us, and while there are plenty of sources to get information on the event, I look very forward to giving my personal perspective of E3 2017.

That’s all for this week’s edition of The Weekly Wizard! What games/series do you hope to see at E3? Feel free to leave a comment explaining what and why, and check out my site, WizardDojo.com for more of my thoughts and opinions on gaming.