Round Table: Nintendojo’s Improbable E3 Wishlist

We’re on the eve of Nintendo’s E3 festivities, and excitement has reached a fever pitch here at Nintendojo. Robert has already put together a list of predictions for what the Big N will reveal during its big Digital Event on Tuesday, but now the rest of the staff takes a moment to chime in with their most unlikely, outlandish, and just plain delusional hopes for this year’s events. What games do we want Nintendo to announce, despite all reasonable expectations? Read on to find out!

Jon Stevens

The announcement that I am probably most looking forward to from Nintendo relates to the new membership service that will replace Club Nintendo.

My most outlandish hope for it? On its release, it will be a subscription service which will allow unrestricted access to the entire Virtual Console library. Naturally, with inter-connectivity a major focus for Nintendo at the moment, this will work across both 3DS and Wii U’s Virtual Console. The saved games of any VC title available on both systems can be carried across to your other console (or saving via the cloud will be available). In addition, you’ll also receive general discounts on eShop games thanks to your membership and Nintendo will fully embrace cross-buy for all past and future titles.

Also, as incredibly unlikely as it is, I hope that Nintendo’s insistence “NX” won’t be discussed this year is all just a ruse. Instead, they’ll have planned an incredibly detailed look at it for us!

(Mostly I’m looking forward to seeing some awesome games in action, though!)

If Reggie cares about my personal well being at all, he will announce that there is a new Punch-Out, featuring all the pervious characters and a new roster of fighters.

It would also be nice to see a glimpse of a new Animal Crossing and/or Excitebike game!

Craig Harnett

Okay, this may not be very outlandish, but one of my E3 wishes would be for Nintendo to confirm a new Super Mario title for Wii U. Apparently, the team that worked on Super Mario 3D World has been working on the new title for over a year now, but it’s still unconfirmed if this new title will be on 3DS or Wii U. I hope it’s the latter as Wii U is missing its own, stand-alone Mario title, what with New Super Mario Bros. U and 3D World based on past iterations. A new, original title exclusively for Wii U in glorious HD is long overdue. There are real chances with this too; Nintendo announced 3D World for Wii U at E3 2013 in time for its November 2013 release date, so you never know. Plus, I feel that the company owes us one, given that the new Zelda isn’t appearing anytime soon.

If you are listening, Mr. Iwata, confirming everything there is to know about the NX, complete with images of hardware and new upcoming software exclusively for the console (if, indeed, it even is a console) would also please me very much, thank you!

I don’t know if this outlandish or just plain insane, but I am once again hoping to see something, anything related to Eternal Darkness. The fact that Nintendo once again renewed its trademark for the title gave me some measure of hope, but Nintendo has done that in the past without actually announcing anything new, so it’s probably all in vain yet again. At this point, I would be happy with a simple port with cleaned up textures.

Like everyone else, I’m also looking forward to see the progress that has been made on Zelda and Star Fox for Wii U along with what’s next for Mario (or Samus, maybe?) on 3DS or Wii U, but I’m really want to see some more new, interesting ideas. Last year, we got to see Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. and Splatoon, so I’m wishing for one or two new concepts that show what happens when Nintendo applies its twists to genres it doesn’t often compete in. Heck, I’d be willing to forgo a new Eternal Darkness if Nintendo decided to take a stab at doing something even more interesting in the horror genre.

Finally, I’m going to add my wish that Nintendo remains true to its word about not talking about NX. Okay, maybe a quick blurb or two would be all right, but I think it is still too early to discuss a new console considering the amount of time and money Nintendo still has invested in ongoing, Wii U related projects. People like us might continue to love and support Wii U regardless, but we also know that too large a focus on NX would result in a deluge of Internet chatter about how Wii U was an abject failure and is now dead to the world, thus discouraging others from actually checking out the console and its plethora of astoundingly good games.

Shawn Wilkins

I’ve been saying this for some time, but this time it seems the most plausible. If there was a best time for Nintendo to release a Mother 3 translation on the eShop, it would be right now. Ness and Lucas coming out as seemingly rare Amiibo are all things that just add up to Nintendo wanting to do something with the EarthBound series. if we get no news, I won’t be surprised, but if Nintendo announces “Mother 3(DS)” or something along those lines, I also wouldn’t be surprised (but I’ll pretend to be).

Also, Viewtiful Joe. This series is one of the best fighting, comic-book styled games that I’ve ever seen and it still makes me rage quit each and every time I pick it up. Although, with Hideki Kamiya teasing something from Platinum Games in the coming days, it makes me wonder, hope, and pray for a new Joe game. Being able to battle baddies in 3D or in HD on Wii U is just…I just need it.

Marc Deschamps

I’m gonna second Andrew in the hopes of a new Eternal Darkness. I was obsessed with the game when it released on GameCube. I beat it three times to get the best ending, and I even bought a copy for my friend in an attempt to force him to play it, too! The survival horror genre could always use more entries, and there just hasn’t been a game like Eternal Darkness. It really was one of the best games on the GameCube, and I would love to see a sequel!

My other “dream game” is a Pokémon RPG on Wii U. I don’t mean like Pokémon Colosseum, either. I want an honest-to-goodness HD game where I can explore a beautiful world and catch ’em all once again. I wouldn’t even be opposed to seeing them just use the original 150 and give us a new version of Kanto! Throw in online trading and battles and it would be amazing! While I’ve heard some rumblings online about this being revealed at E3, sadly, I think it’s just wishful thinking. It’s a nice thought, though!

Anthony Pelone

Is a Mother Trilogy Collection for 3DS too outlandish to wish for? All three of Shigesato Itoi’s masterpieces in one package, completely untouched and presented to a new generation? It actually realizing the dream of being brought over to western territories, complete with the original EarthBound localization, a retouched Mother translation and a script for the final entry courtesy of the Mother 3 fan translation project? Delicious, delicious extras provided under the guidance and benevolence of Itoi himself? Disposable unlockable minigames starring the Swimming Cat, Bubble Monkey, and Negative Man?

Is it too much to ask for, Iwata? You, who salvaged EarthBound from programming woes, surely desire it as well. Search your heart, for you know it to be true. If not, then I’ll be sending some ruler-equipped New Age Retro Hippies over for some, uh, “convincing”…

Robert Marrujo

Hmmm, I’m almost too scared to make any predictions because I might jinx myself. Assuming the universe isn’t going to screw me over, I would absolutely love for Nintendo to announce that Mother 3 is heading our way, preceded by the translated-but-never-released Mother 1 on NES. Getting the Mother/EarthBound trilogy in its entirety in the West would totally make my day. I don’t do fan patches/translations or whatever, so this would likely be the only way I’d ever get to play these games. This sort of leads into my next E3 dream announcement: Game Boy Advance and SNES games on 3DS Virtual Console would be a real treat. The whole Ambassador Program debacle was eons ago, and seriously, like it would even be remotely taxing on the system to run old Super Nintendo games? It’s about time 3DS expanded its classic gaming horizons!

Since Nintendo has delayed Wii U’s Legend of Zelda by at least a year, the least the company can do is give us an HD remaster of Twilight Princess, right? There are a ton of GameCube and Wii era games I’d love to see bumped up to HD: Super Mario Sunshine, the Metroid Prime trilogy, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Skyward Sword— the list is pretty extensive, frankly. Of course, I’d settle for seeing Nintendo put the entirety of its GameCube and Wii back catalogs on Wii U! There are already a couple of Wii titles floating around the eShop, so why not go all out, Nintendo?! These are some awesome games that need to see the light of day again.

My ultimate moment of Nintendo wish fulfillment would be for a new remake of Pokémon Red and Blue. I know that might sound stupid considering FireRed and LeafGreen exist, but the strides that have been made in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire coupled with the classic lineup of Pokémon is too irresistible. If Pokémon Bank remains viable between 3DS and whatever Nintendo’s next handheld might be, this would be a handy way of letting players transfer these older Pokémon without the tedium of transferring between three generations of portable hardware.

What are some of your more outlandish hopes for this year’s E3? Are you also keeping your fingers crossed for a new Eternal Darkness game, or are you one of the crazy devoted fans still hoping Mother 3 will be released stateside? Let us know in the comments!