During today’s press conference, Reggie took the stage to discuss new games in old franchises, starting with Mario Kart 3DS. The trailer that followed showed a player customizing karts with wheels, gliding with hang glider wings, and moving through the water with propellers. Many of the tracks shown seemed to come from older games in the series, though several new ones were shown where the gliders and propellers came into play. The game will be released this holiday season.
The next game was Star Fox 64 3D, which has a number of new features. In addition to 3D images, the game will include tilt controls, as well as a multiplayer mode that uses real-time face cameras for your opponents. This title will be released in September.
He then moved onto a new title, Super Mario 3D, and showed off a trailer that included laborious use of the Tanooki Suit. The level design appears rather similar to Super Mario Galaxy without the gravity manipulation, though it included other elements like the springing rope walks that were seen in Super Mario Sunshine. This game is also going to be released before the end of the year.
The next game was Kid Icarus: Uprising, which was also accompanied with a trailer. While much of the trailer focused on previously-discussed gameplay as well as the story, one of the trailer elements was new: the ability to battle against other players in a multiplayer mode. The trailer ended with images of a number of Kid Icarus-themed AR cards, which came to life and attacked each other on a 3DS screen; these cards would be incorporated into the game. Reggie revealed that the show floor would offer 3-on-3 multiplayer battle. This game will be released this year as well, presumably soon.
Lastly, Reggie moved onto the new 3DS title announcement, Luigi’s Manson 2. The trailer showed Luigi with his trusty Poltergust 3000, exploring a new mansion, wandering through an underground crypt, and battling new spooky creatures like ghost and mummies. The game is not a port, Reggie said, but an entirely new game that featured several mansions to explore. The game was not given a release date.
He then moved on to discuss third-party developers and the games they had to offer. Another trailer was shown, displaying a number of games that were being developed for the 3DS by third parties:
Resdent Evil: the Mercenaries 3D
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Ace Combat 3D
Tetris
Cave Story 3D
Resident Evil: Revelations
Driver Renegade
Pac-Man and Galaga Dimensions
Tekken 3D
Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D
He then moved onto the Nintendo eShop and new 3DS browser, which came in the 3DS system update yesterday. The eShop includes ten new trailers, a 3DS Virtual Console service, and free downloadable demos to come later in the year. In addition to Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, console titles would be revisited with a 3D makeover, starting with 3D Classics: Excitebike, which is currently available for free for a limited time.. The “biggest download news”, he said, was for Pokémon, with the Pokédex 3D software title announced earler this month. The Pokédex will start with 16 Pokémon registered; the remaining creatures will come from StreetPass, from friends, or from special AR Markers that each Pokémon has. This allows players to take photos with Pokémon superimposed into the real world. The Pokédex is available for free, as a gift to players.
After this announcement, discussion of the 3DS ended.
