This year, Nintendo snagged more floor space by hosting the two floors of bean bag lounges that are dedicated to handheld gaming. Along with the normal bean bags were the bright cheerful pink and yellow varieties. Not only did they have the seats available for relaxing, but also several tethered Nintendo DS units showing off Kirby Mass Attack and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2. For Joker 2, there were also full sized kiosks with screens above the units for all to see. When I arrived, much later in the day, they were all out of the pink cotton candy they were giving away.
Handheld gaming wasn’t the only gig in town. Next to the DS games were Wii kiosks showing off yet another Kirby game, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland. On the other floor, Fortune Street was making a debut. During the times I went through both areas, the activity level was high along with how many folks were packed into the space. A great move for Nintendo considering the size of their booth last year.
Speaking of the booth, this year it’s much more impressive. A full row of kiosks are dedicated for fans to try out The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. A block of the smaller booths for the Nintendo 3DS games that were present at E3 make up another portion of the booth. The games on display in the front corner were Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Starfox 64 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Shinobi, and Sonic Generations. The opposite side of the corner was dedicated to Ocarina of Time 3D. Behind this corner was yet another kiosk with Return To Dreamland. To bring it all together from above were giant Skyward Sword banners that would be hard to miss in the crowd.
This year Nintendo is definitely stepping up the exposure of their products. With the sag in sales, it’s quite obvious they’re heavily pushing the word that they exist.
Look for impressions of games at PAX Prime 2011 coming soon!
If you’re wondering why the actual booth doesn’t have many people in it, it’s because these photos were taken during the media hour.
