E3 2015: Looking Back at Nintendo's 2014 Conference

As part of our coverage for E3 2015, Shacknews is taking a look back at last year's press conferences to see what panned out, what didn't, and what it all means for our expectations this year. Today, we wrap it all up with a look back at Nintendo.

First-Party Preferences

Nintendo stands apart from its two fellow console manufacturers in tone and scope. While Microsoft and Sony put on big stage shows last year, Nintendo made a simple "Digital Event" similar to its own Nintendo Direct presentations. And while both of its competitors spent plenty of time promoting third-party partnerships, Nintendo was squarely and entirely focused on its own products.

This laser-like focus made Nintendo's presentation significantly shorter than the other two--half the length of Microsoft, in fact. And it largely eschewed flashy trailers with cinematic cuts in favor of lengthy interview segments with game developers. This gave the entire presentation a more personable feeling. On the other hand, lengthy segments of Japanese developers talking about their design goals may have turned off viewers who aren't as invested in the creative process, or Nintendo games in general.

In all, Nintendo covered 11 games within a span of roughly 45 minutes, with plenty of comedy segments from Robot Chicken serving as transitions. That meant very few rapid-fire announcements, and more focus on explaining game concepts and artistic choices. It's a very different feel for E3.

What We Can Expect: Nintendo is planning another Digital Event this year, slated for roughly the same amount of time. That means we can likely expect the same deep-dive treatment on a smaller total number of games, with plenty of developer insight. 

Spreading the Love

Though the bulk of Nintendo's announcements were handled in the Nintendo Direct presentation, the company made a point to spread its tidbits of news throughout the show. It conducted and broadcast its own internal "Treehouse" interviews, named after its localization team, and saved some of its announcements for those. During the presentation, Reggie Fils-Aime directed watchers to a separate video on its YouTube channel, with more detail regarding Amiibo figurines. It also held a special event after the show floor closed on Tuesday, with an hour-long presentation both announcing and going into great detail about Code Name STEAM. 

This is certainly a different approach than its competitors. While Microsoft and Sony might see news break after their show, it's usually in the form of a captured quote or clarification about an earlier announcement. This approach has its ups and downs. While it gives Nintendo a steady rhythm of news and engages with its most ardent fans, it can be difficult to keep track of it all from such disparate sources--especially since the Treehouse interviews take place during E3 itself, when many in the media are otherwise occupied with appointments.

What We Can Expect: Nintendo has already announced another round of Treehouse interviews, after a successful run last year. You can bet that it will be saving some reveals for those. The company will also be hosting its Nintendo World Championships on Sunday, where it could capture a lot of attention with an announcement before the hustle and bustle of E3 starts in earnest.

Making Good

Nintendo was the shortest presentation, and focused entirely on games it was either developing or publishing. Much of its presentation focused on providing much more insight about games that we already knew about, rather than new game announcements. Plus, when Nintendo did provide solid details like release information, it stuck almost entirely with wide release windows: holiday 2014 for Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, or a simple "2015" for Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Mario Maker.

In the few cases of specific release dates, Nintendo hit every one: Hyrule Warriors on September 26, Bayonetta 2 in October, and Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire on November 21.

For these reasons, Nintendo made good on its word in almost every case--albeit mostly because the company didn't commit to very much.

Broken Promises

If the word "almost" stands out, that's because Nintendo's biggest promise fizzled. Franchises don't get any bigger for Nintendo than The Legend of Zelda, and producer Eiji Aonuma took a portion of the presentation to show off the vast open world and a small teaser of combat as Link rode away from an attacking monster and shot it with an arrow. The trailer ended with the promise of "2015," and Aonuma even recommitted to that target later in the year at The Game Awards. As Nintendo fans know, Zelda has been delayed, and won't even be shown this year.

Miyamoto is Missing

In an odd move, Shigeru Miyamoto--one of the most recongized and respected names in game development--was relegated to a minute-long appearance at the very end of the presentation. He spoke vaguely about experimenting with the Wii U GamePad to create new experiences, while a blurry image of what appeared to be Star Fox played behind him. 

Miyamoto did create two games that could be found on the show floor: Project Giant Robot and Project Guard. But, they were simple proof-of-concept ideas, and they had been given a small corner of Nintendo's floor space with only a few demo kiosks. Between his odd placement in the presentation, and his experimental games being treated like an afterthought for Nintendo's floor planners, we have to imagine he'll have a chance to show off more ambitious ideas--like whatever he has in store for Star Fox--this year.