The Nintendo 3DS Conference: Trailers, thoughts and Gatchaman

At Nintendo Everything, news tends to get buried under several pages extremely quickly, especially during one of the biggest game expos in the world. I thought it was for the best that I recapped all the Nintendo-related trailers and information given during the Nintendo 3DS Conference and offer up a few personal anecdotes. This year, Nintendo’s conference and TGS seemed to be focused on handhelds, with a heap of new games revealed for the 3DS as well as its biggest competitor, the PlayStation Vita. From the games showcased by both companies, we’ve got a general idea of where Nintendo are heading, or at least what their marketing strategies in Japan are. Anyway, here are five things we’ve learned from decoding moonspeak.

1. Nintendo totally stole Sony’s biggest titles

Though it was heavily rumored, I was still surprised to see that two of the best-selling series on the PSP (at least in Japan) are making the jump to the 3DS in the form of Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai and Monster Hunter 4. Project Mirai is centered on the inexplicably popular fictional character, Hatsune Miku (think if someone gave Microsoft Sam a record deal), this time rendered as a big-headed Nendoroid figurine. The game itself seems to consist of rhythmic button presses to various songs created with the Hatsune Miku vocaloid software, similar the PSP Project Diva but a bit more like Britney’s Dance Beat (for want of a more relevant comparison). The potential impact that a fully 3D Miku dancing on an AR card could have on Japan’s collective otaku is even more frightening than some of the Love Plus promos from after the 3DS conference.

Though information on Monster Hunter 3G was leaked prior to the conference, I don’t think anyone was expecting to see the fourth game in the series make an early appearance. The teaser for Monster Hunter 4 showed off more of an adventure-oriented direction, with a lot of climbing, platforming and Ratholos riding. Maybe Capcom are taking some cues from their soon-to-be released Dragon’s Dogma? Interestingly, Nintendo’s bulky circle pad attachment that was also leaked didn’t make an appearance at the conference, but the company quietly confirmed its existence by giving a price point (a reasonable 1500 yen) and name-dropping several third party games that will use the accessory. Among them are Kingdom Hearts 3D and the just-announced Dynasty Warriors Vs. No first-party games that will use the second circle pad were named, but since Kid Icarus: Uprising uses the touch screen for aiming and has been pushed back to 2012, it seems likely that it will also use the AAA-battery powered device.

With the announcement that these two big series are coming to the 3DS, Nintendo’s success in Japan is pretty much guaranteed. That said, Sony’s Tokyo Game Show Vita conference revealed a launch lineup that may not have had the familiar franchises that the 3DS now boasts, but the sheer number of launch titles and the interesting ideas shown did contrast with Nintendo’s rather weak early lineup with underutilized 3D and AR features. Instead of just counting on these guaranteed system-sellers, Nintendo (and third parties with 3DS dev kits) should also focus on producing quirky and innovative games like those that made the original DS such a success. And while Miku and Monster Hunter might be big in Japan, Nintendo needs to find a series that will really sell the 3DS to westerners as well.

2. Nintendo are trying to target a female market (with casual sexism)

Early in the conference, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata showed off a series of slides comparing the number of male 3DS owners to their female counterparts. While not a dramatic difference, the male dominated graph did contrast with the almost 50:50 gender split of the DS and Wii. So in order to draw in more female consumers, Nintendo have taken the classic business strategy of just offering the same thing only in Misty Pink. Oh, and there were a few female-oriented 3DS games announced like Friend Collection (complete with terrifying trailer!), Level-5’s Cinderella Life, and good old Animal Crossing. Because no man has ever played Animal Crossing, right readers?

3. A bunch of new titles are heading to the 3DS

One of the first things teased at Nintendo’s press conference was that Camelot was developing a new Mario Tennis for the 3DS. That’s bad news for those wanting a follow up to Golden Sun: Dark Dawn’s cliffhanger ending and very good news for everyone else. Granted, if you strip away the 3D effects it doesn’t look too different to every other game in the series, but since there’s no Game Boy Advance Virtual Console with Mario Tennis: Power Tour, it’ll have to do. A new Fire Emblem was also revealed, this time featuring two on one battles rendered with a very detailed 3D look. From the look of the new world map, it looks like the game could have a less linear style akin to Fire Emblem Gaiden or The Sacred Stones.

Fire Emblem wasn’t the only 3DS RPG revealed at the conference, though. It wasn’t a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light as was predicted, but the poorly named Bravely Default: Flying Fairy —an original title that features similar-looking artwork by Akihiko Yoshida. Not much is known about the actual gameplay yet, aside from its rather impressive use of augmented reality. Rounding out the new titles previewed at the conference were minimalistic soccer sim, Culchopit, and a 3D version of rarely-localised strategy/card game, Culdcept.

4. Things that are coming out soon are still coming out soon

Most of the 3DS games shown at the Nintendo 3DS Conference and TGS were given a vague “2012” release date (or no release date at all) but there was a bit of new information revealed about the games you’ll probably be playing by the end of this year. Mario Kart 7 will revisit the island location used in Wii Sports Resort and Pilotwings resort, and combines the trick system from Mario Kart Wii with collecting coins (presumably for a speed boost) —something that hasn’t been seen since that arcade Mario Kart that no-one played but me. A bunch of new power-ups were showcased —like the Fire Flower and a mysterious number “7”— and we noticed a few new racers like Lakitu, Metal Mario, and (hi I’m) Daisy. There’s also a gyroscope controlled first-person view, for those who want to play Mario Kart with some added nausea on the side. Mario Kart doesn’t seem to use any of 3DS’s AR features, though, so everyone looking to use the 3DS’s cameras for something other than the AR games that came bundled with it should keep an eye on creepy Fatal Frame spinoff, Spirit Photo. The conference allowed us to see the game in action for the first time, and it certainly seems like an interesting, if not nightmare-inducing, use of the console’s capabilities.

As well as learning that it was delayed, we found out that when Kid Icarus: Uprising releases next year it’ll be accompanied by several shorts produced by animation studios Production I.G., Shaft, Studio 4°c. In terms of other game-related things they’ve worked on, Production I.G. created Sakura Wars: The Movie and the animated sequences in Professor Layton, Studio 4°c animated parts of Catherine and Rogue Galaxy, and Shaft haven’t really done anything. But they made Bakemonogatari, so it’s all good. Kingdom Hearts 3D saw a few changes in character designs (still by Tetsuya Nomura, sadly), a new battle system reminiscent of Birth by Sleep and some dumb looking animal buddies that join Sora and Riku. Because it’s not like there’s a large cast of Disney and Final Fantasy characters to utilise or anything. There was also a bit of Super Mario 3D Land footage shown, but it wasn’t too different from what we’ve seen before. And wait, is that Bowser with a raccoon tail?

5. Japanese promo videos are completely insane

Everyone who stuck around to watch the livestream of Nintendo’s conference was “treated” to a series of videos promoting all the 3DS games that were shown. None were quite as ridiculous as Capcom’s advertising campaign for Monster Hunter 3G based on Gatchaman of all things (Battle of the Planets or G-Force, if you prefer). Because all the kids love cartoon characters from the 70s!

There was also an astonishingly awesome Tekken: Prime Edition trailer that did the impossible and actually made me slightly interested in this game (not the 3D movie, though).