Nintendo just single-handedly redeemed E3 2019 with nostalgia and new ideas

Opinion: AKA … just take all my money

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

After some middling but ultimately exciting press conferences fromMicrosoftand Square Enix, and some complete whiffs from Bethesda and Ubisoft, I have been wondering – with many others – “Is E3 a tired event?” Well, after seeing Nintendo’s online-only Nintendo DirectE3 2019keynote address, my faith in E3 has been restored.

Nintendo brought some enormous gunsto E3 2019, with more details on games we already knew about, tied with release dates and surprise announcements tapping into nostalgia not just for old games, but classic movies. About 97% of these games are coming out in 2019 – and before the holiday shopping season.

Of course, that leftover 3% belongs primarily theteased sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which has been announced to be in development alongside a flashy trailer. We also now know that Animal Crossing for Nintendo Switch will be out on March 20, 2020 asAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.

Finally for 2020, Square Enix will be bringing a 3D remake of its cult classic role-playing game (RPG), Seiken Densetsu 3, the third game in the Mana series of RPGs, as Trials of Mana in early 2020 exclusively for Nintendo Switch.

Mining that sweet, sweet nostalgia

Nintendo spent much of its 45-minute address announcing games that are lush remakes and entirely new entries in storied franchises – like a remake of Panzer Dragoon, a remaster of the Sypro trilogy, a brand-new Contra game, Rogue Corps, and a strategy game based on The Dark Crystal franchise: Age of Resistance Tactics. (The latter ties in with the new Netflix prequel series to the 1982 film of the same name.)

Alongside these announcements, Nintendo used this occasion to drop same-date releases on its eShop digital store of two classic retro game collections: Konami’s Contra Anniversary Collection and Square Enix’s Collection of Mana. The latter game collection brings the original Seiken Densetsu 3, first released in Japan way back in 1995 for the Super Famicom, to the west for the first time as – you guessed it – Trials of Mana.

Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention Nintendo’s ultimate nostalgia drug for 2019: its remake ofThe Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. This gorgeous reimagining of the Game Boy classic is not only after long-time fans’ hearts, but brings a new game mode in Build-a-Dungeon. This allows players to build their own Zelda dungeons by combining rooms from the game’s existing content, likely with the ability to share them with friends.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

With these announcements, Nintendo has reminded people that theNintendo Switchis the best place for long-time video game fans that are suckers for nostalgia (like this guy). However, the company is clearly paying respect to those fans with not just phoned-in re-releases, but gorgeous remakes and brand new takes on those classic franchises.

A sprinkling of fresh ideas and stories

Of course, Nintendo could have just left it at that and made me happy, but the company is taking things a step further in 2019 with brand-new games in both new and existing franchises. Games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses andMarvel’s Avengers: Ultimate Alliance 3 – both due out this July exclusively for Switch – will take those game worlds to the next level.

Likewise,Pokémon Sword and Shieldwill elevate the storied series to a whole new echelon that it’s never experienced before, to be likely the ultimate Pokemon game to date.

Then, you have Daemon X Machina, a brand new mecha action game franchise and Astral Chain, a new action beat-em-up property from Platinum Games, ringing out the summer with new ideas and stories never seen before. Naturally, both are exclusive to Nintendo’s console.

We’ve yet to even touch onLuigi’s Mansion 3, which brings plenty of new ideas to the series, like two-player cooperative play and up to eight-player competitive play either in-house or online. Not to mention an entire haunted hotel to explore rather than just another house filled with ghosts to suck up.

Finally, we saw entirely new games from Nintendo third parties due out for 2020, like the ‘20s-era top-down shooter Empire of Sin.

Nintendo is using its unique position with the Switch as both a handheld and home console to please the widest array of gamers possible, which no other console can do. The remakes and re-releases excite long-time gamers with new ways to play games they’ve loved, or never had the chance to, while on the move. Meanwhile, brand new games give existing players something entirely fresh to chew on and potentially lure in new fans.

All told, Nintendo restored my faith in E3 as the annual event to which game publishers and developers bring out all of the stops to excite gamers for the year(s) to come – far better than evenMicrosoftdid with its tease of thenext Xbox. Boy, am I glad to have the Nintendo Switch as my only game console this time around.

E3 2019is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.

Joe Osborne is the Senior Technology Editor at Insider Inc. His role is to leads the technology coverage team for the Business Insider Shopping team, facilitating expert reviews, comprehensive buying guides, snap deals news and more. Previously, Joe was TechRadar’s US computing editor, leading reviews of everything from gaming PCs to internal components and accessories. In his spare time, Joe is a renowned Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master – and arguably the nicest man in tech.

I’m a Nintendo Switch expert, here are the best early Black Friday deals right now

Nintendo finally confirms that the Switch 2 will be backwards compatible

I review TVs for a living and this record-low price on the Hisense U8N is one of the best early Black Friday deals I’ve seen