Nintendo's had this long wonderful tradition of keeping us guessing and dreaming of what would be next. I only started following this stuff in the Wii era when it was just starting to be talked about as the Nintendo Revolution.
Back at E3 2005 Satoru Iwata revealed the GameCube's successor simply called Nintendo Revolution and showed us the console itself. We got a small clip of Metroid Prime 3 and got news about the invention of the Virtual Console service that would allow us to download "20 years of Nintendo content", a first ever for Nintendo.
But that was it. We didn't even see the controller and the true definition of the "Revolution" until TGS 2005 when the "Revmote" was revealed by Iwata himself at a keynote.
Finally in April 2006 the world was shook when it was announced out of nowhere that the Nintendo Revolution would now be simply called the "Wii", pronounced as "we". And FINALLY Nintendo would fully lift the curtain of the system at E3 2006, giving us outstanding showcases of games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Excite Truck, and even 3rd-party games such as Ubisoft's Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids, and of course Sonic was there with a first ever Nintendo home console exclusive; Sonic Wild Fire (later renamed Sonic and the Secret Rings).
Fast forward to around February or March 2011, rumors started buzzing about the Wii's successor, then unofficially codenamed "Project Cafe". Which would be Nintendo's first HD console (something Wii was criticized for lacking), and a mysterious controller with s screen to play your console games on.
Sure enough, on April 25th, 2011, Nintendo revealed via a PDF file that such a system did exist and would be shown in playable form at E3 2011.
And it was. Project Cafe was revealed to be called the Wii U. However things weren't as big or glamorous as we would have hoped. The presentation was more of a peek than a full-blown unveiling, that's because the system would not be out until the end of 2012, a year and a half later. We got to see the system and the controller, as well as a reel of games such as Darksiders 2 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Ubisoft announced two major titles; Killer Freaks from Outer Space as an exclusive, and a port of Ghost Recon Online. And Nintendo showed a bird tech demo and some concepts for games such as ones called New Super Mario Bros. Mii, Chase Mii, etc, but also a major exclusive in the form of Lego City Stories (later retitled Lego City Undercover).
Eventually at E3 2012 we'd finally get a proper, more final look at the system. The controller got updated to show analog sticks instead of circle pads, and more game announcement in the form of New Super Mario Bros. U, the LONG awaited Pikmin 3, Game & Wario, and a new IP from Platinum Games then called Project P-100 (later called The Wonderful 101). Ubisoft revealed that Killer Freaks would be retooled as Zombi U, and we had Rayman Legends coming as an exclusive also (and we know how THAT went...), but also with a slew of games such as Assassin's Creed III, Rabbids Land, Sports Connection, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, etc.
Things... didn't go so well for the Wii U. Later on March 17th, 2015, Satoru Iwata announced a special conference with a new ally in the form of DeNA for a new venture; mobile gaming.
To combat concerns of Nintendo ditching hardware, Iwata announced the all-new system with a brand-new concept simply called "NX". Nintendo kept a tight lip on what the NX would be.
After a whole year and a half later of speculation, rumors, what have you, Nintendo out of nowhere told us to expect the first look at the NX on October 20th, 2016. This is that video:
Indeed, the LONG awaited mysterious NX system would be revealed as the Nintendo Switch. The system would be a portable system that you can insert into a dock to play on the TV, and features detachable controllers called the Joy-Con controllers for 2-player gaming out of the box. Games shown included The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WIld, a port of Mario Kart 8, Skyrim by Bethesda, an untitled NBA game (later revealed to be NBA 2K18 by 2K) and an untitled Splatoon and 3D Mario game, later revealed to be Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey respectively.
Finally after a poor run with the Wii U did Nintendo have a huge hot once again, with the Switch constantly selling out and the games from both Nintendo and third parties are doing very well.
Throughout all of these periods, and likely prior during the Project Dolphin (GameCube) and Project Reality (N64) days, Nintendo loved to keep us guessing and imagining the possibilities.
What stories and memories would you like to share about these periods? :)
Back at E3 2005 Satoru Iwata revealed the GameCube's successor simply called Nintendo Revolution and showed us the console itself. We got a small clip of Metroid Prime 3 and got news about the invention of the Virtual Console service that would allow us to download "20 years of Nintendo content", a first ever for Nintendo.
But that was it. We didn't even see the controller and the true definition of the "Revolution" until TGS 2005 when the "Revmote" was revealed by Iwata himself at a keynote.
Finally in April 2006 the world was shook when it was announced out of nowhere that the Nintendo Revolution would now be simply called the "Wii", pronounced as "we". And FINALLY Nintendo would fully lift the curtain of the system at E3 2006, giving us outstanding showcases of games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Excite Truck, and even 3rd-party games such as Ubisoft's Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids, and of course Sonic was there with a first ever Nintendo home console exclusive; Sonic Wild Fire (later renamed Sonic and the Secret Rings).
Fast forward to around February or March 2011, rumors started buzzing about the Wii's successor, then unofficially codenamed "Project Cafe". Which would be Nintendo's first HD console (something Wii was criticized for lacking), and a mysterious controller with s screen to play your console games on.
Sure enough, on April 25th, 2011, Nintendo revealed via a PDF file that such a system did exist and would be shown in playable form at E3 2011.
And it was. Project Cafe was revealed to be called the Wii U. However things weren't as big or glamorous as we would have hoped. The presentation was more of a peek than a full-blown unveiling, that's because the system would not be out until the end of 2012, a year and a half later. We got to see the system and the controller, as well as a reel of games such as Darksiders 2 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Ubisoft announced two major titles; Killer Freaks from Outer Space as an exclusive, and a port of Ghost Recon Online. And Nintendo showed a bird tech demo and some concepts for games such as ones called New Super Mario Bros. Mii, Chase Mii, etc, but also a major exclusive in the form of Lego City Stories (later retitled Lego City Undercover).
Eventually at E3 2012 we'd finally get a proper, more final look at the system. The controller got updated to show analog sticks instead of circle pads, and more game announcement in the form of New Super Mario Bros. U, the LONG awaited Pikmin 3, Game & Wario, and a new IP from Platinum Games then called Project P-100 (later called The Wonderful 101). Ubisoft revealed that Killer Freaks would be retooled as Zombi U, and we had Rayman Legends coming as an exclusive also (and we know how THAT went...), but also with a slew of games such as Assassin's Creed III, Rabbids Land, Sports Connection, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, etc.
Things... didn't go so well for the Wii U. Later on March 17th, 2015, Satoru Iwata announced a special conference with a new ally in the form of DeNA for a new venture; mobile gaming.
To combat concerns of Nintendo ditching hardware, Iwata announced the all-new system with a brand-new concept simply called "NX". Nintendo kept a tight lip on what the NX would be.
After a whole year and a half later of speculation, rumors, what have you, Nintendo out of nowhere told us to expect the first look at the NX on October 20th, 2016. This is that video:
Indeed, the LONG awaited mysterious NX system would be revealed as the Nintendo Switch. The system would be a portable system that you can insert into a dock to play on the TV, and features detachable controllers called the Joy-Con controllers for 2-player gaming out of the box. Games shown included The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WIld, a port of Mario Kart 8, Skyrim by Bethesda, an untitled NBA game (later revealed to be NBA 2K18 by 2K) and an untitled Splatoon and 3D Mario game, later revealed to be Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey respectively.
Finally after a poor run with the Wii U did Nintendo have a huge hot once again, with the Switch constantly selling out and the games from both Nintendo and third parties are doing very well.
Throughout all of these periods, and likely prior during the Project Dolphin (GameCube) and Project Reality (N64) days, Nintendo loved to keep us guessing and imagining the possibilities.
What stories and memories would you like to share about these periods? :)
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