E3 2012: Nintendo 3DS Conference Liveblog

June 7, 2012

A conference dedicated to 3DS software. New Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi’s Mansion, Castlevania, Paper Mario and more are expected to make an appearance. Lets hope this one is better than the last!

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10:59: About to begin? About to begin.

11:01: More like late.

11:05: Starting now? Please?

11:09: Actually starting!

11:10: Reggie once again taking the stage. Fumbled with his words. Cracking wise. Handing over the stage to Scott Moffit, Vice President of Nintnedo of America.

11:11: Brought out the ‘special guest’ ‘Non specific action figure’, from the Nintendo Direct Wii U video.

11:12: Reggie still cracking jokes. Something about kicking arse, taking names. Meta memes.

11:14: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate trailer showing. As previously announced, the game is being developed by Mercury Steam. Stars Simon and Trevor Belmont. I can hear Robb from Game of Throne’s voice! Cutscenes use a comic book art style. Gameplay is 2.5D, looks quite good. Post trailer hints at Alucard. Set to release before the year  ends.

11:17: Dave Cox on stage, from Konami, taking a deeper look at Castlevania. Showing off some of the bigger bosses, like the axe wielding Executioner. Ranged and melee attacks, along with the ability to grab enemies. Block, counter. Boomerang is one of many secondary weapons. Sticks to enemies, or can be charged up for a super attack.

11:20: Platforming is back, using the double jump and the classic whip to swing and latch onto hooks. Four playable characters, including Alucard, each with their own abilities. Touch screen used for map, just like past DS Castlevania titles.

11:23: Luigi’s Mansion 2 trailer now. Ghosts, spiders, toad, ghost dog….thing. Rainbow torch. Nice graphics. Official title is “Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon”.

11:25: Multiple mansions confirmed again. Rainbow beam used to discover secrets. Luigi’s Mansion available at the end of the year, and will be sold digitally as well as retail.

11:26: Warren Spector on stage, here to discuss Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, a ground-up 3DS game built as a 2D platforming. According to the game’s director, the project started as a pitch for drawing and erasing, and later evolved into an Epic Mickey title when Disney approached the studio. Developed by Dreamrift.

11:28: Inspired by the old Disney game Castle of Illusion. Story involves famous Disney characters trapped in the castle. Mickey must free them.

11:30: Trailer shown. Art is very nice. Touch pad is used to create objects in the environment and defeat enemies via drawing and colouring. Will be available in November, for America at least.

11:32: Paper Mario: Sticker Star time. Nate Bihldorff from Treehouse showing off the game. The 3D effect with pop-up objects and paper thin assets creates a diorama effect.

11:34: Stickers are your ‘bread and butter’. Found all through the environment. Battle system is turned based. No menu of attacks, everything is based on stickers. Selecting the boot sticker has Mario jump on an enemy. Shell sticker launches a Koopa shell that can attack multiple enemies at once.

11:36: Some items, like the ‘fan’, look they’re out of our world rather than the paper Mario world. Fan had destroyed toad’s flower patch. Mario has a power where he can float above the 2D paper world and stick his stickers into the game world. In this example he places flower stickers on toad’s garden to repair. Reward was more stickers and a HP boost.

11:38: Experience points work differently to past Paper Mario games. ‘Experience’ is gained through completing missions and quests, which give rewards such as album and health upgrades.

11:39: Real world items explained. Take them to a special toad store that turns them into 2D stickers for use in the game. Some real world objects have a specific purpose to advance the games. Example used is a windmill Mario cannot access. Uses the fan to create wind and open the door. Very dramatic.

11:41: Showing off stickers in one last battle. Coins can be used to gamble on the ‘battle spin’, a slot machine that can give you more coins and the ability to use multiple stickers in one turn. Paper Mario: Sticker Star will be about by the end of the year.

11:43: Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Trailer showing Disney worlds, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Tron. A bit of gameplay. Those following the Japanese release will find it all familiar.

11:45: Dread Drop Distance supports street pass, AR cards, and the circle pad pro for extra control. Demo soon to the eShop, and the game will be out in July for the US.

11:46: Scribblenauts Unlimited. Similar to the Wii U version, the game supports larger worlds to explore, and a campaign dedicated to Maxwell’s story.

11:47: Sizzle reel of third party games. Lego Batman 2, Transformers Prime, Rabbids Rumble, and Heroes of Ruin.

11:48: Pokemon Black and White 2 briefly mentioned. Developed for DS, but will be enhanced for 3DS.

11:49: eShop talk. Average purchase per person is 4.7 games. 70% of 3DS owners in the US have connected to the internet. Netflix, Swapnote, Zelda: Four Swords and Nintendo Video have all been downloaded 1+ million times in the US.

11:50: Threediots series coming to the 3DS. Looks suitably b-grade. Strange…Available now apparently.

11:52: Pokemon Dream Radar and Pokedex 3D Pro discussion. Dream Radar can be used to collect Pokemon to transfer to Black/White 2. Pokedex 3D Pro used to cover stats.

11:53: Lego Batman 2 demo available now, for the US anywho. Demos for many other games coming soon.

11:54: Affirms that digital sales for retail games is coming. New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be the first.

11:55: Nate from Treehouse again, discussing NSMB2. Game revolves entirely around coins. Coins, coins, as far as the eye can see. Coin flower turns everything it touches, bricks and enemies, into coins.

11:57: Coin rush mode takes three random level, under a chosen difficulty, and challenges players to collect as many coins possible while speed running. Uses street pass to share coin rush scores.

11:59: NSMB2 has two player co-op for the campaign. Flight with the raccoon tail is back. If a co-op buddy falls too far behind the enter a bubble, not unlike New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

12:01: New Super Mario Bros.2 will be available in August, retail and download, for the US. Hopefully the Australian date follows closely behind.

12:03: And that’s it!