Nintendo at E3 2005
Hold up, buddy.
Nintendo's late 2004 was devoted to introducing the new DS, and the launch of the portable was lukewarm. The GameCube was enjoying a small resurgence on the strength of the excellent Resident Evil 4, which debuted in January of '05. But even as people were still enjoying their current Nintendo games, everyone had one eye already looking over the horizon, knowing that more was coming at E3 2005.
The Big Announcements
Two of the company's biggest upcoming products – the new Zelda and the Revolution – were already known to exist. So rather than having the curtain pulled back completely on either, we simply got a lot of new details for both.
Link's transformation into the body of a wolf took center stage as the most interesting new bit of info about Twilight Princess, while we also got to see new sidekick character Midna for the first time. Nintendo made it easy to pour over every detail of the new trailer again and again, as it gave out free copies of the video to the press in attendance on DS cartridges – those have gone on to become rare collector's items.
Even as the DS' slow takeover of the portable space was happening, though, Nintendo made an odd move to reinvigorate interest in the Game Boy Advance – the company introduced the Game Boy Micro, a miniature version of the GBA meant to capitalize on the "fashionably small" tech craze of the era.
Undeniably, though, the biggest announcements at E3 2005 were all about the next generation of home consoles. Microsoft was showing off its Xbox 360, set to debut later that year. Sony was talking about its PlayStation 3 by then. And Nintendo brought out the Revolution.
We got to see the physical casing of the unit for the first time, then later went hands-on with the hardware and were amazed by its small size and slick disc-loading tray. Nintendo talked details like what kind of media would hold its games, announced that it would be backwards compatible with GameCube software, and then further announced that it would reach back into the past even further with the Virtual Console – the retro game download service that would allow Revolution owners to purchase classics from the NES, SNES and N64 libraries.
Very little was revealed about Revolution software, though. We didn't even know about the motion controllers at that time – Nintendo was still holding that card close to its chest, and wouldn't play it until later in 2005. A brief glimpse at Metroid Prime 3 on video, a casual comment that new Mario and Zelda titles would be produced for it and the confirmation of Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a launch title were all we were left with.
The Big Games
- Mario Superstar Baseball
- Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball
- Starcraft: Ghost
- New Super Mario Bros.
- Mario Kart DS
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