Nintendo’s lineup impresses
Every year a highlight for me is visiting Nintendo’s booth to check out their latest games. This year their booth is massive with so many exciting games to try. I spent more than an hour playing two games I’ve been anticipating for some time now: Super Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2!
Super Mario Odyssey
In Super Mario Odyssey, expect to travel to some very surprising locations. The first place I tried was a city resembling New York, called New Donk City. Being a 3D Mario game, the controls are similar to Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64. Now Mario has new tricks though, such as the ability to continuously spin roll around the map, almost like how Sonic moves.
As well, Mario has a brand new friend named Cappy, which is a hat he wears in the game. Cappy is a significant part of the gameplay for several reasons. To begin with, Cappy can be thrown like a boomerang and used as a means to attack enemies. More importantly, Cappy can be used to mind control enemies and characters, such as a Bullet Bill or humans in New Donk City. Once you control someone, you’ll temporarily gain new ability, like being able to fly as a Bullet Bill. It’s really cool and will open up amazing new gameplay possibilities.
The other interesting thing I learned about Super Mario Odyssey is there are sections when you have to merge into a wall for 2D platforming section. When doing this, Mario transforms into his 8-bit pixel self, which I thought was a neat touch. I honestly couldn’t be more excited for this game, and the wait isn’t long – Super Mario Odyssey releases this October!
Splatoon 2
Next, I got to try Splatoon 2’s all-new co-operative multiplayer mode Salmon Run. This Horde-like mode has you and up to three teammates defeat waves of enemies resembling small fish. Larger bosses can also make an appearance, and they’re very challenging to defeat. Should one of your teammates get splatted you can revive them (by shooting them with paint), however if all four players die you lose the round.
Apparently we played Salmon Run at 5% difficulty (it goes up to 100%) but it was already pretty challenging. This seems like a mode for friends who want a serious challenge! Splatoon 2 is looking excellent and the release date is soon, next month!
Stay tuned for non-stop E3 news!
Check out Best Buy’s coverage of E3 2017 for more great articles, links to preorder games and more
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