Nintendo E3 Competitions

E3 is right around the corner, about five weeks away to be more precise. While some companies have given their plans about their press conferences Nintendo has been pretty silent about this, say for two announcements specifically. One is that they won't be having a Press Conference, which means that they probably are going to go for a Digital Event and Live Treehouse Streams which is perfectly fine with me, and the one announcement that I found really cool is that Nintendo is holding a Splatoon 2 Exhibition Tournament during E3. To me, this is really exciting and I just want to share my thoughts on why this is a good idea and share my thoughts on the Nintendo E3 Competitions in general.

Flashback to Nintendo E3 2014, six weeks before the event Nintendo announces that once again Nintendo will not be holding a traditional Press Conference, going for their Nintendo Direct style of showing off games. This would be known as the Nintendo Digital Event. However, something that came out of nowhere was the announcement of the Super Smash Bros. Invitational Tournament. It was interesting because Nintendo hadn't done anything like that before and the tournament was based on a game that wasn't released yet, meaning that we see the game-play in action as well as in a tournament setting. In my opinion, this was a very smart move for them to do. Now with all of that said, this was not that exciting to me. The tournament was fun to watch and it was exciting to see Smash Bros. Wii U being played. However, something that was a bit of a turn off for me was that the entire tourney was just Smash, and by that I mean only basic Smash Bros. for Wii U and not even a little game-play or side game event for the 3DS version which was coming out sooner and I thought it would've been a good chance to see Smash Run in a tourney setting. Nevertheless, it was still a good idea on Nintendo's part and I liked that they did it, I just was kind of bored with it after a while.

Moving to 2015, five weeks before E3, Nintendo once again announces there Nintendo Digital Event. This time however, they announce that they decided to once again have a tournament. However, what through me and what I believe everyone for a loop was that they were bringing back the Nintendo World Championships. To be honest, when I first heard this I thought it was a bit odd. I wasn't too impressed last year when they had a tournament and I thought they were trying a little too hard with this. Then about a week or so later they announce that it wouldn't just be one game at the tournament and that it would be the first tournament that showed Splatoon in a tournament setting.

Then they announced some of the players they were inviting and I saw that they invited Arin from Game Grumps as a contestant and Black Nerd Comedy as one of the commentators and when I heard this news, I got way more excited for it than I initially did. I still was skeptical of how good it would be, but I was looking forward to seeing it. So on the day of the tournament I sat, I watched it, and I am happy to admit that I was so happy to be wrong in thinking that the tournament wasn't going to excite me. Unlike the Smash tourney I stayed and watched the entire event and every moment was filled with excitement and happiness from me. The event itself was also a very smart move by Nintendo, they used this tourney to show off games for Wii U that were out and show some of the best features of those games like Splatoon, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros. Along with that, they showed off cool new games like Earthbound Beginnings, Super Mario Maker, and Blast Ball, and everyone loved Blast Ball, right? This was a huge E3 highlight for me. It was a live on-stage event, it had fun surprises, and it showed off games we've never seen along with games already out which showed why people should buy a Wii U and those games. This was a wonderful treat by Nintendo that I honestly wanted them to repeat.

Something that I feel both of these Tournaments did, NWC more than the Smash Tourney, was that it gave the Live Event feeling for Nintendo. It wasn't an E3 Press Conference, far from it. However, it was like a live gameplay demo you'd see at press conferences but done by real gamers in the most fun way possible. So even though Nintendo didn't have a Live Press Conference those years, this was a pretty decent replacement.

So now we move into now, E3 2017. Not 2016 because that year didn't even have a Digital Event, which was disappointing to me. This year we have a Splatoon 2 Tournament and I feel that this is trying to be a balance of the two. It is only one game similar to the smash tourney, but unlike that tourney, Splatoon 2 has multiple different modes that can be on display, like the new Salmon Run and/or Ranked Battles. This means it offers variety like the NWC. As I said I am excited to see how this tournament goes and what surprises Nintendo has in store for us, whenever they decide to reveal them to us, and I hope you guys enjoy watching it too.

So what do you guys think? Do you like the Nintendo E3 Competitions? What are your favorite moments? What do you want to see Nintendo reveal for E3? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading and I'll catch you guys next time.

Seriously though, 5 weeks 'till E3. Please reveal your plans Nintendo, PLEASE.