The hype is real for this year’s E3. We’ve got a resurgent Nintendo, riding on the crest of Switch’s enormous success. As a result, every publisher and their mum is trying to squeeze games onto the hybrid console faster than you can say Call of Duty (apart from, it would seem, Activision).
But the real excitement about this year’s E3 stems from the fact that we really don’t know what Nintendo is planning for the latter half of this year. Sure, there have been plenty of rumours – and we’ll get to those – but nothing concrete. And we here at Nintendo Life Towers prefer to work with concrete (not just when it comes to building stuff, either).
In this guide we’re going to detail Nintendo’s E3 plans, including the Nintendo Spotlight, where we’ll learn about most, or all, of the exciting upcoming games, Nintendo Treehouse Live, where we’ll see some of them being played, and Live Tournaments for Splatoon 2 and Super Smash Bros. Exciting!
When will E3 2018 take place?
E3 2018 will take place between Tuesday 12th June and Friday 15th June this year.
When will Nintendo’s E3 video presentation ‘Nintendo Spotlight’ take place?
Nintendo has announced that its major video presentation will take place on 12th June at the following times:
| BST | PT | ET |
|---|---|---|
| 5PM | 9AM | 12PM |
Though it’s yet to receive its full title (our money’s on Nintendo Spotlight), we do know that it will showcase a selection of Nintendo Switch games for 2018, and it will definitely include Super Smash Bros.
There will be plenty of first-party games (again, we’ll get to those rumours in a moment!), but Nintendo will also showcase a handful of third-party titles. Last year we saw the likes of Skyrim, Rocket League, FIFA 18, and Sonic Forces. What could we see this year? Don’t make us say Fortnite. Dammit!
What about the ‘Nintendo Treehouse Live’?
Again, this isn’t the official title for Nintendo’s E3 livestream, but we’ve put a lot of money on that name returning this year. The main event will happen directly after the Nintendo Spotlight, the times of which are above.
Nintendo has also announced that a bunch of livestream events will happen throughout E3 as well. We haven’t got a schedule just yet though, so stay tuned. We’ll update this as soon as we know more.
When will the Splatoon 2 World Championship and Super Smash Bros. Invitational Live Tournaments take place?
The Splatoon 2 World Championship will kick off with the semi-finals first on 11th June at the following times:
| BST | PT | ET |
|---|---|---|
| 11:30PM – 2AM | 3:30PM – 6PM | 6:30PM – 9PM |
The finals will then take place on 12th June, though Nintendo hasn’t released an exact schedule yet. The same goes for the Super Smash Bros. invitational, which will take place, “right after,” the Splatoon 2 World Championship final. Again, stay tuned and we’ll update this with a full schedule once Nintendo has revealed it.
What Nintendo games will we likely see?
Super Smash Bros. is currently the only confirmed game we’ll see from Nintendo, but there are a bunch more that are highly likely.
Yoshi
Yoshi was announced at last year’s E3, and we haven’t heard a peep from it since. It’s highly likely that we’ll see it in some form at this year’s E3, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a 2018 release.
Metroid Prime 4
The highly anticipated Metroid Prime 4 was also revealed at last year’s E3, and we’ve since learned that Bandai Namco is at the helm. It’s likely too early for this to make a 2018 release, but we’d settle for a bit of footage. Like, even 30 seconds will do.
Fire Emblem
Again, Fire Emblem was announced for Switch at last year’s E3, and the trail has gone freezing cold since. We’ll hopefully get a full title, gameplay footage, and a 2018 release date with this one.
Pokémon
We think it’s safe to say that Pokémon is the most-anticipated Switch game on this list. The next entry in the Pokémon franchise is definitely coming to Switch at some point between, “2018 or later.” We’d settle for a look at it at this point, but a release this year would be the icing on the cake.
Are there any outlandish rumours we should know about?
As ever, there are rumours, yes, and they’re suitably outlandish. Here’s stuff that’s popped up on our radar recently:
Star Fox Grand Prix
Star Fox Grand Prix is apparently under development over at Retro Studios (we reported as much earlier), the team responsible for Donkey Kong Country Returns, its sequel, and the three Metroid Primes. It’s a bit of an about turn from them, and we’re not even going to ask why it isn’t F-Zero, but it does still sound interesting nonetheless.
Fortnite
Yes, we know you’re all eagerly praying that Epic will finally announce Fortnite for Switch and everyone can finally stop playing any other games to focus solely on this. Fortnite on Switch isn’t a particularly outlandish rumour though. It’s already available on every current gen platform – including mobile – so Switch is only a matter of time. What better time to announce it than E3?
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
Skyward Sword HD did the rumour rounds a while ago, and it makes some sense as a Switch release. Nintendo has already released Twilight Princess and Wind Waker as HD titles on the Wii U, and the Joy-Cons can double up as quasi-Wii remotes. They’re not quite as sophisticated as the Wii Remote Plus though, so we’re not sure how well this would work in practice.
DOOM 2
DOOM 2 is heavily rumoured for E3 2018, and we’re hoping it will be a full multi-platform release. The first DOOM was impossibly squished onto Switch, so why can’t the sequel be too?
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Sadly, this rumour has just been crushed by Activision itself. Still, it doesn’t mean we won’t see Call of Duty in some form on Switch this year. Perhaps Modern Warfare or the rumoured Modern Warfare 2 Remastered instead?
Should we expect anything new from Nintendo itself?
Yoshiaki Koizumi will likely helm the live showcase, as he has grown accustomed to lately. We’ll also likely see Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime, Miyamoto, and perhaps an introduction for the new Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa.
In terms of what to expect, it’s anyone’s guess. Traditionally, we’ve seen some crazy stuff from Nintendo, like puppets of Iwata, Miyamoto, and Reggie, and even a Robot Chicken animation.
What first-party Wii U games could launch on Switch?
Nintendo has steadily drip-fed Wii U games onto the Switch, and we imagine that trend will continue to plug the gap between high profile releases. Here’s a bunch of Wii U first-party games we haven’t seen on Switch yet, along with a few third-party exclusives that could happen:
What Nintendo and third-party franchises do we hope will return?
There’s a bunch of stuff that we are praying to see that haven’t even remotely done the rumour rounds. Here’s a list:
First-Party:
- Advance Wars
- Animal Crossing
- Donkey Kong Country Returns
- Earthbound / Mother
- F-Zero
- Pikmin
- WarioWare
- Wave Race
Third-Party:
- Ace Attorney
- Castlevania
- Dragon Quest
- Yo-Kai Watch
- Call of Duty
- Harvest Moon
What are you hoping from Nintendo and third-party developers at this year’s E3? Have we missed any crazy rumours? Let us know in the comments and we might include it here!