Nintendo's Next-Gen Software Titles
Author: Dan 'Supermonkey' Reiley, Jr.
 
 
DATELINE: MAY 11TH, 2004…Nintendo unveils more details on three of their upcoming AAA titles, and a fourth title that everyone knew was coming, but hadn't really heard (or seen) a lot of---till now!  That's right, at the Nintendo media briefing the audience was treated to images and sounds of four upcoming Gamecube titles that are sure to make even the most jaded GC owner sit up and say, "Wow!"  S.A.M. told you guys about the specs of the Nintendo Gameboy DS, now let me run at you with juicy details about the great software titles that the big N has in store coming up.
 
First off, Nintendo showed the much anticipated Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes.  This looks to be an awesome game, if it'll play as good as it's looking that is.  The multiplayer mode wasn't showcased much (but we did see some brief glimpses!), rather the focus was on single player.  Samus is of course back, and she looks to have stepped through some sort of portal.  She comes up to a lab area and a shadowy duplicate of her, armor and all, escapes from a tube.  They do battle for a bit and then the Shadowy Samus escapes.  Over the next minute or so, more gameplay segments are shown, and we got to see Samus wielding some of the new weaponry (she looked to have some sort of shadow cannon…), and some of the new and improved moves utilizing the morph ball.  The multiplayer was interspersed throughout these segments, and looks to be capable of fulfilling many a Metroid fan's dream: fragging their friends in the Metroid universe.  We here at Gamehelper are looking forward to seeing the end product.
 
Next up was Starfox and it's looking pretty cool.  It seems like they are going to return to what made the Starfox franchise great in the first place: Spaceship combat!  And the game will also feature on the ground action, including the ability to drive some sort of tank and blowing things up [proven entertaining game formula: tanks + blowing things up = fun! – ED].  And that's always a good thing.  A lot of the familiar Starfox players will be on hand---Fox McCloud, natch, but the game will also include Slippy, Peppy, and everyone's favorite fowl Falco, though at this time it is unclear whether or not any of the other characters will be playable.  There will be split screen multiplayer for deathmatch fun, and possibly some form of co-op play, but that remains to be seen.  Either way, thanks Nintendo for bringing back the Starfox we all know and love.
 
Resident Evil 4 was next on the bubble, and it is looking AWESOME!  The game really looks like it is going back to its roots and trying to redefine the genre it helped to create.  The environment is really small and creepy and Leon Kennedy as the main character is enough to scare anybody!  I'm just kidding.  Leon isn't as bad a choice as the Leo DiCaprio clone from Code: Veronica.  But I digress…the game is looking pretty sweet, indeed it is!  The enemies look pretty normal, so it's unclear whether or not they are infected with some sort of Umbrella concocted virus or not, but it is pretty clear that they hold nothing but deadly intentions for Leon.  It seems as the game progresses, some new enemies will be introduced who look a little more zombie-ish, but are dressed in priestly robes and one even looked like it might have been breathing fire.  Also some of the enemies looked as if they were capable of making clever plans to try and foil the player as they attempt to escape their deadly clutches.  Resident Evil 4, if it keeps along the same development pace it's going at, should be a must-have title when it's released in 2005.

And finally, the king of all RPG Adventure games is set to make a huge return.  This was one of the last trailers with gameplay to be seen at the press conference.  Of course, I am talking about The Legend of Zelda, the (official?) title for the next GC game starring that lovable elf in a green tunic, Link.  The trailer showed A TON of exciting gameplay, such as a chain swinging Balrog-looking creature, huge environments, Link riding on a horse and swinging his sword at other mounted riders to knock them off of their horses, and so much more.  There were some cinematic cut scenes thrown in with the gameplay movies, and the visuals were just so stunning.  Sometimes it was even hard to distinguish between what was actual gameplay and what was a cutscene. [No, Tolkein Enterprises does not have trademark on cave trolls and epic battle sequences contrary to popular belief – ED] This game will hopefully shape up to knock the socks off all of those, "But cel-shaded Link SUCKS!" whiners and make them shut their stupid pie holes once and for all…  But hopefully none of you reading this article ever said that…or did you?  Regardless, check out this title with the fervor it deserves, and you *shall* be awarded. 

Stay tuned for more updates!

--->SuperMonkey

Related Reading:
Nintendo Media Briefing E3 2004