As you may have heard recently, Nintendo has pushed back the reveal of the mysterious Nintendo NX console, which many expected to see at E3 this year. It’s a little bit of a bummer for fans, though the reason for the delay is nothing but exciting.
According to Gamespot’s article on the subject, the folks at Nintendo simply didn’t want to rush the release for fear of limiting the number of games that would be available right away. Nintendo wants a wide selection of games from the very beginning, so that people can thoroughly enjoy the NX and gain an attachment to it for years to come.
Compare that to the other hot news in gaming consoles—the release of VR headsets—and it’s pretty exciting stuff. With VR we’re often told that there may only be a few demo-like games to accompany headsets in the early days, which simply isn’t satisfying. With the NX, on the other hand, it sounds like we’ll be getting a fresh selection of brand-new Nintendo games right off the bat. But what will that selection actually include? That’s the real question that will be keeping Nintendo fans glued to the Internet for the foreseeable future. And in the meantime, we have a few titles that have been more or less confirmed by an article at Digital Trends’ gaming section.
Untitled Zelda Game A new addition to the Zelda franchise has been long-rumored, not just as part of the NX release but really in general. And according to that DT article, we now know just about for sure that the untitled Zelda will indeed be the headline game released alongside the NX. Furthermore, it sounds as if the Zelda game will debut at E3 this year, as it’s headed for a simultaneous release on Wii U and NX in 2017.
Zelda games have actually been released with a pretty satisfying degree of consistency in recent years. As seen at this post by Appcrawlr, there are even a bunch of app games that have basically mimicked the Zelda format. There’s a lot out there for Zelda fans, but a new release at the very outset of the NX era is very exciting. It could be the biggest game in the franchise in years.
Dragon Quest XI The Dragon Quest series has previously only been available in Japan, but it would fill an interesting void if released for NX in America and Euroê. Frankly there’s a surprising lack of dragon-related gaming out there. Aside a few appearances by the mythical beasts on console games, they’ve basically been relegated to a few smaller arcade.
Elsewhere, there are one or two app games about training and battling dragons. However, a full-fledged Nintendo RPG stocked with dragons and other monsters would be a pretty unique experience on NX, not just among consoles but in the company’s American gaming collection in general.
Smash Bros. Sequel In case anyone was worried that the new console might not kick off with a classic Mario-related game, it sounds as if an early Super Smash Bros. sequel is in the works. The Digital Trends article cited a tweet that confirmed Bandai Namco is already developing a Smash Bros. title for the NX, though that’s about all we know at this stage.
It’s expected to be available at launch, but as for what it’s going to be called, what the character roster will look like, and how it will differ from previous games, we’re in the dark. Still, it’s nice to know this beloved staple will be around from the beginning. And that, you know, we’ll have another opportunity to destroy our friends and family as our favorite Nintendo (and Nintendo-related) characters.
That’s the list as far as specific games go. There’s also information suggesting that the console might focus on traditional Nintendo titles (such as Super Mario and Donkey Kong games) for the most part. That being said, even the knowledge these three titles are on the way should serve as a pretty big boost for the NX.
