Five Things Nintendo Should Do At This Year’s E3

By now, you’ve probably heard about what Nintendo has planned for the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month, including a presentation that will air on the Internet before the show kicks off, followed by a hands-on opportunity with Super Mario Odyssey and tournaments for forthcoming games like ARMS and Splatoon 2. It’ll also be hosting a live Treehouse special lasting all three days, featuring various titles coming to the Nintendo Switch and 3DS.

While Nintendo doesn’t have a traditional press conference like other companies, it does do some amazing stuff around E3 time, including a booth that’s usually loaded with all sorts of playable goodness. But if it really wants to impress this time around, there’s a few moves that the publisher can make to win over the public – just as it’s done in years past with hit titles and last year’s amazing recreation of Hyrule, surrounding the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Here are five things that Nintendo can do to assure that it’ll win E3 without breaking a sweat…and that’s not easy to do considering everything that both Microsoft and Sony are bringing.

Create a Mario Utopia

Nintendo has proven that it has no problem creating an ambient space where gamers feel like they’re in a magical spot while playing their games, just as last year’s Hyrule set-up proved. For this year’s event, the publisher should go all-out and create some kind of Mario-based town, where players can get a good look around at fake skyscrapers and bits and pieces of city life while enjoying some hands-on time with Super Mario Odyssey. Heck, throw in a taxicab or two (with the New Donk City labeling), and maybe allow for a photo opportunity for Mario’s eyes-laden cap. We’d definitely stop and get a pic or two (or six).

Build Up Some Smash Bros. Hoopla

Nintendo may be saving its tournament space for the likes of ARMS and Splatoon 2 – which makes sense since they’re coming out sooner and all – but it wouldn’t hurt to set aside a public display for a new Smash Bros. game. We already know that one is in the works – more than likely a port of the hit Wii U/3DS game – but we’d welcome it anyway, especially with a number of fighting options in terms of controls and set-up with the Nintendo Switch. Having a wide-open fighting space would bring us back to Nintendo’s booth again and again. We’d even be happy with broadcast match-ups from Nintendo HQ, especially amongst the Smash masters.

Bring Back The World Championships

When Nintendo re-introduced the Nintendo World Championships a while back, it drew a frenzy amongst its elite fans. So why not bring it back for another go-around, while, at the same time, hyping the classic games that will be coming to the company’s online service? It would be a win-win, showcasing the benefits that the company has in mind for said service (and proving it’s worth the monthly subscription price), and get folks excited for some of the company’s better classic titles, like Super Mario Bros. 3. For that matter, let’s just recreate that awesome tournament from the old-school movie The Wizard – complete with Power Glove.

Set Up a GameCube Section

The Electronic Entertainment Expo seems just as good a place as any for Nintendo to officially confirm that it’s bringing GameCube games to the Nintendo Switch, via digital download. And the best way to get gamers excited about that is to set up a devoted corner of its booth to the classic console, complete with display units featuring it in action, and plenty of demos featuring the likes of Eternal Darkness, Super Mario Sunshine and whatever other games the company has planned. For that matter, what we wouldn’t give to take part in an F-Zero GX tournament. (By the way, I’d probably win – you’ve never seen me conquer expert courses…) Oh, and we’ll take a classic GameCube shirt while we’re at it…

Offer Up 3DS Goodies

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Nintendo fans attending E3, it’s that they really love to get their 3DS sharing game on, whether it’s earning new tiles for pictures in the gallery, or simply making new friends that can help them out in the various mini-games it offers. For E3, Nintendo should offer up some exclusive goodies that users can download to their systems (because they’re going to bring them anyway), such as playable demos (Monster Hunter 5?!) and other exclusive items. Hey, maybe we’ll even get a friend invite from Shigeru Miyamoto!

BONUS: Paintball!

In the past, Splatoon has proven to be very effective with its advertising, and at one point, even had a special paintball tournament featuring various celebrities as part of the hype. Nintendo could easily bring that back, renting a space close to E3 and allowing participants to take part in good-natured paintball tournaments, while at the same time getting a chance to try out Splatoon 2 in both handheld and console form. Sure, that wouldn’t exactly be taking place in an E3 space, but it would certainly get them lots of attention during the show – thus winning it for them anyway.