The best and worst of Nintendo presentations and reveals

When Nintendo reveals new things, it does so in only a way that Nintendo can do. Sometimes it can do it with pizzazz and flair and other times, it’s like your Dad making a terrible joke around your mates.

When the Nintendo Switch was shown off in October it was one of Nintendo’s best efforts at showing off something new, it revealed exactly what it needed to. However, Nintendo isn’t always as good as that event and has ballsed up more than a few reveals. Not just of consoles but games themselves. To prepare for what will hopefully be a positive full reveal, we’ve prepared a list of Nintendo’s best and worst reveals.

The better ones

Before the Wii was the Wii, it was called the Nintendo Revolution. Its introduction in 2005 was short and sharp. The small (black) box with a blue LED inspired many and the announcement of GameCube backwards compatibility, the then unnamed Virtual Console and a new Super Smash Bros.

It was a shock to all of us, even Masahiro Sakurai who famously had no idea what he’s just been volunteered to do.

Later that year we got a look at the controller that would eventually be known as the Wii Remote. It looked a little different but it certainly got the Internet talking.

Then in 2006 it was full steam ahead for the Wii. Nintendo smartly gave out the name of the console a couple of weeks before E3. Had they not done that the entire show probably would have been just bathroom jokes. A smart move.

The trailers and reveal for the Wii were magical, despite what eventually may or may not have happened with the console. Red Steel didn’t look anything like that. But for a while it was easy to believe.

Now a jump back in time to in 2004, a simpler time. We get our first look at what would become Twilight Princess which eventually got released at the end of 2006. This introduction to the game and E3 2004 is legendary.

It also had this famous quote; it’s a simple quip but it set the tone for Nintendo of that era.

The Reggie quotes of course continued for many more years.

So what about this decade? There’s two great reveals below. They don’t really show off a new console or game but are the start of 2014 and 2015’s E3 presentations.

Hey Reggie, what about Mother 3?

Not so good

We’ve been covering Nintendo for 16 years here at Vooks and even we got confused with this initial reveal of the Wii U. It’s a new controller… for a new console – but it doesn’t actually say that anywhere.

The entire E3 2011 presentation can get in the bin. It’s slow, meandering, light on actual details and features sizzle reels of games that never came out, developers talking about the system that never would work on it and an entire section devoted to stroking EA’s… ego.

It’s easy in hindsight to judge this and see how bad it is, at the time it was exciting – but it was all fake and a sign that Nintendo really had no idea what was going on with the Wii U.

It’s easy to poke fun at the Wii U presentation in retrospect because of how poor the Wii U ended up doing. But Nintendo, only a half decade early, was sitting pretty and high on the height of the Wii and what did they do?

They went full casual.

We’ve never been against Nintendo’s foray into the world of the casual gamer but did it have to be like this?

RAVI DRUMS EVERYONE?!

It’s no secret Satoru Iwata wanted Nintendo to help people with their lives through more than just gaming. The Vitality Sensor would have been one them. Unfortunately it’s sitting somewhere at Nintendo HQ in the same bin as StarFox 2 and Devilish Brain Training.

Got to admire Iwata’s enthusiasm always.

This last one certainly has some cringe in it, but actual use of WordArt from Microsoft Office included that makes it the best.

What other highlights and lowlights can you remember? Let us know in the comments.