E3 2001: GameCube Scores at E3 Special @ Gaming Target

Written by Alan Rumpf on May 18, 2001

Special: Man I wish it was this is easy to score all the time!

After three days of the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, it is pretty clear to see that Nintendo is the winner of all the players at the trade show. With Sega's booth being invite-only, a lack of interest on the Sony side, and a lack-luster pre-show by Microsoft, the floor was left wide open for Nintendo to collect all the media's attention with its new cube of wonder.

During the Nintendo pre-show conference, the company partially unveiled its Gamecube plans, as well as showing off many software titles. The man himself, Shigeru Miyamoto, came out to a rousing ovation with Gamecube and controller in hand. Miyamoto personally showed off two of his titles, Luigi's Mansion and Pikmin. The now famous Luigi's Mansion, as far as we know is its own Gamecube title. Miyamoto used the Gamecube controller to move Luigi around a haunted mansion. The graphics were beautiful and the play control seemed very innovative, using one stick to move Luigi, while using the other to have him look around. What's surprising is the fact that still no firm details about any Mario game have been released. There are three possibilities, one is that there will be a separate Mario game at launch alongside his brother, another is that a Mario game will come later in the Gamecube release, and there is still the remote possibility that Luigi's Mansion will be part of the next Mario game. It seems that the most likely option would be that the Mario game will come later as a booster to the Gamecube's life. Although nothing is known for sure at this time, and we will find out more at Spaceworld.

The other Miyamoto title that was shown was УPikmin.Ф A new strategy game involving moving around a group of ant like creatures called Pikmin that you have to collect and then direct around to perform certain tasks. This title doesn't seem that interesting when simply reading about it, but when the gamer sees the title in action, it is understandable how this game just might be the gem at launch. If not the gem, then the sleeper hit, all depending on how it is marketed.

Nintendo reiterated the fact that they are a gaming company, and have no plans of world-wide set top box domination. They are all about fun, innovation, and this showed in their games. The real kick-in-the-teeth blow to Microsoft, was when Nintendo announced that they would be having a stateside release on November 5th, three days before the X-box release of November 8th. Any revisions to Microsoft's launch date now, would cause major criticism of the company's integrity. Nintendo also showed a video talking about the Gamecube's power from a development standpoint and showed clips from the following titles, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Super Smash Bros.: Melee, Rogue Squadron, Star Fox: Dinosaur Planet, Donkey Kong Racing, Kameo: Elements of Power, Wave Race: Blue Storm, Raven Blade, Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, stock Zelda footage, and a short clip of Mario and Luigi racing on kartsЕyou make the connection.

The following day the list of open playable titles (in one form or another) to all of the media included, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Wave Race: Blue Storm, SSBM, Eternal Darkness, Star Fox: DP, and Kameo: Elements of Power, and Rogue Squadron. There were also a few other titles from various third parties on display on video, as well as announcements about Gamecube support. These developers include Sega, Acclaim, Midway, Activision and THQ amongst others. The biggest title unveiled by a third party is probably Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 for Gamecube. No specific word on when that title will launch. Also from Sega, the game Monkey Balls, and the possibility of them releasing their major sports titles on the Cube. NFL Blitz and NHL Hitz look to be on the way from Midway, Extreme-G3 and NFL QB Club from Acclaim, and THPS series from Activision are amongst the more notable titles.

As for my opinion on all of this, I can pretty much sum it up in one word...Фwow!Ф I don't think anyone expected Nintendo to dominate E3 as much as it did. Seeing the titles like SSBM really got me excited and pumped up about Gamecube, not to mention titles like Rogue Squadron and Raven Blade. Also a game like УPikminФ didn't really sound that great, until I saw the game in action and understood the explanations of gameplay. This game now has a special place in my heart, and I can't wait to move around my little Pikmin buddies. It looks to be a very exciting time for Nintendo, and the summer months to Spaceworld will never have seemed longer. I'm still a little concerned about the whole Luigi's Mansion/Mario deal, but hey that's another article, another time....