E3 2012: Nintendo 3DS Software Showcase Roundup

Another round of Nintendo concluded this morning after the company dropped all manner of game previews, news and release dates for the Nintendo 3DS. Some good things were in there this morning, and we could see why this needed its own media address.

Nintendo of America COO Reggie Fils-Amie opened the event before reluctantly handing the stage over to Scott Moffitt who opened things up with a bit of Castlevania.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
The game will explore the story of the Belmont family’s past, taking place 25 years after “Castlevania: Lords of Shadow” on consoles. Good ol’ Dracula will play antagonist as you play as several characters from Castlevania, including Trevor Belmont, Simon Belmont and Alucard. The game will be a 2D side-scroller laced with 3D game elements. The trailer appears to use cel-shaded animations for cutscenes. The game will be ready this Fall.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
Nothing much else here except for the trailer that was screened during yesterday’s Nintendo Wii U briefing. Nintendo has mentioned that Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon will be available in retail as well as on the Nintendo eShop this Holiday.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
With graphics playing homage to the original Castle of Illusion game on the Sega Genesis, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion takes us back to Wasteland with Mickey Mouse facing the evil witch Mizrabel to save the imprisoned toons with his paintbrush and thinner in a whole new adventure. Players will rescue and meet classic Disney characters like Aladdin and Peter Pan. Also for Fall 2012.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star
This game probably got the most showtime, with good reason. Paper Mario’s first adventure on a Nintendo handheld will see Mario searching for the six royal stickers (scattered by Bowser, of course). Stickers are found all one the place or in shops and are used during battles (no word on what happens if you run out of stickers…) or in the open-world environment to open new paths and progress the story. Still very charming. Holiday 2012.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (3D, get it?)
Yet another one for Disney fans. Square Enix returns with another adventure with Sora, Riku and all their friends in the Disney IP world. Players will take control of both protagonists as they travel through unexplored worlds of Disney Kingdom Hearts has never seen yet, including ones from The hunchback of Notre Dame and TRON. July 31st, 2012

Scribblenauts Unlimited
Maxwell will return in an all new game not only for Wii U but for the Nintendo 3DS as well. The third game in 5th Cell’s award-winning puzzle series where you call out a whole list of available adjectival nouns will explore the story of Maxwell’s past with his twin sister Lily, who is face-meltingly adorable in the trailer’s cutscenes. The game will house a new world unbound by specific stages that contain 41 playable levels with over 50 starites and over 500 starite shards to collect. Naturally, the playground feature is still on board. Holiday 2012.

New Super Mario Bros. 2
I can’t foresee anyone losing all their lives in NSMB2, because the stages are riddled with golden coins. The new side-scrolling platformer game hides golden fire flowers, golden enemies and special coin boxes that will have Mario dying of gold poisoning. All that gold failed to overshadow two other features in the game. The Raccoon tails from SMB3 return and so does local co-op play on a secondary Nintendo 3DS. Won’t have long to wait for this one, August 19th, 2012, retail and eShop.

Nintendo eShop
Nothing special on the Nintendo eShop to celebrate its one-year anniversary, though there is a lengthly demo for LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and downloadable trailers for some of the featured games. Other Wii U and Nintendo 3DS trailers and Nintendo @ E3 coverage videos are also available on the eShop. Check them out.

Which wraps up most of E3 from the big three. Which is always exciting, knowing that Apple’s WWDC keynote is coming next week.