NEWS

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August 8-Nintendo actually had the coolest booth of everyone at E3. It was huge and they had many great games available, but once again they focused way too much on connectivity.

The Legend of Zelda:Four Swords was awesome for Gamecube and lots of fun, but you had to have four players in order for it to have the maximum playability. The graphics were updated from the GBA version and it was cool how gameplay transfered from the cube to the GBA when you fell down a pit. Tetra's Trackers was, also, there, but it was not as popular and seemed like another quick diversion of a game. Even Pac-man was interesting, but didn't feel like an actual game. If you don't have four players it just doesn't work right. Hopefully these games won't be released at the $50 pricepoint and will come out at a cheaper $20.

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes was a cool update from the original, but the graphics didn't meet my expectations, but the game was still fun and should be great when it gets released. Pikmin 2 is, also, basically Pikmin except with none of the time limits that made the first one have so little gameplay. And the game is 2 player, which really shows off that Nintendo wants more multi-player games.

The biggest draw was definitely Mario Kart and F-zero. F-zero went by so fast it was amazing. The arcade machine for it was perfect and this is definitely one of my must buy games for the year. Gamecube memory cards can be brought to the arcades to unlock hidden stuff, also. The man that does the voice of Mario was there, and he was signing Mario Kart shirts. But unfortunately the game has flaws. You can no longer hold items behind you, and the power slide is no longer in the game. Nintendo has realised these flaws, though, and they have a new build of the game that hopefully will address these issues. Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike had a few graphical issues, but gameplay is just as good as the second one with a 2 player option to play the whole first game. Plus there will be a bonus disc given out to people who preorder it and it includes the originial Star Wars Arcade from the 80's.

On the GBA front, they had Fire Emblem, Mario Bros. 3, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Boktai. Great games, and GBA has a great lineup this fall.

Overall, the Nintendo booth was the best laid out, but they didn't have as many wonderful announcements as one might expect. Still they had some great games, but tended to place too much emphasis on connectivity.