There wasn't as much hype as I thought there would be leading up to the NWCs. I honestly didn't know much about it at first, probably either due to a lack of advertising on their part or researching on mine. At first glace the NWCs simply seemed like an extra event Nintendo was having to make up for another digital-only E3 presentation. While this may be partially true, after watching the Championships via Blahblahlps' stream yesterday I came away very impressed with Nintendo's handling of the event nonetheless. They played it well, inviting eight popular gamers (celebrity push) and eight qualifying gamers (hardcore reassurance) to the tournament. Though it was clear some of the celebrity gamers weren't known for playing at a competitive level, this never became an issue because they were eliminated fairly quickly (*cough* Jovenshire *cough*). Nintendo also chose the game sequence perfectly: they started with Splatoon both for broad exposure and to highlight it as a competitive title, and ended with Super Mario Maker to showcase how some incredibly creative level designs are possible with the tools the game gives you. There were numerous highlights throughout the NWCs: Splatoon being played in a competitive setting for the first time, Miniwheat the nine year-old commentating alongside his dad and confusing everyone, the race to escape the planet in Super Metroid, and watching Hungry Box destroy an obviously trolling Reggie in Smash 4. The undeniable star of the show, however, was the newly-named Super Mario Maker. New features were revealed including warp pipes, doors and special hats, and stages shown looked both marvelous and punishing. One can only hope that the game ships with these stages, or at least has them available to download at launch. As was the goal of including SMM in the Championships, I'm super excited for the game now, and I'll almost certainly be buying it when it comes out. The next step? Nintendo announcing the release date during their Digital Event! With everyone now re-hyped for SMM's release, it'd be crazy not to give us a date to look forward to. Well those are all my thoughts guys. Make sure you check back throughout this whole E3 week (and every week after that) for great gaming coverage. If you want to talk to me directly, you can on Twitter @CreamBasics. Hope you have a beautiful day!
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