Three Nintendo-Published 3DS Games from E3 That Deserve More Attention

Every year, Nintendo tends to have at least a few games that aren’t showcased at their conference or event, which are typically relegated to their E3 site or, worse, press packet. This has improved in recent years, thanks to individual titles being highlighted through Treehouse demonstrations, but they still tend to slide under the radar compared to their largest showcases.

This didn’t happen to the same extent this year, thanks to them having fewer games to show, since this also gave the Treehouse more time to demonstrate everything. But a few games still didn’t get as much attention as they should have, mainly due to most of the press’ focus being elsewhere. It didn’t help that Nintendo didn’t have anything playable besides The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There are three Nintendo-published 3DS games you should keep an eye on that were previewed at the show, one of which actually made a surprise release after its presentation.

Ever Oasis was one of only two brand new titles Nintendo announced at E3. (The other was Mario Party: Star Rush, by the way, which should have no trouble some getting attention on its own.) It’s an Action/Adventure/RPG with a cutesy art style whose looks and gameplay invoke Level 5’s Fantasy Life. In it, you play a chosen being known as a Seedling of either gender, who’s been tasked with building an oasis with a partner named Isuna. You and your team of characters will do this while battling enemies who threaten the potential oasis from the desert, all of which can be directly controlled by the player through switching between them on the fly — though there’s apparently no multiplayer functionality. Materials for constructing a variety of houses, buildings, and monuments have to be gathered in dungeons, which are also full of puzzles.

It’s nice that this is taking, uh, inspiration from Fantasy Life, considering that franchise’s newest installment is a free-to-play mobile title. Ever Oasis is being developed by frequent Nintendo partner — no, not Browies, which consists of staff responsible for Level 5’s title — but Grezzo. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, they were previously responsible for 3D remakes of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, along with smaller WiiWare experiment Line Attack Heroes. The company is headed by Koichi Ishii, who was instrumental in creating and handling the Mana/Seiken Densetsu titles at Squaresoft, so it’s nice that he and his team are getting another stab at an action/RPG. Assuming it’s solid, let’s just hope the audience isn’t too focused on NX when this releases sometime next year.

It’s been a little while since the localizations of Dragon Quest VII and VIII for 3DS were announced on last November’s Nintendo Direct. At that time, the former and latter were dated for early summer and fall, respectively. But DQVII went mysteriously dark for a long stretch of time, and it became clear it wouldn’t make its intended timeframe, unless they were going the digital-only route. Concern its whereabouts was justified, though as always, some took it a bit too far.

Fortunately, Nintendo took the opportunity to provide a worthwhile Treehouse demonstration during E3 and a release date. It will finally arrive in western territories on September 16th, digitally and at retail. That’s later than expected, sure, but it’s still nice that it’s coming at all, especially given what it’s been through.

To clarify: The game almost didn’t leave Japan, which was admittedly clear considering it originally released in Japan in February 2013 — well over three years ago. Square Enix had no plans to bring it over, since it’s one of the most text-heavy RPGs in existence, and felt the cost wouldn’t be justified. This changed when they heard an outpouring of fan support, especially when it came in the form of a petition which involved a number of ardent French fans. See? Petitions and constant requests do work, particularly when they’re organized and not full of insane people. It’s good this happened, and I hope both companies involved are rewarded for their work in sales. I’m a little concerned about its release date, since it’s dropping within a busy month full of other RPGs, including some also on 3DS like Yo-Kai Watch 2 and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse; but hopefully they’re not expecting too much.

Meanwhile, I wouldn’t be surprised if DQVIII was delayed until next year, unless they’re gutsy enough to release it in December.

The final game you should give a shot is Rhythm Heaven Megamix, which collects many of the best mini-games from the Game Boy Advance, DS, and Wii installments (with some adjustments) for a total of over 100 games. Some of those are brand new to westerners, since the GBA version never left Japan, making this package even more worthwhile. Each game is also accompanied by the kind of goofy stories and scenes that could only come from Japanese developers, in a good way.

As a bonus, it also includes the option to play the English and Japanese versions of nearly every game, which is useful for comparing the localization changes that were made.

I said “give a shot” because this is the title Nintendo surprisingly dropped on the eShop after its Treehouse presentation, where it costs $29.99. But if you’re on the fence and understandably reluctant to blindly part with a sizable amount of cash, a demo is also available. I still wish Nintendo would have given this a more extensive advertising campaign and retail release, but it seems they didn’t want to risk too much here. In fairness, this isn’t too bad an alternative for yet another game people were worried wouldn’t be localized at all.

Meanwhile, Europe will get a retail release, though they’ll have to wait until late-October. I’m sure some will find that’s a better alternative, especially if they provide some advertising.

It’s nice that these titles got a little more exposure by default, thanks to the small slate of software Nintendo showed in LA. But every instance of exposure counts, especially with 3DS software starting to wind down, and less people paying attention to its releases. Hopefully Nintendo does their part promote the upcoming two titles, too.