Back in April, Nintendo announced that the company was going to put all of its attention on the upcoming Zelda game at this year’s E3. The announcement stated that the Legend of Zelda for Wii U would be the only thing playable in Nintendo’s E3 booth, and in place of the usual “Nintendo Direct” video, the company would instead do a day-long Zelda stream. It did also say that Nintendo would release more info on its E3 plans later, and today they’ve done exactly that.
Though there still isn’t going to be a traditional Nintendo Direct, the company is expanding their E3 streaming coverage with a couple of its Nintendo Treehouse streams. The first stream starts at 9 AM PT on June 14, and will still largely focus on the Wii U’s Legend of Zelda but will later include live gameplay of Pokémon Sun/Moon.
At 10 AM PT the next day, Nintendo Treehouse will start the stream with a Q&A with a Pokémon GO developer and then go on to show off “upcoming releases for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, including Monster Hunter Generations, Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE.”
I’m pretty curious to see each of these (and whatever else Nintendo ends up bringing), but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m most interested in Tokyo Mirage Sessions, which is the Shin Megami Tensei/Fire Emblem mashup that Nintendo and Atlus announced back in 2013. As a JRPG set in modern times and with a real focus on youth culture, creativity, and J-pop, it’s just about the furthest thing from what I thought that combination of franchises would bring. Also: The heroes draw on their “performa” for “sustenance and power,” and the Performa/Persona pun is just stupid enough for me to love it.
You can watch these Treehouse streams on Nintendo’s official YouTube and Twitch channels, and head to the company’s E3 page for more details. Plus, you’ll be able to watch us as we watch (and chat about) the early parts of Nintendo’s Zelda stream bright and early on June 14 at 9 AM PT.
