In news coming out of Nintendo’s April financial report, we finally have confirmation that the NX will be releasing worldwide in March 2017. Along with this news, it has been revealed that the new Legend of Zelda will simultaneously launch on both Wii U and NX in 2017, with Nintendo’s presence at E3 being completely dedicated to this new Zelda. As such, this new Legend of Zelda will be the only game playable on the show floor at E3 2016, ‘in order to provide attendees a complete immersion‘, according to a statement from Nintendo.
The NX will not be making an appearance at E3, with Nintendo probably hosting its own show or dedicated Direct presentation to unveil the NX later this year. Along with this Zelda and NX news, it was also revealed that the next mobile apps developed by Nintendo will be linked to the Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing series. These two apps will launch in autumn of this year, with the Fire Emblem mobile app being ‘more accessible in comparison to the Fire Emblem games for Nintendo’s dedicated gaming systems’, while still offering a worthwhile role-playing experience. The Animal Crossing app will be connected to other games in the series, which suggests that Animal Crossing NX will be coming in the near future.
Honestly, I’m very disappointed by this news. Nintendo is basically throwing the Wii U overboard with this news, and essentially writing off the rest of 2016 until they can finally deploy the NX and start over again with a new console and a clean slate. I hope that other things will be shown off at E3 besides Zelda, as their statement says that it will be the focus of the presentation but not the only thing they show off. Hopefully, they’ll do some kind of demo deal where any other announcements will be available to download straight after their E3 Direct.