The 5 E3 2014 Conferences From Worst to Best

1. Nintendo

To everyone’s surprise, the winner of this year’s conferences is Nintendo, which didn’t actually have a stage of its own. Part of that allowed it to go for quality over quantity. It closed audience gaps with cute Robot Chicken skits in between reveals too.

Smash Bros gets to open up the pit with brawls, now featuring Miis, but also Skylanders nickel and dime tactics. Amiibo; Nintendo won’t ever get their branding right.

Developers commandeer the event from then on with Yoshi’s charming yarn adventure and even Toad getting a puzzle platform game. And lo; using the GamePad for more than an inventory screen is back. We missed that.

We missed The Legend of Zelda even more and its vibrant open world is worth the wait, as is the odd The Witcher 3 vibe. Hyrule Warriors goes for yet crazier angles with fast-paced mob battles and Bayonetta 2 topples even that with awe-striking visuals and crazy boss fights.

Xenoblade Chronicles X continues a line of amazing graphics, while Mario Maker goes back to its roots, before Splatoon steals the show with paint-diving squid girls. No other shooter has paint roller kills. Nintendo threw in Smash Bros anime at the end, just to kill the competition.

The Good:

• All killer, no filler when it comes to games.

• Splatoon is more exciting as a shooter than the dozens of other shooters seen.

• Smash Bros looks like it’s packing a ton of content.

• Robot Chicken intermezzos.

• Gameplay over cutscenes shows ultimate confidence in games.

• Extends hype with Nintendo Treehouse.

The Bad:

• Selling out by ripping off Skylanders with Amiibo.

• Third party support has been fully phased out.