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Nintendo has amassed a certain reputation for endlessly going back to the same wells that brought them their initial financial fortunes in the 1980′s. Nothing has changed with this year’s E3. All of the major games that were announced or shown are, in some way or another, connected strongly to past successes, whether recent or further back. Nevertheless, the company has shown before that it can take ideas the company has honed down to a perfection and rebuild them into something that–even considering how old the ideas are–is still worth playing and loving. Besides the release of the 3DS, Nintendo’s focus was almost entirely on games, rather than the peripherals that tended to dominate the past few years. There was no Balance Board, no Motion Plus, no mention of the nebulous and puzzling Vitality Sensor heart-rate monitor announced last year and, for better or worse, swiftly forgotten. Because the main draw of the 3DS, namely its stereoscopic 3D effects, are inaccessible to those like me who did not get a press invitation to the conference, the focus of this article will be what I feel are the three games that demonstrated most fully what Nintendo’s ambitions and intentions were for this year’s show.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Degas, Cézanne, and Manet are some of my personal favourite artists. Their Impressionist style, and its impact on the fascinating drawing style present in the new Zelda game, are covered eloquently and succinctly in an article in Zelda Universe to be found here. I encourage you to read it, and gain perhaps a new appreciation for the work that Aonuma, Miyamoto, and their team of digital artists are attempting here.

Limitations are often what breed the most innovation. Acknowledging that the Wii’s capacity for reproducing realist graphics that can compare with the competitions’ are slim to none, Nintendo has gone for a style that is simpler, bolder, and far more pleasing than most anything put forth by any game company at this year’s show. The soft, vaguely-defined outlines, the bold green strokes that define the grass on the ground, the sketchy, airy look of the clouds so prominently featured in the trailer’s closing moments. Impressionists were also capable of producing works of melancholy and sheer darkness, and some of that menace is demonstrated in the first piece of art released for the game last year.

It’s all beautiful and painterly, but let us not dwell on such superficial matters. After all, even if frames from the game could hang in the Museum of Modern Art, you can’t hook up a controller to a painting hanging on a wall and gain much enjoyment out of it. Not to mention that that would likely be frowned upon by the resident curators.

What truly astonished me was the depth to which Nintendo was willing to go in integrating its Motion Plus technology into the game. Far from the engaging but ultimately pointless addition of motion controls to Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword looks to take the motion plunge, integrating the unique functions of the Motion Plus into every aspect of the game. Sword combat was always imagined to be the perfect use for the Wii Remote from the beginning, and some games such as Red Steel 2 have recently raised expectations in this regard. What Nintendo wants to do with Link’s sword in this game even surpasses that title, however. Diagonal, vertical, and horizontal slashes, as well as horizontal and vertical spin attacks (the latter of which is astonishing to look at the first time) are not just pointless details but tactical necessities. Enemies look to have been given better intelligence, so that they can to some degree anticipate your actions and block blows, requiring a new level of strategy for every encounter.

Beyond the basic combat, the first-person aiming system looks to be more refined, with control over how powerful your arrows are fired via the Nunchuk. While this is more or less lifted directly from Wii Sports Resort, it is welcome nonetheless. The slingshot appears to lack that fine control, but it is usually used infrequently and then promptly discarded, so it should be no great loss. A new addition to Link’s arsenal, a strange beetle that is something of a cross between the (underused) hawk from Twilight Princess with the Hookshot of older Zelda games. It can fly with precision using Motion Plus, pick up and carry bombs and drop them on enemies or obstacles, or even just to scout out the area.

Another addition is a dashing ability, allowing Link to sprint over short distances to gain more momentum for rope jumps or to escape from enemies.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is now my most anticipated game of next year. It looks to break from some of the confines of the Zelda formula perfected in the last Wii game, and present something at least partially new in substance, and completely original in style.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Kirby has always represented a piece of the game industry that breaks from convention. With his ability to float above most obstacles, cruise effortlessly through the toughest foes, and offer a cute, happy face whatever the time of day, Kirby is among the most endearing of game characters. His games are more endearing still, though often rooted in similar game designs. Kirby’s Epic Yarn accomplishes a wild turnaround in both aesthetic and interactive terms, chucking much of the game-play formula from previous games and adopting a homespun fabric look to match its title.

Never afraid to eschew realism in the first place, it takes some extra work to make Kirby games look less realistic than they already are. Making everything out of cloth is a good start. Stripping the insides out of all the characters, leaving them as stringy outlines is a knockout punch. Curious effects like characters pulling zippers to open up the environment, yanking on buttons to stretch the background and bulging out of 2D castles like marbles in a child’s jean pockets add to the overwhelmingly sugary charm of the game’s look. In fact, most of my fascination with the game has to do with this style, which appears to be indispensable, the foundation for all the mechanical innovations present here.

Death has apparently been completely removed from the game. Some may bemoan the change as a cheapening the rewards and reducing the intensity of the experience. I agree with both of those, but offer this in return. Kirby’s games have never been more pulse-pounding than a trip to a beach out of shark season, and if the new incentives for doing well are strong enough, not being able to die won’t matter. When you are hit, instead of losing health, you lose collectible items, and any rewards that you might have bought with them, the exact nature of which is unclear.

Two-player cooperative play has been added for this game as well, allowing for more New Super Mario Bros. Wii style manic antics. You can chuck your friends around, being either a help or a nuisance, depending on the situation. Using his own yarn body as a whiplike arm, Kirby dishes out pain with throws and slams. Transformations are still included, but are limited to contextual actions like running (where you turn into a car) and hovering (transforming Kirby into a parachute). While this does not show much possibility for the more complex moves seen in Kirby Super Star, it will likely offer a totally unique way to play a Kirby game, much as Canvas Curse did on the DS.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Now the scene darkens. Quite literally. Another graphically brilliant overhaul of a classic franchise, Donkey Kong Country Returns looks to be a challenging and enjoyable platform game. Nonetheless, it is a disappointment to see that Retro Studios has evidently been enlisted as Nintendo’s retread artists, putting some new life into gasping old concepts. However, there is nothing like the revolutionary brilliance of the Metroid Prime series on display, at least not in the materials released so far. I had hoped Nintendo would give Retro the chance to explore their own ideas for once, and perhaps the people who left the studios left precisely because of that.

Some of my disappointment comes from my reaction to the previous Country games. Namely, I thought that they were average to fairly-good platform games that looked great in their day but whose magic never wore off on me the same way that other SNES games did. Silhouette levels played against a stark jungle sunset aside, not much of the trailer was particularly memorable. Added to the mix is a cooperative play mode, but all in all this was the least exciting announcement in the Nintendo Press Conference short of Wii Party or Mario Sports Mix. It was surprising, yes. But underneath all my hopes for this game’s eventual greatness, I harbour a suspicion that Retro’s best talents have been shelved for this game, whose very title evokes just how unoriginal it all is.