Nintendo’s Smash Bros.-heavy E3 Direct hid an anemic 2018 Switch lineup

Wise Nintendo fans learned long ago to temper their expectations for Nintendo’s Electronic Entertainment Expo announcements. The company famously did away with spectacle-class media events years ago, replacing them with streaming Nintendo Direct videos. With deep respect, I’ll acknowledge that Nintendo’s once-controversial decision has proved to be (mostly) brilliant: Fans get to enjoy game preview footage spread more frequently throughout the year, while suffering through far less filler like talking heads and onstage awkwardness.

But since Direct’s focus is on games, Nintendo is expected to deliver great new game announcements at E3. Last year, the publisher had plenty of big news — everything about Super Mario Odyssey, announcements of upcoming Pokémon, Metroid, Kirby, and Yoshi games, DLC details for Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and lots more. That E3 made clear that it 2017 was going to be great for the Switch and a fine year for the 3DS, too.