How do you feel about Nintendo at the moment? Probably not too great, we'll wager. It's okay. We understand. All of us who witnessed that now legendary E3 press conference share a pain which bonds us as brothers for life.

But now that the tears have left our eyes and the screams have left our throats, we've had time to properly reflect on just how bad the future might be for the dedicated Nintendo fan. And we've found that things may not actually be so bad at all. Of course, it required a little creative thinking around the issue, and we're still certainly not satisfied with Nintendo's 2008 line-up, but there are most definitely still reasons to be cheerful.

Don't believe us? Read on. We'll get through this together, people.

#1. Nintendo still has Miyamoto, and his work slate is now clear

Oh Shigeru, how we've missed you. Of course, Nintendo's resident genius has never gone away; in fact he's been at the forefront of the Wii's push to world domination throughout. But while the grinning pixie of games design has been instrumental in endearing the Wii's concept to the world - Come on, Wii Sports IS fun, however uncool it is to admit that these days - his output has been rather different to that of old.



He has however, still got it. He might not have had the same directorial role on Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy as he has had on those franchises in the past, but his touch can still be felt throughout both games. And the best news? He's finished his initial run of Wii games. Those misinterpreted quotations pertaining to Miyamoto's lack of ideas? They just meant that the initial concepts he came up with to show off the Wii's capabilities are all done and he's now moving on to other projects. We already know about Pikmin 3, and he's talked about a theoretical Punchout!! as well, so hopefully he's moving in a more hardcore-friendly direction now that everyone knows what the Wii is about.

#2. First-party WiiWare is happening, and that has massive potential

While WiiWare has been a bit of a mixed bag so far - LostWinds FTW, Star Soldier R FTNotsomuch - but Reggie has quietly confirmed that Nintendo is definitely working on more in-house downloadable titles. The obvious potential of this? New 2D Mario and Zelda games.



Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando: Rearmed have already been met with immense love from fans and press alike, so Nintendo would be insane not to add to the glorious return of 2D. Let's face it, that kind of material made the company, and nothing would be more reasurring to the hardcore than the release of more of it. We seriously wouldn't be surprised to see this happen.

#3. Wario Land: Shake It!



Okay, so it might not be Kid Icarus or F-Zero, but just think about what the new Wario Land represents. It's a straight sequel to one of Nintendo's most loved hardcore franchises. It's that most staple of old-school, hardcore Nintendo game styles, the 2D platformer. And it's got the presitige factor of coming out as a major retail disc release. All of that means that someone at Nintendo seriously has the right idea. With this kind of thinking going on behind the scenes, the old Nintendo is far from lost.

#4. Nintendo happily employs a 55-year old man who behaves like this



#5. Third-party developers are seriously getting their s**t together



So Nintendo doesn't have a huge amount of hardcore material on the way that we know of, but forget the old "Third-party Wii support sucks" cliche and look at the reality. Madworld, Fatal Frame IV, Dead Rising, Overlord, The Conduit, Mushroom Men, Deadly Creatures, Spore, Facebreaker, Sam & Max, Tenchu... They're all coming to the Wii, more than a couple of them are exclusives designed specifically for the hardware. And none of them are mini-game collections. The tide, it finally does seem to be turning...

#6. It's easy to forget how many good games are already out for the Wii



No More Heroes, Zak & Wiki, Boom Blox, Okami, Super Paper Mario, Excite Truck, Guilty Gear, We Ski, Bully: Scolarship Edition, Blast Works, Battalion Wars 2, Fire Emblem... If you only concentrate on the negative, you'll only see the negative.

#7. Wii MotionPlus could turn out to be really good

We know, okay? We know you want 1:1 lightsabers. So do we. But while none of the demos we've so far seen for the Wii remote's new add-on have been any kind of substitute - bar, of course, the potential for playing Wii Sports Resort fencing while squinting and going "Vwumm" - think about why you're frustrated by that. It's because that little white LEGO brick has the potential to bring about some amazing experiences.



The kind of sophistication in control that Wii MotionPlus promises just isn't necessary for mini-game waggle-pap. It's purpose is to bring about the kind of experiences we all imagined when the Wii was announced in 2005. It's been a long time coming, but it has the potential to kick off a renaissance.

#8. Reggie. AKA The Regginator



Look at the man. He's carved out of solid kebab meat and could crush your skull in one hand, without even pausing to bite off the head of the sheep he's holding in the other. You want to be on his side.

#9. Until recently, Nintendo hasn't been skimping on the hardcore games.

Think about it. We've already had Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Mario Kart, Smash Bros and a new, vastly under-rated addition to the Excite franchise. And several of those titles have been the best editions of their respecive franchises we've ever had. If Nintendo hadn't been banging on about the expanded audience at the same time, would we really have had such a problem with the company's hardcore output?



Yes, some new IPs would be good - Where have you gone, Project H.A.M.M.E.R. and Disaster? - but we haven't been missing out on the stuff we've always loved. There are tons more Nintendo franchises just waiting for a Wii outing. Generational staples like F-Zero and Star Fox still haven't made an appearance and would work beautifully with the Wii remote, and we are still stubbornly adamant that Kid Icarus is on the way. Plus at this stage Nintendo can't go back on the repeated statement that the Mario and Zelda teams are hard at work. We haven't had two Mario home console games in one generation since the NES, so that's definitely a big deal.

#10. Cammie reminds us of a Wallace & Gromit character. And we like Wallace & Gromit

Although I disagree about number 3, I have no love or interest in Wario land: Shake it.

Five reasons hardcore gamers will love Wario Land: Shake It!

It's no secret that Nintendo's E3 presence left a bitter taste in many a gamers' mouth. Cries of "abandoning their audience" were in ample supply and the media, GamesRadar included, couldn't spit enough venom at the company's press conference, which they've now admitted was a misstep. Where were the games for gamers, for the people who've happily trumpeted Nintendo even while the GameCube flag was fading?

Would you believe there's a game, already out in Japan and about to land in the US, that fills this hardcore gap so perfectly we can't fathom why it wasn't a headliner at E3? By our reckoning there are five prominent reasons why every gamer, casual, hardcore or whatever, will love Wario Land: Shake It!




Adios, Miis. Bye-bye, polygons; Shake It! ignores all modern conventions and sticks to SNES sensibilities. It's all about running, jumping, finding secret paths, discovering the fastest way to get through each level and tackling an over-the-top boss, all from a side-on 2D perspective. Any seasoned gamer worth his Fire Flowers knows what this means when it comes from Nintendo's watchful eye - instant enjoyment for everyone in the room.

On top of traditional Mario-style platforming, where you have to make tricky, perfectly timed leaps or die instantly (just how we like it), Shake It! blends elements of two other SNES classics - Yoshi's Island and Kirby Super Star - that make it even more desirable. Wario can grab enemies and throw them at various angles with the same interface seen in Island, and the overall structure of the game is lifted from The Great Offensive, one of the many games included in Super Star.

There's a reason Nintendo's so well known, and it's games like the original Super Mario Bros. that got them where they are today. Everyone could hop in and enjoy it even without goofy avatars or tacked-on motion controls - no reason the same can't happen with this latest old-school offering.



Hm, did we mention "tacked-on" motion controls? Well, it's true Shake It! mixes in some waggle with its run-and-jump buttons (no Nunchuk though), but they're worked in so well they genuinely enhance the experience. Grab an enemy and hold the 1 button to bring up Wario's aiming bar, then tilt the remote back and forth to move the arrow. This lets you aim up and down while using the d-pad to change direction.

http://www.gamesradar.com/video/v-20080821131712254058

There's more than tilting, of course - with a name like "Shake It!" there would have to, um, be a lot of shaking, yes? So, shaking while standing pounds a hammer that makes loose items either fall or shoot upward; shaking while holding an item bag or enemy makes Wario jolt the living crap out of it, sending a shower of coins or health in all directions. The sheer amount of coinage that blasts from the bags is pure eye candy, with countless sprites shooting all over the place.



The motion controls are subtle, helpful bits without completely dominating the gameplay. A good compromise that we'd like to see more of in future backward-looking Wii titles.




We will go to our collective grave believing 2D animation, done properly, is far more impressive than all the flip-flop terabilly polygon shaders in the world. Look at games like Odinsphere or GrimGrimoire to see the potential. Shake It!, despite only running in 480p, looks damn good, and to the average eye it probably looks just as crisp as any 2D XBLA game. Wario's loaded with tons of hand-drawn animations, all of which create a vibrant, lively game world instead of brown, brown and more brown. Check it:

Everyone knows Nintendo almost had a CD add-on for the SNES. After several hours of Shake It!, we're stupidly excited to say this feels like a game that would have become a major hit for the botched SNES CD. The graphics and sound are dripping with 16-bit fluff yet flow so beautifully there's no way a SNES cart could have contained it all. It just feels like it should have been a CD launch game. Nintendo even went so far as to provide this clip showing off some of the finer animated touches:

http://www.gamesradar.com/video/v-200808211353244077

Granted, some might think saying Nintendo's latest Wii game would make a great SNES title is an insult, but when you consider most polls show the SNES as the best console of all time, hell, it's a comparison anyone should want.




Outside of Fire Emblem and most recently Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo stays far, far away from elaborate cutscenes. Metroid dabbles, Mario Galaxy had a few throwaways, but by and large they're the last place you'll go for cinematic production values. Wario Land doesn't stray far from the "gameplay first" mantra, though it does begin with an expertly crafted cutscene from Production I. G, the studio that gifted Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell to the world.

http://www.gamesradar.com/video/v-20080821134710233083

It's nowhere near on par with GITS, but that's not the goal - it's crisp, clean and stylized animation that brings Wario to life in a new way. No, it doesn't make the game more fun to play, but it is nice to see Nintendo taking more advantage of the disc space.




See those bars down the side? Those are your sub-goals for each level and hidden treasures to discover. Yeah, you could just plow through the game, beat every boss and be on your way, but knowing there are unseen paths and items lurking, not to mention challenges just waiting to be beaten, why would you want to?

The replay value is compulsively strong, making us go back and try the same levels over and over, trying to figure out how to beat a stage without falling in any water, or being hit, or with 10,000 coins, or escape the level with two minutes still on the clock. If you're an Achievement whore, this is one Wii game you might want to check out.

Scratch that - everyone should check it out, because it's a hand-drawn, 2D platformer from the goddam kings of 2D platformers. Make your preferences known, gamers - pick it up and we might see more like this, maybe even, gasp, a new sprite-based Mario.

The graphics man. It's all about how it looks.
And also the sound. I've not heard the music from that game, so I wouldn't know about that.
But the graphics.

People who only like one game company is like someone who'll only accept people of their race in the same bus as them. And I for one don't want to go through that again!