I'm on a wait and see kinda basis with the Mario + Rabbids game. On one hand, it's Mario, Mario is almost always good. On the other, well Rabbids, Rabbids doesn't have the best franchise track record to say the least.
I am intrigued by the notion but in the back of my mind there's just something that keeps saying "This could have been Rayman, or Mega Man, or Pac-man, or Bomberman, or Final Fantasy, but no. It's ****ing Rabbids." But I'll end up buying it if it's the only game out in August for the Switch because I'm a sucker for that damned console.
See, here's the thing though. This wouldn't have happened with another company. This game is either the result of Ubisoft saying "we have an idea for a crossover" and Nintendo going with it, or Nintendo courting Ubisoft to continue supporting their platforms as they had in the past by granting them use of the most lucrative character in gaming (Ubisoft is publishing - so they stand to gain a lot here). Those other characters you mentioned come from companies that are (at least as of late) generally relatively loyal to Nintendo.
I don't see this situation as Nintendo going, "time to make another Mario RPG - which company should we collaborate with? Ubisoft has Rabbids! It's perfect!". So, I guess it could've been Rayman (which I wouldn't disagree would've been preferable) but that seems like the only plausible alternative.
In news of Ubisoft making mistakes, Beyond Good and Evil 2 won't be at E3. Mark it on your cards.
Yeh seems unlikely now but I'm not going to touch my card until E3 is over and we've seen where all the chips have fallen.
You know what would blast off this E3?
The fact Retro's project might be more than one game.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were working on multiple projects. I would be surprised, however, if both projects were shown.
Now now... Developement on the NX hasn't started till two years ago, maybe even less. Do you think a team so small as Retro's could have pulled off the development of three "large-scale" games for the new console, when they've barely had any experience with HD/advanced engines other than Tropical Freeze, in so little time?
EDIT: There's no such thing as "blowing away Sony's E3 2015". The respective announcements of the long-awaited Shenmue sequel and the equally much-requested FFVII remake are the stuff of legend, ones that will remain carved in stone forever man.
I doubt development on the Switch started two years ago. That's not how Nintendo does things. They begin the development process for their next console pretty much right after the current one launches. Case in point, the handheld and console divisions of Nintendo were merged in 2013, a year after the Wii U released. And the plan for them to merge probably dated back to 2012 itself in all likelihood.
And it's possible to trump Sony's E3 2015. I don't think that will happen this year. Or maybe ever. But Nintendo has more aces in their sleeves than Sony. They just rarely play them. A new Smash w/ characters like Ridley or crazy third parties? A Pokemon made ground up for consoles? A new Metroid that caters to its fans? A new F-Zero? Megaton third-party announcements? Like, it's possible to beat that conference. It just... probably will never happen.
I mean even Nintendo's E3 2006 might be a contender. Galaxy reveal, Brawl reveal, two Zeldas, a new Metroid, a new Star Fox, a new Fire Emblem, a new Kirby, new IPs... it was quite the show.
No they wouldn't.
Final Fantasy VII is on a completely different level to Metroid and especially F-Zero.
Shenmue's been absent for far longer than both franchises too.
If anything, you're massively overestimating the requests for both Metroid and F-Zero. They'll be hypeworthy (if they don't pull a Federation Force) yes but not on the level of the triple whammy of TLG, FF VII R and Shenmue 3.
FF7 is top dog here but Shenmue is not above Metroid. Cult classic it may be, but Metroid is far more ubiquitous in gaming, and its fans, unlike Shenmue's, have worked themselves into a frenzy ready to burst. Scary stuff~