How did this happen? How did I get from skipping school for a couple of days last May just to read about the Dolphin and Nintendo’s various attractions to waiting outside a gate with dozens upon dozens of fellow journalists, anticipating what is going to be one of Nintendo’s highest monumental days, and one that I will never forget.

Here we are, everyone who’s anyone in the online/print Nintendo journalism industry, waiting inside a luxurious hotel, waiting for a ceiling high brass gate to open up, allowing us to get just one step further to what is going to be a day we will never forget. Some may say the gate symbolized the Gates of Heaven, once opened, pure bliss would be bestowed to some of the biggest Nintendo die hards you’ll meet. A fair analogy of course, but one, at least partially misplaced.

The Gates of Hell. When half of the door swung open, the sea of cameras, E3 badges, business cards, and die hard fanatics quickly drew to the opening, like a bat to a source of light. People were shoving, pushing, trying anything to get through quicker, thus not allowing any room for the other door of the gate to open. With a hotel director struggling, and failing to swing it open because of the mass panic, excitement, and yearning, all it took was one man.

“HEY EVERYONE SHUT UP AND STOP MOVING. LET THE MAN OPEN THE GATE!”

And with that, everyone stopped, moved back a little, and the second door swung open. With this being accomplished, I was about to experience something I have never even imagined before, something you’d expect to see or hear in The Gladiator, or a war flick. When the back of the second door hit the gate, a roar, a victory yell, pure raw emotion escaped our lungs as we charged through.

Seriously. Hollywood’s best sound FX guy himself could not have produced a better spine tingling battle cry. Brave heart, Gladiator, The Mummy Returns had NOTHING on us. And this is what Nintendo wanted. They got us to want it all so bad, that we’d show them. Yamauchi need not come to E3 to see if the Nintendo Gamecube will succeed, as the answer was pulsing through the air. We want it. And we got it.

A mad dash down a flight of stairs, a quick turn, and there you see it. Around 15 rows of chairs, dozens in each row were waiting for us. Nintendo’s apparent new slogan, “the Nintendo difference” was plastered above the stage. Media personal from various sites, publications, and television shows immediately rushed up to the stage to take pictures of the Gamecube and controller encased in a stylish, futuristic cylinder stand.

And then we waited. What seemed like an eternity, low bass notes rhythmically passed through our clenched Exhibit Guides. Security was attempting to get photographers and camera men off the stage, eventually succeeding. Tripods were being set up in media sniper pouches, Tech TV was setting up their equipment for their live broadcast (if you remember seeing the back of a man that just screams : SEX!, well, I think I was a couple seats across from him. Did my hair look okay?) directly behind me. Everyone was getting set in and tightly packed.

Did I mention how fun agoraphobia (fear of crowds) is? Well, Miyamoto and crew will be worth it, I told myself. Pass up being one of the first public people to see Metroid and Wave Race live? Ha! And with the fear temporarily squashed, the Main man walked onto the stage.

Peter Main is a cool guy, no doubt about it. He came off as calm, cool, and very proud, as all Nintendo higher ups should be. Main started talking about the GBA Japanese launch and its overwhelming success, the impending North American (yeah, not Stateside! Canada counts) launch of the handheld. Figures and quotas were passed on to the audience, but you could tell no one came here for the GBA financial figures. Whenever Main trailed off into an already well known area of Nintendo’s business, many eyes, including my own, immediately focused on one of the two enormous screens which were displayed on both sides of the stage.

We wanted to see Wave Race, we wanted to see Metroid. Yeah, yeah, GBA, cool, cool, now show us the Gamecube vids!! Mr. Main eventually invited on of the main brains behind HAL Studios to the podium. Though English was obviously not his first language, I was almost touched that he decided to speak to us fanboys without the help of a translator. A few good jokes were made about lack of innovation, and mass rehashing since the dawn of popular franchises (in today’s videogame industry), which allowed us to lower our rabid guards down and laugh and applause.

Big mistake. This guy works at HAL, right? I think you can guess what happened next. The lights dimmed. There he was. Mario, exquisitely rendered, standing on a metallic platform. “Why is the president of HAL presenting Mario Cube??” And then the camera panned back.. and there was a sword Nintendo 64 owners were all to familiar with. Once Link came into view, you knew what was going to happen.

Minutes went buy, characters fighting on wooden platforms with a raging waterfall ferociously splashing close in the background. Tens upon tens of F-Zero cars fatally zipping on the track as the four combatants duked it out while carefully remaining air born. Bowser, Ice Climbers, Peach, Shiek were some of the new characters featured, and looking great. Hundreds of Yoshi’s came barrelling up a hill, not unlike a large pack of small dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Fast paced and fun, just like the original, was obviously Super Smash Brothers Melee’s strong attraction. The short film ended, and applause lit the room. If this is what HAL can do in a game with multiple fighters, what is EAD going to do with the main franchise characters in their hands??

After some more talking about perspectives and marketplace, a certain someone was asked to come onto the stage. Miyamoto walked onto the stage with a translator in hand as the applause grew to higher levels than heard before. Though a standing ovation started, only a quarter of their people were on their feet. I guess the other 75% were too busy planning their tombstone, as I will hunt each and every one of you down for not showing Miyamoto-san the proper respect!! Ahem.

After starting with a few short English phrased, Miyamoto picked up the (standard) Gamecube controller and began to demo it to the crowd. Going over each and every button, Miyamoto showcased the features to anyone who has not visited this site within the past year. Poor fools. But we had already seen Miyamoto demo the controller, why doesn’t he actually play a game? And then he pulled it out. NO, not that…although… no, he pulled out the fully green mini GOD of a fresh off the presses Luigi’s Mansion.

After teasing the incoming camera crew that taking pictures of the disc wouldn’t show you the game, he easily inserted in into the system and turned it on. Count to 3. Congratulations! You have not only mastered the early period of the numerical alphabet, but you have pretty much counted how long the boot up sequence is. Seriously. No staring at an orange bouncing ball, no watching clear boxes and white towers…do nothing. A quick construction of the NGC’s logo, and that was all. Within 5 seconds, we had the Luigi’s Mansion title screen. Gasps could easily be heard coming from everywhere in the audience. Though not purposely showing the feature off, it has already taken its toll.

So after learning the background story of the game (evil scientist, Mario missing, ghost ridden mansion), Miyamoto set off to play. Have you ever been in a conversation where it got to the point that you literally did not hear any sound coming out of the other persons voice? Usually this is caused by an overly annoying person, or a drab topic, but this was the first time that a footage of a videogame being played by someone else had caused me to completely disregard any words being said, by Miyamoto none the less. The lighting, the models, everything. It had gotten to a frightening stage. How can all of these graphics match CG work?

Eventually, most of the other launch to near launch games were shown. Donkey Kong Racing, Wave Race both looked great, and Metroid Prime and Rune Blade both looked surprisingly amazing. Either Retro had mixed some CG into their presented games, or they are receiving WAY to much flack from the online community, at least graphically. And just a little note for those of you out there criticizing a few blurry textures in some of the early Rogue Squadron 2 shots that were released. Good f’n luck trying to detect them while playing the game. Whoever felt RS1 was too slow… prepare to be blown away. The sense of speed is amazing. Though some titles such as Kameo and Star Fox : Dino Planet didn’t get too much attention, they were still very nice. All in all, the only game which looks like it can be improved visually out of the bunch is Eternal Darkness. The reason why you will not find many publications (rightfully) criticizing ED though, is thanks to its innovative nature and sure fire gameplay. Trust me, you will not be disappointed with Silicon Knights’ upcoming games.

The major surprise of the evening was the announcement of a new game, and possibly new franchise, entitled ‘Pikmin’. Though the name does seem strangely familiar to another Nintendo franchise, the game itself is entirely different. Basically, you’re an alien (not unlike those of Toy Story/2 fame) who has crash landed on a foreign planet. The game itself looks like a camera slightly hovering over ones garden, minus the human materials. Basically, you are able to control dozens (up to 100) Pikmin, which resemble little sprouts with legs. The gameplay seemed to be a merge of a RTS (though it looked enormously simple and convenient to play. Only one menu popped up, and it was quickly dispatched by an EAD staffer who was playing the game using the Wave Bird), a life sim, and an action game. Using these Pikmin (I can see the toys already) you can collect tablets to create more of them, attack enemies, build and destroy structures, and more.

The game itself looks VERY fun, as certain scenes, such as a big headed monster devouring multiple Pikmin like a T-Rex, had that comical touch that certain Nintendo games employ. Just like when Miyamoto revealed that finding a cave deeply hidden in a forest near his house as a kid contributed to the making of Zelda, Miyamoto said that working in his garden at his new house was very inspirational when it comes to his new baby.

Having never been to an event like this of any kind, I walked out of the hotel feeling very excited for what Nintendo has in store for us in the near future. That, and the nice laptop holder that we received after the show helped make the experience one of the most exciting of my life. Meeting people in real life for the first time is an experience on it’s own, and I can honestly say, if you ever have a chance to do something like this, to experience something of this calibre, jump on it. Pounce. It is worth it. Nintendo is back in a strong way, this they proved this morning. If you have any doubts about the upcoming games, be sure to frequently check Planet Gamecube, as we will have hands on impressions of each game during the next three days. And don’t ask me how Nintendo knew when my birthday is when they chose a launch date. That announcement really caught me by surprise, and it almost felt as though they had picked that date just for me. To sum it all up, whether you’re a casual gamer, a hardcore gamer, or someone who just wants some good drinking games, Nintendo is bringing it to the plate. And if you ever kick of a Q/A period with some of the head brass of Nintendo… do it in English. ;)