Lets wrap this all up then. Nintendo’s press conference was a mix of hits and misses, but a massive improvement on last year’s show. The news of a new Super Mario Galaxy game and a very hardcore-looking Metroid title will definitely go down as the highlights, while the likes of Golden Sun, Wii Sports Resort and Miyamoto’s roundtable Zelda reveal also provided strong headlines for the day after.

Was their room for improvement? Absolutely. Nintendo don’t seem to have grasped the fact that those who will play Women’s Murder Club and Style Savvy will not have been watching E3. Yes, they need to provide casual coverage but there are titles available which can appeal to both core and casual players and those should have been on display. At least we did get a release date for Professor Layton 2 post-conference.

Cammie Dunaway has picked up her game a little bit (I’m wondering if she was deliberately handed the opportunity to present Galaxy 2 to improve her image with the fanboys) but really should not have skimmed over Spirit Tracks the way she did. Nintendo had a trailer and they should have used it.

I also cannot help but feel that Wii Ware, DSi Ware and the Virtual Console could have benefitted from some more attention. All three services are delivering top notch gaming experiences for pocket money prices and it surely won’t end anytime soon.

The Vitality Sensor was the big downer on this year’s presentation. Iwata was talking a big game and then killed it with a peripheral reveal which unlike past such announcements have come with software to at least try and reassure us he hasn’t lost his mind.

There are big things ahead we should be able to look forward to at next year’s show though. Miyamoto wants to get his new Zelda title out there and so do we, while Pikmin 3 has got to make an appearance as well.

And, I know it’s a strange complaint, but as brilliant as four new Mario games may be Nintendo should explore other IPs in their back catalogue. It’s been so long since we had a Star Fox game, while cries for  new Pilot Wings, Kid Icarus or Kirby titles can regularly be found on the internet somewhere. Nintendo have said that they’re reading the blogs, might I suggest a sudden increase in articles about these franchises? (IGN.com continuing to harp on about “seeing” such titles doesn’t count.)

If we were to rank this conference against the past few, it’s certainly one of the best. There are some dodgy areas, but Microsoft and Sony had those too (seriously, MS, Yoko Ono?). The next 12 months will feature some great Nintendo gaming, while the third parties are also showing what they’re made of. I’ve said for a while that anyone complaining about a dusty Wii isn’t buying the right games, after this conference I’d stand by that claim even more if they’re still whining in 12 months’ time.