6:21:12: Mr. Miyamoto, Aonuma, Koizumi with translators enter the room.

6:23:40: Miyamoto: This year, one of the most important topics is what we'll do with Wii and DS. Since Wii U is not coming out soon, tonight we'd like to focus on 3DS.

6:25:12: We start with Ocarina 3D, a new trailer.

6:26:53: Miyamoto: I recently played through OoT for the first time in a while and was surprised at how fresh it seemed, and how much I had forgotten.

6:28:28: There are over 100 hint videos in OoT 3D. They are little snippets, hopefully just enough information to help without taking away the satisfaction of solving a puzzle.

6:29:15: Jonny's note: All comments attributed to Nintendo employees or other journalists (during Q&A) are paraphrased unless I use quotation marks.

6:29:51: Next is Star Fox 64 3D. Showing same video available on eShop.

6:32:27: Miyamoto says people who prefer direct flight controls (up=up) grew up as Sega fans. (laughter all around)

6:34:15: With the Circle Pad, even people who prefer inverted controls may find that they like it better with direct flight controls. Same with Zelda's slingshot/bow aiming. The difference is the flatness of the Circle Pad vs. the extended joystick of, for example, the N64 Control Stick.

6:35:38: Miyamoto thinks the best way to play Star Fox is using gyro controls for up/down, and Circle Pad for left/right. (Ed. - You can both invert controls and turn gyro controls on/off via the pause menu.)

6:36:39: Miyamoto mentions Kid Icarus coming this year and acknowledges Sakurai in the audience. Says we can ask him about Kid Icarus but please don't ask about Smash Bros.!

6:37:27: Miyamoto: "I wanted to call it Super Mario Kite!" (referring to the hang glider feature in Mario Kart 3DS.

6:37:52: Retro Studios is helping to develop Mario Kart 3DS! They are designing some of the tracks among other things.

6:38:21: Jonny - This is definitely the first confirmed work on a handheld game by Retro Studios.

6:40:01: Miyamoto: Regarding the gyro controls, I think it's fine to turn 3D off sometimes. Please remember to turn it back up for cinema scenes in Zelda!

6:41:41: Someone in the room has Miyamoto's 3DS and is broadcasting his "personal" (not official) Mii to the media here, clearing out the queue as fast as possible. His official Mii on the show floor has gold pants.

6:42:49: Mr. Aonuma and translator are now on stage. Miyamoto asks us to disable wireless for the Skyward Sword for a moment.

6:43:58: Jonny: I'm typing on a Chromebook from Aaron, and I don't know if it's even possible to disable wireless! So we press onward.

6:44:32: Aonuma: It's now much easier to remove and equip the iron boots in the Water Temple -- please mention it in your articles! (laughter)

6:45:32: Miyamoto: I told Aonuma that the Water Temple isn't too difficult, it's just annoying (with the item interface), so just make it less of a pain in the butt! Don't change the difficulty.

6:47:28: Aonuma: Tonight, I'd like to show you several new gameplay elements, since it is difficult to show them all in the show floor demo.

6:48:28: Nate Bihldorff is invited on stage to play the Skyward Sword demo. This is the Japanese version, so we might see some things not on the show floor.

6:49:25: Mogma creatures (look like dog people) are seated on the ground, having a discussion. They are outside a temple. Then a blue character lands in front of Link and speaks to him.

6:50:19: This blue character is the spirit inside Link's sword, named Fie (?) -- she was shown in that teaser artwork from two years ago. Link is now using his sword as a dowsing rod to look for pieces of the key to that temple.

6:51:39: The dowsing mechanic is like using a metal detector. It beeps differently based on how close you are to a buried piece of key. Link is now rolling a bomb flower down a steep hill to blast a tower, uncovering the next buried piece.

6:53:08: This is a fairly large environment, desert-like and mountainous at the same time. Link can sort of climb steep walls by hopping up against the side, around the mid-point, then hopping again. Surely there isn't a jump button? It must be contextual.

6:54:25: Link sees a bomb-able wall on the side of a steep hill. He must roll another bomb flower (with a bowling motion) and time it so the explosion opens up that cave, holding another piece of key.

6:55:56: Aonuma: This game "paints the story of the creation of the Master Sword." Now Link returns to the area seen in last year's E3 demo, but he goes to a special area on the ground and sinks his sword into the ground, transporting himself to the "Siren World".

6:56:45: Fie, the sword spirit, is speaking to Link in short voice clips, but they are distorted and I'm not sure if they are Japanese or gibberish. She certainly is NOT speaking out her entire text windows.

6:57:36: Aonuma: Since Link's sword is stabbed into the ground, he is unarmed in the Siren World and very vulnerable. This is like an alternate dimension in which Link needs to collect special items.

6:58:58: Collecting these droplets returns spirits to their statues (?). This looks a bit like the Twilight, but green-shaded and less threatening. Link is glowing and giving off particle effects; he is clearly not part of this world, just visiting.

7:00:26: Aonuma: You will spend a lot of time in this environment, the Siren Realm. This collecting sequence is timed according to a flower blossom that slowly wilts away. Each time you find a drop, the flower is renewed.

7:01:15: Aonuma: In this Zelda game, there will be reasons to keep returning to environments you have visited before. Being familiar with the environments is a key part of the game.

7:02:04: Jonny - It's worth noting that Nate, the demo driver, is mostly standing still during this gameplay in the Spirit Realm. Perhaps this is meant to be a break from the gesture-heavy sword gameplay in the normal world?

7:03:52: Koizumi is now coming to the stage with his translator. He introduces himself. Of course, he works at EAD Tokyo and is currently developing Super Mario for 3DS. He also worked on Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 (and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat).

7:05:46: Koizumi: We are still discussing the final title for this game -- it's all Miyamoto's fault! (laughter) That was just a joke. You guys all know what we're dancing around, so we'll get to it soon. So there is a hint in the game as to what they would like to call it.

7:06:44: Koizumi: You can see that the environment is much different than in Galaxy; this is a more traditional Mario world. (i.e. not in outer space)

7:07:21: Koizumi: "We want to create the most Mario-like Mario game that we can."

7:08:47: Koizumi asks Nate to start using the dash feature, something we all know from 2D Mario games. (Nate almost falls off the level but just barely saves himself with wall jumps and Tanooki tail flapping. The crowd cheers!)

7:09:54: Koizumi: Another traditional Mario element is the flagpole to end a level. (Ed. - Currently, there seems to be no benefit to jumping on the top of the flagpole, although the levels do provide ways of getting higher.)

7:11:38: Koizumi: The basic attack in Mario games is stomping. (Ed. - Mario doesn't seem to have a punch or even a spin attack in this game, so it really is all about jumping and butt-stomping.)

7:13:17: Koizumi notes that these levels feature many elements jumping or extending out of the background towards Mario. This was taboo in 2D games. (Ed. - The implication is that 3DS makes it easier to see and respond to such elements.)

7:14:42: Nate has entered a secret area that is designed to look like a top-down Zelda dungeon, in honor of the 25th anniversary. There is even a room where you light four torches (using Mario's fireballs) to open the way forward.

7:15:43: The crowd is really enraptured by this level, many oohs and ahhs. Big applause when Nate finally reaches the flagpole.

7:16:46: Miyamoto says that Luigi's Mansion 2 won't come out this year, but it may be early next year.

7:17:55: Miyamoto: "The discussion of Pikmin is prohibited today!" (laughter) (Ed. - A Pikmin game was confirmed two years ago in this very room, at the same kind of event. It was also a popular topic for Q&A last year.)

7:19:37: Miyamoto: Luigi's Mansion 2 is being developed by Next Level Games in Canada. They also made Punch-Out!! for Wii.

7:20:24: Miyamoto: Luigi's Mansion 2 is being developed by Next Level Games in Canada. They also made Punch-Out!! for Wii.

7:24:06: Prof. E. Gadd is back, and he gives Luigi a DS-like device for ghost hunting, replacing the Game Boy Horror. His scanner digitizes Luigi, briefly turning him into 3D pixel art before Luigi is sucked into the computer and transported to a mansion.

7:25:07: Sorry for all the multiple posts - internet was spotty for a while there. Now it's time for Q&A. Chris Kohler asks where are the casual games for 3DS?

7:26:32: Miyamoto: We made Nintendogs even before Mario, so that's unusual for us. (Ed. - They did the same on DS!)

7:29:10: Miyamoto: A lot of the ideas we had for more casual experiences are actually included in the 3DS system. Now I am more focused on bringing our franchises to the 3D system, and there are so many that I can't even develop all the ones I would like. Still, we are continuing to create new games for the expanded audience on 3DS.

7:30:18: Q: You just mentioned that Luigi's Mansion 2 could appeal to both boys and girls. What have you observed as the differences in how male and female players experience games?

7:32:24: Miyamoto: Although women do like playing Mario, the "Mario Galaxy" name can sound like a boys' game. Also, some women complained that the original Luigi's Mansion was too scary for them. But in general, I think they like the same things. However, my goal with the original Star Fox was to take the male dream of flying a jet fighter and bring that to reality.

7:33:15: Koizumi: With Galaxy, that might have been dream of flying through space as a little boy.

7:33:34: Q: Is Skyward Sword going to be Nintendo's last game for Wii?

7:34:54: Miyamoto: I don't know! It may be one of the last from my teams specifically, but there are at least some more coming from third-parties.

7:35:53: Aonuma: I hope it will be a fitting game for the 25th anniversary and a good way to close out Zelda on Wii.

7:37:26: Q from Michael "TYP" Cole: What sort of tweaks have you guys made regarding Mario's running speed, slipperiness, etc. in Super Mario for 3DS, compared to other recent Mario games?

7:38:26: Koizumi: I wanted to maintain both the speed and player's accurate control of Mario, which has sometimes been a challenge in 3D Mario games in the past. Still, there are parts of the game that will be very challenging for all players.

7:38:45: Q: What happened to the Wii Vitality Sensor?

7:39:01: Miyamoto: "Next question!" (laughter)

7:40:36: Miyamoto: Development on that has continued, but we found that the device sometimes has difficulty performing consistently in a variety of conditions and environments. So we don't yet feel that it's stable enough technology to bring to market.

7:41:15: Last Q: Why doesn't the Tanooki suit seem to have the flight ability, and how did that association between Tanookis and flying start, anyway?

7:44:14: Koizumi: Flying presents some interesting issues in three dimensions. To have flying in 3D on this small screen was a real challenge, so we decided to bend the rules of the Mario universe and deal with this in a novel way. (Ed. - So maybe there is flight, in special sequences or something like that, and it just hasn't been shown yet.)

7:45:22: Tezuka-san has been invited on stage to answer the other question. He says they started by wanting to put a tail on Mario so he could use the spin move as an attack. Then we made it flutter so that Mario could jump farther. But it felt so good, we thought "let's just make him fly."

7:47:09: Pikmin reveal for Wii U incoming.