The main games playable for Nintendo at the last E3 ever were Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, the Link's Awakening remake, and Luigi's Mansion 3 IIRC. The booth was done up like a haunted house for the last one. Pokemon Sword/Shield was also behind closed doors.

The 2nd half of 2016 was absolutely dire for the Wii U. Pretty much just Paper Mario Colour Splash.

Thank goodness for the 3DS

I’m definitely one who had hoped Tears would have hewed back to the traditional Zelda line.  Weapon degradation made BotW a distinctly unpleasant experience for me.  I don’t mind it existing, but give a moderately powered weapon for those who don’t care for it.  Make it expensive and/or need special whetstones to recover until a worthless level that requires taking it to an armorer.  It’d be like Monster Hunter, there’d still be friction but not so much on a game already filled to the brim with it.  Those who like weapon degradation could just ignore it.  Zelda has been my favorite franchise since I first played the original game when it came out when I was 8.  This is the third new Zelda that doesn’t interest me (I thought rent-a-weapon was the worst new thing until I saw required weapon degradation), I probably just have to accept the franchise has moved on without me.

You know that… you can buy the weapons in A Link Between Worlds, right? Or does the non-linear structure not gel with you?

Either way, fuse is made for you. Allows you to revive weapon durability with new materials. I will never understand the dislike of weapon degradation but I do feel that this new game is attempting to cater to you.

I mentioned "rent-a-weapon" being my first break with the series so yes I am aware.  I want a return of dungeons, story, and not worrying about my weapon.  The problem with weapon degradation is that causes unnecessary friction, though for those who love it there are ways to do it while I can just have a sword to march through the world.  Part of it is also I am 41, I was 6 when the first game came out and loved it, I barely have time to write this much less learn and remember 9 different combos I'll use next January.

I skipped the Tears of the Kingdom gameplay video. Admittedly, I am pretty spoiler-sensitive. I figured, I've already pre-ordered the game, and am going to play it pretty soon. So I skipped out on that video and the discussion.

Really enjoyed your early Wind Waker impressions. I value hearing about your experiences around the time that game was coming out. For instance, I tried googling early screenshots and had a hard time finding any with different eyes for Link, as James described. That sort of information would be lost because of how distant it has been. I still feel that while the opening hours of the game are somewhat limiting in what you're able to do and where you can go, it's much more enjoyable compared to the back half. Would love to see this specific art style return in a follow-up someday. James and I were chatting about how adaptions could happen, and I think animated shorts in this art style would be really cute.

Never made it out to E3, and I used to really want to go. But the idea of it has lost its sheen over the years for many reasons. I feel that as it has been described to me, it started to change after the GameCube era... becoming a bit more corporate. Less of a trade show or press conference and more of a trailer festival. They even opened it to the public a few years back. I'm okay with having never made it to one, because it seems less like how it was described by the age group that did follow and make it out way back when. There will always be other exciting, if not better opportunities in life.