Nintendo wowed me with its showing at E3 2009. Like many around the world, my admiration for Nintendo began with the Super Mario series. I fondly remember beating Super Mario World for the first time and being taught how to find the whistles in Super Mario Bros. 3 by Fred Savage. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that Miyamoto would once again be working on a sidescrolling console Mario game.

The DS New Super Mario Bros. did a great job of hearkening back to the first NES Super Mario, but I am looking forward to the new Wii game because it seems to have a number of elements from Mario World and Yoshi's Island. In fact, one level I saw had a small section that looked like it took place on Chocolate Island from Super Mario World. This alone makes me wildly excited for the new game. To learn that EAD Tokyo is also working on a follow-up to Galaxy was enough blissful information to solidify my passion for Nintendo for years to come.

Along with the awesome Mario news, it was also great to meet the other members of the NWR staff. For a group of people who I had never met before, it was amazing how quickly everyone began to seem like old friends. Whether it was admiring the hovering abilities of a humming bird or watching the director of Piranha 2 speak endlessly (Editor's Note: "No really, this is going to be a huge movie!"), we had a lot of fun.

Overall, my first year at E3 was a wonderful experience and I hope to go again.