The Phantom Pain reveal sends Metal Gear fans through a loop
Another instance of Hideo Kojima duping his fanbase, when The Phantom Pain was unveiled many initially believed that it was a brand new IP, until the Metal Gear comparisons started flowing in full force and the rumor mill became rife with speculation that it was a teaser for MGSV.
In the end this was confirmed to be true, but for a while Kojima had fooled many thanks to the trailer’s far more serious (and quite disturbing) tone, leading to one of the more memorable reveals in modern gaming.
Super Smash Bros. Melee brings down the house
Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & 3DS all had exciting reveals at E3, but it was the Gamecube iteration in the series that really had Nintendo fans rubbing their hands together in anxious anticipation.
Melee arguably become the most popular title in the GameCube’s library, and from its reveal at E3 2001 it’s not difficult to see why. The cheers from the audience as the logo comes up onscreen remains one of the most memorable moments, and seeing our favorite Nintendo characters duking it out with that familiar, epic orchestral score playing in the background for the first time still lingers in the memory.
Dead Island thrills… but then disappoints
Zombie games are a dime a dozen, but when Dead Island was first revealed by way of this awesome cinematic trailer, it looked like it was going to offer something different. With a dreary piano soundtrack and graphic scenes of a family being mauled by a horde of the undead (played out in reverse for added dramatic effect) it seems like Deep Silver had really touched upon something here that hadn’t yet been explored in modern video games – a zombie apocalypse game with an emotional narrative.
Unfortunately, that was not to be the case, and Dead Island turned out to be just like almost every other zombie game. In fact, it was somehow sillier than most zombie games, and those who had been left so excited by this teaser trailer were left to wonder how they had been duped so spectacularly.
While this is a prime example of a teaser not being indicative of the tone of the final product, it still stands as a hugely impressive announcement trailer. It’s just a shame that the game it announced wasn’t that impressive itself.
Fallout 3 introduces us to the Wasteland
Introducing us to the 1950s aesthetic of its setting, Fallout 3 perfectly set the tone for what games could expert from the third iteration in the series.
As the game’s unofficial theme song ‘I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire’ by The Ink Spots plays in the background, the camera slowly pans through the wreckage of an old bus, before revealing the Wastelands, a.k.a. post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Needless to say, fans of the critically-acclaimed series blew a gasket over the huge visual overhaul the franchise had received since its days as a top-down RPG, and this trailer was the first sign that it would become one of the most beloved series in the modern era of gaming.
