Another year has come and gone, and E3 2019 has come to a close.
Every year I look forward to the event because of Nintendo. This year was particularly exciting because a new Smash Bros. game was introduced for the Nintendo Switch console, and the company used their Nintendo Direct presentation to reveal the new DLC characters that will be added to the roster.
Why is this exciting? Well, for one, I have a vested interest in the news: I purchased Smash Bros. Ultimate on day one of its release, and I also paid for the DLC content.
But the main reason I enjoy watching the Nintendo Direct is for the reaction videos that are uploaded to Youtube shortly afterward.
There’s nothing quite like watching a bunch of grown men giddy with joy when a nostalgic favourite is announced to appear in the franchise.
Honestly, it’s like watching a gamer revert back to childhood in real time.
It’s fascinating to me because reaction videos demonstrate the power fandom has to elicit strong emotions.
Let’s not kid ourselves: Smash Bros. Ultimate is fanfiction in game form, in much of the same way fanfiction is written fanservice.
You may be a writer unwilling to make the leap from writing fanfiction to creating original content, but you can still learn from Nintendo’s E3 performance on how to elicit the reaction you want from readers.
Stand Out from the Crowd
E3 is an event where the biggest names in the video game industry hold large scale press conference to make announcements on upcoming titles.
Sony and Microsoft still adhere to this traditional format, but in 2013 Nintendo had foregone this approach entirely, opting instead to do a scaled-down program they could stream worldwide.
Not only is this a more economically viable option, but by cutting out all the fat in the form of celebrity guest stars, a live orchestra, or forced, cringe-worthy tech demos, Nintendo can offer a lean presentation that focuses solely on what viewers care about: the games.
When you’re writing, think about how you can Goofy Movie your online presence. Everyone else is writing Hey Arnold! fanfiction about Arnold and Helga? Write about one of the secondary characters, or write in a genre that’s not often explored, such as horror or science-fiction.
Go where there is untapped potential. As Malcolm Gladwell states, it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.
Start Strong, Finish Stronger
For the E3 2013, Nintendo earmarked the beginning and the end of their presentation with the announcement of two new DLC characters. It was revealed at the beginning of the Nintendo Direct that the Hero (and its many iterations) from Dragon Quest would be available by Summer 2019.
Nintendo then delivered a bombshell at the end of the presentation by revealing that Banjo-Kazooie (a former 2nd-party IP of the company, now owned by Microsoft), would be making its illustrious return to the console as a playable DLC character in Q4 2019.
Not every announcement made by Nintendo was well-received (Contra Rogue Corps? OK….), but they knew how to capture the attention of their viewers from the word go.
Fanfiction writers take note: you have so precious little time to make an impression with your readers.
Rather than front-load your story with a lot of boring exposition and world-building, be sure to hook your readers from page 1. Only then can you guarantee they’ll be enamoured enough to stick around for when you really wow them with your writing prowess.
Listen to Your Fans
All it took was a Jiggy to have gamers lose their collective minds. That’s how beloved the Banjo-Kazooie games were to Nintendo fans of the late 90s platforming era.
It seemed inevitable that the Bear and Bird would make an appearance in the Smash Bros. franchise…then Microsoft bought out developer Rare in 2002.
Platformers fell out of favour within the video game community and Rare’s most popular IPs disappeared into obscurity.
The Smash Bros. Ballot in 2015 allowed players to vote for characters they wished to make an appearance in the series. Fans all but lost hope when Banjo-Kazooie — a longtime requested addition — didn’t make the cut and was snubbed in favour of Bayonetta.
But Nintendo was listening….like the maligned Xbox One with built-in Kinect, Nintendo was always listening.
Here is a company so devoted to making its consumer base happy it partnered with one of its main competitors to make the seemingly impossible possible.
Writers! It’s important to tap into what makes your readers tick. Are people hungry for a fanfiction that explores the world of Downsizing better than the trainwreck we were subjected to through the eyes of Matt Damon? By all means, write it!
People will tell you exactly what they want if you listen to them. It’s important to use your judgment on what demands to honour, but if you choose correctly, you’ll be greeted with the same fervour and enthusiasm from your audience as an anime fan on prom night a gamer who gets to play as his favourite childhood character.
What do you think? Is Smash Bros. just fanfiction in video game form? Can fanfiction writers truly leverage their writing skill by tapping into readers’ emotions? And how cool would it be to play a remastered Banjo-Kazooie title on the Nintendo Switch?
Leave your comments below, and be sure to follow me on Twitter at @sylvsoulwriter.
