I'm liking the looks of Sonic, Hard Corps, and Vanquish. All of those have something that really appeals to me.

I'm hoping Hard Corps winds up with a "Contra" difficulty. I figure something like that should be a single shot kill like in Contra.

Vanquish just looks awesome, especially with the movement system they've got going.

The Japanese version of Contra Hardcorps had a life bar, so I'm guessing that's why this one has it as well.

I'd agree with you, cause I don't like lifebars in these sorts of games generally. However, if you're going to include Alien Soldier like shot reflection as a staple part of the gameplay, you might need a little margain for error.

I hadn't thought of that. That makes a lot of sense.

Also, what the carp with OoT in 3D? I guess it's a logical step, but how do you guys think the 3DS will handle the controls for something like that? I guess you move with the D Pad or analog, L Targets, R shields, and the 4 face buttons could do the job of the C buttons. How do you attack and roll, though?

They'd probably do a setup like Twilight Princess where the dpad selects weapons and there's only one Item use button. You also have the second screen, which is most likely going to be your inventory/map anyway.

Well, watching that footage of Sonic 4 definitely restored some of my faith in the game's development; that looked genuinely fun to play. I just hope the rumors are true about those awful genre-shifting stages (that mine cart segment was headache-inducing) being exclusive to the iOS version while the console versions are all core Sonic gameplay, all the time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of Sonic 4 is every bit as good as that link Jason posted.

So now that E3 is over, what was your own personal best of show?

I'd go with Hard Corps, hands down. IMO they don't even need to use the Contra name. I feel like for a very long time Contra has been bogged down in it's own tradition. Maybe that was necessary to reestablish itself, staying as close to its roots as possible. From what we've seen of HC Uprising, it's borrowing decidely "non-Contra" elements from other games, but it's still hitting you with all the nostalgia you'd expect.

Anyway, it looks good, and easily gets my best of show.

^ I was just reading that, despite excising the Contra name, Uprising is supposed to be a sequel to Hard Corps by all counts. It even stars the villain of that game.

My personal best of show? Marvel vs. Capcom 3. But I'm sure you guys already knew that.

I do strongly prefer the slightly more reserved nature of XvSF and MvC1 as opposed to MvC2's screen-filling batshit zaniness, which MvC3 seems to be modeling itself after. But, despite all that, I'm thrilled to see this game come out next year because all of Capcom's assets are going to be brand-spankin' new and not copied 'n pasted from previous games in the series. MvC2's roster left me very disappointed because when I had finally unlocked everybody, the game might as well have been called X-Men vs. Street Fighter + Morrigan. And to top it all off, most of the legit (read: shitty) new characters we got were either too obscure to even care about (Marrow and Sonson) or characters created just for the game (really, what was the point of Amingo and Ruby Heart?). Only Jill and Hayato were worth a damn. MvC3's still a whole year away from release, and we're already getting worthy Triple-A characters in Chris, Dante, Deadpool. That's a promising start to a better roster if I ever saw one. And the trailers go without saying, really. Those just blew me away completely.

Best of show? Probably Keith Apicary.
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