Surprise us, Satoru

This year’s Nintendo E3 conference is drawing a lot of attention because of Wii U, with the new console giving the company a big chance to seize the day. When it comes to the showcase press conference, however, there’s always one thing that is guaranteed to get the fans excited: games, games and more games. Give Reggie Fils-Aime, Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto and company a big stage and an impressive screen, and what you hopefully get are hugely exciting game announcements.

This year much attention will be on what games we’ll be able to buy alongside our new Wii U later this year, while we’re sure to see more of any number of 3DS titles already confirmed but awaiting a release date. Yet E3 is wonderful because it can be full of surprises, and our team have put their heads together to produce a list of games that we desperately want to see unveiled next week. Some have been rumoured recently while some are nothing but gaming fantasy, but we hope you’ll agree that they’d all be a pleasant surprise.

A brand new Zelda title on 3DS

After the thoroughly decent success of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, not to mention the fact that it was fantastic to play, Eiji Aonuma and Nintendo have said that an all-new Zelda is in development for the handheld: Aonuma even hinted at it in a Swapnote message. It’s a question of when not if, but we’d love that to be a blockbuster 3DS surprise this year.

A new F-Zero title, on any platform

Where’s our F-Zero fix? A series that had been consistently delivered from SNES to GameCube has gone missing, skipping the DS and Wii generation entirely. It doesn’t need to be revolutionary, we’re not asking much: just make it outrageously fast with enough loops and speed boosts to make our heads spin. We’ll accept 3DS or Wii U as platforms, or both with some play across both systems if Nintendo really wants to spoil us. We don’t mind, we just want it. If the big N needs inspiration, they can check out the fan trailer below.

Advance Wars on 3DS

Handheld systems are always perfect for strategy titles that you can dip into on the bus, train or at home. Often graphically simplistic, they give us a chance to use our brains without a professor making us do mathematical puzzles. We already have Fire Emblem: Awakening on the way, so we’re hoping that the Advance Wars series will also get a 3D revamp in the near future.

An exclusive Sonic title for Wii U

SEGA’s mascot made a lot of appearances on Wii, some rather good and some that are best left forgotten. He was a regular, though, so it was disappointing that we missed out on Sonic Generations, which was positively received on other consoles. All will be forgiven if the Sonic Team has been working on a secret project for Wii U, because when it’s on form it’s still a franchise that can thrill.

Some new 1080° action

Ah, 1080°, a two-game snowboarding series that graced Nintendo 64 and GameCube and, like F-Zero, skipped over the Wii. It may be a niche sport that many of us never try, but as a videogame it’s fun and full of thrills. It’s time for a revival on Wii U, with big slopes and cool tricks the order of the day: that touchscreen controller could be useful in this one.

Could be special on Wii U

Yoshi's Island on Wii U

We’ll probably have to file this one as ‘unlikely’, simply because New Super Mario Bros. Mii, or whatever the 2D Mario will be called, is more than likely to be part of Nintendo’s launch plans. We’d even accept a teaser for a late-2013 release, but give us the hand-drawn style of the SNES title with the ability to paint or draw platforms and more on the Wii U controller, and it could be one of the most innovative platformers in recent memory.

A new IP from Retro Studios

We like Retro Studios, as it’s brought us the brilliant Metroid Prime Trilogy and Donkey Kong Country Returns; it's been relatively quiet since, aside from some contributory work on Mario Kart 7. As one of the finest studios working for Nintendo, we hope that it’s given a new IP to make the most of Wii U. Not Metroid, Star Fox or any other franchise; something brand new. Give us the unexpected.

So those are just some of the announcements we dream of seeing at E3. The question is though, what surprise announcements do you want to see? Let us know in the comments below.