It's less about what was shown and more about how they showed it. Gameplay was emphasized in almost every game shown at the digital event (exception being Zelda Wii U). Even after the DE, Nintendo held 15-30 minute segments showing gameplay form many games coming out both this year and next on Wii U and 3DS that included games not shown in the Digital Event itself as well as third party and indie games. It was presentation that really sold (imo) Nintendo to me this E3.Johnny Novgorod said:Don't they announce the same things every year? "We'll have a new Mario, Kirby and Zelda game this year... and the next year... and the next year... and the next year too, because we're just that bold...". An endless cycle of the same games over and over and over. What's the big news here, Bayonetta's getting a sequel and they're making a shooter?
Besides, isn't saying "X made sequels to A, B, and C and therefore it is dull" kind of true for all conferences at E3? Yes, a lot of Nintendo's games weren't new IPs (though they were there), but other companies are relying on Nostalgia for their games as well. Assassin's Creed, Halo, EA Sports, Metal Gear Solid, Star Wars Battlefront, Forza, Tomb Raider, Fable, Call of Duty, Battlefront, Tom Clancy, Little Big Planet, The Last of Us, Far Cry and others were sequels to long established franchises as well. In fact, asides from indie games, Sony and Microsoft had little to show in exclusive new IPs and even then only 1 or 2 were shown with any meat behind it.