From 15th to 17th July 2016, Nintendo attended Hyper Japan 2016, the UK’s biggest Japanese culture event, to showcase upcoming and recent games. As big fans of both, we at Serenes Forest paid them a friendly visit to check out the hype.

In terms of demos, there was a wide variety of Japanese-style games from Nintendo and third-parties. Of particular interest, there was a huge #3DSAdventures area, with all three versions of Fire Emblem Fates–Birthright, Conquest and Revelation–available to sample.

We spoke with many fans (incognito) and most were enjoying (or looking forward to) the new games. There were some incredibly hardcore FE fans as well, including one who’s favourite was Genealogy and another who’s hobby was replaying Hector Hard Mode.

Other highlights included demos of the recently released Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, the upcoming Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 and Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice, plus the first UK demo of Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past.

Of course, we had great fun playing all of them! (And Copen is a major badass as you’d expect.)

2016 marks Pokemon’s 20th anniversary (in Japan) and there was a delightful “Year of Pokemon” area featuring the first generation titles–Red, Blue and Yellow–from the 3DS Virtual Console, plus the more recent X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

By the way, for those of you in Europe, Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow are currently on sale in the 3DS eShop until 28th July 2016. So if you haven’t already jumped on the nostalgia bandwagon, now’s a great time to do so!

Additionally, on the back of Nintendo’s event programme was a unique serial code that players could enter to receive a Shiny Xerneas on their Pokemon games. At the time of writing, Shiny Xerneas serial codes are available from Smyths Toys stores as well.

Image: Nintendo UK.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for Nintendo fans was the live demonstration of The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild on the main stage. Which isn’t too surprising given its impressive E3 2016 showing,

Earlier, Nintendo UK gave 30 lucky winners the chance to play the new Zelda behind closed doors. For the rest of us though, we were content with watching Nintendo of Europe’s knowledge rep guide us through the gameplay demo.

Image: Nintendo UK.

Elsewhere, Fire Emblem fans with the eyes of an eagle and the reflexes of a hawk had the opportunity to purchase the Fire Emblem Fates and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE limited editions directly from the official Nintendo UK pop-up store.

Naturally, the former sold out before most people (such as ourselves) noticed…

Image: Nintendo UK.

Last but not least, the main attraction for Fire Emblem fans was the hotly anticipated Fire Emblem Cosplay Contest that took place during Sunday afternoon.

One of the judges, Jemina Puckett aka LittleJem Cosplay, came along on Saturday and Sunday in her amazing Hinoka attire, which caused a lot of excitement.

Image: Nintendo UK.

Not least when Marth entered the fray and an epic battle ensued in front of the Fire Emblem booths. Sadly, our impressive Marth cosplayer couldn’t make it to the contest itself, but at least he can appreciate this moment of fame!

Image: Nintendo UK.

As for the contestants themselves, they were a formidable bunch in their own right. From left to right, there was Lucina, Maribelle, Tharja, Chrom, Azura, Elise, Sakura, Lyn and a Tactician.

Can you guess who the winner was?

Image: Nintendo UK.

…Why, it was Lidia Wiseman with her spectacular Azura (Nohr version) cosplay! Meanwhile, the runner ups were Sakura, Elise and Chrom. Congratulations to the winners and a big thanks to everyone for answering the call!

To finish off, if you have any suggestions for future Community Spotlight articles (or are interested in submitting your own), you’re more than welcome to send an e-mail to aveyn_knightyahoo.co.uk.