It's that time of year again: E3 2017 is just on the horizon. From June 10-15, we'll be covering the biggest games and hardware announcements of 2017 and beyond. While you can check out our continually-updated Games of E3 List, we're now going to start diving deeper. Every day leading up to the show, we'll highlight the stuff we want to see and play at E3 2017.

When Did We Last See Splatoon 2?

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We = saw a wonderfully cut campaign trailer for Splatoon 2 not that long ago, and it plays to the strengths of Splatoon's weird world beautifully. It kicks off with Marie, one member of the previously popular diva duette known as the Squid Sisters, on her own and *gasp* no one appears to remember her. We're not sure how much time has passed between the Splatoon games, but this narrative setup plays into the drama Nintendo is slowly building through it's Squid Sister stories . It tells the story of a rift that happens after Team Marie beat Team Callie in the final Splatfest event. Anyway, this trailer shows off some cool mechanics and it confirms that more weapons will be available in the campaign versus the previous Splatoon campaign.

Why We're Hyped for Splatoon 2

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Will Splatoon 2 Be at E3 2017?

We need to point out that Splatoon surprised us all on Wii U. Nintendo delivered on the concept of an accessible shooter that also felt like a colorful twist on the genre. The first game was great, and it raised our expectations for a sequel. But the initial reveal for Splatoon 2 was slightly underwhelming because the graphics didn't look like a huge departure from the original.Since that reveal, Nintendo has made efforts to address this feedback. At the end of March, we all got to compete in Turf Wars as part of the first Global Testfire for Splatoon 2. A few weeks ago we got our first look at Salmon Run, a four player co-operative Horde mode where you try to gather golden fish eggs. Last week, we got our first look at Splatoon 2's wonderfully weird single-player campaign. It showed us big bosses, an Inkling riding on the colorful trail of a missile, and that the game has not lost a step. It looks like a colorful, weird, and abstract campaign, and we can't wait to see what else Nintendo has in store.You can bet your ass Splatoon 2 will be at E3! Nintendo plans to release it worldwide on July 21, that means it has to leverage E3 as a chance to promote this game to a big audience. The lead-up info for Splatoon 2 has been fairly sparse, providing brief glances at competitive Turf Wars, a few new weapons/special moves, the new campaign and co-op horde mode, and niche networking options that weren't available in the first game. Nintendo has made even smaller fan-focused announcements on its Splatoon Tumblr. Outside of these updates, we would bet there's a lot of stuff left to talk about. We hope you'll hear some of it, along with an announcement for a second Splatoon 2 Global Testfire, during the big E3 show.

Jose Otero is an editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat . You can follow him on Twitter