During today’s Dragon Quest 30th Anniversary Project Presentation, Square Enix announced a demo for Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3. Specifics weren’t revealed, though it will be distributed on the eShop in early March. We also have a look at the final boxart – see the image above.

More: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3, Japan, Square Enix

Xenoblade Chronicles X will be experiencing more maintenance tomorrow. Network services for the RPG may be affected.

Here’s when the maintenance period is scheduled for:

– 5:50 PM PT (Wednesday) – 7:30 PM PT (Wednesday)
– 8:50 PM ET (Wednesday) – 10:30 PM ET (Wednesday)
– 1:50 AM in the UK (Thursday) – 3:30 AM in the UK (Thursday)
– 2:50 AM in Europe (Thursday) – 4:30 AM in Europe (Thursday)

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More: maintenance, Monolith Soft, Xenoblade Chronicles X

Update: Right out of the gate, no Dragon Quest XI news. Well, that’s that!

Square Enix will be kicking off its Dragon Quest 30th Anniversary Project Presentation live stream at 12 AM ET / 9 PM PT (30 minutes from now). We’re expecting to at least see/hear more about Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3, and Dragon Quest XI may make an appearance as well.

View the stream as it happens below. We’ll keep an eye out for any Nintendo-related news.

More: Dragon Quest, Square Enix, top

Last year, we heard about Neko.Works’ Japanese-style RPG known as “Project Light”. The developer has now provided an update, indicating that the project is on track for Q4 of this year. Let’s hope the game continues to progress smoothly!

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More: indie, Neko.Works, Project Light

Nintendo has just announced Mini Mario & Friends amiibo Challenge, which is coming to Wii U and 3DS in Japan this month. You can watch a video promoting the title below.

Those who purchase an amiibo figure starting on January 28 can download (with codes) Mini Mario & Friends at no extra cost. Nintendo is making it so consumers can obtain the game for both of its platforms. There are also plans to distribute Mini Mario & Friends on the eShop for free at some point in the future.

Mini Mario & Friends amiibo Challenge takes up 322MB on Wii U. The 3DS download is 2,400 blocks.

Here are some concrete details:

– Touch an amiibo and characters from the toys will appear
– Use the touchscreen to lead them to the goal
– Can use any amiibo
– If you use anything other than Mario and Donkey Kong series (Kid Icarus, Link, etc.) the toy character will default into a generic robot named “Mini Spec”
– Using amiibos from Mario and Donkey Kong series will generate unique toy characters
– The toy character will automatically move forward in courses riddled with traps like pitfalls and enemies
– Draw bridges, add/remove pipes and blocks, etc. to help toys reach the goal
– Some amiibo have special abilities
– There are also special stages that can only be accessed with these special abilities
– Ex: there’s a special goal in a stage that is only reachable with Mini Mario’s wall jump
– When you reach this goal, you’ll go through a special stage exclusive to Mini Mario
– The total number of stages here is over 60
– Mini Mario: Can wall jump
– Mini Luigi: Can jump higher than other toy characters
– Mini Peach: Can float for a short distance
– Mini Toad: Can shrink himself, allowing to pass through small gaps
– Mini Donkey Kong: Can climb steep hills
– Mini Diddy Kong: Can cling on platforms when falling then climb back to it (Note: does not apply to platforms of the same height before falling)
– Mini Bowser: When falling from a cliff, will do a stomping jump (which seems to destroy fragile bricks)
– Mini Bowser Jr: Can walk on spikes
– Mini Yoshi: Can eat some enemies
– Mini Rosalina: Can do a super jump next to a wall

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A few new 3DS themes are out now in Japan. Here’s the full lineup:

– Itoshi no Muco (Lovely Muco) (x4) – 200 yen each or 600 for all four
– 7th Dragon III Code: VFD themes (x8) – 200 yen each
– Bakumatsu Patriot: Chugoku Ver. – 200 yen
– Agoaniki-P feat. Megurine Luka ‘Double Lariat’ – 200 yen
– Kurousa-P feat. Hatsune Miku ‘Senbonzakura’ – 200 yen
– Scoop feat. Hatsune Miku ‘Tokyo Retro’ = 200 yen
– Kojima Clerk Special Voice – 200 yen
– Surema Manager – 100 yen
– Cardfight!! Vanguard G Stride To Victory!! – 200 yen (available tomorrow)

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More: 3DS themes, Japan

The Japanese 3DS eShop features a few screenshots from Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. We’ve included them in the gallery below.

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More: Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, SEGA

Several new titles are coming to the Japanese eShop on January 20. Here’s a look at the upcoming digital downloads:

Wii U Virtual Console

Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament (GBA, 702 yen)
1080° Snowboarding (N64, 1,000 yen)

3DS Download

Gakuyu Unmei Kyodotai ~Friends in the Same RPG~ – 1,000 yen
Castle Conqueror Defender – 500 yen

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More: Japan, Virtual Console

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash launched a couple of months ago in the west, but Japan is finally getting the game next week. View a few commercials below.

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More: Camelot, commercial, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash

Nintendo released official videos for Rockman EXE 4.5 Real Operation and Polarium Advance on the Japanese Wii U Virtual Console. Watch them below.

More: Polarium Advance, Rockman EXE 4.5 Real Operation