Let’s Talk #24: What do you want to see from the next Nintendo Direct?

A few days ago, we finally received official confirmation that Nintendo Directs will continue. But there are plenty of unknowns. We don’t know when the next presentation will air, who will host it, and what it will be about. All of that uncertainty makes for a perfect “Let’s Talk” topic!

If I’m thinking about when we’ll see the next Nintendo Direct, I could see one taking place within the next month. Nintendo could share new information about Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival – two games we know relatively little about even though they’re due out in a couple of months. Genei Ibun Roku #FE is coming to Japan in December, so it wouldn’t hurt to share an update about that title as well. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to showcase Hyrule Warriors Legends, which heads to Japan in January. Maybe Nintendo could help the news about Star Fox Zero’s delay hurt slightly less by showing new footage. And it wouldn’t be a Nintendo Direct without at least one game reveal!

In terms of a host, that’s where things get slightly tricky. Obviously the person replacing Satoru Iwata has big shoes to fill. I personally can’t see Tatsumi Kimishima, Nintendo’s new president, hosting the presentations. Iwata did introduce Mr. Morimoto during Japan’s Direct in May. Even though Reggie has primarily been featured in the North American broadcasts, could he be the main host? Some have even suggested Bill Trinen as a possibility.

Those are just a few thoughts from me. I’d love to hear what you guys think about the future of Nintendo Directs in the comments below!

Highlights from last week’s topic: Have you picked up Super Mario Maker?

Reiianuo

I had the game pre-loaded, so at midnight I immediately downloaded it. This game is really just an amazing package. Even playing the classic Marios (Original, 3 and World) in HD is very charming. With all the tools and content packed in, it is definitely worth the price of entry. The main portion of the game, community levels, can only get better as more players really learn the ins and outs of stage creation. It’s really great even coming up with one idea or theme for a stage, then spending hours fine-tuning that element into a full stage.

I’m gonna throw my stage codes this way too, as it seems to be the way of the land

They Called Me “Jumpman” (New U style)
3643-0000-001C-D72A
A fairly quick stage, my friend had told me I had made this stage “Impossible.” He didn’t realise the New U mechanics included the air-twirl that extends your jump distance slightly. Which is important.

Come On and SLAM with Mega Mario (Classic style)
076B-0000-003A-DB73

The central idea I had worked around with this stage is that being able to break blocks with mega mario can sometimes be a hazard, but also necessary for course completion. I like the tune for the Ghost House theme in the classic style game too!

LittleLynn

Every time I sit down with this game, I love it more and more. But after trying to set up a boss room for the first time, I’ve realized something I’d like to see in the future if there happens to be updates or DLC (besides more boss options). Maybe it’s just all my years of fiddling with RPG Maker, but I’d like to see event flags. For example: you’re in a small, closed room with a boss. There are no exits. However, upon defeating the boss, a door appears and you can progress (or perhaps it just ends the stage, as defeating bosses usually does).

I say this because while setting up this boss room, I basically had to design it in a weird layout that kinda encourages the player to actually defeat the boss before being able to safely reach the exit… but even then, a determined enough player can (and probably will) still circumvent the boss entirely. It’s a teensy bit frustrating.

That little nuisance aside, I think this is definitely shaping up to be one of my favorites that I’ve made. It’s not ready quite yet, but I’ll definitely share the code here when it is. ^_^

In the meantime, here’s a nifty, new (if somewhat easy) costume-based stage I made:
Next Door in the Haunted Mansion – DA41-0000-0031-5AA9

chancetime

I have picked it up and I’m definitely enjoying it so far. I never played NSMB U or Luigi U so I’m getting used to those styles, but the fact that I’ve got pretty much infinite levels for 4 different Mario games is amazing. Having people enjoy your levels is also really rewarding, putting time and effort into your courses will be rewarded by stars and comments.

For me, there’s only two negatives:

1) We need a proper search system. If you only want to play SMB3 Castle levels for example, you should be able to set parameters to search by.

2) No Desert theme 🙁 GH, Undergound and Castle are all fairly dark levels, so it would have been nice to have a bright desert theme to work with, as well as Pokeys, quick sand and the like.

LordDisco

Yes, and I am loving it! Made 4 levels, and I’m pretty proud of a couple of them. One thing I would change indefinitely right now is the search option, which there currently is not one at all. You can’t search by level name, you can’t search by user name, you can’t search your friends list, and you really can’t search for recently made ones. It’s just popular or play 100-Mario Challenge to play random levels. It’s actually a pretty poor way to get around. N++ actually has an amazing system for created levels, categorized by difficulty, recently made, most popular, made by friends, etc. It’s really nice. If Mario Maker had something like that, it would make it a much better experience.

Here are my current levels (Which the level ID is another thing that is garbage):
– Who is King of the Hill? F285-0000-0012-EA5C
– Why So Short? BD84-0000-0015-51EF
– Mad Funhouse 7643-0000-0017-0DEA
– Koopa Tagteam 55D8-0000-001C-AB64

Hope you all enjoy!

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The results are in for Splatoon’s fifth North American Splatfest. To say the least, the event was extremely close.

Just two percentage points separated the art and science sides for both popularity and wins. However, it was Team Art that managed to come out on top, though just slightly. The final count was 255 points for art and 245 points for science.

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This week, Famitsu has an interview with Pokemon president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara. Ishihara touched on Pokemon Shuffle, Pokken Tournament, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, and a bit about the future – including an extremely brief NX name-drop.

Regarding Pokemon Shuffle, Ishihara reconfirmed that the game has reached five million downloads. The title, which just recently hit smart devices, was originally intended to be released from the start on smartphones and 3DS. The 3DS demographic is more around those at middle school while smartphones users are geared more toward adults. The main message they wanted to convey is that the app can be cleared from the start with no charges.

Pokken Tournament came about from a desire to see more realistic Pokemon movements. Even though it’s made by the Tekken team, it has a different flavor and feel than that series and it does not necessarily appeal to a different demographic. Ishihara points out that it’s easy to understand fighting games, and its systems are straightforward and simple to pick up on.

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More: Famitsu, interview, Pokemon, Pokemon Shuffle, Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, Pokken Tournament, top, Tsunekazu Ishihara

Did you know that it’s Bayonetta 2’s first anniversary today? The game came out in Japan on September 20. Developer PlatinumGames celebrated with a special cake – see below.

Bayonetta 2 director Yusuke Hashimoto also shared a message in an official PlatinumGames blog post. He spoke about the Nintendo costumes in the game, and also revealed a cut idea. He had wanted to include a costume based on Famicom Tantei Club, a game that Nintendo only brought to Japan. Unfortunately, it never made it into the final game.

You can read up on Hashimoto’s full message below.

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More: Bayonetta 2, PlatinumGames, top, Yusuke Hashimoto

Xenoblade Chronicles X features something known as “Skells”. These mechs allow players to take to the sky and fly across the vast world. You won’t have access to Skells right away, however. They are made available later in the game after players receiving a license.

This month’s issue of Game Informer has a few comments from Monolith Soft executive director Tetsuya Takahashi. Takahashi told the magazine why Skells aren’t handed out at the start, explaining:

“The main reason we didn’t want players to have the Skell from the beginning of the game is that we wanted them to have the opportunity to fully explore the world on foot first. The world starts to feel quiet a bit different once you have the Skell, especially once you experience different layers of the world vertically.”

Xenoblade Chronicles X still has a few months to go before it reaches the west. The overseas release is scheduled for December 4.

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Another Skylanders SuperChargers video has appeared on YouTube showing online racing gameplay. We have it below.

More: Activision, Skylanders Superchargers, Vicarious Visions

Update: Bumped to the top. Amazon has revealed the amiibo bundle packaging, which reveals that the three amiibo cards are special editions of Goldie, Rosie and Stitches.

Thanks to a listing on GameFly, we have an updated boxart image for Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival. Have a look at it above.

Here’s the original boxart image from June:

I’d definitely say that the new one looks nicer!

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Fans have been on a Nintendo patent hunt over the past few days. A filing for clickable scroll wheel shoulder buttons was found on Thursday, followed shortly after by one involving haptic feedback.

The latest patent we have is for a handheld with outward-facing linear image sensors. This one was filed for in February as well and was published this month. While Nintendo isn’t behind the patent directly, it was assigned to Fumihiko Inoue. Inoue is absolutely connected to the company and is listed as one of the inventors of the Big N’s older patents.

Here’s the abstract from the latest patent:

“An example system includes a housing having at least one surface provided with a display, a linear image sensor located, facing outside the housing, at a side part or a corner part of the housing when the surface provided with the display is viewed as a front surface, and an information processing unit performing information processing based on an image obtained by the linear image sensor.”

Here are some other tidbits from the filing:

– Linear image sensors on all four sides of a handheld device
– Space Pointer Function – For example if the device is positioned on a desk, these sensors can detect location/distance of finger (sliding on desk on side of device) and move cursor/character accordingly
– Side Surface Touching Operation – When holding the device in hands, these sensors can detect touch (e.g slide finger up/down to zoom)
– Figure Detection Function – Sensors can read barcodes (e.g on Amiibos) and detect rotation/distance
– Use Mode Determining Function – Sensors can help with accuracy of acceleration sensor e.g when rotating device to/from landscape/portrait orientation while device is horizontal
– Pulse Detecting Function – Detect user’s pulse rate (based on the reflection/intensity of skin)

You can find more information and images pertaining to the patent here.

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Nintendo has published its fourth indie interview coming from PAX Prime 2015. In the latest one, the company’s Damon Baker talks with Oddworld Inhabitants about Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty. Check it out below.

More: indie, interview, Just Add Water, Oddworld Inhabitants, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty

Splatoon’s fifth European Splatfest is now up and running. This time around, the two sides are Team Messy and Team Tidy.

Those of you in Europe will have until this time tomorrow to compete in the new Splatfest. Expect the results shortly after it ends.

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