Submit a news tip



Hello my lovely listeners! This week on Nintendo Everything Podcast, we’re talking two great releases this week: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, and The TakeOver. We’ve got more video game updates on Animal Crossing, Bug Fables, and even Yu-Gi-Oh!, then some Pokemon Sword and Shield DLC news. We have an excellent listener mail question about hidden gem series like Hotel Dusk, Famicom Tantei Club, and other obscure text-based, point-and-click adventures.

Check out links and timestamps below, and come hang out.

If you’re enjoying NEP, please consider giving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, and share us with a friend. It’s incredibly helpful in getting us exposed to new listeners through algorithms, so we would greatly appreciate your help. Thank you for listening!

Masahiro Sakurai

There’s nothing quite like Super Smash Bros. speculation. Given the series’ popularity and mystery surrounding unannounced characters, fans can’t help but wonder about who could end up in the game. However, because of this curiosity, director Masahiro Sakurai has to be careful as to what he shares.

Writing in his latest Famitsu column this week, Sakurai mentioned that he tends to “play a ton of games”. But since fans may begin to speculate and there could be misunderstandings, he generally doesn’t reveal what he’s been playing.

Here’s our translation of the excerpt:

Hello my lovely inklings and octolings! This week on Nintendo Everything Podcast, we’re talking about the best Paper Mario game of 2020: Bug Fables. Then it’s on to pre-not-E3 hype (?) with more digital events, Silent Hill collab with Dead by Daylight, Amazon France’s mystery listings for Switch games, and a discussion of over-identifying with media. Have you ever taken personal offense to someone’s criticism of a thing you love? We’ve both got personal stories and ways to avoid it.
Check out links and timestamps below, and come hang out.

If you’re enjoying NEP, please consider giving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, and share us with a friend. It’s incredibly helpful in getting us exposed to new listeners through algorithms, so we would greatly appreciate your help. Thank you for listening!

Monolith Soft

Monolith Soft celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. When the company started out making Xenosaga, no one could have predicted where they’d be today. Xenoblade has turned into a million-seller IP while Monolith Soft has been heavily involved in some of Nintendo’s top games, including Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Hirohide Sugiura, co-president of Monolith Soft, spoke about the developer’s origins in last week’s issue of Famitsu. Regarding his motives for starting his own company back in 1999, Sugiura shared (as translated by Oni Dino of Nintendo Everything):

Hello my Switch Lites and Switch Pros! This week on Nintendo Everything Podcast, we’re announcing the winner of The Wonderful 101 Remastered giveaway. We then critique our experiences with some lovely, smaller JRPGs: Child of Light and Underhero. Afterward, we explore industry talk and current trends: what’s going to happen with the Switch moving forward into the new console generation? A Switch Pro? Go harder on mobile? External graphics card? A new dedicated home console in tandem with Switch being a dedicated handheld? Possibilities abound! Check out links and timestamps below, and come hang out.

If you’re enjoying NEP, please consider giving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, and share us with a friend. It’s incredibly helpful in getting us exposed to new listeners through algorithms, so we would greatly appreciate your help. Thank you for listening!

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

Rather than just sprucing up the game and making some subtle changes, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition actually has content not included in the original. Fans of the Wii title plus newcomers can play through Future Connected, an epilogue that takes place after the main story ends.

In this week’s issue of Famitsu, Monolith Soft president and creator Tetsuya Takahashi was asked about why Future Connected was created and its concept. In response, he explained:

2K Games Switch

2K has a number of big ports lined up for Switch next week. BioShock: The Collection, Borderlands Legendary Collection, and XCOM 2 Collection are all slated for May 29.

Back in March, 2K announced the ports in a Nintendo Direct Mini. The news was put together in a neat little video with the message that “2K ♡ Switch”. In an interview with Famitsu, 2K chief creative Sami Thessman spoke more about the campaign and Switch support.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

In this week’s issue of Famitsu, Xenoblade Chronicles director delved into the improvements made for Definitive Edition on Switch. Monolith Soft focused on improving player understanding through the UI, playability, and visuals.

Takahashi gave a few examples of improving playability. If the player loses consistently against a specific boss, a related tutorial will appear after a set amount of time. Also, you can now be assisted with receiving a full party gauge upon returning to the game.

Monolith Soft put a lot of love into Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. The game has an entirely new epilogue, lots of redone music, updated UI, and more. But undoubtedly one of the biggest draws concerns the visuals. Compared to the Wii original, the RPG was given a major facelift in the graphics department.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition director Tetsuya Takahashi spoke more about Monolith Soft’s approach to the visuals as part of an interview in this week’s issue of Famitsu. Here’s our translation of the excerpt:

Monolith Soft tends to have a lot of work on its hands. Of course, the studio is well-known for its Xenoblade series. It also goes out of its way to help Nintendo on certain projects like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Monolith Soft definitely knows how to balance different games, and that experience certainly played a role over the past few years. Most recently, the developer completed Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, which launches on May 29. Director Tetsuya Takahashi revealed in this week’s issue of Famitsu that planning started at the end of 2017. Further, since the studio was also making the Torna expansion for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in addition to a new project, they were at one point “working on three different projects simultaneously and had to organize our 1st Production members between the three titles.”

Here’s the full excerpt from Famitsu, as translated by Nintendo Everything’s Oni_Dino:


Manage Cookie Settings