Style Savvy sequel will support amiibo
Posted on 9 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, News | 5 Comments
The official website for the next installment in Syn Sophia and Nintendo’s actually-really-good-I-swear series was today updated with some new information. Girls Mode 3: Kira Kira Code will feature 19,000 different items of clothing and accessories, including special items that are unlocked by using amiibo. The game will support all amiibo, however it seems that only the figures for Mario, Peach, Yoshi and Kirby will give out special “character items” like the stylish Mario hat pictured above. I for one am disappointed at the lack of Donkey Kong’s tie and King Dedede’s regal robes.
More: Amiibo, Girls Mode, style boutique, style savvy
[Review] 3D Out Run
Posted on 9 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Reviews | 6 Comments
System: Nintendo 3DS eShop
Release Date: March 12, 2015
Developer: Sega AM2/M2
Publisher: Sega
Author: Patrick
When Sega announced their line of remastered “Classics” for the 3DS, the one I was really holding out for was Out Run. Being born in an era where arcades barely mattered, I’d only had a single chance to play the original arcade cabinet so my familiarity with the game mostly came from the fact that it has already been ported to just about every console in existence. While most of these ports captured the game’s relaxed feel and addictive gameplay, they did vary wildly in quality so I was curious to see how well this 3DS version stacked up. Is it faithful to Yu Suzuki’s original classic?
Well yeah, of course. The emulation experts at M2 always go to crazy lengths to get the small details accurate as possible while throwing in heaps of extra content and hidden bonuses. What really surprised me was how well Out Run holds up in the year 2015.
More: 3D Out Run, 3D OutRun, highlight, SEGA, SEGA 3D Classics, top
[Feature] Tingle: The Man Behind the Magic
Posted on 9 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, GameCube, New Nintendo 3DS, Random | 4 Comments
If you ask someone what the most striking and memorable thing about The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is, they’d probably answer with the whole three-day cycle gimmick, Link’s many transformations or the creepy moon. But if you held a gun to their head and whispered “it’s Tingle” into their ear, they’d undoubtedly say it was this charming fellow. The life and legacy of Tingle isn’t extensively documented and leaves many unexplored questions. Is he human? Is he a fairy? Is he an offensive gay stereotype? But despite his mysterious nature, Tingle is a crucial character to the development of the Legend of Zelda series. In fact, there are no less than four different games out there with Tingle’s name in the title, which makes him just as important to the franchise as Link, whose name usually only appears as part of a lame pun. Just as the tale of the Hero of Time and the Triforce is constantly being retold, so too is the story of this unsung legend.
[Podcast] The Best Soundtracks of 2014
Posted on 9 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, News, Podcast, Reader Poll, Reader Poll, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 2 Comments
Hello everyone, here’s another podcast! All of your votes have been tallied on to put together the definitive list of the top ten game soundtracks (on Nintendo platforms) from 2014. In this almost two-hour podcast you can expect to hear excerpts from all of the soundtracks that made the list with commentary from myself and those who sent in their thoughts. Thank you to everyone who helped make this feature possible and sorry about the delay.
Unlike last year’s show, it’s now available in video podcast form on Youtube (note: podcast may not contain moving images):
If you want the audio version to stick on your MP3 player or whatever, you can download it here. And if you really want to spoil yourself, the results and and a full track list (with timestamps!) can be found over the break:
[Feature] WarioWare: Origins
Posted on 9 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in DS, Features, Game of the Month, GBA | 1 Comment
When it was released back in 2003, the first WarioWare title was praised by critics for its innovative manner of transforming a series of minigames into an addictive gauntlet of five-second challenges. The surprise Game Boy Advance hit introduced the world to its unique bite-sized forms of gameplay, a variety of visual styles, a new cast of characters and enka music, but some of its more “innovative” aspects actually originated from earlier Nintendo experiments. It makes sense that a weird game would have a weird history behind it, and in WarioWare’s case it comes from one of the weirdest consoles – the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive.
More: Game of the Month, highlight, Mario Artist, Nintendo 64DD, top, Wario, WarioWare
The Music of 2014 – Have Your Say!
Posted on 9 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Podcast, Reader Poll, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments
It’s that time of year again! Last year’s game music podcast seemed to go over much better than I expected a two-hour show to, so let’s do the same thing for the soundtracks from this year. And once again I’m looking for reader (listener?) input to help put the thing together and narrow down a top 10 list.
The rules are pretty much the same as last year. Vote here to rate each of the twenty shortlisted games and add in any comments if you have them (you can also use that section to tell me if neglected to include certain soundtracks). Since some of them were included in last year’s show, the voting excludes games that were released in other regions last year like Bravely Default, but not ones like Fantasy Life that I previously forgot about. I’ve also excluded any games with an English release confirmed for next year like Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate – save it for the 2015 list! There are a handful of games like Guacamelee on the list that were released on other platforms last year, but as 2014 was their first showing on a Nintendo platform they’re up for voting.
So please get your votes in and look forward to the final podcast whenever it posts. Maybe there’ll be guests or co-hosts this time? Who can say. Since I’ll be out of the country for a while – I’ll probably have left by the time this posts – don’t expect any results until mid-January at the earliest. That’s kind of late for a retrospective, but I’m sure you’re all sick of top-10 lists at the moment. I know I sure am after putting together all that Nintendo DS stuff.
More: game music, highlight, podcast, Reader poll, top, voting
[Feature] Namco Roulette: An Introduction to Pac & Pals
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Game of the Month, News, Wii Shop Channel, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 6 Comments
Author: Patrick
Part of the appeal of Super Smash Bros. to me is the history behind it all. With their large cast of characters, range of collectibles and obscure music picks, I always seem to be discovering new games with each installment. The original game introduced me to Earthbound, while Melee first brought Fire Emblem to my attention. This new Smash Bros.’ cast of newcomers are largely from games released in the last few years, but what I find interesting how Namco-Bandai’s involvement in development resulted in Namco’s history finding a way into the game.
Pac-Man is one of my favourite characters to play as in the new Super Smash Bros. and it’s partially due to his “Namco Roulette” taunt. This taunt involves Pac-Man summoning a bunch of old Namco sprites from the company’s golden age for a quick cameo, but there’s no trophies or anything to give context to these characters. With that in mind, let’s look at all these Namco icons as we take either a trip down memory lane. Namco have a legacy of creating incredible arcade titles that still persists to this day –I’ve been hooked on Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost lately- and it’s great to see it represented in Smash Bros. in some form. So let’s start by traveling thirty-five years back in time…
Natsume publishing Shadow of the Ninja on Virtual Console next year
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
Natsume confirmed on Twitter that the fast-paced NES sidescroller Shadow of the Ninja will release on the US 3DS and Wii U Virtual Console in early 2015. Known in Europe as “Blue Shadow”, the game is already available on the Wii Virtual Console, but it’ll be nice to have it on the other two platforms. No, the in-game graphics don’t look anything like the box art pictured above.
More: Natsume, Shadow of the Ninja
GAME is apparently selling Captain Toad before Christmas in the UK
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in News, Rumors, Wii U | 1 Comment
Though set to release on January 2nd next year, UK retailer GAME is reportedly selling Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker a bit before schedule. In related news, GAME are still in business. Reports are showing that shipments of the Wii U game have an “availability” date of 19/12/2014, online orders are currently being shipped and stores will have the game in stock on Monday – just in time for Christmas! Then again, there’s always a chance that Nintendo will put a stop to all this street-date-breaking, so don’t count your Toads before they, er, ship.
More: captain toad, UK
Gunner, Dancer & Hexer classes confirmed for Etrian Mystery Dungeon
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, Images, News | 0 comments
Atlus recently updated the Japanese website for the upcoming Etrian Mystery Dungeon, showing off a couple of returning classes from the Etrian Odyssey games. So far these include looks at the Gunner, Dancer and Hexer classes. Check out some snazzy artwork and 3D models below.