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Blizzard’s Diablo series could have come to a Nintendo handheld.

According to author David Craddock, who is about to release a book about Blizzard North, reveals that a small team made a proposal for “Diablo Junior” following the release of Diablo II.

Junior would have been a prequel created for the Game Boy Color and/or Game Boy Advance as a single-player title. There were plans to release three cartridges, much like Pokemon. Each would feature a unique hero and items that could be traded across the different versions.

Craddock notes that the project was ultimately shelved “because of the steep production costs associated with developing handheld games.”

“Following Diablo 2’s release, Blizzard North split into two teams … kind of. One team immediately started in on D2’s expansion set, Lord of Destruction. The other team went into spitball mode, kicking around ideas for a new IP. But several other developers ventured into groups of two or three and put together proposals for smaller projects. One of those was given the working title Diablo Junior, a game tentatively planned for the Game Boy Color and/or the Game Boy Advance, depending on market share and other business-y factors. Diablo Junior was intended as a single-player-only prequel to the original game. Taking a page from Pokémon’s book, the team wanted to release three cartridges, each packing a different hero in the warrior-rogue-sorcerer vein as well as items that players would have to trade for in order to collect. Heroes started in a unique town before heading into dungeons and wilderness zones. Diablo Junior was ultimately put out to pasture (absent of cow levels, I’m sure) because of the steep production costs associated with developing handheld games.”

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Nicalis has been involved with the porting process of Ikachan to DSiWare for awhile now. The studio confirmed recently that it’ll be released on the 3DS eShop as well.

Basically, the decision came down to resolutions. Nicalis wants Ikachan to look the best it can on both the DSi and 3DS.

There’s more information about the decision to bring Ikachan to the 3DS here.


Yesterday’s 3DS eShop update reconfirms that Liberation Maiden will be released on October 25. The news can be found on the ticker at the eShop’s “homepage”.



The latest Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed trailer ends with a release date. SEGA’s racer comes out on November 18 for consoles… but not on handhelds.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed arrives a few weeks later on the 3DS and PlayStation Vita. As shown in the trailer, the portable versions are due on December 11.

Thanks to Einstein for the tip.



In the ZombiU trailer we posted today, the final image of the video indicates that the game will be launching on November 13. That’s a bit odd given that the Wii U won’t be out until November 18.

I suppose this doesn’t matter too much. You will, after all, need a Wii U in order to play ZombiU. But it is definitely interesting that Ubisoft could be shipping the first title before the system hits store shelves.

Thanks to Einstein for the tip.



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