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Namco Bandai had just one Nintendo title on hand for the company’s Global Gamers Day event last week. The game in question is Thundercats.

As you’ll find out in the summary below, Thundercats is closely tied to the new television series and features a lot of hack-and-slash gameplay. Namco Bandai also explains why the project is being made for the DS rather than the 3DS.

Here’s what we know about the game thus far:

– Made by Aspect Digital (Naruto: Ninja Council)
– Side-scrolling action game
– Based on the new cartoon series
– Picks up at the very beginning of the story
– Lizard army advancing on Thundera
– King Claudus, Grune, and Tygra are fighting
– Lion-O has been left behind
– Grune defects as the forces of good are about to prevail
– Lion-O runs into battle with his Sword of Omens
– Lion-O slashed at the Lizard army while running from one side of the palace to the other
– Three Lizard enemies in the demo: green soldiers, others were armed with arrows, and orange lizards were slightly stronger than the grunts
– Face buttons used to attack
– Jump to platforms and defeat unprepared enemies
– Power-ups dropped by enemies when they’re killed
– Use the power-ups to restore health or charge the Sword of Omens
– Icon of the sword appears on the touch screen when you’ve collected enough
– Tap the icon to make Lion-O shoot a red beam of light that attacks any enemies in front
– Lion-O and Tygra reunite at the end of the level
– Tygra pined that King Claudus is dead, Mumm-Ra is leading the Lizard army, and the only reason Grune betrayed them is because he is under Mumm-Ra’s control
– Lion-O and Tygra escape
– Tygra becomes a support character
– Icons for Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro and Wily Kat & Wily Kit on either side of the Sword of Omens
– Touch one of these icons and that character will come out to momentarily assist Lion-O
– Oonly play as Lion-O
– Game is closely tied to the cartoon
– Sound effects/voice acting from the series included
– Concept art added in as an extra reward for players
– Players can see how the animation team decided on the final character designs
– On the DS rather than the 3DS because the companies involved are aware of the current economic climate and know many parents, who would probably be buying Thundercats for their kids, might not be able to afford a 3DS
– Higher chance of their children already owning a DS
– 3DS also supports backwards compatibility

Thundercats is slated for an August launch in North America.

Source


Korean website Betanews had a chance to interview Shigeru Miyamoto at the Louvre Museum last week.

Supposedly Miyamoto confirmed the existence of Super Mario 4, saying:

“We have Mario team in company, so we are making Super Mario 4. But only I can say is, we just announced that game. More details will be revealed later.”

It wasn’t specified if this is the 3DS Mario game or the upcoming Wii U title.

Obviously the above quote is a very rough translation. Super Mario 4 was mentioned by Miyamoto, though… assuming we can trust the source. I’d be more confident if a) we received a more accurate translation and b) if the source and Miyamoto’s words could be verified. Until then, remain cautious.

Source


Teyon will released Bird Mania 3D on the eShop in a couple of weeks. The game has been given a May 3 date by Nintendo.

Bird Mania 3D will be one of the cheaper 3DS Download games we’ve seen thus far, coming in at an affordable $1.99 price point.


3DS Download

Dillon’s Rolling Western – Recommended
Fun! Fun! Minigolf Touch – Recommended

3DS VC

Maru’s Mission – Grumble Grumble
Super Mario Bros. Recommended

DSiWare

40-in-1 Explosive Megamix – Grumble Grumble
Box Pusher – Hmmm…
Flipper 2: Flush the Goldfish – Hmmm…
GO Series: Undead Storm – Hmmm…

Wii VC

Strider – Recommended

WiiWare

2 Fast 4 Gnomz – Hmmm…
BurgerTime World Tour – Grumble Grumble
Newton Vs. The Horde – Grumble Grumble


RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D has emerged after months of silence. New gameplay details have been revealed, and the game even has a release date!

You can read up on the information below. New screenshots will be coming your way shortly.

– Begins with an eager young teenager getting the brush-off from his father
– He dreams of being a thrill ride designer, a theme park architect, a rollercoaster tycoon
– The character’s father is employed in this field
– Father is preoccupied with his own tycooning, asks an old retiree to help his son out
– “Coaster Story”: new narrative-focused tutorial mode
– Eases players into its simulation of money management, attraction construction, and virtual vomit clean-up
– This game uses the same foundation of RollerCoaster Tycoon
– Has features/tweaks from RollerCoaster Tycoon 2/3
– Turns you loose with an empty lot, a pocketful of cash to pay the contractors and an array of amusement park staples to build
– “Park Sandbox” mode: begin management immediately, go directly into coaster construction to start assembling machines
– Newcomers are better off sticking with Coaster Story
– Players meet Chappy after getting the cold shoulder from the character’s father
– Chappy has a cap, overalls, (grey) facial hair, blue/red color scheme like Mario
– Chappy will guide you through the tutorials, teaches you about the interface/cameras, and other aspects
– Camera is in a locked perspective to allow full 3D rotation
– Can leave this mode and enter the no-handholding modes and play at your own pace
– If you continue to play Coaster Story, there will be some exclusive building challenges
– 3D effect implemented

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D will be available on May 22.

Source


As expected, Beamdog’s negative experience with Nintendo stems from MDK2 on WiiWare. Founder Trent Oster explained his issues with the company on Twitter.

Oster said in one tweet today:

“My problems with Nintendo are: requiring 6000 unit sales before payment, a certification process that took us 9 months and a 40mb limit

Oster followed up this remark with another statement shortly thereafter, and labeled the Wii as a toy:

“The result is a belief that Nintendo isn’t a good platform for developers. The Wii is a toy, not a console”

Beamdog isn’t the only developer who has been displeased with WiiWare. However, Nintendo has started to improve how they manage with their digital services starting with the eShop. The 3DS’ online store has no file size limits for games (or at the very least, it’s significantly larger than 40MB) as far as we know. That being said, it’s unclear how Nintendo is approaching payouts and the certification  process. We can only go by the commentary from eShop developers, who have thus far expressed positive thoughts about the store.

Thanks to Tim for the tip.



The website for Project X Zone has finally exited its teaser state. The page contains a number of voice samples for the game’s various characters, but that’s about it for now.

Namco Bandai should be releasing a new trailer by the end of the month.

You can access the website here.



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