Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Let's Talk | 24 Comments

Let’s Talk #31: Have you tried out Nintendo Badge Arcade?

Nintendo Badge Arcade hit the Japanese 3DS eShop in December 2014. It wasn’t until last week though that the app came out in the west. Now that it’s here, have you given it a shot? Do you believe it was worth the wait?

I admit I’ve been checking in on Nintendo Badge Arcade daily since its release. What’s funny about that is how I’m interested in the collective aspect more than anything else. I’m not really a creative person, and I don’t intend to load up my home menu with badges. There’s something there though that I keep coming back to. I boot up the app, visit the practice catcher, and usually use my free play. It’s easy and quick enough to get the job done! I can’t say I’m inclined to spend any cash on Nintendo Badge Arcade, however.

Now share your thoughts with us in the comments below! What do you think of Nintendo Badge Arcade?

Highlights from last week’s topic: What did you think of this week’s Nintendo Direct?

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 30 Comments

Let’s Talk #30: What are you playing? – November 2015

On Thursday, Nintendo finally presented a new Nintendo Direct. Fans were waiting a long, long time for this one.

The new Nintendo Direct was light on brand new game reveals, but there were still plenty of noteworthy announcements. Zelda: Twilight Princess HD was finally confirmed. The original Pokemon games are finally coming to the 3DS Virtual Console in February. Two Dragon Quest games are heading west next year. And the big one: Cloud is coming to Smash Bros. There were other things mixed in as well like Splatoon gear/maps, new/free DLC for Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, and Pokemon Picross. Heck, we even saw a few more seconds of Zelda Wii U footage, which I think came as a surprise to many.

What did you guys think of the latest Nintendo Direct? Are you satisfied with what was shown? Or were you left wanting more? Any thoughts on specific announcements? Let us know in the comments below!

Highlights from last week’s topic: What are you playing? – November 2015

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 21 Comments

Let’s Talk #29: What are you playing? – November 2015

It’s the beginning of a new month (close enough anyway, right?). November is upon us, and there are only a few months left in 2015. Tell us what you’ve been playing or what you intend to play soon!

As for me, I just wrapped up Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Great, great game. I’ve talked about how atrocious my backlog before, and the fact that I only beat this game a couple of days ago further shows that! Within the past few weeks I’ve also been playing a bit of Lumines: Electronic Symphony, and some of Dillon Rolling Western which I wasn’t enjoying too much.

Highlights from last week’s topic: Has your opinion on Nintendo’s November Wii U releases changed?

TruExtent

I think the line up has potential but they are focusing my the wrong things. I don’t care for AC Amiibo Festival and I have a feeling the new Mario Tennis will only generate so much interest.

Everyone is forgetting Xenoblade X.

If Nintendo wants to generate more interest this holiday, they need to market the hell out of Xenoblade to the level that Microsoft is pushing Halo and Ubisoft pushing Assassin’s Creed. From the very few times I look at a TV if I see a video game advert, it’s one of those two games; I never see Nintendo’s stuff. If Xenoblade can’t cut it, maybe Devil’s Third can (with the right marketing). I feel an action game will have far more potential than a party game and an arcade sports game.

Meanwhile, the 3DS should be just fine.

Steve793

Nope not really. Wasn’t interested in them before, still am not.

For me, the Mario sports series are just meh. I personally wish they didn’t exist and Nintendo had made sports games using new IPs with new characters and such, instead of just putting the Mario IP on it. Think of it this way, that would mean more characters from different series for Smash… But, they could have had a Mario Team, a Zelda Team, etc for in-game opponents or have Mario, Link and Fox as surprise characters. That’ll never happen, so whatever. But seriously, for sports games, I’d rather go outside and play the actually sport than do it in a video game, especially tennis. Then again, I’ve only played Super Sluggers, and while that was alright, I wasn’t hooked, but I could still be persuaded on Mario Sports games, but I’d still rather see new sports games with new characters.

And since I’ve never played an Animal Crossing game, and don’t particularly care for Party games like Mario Party and such, I’ll be skipping this, and playing my backlog until Xeno X.

JuleyJules

Not at all. Wasn’t interested in whatever is coming in November before especially a tennis game with no motion controls. Do we really need another Wii Party U/Mario Party 10 style game on Wii U with other characters? The whole rolling the dice by using amiibo was a pain in MP10 and quickly turned everyone I know off of it. Still not interested now. They need to step it up to keep people interested until the NX comes out imo.

ecoutercavalier

I can’t really justify either purchase yet. Amiibo Festival seems like a lazy excuse to make AC amiibo. I’m not sure what I would want out of an Animal Crossing themed board game, but what they came up with just isn’t doing it for me. Even with the new modes that have been announced I doubt I could convince a group of friends to play it more than once.
Mario Tennis looks sort of bland, but I’ll forgive it if we find out that there are loads of good mini-games or a compelling tournament mode. I like the amiibo support. If I’m not mistaken this is the first game that allows you to use amiibos in online play. It’s not necessarily enough to play perfectly if you haven’t bothered training your amiibo, but if you have then it might be able to cover some of your mistakes. It’s very cool in concept, but I’ll wait to see how balanced it is before passing any judgement.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Wii U | 25 Comments

Let’s Talk #28: Has your opinion on Nintendo’s November Wii U releases changed?

Nintendo is bringing out two more Wii U games next month: Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival. Before this week, both were shrouded in mystery for the most part. Nintendo hadn’t really said much about either game since E3, which was odd given how we’re under a month away from release.

With Mario Tennis, things started out particularly strangely. Nintendo showed off a trailer confirming a few more characters, but that was pretty much it. Perhaps they heard some of the complains, since just a few days later, we received another trailer and press release that shed more light on the game. We now know that there are things like amiibo support and online play.

Nintendo showed the Board Game as just one mode in Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival at E3. Thanks to new information shared this week, the Desert Island Escape, Balloon Island, and Quiz Show modes are now confirmed.

How do you feel about these two titles? Has any of the new information/trailers/videos swayed your opinion at all?

Highlights from last week’s topic: Have you ever been to a convention or expo?

LordDisco

I go to Tokyo Game Show every year I can, and it’s one of the highlights of my nerd-life for the entire year. This year, especially, was a dream. Tons of great swag, and I got to play a lot of cool games, including Star Wars Battlefront, Monster Hunter X, Hyrule Warriors Legends, a sweet Oculus Rift demo, and a few indie games.

The atmosphere is also so much fun. Everyone there is trying to have fun, and in the 6 years I’ve been going, not a single year do I recall any negative confrontation or fighting. It’s amazing that a crowd of over 100,000 at a given time can keep such a fun-loving, caring, and nerdy environment.

I only hope for future Tokyo Game Shows that Nintendo will make their presence known. The past many years, especially, has just been third-party support, which really doesn’t help promote their hardware. You’d think Nintendo would make a showing at the biggest game show in their home country, right? Right?!

Vigilante_blade

The only convention I have ever gone to was Otakuthon, which is an anime convention. It’s fun, and I like it. I also went to the gaming festival called Arcadia in Montreal, but I admit it wasn’t that great. I went to play Brawl’s demo at that time, but after playing it, I didn’t really have any fun, and was really bummed about it. There wasn’t a lot of game and most of the new stuff was Ubisoft-related. While not a great con, it did have a funny moment where they had the brilliant idea of giving energy drinks and Axe body spray to everyone on the venue… Let’s just say that after the Nintendo reps had finished throwing swag at us, they were prompty sprayed with Axe by a mob of angry fans. They had to get every single fan in the building and open every door and window. It was a mess, but funny nonetheless.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 7 Comments

Let’s Talk #27: Have you ever been to a convention or expo?

Last week, Comic-Con was held over in New York. That’s just one of several conventions/expos throughout the year. There’s obviously E3, though that one is admittedly difficult for most folks to get into. There’s also the San Diego Comic-Con earlier in the year, a couple of PAX shows, and IndieCade just to name a few. If we’re talking about conventions outside of the states, Gamescom, TGS, and Eurogamer Expo are some names that you guys may recognize.

So have any of you had the opportunity to attend a convention or expo? What was the experience like? Do you plan on attending anything in the future? Or maybe you’re just not interested in what’s out there at the moment? Sound off in the comments below!

Highlights from last week’s topic: What are you playing? – October 2015

Sean Patterson

I’m still playing Bayonetta 2 a lot, but lately I have also been playig Freedom Planet since it released. Great game!

Also been playing my old Sega Game Gear again for some reason… I enjoy the hell out of it though. Sonic Drift 2 is hard as heck.

SnowChillWolf

I have been playing Mega Man Battle Network 2, I am about halfway through the game. I am also playing Mega Man Legends on the Vita, but switched to the PS3 version because my hands was cramping. Moreover, I am playing Metroid Fusion on my AGS -101 Gameboy Advance SP.

Rwokkefeller

I’m currently playing through the newly released Persona 4: Dancing All Night. The story is actually deep and meaningful, and the game as a whole feels like an actual sequel to Persona 4, which I didn’t really feel from the Arena games.

On the Nintendo side, I’ve been slowly working on Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3 and Senran Kagura 2, though I don’t know if I can break free from P4D long enough to dabble in these games again anytime soon XD

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Let's Talk, News, Wii U eShop | 9 Comments

Bandai Namco has reduced the cost of several Wii U and 3DS games on the eShop over in North America. You can get your hands on Tekken Tag Tournament 2, One Piece games, and more at a lower price.

Here’s the full lineup:

Wii U

One Piece: Unlimited World Red – $19.99
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 – $19.99
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition – $19.99

3DS

One Piece: Unlimited World Red – $19.99 (was $29.99)
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ – $19.99 (was $39.99)
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 – $19.99 (was $29.95)
One Piece: Romance Dawn – $29.99 (was $39.99)
Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle – $19.99 (was $29.99)

Keep in mind that these prices won’t expire, as they’re permanent drops.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 27 Comments

Let’s Talk #26: What are you playing? – October 2015

A new month is here! I’d love to know what everybody has been playing as of late, or intends to play in the weeks ahead.

I’ve been focusing on two main games really: Super Mario Maker and Ys: Memories of Celceta. Ys has been getting most of my time, but I’ve still been playing Super Mario Maker regularly. It’s fun to just boot up the game and mess around with a few levels. I’m not at all creative myself, yet I’m still finding a ton of enjoyment with it.

But what about you guys? What’s everyone playing these days?

Highlights from last week’s topic: Nintendo and movies

windstar

I think an animated Mario would be great. We never got a proper one, I think everyone would love to finally see that.

Kira – HylianKeyblade

I think a Zelda movie done by Studio Ghibli could be really interesting and there would probably be a lot of high quality work there ^^. Of course the Zelda movie then have to be in a anime format and I think the Zelda series can suit a anime look pretty well :-).

I do think Nintendo should start making movies more or at least anime/animation series to attract a new young audience like Pokémon and Youkai Watch have accomplished. Also I think it could be pretty cool to see Nintendo characters come to life through animation again ^^. (If done right).

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 8 Comments

Let’s Talk #25: Nintendo and movies

This may seem like a slightly strange topic to discuss. After all, Nintendo hasn’t really been involved with movies too much. We all know about the infamous Super Mario Bros. film, and you can even bring up The Wizard. I suppose the Pokemon movies technically count as well! But aside from these examples, Nintendo hasn’t done much in the film business.

Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka both spoke a tiny bit earlier this week about casting for theoretical live action Zelda and Mario films. Because of their comments, I wanted to expand on that into a bigger site discussion this week.

Which Nintendo property would you be interested in seeing when it comes to movies? Would you prefer it to be animated rather than live action? Are you for or against Nintendo being more proactive with films? What are your thoughts about Nintendo and movies in general? Let us know in the comments below!

Highlights from last week’s topic: What do you want to see from the next Nintendo Direct?

Burning Gravity

What I don’t expect:

– mobile game footage
– NX info

Why? Because I’m not… actually, let’s not go there.

What I might like?

– Showing footage of all upcoming games for 2015.
– Zelda U footage.
– No Star Fox footage, wait for that game to get more polish since they’re delaying it and all.
– HWL, GIR#FE trailers (for 2016).
– New Pokken Tournament character, but this seems a bit unlikely since it seems like they’re handling this pretty separately thus far
– No Metroid or anything else 1st-party 2016 not already mentioned. (Except potential new announcements.)
– 3rd-party stuff: like, getting AA6, PXZ2, etc. news, even if it’s only in the Japan Direct, would be nice.
– Rhythm Heaven localization, PLEASE.
– Quick indie game reel. Yes, I like and appreciate these. IMO showing off all the great Wii U (and 3DS, I guess) eShop games is generally a good idea and is a great way of saying “hey, we have other cool things too besides 1st-party stuff, if you’re not sure what to check out, here are some ideas!”

– It’s not going to happen, but I’d like if they showed short clips of games like TLoL or Stella Glow, just like 20 second clips even, but yeah, no. That’s just me wanting these games to get more attention. Not a realistic or logical request, really.

– One new game announcement, as said, because what’s a Nintendo Direct without that? And I guess nowadays, we usually get amiibo news and/or some extra weird announcement, like some spin-off game or some collaboration or new title on the eShop or something, lol… every little thing counts, yeah? I do like being surprised by Directs. 🙂

Darrin W. Harr II

Zelda U news. Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to Tri Force Heroes, but I really want new screenshots, even small tidbits of information. I’m not as angry as some about the delay, seeing as it will hopefully end with a more polished game, but I just want to know more about the game itself.

Vigilante_blade

I just want them to include several updates for Mario Maker, like Luigi, slopes, lava and water in any levels, new enemies, etc…

I’d love to see some nice third parties like a port of Metal Gear V with some sort of extra, or Persona 5. They need some killer exclusives.

I’d love to see a new game or something.

I also want them to clarify which controllers works for each upcoming games. I’m tired of finding out the week of its release or having to ask industry contacts.

Kallumsmarties

Just something positive. I miss watching a Direct and being so hyped and excited after. I think they should focus games owards holiday and 1st quarter of 2016. Probably want to talk about the new loyalty system as well which if it is going to be what I think it will be then it will be awesome.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 30 Comments

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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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 114 Comments

Let’s Talk #23: Have you picked up Super Mario Maker?

Following its reveal at E3 2014 over a year ago, Super Mario Maker has finally arrived around the world. This is a pretty big release for Wii U. It may very well be Nintendo’s biggest game as a whole this year as well.

Even though Super Mario Maker is a Mario game, it’s quite different than what we’re used to. Nintendo has finally given players the tools to make their own levels. Making things even better, Super Mario Maker offers quite a bit of online functionality so that levels can be played and exchanged with others.

With all of that out of the way, how many of you picked up Super Mario Maker? What do you think of it so far? Are there any changes or additions you’d like to see in future updates? Let us know about your initial play impressions of the game in the comments below!

Highlights from last week’s topic: What are you playing? – September 2015

Stuart

I’m playing Phoenix Wright Ace Attourney Dual Destinies,I barely started and I already got 15 hours of gameplay! lol! Let’s finish before Ace Attourney 6 come out.

On my Wii U,Metroid Prime Trilogy all-the-way,note that I’ve never played any of the Prime games,just a little bit of the first one,so it’s been a whole new expirience for me,and now I see why hey call these games “masterpieces”.

Lord Drieg

Been mostly hunting in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Managed to attain Hunter Rank 5 so now I’m a little closer to getting Samus’ armor. Also I’ve been trying to solo that Akantor for Link’s Sword. So frustrating!! Other than that, Smash on 3DS, and Shovel Knight to celebrate the amiibo announcement! (So good!) I’ve been wanting to get LBX, so spread some love and if you would, tell me about the game. I’ve been craving a new Medabots/Custom Robo style game and this looks like my fix!

JUr

I found Bayonetta 1 & 2 with a discount, so I’m playing these, they’re truly awesome games and alternating with the evergreen Smash or Splatoon… Also, ready to play a lot of Mario Maker, principally by downloading these awesome courses that you highlight!

TheDonRob

I have been playing a ton of The Binding of Isaac Rebirth. I tried The Binding of Isaac when it first came out on PC, but I guess it just didn’t really take. However, I really really like the Wii U port. Been playing too much, wife is actually getting a bit mad lol. Other than that I have been playing Pokemon Y and Pokemon Shuffle Mobile because I have a Pokemon addition.

Edit: Also, last night I just downloaded Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move. Was kind of hesitant of it being a spin off and all. But surprisingly enough it is pretty darn fun. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and cute mario themed puzzler.

Sam

I have been playing a TON of Little Battlers Experience: LBX since it released. I just really like the combat and customizing mechanics

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