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Nintendo’s entry into the mobile market through its partnership with DeNA is a natural fit, but moving forward it does beg a lot of questions. When you combine Nintendo’s notoriety for doing things their own way with the unforgiving nature of the mobile market outside of the already flooded free-to-play space, its not as simple as making a Mario endless runner and calling it a day. Nintendo has an interesting set of challenges put forward to them, as the kind of investment they make in this space could have some unprecedented consequences for their own handheld platform.

We reached out to developers Springloaded Software, Joost van Dongen, Rawkins Games, and Yazar Media Group for their take on the best way for Nintendo to get some of the mobile limelight and use it as a way to get more consumers back where they really want them – on their own systems. How can the two spaces co-exist without diminishing what’s already there with the 3DS? Is it possible for the mobile titles to exist as both good standalone products as well as a good entry point for Nintendo systems? Will Nintendo finally have to follow the trend rather than setting it when it comes to working on a platform that’s not their own? Having existed in both the traditional console and mobile spaces themselves, our guests this week offer some insight into some of the possibilities Nintendo has going forward.

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Let’s Talk #7: Do you care about amiibo?

Yesterday, Nintendo confirmed that over 10 million amiibo have been shipped worldwide. That’s a big number. A large majority of figures have made their way to the U.S. and Canada – a whopping 66 percent. Europe is second with 20 percent.

amiibo only just debuted last year, but we’ve already seen some extensive plans from Nintendo. A whole bunch of Smash Bros. figures have been released, with more on the way. Splatoon amiibo are due out this month, followed soon by Yoshi plushies. Animal Crossing amiibo cards are coming this fall.

While amiibo sales have been strong, not all has gone well. Many figures are tough to find in stores at the moment, and scalpers are taking advantage of that situation. There are many instances in which retailers open pre-orders only to sell out of stock within a matter of minutes.

All of that said, do you care about amiibo? Did you once care, but stopped after figures became difficult to find? Were you never interested in amiibo at all? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!


So. Here’s my situation. When Nintendo initially announced amiibo, I didn’t care about the figures too much. I wanted Link, but that was about it.

… But I couldn’t help myself. I ended up ordering a few more amiibo from wave one after they launched, and once I started hearing that certain figures were becoming harder to find, I got caught up in the craze. I eventually told myself that I’d pick up every figure from the Smash Bros. line and likely stop there.

Well, now I don’t really have a game plan! I ended up purchasing Toad from the Super Mario Bros. line, and I secured the gold Mario as well. Something tells me that I won’t be able to resist the Yoshi plushie either. I suppose you can say that Nintendo has me hooked! I’m not even entirely sure why I’m collecting amiibo – figures and the like have never appealed to me much in the past. The stock situation has definitely been frustrating, yet I still have interest in amiibo – for now anyway!


Highlights from last week’s topic: Which character do you want to see in Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS?

There were lots of fantastic comments and choices about last week’s topic, so it was really tough choosing a few highlights. Thanks for your participation – the discussion was great!

ronin4life

Isaac from Golden Sun. Nintendo’s GBA RPG has no reps whatsoever in Smash, even though Isaac was an assist in Brawl.

LordDisco

I still think the Mushroom Kingdom could be represented more amusingly. Waluigi, Daisy, and Toad would all be great additions to Smash Bros, in my opinion.

Waluigi would be hilarious. If they keep him the way he’s been developed over the years, he’ll be wildly interesting and much funnier than the toilet-humored Wario. Waluigi’s moveset can just be a crazy combination of his weird obsessions, and as long as he does the “suck it” gesture from Mario Strikers, he will become my favorite Smash character. hahaha.

Daisy is great too, because she’s basically a sassy and unprofessional princess. He’s basically the opposite of Peach personality-wise, and giving her her own Smash character can open up new possibilities for her as a character in general. She can be kind of a cheating character, which lots of funny moves, like pimp-slapping, headbutting, and throwing turnips like baseballs. I would love for her to be better represented than a simple skin for Peach.

Lastly, Toad would be awesome! His skins could be like Bowser Jr, where each skin is a different Toad, like Toadette, Captain Toad, and Toadsworth. He could be exceptionally small, too, like how Servebot was like in Marvel VS Capcom. And if Nintendo wanted to be really funny, they could just intentionally make Toad the weakest character by a long shot (Again, like Servebot) so people can brag heavily to their friends if they happen to win matches as Toad.

I would love for any one of these characters to be added in, and it’s not like it would be too difficult for Nintendo to pull off, honestly.

AquaBat

King K. Rool, of course!

link2metroid

I’d like to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Their moveset would be brilliant and they’d fit in well. Who here is old enough to remember TMNT: Tournament Fighters for the SNES? I thought that was a brilliant game. And more recently, TMNT: Smash Up, while not as good as Smash Bros. it too was a decent game. The different colours could be the different characters though having 4 characters could be a lot of work even though they’d have a lot of common moves. The only thing is deciding which style would be best. I prefer some of the older versions going back to their image rather than some of the more modern looks.

Mirai Akemi

The one I really, really want is Simon Belmont. I think he’s the one missing legend from the NES era. There’s other iconic characters form back then, but he’s the biggest one. There’s so much potential for his moves, a stage and definitely music. A very close second is Bomberman, also a gaming icon and a classic, and he also has potential, though not as much as Simon.

Realistically speaking though, and with Konami being, well, Konami, my most wanted character that actually has a chance is Isaac. I half expected him to be there from the start and still have faith that Sakurai removed him as an assist because he knew that even if they couldn’t work on every character they wanted for the release, DLC could still happen and he saw potential in him.

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Sorry we’re a day late with this one. Everyone is still in Minneapolis for this week’s show, and we decide to do something we haven’t done in a while: Podcasting without a net. So there’s not much of a script, we go off on tangents, and we just try to enjoy life and be good boys and girls. Funnily, we ended up talking about some game industry stuff and other gaming-related topics that we don’t generally tackle, so that’s a point for being unscripted I guess. Enjoy the non-conformity!

Shenanigans

1) Opening Nonsense
2) Game of the Week – Tetris!
3) Laura went to China and Austin has a headache.

What we played

4) Laura got a New 3DS!

Shenanigans Redux

5) Can Nintendo really continue with backwards compatibility?
6) Bye Bye Konami

What we played again

7) Professor Laura vs. Phoenix Wright
8) Why didn’t anyone tell me about Mass Effect’s writing though? (Austin beat Mass Effect)
9) Wario Ware touched Jack on Wii U.

Shenanigans yet again

10) Starcraft 64 music break

Listener Mail

11) Garbage Questions
12) What game companies would we like to shadow?
13) What will Nintendo’s future success look like? Can they return to the top?

Shenanigans Finale

14) The end.

Here's a Podcast – Episode 117!


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System: 3DS
Release: May 5, 2015
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus


Author: Dennis

When you think demons, you think about terrible sentient monsters that aim to do nothing but torture you and inevitably drive you to death. But what if you were put in a position where the very thing that’s nurtured to torment and cause perpetual trepidation becomes the cause and reason for your survival in a world that’s quickly dissipating?

Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker wants you to experience this firsthand, with an extensive and elaborate narrative that shapes itself by how you choose to respond to certain situations, whether it be during gameplay in the battlefields set all around Japan, or during a cut-scene where you’re sometimes prompted to choose how to respond when interacting with another character. This is a game that wants you to be personally invested, to the point where they let you name your character, both first name and last. You’re only given a certain amount of spaces to input your name, but most names should fit with ease like mine did – Keanu Reeves.

After a one week hiatus, Brian and Daan are back for a new Just a Chat discussion. Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee Kickstarter success is the big story this week, but there’s also talk about Mighty No. 9 and Splatoon. Plus, hear some impressions of Xenoblade Chronicles X and Bravely Second from someone who has played both games!



Stuff:

Brian’s Twitter
Daan’s Twitter
New survey (please fill it out if you have a moment!)

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Let’s Talk #6: Which character do you want to see in Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS?

During last month’s Nintendo Direct, it was announced that there are a bunch of plans for DLC in Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS. Along with Mewtwo and Lucas, Nintendo will be adding even more fighters to both games down the line. The company went as far as to open a Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot so that fans could voice their opinions about which characters they want to see on the roster.

That brings us to this week’s topic! I’m curious about the sort of characters you guys would like to see added as DLC. I’ll get the discussion started.


I’m not too sure if I have an absolute standout character that I’m pulling for in Smash Bros. Adding the Inkings from Splatoon would be a nice choice! And it’d be very neat to see Amaterasu from Okami in the game (though I know that will never happen).

Honestly, I feel like I had my dream fulfilled with Shulk – that’s someone that I never actually thought would make it into Smash Bros. When the initial leak happened last year, I felt like it was too good to be true. Some people say that Shulk is a dull character, but I believe that he is a really great representation of Xenoblade, and I never had a problem with him.

Those are just a few quick thoughts from me. Now I want to see what you all have to say! What would be your dream character for Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS? Sound off in the comments, and read up on some of your highlights from last week’s Let’s Talk below!


Last week’s topic: Your thoughts on Mario Kart 8’s new DLC and 200cc mode (highlights)

Kallumsmarties

I didn’t think it would be better than the first DLC pack to be honest, but it would still be pretty darn good. They definitely proved me wrong lol. They just keep getting better. 200cc also helped get me hyped up it for as well.

Purple3DSXL

I hate Cheese Land. I just don’t get it, and I had played the old version long ago. I didn’t like it then either. These new tracks don’t stick to me like the first DLC pack did. They shouldn’t have shortened Baby Park (seems a little smaller than it used to be) and given it more laps or something. Like Bob said, Wild Woods seems to be the best. I feel it has more to offer than the other tracks do for the latest pack.

gurdurrlv34

I just got both packs of the DLC last week, so I’m going over the most notable tracks. Cheese Land is hard and lame. Wild Woods is cool. The F-Zero courses are bae. Animal crossing is meh as a racetrack. Hyrule Circuit is cool, but I just don’t see Zelda in it. Why couldn’t you just ride through shop town in majora’s mask or ocarina of time??? Ribbon Road is cool. Ice Ice Outpost is LAME! Excitebike arena is cool. Baby park is fun on 200cc and nothing else. SNES rainbow road is, oddly enough, one of my favorite rainbow roads and I like to see it in HD (finally some background scenery 🙂 Wario’s Gold Mine was my favorite course on my favorite Mario kart game, and I’m really happy to see that the mine carts are now GOOD to run into. The rest are just forgettable.

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Our winners are in!

North America: James Parry, Figureguy, Kevin Malone
Europe: Ramsés Cabello, daydream, Leon Fletcher

Congratulations to them! Codes should be sent out tomorrow, so keep an eye on your inbox. More giveaways to come!


We’re kicking off a new giveaway today for Affordable Space Adventures. Wii U owners in both North America and Europe are eligible to participate!

Simply leave a comment below and tell us about the following: if you could only bring one item with you on your Small Craft to Spectaculon, what would it be and why? Six codes are up for grabs (thanks Max Criden!) – three for North America, and three for Europe. We’ll choose a winner next weekend.

In your comment, please be sure to let us know which region you’re entering for. We may not be able to count your submission without this information.

Good luck, everyone!

It’s safe to say that Mario Kart 8 takes more than a few cues from F-Zero. Nintendo’s other racing franchise that started out on the SNES gets comparatively little love nowadays, but several features from this series have worked their way into the latest Mario Kart. The new racetracks are the most obvious influence, with gravity-defying courses that are straight out of F-Zero (quite literally in the case of some of the DLC), but the new 200cc class brings Mario Kart’s speed just a little bit closer to its older brother. Heck, you can even play as a Mii approximation of Captain Falcon if you can track down his elusive amiibo. But for all the inspiration that Mario Kart 8 takes from F-Zero, the two series remain distinctly different. Some people are claiming that Mario Kart is now an adequate replacement for the currently MIA F-Zero (and by some people I mean just one guy on Neogaf), but taking a look at the design philosophy behind both titles shows that they’re completely at odds with each other.

Author: Kirara

Mario Kart as a franchise has been around for a long time– twenty-three years to be exact. Although that seems like awhile, it really isn’t for a series from Nintendo; they have a history of creating franchises that are able to stand the test of time. In 1992 when Mario Kart had its debut on the Super Nintendo, it was dubbed Super Mario Kart. Fast forward twenty-three years and we now have Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, and after five games for home consoles – three on portable, and even three in the arcade released in Japan – I think it is safe to say that Mario Kart has been a successful franchise. But what if it wasn’t Mario Kart? What if, instead of basing the game initially on the Mario series, it was simply Nintendo Kart or even Smash Kart? Is that something that would have seen as much notoriety then as it could today?

The news of Legend of Kay’s revival was unexpected, to say the least. It originally launched for the PlayStation 2 back in 2005, and ended up as more of a niche platformer for the console. Yet now the game is back in a remastered format for Wii U and a few other platforms, thanks to Nordic Games and developer Kaiko.

Nordic recently announced that Legend of Kay Anniversary is slated for spring. With the title’s launch coming sooner rather than later, we caught up with Kaiko’s Peter Thierolf for an interview. We asked Thierolf about why Legend of Kay is returning after so many years, what sort of improvements are being implemented, how it will play on Wii U, and more.

Read on below for our full interview.


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