Welcome to Famicompendium – a new regular (or at least semi-regular) column where I’ll be taking a look back at the best and worst the world of import gaming has to offer. From the Famicom to the Wii, I’ll be exploring some of the most fascinating titles to never be officially released in English.

I thought I’d start the column off with an adorable, charming and brutally difficult platformer from the 90s. Lately we’ve been giving a fair bit of coverage to a little 3DS game called Sayonara Umihara Kawase (and hopefully even more once an English version is announced at E3 – don’t leave me hanging, Agatsuma) so it’s worth examining just who the heck Umihara Kawase is and why we’re saying goodbye to her.

Nintendo at E3 – a look back – E3 2007

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, Features, General Nintendo, Videos, Wii | 0 comments

E3 2007 was heavily lacking in new announcements. It was quite the downturn compared to E3 2006 – a show that impressed many.

One of Nintendo’s first announcements was the Wii Zapper. A few third-party games were promoted with the peripheral, including Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Nintendo also teased a game of its own (Link’s Crossbow Training), that would be packed in with the Zapper.

Later in the show, Nintendo announced a release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but the game would eventually be delayed. Mario Kart Wii was also revealed, along with the Wii Wheel that would be bundled with the accessory.

Nintendo highlighted a few core titles during the conference: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Super Mario Galaxy.

Nintendo closed things out with Wii Fit. It’s Wii Fit – not much else to say! But we did get Reggie’s famous “My body is ready” quote from his on-stage antics, at least.

Not too exciting. But if you thought this was disappointing, wait until we look back on the 2008 media briefing…

Satoru Iwata Mii sent out through 3DS SpotPass

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

A new visitor will be awaiting 3DS owners in the StreetPass Mii Plaza. Nintendo sent out the official Mii for Satoru Iwata, who is wearing a Luigi hat and gold pants.

When visiting the StreetPass Mii Plaza, Iwata will tell you about the Nintendo Direct happening on Tuesday. His most recent software is Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon.

Iwata’s Mii also comes with a SpotPass message. It states:

“Nintendo@E3 2013 Community” launched on Miiverse

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Nintendo has opened a special Miiverse community for E3 2013. For a limited time, fans can partake in the official “Nintendo@E3 2013 Community”.

You can access the main section on your PC/mobile device here. There’s also a “Backstage” section, located here, which is for more official announcements and such.

Read the official announcement post here, or find it below.

Marvelous AQL on Harvest Moon: “The series is getting very interesting…”

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories | 0 comments

There hasn’t been a whole lot of Harvest Moon news since A New Beginning. That title came out in Japan back in February of last year.

It doesn’t sound like Marvelous AQL has forgotten about the series, at least. When Harvest Moon was mentioned by Siliconera, chief creative officer Yoshifumi Hashimoto teased: “The series is getting very interesting…”

What could that mean?

Source

Another video from Reggie explains why Nintendo isn’t holding a conference at E3 2013, more

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

Here’s what Nintendo’s E3 2013 schedule looks like for Tuesday…

GameTrailers’ “Nintendo Power Hour” includes Reggie, Miyamoto, Sonic Lost Worlds

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

GameTrailers will be live-streaming E3 demonstrations and interviews on Monday and Tuesday of next week. That Tuesday will feature a “Nintendo Power Hour” at 2 PM ET / 11 PM PT. Reggie Fils-Aime and Shigeru Miyamoto will be making appearances, and the first Sonic Lost Worlds E3 demo for Wii U will be shown.

The full description reads:

“It’s the interview you’ve been waiting all E3 (well let’s be honest, ALL YEAR!) to see. Geoff Keighley sits down with REGGIE FILS-AIME for an in-depth two part interview about the state of Nintendo. Will Reggie yell at Geoff again or will he check all the boxes and leave the competition in the dust? Find out live! Plus, the legend himself SHIGERU MIYAMOTO joins Geoff as well for a special chat about what’s new at Nintendo. Finally our friends from MEGA64 join us to discuss their thoughts on E3 so far and we show the first E3 demo of SONIC LOST WORLDS for the Wii-U.”

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Donkey Kong Country Returns senior designer moves on to Armature

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Tom Ivey, a longtime staff member at Retro Studios, is now with Armature Studio. Ivey worked at Retro for nine years before leaving in March and was the final senior designer of Donkey Kong Country Returns – Mike Wikan and Kynan Pearson being the other two.

Of course, Armature was originally founded by key members of Retro, which makes the news even more interesting. The company is currently developing Batman: Arkham Origins – Blackgate and previously worked on the cancelled Mega Man first-person shooter, Maverick Hunter.

Source, Via

Two more Super Mario Bros. movie screenings to be held in NYC this month

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

After hosting a screening for Super Mario Bros.: The Movie in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, two additional ones will be held in New York City this month. Fans can attend midnight showings at the Sunshine Cinema on the 21st and 22nd.

Samantha Mathis, the actress who played Daisy, will say a few words prior to the screening.

More details about the event can be found here.

Harada isn’t missing, wasn’t at work due to sickness

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Good news: everything is a-ok with Katsuhiro Harada.

There was initially some concern that the Tekken producer had gone missing due to a message posted on his Twitter account. The Tekken Project support team stated that Harada “has been missing from office” and he was being searched for.

Harada himself has now clarified on Twitter that he was sick and stayed home for a few days to recover (and do other things like riding Yoshinori Ono’s new car). Harada was also ignoring office calls since he “was busy.”

“I just finished up the master version, and I had a cold and a fever so I was home drinking tequila and getting some work done. Ono got a new car late last month so I took it for a test drive, and cleared some games I had piled up (Crysis 3, Bioshock, Metro) so I ignored calls from the office. I was busy. Then Grid 2 came out while work was piling up, people were treating me like I was missing or something. I’m fine, and back to work and I’ll be at E3, so don’t worry.”

Source