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Nintendo Switch Sports Spocco Square concept

Although Nintendo Switch Sports is naturally about the sports themselves, the game introduces a new setting in the form of Spocco Square. In an interview shared today, the developers explained how the setting came to be.

Interestingly, Spocco Square wasn’t the original plan. Art director Junji Morii said Nintendo considered going with “a place where intercollegiate sports are played as well as a setting that looks like an ancient Olympian stadium.” In the end though, “none of them seemed to match the feelings that players would experience playing this game.” That led to the teaming coming up with “a gym where people could drop by more casually, with a stylish facility that makes everyone want to visit.”

This week’s expanded Japanese software sales are as follows:

1. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports – 35,088 / 387,201
2. [NSW] Taiko Risshiden V DX – 21,710 / NEW
3. [NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land – 12,853 / 723,567
4. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 10,274 / 4,642,828
5. [NSW] eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 – 7,210 / 171,515
6. [NSW] Minecraft – 6,337 / 2,648,286
7. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 5,245 / 3,156,972
8. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 4,869 / 4,884,668
9. [NSW] Snow Bros. Special 4,608 / NEW
10. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars – 3,645 / 967,778

nintendo switch sports character

Nintendo has provided a look at early character concepts that were considered for Nintendo Switch Sports with brand new concept art.

While the game ultimately has human-looking characters and Miis, the team almost went in a different direction. Early on, college students were considered. There was even talk of using robots that made it to the prototype stage.

Developers Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita, Shinji Okane, and Junji Morii revealed the following regarding character concepts for Nintendo Switch Sports:

Why Nintendo Switch Sports took so long

A bit over five years into the Switch’s lifecycle, we finally saw the arrival of Nintendo Switch Sports. The announcement took many by surprise as some thought this would be the type of title we’d see earlier on.

Director Yoshikazu Yamashita and producer Takayuki Shimamura explained the long wait in a just-published interview on Nintendo’s website. According to Yamashita, Yoshiaka Koizumi requested a new entry in the Wii Sports series. However, Yamashita felt “that there weren’t any sports left to be added.” That led the team to create gameplay “without swinging the Joy-Con controller”, but “it didn’t go well in the end”. After realizing they took the wrong direction, years passed and Nintendo went back to the drawing board.

Here’s the full excerpt from the interview:

switch online congos caper pinball rival turf

Three new classic games have just been added to Nintendo Switch Online, with members now able to play Congo’s Caper, Pinball, and Rival Turf.

Pinball is the lone NES representative here. The other two games are for the SNES.

SD Gundam Battle Alliance release date

SD Gundam Battle Alliance now has a final release date on Switch. The game will be out on August 25, 2022, Bandai Namco announced today.

SD Gundam Battle Alliance was revealed for Switch in a Nintendo Direct back in February. The game had a general 2022 window at the time.

Yumeutsutsu Re:Master and Re:After

Limited Run Games has announced that it will offer a new physical version of Yumeutsutsu Re:Master and Yumeutsutsu Re:After on Switch in the west.

Both titles previously came to the console in April 2020. A physical version was offered in Asia with English support, but we never saw a boxed copy in North America or Europe. That changes now thanks to Limited Run Games.

Minecraft The Wild Update

Mojang Studios has announced that the next big update for Minecraft – known as The Wild Update – is set to arrive early next month. Fans can expect it on June 7, 2022.

The update will include new biomes, mobs, and blocks. More information can be found below.

Snow Bros. Special

The latest Japanese hardware sales from Famitsu are as follows:

Pac-Man Museum+ trailer

Pac-Man Museum+ has started to release, and Bandai Namco is celebrating the game’s arrival with a new launch trailer.

As a reminder, the collection includes fourteen different titles. You can find some additional information about the release below.


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