It’s not too often that you see a female protagonist in a video game. When Shantae was in development over a decade ago, this was even no prominent.

And so it shouldn’t be too surprising to hear that for the first Shantae, WayForward was asked – likely by publishers – to put the character on the back-burner in favor for a male hero. According to the studio’s Matt Bozon, even though WayForward lost “many, many battles early on”, the team didn’t budge “and never made Shantae the 2nd playable character”.

“We had many, many battles early on and lost. But we stuck to our guns and never made Shantae the 2nd playable character next to a male hero (it was suggested many times). So I like to think we softened the game biz up a bit.”

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Famitsu has published another article about Exstetra with a few more screenshots and details. You can find the images and a summary of information below – translation courtesy of Siliconera.

Recap

– Game’s premise is Tokyo having fused with the alternate world Amasia
– Ryoma, an amnesiac student, learns that your kiss turns others into Prisma Knights
– This affects both men and women
– Sword-wielding Jin and archer Mizuki will team up with Ryoma
– Ryoma’s powers mark him as the Prisma, the messiah destined to save Amasia from its destruction and return worlds to normality

New details

– The area around Tokyo’s Akihabara has now fallen as silent as the grave
– Area has buildings and bridges adorn with lush tropical greens
– Delving into Akihabara’s dungeon, it spreads off as far as the eye can see, bleak darkness with shafts of light punctuating its metallic corridors and walkways
– Impossible drops and far off pillars make for difficult traveling
– Ryoma and friends will retire to Seiba village in between exploring Tokyo
– Depending on how the various heroines are feeling, special side interaction events between Ryoma and the girls could be unlocked

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First print copies of J Legend Biography come with an extra game. Namco Bandai is including a download code for Dragon Ball Z: Frieza the Planet Destroyer, a title that originally came out on the Famicom and covers the Dragon Ball Z storyline through the Frieza saga. Players will be able to download Frieza the Planet Destroyer with an included code.

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Nintendo has issued an official response to this month’s NPD report. The statement contains many of the same sales that we covered in a post we covered a short while ago, but we also have lifetime sales figures for a few 3DS games.

In any case, here’s Nintendo’s response in full:

Fueled by a strong start for Mario & Luigi^™: Dream Team and the continued strength of games such as Animal Crossing^™: New Leaf and Luigi’s Mansion^™: Dark Moon, Nintendo 3DS^™ finished August as the best-selling video game system in the U.S. for the fourth consecutive month. More than 6.47 million units of Nintendo 3DS software have been sold so far in 2013, an increase of nearly 30 percent over the same time frame last year.

Other highlights for August include:

• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team for Nintendo 3DS launched on Aug. 11 and sold nearly 190,000 combined physical and digital units.
• Pikmin^™ 3 for Wii U^™ launched on Aug. 4 and sold more than 115,000 combined physical and digital units.
• New Super Luigi U^™ for Wii U launched in stores on Aug. 25, after two months as a digital-only download, and has now sold nearly 120,000 combined units.
• So far in 2013, nine Nintendo 3DS games have sold at least 250,000 combined physical and digital units. These include:

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Nintendo has prevailed in a case initiated by Creative Kingdoms, Nintendo has announced.

Creative Kingdoms originally filed its International Trade Commission complaint in 2011. The company declared that Nintendo infringed on its MagiQuest wands technology through the Wii remote controller.

However, the commission has ruled in favor of Nintendo, determining that the Wii – as well as the Wii U – do not violate any patents. The commission also found that Creative Kingdoms’ patents are invalid.

Richard Medway, Nintendo of America’s deputy general counsel, said of the ruling:

“We are pleased with the commission’s determination. Nintendo’s track record demonstrates that we vigorously defend patent lawsuits when we believe we have not infringed another party’s patent. Nintendo continues to develop unique and innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others.”

Source: Nintendo PR

US sales results for three Nintendo releases in the month of August are in. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team came out on top with 190,000 copies sold (physical and digital), followed by New Super Luigi U at 120,000 units (physical and digital) and Pikmin 3 at 115,000 units.

6.47 million 3DS games have been sold thus far this year. That’s up close to 30 percent year-over-year.

Here’s a listing of 3DS games that have sold at least 250,000 combined copies in 2013 as of now:

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (863,000)
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (739,000)
New Super Mario Bros. 2 (406,000 in 2013, 1.85 million total)
Fire Emblem Awakening (390,000)
Mario Kart 7 (352,000 in 2013, 2.84 million total)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (298,000)
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (268,000)
Super Mario 3D Land (265,000 in 2013, 2.86 million total)
LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins (264,000)

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Two more 3DS models are ceasing production in Japan. Nintendo has confirmed that the Ice White and Cosmo Black variations will soon be discontinued.

In May, Nintendo ditched the Cobalt Blue and Misty Pink 3DS systems. Aqua Blue and Flare Red colors have also followed the same path, so this isn’t too out of the ordinary.

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Cut the Rope will be hitting the North American 3DS eShop next week, according to a listing on Nintendo’s website. It’ll be joined by Rage of the Gladiator – another downloadable title coming out on Thursday.

That’s assuming the listing is correct, of course. Nintendo’s database has occasionally been inaccurate.

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