Although The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo’s most successful and beloved franchises, everyone wasn’t always on board with its main concept. At the Digital Contents Expo, Shigeru Miyamoto spoke about the series in his keynote and stated that initially, the first game received tremendous opposition because there was a belief that no one would know where to travel in the game’s open world. In other words, the amount of freedom in Zelda was questioned. There are so many options and paths available to the gamer, causing concern that players wouldn’t know what to do next.
WiiWare:
-Bit.Trip Void (Arc System Works, 500pts)
-Castlevania Adventure: ReBirth (Konami, 1000pts)
-Shadow Walker: Kage no Shounen to Hikari no Yousei (Game Arts, 1000pts)
[Shadow Walker: Boy of Shadow and Fairy of Light]
-@Simple Series Vol. 5: The Judo (D3 Publisher, 700pts)
DSiWare:
DSiWare 200:
-Earth Saver: Inseki bakuha Daisakusen (Tom Create)
[Earth Saver: Meteorite Blast Epic Battle]
DSiWare 500:
-Puzzle Iroiro Gekkan Crossword Puzzle House Vol. 6 (Nintendo)
DSiWare Premium:
-Kuniyaburete Sanga Ari (Square-Enix, 800pts)
[Mountains and Rivers in a Destroyed Country]
When Epic Mickey was first hinted as being a Wii-exclusive, most gamers believed that the decision was made because of the controls the system offers. However, according to Warren Spector, the audience behind the platform is the primary reason why the title landed on the Wii. Spector told Game Informer that Epic Mickey could be a tough sell to those who play games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto.
“Well, think about it. Would you really want to tackle convincing Halo or Grand Theft Auto players that they want to be Mickey Mouse? Would you really want to do that? In terms of finding a congenial audience, let’s go for a platform that’s known for Mario and Link and now Sonic. Come on. Honestly, with the unit sales on the hardware, it was kind of a lucky happenstance. We made the call to go to the Wii long before it was clear that the Wii was going to be, at least for now, the best-selling platform.
It was about going where the audience is and going somewhere where they’re going to accept a visual style that is more cartoony than people are used to seeing and where we don’t feel obliged to throw in every shader on the planet. ‘Look at the normal maps and shaders.’ We don’t have to do that kind of stuff. It’s the right platform for this project, for sure.”
Thanks to Sarah for the news tip!
DEWSBURY, ENGLAND – 23rd October 2009 – The Code Monkeys, an independent videogame development studio, have revealed more details on their forthcoming ‘monkey opus’ Manic Monkey Mayhem, releasing on Nintendo WiiWare on October 30th.
With a variety of game modes across both single player and multiplayer, Manic Monkey Mayhem is set to be this autumn’s must have party game for Wii players of all ages. ‘Greatest Ape’ sees each player begin with a stockpile of bananas and three lives with the winner being the last monkey left standing on their podium. In ‘Minute Monkey’, all players have unlimited lives but the game is played against the clock in 1, 3 or 5 minute matches. The winner is the one that scores the most points before the clock runs down. The third game mode is ‘Ape Team’ where players are divided up in to two teams, with the objective being to defeat the other side by taking all three lives of every one of your opponents. The winning team is the one that removes every player of the opposing side from their podiums.
Nintendo Wii
North America:
1. Wii Sports Resort — 2 Wii MotionPlus Bundle (Nintendo)
2. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)
3. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Nintendo)
4. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
5. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
Japan:
1. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)
2. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Nintendo)
3. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
4. Okami — Special Edition (Capcom)
5. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
UK:
1. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
2. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
3. Wii Fit (Nintendo)
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Sega)
5. FIFA 10 (EA Sports)
Nintendo DS
North America:
1. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (Nintendo)
2. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Square Enix)
3. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (Nintendo)
4. Scribblenauts (Warner Bros.)
5. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
Japan:
1. Pocket Monsters: Soul Silver (Nintendo)
2. Pocket Monsters: Heart Gold (Nintendo)
3. Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo)
4. Love Plus (Konami)
5. Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito (Square Enix)
UK:
1. Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box (Nintendo)
2. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo)
3. Rhythm Paradise (Nintendo)
4. Junior Brain Trainer (Avanquest)
5. Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (Disney)
This information comes from Ken Berry, Director of Publishing at Xseed…
“Xseed Games is no longer involved with Arc Rise Fantasia. The decision from Marvelous Entertainment, Inc, to re-license the US release to another publisher was driven by Marvelous’ business decision to increase its overall profitability. Marvelous and Xseed have greatly enjoyed working together to deliver great titles to the US market, and look forward to continuing the opportunity with upcoming titles.”
The Official Nintendo Magazine took part in a Q&A with some readers over the past few days. We’ve posted some of the information below, but you can check out all of the responses here. Thanks to ONM for sending us this news tip!
I’d like to know whether there are any modes apart from the main game, such as mini-games…
There are three modes. The main game itself (which can be played on either single-player or multiplayer modes), Free For All Mode and Coin Battle mode.
If playing with only two players, can you play as Toad?
Player two can play as Toad but Player one will always be Mario. Any other players who join can choose from Luigi or one of the two Toads.
Are the power-ups awesome and are there more than those we already know about?
They are indeed awesome (especially the Penguin and Propeller suits), but there aren’t any more than the ones we already know about. The Penguin suit’s awesome because you can throw ice, you can slide on your belly and, if you fall into water while wearing it, you can control the direction you swim in with the D-Pad just like the Frog Suit in Super Mario Bros 3.
