The Nintendo eShop on Switch, 3DS and Wii U will undergo maintenance next week for a period of two hours, during which it will be unavailable. The exact times are below:
- 3 PM PT (May 8) – 5 PM PT (May 8)
- 6 PM ET (May 8) – 8 PM ET (May 8)
- 11 PM in the UK (May 8) – 1 AM in the UK (May 9)
- 12 AM in Europe (May 9) – 2 AM in Europe (May 9)
The Switch is a massive sales success so far, which can be partially attributed to Nintendo’s continuous and prolific advertising of the system. A particular focus for the company seems to have to been ads on US television. In fact, according to research conducted by VentureBeat, no one in the games industry spent more on US TV ads in March 2017 than Nintendo.
Over 30% of the industry spend on TV ads in March (about $18.3 million) came from Nintendo. They aired 16 spots over 4,100 times and generated 583.5 million TV ad impressions. The biggest ad of the month was the Switch TV spot called “Believer”, which featured music by Imagine Dragons. Nintendo put a particular focus on ads that aired on Nick, Adult Swim, and Comedy Central, as well as during the NCAA basketball tournament, episodes of South Park and Nickelodeon’s 2017 Kids’ Choice Awards.
The Water Gym Cup in Pokemon Duel is now available, provided you’ve downloaded the latest update. The big draw is [EX] Kyogre, which can be obtained from gym boosters or after victories.
For the duration of the event, all Water-type Movement 1 & 2 figures get an additional 1 movement and all Grass-type figures get a boost of 20 to each of their attacks.
It feels like we’re getting a new feature reveal for Dragon Quest XI pretty much every week, and this week is no exception. This week’s Jump magazine has revealed the new “Zone” feature, which, among other things, allows the use of powerful co-op skills (thanks Siliconera for the translation).
We’ve actually seen the “Zone” feature briefly before in some screenshots. When the protagonist glows with a blue aura during battle, that’s the sign on him activating Zone. Not only do his stats temporarily increase, it also allows you to use powerful co-op skills – techniques in which the hero and one or more party members combine their powers to unleash a powerful attack. Jump magazine list three examples of co-op skills:
- Falcon Dance: the hero and Camus dance around an enemy, repeatedly attacking it with swift sword strikes
- Rose Hurricane: the hero, Sylvia and Row combine their magic powers and Sylvia’s love to unleash a powerful whirlwind
- Giga Burst: all party members team up and gather their powers in the hero’s sword, who delivers a devastating strike
However, players aren’t the only ones who can use this power – some enemies are also able to use “Zone” and co-op skills.
Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives Neo Geo games have been a fixture on the Switch eShop so far, with one classic Neo Geo game being released nearly every week. It seems like Swtch owners have been enjoying this steady flow of releases – today, Hamster Corporation revealed that worldwide sales for all of the Arcade Archives Neo Geo games combined have surpassed 200,000 on Switch. In a tweet, they thank players for their support and ask them to look forward to future developments.
It’s Tuesday, so it’s time for another Pokemon Shuffle update! Continuing on from last week, more Pokemon from Alola have been added to the game.
Three new special stages have been added: an Incineroar Escalation Battle stage, a Salazzle high-speed battle stage and a stage for Alolan Ninetales. All of those stages will be available until May 16th.
The Passimian Try ’em Items stage has been added to the rotation. It will be available every other week.
Finally, all players can get Alolan Vulpix as a gift.
The Xander Grand Hero Battle has started in Fire Emblem Heroes. You have until May 8th to beat the Hard and the Lunatic difficulty versions of Xander’s special map, which will reward you with a 3-star or 4-star version of Xander, respectively.
To help you with the battle, a new summoning focus will also be available until May 8th. The featured 5-star units with higher appearance rates are Linde, Chrom, Arthur and Cordelia.
In celebration of Miitomo’s first anniversary, Nintendo has brought back the “Look sharp! Smart Dresser” stage as voted in through a Twitter survey. Users can obtain popular items in this coin-exclusive special level.
It includes the following:
– Regal jacket w/ bow tie
– Fine plaid skirt
– Girls’ prep school top (set)
– Girls’ prep school skirt (set)
– Dashing jacket + vest
– Frilly sailor outfit
– Way-casual pants
– Casual school top
– Casual blazer
– Casual sneakers
– Casual school pants
The returning stage will be available until May 4 at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET.
On its official Twitter page, Atlus provided the official boxart for the Japanese 3DS game Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2. Check it out above.
One of the new elements included in Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s first DLC pack is the Hero’s Path Mode. It will monitor every step you make and mark a path on the map, allowing you to more easily keep track of progress.
Nintendo now has a video up showing the Hero’s Path Mode in action. You can view it below.
