Last March, a new Pokemon smartphone game known as Pokemon Comaster launched in Japan. It’s now been localized for North America and Europe as “Pokemon Duel”.

For those who haven’t heard about it previously, here’s a lengthy overview:

Pokémon Duel is a strategy board game that uses Pokémon figures. Build a deck with your favorite figures and then leap into a League Match! Compete with players from around the world for a chance to enter the top League rankings in League Matches. You’ll fight your rivals in real time! Win duels, get all kinds of cool figures and items, and make your deck stronger!

The rules are simple! The object is to be the first player to get one of your figures to your opponent’s goal. How will you get to the goal? You’ll need to carefully choose your route! In duels, you and your opponent take turns moving your figures. Set up a strategic formation and attack your opponent, or simply block their path—it’s all about tactics! Plan your strategy and defeat your opponents in this game of cat and mouse!

In duels, your deck is composed of 6 Pokémon figures. There are all kinds of figures, each with different moves and abilities. Keep this in mind as you build your own custom deck!

Make use of your custom deck and the AI! The AI is a reliable ally who will determine good moves and take your turn for you. Make full use of the AI and crush your opponents!

You can find Pokemon Duel on iOS here and Android here. It’s free-to-play, but there are in-app microtransactions of course.

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Amazon UK has now opened pre-orders for the new Zelda: Breath of the Wild amiibo. The full set of five are located here. If they sell out, we’ll update this post.

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This week’s Famitsu review scores are as follows:

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4: Road to Boruto (PS4) – 10/9/9/9
Goodbye! BoxBoy! (3DS) – 8/8/9/9
Rive (PS4) – 8/7/7/8
Color Guardians (PS4/PSV) – 7/7/7/7
Double Dragon IV (PS4) – 7/7/7/7
Creeping Terror (3DS) – 7/7/7/7

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The Japanese Twitter account for Splatoon posted a couple of updates today. Both focus on weapons in the game: Heavy Splatling and Slosher.

With the Heavy Splatling, the mounting angle of its distinctive barrel component and its parts configuration have changed, but its basic weapon characteristics have been kept in tact.

The Slosher features a change in handle and suspension parts. Similar to the Heavy Splatling and Slosher, other weapons in the game have had model changes to match the two year trend change.

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Nintendo released the official North American boxart for Mario Sports Superstars. We’ve attached it above.

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Nintendo made a flurry of announcements about the 3DS today.

First, the Pikachu Yellow Edition New 3DS XL is heading to North America. Nintendo is bringing it out on February 24 for $199.99.

Mario Sports Superstar launches in North America on March 24. New amiibo cards are coming, which provide “a variety of four bonuses.” They can be purchased in blind packs of five for $4.99 each, but one card will be packed in with the game for a limited time.

More titles are joining the Nintendo Selects line in mid-February. Kirby Triple Deluxe and Mario & Luigi: Dream will both be dropped to $20.

Tank Troopers is slated for February 16, and Pikmin 3DS is reconfirmed for 2017.

Continue on below for today’s full announcement.

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As you probably know, a vote is currently underway for the upcoming Fire Emblem Heroes mobile game. Fans can vote for one character from the whole Fire Emblem series each day up until January 31st. The top ranking male and female characters will be added to Fire Emblem Heroes wearing a special outfit, while the top 10 male and female characters will receive special calendar wallpapers. The official Fire Emblem Heroes Twitter account revealed the current standings of the vote as of today:

1. Lyn (Blazing Blade)
2. Lucina (Awakening)
3. Ike (Path of Radiance)

This would mean that if the vote were to end today, Lyn and Ike in special outfits would be added to Fire Emblem Heroes.

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The official Puyo Puyo Tetris Twitter account recently announced that pre-orders of the Switch physical version of Puyo Puyo Tetris will come with a keychain of the Puyo and Tetrimino characters. You can see the tweet for yourself below.

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The Great Ace Attorney 2 is featured in this week’s issue of Famitsu. In the magazine, some new details are shared.

Here’s the lowdown:

– Follows Ryunosuke Naruhodo in late 19th century Japan and London
– Pursues the truth behind a mysterious case
– Sherlock Holmes and other fascinating characters will also appear
– Will feature cases and mysteries not discussed in the first game, as well as new episodes
– The “World Fair” and “Cursed Lodging” are the keys to the story, as well as a grave visiting scene with Ryunosuke’s partner Susato Mikotoba
– 35% complete

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While we still don’t have a concrete date beyond “late January” for the update that will implement Pokemon Bank compatibility with Pokemon Sun & Moon, we at least have some news about the transfer process from the generation 1 Virtual Console games to Pokemon Bank. This comes to us via Nintendo Hong Kong and Serebii.

One big question about this transfer process was how it would handle IVs, Natures and Abilities, since these didn’t exist (Natures & Abilities) or worked differently (IVs) in Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow. It seems like, when transferring a generation 1 Pokemon to Pokemon Bank, it will have 3 maxed out IVs and receive a random Nature and Ability (out of the ones it can have), with the possibility of it receiving its Hidden Ability. Transferred Pokemon will also receive a special Game Boy mark on their summary page, to indicate that they have been transferred from a generation 1 game.

A handy new feature is that you don’t need to transfer Pokemon to your games in order to register them in the National Pokedex. If you have all of your various games connected to Pokemon Bank, the Bank will sync them all up and combine all the Pokemon you own across your games into one list. You can also track various in-game statistics directly via the Bank, such as the total number of eggs you have hatched.

It will also be possible to send Battle Points again.

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