Harvest Moon is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In an annual note from Natsume president Hiro Maekawa, it was teased that “a few surprises” are in store for the occasion.
Harvest Moon: Skytree Village ended up on 3DS towards the end of last year. Maekawa says the game performed “extremely well” from a physical and digital standpoint.
River City: Tokyo Rumble also came out for 3DS last year. “Fans have been extremely appreciative to us for bringing back this cult classic, and hopefully we will be able to do more in the future,” Maekawa mentioned.
You can read Maekawa’s full message here.
Update 2 (1/3): Two more screenshots are in the gallery. Plus, a short GIF is here.
Update (1/2): Added another couple of screenshots to the end of the gallery.
Original (12/30): Gory Detail posted another three screenshots from The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup on its Twitter page this week. Get a look at them below.
Circle Entertainment has put out a ton of games on the eShop over the years, so it’s no surprise that the company is interested in Switch. The publisher did actually attempt to apply for a Switch licence. However, CEO Chris Chao says “Nintendo wants us to be patient.”
That being said, Chao has some concerns about Switch. Since it supports engines like Unity and Unreal, developers will be able to easily make titles, and he’s unsure if the quality level can be maintained. Smaller developers surviving with a lot of competition could also be problematic.
Chao told Nintendo Life:
“Right now we are focusing on 3DS, Steam and PlayStation (probably VR); we tried to apply for a Switch license and Nintendo wants us to be patient. Personally I am a little bit worried about Switch (not the hardware), but I’m still willing to work on the platform.
If you want to know my worries, I have to say that if this platform can easily port the likes of Unity and Unreal, for gamers that’s cool to see so many titles come out, but how can we make sure game quality will stay at a high level? Maybe some indies will port 5-10 titles in 2 months; it’ll be hard for small developers to survive on the platform with such huge competition.”
According to market research firm Newzoo, Super Mario Run has generated over $30 million in gross revenue. It’s further estimated that the game has been downloaded 90 million times. With that in mind, it would seem that 3 million players have paid the full $10 for Super Mario Run.
Last month, a new classification was spotted in Brazil for Rime. It was initially announced for PlayStation 4, but the listing indicated that it’s now planned for new platforms including Switch.
IGN has now confirmed that Rime is indeed coming to Switch. Additionally, a new trailer is in. Have a look at it below.
Rime is launching in May. Developer Tequila Works describes the game as “a single-player puzzle adventure about discovery, experienced through the eyes of a young boy who awakens on a mysterious island after shipwrecking off its coast. Players must navigate the island’s secrets by making use of light, sound, perspective and even time. Inspired by the rugged, sunbaked terrain of the Mediterranean coast, Rime paints its breathtaking world with a fusion of vibrant colors and moving musical undertones to set the stage for the deeply personal journey that awaits within.”
During NHK’s Dragon Quest program which aired last week, character designer Akira Toriyama – who is also the creator of Dragon Ball – shared a special message. He reflected on originally getting the job, working on the series in general, and a bit on the upcoming Dragon Quest XI.
Crunchyroll has now gone to the trouble of translating Toriyama’s message in full. You can read it below.
JR lines in Japan are seemingly promoting the Nintendo Switch hands-on event and advertising it to their customers, as we can see in a Reddit post shared today.
There’s no new information about it, but remember that it will last seven hours. Other parts of the world will also begin holding opportunities to go hands-on with Switch towards the end of next week.
Laura Kate Dale has published a new set of Switch rumors pertaining specifically to Ubisoft.
First, Dale has an update on Beyond Good & Evil 2. Her sources have informed her that the game’s code name is “Odyssey”. It’ll be exclusive to Switch for the game’s first 12 months in both retail and digital versions. After that period ends, it’ll head to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, but digital-only. Dale says Beyond Good & Evil 2’s teaser will probably be shown at the end of Switch’s big event next week.
Dale also shares some news about Rayman Legends, which originally arrived in 2013. She reports that this version of the title will be announced during the January 12 event and will ship in Q2.
Finally, the Mario and Rabbids crossover RPG is apparently going by the name “Rabbids Kingdom Battle”. She’s heard from one source that it may be pushed back to September.
Beenox / Activion’s The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel have seemingly been removed from the North American Wii U eShop. It has disappeared from other online stores as well, which likely means that the license has expired. It’s currently not known if Activision has any interest in renewing the license, so for now, you will have to get physical copies if you want to play either of these games.
