Nintendo earned big exposure during the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics last month. Mario appeared in a special video, and Japan’s prime minister even dressed up as the famous character. Mario and other characters had representation in the closing ceremony to ring in the next Olympics Japan will host in 2020.
Japan Today has a follow-up report on Nintendo’s involvement, and shared some interesting information. The site reached out to spokesperson Yasuhiro Minagawa, who said that the company did not need to pay anything for Mario’s inclusion. It merely came about due to Nintendo’s “cooperation”.
“I want to make that clear. We did not pay,” Minagawa stated. “And we are not going to become Olympic sponsors either.”
River City: Tokyo Rumble is a physical title in North America, but in Europe, the game is only being released digitally. And now we have a release date. According to an eShop listing, River City: Tokyo Rumble launches on September 29 for €29.99.
Yesterday, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword dropped on the Wii U eShop as the latest Wii download. Watch some footage below.
During yesterday’s Nintendo Direct, Mario Party: Star Rush – Party Guest was announced. 3DS owners can download this for on the eShop at launch. Up to four players can access the multiplayer experience with just a single copy of the game.
Nintendo has now shared a little more on what to expect from Mario Party: Star Rush – Party Guest. Here’s the information from the UK website:
Update: Bumped to the top. Added in the full tracklist.
On September 28, The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Music Collection will be available in Japan. Famitsu has now shared a few photos, which we have below. The last two are retailer bonuses by the way.
Nintendo is partnering with Sanrio on special Animal Crossing amiibo cards in Japan. Packs will contain two random cards as well as one random seal.
Sanrio characters will not be showing up in the game. Instead, players will have access to special furniture.
Hello Kitty, Pompompurin, Little Twin Stars, My Melody, Keroppi, and Cinnamoroll are included in the collaboration. The special seals include: Isabelle x Hello Kitty, Timmy & Tommy x Little Twin Stars, Mr. Resetti x Pompompurin, Lottie x My Melody, Kapp’n x Keroppi, and K. K. Slider x Cinnamoroll.
These new Animal Crossing amiibo cards go on sale on November 3.
Quite a few NX rumors have emerged over the past few weeks. When Eurogamer published its report, one of the more prominent things we heard is that the system will make use of cartridges. The Wall Street Journal is now making similar claims.
The publication, having spoken with “people familiar with the matter”, says that NX will indeed feature cartridges. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot else there that’s new or interesting. This does back up at least one (still unconfirmed) rumor.
Over in Korea, a Pokemon Sun/Moon demo rating has popped up. The listing is specifically called “Pokemon Sun & Moon Special Trial Version”.
As far as when the demo is launching, that’s not yet known at the time. It’s also unclear if it’ll be a global release.
More maintenance is lined up for the following week. Wii U / 3DS as well as Splatoon will be seeing some downtime.
The schedule is as follows:
Wii U / 3DS (online play, rankings, etc.)
– 4 PM PT (September 5) – 7 PM PT (September 5)
– 7 PM ET (September 5) – 10 PM ET (September 5)
– 12 AM in the UK (September 6) – 3 AM in the UK (September 6)
– 1 AM in Europe (September 6) – 4 AM in Europe (September 6)
Splatoon
– 5 PM PT (September 5) – 7 PM PT (September 5)
– 8 PM ET (September 5) – 10 PM ET (September 5)
– 1 AM in the UK (September 6) – 3 AM in the UK (September 6)
– 2 AM in Europe (September 6) – 4 AM in Europe (September 6)
