In a new interview with 4Gamer, Tsunekazu Ishihara talked about how late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s vital work helped bring the original Pokemon games to the west. You can read up on the full excerpt below, courtesy of Siliconera’s translation.
4Gamer: I believe there may be more people now that don’t know that Iwata-san was involved in Pokémon.
Ishihara: I think there are even people within Nintendo that don’t even know. 1998 was around the time Iwata-san was working as President of HAL Laboratory.
This week’s Japanese sales numbers include two big milestones for Nintendo. One is all about hardware, and another applies to one specific game.
First, 3DS has sold over 20 million units in Japan. It’s also important to mention that Splatoon has now sold over 1 million copies in the territory. The game likely already reached that number with digital copies included, though Famitsu’s data officially confirms the figure with physical units. It’s a nice way for Nintendo to close out the year!
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD has gone in and out of stock on Amazon a couple of times since pre-orders went up a little over a month ago. It’s now back up again with orders being accepted here.
I’ll try to keep an eye on the listing and will update this post if it disappears once more!
Thanks to Jake for the tip.
Amazon is selling an Animal Crossing amiibo card pack and the HORI binder/card holder at a bit of a discount. If you pick up the “bundle”, it’ll be yours for only $13. You can partake in the deal right here.
Thanks to Jake for the tip.
What is the NX? Is it a console or a handheld? Perhaps a mix of the two? We’ve actually received a number of hints and vague statements indicating that the NX will at least be a home console, but Nintendo has yet to go on the record and confirm anything officially.
Enter Koei Tecmo. During an interview with Japanese website 4Gamer, president and CEO Yoichi Erikawa further hinted that gamers can expect NX to be a home console.
Here’s the full exchange between the two sides:
4Gamer: On one hand, virtual reality requires special machinery to play, and we feel that the current state of “games” is headed to yet another way of playing. It’s almost as if it’s evolving towards the opposite direction of smartphones, and requires to “only play at that spot,” or something along those lines. Lately it seems that [home] consoles haven’t been doing too well, but is that the case? At least that’s what we’re wondering.
Erikawa: “Actually, I think that it’ll start doing much better. The PlayStation 4 has recently surpassed 2 million units in nationwide sales, and Nintendo announced a new ‘machine’ called the NX. From this point forward, I believe that each company will make clear commitments for these machines.”
This week’s 3DS eShop charts are as follows:
Software
1. Mario Kart 7
2. Super Mario 3D Land
3. Terraria
4. Super Mario Bros. 3
5. Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
6. Shovel Knight
7. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS
8. Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon
9. Smash Controller
10. Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
11. Super Mario Bros.
12. SteamWorld Heist
13. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
14. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
15. Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse
16. The Legend of Zelda
17. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2
18. Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
19. Yoshi’s New Island
20. Devil Survivor Overclocked
Videos
1. Super Smash Bros. Final Video Presentation
2. Nintendo Badge Arcade Trailer
3. Yo-kai Watch Launch Trailer
4. Super Smash Bros. – Bayonetta Gets Wicked
5. Yo-kai Watch Episode 1
6. Super Smash Bros. – Corrin Chooses to Smash
7. Terraria Announcement Trailer
8. Pokemon Picross – Turn Puzzles Into Portraits
9. Super Smash Bros. – Cloud Storms Into Battle
10. Mario Kart 7 Video
11. Stella Glow Trailer
12. Yo-kai Watch Panic Commercial
13. Super Smash Bros. – Mii Fighters Suit Up for Wave Five
14. Super Smash Bros. – Mii Fighters Suit Up for Wave Six
15. Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden Full Trailer
16. Yo-kai Watch General Gameplay Trailer
17. Zelda: Tri Force Heroes Launch Trailer
18. SteamWorld Heist Launch Trailer
19. Pokemon Rumble World Trailer
20. Yo-kai Watch E3 2015 Trailer
Source: 3DS eShop
On Thursday, indie developer Gnobsoftware will be releasing Molly Maggot on the North American Wii U eShop. Here’s a brief overview of the M-rated title:
“Play as Molly the maggot as she begins her life of decay flesh munching. WARNING a maggot life is a hard life. See how hard maggots have it as you defend yourself against other decay eaters and the corpses own body fighting back. Enjoy and explore an anatomy based map in story mode or try to make it through extra mode with randomly spawning exits. Both stages can be played in hard or if you dare extreme mode.”
Molly Maggot will be available for $1.99. View a trailer below.
Well over 20 years ago, Dayvv Brooks worked at Nintendo as a product analyst. One early assignment he had was to take poorly translated Japanese text and making it sound better.
Speaking with Kotaku, Brooks explained how he came up with the names of the different Koopalings, including how Lemmy was inspired by Motörhead rock band founder Lemmy Kilmister.
He said:
“Music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve been a DJ for years and have been a music collector for even longer. When I first saw the group of seven Koopalings, music was on my mind.
The hairstyle on one of them reminded me of Ludwig von Beethoven for some reason and Ludwig von Koopa was born. Next was the one with the glasses—that has to be Roy Koopa in homage to Roy Orbison, who almost always wore glasses. Then Wendy O. Koopa (Wendy O. Williams) [and] Iggy Koopa (Iggy Pop). One looked like a loudmouth, so he was Morton Koopa Jr. from [the] loud-mouthed talk show host Morton Downey Jr. And then there was Larry. There’s no real-world equivalent—he’s not Larry Mullen Jr. from U2 or Larry King—he just looked like a Larry.
That brings us to Lemmy. In addition to being a great name, it’s perfect for a video game character. This Koopaling struck me as being the kind of character who would do his own thing, no matter what anyone else thought. I think it was those crazy eyes. Lemmy Koopa was in the crew.”
Kotaku says that Nintendo had to approve Brooks’ translation ideas, all of which were signed off by the company.
Battletoads is known to be one of the tougher games on the NES. What do the teenagers of today think of the Rare classic? Find out in the video below.
3DS owners can obtain a bunch of different hats for their Mii in StreetPass Mii Plaza. One of these is based on Kirby, which features the character as a completely wearable item.
In Japan, ensky will be bringing out a real life version of the hat. You can actually reserve it right now on Play-Asia as an import item for $30. It should be available towards the end of February – Play-Asia lists February 25.
