Final Fantasy Explorers is coming overseas, Square Enix has announced. The game is due out on January 26, 2016 in North America and January 29, 2016 in Europe.
Here’s an overview of the game from Square Enix:
Either through solo play or with up to three other Explorers, players can dive into dungeons to collect crystals scattered throughout the world while battling classic FINAL FANTASY® enemies.
FINAL FANTASY EXPLORERS focuses on cooperative play with friends and utilizes a refined party system allowing Explorers to master over 20 new and familiar jobs—including Knight, Monk, Black Mage and White Mage—to defeat the realm’s mightiest monsters and even recruit them for battle. Players will have the ability to call upon the powers of eidolons like Ifrit and Bahamut, as well as transform into other legendary characters from the FINAL FANTASY series via the Trance feature.
The multiplayer functionality is enabled through the Nintendo 3DS system’s wireless communication functions.
Story
The world is on the brink of war over its reserves of crystals, the planet’s chief source of power. Players must band together to form an elite squad of Explorers on an island rich in crystals, braving hordes of monsters in hopes of conquering a newly discovered Grand Crystal – every Explorer’s dream.
Watch the western announcement trailer for Final Fantasy Explorers below.
Source: Square Enix PR
This week’s North American Nintendo Downloads are as follows:
Wii U Virtual Console
Kirby Squeak Squad – $9.99
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards – $9.99
Wii Download
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land – $19.99
Wii U Download
Badland: Game of the Year Edition – $9.99
Endless Golf – $1.99
Xeodrifter – $9.99
Wii U Demo
Just Dance 2016
Wii U Update
New Splatoon Update – On Aug. 5, a free software update for the Splatoon game on the Wii U console brings new content to the game, including two new matchmaking modes, new weapon types, an increase to the game’s level caps and more than 40 pieces of new gear. Following this update, more content will continually roll out through the rest of the summer and fall, including the Rainmaker Ranked Battle mode, additional maps and new weapons. For more information visit http://splatoon.nintendo.com.
3DS Download
Best of Board Games – Mahjong – $9.99
Best of Board Games – Solitaire – $9.99
Flick Golf 3D – $5.99
3DS Themes
Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: Classic Theme
eShop Sales
Wii U
– Elliot Quest is 15 percent off (reduced from $12.99 to $10.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on August 13.
– High Strangeness is 50 percent off (reduced from $9.99 to $4.99) beginning at 9 a.m. PT on Aug. 3 until 8:59 a.m. PT on Aug. 9.
– 99Moves, Abyss and Rock Zombie from EnjoyUp are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on Aug. 27.
3DS
– Castle Conqueror Defender, Demon King Box and Quell Memento from Circle Entertainment are on sale until 8:59 a.m. PT on Aug. 20.
– Toys vs. Monsters is 50 percent off (reduced from $3.99 to $1.99) until 8:59 a.m. PT on Aug. 23.
Permanent Price Drop
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham has been reduced to $19.99 (from $29.99).
Activities
Miiverse has an entire new look and new features! – With a new Screen Shot Album and Play Journal features, there is a lot to explore! Get ready to have more fun than ever sharing tips, drawings and comments on Miiverse. Check out https://miiverse.nintendo.net/special/redesign_announcement for all the fun details.
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. “Sink or Swim” Tournament – See how your squad stacks up online in Nintendo’s Public Tournaments. Top players earn unique titles that are visible online and earn major bragging rights with your friends and around the world. The new “Sink or Swim” tournament runs July 31 through Aug. 9. Opt in via the SpotPass feature for notifications about future tournaments. Good luck, agents!
Source: Nintendo PR
Nintendo has published six more photos from the Super Mario Maker hackathon event at Facebook. Each of the images is posted below, along with descriptions of each.
Photo 1
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Mario pays a visit to Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. During a “hackathon” event, Facebook employees created their own levels for the upcoming Super Mario Maker game for Nintendo’s Wii U home console. The top level, as selected by Nintendo and Facebook judges, will be made available to players for free after the game launches on the 11th of September.Photo 2
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Gina Policelli of Facebook designs a level in the Super Mario Maker game during a special “hackathon” event hosted by Nintendo at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. The winning level will be available for Super Mario Maker owners to download and play shortly after the game’s launch on the 11th of September.Photo 3
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Nina Veress Langenfeld, Benjamin Braun and Kai Seward of Facebook design a level in the Super Mario Maker game during a special “hackathon” event hosted by Nintendo at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. The winning level will be available for Super Mario Maker owners to download and play shortly after the game’s launch on the 11th of September.Photo 4
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Facebook Director of Strategic Product Partnerships, Ime Archibong, judges a level in the Super Mario Maker game during a special “hackathon” event hosted by Nintendo at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. The winning level will be available for Super Mario Maker owners to download and play shortly after the game’s launch on the 11th of September.Photo 5
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Facebook employees play a level developed during a “hackathon” event for the Super Mario Maker game hosted by Nintendo at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park on Tuesday, July 28, 2015. The winning level will be available for Super Mario Maker owners to download and play shortly after the game’s launch on the 11th of September.Photo 6
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Corey Olcsvary from the Nintendo Treehouse announces winners Doug Strait, center, and Roy McElmurry (not pictured), who designed the winning Super Mario Maker level, “Ship Love,” created during a “hackathon” event at Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. More than 150 of Facebook’s best and brightest employees created their unique take on Super Mario Bros. levels for the upcoming Super Mario Maker game for Nintendo’s Wii U home console. The top level, as selected by Nintendo and Facebook judges, will be made available to players for free shortly after the game launches on the 11th of September.
Source: Nintendo PR
In his previous Famitsu column, Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai wrote about the passing of Satoru Iwata. This week’s issue of the magazine has another piece from Sakurai in which he touches on Iwata’s funeral.
Sakurai wrote:
“Normally at a place like this, one’s eyes go to the photo [of the deceased]. The smiling face of Mr. Iwata surrounded by flowers was a very nice picture.”
“Inside there was the still body of Mr. Iwata. He was probably dressed in traditional white funeral garb, his glasses removed, and his nose stuffed [with cotton]. And today, his body was going to be burned and reduced to nothing. Mr. Iwata would no longer exist in this world.”
A few new LBX: Little Battlers eXperience have been sent out by Nintendo today. We’ve rounded them up in the gallery below.
Family Gamer TV recently had Splatoon co-director Tsubasa Sakaguchi answer a bunch of questions from kids. You can watch the full video below.
Wegenbartho is bringing Sanatory Hallways to the European Wii U eShop next week, according to a listing on the store. It should be available on August 6 for €9.99.
Here’s an official overview from the game’s Indiegogo page:
Sanatory Hallways takes the idea of the Luigi mini-game from Nintendoland and takes it up to a whole new level.
In the Versus-Mode (local only for the WiiU), one player takes control of the protagonist Charla, who’s plagued by nightmares where she finds herself located in strange buildings and facilities. Her goal is to find a blue key, which allows her to unlock the exit and thus making her wake up.
Marvelous Games just announced that Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson will be released in Europe and Australia on August 27th. Check out the new trailer:
Finally, if you order the game from Marvelous’ online store, you will receive the cards pictured below as a free bonus.
MCV reports that the Nintendo UK online store will launch a service called “N-Box” soon, which will be a product similar to the popular “Loot Crate”.
According to MCV, those boxes will contain “toys, clothes and other merchandise inspired by and branded with Nintendo icons such as Mario, Zelda and Pokémon.” You will supposedly be able to buy boxes individually or subscribe for either three, six or 12 months and receive a box each month.
Again, this has not yet been officially confirmed by Nintendo, although MCV are a fairly reputable outlet.
LBX: Little Battlers eXperience will launch in Europe on September 4th. Nintendo just announced that free add-on content for the game will released via SpotPass on a weekly basis until June 2016. This free content includes LBX cards, quests and capsule toys. In addition, some LBX models will only be available via connecting to a Nintendo Zone.
A similar free DLC program for the North American version of the game has not yet been announced, though it seems likely. We will keep you updated.
