Happy 4th of July to everyone celebrating! Even if you have nothing to do with the holiday, I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend.
Last week, I put up a pretty important post on Nintendo Everything. If you haven’t already seen it, I’d greatly appreciate if you’d give it a look since it’s very critical to the site’s future. The gist is that, from a financial standpoint, I have some concerns, and I feel like something will need to change sooner rather than later in order for things to continue as they are now. Ultimately I’ve just wanted to continue handling the site in the same manner that I have been for the past eight years, am I’m hoping that some of the suggestions you threw my way will allow for that.
The kindness you’ve shown thus far has been overwhelming. I can’t thank you all enough for the positive sentiments, words of encouragement, and overall support you’ve shared. It truly means a lot to me, and I can’t say that enough.
Over the past few days, I’ve been taking the time to really look at and reflect upon all of the comments left in last week’s post. There were two main suggestions that were brought up, and both were donation-related. One idea was to add a donation link (ex: PayPal) to the site. The other, which was suggested more than anything else, was Patreon. Patreon is something that I may very well pursue, but I feel like this post (and subsequent feedback once again!) is necessary before anything can happen.
So what the heck is Patreon? Many of you seem to be familiar with it already, but it’s certainly worth an explanation regardless.
Patreon would allow anyone who visits Nintendo Everything to donate to the site each month. That could be as little as $1, or something higher – it’d be entirely up to you. You’d also be able to cancel or change your donation amount from month to month. Patreon is more than a donation service though. It would also allow me to provide everyone who chips in with a few “rewards”.
At least for now, the idea of Patreon seems like the smarter way of approaching the situation when compared to a donation link. With the former, you guys would have complete control as to how much to donate from month to month. I also like the idea of providing something in return, even if it wouldn’t be huge.
I think that’s it for now. Just like last week, I’ll be reading up on everything you all have to say in the comments below. I realize that we already had a pretty big talk and Patreon was one of the top suggestions stemming from the previous post, but I really did feel like one more discussion was necessary before proceeding with anything. Based on last week’s comments and how people respond this week, I’ll be making a final decision on how to proceed very soon.
The official boxart for Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS is now available for viewing. Check it out above.
Let’s Talk #14: What are you playing? – July 2015
Summer is here, and it’s the start of a new month. Given that – and the fact that we’re a games-oriented website – I thought we should host a “what are you playing” topic for Let’s Talk this week. It may actually be something that we do at the start of each month going forward depending on how the discussion goes this time around.
So tell us in the comments below: what are you playing right now? It’d be great if what you mention is Nintendo-related, but I don’t think it’d be fair to exclude others from Let’s Talk if they’re currently playing on a different platform. That means anything is fair game! I’ll start the discussion off below.
I’ve been playing a whole lot of Mario Tennis on the 3DS Virtual Console lately. Nintendo put the game on sale in North America a couple of weeks ago, and while it was only about $1 less than the normal asking price, I decided to grab it and jump right in.
I played Mario Tennis a ton back in the day on the Game Boy Color. I still have my original system and the game cartridge in fact!
I have so, so many fond memories of this title. It’s really as a good as I remember it, and it sort of makes me wish that the Mario Tennis games these days were a bit more like it. Mario Tennis Open on 3DS was alright, but this one is much better in my opinion.
The main draw of Mario Tennis on the Game Boy Color was definitely the story mode. You can play as either Alex or Nina (plus a partner of Harry or Kate depending on if you select doubles), and level up/improve stats along the way.
Thus far, I haven’t even touched that mode even though I loved it greatly. I’ve just been spending a lot of time in exhibition matches thus far. Something about the core tennis gameplay feels perfect. I have a feeling I won’t be putting the title down anytime soon!
Highlights from last week’s topic: Your thoughts on Nintendo’s E3 2015 performance
bakedapplepie
Overall I think it was a pretty good show. Ya a lot of what we knew already, but the Starfox reveal, interviews, and muppets/puppets were great. I thought the Treehouse team did a great job really showing the viewer more depth to all the games mentioned in the digital direct and showing some games that were not mentioned (Fatal Frame). Also the return of the Nintendo World Championship was a lot of fun to watch. The one thing that I was seriously disappointed in was their was no announcement for a new HD Zelda remaster for the Wii U. I truly expected that they would announce Twilight Princess HD, since they delayed Zelda Wii U and they did such a good job on Wind Waker. I’m still hoping that this comes true.
Kimite
I think it was the way Nintendo presented their games and some of the interviews were a bit long than they need maybe. Still am not too sure if it was a good idea too show all of the new upcoming stuff right before E3 ;^^. I mean they had their Nintendo Direct about 3 weeks ago and their Smash presentation last Sunday, and I think it would be better if they included some of those games in the Digital Event too.
Still most of the games Nintendo featured in the Digital Event is probably going to be good if not amazing ^^. I mean I am looking forward to 4-5 of the games they showed as I am a Zelda fan and I RPGer. (Really looking forward to Triforce Heroes ^^).
I mentioned it below in a comment, but I think the reason why Devil’s Third and Fatal Frame wasn’t shown in the Digital Event is because of a/the same law in Europe that forbid people to buy 18/M rated games before 11PM ;^^. (Don’t ask me why Europe has laws like that :-/).
The reason why I think there will be a Nintendo Direct in August is the amount of content Nintendo are releasing then. Like: The Match making mode for Splatoon (and Rainmaker mode), Tournament mode in Smash and Devil’s Third.
Right now I think the best thing we can do is wait for the good games to come and we are actually getting both Legend of Kay and Art Academy this month, so I don’t think we should be bitter for too long as there are plenty of games that are coming with are really good :-).
LittleLynn
Nintendo’s Digital Event was kind of completely terrible. There was entirely too much fluff. I totally zoned out when Miyamoto blabbed on about the inspiration for Star Fox for entirely too long. And I actually passed out while Reggie was asking how Donkey Kong and Bowser got into Skylanders (only to wake up and find them still talking). Whoopie. I thought this was supposed to be about games?
I’m sure that kind of stuff is interesting to somebody, but I think even they’d agree it’s not really the time or place for it. One of the things I tend to appreciate about Nintendo’s presentations over the others is that usually Nintendo doesn’t spend so much time patting itself on the back. This year, not so much.
That and a lot of bizarre game choices. From the weird Metroid sports thing to two new Animal Crossing games that did nothing but offend Metroid and Animal Crossing fans alike. And I’ll probably just skip Triforce Heroes, as someone who really couldn’t get into Four Swords. I’m not into Star Fox. I’m not into Skylanders. I’d play Mario Tennis at a friend’s place if they had it, but I couldn’t imagine myself getting and playing it on my own.
I think Hyrule Warriors Legends was probably the best new(ish) announcement. I’d been waiting for a price drop before I picked it up, but a new portable version, with all the DLC, at the price of a 3DS game? Good enough price for me. I just wish it weren’t spoiled beforehand.
But seriously, no third version for Pokemon XY? I thought for sure they’d announce that.
It’s not to say everything out of Nintendo sucked though. Rather, all the games they showed that I’m looking forward to, are ones we’ve already known about for a while: Yoshi’s Woolly World, Super Mario Maker, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Fire Emblem Fates, and Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem (or whatever they’re calling it now). That’s a lot of games to be excited for actually, but I already knew they were coming. And the new videos mostly offered next to no new real information about any of them (excluding Mario Maker, which actually got a lot of new details). For the most part, there weren’t really any surprises. Honestly, I think they should’ve saved both the Micro Direct from a few weeks back, and the Smash Direct (and maybe even Earthbound Beginnings) from last weekend for the Digital Event. It’d have had a lot more substance if they did.
Exy
I think it would have been a better show if they didn’t sabotage themselves in the six months leading up to it. The Nintendo Directs, the Nintendo World Championships, and the DeNA announcement and the NX reveal accompanying it all took away things that could have been much bigger deals at E3. They should have put, say, Metroid Prime: Federation Force in some Nintendo Direct if they had a clue how people would react to it, but they didn’t because they absolutely had to have a surprise game in the championships. For each big reveal and deconfirmations leading up to E3, expectations went higher and higher and they just made it impossible to get anything other than the reaction they got. That said, they’ll be fine, even if the show did feel oddly 3DS-centric. They’ve survived a few “losses” and this one is being blown out of proportion.
As for me, I went in expecting only a ton of Mario Maker stuff and that’s what I got, so I was satisfied. And they showed a bunch of gameplay whenever possible, unlike some other shows this year as usual. Also Muppets.
Boss Jelly
Underwhelmed as a whole, it just seemed like variants of things we already knew about. I think Paper Jam, Star Fox and Tennis look pretty cool though. I’m not INCREDIBLY angry about the Metroid game but I’m a little disappointed after 5 years that this is the return of the series…Amiibo Festival on the other hand…
Level-5 issued a new batch of screenshots from Yo-Kai Watch Busters. Take a look at the full set in the gallery below.
It’s time for the latest Famitsu’s most wanted games chart! Dragon Quest VIII has dropped down to the second spot, but Monster Hunter X is now in the top five.
Head past the break for the full chart. All votes were cast between June 18 and June 24.
The developers of Splatoon had a whole lot to say about the Wii U title while speaking with Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream this month. Last week, we shared translated comments from directors Yusuke Amano and Tsubasa Sakaguchi as well as producer Hisashi Nogami in which they discussed the map rotation, content updates, and more.
We have a few more final translations to tackle this week. The three Splatoon developers commented on the game’s level cap, Inkling customization, and a couple of other things.
In one section of the interview, Nintendo Dream mentions how many players are at the max level of 20, and asks if this will be raised in the future. Sakaguchi and Nogami were not-committal, but seemed surprised that so many people had already reached the maximum:
Sakaguchi: Er… That is also under investigation currently… We originally expected level 20 to require a nice amount of time to play.
Nogami: [The leveling up has been] so fast that it makes me worry about players’ daily life…
KEYTARI: 8-bit Music Maker is scheduled to hit the North American Wii U eShop this Thursday. Check out the official trailer below.
Nerdy Show has a preview up for Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations, which contains a few extra details about the game. You’ll find a roundup of the latest information surrounding the title below.
– Jake and Finn decide to carry on their parents investigation business
– The two receive X-Files-like missions leading them all over Ooo
– Navigate Finn and Jake from screen to screen
– Gather clues
– Solve puzzles
– Finn has the lead role
– Jake steps in on-call to get to those hard to reach places
– Both sometimes team up for occasional action combat
– The two can execute combo moves like the Jakesuit
– Vicious Cycle intended to go the 3D cel-shaded look, but were encouraged to make the game look decidedly different
– Interaction
– Inventory system
– Entire voice cast is contributing
– Game is divided into 5 episodes
– Each has its own mysteries, show-style title cards, and an inter-connected grayble theme hidden across the stories
– Nods for longtime fans like a memorial cake for Rootbeer Guy and myriad references to past adventures
– Fan-created character, Sunny is voiced by Princess Bubblegum voice actor Hynden Walch
Thanks to Jake for the tip.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came to the Wii U Virtual Console a few days back. You can now watch some footage of the eShop release below.
A few days ago, Inti Creates CEO Takuya Aizu posted a photo of Mighty No. 9 running on the GamePad via his Twitter account. You can get a look at it above.
Aizu wrote the following in his message:
It’s good that all console versions of Mighty No. 9 are happening! The [making of] the Wii U version was harsh due to specs, but people who were responsible for porting really did their best, so it will be finished nicely!
Mighty No. 9 launches for Wii U in mid-September. A 3DS version is also in development, but will be released a bit later.
