More: Atlus, Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains, Spike Chunsoft

Update: Bumped to the top with another comparison:

NintendoWorldReport compiled a brief video comparing Mewtwo in Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. The short clip is posted below.

More: comparison, DLC, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS

More: comparison, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Melee

It’s rather rare to see an Atelier game outside of a PlayStation system these days. But with Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland, Gust Corporation has decided to bring this latest entry to 3DS.

Given Gust’s goals with Atelier Rorona Plus, it makes sense for the game to be on Nintendo’s portable. Series director Yoshito Okamura told Japanese website Dengeki that the company wants to expand the franchise to a more diverse audience.

Okamura said:

Naturally, when you shift to a different platform, the age demographic changes as well. In light of this, we have the super-deformed versions of the characters. However, even if there are many Atelier fans in their 20s, the age range goes up to people in their 40s as well, since many fans from the Mary games are still supporting the series.

Source

More: Gust Corporation, interview, Japan, Yoshito Okamura

Some Smash Bros. players on Wii U are experiencing issues playing the game online after obtaining today’s Mewtwo DLC.

The issue comes about for those who have cleared 10-Man Smash with all characters and then beating it again with Mewtwo. After doing so, they encounter a corruption of save data, which resets the overall GPS for the mini-game to zero. When these players attempt to play online, they receive the message: “You have been disconnected because of irregular save data.”

Players will just need to be patient while Nintendo comes up with a fix. Fortunately, this problem only appears to be affecting the Wii U version of Smash Bros., so the 3DS edition should be safe.

Source

More: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, top

Over on Facebook, Nintendo added a few pieces of concept art for Xenoblade Chronicles’ Shulk. You can find the full set below, along with descriptions from Monolith Soft of the first four images.

Shulk is a composed, intellectual character, not the sort of person to let his emotions get the best of him. I chose an appearance and outfit that, by RPG hero standards, isn’t too aggressive.

The way that the design expresses details with textures and color shades within limited polygon resources.

It expresses Shulk as a character who isn’t a soldier, but a research and designer who works on weapons for Colony 9’s military and tools for its people.

There weren’t any major changes, just things like whether we should make the clothing red or blue.

Source

More: Monolith Soft, Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D

Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX isn’t all about music. SEGA has revealed that two mini-games are included in the game as well.

Here’s what we know:

Puyo Puyo

– Play by yourself against CPU opponents
– Special moves will vary depending on the character
– Can play against friends locally
– Both players need copies of the game

Board games

– Find these in the “My Room” menu
– “Mikkuriversi” is basically the Reversi game with a little Miku twist
– The Reversi mini-game goes by the traditional rules
– May have some sort of gimmicks added
– The game scales according to your skills

Source

More: Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, SEGA

Unseen64 recently updated its comprehensive article about the development of Metroid Prime. The site has plenty of details about what was cut and changed in the game, ranging from bosses to power-ups. There’s also information about various redesigns for Samus, the change from third-person to first-person perspective, and more.

Here’s one notable excerpt concerning a Kraid boss battle that was removed from Metroid Prime:

As mentioned above, Kraid was a part of the original plan for Metroid Prime. We understand that he was slated to be added to the last act, as he was cut towards the end of development. At the time, he had come a long way from the more traditional route that was first being considered.

In this 3D model by Gene Kohler, he was redone with a metal helmet, masking the majority of his face. Due to this feature, fans have taken to calling this infamous render ‘Meta Kraid’, although, in truth, no such title had been assigned.

Contrary to certain speculation, Kraid was, in fact, very early along when work on him ceased, as one ex Retro employee recounted:

“Kraid was really just some ideas and a first pass model. We were about to start work on him when he was cut. The overall idea was to have Kraid at one end of a large cavern, and some rickety platforms at the other end that Kraid could reach out to and tip over. He would also fire missiles at you from his belly ports. As I recall you would have to climb to the top and trigger something to collapse on him several times. There were probably other stages but I don’t remember them.”

Despite appearing in the Phazon Mines in Kohler’s image, it was never defined whereabouts in the game he would actually be encountered either. Speaking to MythicaHQ in 2004, he explained that Kraid’s absence was a casualty of time restrictions:

“I had completely finished modelling and texturing Kraid. The level that he was to be included in was well underway to being designed. There just was not enough development time remaining to fully implement all aspects of the scenario that were needed to pull off a highly polished\fun gaming experience… animations\effects\programming\etc. It was decided that Kraid was not imperative enough to the Metroid Prime project to run the risk of pushing up the release date in order to fit him in.”

Unseen64 also posted several clips of things such as cut creatures:

For plenty more on Metroid Prime’s development, head on over to Unseen64.

More: Metroid Prime, Retro Studios

More: comparison, DLC, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart: Double Dash

More: Girls Mode 3, Japan