As part of its E3 2015 plans, Nintendo launched Nindies@Home in June. This was a special one-week promotional period in which Wii U owners were given the opportunity to download and play demos from upcoming indie titles. For gamers who couldn’t make it to E3, it allowed them to experience some of the excitement of being at the expo.
We reached out to five developers who were involved with Nindies@Home to share some thoughts about participating in the program. Below you’ll find some musings from 13AM Games (Runbow), Brainseed Factory (Typoman), MixedBag Games (forma.8), Ripstone (Extreme Exorcism), and Wales Interactive (Soul Axiom). What was it like for these studios to participate in Nintendo’s newest eShop initiative? How was it getting the demos up in time for E3? How do they feel about the program as a whole? These were just some of the topics the developers we reached out to touched upon, and each team shared some very interesting insight about the process of being included in Nindies@Home. Continue on below for their thoughts.
Let’s Talk #17: Thoughts on the latest Smash Bros. update/DLC
Nintendo gave Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS a whole bunch of content last night. While there weren’t any new characters, we do have access to a number of new things.
Both versions of Smash Bros. added two classic levels: Hyrule Castle and Peach’s Castle. Several new Mii Fighter outfits came out as well.
On Wii U, Nintendo finally launched the game’s Tournament Mode. Uploading replays to YouTube is also now possible.
The latest Smash Bros. content has only been out for about a day, but I still wanted to have this week’s discussion focused on what’s new in both games. Have you been able to give the new stages a whirl? What are your thoughts on the Tournament modes? I’m also curious: how many of you are actually interested in the Mii Fighter costumes? Sound off in the comments below!
Highlights from last week’s topic: Most anticipated Wii U games
Guymelef
My most anticipated announced games for Wii U would be (in no particular order):
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Lego Dimensions
Guitar Hero Live
Star Fox
Shin Megami Tensei X FE
Fatal Frame
Devil’s Third
Zelda U
For 3DS (I know it’s not part of the survey, but just to include): Fire Emblem Fates and Monster Hunter X
while I’m interested in Yoshi’s Wooly World and Mario Maker, they’re not on top of my list.
Killey
Fatal Frame V, Rodea: The Sky Soldier and Star Fox Zero are the games I’m looking forward to, I’lI probably add Devil’s Third and that’s it for this year. Zelda and SMT x FF so far for 2016
David Arkema
The wii u games I looking forward the most are
Skylanders superchargers, because I love the amiibo support, this will ve my first skylanders game and the gameplay looks really fun.
Devil’s third, because I need an action game next to bayonetta and singlepalyer gameplay looks amazing and what you can do the online multiplayer looks funny like hell, but may need some patches.
Xenoblade chronicles x, because I loved the first one the wii and I love wandering in a massive openworld with gorgeous enemies and you can ride in a mechsuit.
Pokken Tournament, because I need a (wii u) pokemon game that isn’t a mainstream pokemon game (fire red/emerald/y) and I really love fighting game, especially street fighter and ssb. graphical it looks amazing, but the cast (playable characters) needs to be expanded.
superphillip32
Super Mario Maker – As someone who really enjoys level design and wants to go into the field of game design after graduating college, Super Mario Maker’s creation tools seem like a godsend to me. I will get to make levels with what looks like to be a very easy and intuitive interface, practice my skills and creativity with designing levels, and get inspiration from other creators while enjoying playing the levels as well.
Yoshi’s Woolly World – It pained me to see the North American release date of Yoshi’s Woolly World be so far away in comparison to the European, Oceania, and Japanese launches. The game looks like what many have been wanting from the Yoshi series since Yoshi’s Island. Throw in some awesome looking levels, hidden goodies, and a reported challenge, and I can’t wait to be able to play this game.
Star Fox Zero – I’ve waited a long time for a new Star Fox game that I really enjoy. I did love Assault, and of course I greatly was enamored with 64. Command was okay, but now we have another traditional Star Fox game to look forward to. I trust Nintendo and Platinum Games to create a compelling and engaging campaign to blow me and other players away.
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release: August 4, 2015
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Author: Dennis
Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold is an epic dungeon-crawling experience in which you and a fixed group of party members embark on a journey. The objective is to complete a century-old ritual by a princess you randomly run into inside the forest close to the town your newly formed guild stumbles upon, High Lagaard. It is here you familiarize yourself with the townsfolk and collect quests to help you on your way to completing this ritual with the Princess. However, while deep in the dungeons heading towards the location where the ritual will take place, you come across a large monster in which you are forced to fight. It is here you stumble into other adventurers from faraway places and transform suddenly into an inhuman monster— wielding the power of a legendary sentient being once known as the Fafnir Knight. From this point forward you aim to figure out exactly why, and how, you were bestowed this power. You must uncover this mystery all while trying to complete this ritual with new friends and allies. Just as you have your own special skills and abilities—so do your allies, each with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. You are the hero of this tale, with your guild and a princess; you embark on a quest to uncover the truth behind the origins of the powerful Fafnir Knight.
Capcom prepared another two weapon videos for Monster Hunter X today. Trailers for the Hunting Horn and Hammer can be seen below.
It’s time for the latest Famitsu’s most wanted games chart! Dragon Quest VIII and Monster Hunter X have both maintained their positions towards the top of the chart.
Head past the break for the full chart. All votes were cast between July 16 and July 22.
Alph is included in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS as a palette swap for Olimar. Interestingly, it seems as though he was once considered as a full-blown clone character.
That information is based on design documents that come straight from Masahiro Sakurai (and translated by Source Gaming). For the modeling team, Sakurai has a note about Olimar which states: “Consider including Alph (Pikmin 3 protagonist) as a clone character.”
Ultimately, Alph didn’t make it onto the Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS roster. Maybe he’ll be considered again for the series’ next entry…
The Wii U version of Badland: Game of the Year Edition finally hit the eShop last Thursday. For a look at the game, check out the video below.
The latest issue of Famitsu has shared a listing of the top 30 best-selling games in Japan for the month of June 2015. You can check out the full results below.
1. [WIU] Splatoon – 368,538 (348,557 physical, 19,981 digital)
2. [3DS] Rhythm Heaven: The Best Plus – 232,459 (225,296 physical, 7,163 digital)
3. [3DS] Tobidasu! Nyanko Daisensou – 97,189 (N/A physical, 97,189 digital)
4. [3DS] Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden – 88,707 (86,338 physical, 2,369 digital)
5. [3DS] Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX – 54,544 (51,574 physical, 2,970 digital)
6. [PS4] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – 52,890 (45,912 physical, 6,978 digital)
7. [3DS] Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale – 47,146 (44,902 physical, 2,274 digital)
8. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition – 45,077 (38,146 physical, 6,931 digital)
9. [WIU] Mario Kart 8 – 44,470 (42,762 physical, 1,708 digital)
10. [PS4] Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition – 37,804 (30,757 physical, 7,047 digital)
11. [PSV] Shiren the Wanderer 5 Plus – 30,887 (22,088 physical, 8,799 digital)
12. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition – 27,164 (25,272 physical, 1,892 digital)
13. [PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC Evolution – 27,034 (24,984 physical, 2,050 digital)
14. [3DS] Stella Glow – 23,857 (22,294 physical, 1,563 digital)
15. [3DS] Girls Mode 3 – 19,125 (17,611 physical, 1,514 digital)
16. [PS4] Natsuiro High School: Seishun Hakusho – 17,840 (14,294 physical, 3,546 digital)
17. [3DS] Assassination Classroom: Grand Siege on Kurosensei – 16,912 (15,556 physical, 1,356 digital)
18. [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire – 15,406 (14,690 physical, 716 digital)
19. [3DS] Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki – 15,064 (13,403 physical, 1,661 digital)
20. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – 13,955 (12,127 physical, 1,828 digital)
21. [PSV] Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo tr. – 13,691 (12,904 physical, 787 digital)
22. [PS3] Natsuiro High School: Seishun Hakusho – 13,475 (10,515 physical, 2,960 digital)
23. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 2: Shinuchi – 11,645 (11,205, 440 digital)
24. [PSV] Possession Magenta – 11,571 (11,007 physical, 564 digital)
25. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 10,919 (9,715 physical, 1,204 digital)
26. [3DS] Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland – 10,773 (9,908 physical, 865 digital)
27. [PSV] Nobunaga no Yabou: Souzou with Power-Up Kit – 10,458 (9,360 physical, 1,098 digital)
28. [PS3] Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition – 9,362 (N/A physical, 9,362 digital)
29. [PS4] Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster – 8,991 (7,642 physical, 1,349 digital)
30. [3DS] BoxBoy! – 8,879 (715 physical, 8,164 digital)
Note that these sales are based on data between May 25 and June 21.
Nintendo released Kirby’s Return to Dream Land on the North American Wii U eShop on Thursday. A bunch of footage from the Wii game is now posted below.
