Nintendo Everything

Square Enix released a new trailer for Final Fantasy Explorers. You can watch it above.

Additionally, we have news about more character transformations that can be done via the trance system. The latest issue of Jump confirms that Cecil from Final Fantasy IV, Vaan from Final Fantasy XII, and Tifa and Aerith from Final Fantasy VII will be included in Final Fantasy Explorers. Cecil’s attacks will change depending if he’s in Dark Knight or Paladin mode.

Lastly, we have a quick update on summons. Alexander and Diabolos will both be in Final Fantasy Explorers.

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Polygon recently caught up with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker director Koichi Hayashida and producer Shinya Hiratake. The two spoke about how the game came to be, and shared plenty of development information.

Read on below for a summary of the interview. Also be sure to check out Polygon’s full piece here.

Hayashida on how Captain Toad came about…

“We began with Super Mario 64. While Super Mario 64 was quite an interesting game, we heard that roughly 20 percent of gamers found it too difficult,” he said, brandishing a copy of the Nintendo 64 game. We kept that comment that the game was too challenging and made games like Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World with that in mind.”

– In making 3D Land and 3D World, the team felt it was getting away from a fundamental design principle that made Mario 64 so special
– This was the idea that the levels were a sort of “diorama” or a “garden in a box”
– The studio was able to get back to that idea with the Captain Toad stages in 3D World

Hayashida on how Miyamoto suggested making Captain Toad into its own game…

“At the completion of 3D World, Mr. Miyamoto said, ‘That worked well; I think we should create a single spin-off title just featuring Captain Toad.’ The start of the conversation was, ‘Let’s take a lot of the elements that we have in 3D World and incorporate them’ into what eventually became Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.”

– The team started out by making 100 stages
– Two issues: Toad couldn’t jump, and they were still basically making Mario stages
– Action felt limited without being able to jump
– Since Toad can’t jump, this also means enemies are overpowered
– The team addressed this with the plucking action, and by implementing some stealth
– The process of making a level begins with what mechanics/gimmick they’re interested in
– Stage set in the haunted house was originally a puzzle stage
– The two devs wouldn’t confirm/deny a similar approach of making more Nintendo spin-offs with other franchises

“When we were doing 3D World and creating these diorama-style worlds… we tested them using Mario as playable character. Because Mario has ability to jump, the types of stages we came up with became impossibly large. Mario made those stages too big, which broke our whole goal, so… it worked out that we had this character there.” – Hayashida

Let’s take a trip down memory lane… back when Nintendo was about to release Super Mario Strikers. Print magazines were still going strong, and there needed to be ads to promote the GameCube title.

The image above is one such ad that Nintendo was apparently considering. I hope I don’t have to spell out why it was rejected!

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Update: Some clarification (and partial corrections) via the source below: the Creative Endorsement Program was originally created by Niconico and its parent company Dwango – not Nintendo. It was originally started in 2011 to reward creators who made highly-viewed videos. Nintendo’s announcement was that its games will soon be eligible for the program.

Fans will be able to create and post derivative works without any concerns. It’s not limited to Let’s Plays, but game music covers and song covers as well.

Nintendo games will be eligible for the Niconico program starting December 1. Once that date rolls in, we should receive more information!

Dwango has revealed Tokaigi “Game Party Japan” 2015, which is all about playing games together. It will take place on January 31 and February 1 next year.

Some extremely notable Nintendo information has come through the initial announcement. Nintendo will be a special sponsor of the event, and president Satoru Iwata appeared in a video. He stated that the company now officially gives its permission for anyone to use their properties for derivative works – Let’s Plays, music covers, fan art, and more were specifically showcased.

Additionally, Iwata announced a “Creative Endorsement Program”. This will allow Nintendo to provide revenue to creators who produce well-received work. At the moment, this program is only available on Niconico, as it is a subsidiary of Dwango.

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GameStop’s Black Friday 2014 ad has gone live.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of notable deals here. You can save $10 on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric… but you’d probably be better off not buying the game at all.

In any case, you can find the Nintendo-related items from GameStop’s Black Friday ad above.

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This week’s Famitsu review scores are as follows:

Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (3DS) – 9/10/9/9
Etrian Odyssey II Untold: The Knight of the Fafnir (3DS) – 9/9/9/9
Phantasy Star Nova (PSV) – 9/9/9/9
Hero Bank 2 (3DS) – 9/9/8/8
NBA 2K15 (PS4/PS3/XBO/360) – 8/8/8/10
Minecraft: Xbox One Edition (XBO) – 8/8/8/10
Code:Realize – Sousei no Himegimi – (PSV) – 9/8/8/8
Great Edo Blacksmith (PSV) – 8/7/7/8

Between November 24 and December 21, Nintendo will be visiting 16 malls across the U.S. and will offer hands-on time with Wii U and 3DS games. Consumers will also have an opportunity to check out the company’s amiibo figures. A Mario Kart 8 tournament and free giveaways are planned as well, including the Nintendo Holiday Gift Guides.

On Wii U, Nintendo is bringing Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Super Mario 3D World, Skylanders: Trap Team and Nintendo Land. Playable 3DS titles include Super Smash Bros., Pokemon Omega Ruby, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, Mario Kart 7, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Tomodachi Life, Yoshi’s New Island and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal.

Nintendo’s holiday shopping experience will be hosted at the following locations:

Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas
Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale, Arizona
Queens Center in Elmhurst, New York
Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Virginia
Washington Square in Portland, Oregon
Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota
Memorial City Mall at Memorial City in Houston
The Florida Mall in Orlando, Florida
Grapevine Mills in Grapevine, Texas
King of Prussia in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
South Shore Plaza in Braintree, Massachusetts
Woodfield Mall in Schaumberg, Illinois
Westfield North County in Escondido, California
Westfield Southcenter in Seattle
Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara, California
Westfield Culver City in Culver City, California

Source: Nintendo PR

Nintendo posted screenshots of a few 3DS themes coming to Europe this week. View all of the images below.