Retro City Rampage developer Brian Provinciano recently posted an explanation for why Vblank has no intention of porting their game to the Wii U. The many reasons for why include the cost of developing a version that would be near-identical to the one already available on WiiWare, the unprofitability of the WiiWare version and the fact that no other ports are planned. I’m sure this is disappointing news for some, but the game is still available on the 3DS and WiiWare, including all the content from the new “DX” update.
This week’s video additions to the Wii U/3DS eShops are as follows:
Wii U
Nintendo Minute – Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker New Levels
Nintendo Minute: Game of the Year: Nintendo eShop
How to Win at Smash Episode 3
The Legend of Zelda – Gameplay First Look from The Game Awards
Mario Maker Game Awards Trailer
Code Name S.T.E.A.M. Game Awards Trailer
The Nintendo Bragg Report – Captain Toad
Fire Emblem Trailer
Nintendo 3DS – Bratayley Plays Tomodachi Life
Nintendo 3DS – Kitties Mama Plays Tomodachi Life
Nintendo 3DS – Michelle Phan Plays Animal Crossing: New Leaf
3DS
Nintendo Minute – Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker New Levels
Nintendo Minute: Game of the Year: Nintendo eShop
How to Win at Smash Episode 3
The Legend of Zelda – Gameplay First Look from The Game Awards
Mario Maker Game Awards Trailer
Code Name S.T.E.A.M. Game Awards Trailer
Crash ‘n the Boys Street Challenge Trailer
The Nintendo Bragg Report – Captain Toad
Nintendo 3DS – Bratayley Plays Tomodachi Life
Nintendo 3DS – Kitties Mama Plays Tomodachi Life
Nintendo 3DS – Michelle Phan Plays Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Source: Wii U/3DS eShops
Atlus is celebrating the recent launch of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth with a new 3DS theme. If you have a North American system, you’ll be able to download it starting tomorrow. Pricing is set at 99 cents.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U launched in Japan last week. As such, Japanese magazine Famitsu sat down with director Masahiro Sakurai for a chat about the latest entry in Nintendo’s successful series. Some very interesting tidbits were shared, to say the least.
One of the topics Famitsu brings up is the inclusion of Duck Hunt. “The original Duck Hunt is a quite major game,” Sakurai said. He notes that the title could be the best-selling shooter game in the world since it was included with the NES in America.
Nintendo of America has sent us an updated statement about the amiibo stock situation in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. What the company says is actually encouraging, as the Big N notes: “Certain sold-out amiibo may return to these markets at a later stage.” Perhaps there’s some hope for Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, and/or Marth returning to retailers in the future.
In any case, here’s the full statement:
“Some amiibo were very popular at launch, and it is possible that some amiibo in the United States, Canada and Latin America may not be available right now due to high demand and our efforts to manage shelf space during the launch period. Certain sold-out amiibo may return to these markets at a later stage. We are continually aiming to always have a regular supply of amiibo in the marketplace and there are many waves of amiibo to come.”
Keep in mind that these comments do not come from a customer service representative. Rather, they’re from Nintendo directly.
An internal notice from GameStop provides some insight into the retailer’s handling of amiibo figures.
Regarding wave 2, Diddy Kong, Zelda, and Little Mac should be released over the next few days. However, Luigi, Pit, and Captain Falcon “have experienced a shipping delay and will not be available until late December.” Pre-orders for all wave 2 figures are now closed.
We’re also seeing more talk of discontinuations for wave 1 amiibo. Marth, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer appear to be gone – as expected.
Two new titles are coming to the North American Virtual Console tomorrow. On Wii U, Crash ‘n the Boys Street Challenge will be released for $4.99. Harvest Moon 3 GBC is planned for 3DS at a $4.99 price point.
In a recent interview with USgamer, Koji Kondo was asked about what soundtrack/piece of music gave him the most difficulty. Kondo pointed to one game: Super Mario Bros. 3.
As he explained:
The most challenging [piece] was the main theme for Super Mario Bros. 3. The [original] Super Mario theme itself was almost a little too empowering. That indelible impression it left in the user’s mind with how it matched up with what Mario was doing on the screen—that was a big mountain to climb when we started working on the music to Super Mario 3. I remember creating lots of different music in different styles, trying to come up with something that would match that game and be different enough from the original Super Mario theme. It was tough. It took me a long time to come up with something I thought would work, and it was really me and Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Tezuka—the three of us—right up until the very last stages of development, listening to all of these different music pieces that I created, before we finally settled on what we ended up using.
Any time you’re working off of existing music, and you’re revamping it for the next title, that’s just always a tough gig. And that’s true for every title, starting from the first [one]. It’s tough for me, of course, but maybe even more so for the people on my staff, who are working on different arrangements of music they didn’t even compose. They’re working on music that I composed, and now they’re having to go back and do some rearranging to match [music from] current games. So if it’s tough for me, I think it’s even tougher for them.
