This week’s Japanese eShop update is as follows:
3DS
Downloadable Titles
Star Series: 3D Darts – 500 yen
Dokopon Choice Ayakashi ?gi Vol. 1 1 – 6-kan Pack – 2,640 yen
Slice it! DEMO – FREE
Virtual Console
Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong and Dixie Kong (Donkey Kong Land III, Game Boy Color) – 617 yen
Wii U
Downloadable Titles
NA
Virtual Console
Wagyan Land (Famicom) – 514 yen
Pop’n TwinBee (Super Famicom) – 823 yen
Analyst David Gibson reported on Twitter earlier today that Nintendo spent over $100 million on some sort of “mystery tech acquisition”. The move was made sometime in Q4.
No one seems to be clear as to what the acquisition was about – including Gibson himself.
Wario Land 4 will be released in North America tomorrow as a Virtual Console download. Nintendo lists the eShop release on its website along with a $7.99 price point. Previously, Wario Land 4 was made available in Japan last week.
Strike Force Foxx is nearing release. The game is done, and according to developer Big John Games, is now in Nintendo’s lot check.
The studio tweeted earlier today:
We're thrilled to have our newest effort, #StrikeForceFoxx, in lot check now. Stay tuned for the release date! #3DS pic.twitter.com/RWW4uP4J2e
— Big John Games (@BigJohnGames) May 7, 2014
The folks over at Nintendo-Online recently examined the amount of employees working at Nintendo EAD Tokyo. You can get an estimated look at how the staff count changed over the years based on how many direct developers are named in the credits of the studio’s games.
– The studio started in 2003 with about 30 employees.
– Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (2004): ~ 30 EAD Tokyo developers
– Super Mario Galaxy (2007): ~ 55-60 EAD Tokyo developers
– Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010): ~ 40 EAD Tokyo developers
– Super Mario 3D Land (2011): ~ 50 EAD Tokyo developers
– Super Mario 3D World (2013): nearly 100 EAD Tokyo developers
– Conclusion: The studio grew gradually bigger over time, but in the last two years, its staff nearly doubled.
– This is supported by a Miyamoto interview from June 2013 in which he revealed that he was working with Yoshiaki Koizumi, the studio’s producer, on increasing the staff.
Nintendo has submitted an FCC filing in the United States for the approval of model FTR-001_-01. As it turns out, the Big N is looking to tweak the standard 2DS unit in order to adjust a security function within the CPU. Nintendo sent in its submission in late April, though some documents were only just made pubic.
