Posted on 9 years ago by Kirara Koneko(@KiraraKoneko) in Features, Game of the Month, General Nintendo | 6 Comments

What makes a sword earn the classification of an epic weapon? How do you know the sword you wield will help to change the fate of the world? Throughout many franchises across Nintendo’s systems, there have been numerous heroes, each of whom have generally had an epic weapon to aid them in their lofty quest. Whether by their choice or destiny, these heroes have been selected for a task that only they can achieve. Some must complete this task on their own, some guided by a higher power, and some are blessed with companions to help them along the way. But what all of these protagonists have in common is they hold the key to their fates in their hands.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Site updates | 50 Comments

Happy 4th of July to everyone celebrating! Even if you have nothing to do with the holiday, I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend.

Last week, I put up a pretty important post on Nintendo Everything. If you haven’t already seen it, I’d greatly appreciate if you’d give it a look since it’s very critical to the site’s future. The gist is that, from a financial standpoint, I have some concerns, and I feel like something will need to change sooner rather than later in order for things to continue as they are now. Ultimately I’ve just wanted to continue handling the site in the same manner that I have been for the past eight years, am I’m hoping that some of the suggestions you threw my way will allow for that.

The kindness you’ve shown thus far has been overwhelming. I can’t thank you all enough for the positive sentiments, words of encouragement, and overall support you’ve shared. It truly means a lot to me, and I can’t say that enough.

Over the past few days, I’ve been taking the time to really look at and reflect upon all of the comments left in last week’s post. There were two main suggestions that were brought up, and both were donation-related. One idea was to add a donation link (ex: PayPal) to the site. The other, which was suggested more than anything else, was Patreon. Patreon is something that I may very well pursue, but I feel like this post (and subsequent feedback once again!) is necessary before anything can happen.

So what the heck is Patreon? Many of you seem to be familiar with it already, but it’s certainly worth an explanation regardless.

Patreon would allow anyone who visits Nintendo Everything to donate to the site each month. That could be as little as $1, or something higher – it’d be entirely up to you. You’d also be able to cancel or change your donation amount from month to month. Patreon is more than a donation service though. It would also allow me to provide everyone who chips in with a few “rewards”.

At least for now, the idea of Patreon seems like the smarter way of approaching the situation when compared to a donation link. With the former, you guys would have complete control as to how much to donate from month to month. I also like the idea of providing something in return, even if it wouldn’t be huge.

I think that’s it for now. Just like last week, I’ll be reading up on everything you all have to say in the comments below. I realize that we already had a pretty big talk and Patreon was one of the top suggestions stemming from the previous post, but I really did feel like one more discussion was necessary before proceeding with anything. Based on last week’s comments and how people respond this week, I’ll be making a final decision on how to proceed very soon.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 26 Comments

Let’s Talk #14: What are you playing? – July 2015

Summer is here, and it’s the start of a new month. Given that – and the fact that we’re a games-oriented website – I thought we should host a “what are you playing” topic for Let’s Talk this week. It may actually be something that we do at the start of each month going forward depending on how the discussion goes this time around.

So tell us in the comments below: what are you playing right now? It’d be great if what you mention is Nintendo-related, but I don’t think it’d be fair to exclude others from Let’s Talk if they’re currently playing on a different platform. That means anything is fair game! I’ll start the discussion off below.

I’ve been playing a whole lot of Mario Tennis on the 3DS Virtual Console lately. Nintendo put the game on sale in North America a couple of weeks ago, and while it was only about $1 less than the normal asking price, I decided to grab it and jump right in.

I played Mario Tennis a ton back in the day on the Game Boy Color. I still have my original system and the game cartridge in fact!

I have so, so many fond memories of this title. It’s really as a good as I remember it, and it sort of makes me wish that the Mario Tennis games these days were a bit more like it. Mario Tennis Open on 3DS was alright, but this one is much better in my opinion.

The main draw of Mario Tennis on the Game Boy Color was definitely the story mode. You can play as either Alex or Nina (plus a partner of Harry or Kate depending on if you select doubles), and level up/improve stats along the way.

Thus far, I haven’t even touched that mode even though I loved it greatly. I’ve just been spending a lot of time in exhibition matches thus far. Something about the core tennis gameplay feels perfect. I have a feeling I won’t be putting the title down anytime soon!

Highlights from last week’s topic: Your thoughts on Nintendo’s E3 2015 performance

bakedapplepie

Overall I think it was a pretty good show. Ya a lot of what we knew already, but the Starfox reveal, interviews, and muppets/puppets were great. I thought the Treehouse team did a great job really showing the viewer more depth to all the games mentioned in the digital direct and showing some games that were not mentioned (Fatal Frame). Also the return of the Nintendo World Championship was a lot of fun to watch. The one thing that I was seriously disappointed in was their was no announcement for a new HD Zelda remaster for the Wii U. I truly expected that they would announce Twilight Princess HD, since they delayed Zelda Wii U and they did such a good job on Wind Waker. I’m still hoping that this comes true.

Kimite

I think it was the way Nintendo presented their games and some of the interviews were a bit long than they need maybe. Still am not too sure if it was a good idea too show all of the new upcoming stuff right before E3 ;^^. I mean they had their Nintendo Direct about 3 weeks ago and their Smash presentation last Sunday, and I think it would be better if they included some of those games in the Digital Event too.

Still most of the games Nintendo featured in the Digital Event is probably going to be good if not amazing ^^. I mean I am looking forward to 4-5 of the games they showed as I am a Zelda fan and I RPGer. (Really looking forward to Triforce Heroes ^^).

I mentioned it below in a comment, but I think the reason why Devil’s Third and Fatal Frame wasn’t shown in the Digital Event is because of a/the same law in Europe that forbid people to buy 18/M rated games before 11PM ;^^. (Don’t ask me why Europe has laws like that :-/).

The reason why I think there will be a Nintendo Direct in August is the amount of content Nintendo are releasing then. Like: The Match making mode for Splatoon (and Rainmaker mode), Tournament mode in Smash and Devil’s Third.

Right now I think the best thing we can do is wait for the good games to come and we are actually getting both Legend of Kay and Art Academy this month, so I don’t think we should be bitter for too long as there are plenty of games that are coming with are really good :-).

LittleLynn

Nintendo’s Digital Event was kind of completely terrible. There was entirely too much fluff. I totally zoned out when Miyamoto blabbed on about the inspiration for Star Fox for entirely too long. And I actually passed out while Reggie was asking how Donkey Kong and Bowser got into Skylanders (only to wake up and find them still talking). Whoopie. I thought this was supposed to be about games?

I’m sure that kind of stuff is interesting to somebody, but I think even they’d agree it’s not really the time or place for it. One of the things I tend to appreciate about Nintendo’s presentations over the others is that usually Nintendo doesn’t spend so much time patting itself on the back. This year, not so much.

That and a lot of bizarre game choices. From the weird Metroid sports thing to two new Animal Crossing games that did nothing but offend Metroid and Animal Crossing fans alike. And I’ll probably just skip Triforce Heroes, as someone who really couldn’t get into Four Swords. I’m not into Star Fox. I’m not into Skylanders. I’d play Mario Tennis at a friend’s place if they had it, but I couldn’t imagine myself getting and playing it on my own.

I think Hyrule Warriors Legends was probably the best new(ish) announcement. I’d been waiting for a price drop before I picked it up, but a new portable version, with all the DLC, at the price of a 3DS game? Good enough price for me. I just wish it weren’t spoiled beforehand.

But seriously, no third version for Pokemon XY? I thought for sure they’d announce that.

It’s not to say everything out of Nintendo sucked though. Rather, all the games they showed that I’m looking forward to, are ones we’ve already known about for a while: Yoshi’s Woolly World, Super Mario Maker, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Fire Emblem Fates, and Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem (or whatever they’re calling it now). That’s a lot of games to be excited for actually, but I already knew they were coming. And the new videos mostly offered next to no new real information about any of them (excluding Mario Maker, which actually got a lot of new details). For the most part, there weren’t really any surprises. Honestly, I think they should’ve saved both the Micro Direct from a few weeks back, and the Smash Direct (and maybe even Earthbound Beginnings) from last weekend for the Digital Event. It’d have had a lot more substance if they did.

Exy

I think it would have been a better show if they didn’t sabotage themselves in the six months leading up to it. The Nintendo Directs, the Nintendo World Championships, and the DeNA announcement and the NX reveal accompanying it all took away things that could have been much bigger deals at E3. They should have put, say, Metroid Prime: Federation Force in some Nintendo Direct if they had a clue how people would react to it, but they didn’t because they absolutely had to have a surprise game in the championships. For each big reveal and deconfirmations leading up to E3, expectations went higher and higher and they just made it impossible to get anything other than the reaction they got. That said, they’ll be fine, even if the show did feel oddly 3DS-centric. They’ve survived a few “losses” and this one is being blown out of proportion.

As for me, I went in expecting only a ton of Mario Maker stuff and that’s what I got, so I was satisfied. And they showed a bunch of gameplay whenever possible, unlike some other shows this year as usual. Also Muppets.

Boss Jelly

Underwhelmed as a whole, it just seemed like variants of things we already knew about. I think Paper Jam, Star Fox and Tennis look pretty cool though. I’m not INCREDIBLY angry about the Metroid game but I’m a little disappointed after 5 years that this is the return of the series…Amiibo Festival on the other hand…

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Site updates | 7 Comments

Hi everyone. Quick site update!

Kira is sadly stepping away from her main position on the site due to personal work responsibilities. That means we have an opening for a news writer.

We’re looking for someone to help out on Wednesdays and Fridays. You’d be posting news each week during the following times:

– 1:30 AM PT – 4:30 AM PT
– 4:30 AM ET – 7:30 AM ET
– 9:30 AM in the UK – 12:30 PM in the UK
– 10:30 AM in Europe – 1:30 PM in Europe

If this is something you’re interested in, get in touch here! I’ll follow up with everyone who sends in an inquiry.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 4 Comments

I do not know what the hell happened to this episode, but the audio is an absolute mess, and for that I apologize. You’ll notice Laura’s audio cutting in and out, her microphone quality was totally mangled, and there are a few weird snags here and there. It’s still listenable, but it’s not perfect and there are some awkward spots here and there. In any case, here are the chapters for this week:

Chapters today:

Opening Shenanigans

00:00 – Intros, greetings, hello
02:54 – Game of the week: F-1 Race!

What we played

06:14 – Jack tests his nostalgia for Super Mario Sunshine.
21:40 – Laura is a Mojave Monster in Fallout: New Vegas.
37:01 – Austin says Star Fox: Assault is like a sneeze on a wall.

Shenanigans II

51:18 – Freetures
55:14 – Star Fox Zero music break.
55:49 – Question of the day: How would you like to walk 600 feet?
58:00 – SMTxFE music break.
58:56 – Book club, moving advice, etc.

Listener questions mail

1:03:09 – Using Splatoon’s girl characters for marketing, other questions about female characters, etc
1:11:57 – Do you have more fun with games if you stay up to date on news?
1:20:21 – How long should a game be? (“It depends”)
1:27:11 – A nice email from a nice person.
1:30:56 – Briefly touching on E3 2015.

Ending Shenanigans

1:37:16 – Nonsense time.
1:38:37 – F-1 Race QUIZ

Download this episode (click this link)

Subscribe via iTunes by clicking this thing!

Subscribe with Google by clicking this thing!

Subscribe with Yahoo something-or-other by clicking this thing!

More: E3 2015, highlight, podcast, Star Fox, Super Mario Sunshine

Posted on 9 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in DS, Features, Game of the Month, Wii | 8 Comments

As June draws to a close, I’m back with a second look back at the history of Monolith Soft and the games they created over the last generation of Nintendo consoles – with the exception of the actual Game of the Month. This was a period of change for the company and saw the release of several more experimental titles. Bandai Namco sold the majority of their stock in Monolith Soft to Nintendo in 2007 and while they wouldn’t become a first-party developer until later, all games from this point on would be on Nintendo consoles. Despite this, Monolith would still keep close ties with their previous owner, who took on publishing duties for some of their more niche games. Following the release of Baten Kaitos Origins there was a gap of two years before Monolith Soft’s next title – Soma Bringer.

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More: Disaster: Day of Crisis, Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, Game of the Month, highlight, Soma Bringer, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga, top, Xenoblade

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Just a Chat, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments

Jon and I are a bit late on this, but we’re both back to discuss the Nintendo Digital Event that took place during E3. That includes talk about Star Fox Zero, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, and lots more!

Stuff:

Brian’s Twitter
Jon’s Twitter

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Interviews, New Nintendo 3DS, Wii U eShop | 10 Comments

Zordix announced Aqua Moto Racing Utopia for Wii U last February. We haven’t heard much about the game over the past year, so we reached out to the studio for a status update. Larsson revealed that the game has made the jump to Unity 5, discussed DLC plans, teased a probable New 3DS exclusive, and more.

Read on below for our full interview with Matti Larsson, CEO and creative director at Zordix AB. You’ll also find an exclusive new screenshot showing how the updated UI looks.

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More: Aqua Moto Racing Utopia, highlight, indie, Matti Larsson, top, Zordix

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Site updates | 131 Comments

Let’s Talk is on a one week break so that I can give the spotlight to a very important site topic. The feature will be back in full force next week!

With each passing anniversary on Nintendo Everything, I’ve thought about doing this forever. I can’t properly express how much I love the site, and how it’s become extremely embedded in my daily life.

There’s very little that I won’t do for Nintendo Everything – whether that means putting it ahead of my personal life, sleep, health… you name it. For nearly eight years, that’s the way things have been. That’s largely because I love being in a position to write about Nintendo in some form. I also take great happiness in knowing that I’m able to share updates about the company with you all.

Everything sounds fantastic, right? Well, in reality, that isn’t entirely the case. I think I may have been in denial a bit in terms of how long Nintendo Everything can continue on. Okay, that probably sounds way too dramatic. Let me try to explain what’s been on my mind and why this post is even necessary.

Over the past year or two, I’ve been taking a serious look at Nintendo Everything’s (and my own) financial situation. I need to be completely honest here and admit that it’s not the best. It’s why I’m putting up this post today, and why I’d like to have a discussion about the site’s future.

Running a site, as rewarding as it is, can be very taxing. The financial aspect alone has been extremely stressful for me. Few people have known about this – maybe just a handful.

Nintendo Everything generates revenue through ads. Unfortunately, this is not at all the best/consistent source of income. The ads themselves cannot at all be relied upon. Companies act irregularly in terms of when they’re interested in advertising. The first half of the year is often filled with dead periods for ads. Throw in the fact that some people use Adblock, and the situation becomes a bit of a mess. Truthfully, the site isn’t exactly bringing in what it needs to right now.

Those are some of the reasons why I’m concerned about Nintendo Everything’s future. We’re not in an absolutely dreadful situation, but we’re not in a good one either. It’s very tough for the middle-of-the-road sites to survive. We’re not backed by any major corporation, we’re not part of a network, and I run everything independently.

At the end of the day, I don’t want anything to change. I don’t want us to have to team up with anyone else, sell the site, shut down, or anything along the lines. I just want to be in a position to continue doing what I’ve been doing for the past eight years or so.

So where does Nintendo Everything go from here? That’s what I’d like to talk to you all about today. I would really appreciate if we could have a discussion in the comments below about what I’ve tried to explain. Maybe you guys have some ideas about how I can go about things to improve the site’s situation. My ears (eyes?) are wide open, and I’ll be looking at everything you all have to say. Let’s turn this ship around!

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Let's Talk | 42 Comments

Let’s Talk #13: Your thoughts on Nintendo’s E3 2015 performance

Well, that’s it! Another E3 is in the books. Now it’s time to talk about it all.

Just like last year’s E3, Nintendo did quite a bit in conjunction with the show. The Smash Bros. presentation kicked things off on Sunday morning, followed by the Nintendo World Championships later that night. The Nintendo Digital Event was on Tuesday, and the Treehouse Live streams lasted for three days.

As it was where the big announcements were made, I’ll be focusing on the Digital Event. You guys can feel free to discuss any part of Nintendo’s E3 presence, however!

To recap, below were the big announcements from the Nintendo Digital Event:

Wii U

– Star Fox Zero revealed, PlatinumGames working on the project
– Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival announced, out this holiday, amiibo figures revealed
– Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash announced, out this holiday
– Skylanders SuperChargers is getting Bowser and Donkey Kong figures that also act as amiibo
– Super Mario Maker: out September 11, new amiibo officially revealed
– Xenoblade Chronicles X: out December 4
– Yoshi’s Woolly World: out October 16
– New Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem trailer, reconfirmed for 2016

3DS

– The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes announced, out this fall
– Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam announced, out spring 2016
– Metroid Prime: Federation Force revealed, out in 2016
– Hyrule Warriors Legends confirmed, out Q1 2016
– Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer: out September 25
– Yo-Kai Watch: out this holiday
– Fire Emblem Fates gets its final name, reconfirmed for 2016

So that was the big stuff. Looking back on everything, how do you guys feel about what was shown? I’ll kick things off with my own thoughts below.

Man, there is a whole lot to talk about concerning the Digital Event. The general impression, unfortunately for Nintendo, seems to be leaning towards the negative side.

Once the Digital Event ended, I was a bit disappointed myself. For a few reasons.

For one thing, there wasn’t much new announced for Wii U. Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash were the only games we didn’t know about before for the console. Both are due out later this year. What do we have to look forward to in 2016 aside from Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem? I hope we see some announcements later on in the year!

Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a strange thing for me. On one hand, I’m happy that we finally have a new Metroid. On the other hand, it doesn’t feel much like a Metroid game right now. I’m not personally liking how it looks currently, but I’m very much willing to give it a shot. Let’s see what happens as development progresses.

Looking back on it and really reflecting on things, the Digital Event wasn’t awful in my opinion. Don’t forget we had E3 presentations like in 2008, which featured a whole lot of Shaun White Snowboarding and Wii Music. It definitely wasn’t Nintendo’s strongest, and last year’s event was much more exciting by comparison.

Some other random thoughts: where was Devil’s Third? Did anyone else feel like the Digital Event was missing “one other game” or “one big title”? After the Mario Maker bit, I was hoping Nintendo would have one final title to reveal. The puppets were lovely, but some segments felt like they ran on too long. Considering Yoshi’s Woolly World was featured in last year’s Digital Event and is launching extremely soon in Europe in Japan, a trailer probably would have been enough.

Okay, that’s enough from me. I better stop now. My brain has melted from E3 coverage, so I’m probably just rambling on too much at this point. Let us know what you thoughts about Nintendo at E3 2015 in the comments below!

Highlights from last week’s topic: E3 2015 hopes and dreams

Timppis

In order of preference.

New IP – Large scale JRPG but with more fantasy settings than Xenoblade games. FF9 or White Witch -style.

Paper Mario – Have to have this. The rumors must be true

Star Fox open world game – Not going to happen unfortunately

New line of Mario Sports games, highlighted by Mario Strikers 3 with HUGE career mode – Also not going to happen.

Mario sports games in general – Baseball, Rugby/American football mashup, Basketball, anything. -Not happening

Super Mario Sunshine HD – Plausible

Resurrection of any of these franchises – Waveracer, Golden Sun, 1080 Snowboarding, Advance Wars, Earthbound… – Also not going to happen

Im going to be so disappointed this year… I just know it ;_;

AJK

A new Metroid is the dream really. Ideally a new Prime type game.

Also please please please don’t let Starfox be underwhelming. I have waited since Starfox 64 for a decent Starfox shooter. My fear is that they might try something gimmicky instead of sticking to what made the first 2 games so great.

My final wish would be a new Golden Sun game on 3ds.

Vorsun

I’m probably alone on this, but I really wanna see more of Devil’s Third. That game is shaping up to be a really fun 3rd-person hack-and-slashooter. And of course I want Nintendo to be playing another trick on me and show a trailer for Zelda U, even though I’m sure there won’t be one.

As far as games I want them to announce, I would love for Retro’s new game to be Metroid Prime 4/Dread/whatever, but I’m torn because I also want them to do their own IP. I want Platinum’s game to either be Vanquish 2 or Wonderful 102 or… dare I ask for God Hand 2? With Bayonetta 2 being Wii U exclusive, the possibilities are astounding. And of course, as always, my greatest desire is Custom Robo U/3DS. I will not be satisfied with some cardboard cutout trying to be Custom Robo. I need the real steel deal.

icecreamperson

So I want a couple of things….

An hd remake for zelda for wii u

a new big 3d mario game announced in the vain of galaxy, sunshine or 64 fr wii u

a new paper mario announced for wii u

diddy kong racing for wii u announced

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