Calling me a Legend of Zelda fan would be a bit of an understatement. If you were to step into my room, you’d be blinded by the posters and merchandise scattered from one wall to another, all finished off with my saddening number of physical Zelda titles. So with the announcement of Hyrule Warriors during last December’s Nintendo Direct, I was nothing short of excited; providing an excuse for having our beloved Zelda worlds and characters collide in one epic horde fighting action game sounds like a dream come true, and every day I spent waiting for the game felt like an eternity. Now that I’ve sped my way through this long journey over the past week, I can safely say my excitement was placed in good hands.

More: highlight, Hyrule Warriors, Koei Tecmo, top

[Famicompendium] Super Robot Wars D

Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in Famicompendium, Features, GBA | 5 Comments

So lately I’ve been hooked on a little game called Destiny. Like many others, I got sucked into its futuristic world and addictive gameplay of upgrading weapons to shoot down waves of aliens. Sure, sometimes fights take far too long, but it’s still quite impressive for a Game Boy Advance game. Yep, Super Robot Wars Destiny (D for short) is one interesting strategy RPG and a good jumping-off point for discussing the Super Robot Wars series as a whole. Hope you like giant robots!

What makes the Super Robot Wars titles fascinating to me is the way in which they mix together various robot-centric anime characters and storylines into one cohesive crossover game. In other words it’s officially sanctioned fan-fiction masquerading as a strategy RPG. Confusingly, two of the GBA entries in the series were released in the US with the Japanese title “Super Robot Taisen”, probably to avoid any legal issues with a certain similarly named TV program (real talk: a strategy RPG featuring the likes of Sergeant Bash and Sir Killalot would be awesome). Despite featuring the same gameplay mechanics, these “Original Generation” games were centred entirely on original characters free from any messy anime licenses, which is probably why they never clicked with me. Sure, taking turns leading militias of mecha into battle with each other is a decent enough premise for a game, but the thrill of seeing the likes of Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann team up and be faithfully adapted to an RPG form is the big draw of the series for me. I can’t think of any equivalent in western media that doesn’t involve teaching kids about the dangers of marijuana. The Super Robot Wars games are those rare licensed games that are not only perfectly playable, but totally get the appeal of the source material and adapt it in interesting ways.

More: famicompendium, highlight, super robot taisen, super robot wars, top

[Interview] Curve Studios discusses Stealth Inc 2’s home on Wii U, potential future for Fluidity, and more

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, Features, Interviews, Wii U eShop | 4 Comments

Stealth Inc seemed like the furthest thing from a Wii U eShop release when it came out in 2013. The PlayStation versions came and went, and there was no word on a release for Nintendo’s console.

Still, when time for planning a sequel came around, something within Curve Studios clicked. This led to the company announcing Stealth Inc 2 as a Wii U exclusive – at least for the time being – back in May, which surprised quite a number of folks. For Wii U owners though, it’s great news.

We sat down via email (wait a second…) with Rob Clarke from Curve Studios to ask about Stealth Inc 2, working on Wii U, and the company’s other beloved gaming baby Fluidity. I think you’ll enjoy much of what they have to say:

More: Curve Studios, highlight, interview, Rob Clarke, Stealth Inc 2, top

[Review] Teslagrad (Wii U eShop)

Posted on 10 years ago by Vincent Ward in Features, Reviews, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

System: Nintendo Wii U
Release Date: September 11th, 2014
Developer: Rain Games
Publisher: Rain Games

Author: Vincent

“Magnetizing and satisfying”

In a market filled to the brim with 2D platformers, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd; it seems as if, unless your character is sporting some overly familiar overalls and a fancy brown mustache, you’ll never be noticed. Those odds didn’t stop newly-made studio Rain Games from taking a shot in the dark with Teslagrad, a platformer that uses unique storytelling and gameplay to rise above the rest. But does this all blend together to create an experience worth checking out, or is it better left alone?

As soon as you start up the game, you’re presented with the opening menu showing the main character’s father carrying a baby walking through a dark town. Once you hit Start Game, it makes the seamless transition into gameplay where he hands off the baby to the mother. Time goes by and the town you live in becomes overrun, forcing your mother to let you out the back door as you take control over the now grown up young boy. You run through the town amidst a rainstorm as soldiers chase you down, and you climb atop buildings and through alleyways to escape, all leading up to the young protagonist taking shelter in an abandoned tower, which he then discovers has more than meets the eye.

Now, this isn’t all spoon-fed to you with numerous boxes of texts or someone yelling in your ear telling you what the soldiers names are. The game instead chose to feature no text or full on voice acting throughout the five hour adventure. All you have is the ambient soundtrack and character grunts to accompany you throughout your journey as you have the world around you unfold and tell the story little by little.

More: highlight, Rain Games, review, Teslagrad, top

Everything we know about Super Smash Bros. for 3DS

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Features, Videos | 5 Comments

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS has finally arrived in Japan, and will be out overseas in just a few more weeks. Let’s go over everything we know about the game!

More: highlight, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, top

New live chat feature and giveaways

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Discussing Everything, Site updates | 28 Comments

If you’ve been visiting Nintendo Everything for a long time, you may have heard about something called “Game Nights”. Each week, we hosted game events where the community and members of the staff could gather/play various titles online together.

Things just never worked out with Game Nights the way we originally intended though. Organizing people into groups was never easy. Visitors showing up at the last minute or halfway through the event also became troublesome. It was sometimes difficult for people to be interested in just one game as well. The feature just isn’t at a place where it can run smoothly at present!

Having said that, one element I greatly enjoyed about Game Nights was being able to interact directly with you guys. The discussions and comradery were two things I really looked forward to! And now we’re hoping to bring that back… but in a different form.

That’s where “Discussing Everything” comes in. What is this exactly? To put it simply, each week we plan on hosting a live chat directly on the site. You guys will be able to interact with us (and maybe each other – more on that in the future) in various discussions – be it news, a featured topic, or questions you have for us. I’ll be there every week, and other staffers like Austin will be around regularly as well. It’s really something that we’re leaving open-ended. Once we kick off the first Discussing Everything – which we hope to do soon – all will become clearer. One thing I can say is that I’m absolutely committed to making this a long-term feature on the site, and it will hopefully evolve as time goes on.

Before we get started, we would greatly appreciate input from you all. Which day of the week would work best for you guys? Do you have a particular time preference (please specify timezone as well)? Discussing Everything will probably be an hour each week depending on how things go, so keep that in mind! We want to try and come up with a day/time that will work best for most people.

That’s all on Discussing Everything for now. I do hope that some of you will end up joining us for some of these chats. And if you are interested, please leave a comment below or send us an email about which day/time would be best for you. All input will be considered, and we’ll hopefully have an update to share next week.

Now for some other quick news! Right here on the site, we have one North American code to hand out for Mighty Gunvolt. Simply leave a comment below (brownie points for those of you who give us input on Discussing Everything!) and we’ll choose a random winner in a week’s time. There are also two Smash Bros. 3DS demo codes (North America) up for grabs on our Twitter account – check out this message. We often hold giveaways on Twitter as opposed to the main site, so make sure to follow us now and in the future!

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[Review] Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

Posted on 10 years ago by Vincent Ward in 3DS, Features, Reviews | 5 Comments

System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: September 16th, 2014
Developer: indieszero
Publisher: Square Enix

Author: Vincent

“More than your average RPG Final Fantasy Rhythm Game”

Back in 2012, Square Enix took it upon themselves to celebrate the Final Fantasy’s 25^th anniversary by creating a rhythm-based game that involves some of the best soundtracks in gaming. That game was the 3DS title Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, which was incredibly well-received and praised. Two years have passed, and now Square is at it again with Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call – another take on the rhythm based series. Featuring new music, updated visuals, and new gameplay modes, does this game offer enough to be on par with the rest of the franchise? Ir is this game a fantasy gone wrong?

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[Just a Chat] Mario Kart 8 DLC

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Just a Chat, Videos | 4 Comments

The latest Just a Chat is all about last week’s reveal of the Mario Kart 8 DLC. There’s also a tiny bit of talk thrown in about the possibility of DLC in Smash Bros. and the recent Mario Kart 8 update.

More: DLC, highlight, Mario Kart 8, title update, top

[Around the Water Cooler] Hopes for the Future

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Around the Water Cooler, General Nintendo, Videos | 2 Comments

In this episode of Around the Water Cooler, Scott looks towards his hopes for the future – F-Zero, Star Fox, and more. We also feature comments about the previous week’s Mario Kart topic.

To close things out, we want to hear from you about the following: What are your hopes for the future of Nintendo? Comment on YouTube or the main site, and you could be featured in the next episode!

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[Just a Chat] New 3DS and other news

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Just a Chat, New Nintendo 3DS, Videos, Wii U | 7 Comments

Nintendo made a pretty huge announcement on Friday… the New 3DS! Austin and I talk all about it, and there’s a bit of discussion about some of the other news that came in on the same day.