Super Mario RPG hitting the North American Wii U Virtual Console tomorrow
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 46 Comments
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is finally arriving on the North American Wii U Virtual Console tomorrow, Nintendo’s website reveals. The game will be sold for $7.99.
Here’s an overview:
“A mysterious enemy named Smithy has appeared, forcing Mario and Bowser to fight as allies. Journey across a wide variety of locations and tackle a mixture of obstacles that will require both timing and strategy to overcome. Gain experience, grow more powerful, and meet new characters to use their abilities in taking down Smithy and his gang!”
It’s been a fairly long wait for Super Mario RPG in the states. Japan has had the game since last August, while it released in PAL regions last December.
Media Create sales (6/20/16 – 6/26/16)
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:
PS4 – 22,715
New 3DS LL – 18,836
Vita – 11,986
Wii U – 4,358
New 3DS – 3,208
PS3 – 1,141
3DS – 707
3DS LL – 146
Xbox One – 70
For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:
PS4 – 20,214
New 3DS LL – 18,835
Vita – 11,413
Wii U – 3,870
New 3DS – 2,583
PS3 – 1,061
3DS – 741
3DS LL – 120
Xbox One – 58
And here are the software charts:
1. [3DS] Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns – 100,319 / NEW
2. [PSV] Caligula – 31,243 / NEW
3. [WIU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition – 22,589 / NEW
4. [WIU] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – 18,276 / NEW
5. [PSV] Refrain no Chika Meikyuu to Majo no Ryodan – 17,573 / NEW
6. [3DS] Ace Attorney 6 – 11,803 / 233,922
7. [3DS] Taiko Drum Master: Dokodon! Mystery Adventure – 11,695 / 44,064
8. [PS4] Resident Evil: Umbrella Code – 9,095 / NEW
9. [PSV] Dragon Quest Heroes II – 8,598 / 201,937
10. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot – 8,485 / 330,346
11. [PS4] Overwatch – 7,241 / 104,378
12. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition – 6,200 / 805,070
13. [PS4] Dragon Quest Heroes II – 5,156 / 259,001
14. [WIU] Splatoon – 4,815 / 1,393,400
15. [WIU] Super Mario Maker – 4,504 / 900,619
16. [PS3] Dragon Quest Heroes II – 4,150 / 113,461
17. [3DS] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – 4,071 / 178,474
18. [PSV] Chou Ezaru wa Akai Hana: Koi wa Tsuki ni Shirube Kareru – 3,785 / NEW
19. [3DS] Yo-kai Sangokushi – 3,267 / 545,019
20. [PS4] The Walking Dead – 3,184 / NEW
More: charts, Japan, Media Create, sales, top
Details from Nintendo’s 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, Mobile, News, Switch, Wii U | 178 Comments
Update: All finished! You can get caught up on the full recap below.
Nintendo’s 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is about to begin. NStyles appears to be in attendance and Cheesemeister will be translating, so we should be getting information from the event as it happens.
The meeting will kick off at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. We’ll start posting tidbits around then.
– A Mario towel, Pikachu cookies, and room-temperature green tea given to attendees
– From left: Umeyama, Mitamura, Ueda, Mizutani, Shigeyuki Takahashi, Kimishima, Takeda, Miyamoto, Shinya Takahashi, Yamato, Tanaka
– 20 minutes before it began, the seats were about 30% filled (can hold 1,000); up to 60% around 10 minutes before start time
– About to start; all of the directors have entered
– Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima greets the audience
– Auditor Minoru Ueda makes a report
Report
– The 76th annual report is not being read by president Kimishima, but rather a recorded narration is being played with slides
– There were no big 3DS hit titles, so sales were low
– Splatoon, Mario Maker, Twilight Princess HD did well
– amiibo hit 24.7 million units
– Download sales totaled 43.9 billion yen
– Miitomo got off to a good start
– Operating income recovered, but losses due to the strong yen reduced ordinary and net income
– Assets: 1 trillion, 296.9 billion yen; net assets minus liabilities equal 1 trillion, 160.9 billion yen, down 6.6b yen from last
– Issues to address. Up to now, the goal has been to expand the gaming population irregardless of age, gender, or experience. Now, the focus is to increase the population exposed to Nintendo IPs.
– Pokemon Sun/Moon 3DS due out worldwide in November, with many other Nintendo, strong 3rd-party titles to be released
– The aim with 3DS is to make the platform active again
– NX reconfirmed for worldwide launch in March 2017; the dedicated game machine business will continue to be core
– amiibo and download businesses will continue to receive focus
– Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing come to smart devices this fall
– Focusing on My Nintendo, we want to create synergy between the dedicated game machine and smart device businesses
– Nintendo IP will be used in theme parks, character goods, and film contents
– Nintendo said the Wii U would continue to fight on, but only Zelda is coming next year
– The resolutions that were voted upon are explained (these can be found online already)
– There are 6 resolutions this year
More: top
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE devs on adapting for the west, Atlus localization, Japanese-only voices
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 52 Comments
Before Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE landed in the states, GameSpot caught up with Atlus producer Shinjiro Takata and Nintendo designer Hitoshi Yamagami. The two talked about topics such as localization – including Atlus handling the game and keeping the voices in Japanese – as well as what made Nintendo and Wii U a good fit for the project.
Head past the break for some of Takata and Yamagami’s responses. GameSpot’s full interview can be read here.
13AM Games officially getting into publishing, confirms Pirate Pop Plus for Wii U and New 3DS
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments
Yesterday, some news emerged about Pirate Pop Plus for Wii U and 3DS and the involvement of Runbow creator 13AM Games. It’s all now been made official through a new Tumblr post from the studio.
Pirate Pop Plus is indeed coming to Wii U, and also New 3DS (instead of 3DS). Additionally, 13AM confirmed that it’s now getting into publishing.
13AM wrote:
13AM Games is no longer just 13AM Games! We have opened up to game publishing with our brand new publishing arm: 13AM Shipping Solutions!
We’re really excited to help bring indie games to console and PC, and our first projects is Dadako’s Pirate Pop Plus! A super addictive, gravity-defying, score-chasing, bubble-busting, gameboy-style arcade game for Wii U, New 3DS and Steam!
We will have more details in the coming weeks and months and hope to release the game soon! We’ve still got some work to do though, so be patient with us.
Anyways, as always thanks for the passion. We’re glad to be bringing more fun games to you guys whenever we can.
Oh and as for some rumors about a supposed extra playable character… I’m gonna have to stay mum on that one.
More: 13AM Games, Dadako Studios, indie, Pirate Pop Plus, top
Pokemon GO – not trying to recreate the main games, accessibility important, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 8 Comments
J.C. Smith, The Pokemon Company’s senior director of consumer marketing, says that the aim of Pokemon GO isn’t to recreate the experience that we’re used to seeing with the main games.
Speaking with Polygon, Smith said:
“We’re not trying to recreate the video game experience. What we wanted to do with the mobile game from both sides — from Niantic as well as Pokémon — was, we wanted to make a new experience that was native to mobile.”
Niantic CEO John Hanke also spoke about what the team is setting out to achieve with Pokemon GO. Hanke highlighted the importance of accessibility for both newcomers and Pokemon fans.
He said:
“We’re trying to make the game accessible to a person who doesn’t yet know how much they want to commit to the game, who just wants to explore. That includes not just the Pokémon newbie, but those on the opposite side — a diehard who’s played all of the RPGs but isn’t sure if an augmented reality game that requires them to get up off the couch is really their speed. At the same time, we think that there’s an opportunity to build depth. There’s an emergent complexity that doesn’t hit you over the head at first blush, [from] trying to power up your Pokémon and evolve and ultimately start competing for gyms.”
More: interview, J.C. Smith, Niantic, Pokemon GO, top
Miyamoto says Nintendo is keeping quiet on NX due to a certain “idea”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 232 Comments
The NX was announced well over a year ago, but we still know relatively little about the system. That will finally change later this year. But as we wait, little drops of information are let out here and there. This time, we have a new quote from Shigeru Miyamoto.
The Associated Press recently asked Miyamoto about the new console cycle revolution. This prompted him to say that Nintendo hasn’t shared anything about NX due to a special “idea”.
Miyamoto stated:
“In terms of NX, there’s an idea that we’re working on. That’s why we can’t share anything at this point, and I don’t want to comment on the other companies. If it was just a matter of following advancements in technology, things would be coming out a lot quicker.”
More: interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
Nintendo Download (06/30/16, Europe): Zero Time Dilemma, Hyrule Warriors DLC and more
Posted on 8 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 2 Comments
This week’s European Nintendo Downloads are as follows:
Wii U Retail
LEGO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – €49.99/ £39.99 / CHF 59.90
Wii U Download
Ziggurat – €15.00/ £12.00 / CHF 21.00
Midnight 2 – €1.99/ £1.79 / CHF 2.80
Wii U Demo
Runbow
Wii U DLC
Hyrule Warriors: Legends of Hyrule Pack – €9.99/ £8.99 / CHF 14.00
Hyrule Warriors: Character Pack – €11.99/ £10.79 / CHF 16.80
Hyrule Warriors: Link’s Awakening Pack (Wii U) – €4.99/ £4.49 / CHF 7.00
Hyrule Warriors Legends: Link’s Awakening Pack (3DS + Wii U) – €8.99/ £8.09 / CHF 12.60
3DS Retail
LEGO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS – €39.99/ £29.99 / CHF 44.90
3DS Download
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma – €39.99/ £32.00 / CHF 45.00
Teddy Together – €39.99/ £34.99 / CHF 51.90
BOXBOXBOY! – €4.99/ £4.49 / CHF 7.00
The Battle Cats POP! – €9.99/ £8.99 / CHF 14.00
3DS Demo
Monster Hunter Generations
3DS DLC
Fire Emblem Fates Map 9 Anna on the Run – €1.99/ £1.79 / CHF 2.80
Hyrule Warriors Legends: Link’s Awakening Pack (3DS) – €6.99/ £6.29 / CHF 9.80
Hyrule Warriors Legends: Link’s Awakening Pack (3DS + Wii U) – €8.99/ £8.09 / CHF 12.60
eShop Sales
Wii U
99 Moves – €1.49/ £1.34 / CHF 2.10 until 28/07/2016, regular price €2.49 / £2.29 / CHF 3.50
Abyss – €1.49/ £1.34 / CHF 2.10 until 28/07/2016, regular price €1.99 / £1.79 / CHF 2.80
Rock ‘N Racing Off Road DX – €4.95/ £4.45 / CHF 6.94 until 28/07/2016, regular price €7.99 / £7.19 / CHF 11.20
Joe’s Diner – €4.99/ £3.77 / CHF 4.99 until 14/07/2016, regular price €7.99 / £5.99 / CHF 7.99
Suspension Railroad Simulator – €6.39/ £4.79 / CHF 6.39 until 14/07/2016, regular price €7.99 / £5.99 / CHF 7.99
ZaciSa: Defense of the Crayon Dimensions! – €0.89/ £0.68 / CHF 1.25 until 28/07/2016, regular price €2.99 / £2.29 / CHF 4.20
3DS
Darts Up 3D – €0.99/ £0.89 / CHF 1.40 until 28/07/2016, regular price €2.99 / £2.69 / CHF 4.20
Football Up 3D – €1.99/ £1.79 / CHF 2.80 until 28/07/2016, regular price €2.99 / £2.36 / CHF 3.60
Epic Word Search Collection 2 – €5.99/ £4.49 / CHF 5.99 until 07/07/2016, regular price €7.99 / £5.99 / CHF 7.99
Funfair Party Games – €4.99/ £3.69 / CHF 4.99 until 14/07/2016, regular price €6.99 / £4.99 / CHF 6.99
Jewel Match 3 – €3.99/ £2.89 / CHF 3.99 until 14/07/2016, regular price €6.99 / £4.99 / CHF 6.99
Pazuru – €4.49/ £2.99 / CHF 5.99 until 14/07/2016, regular price €5.99 / £3.99 / CHF 19.99
Undead Bowling – €2.99/ £2.13 / CHF 2.99 until 14/07/2016, regular price €6.99 / £4.99 / CHF 6.99
Real Heroes: Firefighter 3D Download Version – €4.99/ £4.49 / CHF 7.00 until 07/07/2016, regular price €9.99 / £8.99 / CHF 14.00
Permanent price drops
3DS
Shaun the Sheep (episode 1-5) – €1.99/ £1.79 / CHF 2.80; previously €2.99/ £2.69 / CHF 4.20
Shaun the Sheep (episode 6-10) – €1.99/ £1.79 / CHF 2.80; previously €2.99/ £2.69 / CHF 4.20
Shaun the Sheep (episode 11-15) – €1.99/ £1.79 / CHF 2.80; previously €2.99/ £2.69 / CHF 4.20
Shaun the Sheep (episode 1-15 + Making of) – €3.99/ £3.59 / CHF 5.60; previously €6.99/ £6.29 / CHF 9.80
Source: Nintendo PR
More: Europe, Nintendo Download, top
SEGA on Sonic being linked to Nintendo and collaborating with the company
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 35 Comments
Nintendo and SEGA have formed a close relationship over the past several years through Sonic. The character appeared in Smash Bros., teamed up with Mario in multiple games based on the Olympics, and more.
Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka spoke about Sonic’s link to Nintendo in this week’s issue of MCV. Here’s what he had to say about that:
“When SEGA stopped making hardware and just started doing software, the first platform that we released Sonic on was a Nintendo console. We felt from the very beginning, that the Nintendo platforms were where the passionate Sonic fans were. Historically that is where our relationship started with Nintendo. Unfortunately, the Wii U didn’t manage to get as many gamers on the hardware as we would have liked. That was unfortunate for Sonic because we didn’t get the mass of people to enjoy the content. But Nintendo has always been a great partner, we have Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Sonic in Super Smash Bros… we really appreciate the work that they do.”
More: interview, SEGA, Sonic the Hedgehog, Takashi Iizuka, top
Reggie – Nintendo “struck a chord” with Zelda: BotW, need to mix up the formula for new players
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 8 Comments
Nintendo believes it has “struck a cord” with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Speaking with The Verge, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime stated:
“We think we’ve struck a chord. And we’ve struck a chord with what is a very important franchise for us. A franchise that is going to be key to our long-term success.”
Reggie went on to talk about the changes being introduced in Zelda: Breath of the Wild. New elements were needed “in order to bring new players in.” At the same time though, Nintendo “needed to do it thoughtfully in order to maintain the current player.”
According to Reggie:
