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 News, Wii U | 38 Comments

The developers of Splatoon had a whole lot to say about the Wii U title while speaking with Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream this month. Last week, we shared translated comments from directors Yusuke Amano and Tsubasa Sakaguchi as well as producer Hisashi Nogami in which they discussed the map rotation, content updates, and more.

We have a few more final translations to tackle this week. The three Splatoon developers commented on the game’s level cap, Inkling customization, and a couple of other things.

In one section of the interview, Nintendo Dream mentions how many players are at the max level of 20, and asks if this will be raised in the future. Sakaguchi and Nogami were not-committal, but seemed surprised that so many people had already reached the maximum:

Sakaguchi: Er… That is also under investigation currently… We originally expected level 20 to require a nice amount of time to play.

Nogami: [The leveling up has been] so fast that it makes me worry about players’ daily life…

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 39 Comments

In an interview with Wired, PlatinumGames’ Yusuke Hashimoto spoke about what it’s like working with Nintendo in creating Star Fox Zero. On a similar note, Nintendo’s Yugo Hayashi commented on how it can be working with legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto.

Here’s what the two shared:

“This is the first time I’ve ever done this kind of collaborative design. It’s not just with Mr. Miyamoto, but also with Mr. Hayashi here. I’m struck by how fast this goes. The turnaround between the exchange of the two parties is very quick. It’s a kind of development speed I haven’t really seen before.” – Hashimoto

“The three of us are always working together and it’s very fun, but obviously when Mr. Miyamoto shows you something and is like, what do you think of this, and you have to come up with a good answer, it’s very nerve-wracking.” – Hayashi

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More: interview, PlatinumGames, Star Fox Zero, top, Yusuke Hashimoto

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments

The latest interview with Reggie Fils-Aime has been published by The Washington Post. Nintendo of America’s president commented on the company’s approach to having its IPs shared with others, deciding on giving games local multiplayer as compared to online, new IPs, and more.

You can read up on what Reggie had to say after the break. There are also some additional comments about amiibo on The Washington Post here, though it’s mostly rehash of what he’s stated previously.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 18 Comments

Anima: Gate of Memories has long been thought to be coming to Wii U. That’s in part because its creator has relayed interest in making the title for Nintendo’s console since the project’s early Kickstarter days. Sadly, we have now received information indicating that a Wii U release will not be happening.

You may recall that there were rumors about a Wii U version no longer being in the table earlier this year. However, at the time, creator Carlos García told us that the situation has remained the same, and it would still be brought to the system.

The developer of Anima: Gate of Memories partnered with BadLand Indie a few months ago. García intended to bring Anima to Wii U for a number of years, but it seems as though the situation changed once the partnership with BadLand was formed, as this version was removed from projections.

BadLand Indie told us earlier this week:

With a game that has a long history like Anima: Gate of Memories there are bound to be changes during development which conflict with previously released information. What I can say with certainty is that in the upcoming launch of the game this fall no Wii U release is planned.

So that’s that I suppose! Unless something changes in the future, Wii U will not be getting Anima: Gate of Memories. It’s unfortunate, but there’s not much that can be done about the situation.

More: Anima: Gate of Memories, BadLand Indie, indie, top

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 24 Comments

Update: Just in case there were any doubts about Horii referring to the 3DS games…

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii just wrapped up a conference of sorts at the Japan Expo. At the very end of the event, he supposedly dropped a major bombshell. Horii said that the 3DS remakes Dragon Quest VII and Dragon Quest VIII will be released “in French”.

That information comes from Twitter user Jérémie Kermarrec, who attended the conference. It’s backed up by fan site Final Fantasy Ring. Earlier today, the site posted an interview with Horii in which he stated that Square Enix is “thinking about” localizing Dragon Quest VII and Dragon Quest VIII.

Kermarrec spoke with someone from Square Enix once things ended, and was told that Horii sharing the big news wasn’t planned. He nonetheless appears to have confirmed that the 3DS releases of Dragon Quest VII and Dragon Quest VIII are both coming west.

Source

More: Dragon Quest VII, Dragon Quest VIII, top, Yuji Horii

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 3 Comments

SEGA has released the debut trailer for 7th Dragon III Code: VFD. View it below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Videos, Wii | 26 Comments

Unseen64’s Liam Robertson has posted a new video that looks into the various issues Project H.AM.M.E.R. encountered while in development. It also explores problems within Nintendo Software Technology as a whole, including apparent racism.

You can watch the full video below. There’s also a quick summary that can be read as well.

– After 1080, NST went on to start a new project (a small team that outsourced concept art, CGI opening, etc)
– The internal name for the project was MachineX
– In 2005 it had reached 75% completion and was nearing completion
– Japanese staff were overseeing the development at the studio which posed cultural challenges
– There were continued arguments and debate between the Japanese management and the NST developers
– At late 2007, it was 4 years in development
– Towards the end, changes were demanded to the environments and then the entire visuals
– This complete change despite mechanics eventually culminated in a more ‘lighter, casual’ visual style that was codenamed Wii Crush
– 2008 onwards, staff left
– Nintendo of America had to carry out a review of staff conditions which recorded a low morale
– Midway into 2009, a small number of staff still continued to work onto it until it ended
– NCL finally withdrew funding
– ‘Nintendo have made some great games, but with NST it came with a price’: Former NST developer

Thanks to Jake and Fred for the tip.

Source, Via

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 18 Comments

Source Gaming has been poking through the development slides featured in Masahiro Sakurai’s Famitsu column anthologies. The site has dug up some interesting information about cut content in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS, like initial plans for Rock Pikmin and Smash Run co-op.

Here’s a summary of what’s been shared thus far:

– Rock Pikmin were planned but ultimately put on hold
– These Pikmin would have been heavy with short reach but high attack power
– Smash Run was to receive co-op play
– This idea wasn’t realized due to the 3DS processor’s inability to display multiple fighters on the same screen
– There were also plans for co-op powers at one point
– Sakurai initially considered including four versions of each Special
– Ex: Mario would have been able to launch a double fireball
– Special 4-on-4 Team Battles rules were considered
– Mii Fighters’ Specials were originally going to be included as in-game rewards
– Instead, they ended up as default content

Source

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 16 Comments

Update: 3DS is now confirmed. Read the press release in full below.

Many government organizations have dismissed our urgent warnings regarding the upcoming game event called Zero Time Dilemma. Recent intelligence has escalated our plans and we have come to the decision to contact gamers about the dangers directly. Our ultimate goal has always been to protect the public from the horrific consequences we have foreseen, but it appears our mission to prevent it from occurring may have failed. It is imperative that you make every effort to prepare yourselves for the oncoming deadly game, so that you may survive the coming apocalypse.

An antidote for the game is predicted to be created, but much further down this timeline, and as such there is no defense from its effects. It will be most easily identifiable on Nintendo 3DS™ and PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, though it is transmittable through the air so the spread may increase even more rapidly through the PlayStation®Store and Nintendo eShop.

Do not be tempted by familiar faces, fully voiced cinematics, multiple endings, or voices in both Japanese and English, as those are signs that the apocalypse is nigh. We suggest that you put extensive effort into improving your puzzle solving skills, as they will be vital to your survival.

We at Crash Keys beg for your assistance in notifying everyone you can so that no one is left in the dark about this dangerous game. The world will end up in a tumultuous uproar, and ultimate consequences will be unavoidable unless word gets out. Use all the time available to you before the summer of next year to contact your loved ones and prepare; our intelligence hasn’t been able to focus in on an exact date at this time. Do not fear – we are here to protect you and prepare you to our utmost ability so that you may survive. You will survive. We will use all channels available to contact you with updates as soon as we uncover them. You must be ready.

Zero Escape 3 is in development, Aksys Games announced during a panel at the Anime Expo today.

Series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi showed up at the event to reveal the new project in-person. Unfortunately, Uchikoshi did not share any sort of media or information aside from a brief teaser. The only tidbit provided thus far is that it’s launching next year.

999 appeared on DS, and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward was made for 3DS. Surely Zero Escape 3 will also be coming to Nintendo platforms, right? Let’s hope so!

Source 1, Source 2

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