| Welcome to Nintendo Forums. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| February Week 4 Nintendo News | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 23 2014, 08:16 PM (182 Views) | |
| Brendan | Feb 23 2014, 08:16 PM Post #1 |
|
Pokémon Trainer
|
Last week was a wonderful week for Pokemon. We got this interesting Twitch livestream, appropriately titled "TwitchPlaysPokemon", where Twitch users input button commands for a Pokemon Red rom to play ITSELF. Another thing that happened last week was the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. This game was generally received very well, and got good reviews from game critics. Read on for more Nintendo news: Flowerworks HD to Burst Into Life on the Wii U eShop ![]() Veteran Nintendo download gamers may remember Flowerworks on WiiWare. Its peculiar premise of pollinating plants for spectacular visual fireworks was charming, with pointer controls that were perfect at some points and awkward at others. The good news is that developer Nocturnal Entertainment, after being quiet for a few years, has confirmed it's bringing the game to the Wii U eShop as Flowerworks HD: Follie's Adventure. The project has been six months in the works as Nintendo provided loan devkits, and the developer has published seven screenshots to show off the new engine supporting this entry. The link to the original trailer from 2009 is shown below. It won't be long before we see what enhancements are brought to the new release. Flowerworks WiiWare Trailer Natsume’s Graham Markay and Kiyoshi Sakai Talk About Yumi’s Odd Odyssey and Nintendo ![]() The times they are a-changing. Whereas two decades ago Japanese-only games often remained Japanese-only, nowadays the West is getting best-selling franchises thick and fast. Monster Hunter has now sunk its claws everywhere, and JRPGs are getting more and more popular by the month. Perhaps this is a sign of great things. Maybe the dream of Japan-exclusive games being available to everyone will be a reality someday. Of course, reality or not, that day is a long way off, because the transition from East to West takes time and patience; the point is, we should always be thankful for whatever we get. Take Yumi’s Odd Odyssey by Japanese developer Natsume, for instance. This is not only the first game in the Umihara Kawase series in twenty years, but also the first Umihara Kawase game to be released outside of Japan – albeit via digital distribution. The game is set to release in North America some time at the end of February or early March and with the somewhat vague release date drawing near, Nintendo Everything, a website built around bringing up to date and accurate information regarding all things Nintendo, recently sat down with two of the game’s main developers, Graham Markay and Kiyoshi Sakai. The interview mostly outlines how both strange and fortunate it is for the game to be coming to the West, and when asked about the decision to make the game digital download only, Markay said: "The great thing about digital distribution avenues like the Nintendo eShop is that we can take risks on games like Yumi’s Odd Odyssey without having to spend a lot of money compared to the cost of a physical production runs. If the Nintendo eShop didn’t exist, there would still be a chance we would pursue a physical release of the game, but, again, the risk/reward factor would be much more costly." It seems as though the Nintendo eShop is playing a key role in the distribution of Eastern games, and is giving developers the confidence to take chances they might otherwise hesitate to take. Even with this in mind however, the game series hasn’t been seen in twenty years and, popularity and awareness aside, the gaming world has changed a lot in that time. Of course the most notable difference is probably the graphical capabilities of current consoles compared to the 16-bit sprites of 1994. When asked about the series’ evolution into the modern era and the challenges of its graphical upgrade, Sakai said: "The game wasn’t for pursuing the quality of graphics. Thus, there wasn’t anything particular that was challenging. But generally speaking, the demand for higher graphic presentation is getting more and more in the market, which I believe is one the factors that direct[ly] affects the soaring development cost" It’s always good when a developer puts the game before its appearance, and this could be another reason why the decision to bring the game to the West was made. Not only is the avenue of digital distribution more appealing, but the games themselves — with their priorities of gameplay over graphics — seem to be more cost effective. When asked whether we’ll be seeing more from the Umihara Kawase series in the future, however, Mr Sakai gave an expected “we’ll wait and see” response. Of course, Natsume is no stranger to Western gamers, as it's already delivered plenty of games to North American and European 3DS’ over the years. With a new Harvest Moon already announced for Japan, it only made sense to ask whether the game would be making the leap overseas as well. Unfortunately when asked about such a thing, Markay cleverly sidestepped the question, but he did say: "We will definitely be announcing more titles for the 3DS in the future!" With all this talk of retail games, what about Natsume’s line up of Virtual Console games? The company had already said that it would be bringing out its Game Boy Color games to the 3DS Virtual Console, but Nintendo recently announcing the chance to download DS titles on the Wii U also caught Natsume’s interest. Could Natsume be planning on showing its support for the Wii U eShop as well as the 3DS’? "We believe our back catalog of GBC and DS titles is very strong, so, to speak frankly, we will try to get as many of our back catalog games as we can on the 3DS eShop and Wii U eShop!" Another string in the Wii U eShop’s bow to be sure, but what about the Wii U itself? Is there a chance that Natsume could show its support for the console outside of its back catalogue? "We’re definitely fans of Nintendo, and if a title came along for it that we were interested in, we’d certainly publish it" It looks as though Natsume is on board with the Wii U, or at the very least standing by, and it’s always good to hear a developer show its support for the console, especially at a time when developers seem to be coming and going for Nintendo. Yumi’s Odd Odyssey may be an obscure choice to bring to the West, but if it serves in bringing more games — be they 3DS or Wii U — outside of Japan, I'm sure you’ll hear no complaints from a lot of players. Yumi’s Odd Odyssey is pegged to release digitally in North American at the end of February. Bravely Default Producer Inspired by 90210 and Glee ![]() Bravely Default producer Tomoya Asano was recently kind enough to field a question on the Nintendo Handheld Gaming Facebook page, revealing his inspirations behind the game's plot. Asano started off with the somewhat predictable — yet understandable — response of establishing a fantasy RPG setting revolving around crystals and cute, exaggerated characters so that fans could jump in comfortably. After establishing that, however, he added there were other outside sources that held creative influence, including foreign TV and games: "I used the methodology of American TV dramas like the older Beverly Hills 90210 (I’m a huge fan!), and Glee as references. In terms of games, a number of games developed outside of Japan had major influence on the storytelling. So if you think about it, I guess you could call Bravely Default a traditional Japanese RPG with American content thrown in." Few probably ever expected their JRPG to contain intentional notes of a '90s show about Californian teens, but there you have it. If it contributes to games as good as Bravely Default, someone should make sure Asano has the entire boxed set of the series! Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Only Sells Just Over 35,000 Units in Japanese Launch ![]() The latest Media Create Japanese chart results are in, and while there are positives for the 3DS there's little cheer for Wii U. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze arrived in Japan on 13th February and, despite coming in second in the charts, has failed to make a significant impact. Top honours in the software chart go to Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca's Wonderful Mysterious Keys once again, which remains comfortably number one in its second week. The top ten alone features eight 3DS titles, with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in second place — it's sold just 35,717 physical retail copies; Donkey Kong Country Returns sold over 160,000 copies in its début week in Japan, but its arrival in 2010 gave it the benefit of a substantial Wii userbase. Another comparison is Super Mario 3D World, which sold 99,588 copies on its Japanese début during the Holiday season. The top 20, with lifetime sales in parenthesis, is below. 1. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca’s Wonderful Mysterious Keys – 118,427 (562,083) 2. [Wii U] Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze – 35,717 (New) 3. [3DS] A-Ressha de Ikou 3D – 27,009 (New) 4. [3DS] Kirby: Triple Deluxe – 23,017 (440,131) 5. [3DS] Yokai Watch – 22,230 (423,836) 6. [3DS] Magi: Aratanaru Sekai – 15,793 (New) 7. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons Z – 15,462 (1,359,241) 8. [3DS] Puyopuyo Tetris – 13,717 (58,345) 9. [PS3] Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Full Boost – 13,704 (313,291) 10. [3DS] Pokemon X and Y – 12,750 (3,950,322) 11. [PS3] Diablo III – 7,345 (62,277) 12. [Wii U] Super Mario 3D World – 6,952 (489,596) 13. [PS3] Sengoku Basara 4 – 6,611 (224,094) 14. [PSV] Terraria – 6,245 (21,315) 15. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto V – 5,904 (707,610) 16. [3DS] Sentouchu Densetsu no Shinobi to Survival Battle – 5,450 (270,846) 17. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 5,275 (3,672,543) 18. [3DS] Attack on Titan: The Last Wings of Mankind – 5,273 (248,079) 19. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 – 5,103 (3,219,168) 20. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds – 4,785 (377,432) The hardware results see the 3DS XL / LL dip after its Dragon Quest 2 boost of last week, though Nintendo's handheld is still the strongest performer in the market. As for the Wii U, its minor boost is disappointing in light of a major first-party release, with its sales remaining in four figures. 3DS LL – 27,650 (36,306) PlayStation Vita – 17,081 (16,951) 3DS – 12,066 (12,002) PlayStation 3 – 10,226 (10,240) Wii U – 8,782 (7,180) PSP – 2,944 (2,948) PlayStation Vita TV – 1,267 (1,331) Xbox 360 – 256 (194) More positive news for Level-5 on the 3DS, but in comparison to its predecessor and Mario's festive performance Tropical Freeze has endured a poor start. Tappingo Trailer Emerges as European Release Date is Pushed Back One Week ![]() According to Goodbye Galaxy Games developer Hugo Smits, his début 3DS eShop title Tappingo has been slightly delayed for European release. It's been pushed back to a 6th March launch due to translations taking a little longer than anticipated. It was only a few weeks ago that Tappingo received an official 3DS eShop release date of 27th February for both Europe and North America. Luckily, the game will still be launching on 27th February in North America. Take a look at the brand new trailer below to see the game in action: Tappingo Trailer #1 - 3DS eshop puzzle game Shinji Mikami Prefers The Sega Version Of Aladdin, Even Though He Worked On The SNES Game ![]() Those of you old enough to recall the epic 16-bit console wars will remember that Sega and Nintendo fans utilised every available weapon they could to belittle each other. SNES owners boasted that they had Street Fighter II first, and Sega fans wore unbearably smug grins on their faces when they got an uncensored (via a code) version of Mortal Kombat while their Nintendo-owning chums had to make do with a rather lame blood-free port. Another famous bone of contention is Disney's Aladdin, which was released on both formats in different forms. The Sega Genesis / Mega Drive edition is perhaps the most famous, having been coded by legendary designer Dave Perry, founder of Shiny Entertainment. The SNES version, on the other hand, came courtesy of Capcom, and Resident Evil creator worked on the game as a designer. Mikami has broken his silence to finally put the debate to rest — the Sega version is the best one: "If I didn't actually make [the SNES game], I would probably buy the Genesis one. Animation-wise, I think the Genesis version's better. The Genesis version had a sword, actually. I wanted to have a sword." It's not only the lack of bladed weapons which has tainted Mikami's memory of the game; the cover art also threw up problems — it didn't include the Genie character, which was arguably one of the most iconic members of the cast: "Originally, the front of the Super Famicom package had a genie on it. Disney said no to that, so we had to move the genie to the back of the package in a smaller size. But the Sega version, they had the genie on the front." According to Polygon — and Dave Perry himself — the lack of Genie could have something to do with Robin Williams and his annoyance at the way Disney was using his character's likeness in promotional materials, such as video games. "That put the use of the Genie as 'sensitive' during those discussions," says Perry. It must be nice to have someone like Mikami picking your game over his own, but to his credit, Perry admits that he would take the opposite view: "I'm really biased as we made the original game and got Disney to deliver the animation. So I'd flip the quote, 'If I didn't actually make the Genesis version I'd probably buy the SNES one'." Bravely Default Producer Outlines a Continued Focus on the Story for Upcoming Sequel ![]() With Bravely Default now available worldwide, it's naturally no surprise that the sequel is already confirmed for Japan, ensuring a likely scenario that gamers in the West will have to patiently await localisation news as those in the homeland of Square Enix enjoy the follow-up. The version that hit the West was indeed the "for the Sequel" iteration that was the second arrival in Japan, however, so those that have picked it up do have an idea of the direction the series will follow in its full sequel. With the new title on the way, producer Tomoya Asano had a chat with Siliconera on a few points around the style and design of the game. Unsurprisingly, turn-based combat will remain as per the latest release, while Asano-san reiterated that the focus of the game would once again be driven by story, even with the world being expanded. "Originally, showing exploration more naturally is not something we put importance on because [the game] consists of deformed characters walking on a deformed map. However, having symbol encounters [enemies aren't visible on the map] is convenient in that it allows players to engage in battles at their own pace. The adjustable encounter rate accomplishes this. Bravely Second expands Luxendarc, but it might be slightly different than an ‘RPG with an expansive world you can explore'. Rather, it will basically be like Bravely Default in that it will be driven by the story. Thought processes change depending on the goal of the game, and with Bravely, the thought process is that characters are there for the gameplay and the world is there for the characters." This perhaps gives the experience some focus, even accounting for a larger world, sub-quests and other areas to explore. |
![]() My 3DS friend code: 1134-7907-6403 Please PM me your 3DS friend code so I can add you. | |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · First Party Discussion · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic | 11:30 AM Jul 13 |
Hosted for free by ZetaBoards · Privacy Policy













