Tag Archives: nintendo

The Last Story Coming To America Courtesy of XSEED Games [UPDATE]

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In a Nintendo Direct video posted this morning, Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed that The Last Story would be coming to North America sometime this year. Interestingly, XSEED Games will be publishing this title (after reports said that Nintendo didn’t want another publisher handling it). No word yet if XSEED will be using the build created for Europe or if they’ll be using American voice actors. [Update] According to Operation Rainfall (via the XSEED Forums), The NA localization will be based on the European version. So I guess this is another score for the Rainfall guys. There’s still one title left, but I think it’s safe to say that we’re good for now.

Reggie also revealed the winning art that will be used in the inlay of Xenoblade Chronicles if anyone’s interested. Maybe there will be one for The Last Story as well.

Retro Weekends – Killer Instinct

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Welcome to Fighting February! This month, we’ll be covering four retro fighting games. As they say, what’s love without pain. So sit back, relax, grab a loved one, and promptly break up because you’re being a cheap-ass with the hadoukens. Trust us, it’ll make us feel less lonely :)

The year is 1994. The fighting game craze is in full swing with Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, and many others are duking it out for the most quarters and carts at home. While the more niche enthusiasts of fighting games had a plethora to choose from, the mainstream crowd sided with either Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat. Nintendo, and by extension Rareware, saw this as an opportunity to jump into the fray. With a new console on the horizon and some sick-ass hardware to work with now, Rare was ready to level the playing field and offer a viable third option for players looking for that Killer Instinct.

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A Brief History of the Playstation’s Confirm And Cancel Buttons

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Editor’s Note: Since Kotaku’s Richard Eisenbeis published an article relating to this topic, I figured I’d go ahead and finish this one off. I wrote this back in September, with the last revision being on Sep. 29. It was all written, but I lost interest in wanting to publish it. But now the topic’s flared up again, and I got back the motivation to publish it. Consider this an expansion of that article.

Some of you may already be aware of the fact that Japan and The West press different buttons to confirm or cancel when using a Playstation controller. So to those people, you probably don’t need to read this, but stick around for the end. As for everyone else, I’ll provide you with an explanation as to why the X and Circle buttons serve different purposes in Japan and The West. For the purpose of this article, X is “X“, and Circle is “O“. Now I know there are many gamers out there that play import games from Japan. Some of them are new to it and are still having trouble adapting to pressing circle for nearly everything menu based. Some of you probably don’t play import games, but encountered the Japanese Button Configuration in games that forgot to change it (like Xenosaga). Some could probably just brush it off as just something weird that Japan does (which is nothing new). But there is a deeper explanation as to why the X and O buttons are configured that way in Japan and why it’s different The West, and we may have Nintendo to thank for that.

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The Last Story English Trailer

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And finally there’s a trailer for Mistwalker’s The Last Story with English voices. Since the primary market for the PAL release is European (obviously), the voices here are British, just like Xenoblade. Of course I have no problem with it, at all. And they seem to fit even more too, especially for the Lowell character (uh, no offense), even though we don’t hear his voice. Regardless, The Last Story is scheduled for release in Europe on February 24, with Australia getting it a day before. And remember, Xenoblade graces our shores on April 6th.

New 2D Sidescroller Mario In The Works, Might Have DLC Stages

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During an investor meeting, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata mentioned that a new Super Mario games was in development, this time being in 2D like the DS and Wii New Super Mario Bros. He also touched upon the possibility of Super Mario being a good place to add DLC stages. Obviously pricing hasn’t been talked about yet, nor how many stages would be available per pop. Hopefully these’ll be new stages and not stuff already on the cart. Iwata hopes to release the game in the next fiscal year.

Here’s hoping for some asshole-level difficult stages. One of the primary reasons why I liked NSMBWii, Mario Galaxy 2, and Donkey Kong Country Returns. Bring it on Nintendo!

Nintendo President Mentions Downloadable Stages For Future Mario Games [Siliconera]

Retro Weekends – Abadox

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What’s the goriest game you could think of? I’ll give you some time…. Okay, now how about the Super Nintendo/Genesis, can you think of a gory game for that one? Got some? Good. Now how about the NES? Not a lot huh? Well, that’s the point. The NES wasn’t really known for having much gore in the games that released on it. While there were some games that skillfully dodged Nintendo of America’s Judeo-Christian-Puritan-No-Sex-No-Violence Morality code, there were some that made your wonder “How the hell did this make it past the censors?” One of those games was space-shooter Abadox.

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Retro Weekends – The Playstation

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Merry Christmas fellow fishes! Today’s Christmas Eve, and today’s probably a very important day for you. You got gifts to get (slowpoke), people to see, things to prepare in the house, stuff to cook… well you get the idea. So I thought it’d be best to make this weekend’s Retro Weekend extra early and put it up at 7:00AM. I’m sure you got time to spare for this article. Last week I said that we’d come right back here and talk about something that changed my gaming habits. Well, if you look at the header image up there, then you know exactly what I’m going to talk about. Hit the jump to read about my history with the original Playstation. Continue reading →

Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition Trailer

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What do you get when you take Pokemon and make every, damn, location Ecruteak City? You get Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition. Nobunaga’s Ambition is a long-time series of strategy RPGs made by Koei that first released in 1983. Each game takes place in Feudal Japan. And now, Tecmo Koei and Gamefreak are teaming up to bring Nobunaga’s and Pokemon together. I will say that putting Pokemon in a strategy RPG is interesting since it’s never been done before for the series. Color me fascinated!

This game is being made for the Nintendo DS and is set for release in Japan in 2012. No U.S. release date is set.

Retro Weekends – Super Mario Kart

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Next weekend is the weekend of Christmas. That tree of yours is packed with presents, and there’s probably a 3DS in one of those. Good luck to you with that. But today, we’re going back in time again (as we always do with Retro Weekends) to the year 1996. If you read last week’s Retro Weekend on Donkey Kong Country 3, you’ll know that I also received Super Mario Kart alongside it as a Christmas gift as well. Well, this week is Part 2 of our little Holiday Special of Retro Weekends. Hit the jump and join me as we talk about Super Mario Kart. Continue reading →

Retro Weekends – Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble

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Here we are, the final game in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy for the SNES. If you missed out on reading about the other two games, go back and read them here and here. To summarize, both games somehow found ways to avoid me. DKC1 stopped working, and I never owned DKC2. But what of DKC3? Well, this is the only one in the trilogy that I still own on the SNES and still works. I haven’t played it for many years, but trust me when I say that I played it a lot since it was the only one in my possession and working. Join me as we explore one of the last games released on the SNES. Continue reading →

The Last Story Gets European Release Date

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In the midst of all the celebration of Xenoblade’s U.S. release confirmation, Nintendo has set February 24, 2012 as Europe’s release date for The Last Story. Hironobu Sakaguchi and his company Mistwalker are the makers of this game. The last major games they made were Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, both Xbox 360 releases. The Last Story was release in Japan in late January of this year. No word yet on if The Last Story while join Xenoblade in coming out in the U.S., but I’m assuming Nintendo of America is going to see how this game performs in Europe before taking any action on it.

The Last Story gets European release date [CVG]

I Stand On My Soapbox: You Wanted The Game, Now Follow Through

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I Stand On My Soapbox is a series of editorials that cover more specific topics in the games industry and community. These articles are a little more extreme than normal editorials published here, and could just degenerate to outright ranting. Have fun and enjoy the show!

Over the weekend, the Wii community, and JRPGs as a whole, have been celebrating the confirmation of Xenoblade finally making it to the U.S. I’ve been listening to the music all weekend and have added some songs to my daily playlist. I’ve seen the trailer a lot, saw some gameplay footage, and watched a couple of early cutscenes in the game. I’m ready to preorder this baby this week (even though I really hate Gamestop, it’s my only choice. And no I have no means to pre-order from Nintendo). But in the back of my mind, I fear that this game may not sell well in the U.S. But this time, it cannot happen. It mustn’t happen! Continue reading →

Xenoblade U.S. Trailer and new Title Design

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Not too long after the reveal of Xenoblade coming to the U.S., a new trailer was posted. The trailer reveals that the U.S. release will be based on the PAL version, meaning that there will be British voices a-plenty. One thing that has been changed is the title design, which now has “Chronicles” in smaller font and under a line (ignore the IGN thumbnail). I actually like this new design as it’s less busy than the PAL version and downplays the “Chronicles” part of the title (something that many gamers saw as an unnecessary subtitle). You’ll also notice many of the songs that are in the game that are really stunning. I’ve been listening to some of the music all weekend, and it’s really good! Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono series, Soma Bringer) are the composers for this game, so you know this is going to be an amazing soundtrack. Xenoblade is set for release in April 2012.

Retro Weekends – Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

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Last week, we covered a game that was one of my first games on the SNES, Donkey Kong Country. It met a sad fate when it stopped working, and I went without the first game for over a decade. Eventually I bought the game on the Wii’s Virtual Console, and all the memories started coming back. So this weekend, we’ll be talking about a rather elusive game for many gamers, including me. Physical copies of this game are somewhat rare and pretty expensive as many gamers that own this game aren’t willing to part ways with it. As the header image suggests, I’m talking about Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest.

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Xenoblade Confirmed For U.S. Release!

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Well guys, it finally happened. Xenoblade will finally be hitting the U.S. next year under the title Xenoblade Chronicles. This comes to us via a report from IGN in which an image from an anonymous Gamestop employee was shown to have Xenoblade in the release schedule. Soon afterward, images of Xenoblade Chronicles popped up on on Nintendo’s Facebook page. At 10:10AM PST, Nintendo posted on their Facebook page:

“It’s confirmed! Next year, Wii players throughout North America can wield the Monado blade and join the epic battle between the Homs and the Mechons in Xenoblade Chronicles. Like this post if you’re ready for an adventure on the surface of two frozen Titans!”

There are some out there that may feel a little manipulated out there after begging, pleading, and potentially boycotting all Nintendo products, and they have a right to be a little disappointed that Nintendo would dangle the carrot in front of gamers like that. But I think it’s time to put the pride aside and just be happy that we’re getting the damned game. The critically acclaimed game is set for release in April 2012.

Xenoblade Confirmed for United States [IGN]