Author: sick skills

Time flies when you’re having fun, and we’re certainly having a lot of fun with the recently released Super Mario Odyssey on Switch. 

Of course, it is unlikely that we would have had the delights of Odyssey without the groundwork laid out before in Super Mario Galaxy which – funnily enough – launched on the Wii ten years ago today (in Japan, at least). North America and Europe had to wait weeks longer. The good old days, eh?

Set in outer space, in the game Mario travels through different galaxies to collect Power Stars, earned by completing missions, defeating a boss, or reaching a particular area. It was great fun circumnavigating the planetoids and messing about with all the funky power-ups.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 would follow 3 years later in 2010 and shook up the winning formula even more by adding new power-ups, locations and even letting Mario ride Yoshi. Oo-er!

This anniversary allows us to ask the almost impossible question – which one is best, Galaxy or Odyssey? Let us know which you prefer by voting in our poll below, the results of which could influence the future direction of the series. Or (as is more likely), not.

UK publisher Sold Out is teaming up with Team17 to publish physical versions of Worms W.M.D and Overcooked: Special Edition on Switch, it has been revealed.

Arriving in 2018, the two games will launch in physical form on Nintendo’s console, adding two more titles to the machine’s burgeoning retail lineup.

Overcooked is already available on the Switch eShop but Worms W.M.D. – the latest entry in Team17’s long-running series – doesn’t yet have a confirmed release date in digital form.

Traditionally, one Nintendo console per household was enough. Granted, if you were a lucky kid you might have had your own personal SNES, GameCube or Wii in your bedroom all those years ago, but many homes buy a single machine which takes pride of place under the living room TV for the entire family to enjoy.

With Switch, Nintendo wants to buck that trend and encourage consumers to adopt a buying pattern which is perhaps more suited to the handheld market. According to Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki‏, Tatsumi Kimishima has recently told investors that the company wants Switch to be positioned as a system that all family members own, rather than just having one per household:

Big deal, you may assume. Of course Nintendo wants everyone in the house to have a Switch – it sells more consoles that way. However, this stance shows Nintendo’s current thinking behind its promotion of the console; it wants to bring people together for local multiplayer rather than focusing on online play. 

Have a think about the promotional videos and images Nintendo has released so far for Switch – most involve each participant having their own console, sitting within punching distance of their opponents. The message is clear: if you want to enjoy this system to its maximum potential, you need your own personal Switch.

Given the high cost of Switch, we’re not sure the machine is quite at this point yet, but as the years roll by and production becomes cheaper, we’ll almost certainly see a price reduction which makes the console more viable as a “one per person” proposition.

Switch has had an amazing first year, with some brilliant games in the form of Splatoon 2, ARMS, Breath of the Wild and, of course, Super Mario Odyssey.

The future is looking a bit bare at present, though – Nintendo is clearly working on key titles but hasn’t revealed them yet – with the exception of Metroid Prime 4, which we might not see for a while, and the console’s mainline Pokémon outing.

However, in an interview with TIME, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime may have let slip one of Switch’s big forthcoming unconfirmed titles:

Of course, people could be reading something in nothing – perhaps Reggie just picked the name Donkey Kong alongside Metroid (already confirmed, remember) out of the air at random to make his point – or (and this is the version of the story we prefer to believe) he said Donkey Kong by accident because (deep breath) Nintendo is working on a new game in the Donkey Kong Country series; a sequel to Tropical Freeze, perhaps? We still don’t know what Retro Studios is working on, after all…

What do you think? Has Reggie subconsciously dropped a bombshell, or not? Destroy our dreams gently with a comment below. 

EA’s company finance chief Black Jorgensen has told the Wall Street Journal that it’s too early to accurately judge the demand for the company’s games on the Nintendo Switch.

EA has released FIFA 18 on the console so far, one of its biggest franchises, but reports suggest that the Switch version has accounted for very few sales in comparison to the PS4 and Xbox One editions.

Jorgensen says EA will wait a full market year (until March, basically) before deciding on what other games it will bring to Nintendo’s console, if it decides to bring any at all. He states that the company wants to “fully understand what the demand is” before committing development resources to the machine.

Given that other publishers – such as Bethesda – are now pledging their support to Switch, EA’s stance does seem a little odd. However, FIFA 18 has hardly sold like hotcakes on the console, so perhaps this air of caution is wise? Let us know what you think by posting a comment.

Nintendo’s latest investor’s Q&A has been published in Japanese, and while we wait for the full English translation a few bits and pieces are coming through on social media.

According to Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki‏, Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima has refused to be drawn on the question of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp offering any kind of connectivity with “dedicated” Animal Crossing games on consoles:

Given the likelihood of an Animal Crossing game coming to Switch in the not too distant future, it would be amazing to see Pocket Camp have some form of interaction with a “mainline” console outing. Given that your phone is at your side all day long, some form of connection could allow players to gain resources while they’re away from their Switch.

Hopefully Nintendo is just keeping its cards close to its chest at present, and we’ll see something like this happen in the fullness of time. Make your own predictions known by posting a comment below.

Zen Studios offered decent support for the Wii U and 3DS eShop, and it’s now stepping up with the Switch eShop – it’s confirmed that Pinball FX3 is coming to the store on 14th November; the initial download is free and includes the Sorcerer’s Lair table, and you then buy other tables separately.

Check out the trailer below.

Starting off with Switch-specific features, it’ll have HD Rumble and the option to play with a vertical orientation in portable mode, which is a neat touch. There’ll be 30 tables available to buy at launch, with more promised, and cross-platform multiplayer will also be included. As you can see in the PR excerpt below the FX series puts multiplayer and tournaments at the heart of the game.

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• Now every table is an RPG. Simply playing a table yields experience points and level
  advancements that continually unlock the potential for bigger points…and bigger blowouts of
  your friends’ scores on the leaderboards. Strategic thinking comes into play when determining
  which power-ups to equip—one table might be best suited for a Skillshot Score Increase and
  Multiball Score Bonus, while another might better benefit from Combo Time Bonus and
  Distance Bonus team-up.
• Players level up. The more you play, the higher your own personal experience level climbs.
• Anyone can start their own tournament. In addition to tournaments run by Zen (often involving
  fantastic prizes), Pinball FX3 allows players to create their own tournaments and set them up
  however they like, including access to several modes of play.
• Advanced multiplayer features allow for intelligent matching against others based on skill level.
  This applies to everything from immediate friendly matches to ultracompetitive League Play.
• Cross-play enables Nintendo Switch players to take on opponents competing on most other
  platforms where Pinball FX3 is available.
• New modes will change the way you play even the tables you feel you’ve mastered. Playing a 1-
  Ball Challenge, a 5-Minute Challenge or Survival Mode will cause you to completely rethink your
  approach in order to top the leaderboards.

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The complete list of tables at launch is below.

• Universal Classics Pinball (Back to the Future, E.T., Jaws)
• Aliens vs. Pinball (Aliens, Alien vs. Predator, Alien: Isolation)
• Balls of Glory (Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, Archer, American Dad!)
• Portal
• The Walking Dead
• Sorcerer’s Lair (free)
• Carnivals & Legends (Adventure Land Pinball, Son of Zeus)
• Zen Classics (Shaman, Tesla, El Dorado, V12)
• Core Collection (Pasha, Rome, Biolab, Secrets of the Deep)
• Medieval Pack (Epic Quest, Excalibur)
• Sci-Fi Pack (Mars, Paranormal, Earth Defense)
• Iron & Steel (Wild West Rampage, CastleStorm)

We’ve confirmed with Zen Studios that pricing on the Switch will be exactly the same as on other platforms. On PS4, for example, The Walking Dead costs £2.49 in the UK while a pack like Universal Classics costs £7.99.

Are you excited about this one coming to the Switch? Let us know in the comments.