Category: Nintendo News

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove launched at the start of this month, bringing its “funky fresh roguelike adventure infused with old skool hip-hop” to Switch and other platforms with a nostalgic bang. The game’s developer, Humanature Studios, has now updated its original Kickstarter page with some early sales info – and things are looking good for Switch.

It may well have only been out for 20 days, but early sales momentum can be essential for a game’s success and can often provide a decent look at which platforms are likely to perform the best in the long run. The update notes that more than 25,000 copies have been sold on Switch, with the grand total for all platforms standing at “around 53,500”. We’ve done the maths, and that’s roughly 46.7% of sales on Switch versus all other platforms. Not bad at all.

“As of right now, we can only give general sales data, but we can say that physical and digital combined, we’re at over 25,000 units sold on Switch, 12,000 on steam and PS4 each, and around 5,500 on Xbox, for a total of around 53,500 units sold between presales and launch. So far so good!

As we’ve mentioned before, we need to sell around 150,000 lifetime to break even as we do have money that needs to get paid back (this game was in development for a long time!), so we have a little way to go, but that’s a great start and we think if we can keep momentum rocking, we can do this!”

The Kickstarter update also provides more info on the studio’s progress with fixing bugs – including ways for players to get in touch with feedback – and more. Feel free to check it out in full here.

So, another success for Switch and another developer happy with sales on Nintendo’s platform. Have you played ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove on Switch?

We had a lot of fun with Super Mario Party when it launched last October – we called it a “beautifully realised Mario Party game which takes the series right back to its roots” in our review – but we always thought it could have done with another board or two to enjoy via an update or DLC package.

Well, as it happens, the game has finally received its very first update, taking the game to Version 1.0.1. Unfortunately, though, the update doesn’t contain any new content:

Version 1.0.1 Patch Notes:
– Online: Fixed an issue with Online Mariothon in which ranking data was not displaying properly.

Oh.

We’re actually quite surprised that it hasn’t received any free content updates like Mario Tennis Aces, Splatoon 2, and ARMS did before it, or even new board sets as paid DLC. Once you’ve played through everything the game has to offer a few times, things can get a little stale, and new boards would be the perfect way to renew our interest in the whole thing. Maybe they’ll arrive one day, but that day sadly isn’t today.

What do you think? Should Nintendo add new content to Super Mario Party? Would that make you jump back in for more rounds, or do you still play it regularly today? Let us know down below.

Nintendo is set to release its latest venture into the world of cardboard gaming next month with Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit. Included in the complete set is a Toy-Con Elephant design, which allows players to use a trunk to paint 3D objects and more besides.

It’s one of the more inventive additions coming to the Labo VR range, featuring an amazingly deep art package, but the idea has actually been shown off to the world before. Back in 2016, Max Piantoni shared a video on YouTube showcasing his team’s entry into the 2016 International Game Concept Challenge. Called Masterpiece Mammoth, their game has you embracing the role of a woolly mammoth through VR, using its trunk to suck paint from cans and spray it back out onto a canvas.

There are, of course, several key differences between the two ideas, and we doubt that Nintendo stole the idea for itself, but it’s interesting to see the similarities nonetheless. You can check out Masterpiece Mammoth below.

If you missed it, make sure to check out our hands-on report of Nintendo Labo VR to learn more. The first trailer for the kit was recently released, too.

Yet Another Zombie Defense HD is barricading itself onto a Switch near you very soon indeed; a 5th April release date has been confirmed today alongside a brand new trailer (above).

The game is a top-down arcade zombie shooter with tactical and strategic elements. Players must prepare before nightfall by building defensive barricades, buying guns and ammo, and setting up turrets, before trying to stay alive for as long as they can through the night. Zombie forces get stronger with each wave until they eventually win, so last as long as possible and make your death as fun and as memorable as you can.

YET ANOTHER ZOMBIE DEFENSE HD – MAIN FEATURES:
– Local and online co-op for up to four players – slaying monsters alone is fun, but doing it with your friends? It’s up to four times better!
– Mount your favourite firearms on automated turrets and set traps – it’s a well-known fact that zombies aren’t smart, so they won’t be expecting it;
– Guns, guns, guns … and more guns! Choose from a variety of weapons – shotguns, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and many more;
– Pick your favourite game mode: Defense / Endless / Deathmatch
– Compete with others and dominate the leaderboard;
– Zooombieees! Who doesn’t love to smash their rotten little faces?
– Oh, and did we mention guns yet? No, really, there are literally tons of them!

As noted above, the game will launch on Switch on 5th April, but pre-purchase will be going live on 27th March. If you pick it up before release, you’ll be treated to a lovely 10% off the usual $4.99 price.

Do you like the look of this one? Will you be going it alone or playing with friends? Let us know in the comments below.

Update: It’s come to our attention that the image posted was fabricated, therefore the joke is firmly on us. Touche @luulubuu, you got us.

Original Story: Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! have been available on Nintendo Switch for four whole months now, dividing the fanbase with more ferocity than the age-old starter Pokémon dilemma. We thought it was a solid, if not exactly outstanding entry in the series when we checked it out for review last year, but there was something we didn’t pick up on at the time. And now we don’t know how to feel about it.

Twitter user, @luulubuu, has shared what could potentially be the most frustrating little easter egg to ever find its way into a video game. That’s right, it looks like Game Freak might have put the ‘loss’ meme into our innocent little Pokémon adventure (note how Gym Leader Sabrina’s strange love for the word ‘loss’ is combined with the way in which the lights are turned on in the building behind her).

If you’re unfamiliar with the meme, or if you’re just not seeing it, ‘loss’ refers to a 2008 webcomic of the same name by Tim Buckley. For whatever reason, the internet did its thing and latched on to its layout, recreating the shapes made by the people in each scene via everyday objects, drawn lines, and whatever else they could think of. The point seemingly became to annoy viewers as soon as they realise they’ve been tricked into looking at yet another loss image. Here’s a visual explanation.

If you imagine the windows highlighted in the second picture split into four, and then look at how the lights are used to represent the positions of each character, it becomes pretty convincing. We’re surprised that it’s there, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it was deliberate.

Game Freak, how dare you?

We’ve had our eyes on the modular Polymega console for quite some time now, and with good reason – if these guys can pull it off, it will be the ultimate one-stop retro system, covering consoles such as the NES, SNES, Mega Drive / Genesis, Mega CD and even Neo Geo CD.

The project hasn’t been without its controversies, though; revised specs and incorrectly sourced footage have led many to question if the Polymega will ever make it into full production. It’s wise to be cautious with this kind of thing, but after a long period of silence, the makers of the console have finally delivered a series of updates.

The Polymega hardware is finished, according to the team at Playmaji. It will run on a 35W Intel Coffee Lake S series Processor, which is upgradeable so Polymega can support other, more powerful retro systems in the future. The upgrade will need to be carried out by an authorised service outlet.

Polymega will also support NVMe M.2 2280 SSD’s via an expansion port on the base of the machine. SD card expansion remains in place and will support cards up to 1TB in capacity. If you wanted to max out the storage, you can install up to 3TB – that’s room for a lot of games.

Saturn support was one of the last big announcements for the Polymega, and the team is reporting that it has hit 99% game and 99% HLE BIOS compatibility for the entire Saturn library. Emulation is running at full speed, apparently. Meanwhile, PlayStation HLE BIOS is 90+% and will be improved over the next few months.

Emulation is one of the big question marks hanging over the project, but the team behind the console have revealed that it will only include in-house or legally-licensed emulators, which are considered to be “best in class”, with “only one of them” being able to run on a low-power ARM-based device. Gameplay samples of all emulators in action will be posted on YouTube next week.

Of particular interest to Nintendo fans is the news that the included SNES emulator will come with expansion chip support for SA1, SuperFX and CX-4, with DSP-1/2 (and variants) and S-DD1 “being implemented at the moment”. Again, gameplay samples “with lossless audio” will be made public soon.

It wasn’t all good news, however; due to 14nm chip supply shortages, the ship date for Polymega will most likely change. The company is “in line behind a few larger companies” but the aim is to get most of the chips by summer. Press units and pre-orders will be shipped as soon as they are in hand.

Finally, it was revealed that the second round of pre-orders will open in May, and retail pre-order info will also be forthcoming around the same time.

Polymega is being demoed at GDC as we speak, and we’ll update this post with any video footage that hits the web. In the meantime, let us know if all of this information has calmed your nerves or simply made you even more sceptical.

The Switch eShop is about to get its hands on yet another puzzle title, this time in the form of SpellKeeper.

Described as a “unique logic game” on Nintendo’s official store listing, this one is set to feature dozens of puzzles and hand-drawn graphics, as seen in the gameplay footage up above. That video is actually taken from the Steam version of the game which released just under a year ago.

A plot behind the puzzles sees you taking on the role of the Chosen One and saving butterflies trapped in magic cocoons. You’ll need to use various types of magic spells and correctly arrange the butterflies on the board. Here are some game features to give you a little more info:

Game Features:
– Easy to play
– Challenging but not frustrating difficult level
– No hints because it’s much better to solve the puzzle yourself using your brain and logic.
– Game for everyone (no violence).
– Hand-painted graphics and relaxing music.
– Thirteen language versions.
– English voice acting.

It launches on Switch on 2nd April and will be priced at $5.99 / £4.99; those who pre-purchase the game from the eShop will benefit from a discount which takes it down to $4.49 / £3.74, however.

Are you a puzzle game fan? Does this look like a perfect way for you to kill some time? Let us know your thoughts below.