Category: Nintendo News

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was a grand departure from the Mario template when it launched back on Super Nintendo in 1996. Nowadays there’s nary a genre the precocious plumber hasn’t dipped his toe into, but his first foray with role-playing turned out to be a classic that still stands up today, filled with odd yet loveable characters and hilarious, if surreal, dialogue.

It seems that much of the absurdity may come from the translation. Recently Legends of Localization ran a fascinating article detailing many of these differences in a specific part of the game. For those who skipped this classic (sacrilege!), one of the characters is a spellcaster named Mallow who has the ability to read enemy’s minds. When he does this, a quote pops up with a bespoke line of dialogue.

There are many of these and, in truth, they’re a little scattershot – sometimes the line provides a clue to the monster’s weakness, but more often it’s some entertaining nonsense. It seems that the original Japanese dialogue contained many pop culture references which were altered or removed completely in the translation to English.

For example, in the original Japanese an enemy called Pulsar states “Hit me and you will be punished when I go up in smoke!”, a veiled reference a Sailor Moon catchphrase “In the name of the Moon, you will be punished!”

In English, we get the accurate (and useless) “I’m a mini-pulsar.” Quite.

Elsewhere, Buzzer’s dialogue in Japanese references a famous line from the manga series-turned-anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, with some clever wordplay referencing the ‘beat’ of the enemy’s Japanese name (Hachi Bīto). The English translation goes for a Madonna reference – something western players were far more likely to pick up on.

These changes are understandable – especially in the mid-nineties when limited internet access meant the world was a lot smaller and pop culture in all countries tended to stay closer to home. Still, it’s fascinating to look back and see the alterations made when bringing the game to the west.

The article details dozens of changes, and this is only the dialogue found when using Mallow’s “Whatcya Thinking?” ability. The game is chock full of text, so more information will undoubtedly be revealed in the future. Head over to Legends of Localization for the full article – it’s well worth a read.

How many of the references would you pick up on today if they’d been translated more literally back in the day? Let us know below…

For many people, the choice of team in Pokémon GO was somewhat arbitrary. While some players no doubt researched Teams Instinct, Mystic and Valor – or joined the same team as their friends – many others selected at random or simply by their favourite primary colour.

If you’ve been on your lonesome because all your mates chose a different team, now’s your chance to switch sides. From 26th February trainers will be able to use Team Change, a new feature which…, well, you can probably guess what it does.

The feature does come with some caveats, though. First up, a Team Medallion will cost you 1,000 PokéCoins – not too bad if you’ve been batting for Team Nosebleeds since the beginning while your mates have been conquering gyms together. Secondly, you’ll only be able to change once a year – a sensible restriction, to our mind. What’s the point in having teams if players were able to switch affiliations at the drop of a hat?

Once you activate the medallion, any Pokémon in a gym will return without earning PokéCoins, so that’s something to keep in mind before jumping on Team Bandwagon.

For many players, the team they went with in the beginning – however ill-thought out the selection may have been – has become their home and they’d never change. We doubt we’ll be switching sides, though this is a great feature for anyone who likes to go hunting with friends but chose poorly when they started catching ‘mon on their mobile.

Will you be changing sides come 26th February or are you #Team(INSERT-TEAM-HERE) ’til the day you die? Let us know below…

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission is the latest entry in a long-running digital card game series developed by Dimps Corporation and published by Bandai Namco. The newest game includes 1,160 cards, 350 characters and covers Dragon Ball Z, GT and Super. It will also include local and online multiplayer.

If all of this wasn’t already enough, Bandai Namco has now uploaded a video to YouTube, covering the basics of the game’s card creation mode. You’ll have to select your heroes and then place them exactly where you want on a card. After this, you add in a background, layers, and effects. Lastly, you select the attacks and abilities and then name the card. These unique creations can then be used in story mode or custom battle. Check out the video below:

Will you be picking up this game when it is released locally on 5th April? Tell us in the comments.

Earlier this week, the Switch received a firmware update resolving an issue linked to Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! and now Nintendo has turned its attention to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Although this is an incredibly minor update, it’s still an important fix, ironing out a bug that appeared in version 2.0.0, where the King K. Rool Challenge in the Adventure section of Challenges wouldn’t clear, even after fulfilling the conditions. For anyone who has experienced this, all you need to do is update your copy of Smash Bros. Ultimate to version 2.0.1 and then reload your Adventure save data. After this, return to the main menu and the King K. Rool Challenge will clear.

There have also been several fixes made to improve the overall gameplay experience.

If you want to keep playing this game online or locally with people who have already updated to version 2.0.1, you’ll need to update to this version as well. Replays created with version 1.2.1 or earlier are not compatible with this latest version.

Have you updated your copy of Ultimate yet? Noticed anything else? Tell us in the comments.

© Nintendo of America

After a more than successful product launch with the Nintendo Switch and 15 notable years at Nintendo of America, it comes as something of a shock as it is revealed that Reggie Fils-Aime will soon be retiring from the company. With almost 13 years under his belt as President and COO, Reggie has become something of a household name with gamers across the world and has led Nintendo of America through many important transitions throughout the years. His last day at NoA will be 15th April.

The appropriately named Doug Bowser will take over the reins from Reggie. Shuntaro Furukawa, President of Nintendo Co., Ltd. had to say this on the transition:

I really appreciate everything Reggie has done for Nintendo. Inside and outside our company, Reggie is known as an exceptional leader. We are grateful that he is leaving the business in good shape with strong momentum. While we will miss him and we wish him the very best in his retirement, we are also pleased to have such an able successor ready to step into that role. Doug Bowser and the rest of the team will ensure a seamless transition and continued momentum for Nintendo.

© Nintendo of America

Here’s what Reggie had to say about this shock announcement:

Nintendo owns a part of my heart forever. It’s a part that is filled with gratitude – for the incredibly talented people I’ve worked with, for the opportunity to represent such a wonderful brand, and most of all, to feel like a member of the world’s most positive and enduring gamer community. As I look forward to departing in both good health and good humor, this is not ‘game over’ for me, but instead ‘leveling up’ to more time with my wife, family and friends.

Incoming NoA president Doug Bowser added to this:

It has been my great fortune to work with and be mentored by Reggie for four years at Nintendo of America. And rest assured, we will continue to build on his work to evolve and expand our brand, furthering Nintendo’s global mission of creating smiles. There are millions more of those to come.

It’s a massive surprise that Reggie has chosen to retire at this stage of his career, but we at Nintendo Life wish him all the best with his future endeavours. We also congratulate Mr Bowser on his appointment, we’re sure he’ll continue to drive the business forward over the coming years and we look forward to all the inevitable memes.

Let us know what you think of this surprising announcement with a comment below.

VOEZ, the rhythm game from Rayark Inc., has received an update with 16 new songs added to its already substantial catalogue. These tracks and the ones added previously now take the total number to a whopping 201 by our count. Below is the full list of additions in version 1.6:

• energy by yourmythos
• Race is on by Paul Bazooka
• Snow by Night Keepers
• Angel Wing by uma
• Mont Blanc by Night Keepers
• My Real Eden by The SxPLAY
• Festival Lights by Mr. Fantastic
• MOTHER by The SxPLAY
• Nyx -Fatal arousal of Madness- by Fig
• One Happy Thing a Day by Night Keepers
• Hai Dian Nun Lu No.36 by The SxPLAY
• Running out of Life by Alpha Legion
• Road by Night Keepers
• For Kimini Okuru Uta by The SxPLAY
• Take That Ticket by The SxPLAY
• Give by Night Keepers

Remember, all of these are free to download if you own the game.

We were fans when it released back with the Switch itself in March 2017; “VOEZ is a beautiful rhythm game with a generous supply of songs and gorgeous artwork that makes you want to keep going back for more. The rhythm gameplay feels accurate and fits the songs nicely for the most part, particularly in harder difficulties, with a nicely designed learning curve to allow players to get into the swing of things.”

It’s great to see all the added value and support the base game continues to receive nearly two year on from launch. There’s even a demo available if you’re on the fence – you can’t say fairer than that.

Still playing VOEZ? How do the new tracks compare? Drop us a line in the comments.

As time marches on inexorably – week after week, year after year – it should come as no surprise that The Legend of Zelda is 33 years old today. No, not the cartridge version – that wouldn’t make an appearance until July ’87 in North America – we’re talking about the Famicom Disk System original.

The game also shares a birthday with the Famicom Disk System itself, the Japan-only console that plugged into the original cartridge-based Famicom and offered an improved experience over the base console. That console launched with The Legend of Zelda and a disk version of Super Mario Bros. – quite the one-two punch, wouldn’t you agree?

If you’re tired of all the Hollywood spectacle of modern shooters and long for a simpler time without frame-sapping particle effects and or scripted sequences, you might want to keep an eye out for Beyond Enemy Lines: Covert Operations.

An Unreal Engine 4 game which saw release on PC in 2017, BELCO (as nobody is calling it) comes from one-man developer Polygon Art. While it doesn’t have the bells and whistles you’d expect find in a AAA shooter from one of the big devs, as you can see from the trailer, what it lacks in looks it promises to make up for with freedom of choice in how you approach your objectives.

The story revolves around regaining control of a satellite that’s been hijacked by Soviet seperatists. No points for guessing that the satellite is loaded with nuclear missiles, so it’s up to you to James Bond your way in and get the job done in whatever manner you think best – guns ablazin’, or all quietly-like.

The press blurb highlights the following features:

8 Mission long Story Campaign with ~10h playtime
Adapted gameplay especially for Nintendo Switch
100% Freedom – You chose the tactics
100% Hardcore – Challenge your skill
Ported inhouse by Polygon Art

While we doubt it’ll be troubling the Best Looking category at the 2019 GOTYs, hopefully there’s more than meets the eye with this one. DOOM and Wolfenstein II are excellent shooters, but there’s a gap in the market for something a bit more tactical.

Does this take you back a generation or two? Do you miss shooters without loot boxes? You know what to do…

Anybody who’s been playing video games for a few decades will probably recall draw distance ‘fog’ with a little nostalgia nowadays. The trick of disguising just how close to the player the game was drawing in objects by dousing the level in a thick mist was prevalent in the Nintendo 64 era, with a classic like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter being a typical example. Only this morning we were talking about the ‘mist’ used in Final Fantasy IX for the same reason.

With the power of modern consoles we thought these practices were in the past, but it seems the ‘fog’ has returned in a shocking fashion in the Switch version of Trials Rising. Below is a video by Chris Becker on Twitter from the beta version currently available to download for free. First the Switch version, followed by the same level in the Xbox One version:

Obviously, there’s a framerate difference there, with the Xbox version running at what appears to be a silky 60fps, but it seems like a sandstorm has been employed to hide the removal of most of the background elements in the 30fps Switch version. Let’s take a look at the still images side-by-side:

Is this a big problem that will affect the enjoyment of Switch owners who’ll play Trials without having the Xbox version for direct comparison? Possibly not, although reports on Twitter aren’t good on Day One, mentioning control delays and sub-30fps gameplay:

We’re diving into our review code at this very moment, so keep an eye out for our verdict in the near future. Ubisoft have outlined a long post-release support plan for the game, including expansions and download packs galore – let’s just hope they keep plugging away at the core game, too. It’d be nice to actually see what we’re doing on Switch.

Think there’s a Day One patch waiting in the wings to solve some of these issues? Would it not be so bad without the side-by-side comparison with the superior version? Let us know in the comments.

As noticed on Twitter by @teamkirby92, the developer that brought us Kirby, BOXBOY, Earthbound, Smash Bros. and much more is celebrating 39 years in the video game business with a little comic featuring Qbby and his companion, Qucy.

Below is the entire comic, plus a translation courtesy of the wonderful NintendoSoup:

Ahh, cute.

HAL has a long and illustrious history with Nintendo. Satoru Iwata worked for the company before becoming President of Nintendo until his untimely death in 2015. Masahiro Sakurai, overseer of the Smash Bros. franchise, began his long relationship with the series while working at HAL. Check out this story if you don’t know how the company got its name.

Also be sure to click in the direction of HAL’s fantastic website for more history on the company that created Kirby and so much more.

Think HAL have got big plans for next year’s 40th anniversary? Let us know your thoughts below…