Category: Nintendo News

For many, the name ‘Panic Button’ is almost synonymous with the Nintendo Switch (and especially the process of porting large, third-party games); the studio’s recent work on titles such as DOOM and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus has earned it a great deal of respect from owners of the console, and it’s strangely easy to cast aside its earlier projects and focus solely on this ever-growing relationship with Nintendo.

Of course, the studio has also released a number of original games across Wii and Xbox 360, and has also worked on ReCore for Microsoft platforms and Subnautica for Xbox One and PS4, and it would appear that the team wishes to keep working on a wider range of projects, rather than being tied down to one console. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Panic Button’s director of development Adam Creighton has spoken of the desire to work on a “diverse” range of games across all platforms.

“I’m a portfolio person, and I want to have a lot of diversity in the kind of work we do on the platforms. We have really good partnerships with Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and other folks, and for the viability of a studio you want to have that expertise across the board.

“Even with our recent successes, people remember the most recent thing you’ve done. And we always want to make that excellent. So people are looking at the Switch work we’re doing and we’re proud of that, but we’re also doing Subnautica for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, we’ve done ReCore for Xbox One and Windows, and a lot of other projects on other platforms. We’re gamers, and we like to make the kind of games we want to play, so we’ll always be doing all sorts of diverse work.”

That’s not to say that the studio isn’t happy with its work on Switch – far from it, in fact – but there seems to be a hunger within its walls to create the best work it can, wherever that may be. Creighton goes on to say that “at some point, we want to do our own stuff, or something unique and original with someone else’s stuff”, noting that they “like to make projects that are special for the target hardware”.

Elsewhere in the interview, which you can check out in full right here should you be interested, he talks about the Switch in particular, talking about the challenges of recent ports and why Panic Button has been so keen to work on games for the console in recent times.

“Nintendo Switch is a cool device because you use it on the go, you use it docked, and you use it in both modes and move back and forth. So we’ve done things with the control schemes and motion, but also bringing these AAA big titles in their true form to this hybrid hardware has been really challenging. We like a challenge; it’s part of why we go after these things. We wanted to both broaden those properties’ availability to a whole new group of people, but we also wanted to broaden the Nintendo Switch as a platform. We really feel like core games make so much sense on that hardware that we want to bring those over.”

Have you enjoyed Panic Button’s work on Switch? What would you like to see over the next few years from the studio? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Ripstone Games has revealed that Snooker 19, a brand new, officially licenced snooker title, will be heading to Nintendo Switch next year.

Developed by UK-based studio Lab42, Snooker 19 is set to feature 128 of the world’s top players including the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui. You’ll be competing at iconic snooker venues such as The Crucible and Alexandra Palace, in different countries like China and Germany, and you’ll be able to take on every major tournament in World Snooker – including the famous World Championship in Sheffield.

The game will be the first officially-licensed snooker title to be published across all current generation consoles and PC, and the game’s publisher promises us that Snooker 19 “will deliver the most authentic, realistic, and best-looking snooker game ever made”. It will feature multiplayer modes, a single player career mode linked to real-life tournaments, and will have a TV-style presentation running throughout.

Lewis Ward of World Snooker has said the following about the game’s upcoming release:

“As a sport, snooker has gone from strength to strength in the past decade and, at the same time, sports gaming has revolutionized. This is what makes working with Ripstone and Lab42 so exciting; seeing them create a state-of-the-art game that will deliver the most authentic snooker experience ever.”

No specific release window or other details have been provided just yet, so we’ll make sure to keep an eye out for any more information.

Until then, though, let us know if you’re a fan of the sport in the comments below. Are you excited to see a snooker game arrive on Switch?

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• by Liam Doolan
• 40 mins ago

Fire Emblem Heroes is the undisputed king of Nintendo’s mobile games. It took just 20 days for players to spend $50 million on the game when it was released in the first quarter of 2017 and since then it has grossed more than $400 million. It doesn’t look like the success of this mobile title will be slowing down any time soon, either. According to Sensor Tower, Fire Emblem Heroes grossed $16.8 million in the month of September.

Japanese players are still noted as the main player base – making up 55 percent of all-time player spending. In the month of September, Japanese players spent $9.1 million on the game, which equates to 54 percent of gross revenue. The game also saw audience growth in Japan, with a 37 percent increase in downloads of the game compared to the previous month. Taking into account recent earnings, Fire Emblem Heroes has now grossed $437 million. It’s also been downloaded 14.1 million times.

Are you impressed by the amount that has been spent on this mobile title by players around the world? Do you play Fire Emblem Heroes yourself? Have you done any transactions in the game before? Tell us below.

Last week’s arrival of The World Ends With You: Final Remix on Nintendo Switch was welcomed with open arms by fans of the original 2007 cult hit on Nintendo DS. One long-time Italian fan known as “Mewster” online, loved Square Enix’s game so much, he began translating the original version to his local language back when he was 16-years old. When the game developer – now 25-years old – found out the re-release on Switch would have an official Italian translation, he was overjoyed.

Things took a bit of an odd turn, though, when he tuned into a stream to take a look at how the translation process was handled by Square Enix. It wasn’t long after this that he realised it all looked quite similar to his own work on the original game.

Speaking to Kotaku, “Mewtwo” also known as Francesco said he realised the Switch port had gone as far as placing line breaks in the word balloons – just like his own translation. Although he hasn’t seen the entire game on the Switch, the 25-year old developer is confident 90 percent of it borrows from his own efforts. In saying this, he’s also aware that fan translations are a grey area and clarified he would not be seeking financial compensation from Square Enix:

Now I’m only amused to discover I worked (unknowingly) for the game I loved… This is something I probably will add to my CV, and I’m not interested in making someone pay for something I made so many years ago.

At most, he would like to see Square Enix acknowledge his work:

The best I could hope for is an official acknowledgement of what happened, but I’m happy just in seeing my translation in the official game… I hope it will remain in the game after all. It means they liked 90% of my translation.

What do you think about this? Is it just a coincidence, or do you think it’s plausible scenario that the Italian translation in the Switch version has been derived from this fan’s work on the DS game? Tell us in the comments.

Even the law can’t stop Tokyo’s Mari Mobility company, formerly known as MariCar. After last month’s reports the unlicensed Mario Kart business would be required to pay 10 million yen (roughly $88,000) in damages and immediately stop wearing Mario-themed outfits, it was believed Nintendo had finally got its way.

Now, news has surfaced the ride business that prides itself on being a Mario Kart knock-off is defying court orders. According to Livedoor News via Kotaku, Mari Mobility riders continue to wear Mario-themed outfits as the service appeals the ruling. Here are some tweets revealing the daily operations are back to normal:

As previously explained, Nintendo originally filed the lawsuit in February 2017, with the intention to protect its “valued intellectual property” that it had carefully maintained over the years. At the time, it said it would continue to take necessary measures against infringement of intellectual property. The unofficial Mario Kart ride service has also come under fire in the past for causing havoc on local streets – with tourists even crashing the vehicles.

What do you think about this and how do you expect Nintendo to react? Are you surprised to see this go-kart company is still using Nintendo costumes to reenact Mario Kart on the streets of Tokyo? Tell us below.

Yooka-Laylee started out life on Kickstarter and went on to become the fastest video game project to hit $1 million on the crowd-funding platform. Following their first outing on the Switch and multiple other systems, the bat and chameleon are now ready for their next adventure. The only catch is it’ll take on the form of a crowd-funded graphic novel.

Playtonic has given its “full blessing” to Dreamprism Press to write and illustrate a 120-page graphic novel about the wacky and wonderful adventures of the unlikely duo. Yooka-Laylee and the Kracklestone will take place after the original game. Here’s the full description:

The story sees Yooka and Laylee plunged into a brand new secret tome world in a race against the evil Capital B to reach the Kracklestone, an ancient artifact fabled to grant its holder invincibility. To reach the treasure, they’ll run, swim, trip, tumble, and fly as they delve deep into the strange uncharted world. They will encounter friends, foes, and some in-between… including plenty of fan favorites from the game!

This new tome world, however, will see the duo facing their greatest challenges yet. Normally an asset, Yooka’s kind, heroic nature proves hazardous when his decision-making takes a few wrong turns. Will he learn to swallow his pride and call upon the help of others to reach the Kracklestone? Or, will his pride get the better of him? Only once Yooka learns to work together with his strange friends… and most of all with Laylee, will the duo stand a chance at saving the day.

For this graphic novel to go ahead, the Kickstarter needs to reach a target of $40,000 USD. The campaign will go live later today and will run until 16th November. A digital version of the graphic novel will set you back $15, a hand-sewn hardcover is $30, a Kickstarter exclusive edition is $50 and the limited Grand Tome Collector’s Edition is $75.

Dreamprism’s D.M. Cumbo is handling the entire project and was previously an artist for Insomniac games – known for working on the PlayStation release Ratchet & Clank and the Xbox One title Sunset Overdrive. The graphic novel adaptation has reportedly been in the making for two years and will be the first in the Game Legends line of adaptations for Dreamprism. Below are some images of the Yooka-Laylee graphic novel:

Will you be backing the Yooka-Laylee graphic novel on Kickstarter? Have you played the video game? Tell us in the comments.

If you keep up to date with the latest happenings in the world of Nintendo, you might have seen a few photos doing the rounds over the weekend of a supposed Nintendo 64 Classic Mini. It’s the device that is expected to succeed the incredibly popular mini versions of the NES and Super Nintendo.

After a closer inspection at the N64 Classic Mini, our one and only Alex Olney has now released a lovely video confirming this “leak” is, in fact, a fake. At a glance, the photos of the system look convincing enough, but once you start inspecting and comparing the finer details of the original console to the one in the pictures, it becomes less believable by the second.

The typography is one of the major giveaways – with the font not even matching the original system and the gaps and placement of letters evidently done in computer software. The reset button is another dead giveaway. Suspiciously, the power switch also isn’t on display. The final nail in the coffin is the N64 logo itself – with the fake making little effort to match the official one.

What do you think? Is this Nintendo 64 Classic Mini real or fake? Take a look at the video above and tell us in the comments.

Just yesterday, we shared the news that Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! will feature ‘Master Trainers’ – “really powerful trainers” who can be found after you’ve completed the main story. New information has now been revealed for these intriguing battlers, and it sounds like we have a mighty challenge on our hands.

A lot has been said about the difficulty (or lack of) in these upcoming titles since they were initially revealed, with the overall tone definitely leaning towards an easier experience catered towards those who might be new to the series. To find out more about any potentially trickier challenges in the game, Eurogamer asked Game Freak executive director Junichi Masuda, and designer Kensaku Nabana, just what the more experienced player can expect to find.

Masuda initially responded by highlighting the ‘catch combo’ mechanic – an in-game feature which rewards you for catching the same type of Pokémon over and over again in a row, but discussion soon moved to the previously revealed Master Trainers.

Kensaku Nabana: And also the postgame content as well, in particular the master trainiers – so these are trainers who are kind of the ultimate trainers of a specific Pokémon, so you will challenge them. So you will challenge them, and then get their title for that Pokémon, so you become the master of that Pokémon if you manage to beat them in battle.

Masuda then went on to explain how this works in a little more detail, revealing that there will be a Master Trainer for every single Pokémon present in the game (ignoring Meltan).

Junichi Masuda: So for me, my favourite Pokémon is Psyduck, so I’d be training my Psyduck amazingly and then would challenge the Psyduck Master, and then gain the Psyduck Master title, and that’s something you can put a lot of effort and a lot of time into, if I really wanted to create a challenge for myself – and these Master Trainers exist for all of the 151 Pokémon in the game, so you know, if you want to collect all of the titles then that’s something you can really challenge yourself with.

The specifics aren’t 100% clear here, but it would appear that you need to train up a particular Pokémon to then challenge the master of that very same Pokémon (who will also battle with that Pokémon), and you’ll need to do this 151 times if you want to be the champion of everything the game has to offer. Masuda did go on to suggest that this might be the only real post-game content, other than grabbing Mewtwo and completing your entire Pokédex, of course, but it sounds like a rather substantial undertaking.

Does this sound like an interesting feature to you? Will you aim to be the master of all Pokémon? Share your thoughts with us on this one in the comments below.

If you, like many others, are a fan of farming sim and general time-thief Stardew Valley, then you’ll no doubt love this piano rendition album of the game’s soundtrack.

Featuring the very same compositions heard in the game, created by the game’s developer ConcernedApe, the album contains 22 tracks transformed into gentle piano pieces that are sure to soothe your soul – and remind of you of your time with the game, too. Each piece has been arranged by Matthew Bridgham and performed by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales.

Bridgham has shared a quick insight into the album’s production, noting the excitement of the game’s creator himself.

“Three bonus tracks were added after getting official approval from the man himself, Eric Barone (ConcernedApe). He was so excited for this album that one night he sent us the then-unreleased music from the update. I was of course happy to oblige, arranging these three the same evening. But my job felt easy. Nearly every piece from Stardew fit the hands beautifully, hitting close to home.”

If you want to take a quick listen for yourself, check out the album’s opening track, ‘Overture’ below.

You can get your hands on the album right now via iTunes, Spotify, and Bandcamp, with the latter also hosting a limited edition physical CD (set to ship in November) and PDFs of the sheet music.

Are you a big Stardew Valley fan? Does a piano album of the game’s songs sound like a dreamy collaboration to you? Let us know with a comment.