Category: Nintendo News

Bad Habit Productions has announced Marble It Up! for Nintendo Switch, a spiritual successor to the Marble Madness and Marble Blast series.

In Marble It Up!, players are tasked with jumping, bouncing, boosting, and rolling their way through 40 levels of moving platforms, icy terrain, gravity-bending surfaces, and kinetic platforming puzzles. You can use power-ups to slow time, launch into the air, and glide to the finish line as quickly as possible, all in an effort to truly master your marble’s physics.

The game features a replay system which lets you watch and race against the ghosts of your best efforts, as well as those of the world’s top players via online leaderboards. The game aims to offer a challenging experience that rewards skill and determination, with both docked and handheld modes running at 60 fps – and the use of the Switch’s HD rumble – helping you to feel as immersed in the gameplay as possible.

Marble It Up!’s Technical Director, Ben Garney, has said the following:

“An intense love for the genre, for the subtle joy of rolling, led us to develop Marble It Up! It’s unique; it has a trancelike quality… you get into this flow and this focus that you don’t necessarily get in a lot of games. Of all the products I’ve worked on, this is the one of which I’m most proud. It has the most compelling gameplay, the best looking art, and everyone on the team building it are people I really respect.”

The game is set to launch on Switch this September, although no exact date or pricing has been revealed just yet.

Do you like the look of this one? Are physics-based platformers your thing? Let us know down below.

If you’ve been following our recent stories on Nintendo’s battle against piracy, you’ll likely be aware that the company recently filed a number of lawsuits against emulation sites, sparking the closure of a major player in the process. Continuing this, and sticking to its reputation of being unashamedly protective of its franchises and IP, Nintendo has now enforced the removal of a popular fan-made creation tool with which players could create their own Pokémon games.

The tool, called Pokémon Essentials, included full sprites, music, tilesets and more from the real games which could be used to create a whole new project (think Super Mario Maker, but with Pokémon instead). It was used to create the famous fan project Pokémon Uranium, which featured a complete fan-made region with online battling and trading available and amassed an impressive 1.5 million downloads at launch.

Of course, the fan-made Pokémon Uranium eventually disappeared a couple of years ago, with multiple takedown notices from Nintendo of America forcing its creators to shut it down for good. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that Nintendo would also target the tool behind such creations, although the strange delay between the two takedowns is slightly confusing.

The news comes from Marin, a member of the PokéCommunity forum. Marin mentions that a copyright claim from Nintendo of America has once again caused the takedown, although politely asks fans of the tool to refrain from getting angry at the company.

Today, the Pokémon Essentials wikia and all downloads for it have been taken down due to a copyright claim by Nintendo of America. We’d like to share a few important notes on this:

– Please don’t freak out about the claim, and there’s no reason to get angry with Nintendo or anyone else involved. It doesn’t need to be a bigger deal than it should be.
– We will not allow Pokémon Essentials or any of its assets to be hosted or distributed on PokéCommunity. This includes derivatives such as Essentials GS or Essentials DS. We sincerely apologise that we have to do this, but there is no going around it. Mods such as the BW2 Mod which don’t feature itself Essentials, are still fine, though.

We’re sure the debate on Nintendo’s copyright claims will go on for eternity, with some believing that fan-made projects should be allowed to exist as long as they are non-profit type releases, and others believing that Nintendo has every right to protect its property in all situations.

Speaking of which, feel free to share your thoughts on this news in the comments below. Do you agree with Nintendo’s legal actions, or would you prefer a slightly more lenient approach to be adopted?

Nintendo Labo‘s cardboard inventions may well be a great way for people of all ages to get hands-on and let their creativity fly, but it would be understandable for parents to have their concerns about splashing the cash on a strange, new concept. Luckily, Nintendo is on hand to let families try out the fun for free in a series of workshops headed to North America next month.

The workshops aim to give some of Nintendo’s younger fans a safe, family-friendly space to experiment with the Labo play kits; the events will be taking place all across the country and will encourage kids to let their DIY talents run wild. The workshops will be an hour long, offering interactive activities using the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit, and on-site “lab assistants,” (experts in white lab coats and fun coloured shirts) will also be around to help attendees learn the ins and outs of Labo. 

Admission is free of charge, and kids between the ages of 9 and 12 years old are encouraged to attend. You can see a list of the areas hosting events down below, and you can get more details on your chosen area by heading to this link.

• Phoenix, Arizona
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• Orange County, California
• Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaSavannah, Georgia
• Denver, Colorado
• Seattle, Washington

Of course, with Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 03: Vehicle Kit – the third Labo set to be announced so far – launching on the 14th September, now could be a great time to see what all the fuss is about. If you want to attend an event, make sure to keep checking the link we provided above – you’ll need to register your family on the website to attend.

Do you still play with your Nintendo Labo sets? Are you yet to give it a go? Let us know if you’d like to attend a Labo workshop in the comments below.

Forever Entertainment has revealed that its survival horror game Phantaruk is headed to the Nintendo Switch.

The game combines its survival horror with adventure and stealth mechanics, leaving players to fight for their lives as they face the dangers of the Purity-02 spaceship and the toxins continually destroying them from the inside. Once a research vessel, this spaceship has turned into a deadly, deserted trap, and you’ll need to investigate the mysteries of the ship to save your life. With every passing minute, the chances of survival grow weaker.

It’s not just the toxins that you need to be concerned about, either; the beast, a creature known from long-forgotten fables and ancient myths, is also roaming the ship, ready to kill you off at a second’s notice. It could be prowling around in any shadow and lurking behind any corner so you need to plan your every move carefully.

Check out the lore behind the game from its official PR, as well as a nice collection of screenshots.

For long has the humanity been constrained by limits of the human body. Most have accepted the imperfection of flesh, but some sought for liberation. To pursue the dream of creating a post-human being, to achieve ideas of transhumanism – it’s the driving force behind H+ Corporation. Within its facilities, technology and homo sapiens became one entity. An organism devoid of humanity’s biological weaknesses.

Infected with a parasite emitting deadly toxins, you struggle against havoc being wrought within your body. Alone, confused, and slowly dying.

The game received ‘mixed’ reviews from users on Steam when it released in 2016, although this Switch edition is said to be “refreshed” and “enriched”, hopefully making it a much better experience on Nintendo’s system. The game is set to launch on Switch tomorrow for $4.99 / €4.99.

Do you like being scared senseless by a good horror game? Are you likely to pick this up when it arrives on Switch? Let us know below.

If there’s one thing that’s been abundantly clear about the Switch ever since its launch back in March 2017, it’s that the console and indie games go absolutely hand-in-hand. Each week brings anywhere from ten to twenty (and often even more) games to the system’s digital eShop, and game developers everywhere have been joyfully spreading the news that game sales have far exceeded their expectations on Nintendo’s platform – often outshining rival storefronts.

This isn’t the case for everyone, however, as you’re about to find out. Robert Boyd, co-owner of Cosmic Star Heroine developer Zeboyd Games, has joined a discussion on ResetEra talking about this very topic. He explains that while the press gave the game an “okay number” of reviews, it still suffered thanks to a lack of support from Nintendo itself – as well as what sounds like a rather unforgiving approval process.

“We got an okay number of reviews, but yeah, we couldn’t get Nintendo to mention the game anywhere. Real shame since even a retweet from Nintendo probably would have given us a big boost in visibility. I get that it was just a port, but after spending months getting stonewalled by Nintendo when we were trying to get permission to release on Switch, going “fine, we’ll play by your rules” and getting a publisher so we could get approved, and still getting ignored by Nintendo when the game was done and set to release is highly frustrating.”

He goes on to express his belief that Cosmic Star Heroine could have shifted more copies with the right amount of attention, before explaining even more troubles faced when attempting to deal with Nintendo directly.

“It’s a good game and I daresay a good percent of those million+ people who bought Octopath Traveler would like our game if they knew it existed. We couldn’t even get somebody to fix our store page before launch (which never indicated that the game had a preorder/early purchase sale and until just recently, didn’t even have our trailer on it) and the page went up about a month before launch so there was plenty of time.”

It’s very strange, and naturally upsetting, to hear of a developer facing such issues on Nintendo’s platform, especially considering the number of success stories floating around as we alluded to earlier. Of course, Nintendo does show off a lot of indie titles in presentations – we’ve recently had two Indie Showcases in just over a week – so love and attention is definitely provided, and not featuring every single one on social media channels is understandable thanks to the sheer volume of new releases.

You’d certainly hope that Nintendo’s internal dealings and communications with developers are warm and welcoming, however, rather than having developers feeling “ignored”.

If you have an opinion on the matter, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share your musings in the comments below

We all know and love Nintendo for its family-friendly image, cheery and colourful games, and the pure fun emanating from its franchises, but all of this is usually enjoyed from the comfort of our own homes. In a new promotional ad for the Switch, however, Nintendo took to the streets to surprise real families with some frantic, public gameplay.

As you can see in the video below, people passing by were encouraged to hit a Question Mark Block to select a game to play. Rather than simply plonking players down in front of a TV, though, Nintendo opted to create full-on, real-life setups of the games themselves, with racing seats, tennis courts, people dressed up as Nintendo characters, and even a model cow being introduced right in the middle of a public space.

If we had to pick our favourite moment from the video, it’d probably have to be this human Lakitu. We didn’t realise we ever wanted a Lakitu suit, but playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at home won’t feel the same until we get one.

Do you wish you could be around to witness something like this? Would you take the opportunity to completely embarrass your family members with a stonking public victory? Let us know below.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing announcements during the 2018 Nintendo Switch Nindies Summer Showcase was the reveal of Mineko’s Night Market by Meowza Games. This is a narrative-driven lifestyle game about a girl named Mineko who has just arrived at her new home on a Japanese-inspired island.

The title boasts more than 20 hours of story-based gameplay, with four regions to explore, diverse villagers to meet, quests to undertake and activities to partake in like sewing and woodworking – all while selling items at the weekly night market. On the side, you can pet, raise and race cats. There’s even a mythical one running about as well. 

Mineko’s Night Market arrives first on the Switch this October. Take a look at the trailer above and tell us what you think in the comments.