Category: Nintendo News

This month’s CoroCoro magazine has revealed that a presentation for Inazuma Eleven Ares will be held on 26th August, potentially meaning that we’ll finally find out the game’s Japanese release date.

The game is currently planned to release in the west sometime next year, but the Japanese launch is expected slightly earlier in Q4 of this year. New information in CoroCoro also reveals that the game will have a ‘Scout’ system, enabling players to form their own team with any player from a wide selection of junior high school and academy teams in the game, as well as a command battle system which features high action and psychological warfare.

To celebrate the incoming news, Level-5 has also announced that the original Inazuma Eleven – released back in 2008 on Nintendo DS – will be made available as a free download on the Japanese 3DS eShop this summer. It’s currently unknown whether or not this free download will also be made available in western territories, but those with access to a Japanese 3DS account will definitely be able to make use of this lovely deal very soon.

Are you excited for the next instalment of Inazuma Eleven? Will you be keeping an eye out for the presentation coming this August? Share your thoughts with us down below in the comments.

Editor’s note: This review is based on our original Sonic Mania review, as penned by our erstwhile editor Tom “Please no, not other terrible 3D Sonic game” Whitehead. It has been adapted and added to by Damien “Sonic 2 was the clearly the best” McFerran.

In certain circles of chatty online gamers, Sonic the Hedgehog is often a hot topic. SEGA and Sonic Team has taken its mascot on some wild rides over the past 20+ years, stepping into 3D ‘modern’ Sonic, attempting a return to 2D with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and dividing opinion, and blurring the lines (with some success) in Sonic Generations. Nintendo gamers – home console version of Generations aside – have been able to play most of the Blue Blur’s adventures, with a handful of exclusives to boot. They’ve ranged from very good to downright bad, but some fans have consistently argued that Sonic was at his best on the Mega Drive / Genesis and SEGA CD, through the ‘classic’ games that made his name.

Those games stand up today and have occasionally served as a reminder of the glory SEGA could once achieve with the series. It’s somewhat ironic, then, that it wasn’t SEGA or Sonic Team that rediscovered what makes a truly great game in the franchise, but devoted super-fans that also happen to be very talented developers. SEGA, to its immense credit, saw the best of fan projects online – with Christian Whitehead front and centre – and realised there was a gift to accept. Bring a group of Indie studios together, give them resources, handle the PR and bask in the goodwill. The result was 2017’s superb Sonic Mania, which ended up being the best game to use the IP for a long time. It was the Sonic outing SEGA fans had been dreaming of for over 20 years, and has sold over a million copies to date across all formats; not bad for a title which was intended to be a side-order to the main course of Sonic Forces.

Fast forward to the present, and SEGA has wisely listened to calls for a physical version of the game. Rather than simply dump the original onto a game card and be done with it, the publisher has instead taken this opportunity to augment the experience with fresh content. The result is Sonic Mania Plus, a title which takes all of the amazing stuff seen in last year’s game and throws in some welcome additions which will please fans and newcomers alike. Before we get onto that though, how about a little recap on what makes Sonic Mania so downright brilliant?

At its core Sonic Mania is partly a love-letter to the ‘original’ games, a remix but also a new experience. For a decent chunk of the game (particularly ‘Act 1’ in familiar zones) you’re playing levels from the originals that have nevertheless been revamped with additional routes and fun new bosses and twists. These go right for the player’s sense of nostalgia, but due to the excellence of the source material also serve as delicious 16-bit platforming to those that haven’t played the originals. Mania isn’t simply a greatest hits collection, nor should its appeal be limited to 30-something gamers that lack the speedy reflexes of the past.

The second Acts of each stage are buzzing with creativity, with the developers having fun spinning off and riffing upon the environments in smart ways. Over the dozen stages some are also entirely new, and even those that didn’t get to play all the originals back in the day – this scribe never had Sonic CD, for example – will likely be able to tell which areas are brand new. Though remixed levels have a major visual enhancement over the source material, for example, all-new stages go further and truly utilise the wonders of modern hardware when applied to pixel art. Some levels do fantastic things with shadows, exploding glass and clever background effects.

All of that only matters because of one key area that this game absolutely nails down – gameplay. Since those 16-bit days SEGA has had mixed fortunes when it comes to how Sonic games feel and play, and Mania is a reminder of the blissful simplicity and polish that made those originals true toe-to-toe competitors with Super Mario. Controls are tight and responsive, the weighting of jumps and tempo is on the money, and it’s immediately satisfying to play. A humorous ‘Controls’ section also pokes fun a little – you just run and jump, is the message – but worth note is that pressing X when in ‘Options’ brings up an easy-to-use and informative web-based manual, and the subtle complexities of the original Sonic formula come through.

You can spin dash immediately from a jump, or when you play with Sonic and Tails you can have your cute little fox buddy pick you up for a bit of flying help. When starting a save (there are 8 slots per profile) you can have the duo (with you controlling Sonic), or choose to have Sonic, Tails or Knuckles on their own. Tails can fly and swim at will but gets tired, while Knuckles has a neat glide and can climb walls. It’s a pleasure tackling the campaign with each and utilising their strengths, but a feature we didn’t even clock initially is that this game has the co-op we saw in the past. Take a Joy-Con each and one player can control Sonic and the other Tails, a great way to share the experience.

However you play, there’s a treat in store. Clever stages, lovely visuals and tight controls combine for one of the most pleasurable gaming experiences of recent times, a reminder of why Sonic once battled for the ultimate supremacy among gaming mascots and how he made SEGA’s name in the mainstream market. It’s pure pixelated joy – speed and occasional chaos makes way for more delicate platforming and special stages, before swerving back to high speed hijinks.

Checkpoint special stages (you need 25 rings to activate them) come from Sonic 3, but there are lots of them as the end rewards are medals; these medals unlock goodies, but the stages to get them become particularly fiendish as you progress. Each run also has the more important challenge of collecting seven Chaos Emeralds – you can find a giant ring in each stage and play a special stage inspired by Sonic CD in which you ‘chase’ a UFO on a 3D track. These are tricky to find, and will have many going back for additional playthroughs.

Over the relatively lengthy campaign (for an old-school Sonic game) it all flows together into a rush of extravagant dashes, clever diversions – stages have plenty of alternate routes to find – and tricky areas. Like the great Sonic games on which it’s based, Mania is about 80% fantastic, 15% very good and 5% angry “screw you Sonic” moments, at least for this reviewer. Such is the devotion of the developers to the classic Sonic formula that it keeps elements that were actually slightly annoying the first time around. A couple of stages fall off the ‘challenging’ category to ‘a bit cheap’, and we weren’t particularly big fans of two auto-scrolling encounters that feel slightly messy to play. Even the worst parts are still rather good, but these brief segments feel like bad habits returned, briefly interrupting the blissful dash through the adventure.

In terms of looks and performance on Nintendo Switch, the porting work of Tantalus – previous credits include The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD on Wii U – is on point. It looks great and runs at a solid 60fps in 1080p on TV or 720p on the portable, with the only exception in terms of a solid framerate being the first 3D Special Stage, oddly. You can also add a couple of CRT-style screen filters, too, which are nice to have.

It’s excellent however you play, though the portability of the Switch is definitely a strength, with the visuals being right at home on the console’s screen. The nature of Sonic means that it doesn’t even matter that the left Joy-Con has no real D-Pad, though we did also like using the Pro Controller for docked play. Of note we had two cases where our HOME button was slow to respond, an issue that’s done the rounds, but it was no major inconvenience. Overall, it’s a great-looking game that runs beautifully.

A special nod must also go to the soundtrack, which is top-notch work by Tee Lopes. Some of the new tracks and remixes are downright funky, and play an important role in elevating the stylish and extravagant stages as you run and spin jump through them. It’s one of the best soundtracks of recent times.

Now, onto the ‘Plus’ section of this review. Perhaps the biggest addition is the introduction of not one but two new playable characters: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. As you might expect, both have their own unique talents which make them play slightly differently from the rest of the cast. Mighty can execute a ground-pound (press jump when you’re in mid-air) that is capable of shattering barriers, while his tough shell means he doesn’t have to worry about spikes when attacking. As you can imagine, this makes certain levels a lot easier to navigate. Ray, on the other hand, can glide in mid-air, which comes in very handy when you want to make your way through a stage as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Naturally, this skill is somewhat less useful when tackling levels with tight corridors.

Outside of these new characters, Encore mode is perhaps the next big draw; described by SEGA as a ‘remix’ of sorts, the idea here is to add characters to your roster as play, and you can swap between your two active characters with the X button, as well as changing your pair by hitting special monitors dotted around the landscape. Encore mode also features a new bonus stage which plays like a cross between pinball (or should that be Sonic Spinball?) and one of those frustratingly unfair crane grabber machines you also see in amusement arcades these days. 

The only real complaint is that the character-swapping mechanic feels awkward, as you’re only able to have two characters active at any one time. This presents issues when you face an alternate route through the level but can’t access it because you don’t have the character required. All in all, it’s a really nice addition to the core Sonic Mania game, and if you’ve already played the main campaign to destruction, this is different enough to encourage you to dip in once more. Elsewhere, the insanely fun Competition mode has been improved with support for up to four players – ideal for the Switch, then – and a few tweaks and tucks here and there relating to boss encounters.

Splatoon 2‘s Octo Expansion has been out in the paint-soaked wilds for a few of weeks now and Inklings the world over are enjoying the joys of a proper single-player portion to balance out the game’s usual multiplayer offerings. And, as you might imagine, all that extra content also included some brand new music, including a new track from everyone’s favourite duo, Pearl and Marina.

Nintendo of Japan has offered a brief glimpse into the recording of the new Octo Expansion tracks, with artists Rina Itou and Alice (who voice Pearl and Marina respectively) returning to lend their vocal chords once more. Yeah, we know it’s random, but it’s Splatoon 2, so we love it.

Check out the video above and let us know what you make of Pearl and Marina’s real-life alter egos…

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is releasing on Switch and 3DS in just a couple of days’ time, but the new Switch port features one very telltale sign that it was once a Wii U game.

This clip below, shared by @akfamilyhomeak on Twitter, shows exactly what happens when an amiibo is scanned into the game. As you can see, the game correctly prompts you to touch your amiibo to the right Joy-Con, but the gift animation that follows is displayed on the left side of the screen.

The reason? The Wii U GamePad’s amiibo NFC reader was just to the left of the screen, exactly where the animation is displayed, and it would seem that Nintendo has somehow forgotten to update the animation to reflect this. Considering the entire game has been redesigned to suit the Switch’s available control methods, this is a very strange oversight indeed.

Of course, a good patch should be able to sort this out in the future – and we’re sure that Nintendo will do just that – and it shouldn’t affect your enjoyment of the game. If you’re thinking of picking up a copy when it releases this Friday, make sure to check out our Switch and 3DS version reviews to see if the game’s for you.

Just before you go, why not let us know if you plan to get Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker on Switch or 3DS in the comments below…

The Voxel Agents has announced that its upcoming adventure puzzle game The Gardens Between will arrive on Switch in Q3 2018, coinciding with its release on PS4 and PC.

The game tasks players with manipulating time to guide two best friends through a series of puzzles and a grand adventure. It all takes place in a surreal world of mysterious garden islands and we’re getting a beautifully calming and peaceful vibe from what we can see in the trailer above. Here’s the official PR description for the game:

Arina, a headstrong girl, and Frendt, a boy wise beyond his years, fall into a series of vibrant, dreamlike island gardens peppered with everyday objects that hold a special significance to the duo. Together they embark on an emotional journey that examines the significance of their friendship: the memories they’ve built, what must be let go, and what should never be left behind.

Designed as an homage to the enduring power of friendship, The Gardens Between places you in control of not the characters themselves, but the force which will change and shape their relationship: time. In the mysterious realm they find themselves transported to, cause and effect are malleable and time flows in all directions. Solve puzzles to reach the apex of each isle and light up constellations of memories, illuminating threads of a bittersweet narrative.

The Switch version will make use of the console’s HD Rumble feature to help bring the game’s lush world to life, and we expect to hear more news on a confirmed release date in the coming months.

Until then, though, why not let us know your initial thoughts on the game in the comments below.

Following a successful launch at Bandai Namco’s VR ZONE arcade in Shinjuku, Tokyo, the Mario Kart Arcade GP VR experience is headed to the UK this summer.

This is a multiplayer VR offering that allows four players at a time to hop into specially designed ‘Mario Karts’, before racing through the iconic Mushroom Kingdom as either Mario, Luigi, Peach, or Yoshi. Running from the HTC Vive VR system, the game is said to feature “industry-leading graphics” and will allow players to reach up and grab classic items like banana skins to launch at their opponents.

The experience will be launching this August at VR ZONE Portal London located within Hollywood Bowl at The O2, before eventually being rolled out to further VR ZONE Portal locations at Hollywood Bowl centres in Tunbridge Wells and Leeds. You’ll be able to book your place in advance, with details expected to be shared at the official website.

If you want to see it in action, this video shared by Nintendeiros on YouTube should give you a pretty good idea of what it’s all about. (Lots of excited screaming contained within).

If you live in the UK will you be giving this a go? Do you imagine we’ll see a Mario Kart VR experience released commercially in the future? Let us know with a comment below.

Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded.

If you’re into your gaming charts and sales figures, you’ll likely have your own idea as to which console might end up sitting at the top of the pile come the end of the year. 2018 looks to be another stellar year for gaming with the likes of God of War and Shadow of the Colossus already receiving universal praise, as well as major Nintendo titles like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! just around the corner, but who will come out on top?

Mat Piscatella, the head gaming industry analyst at market research company The NPD Group, has shared his thoughts on which console will have generated the most sales by the end of the year. Interestingly, despite the PS4 currently leading the way this year, Piscatella believes the Switch will jump up to the number one spot before the year is up. He suggests that the PS4 will remain as the best-seller until Q4, at which point the new Pokémon and Smash Bros. titles will propel the Switch to new heights.

He has also shared a list showing his predictions for the top ten best-selling games when the year reaches its end. 

1) Red Dead Redemption 2
2) Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
3) Battlefield V
4) NBA 2K19
5) Far Cry 5
6) Madden NFL 19
7) Fallout 76
8) God of War
9) Monster Hunter: World
10) Marvel’s Spider-Man

It’s interesting to see that, despite the Switch theoretically becoming the best-selling console, Piscatella believes that no Nintendo games will break the top ten. Of course, Nintendo unleashed many of its big guns early on Switch, releasing Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2 all in the first year, but will the new Pokémon and Smash Bros. titles not have enough time to challenge that list?

Which console do you think will sell the most? Do you think Nintendo can break that top ten games list? As ever, feel free to share your thoughts with us down below.