Category: Nintendo News

Nintendo News

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Nicalis Announces Hack And Slash Action Game RemiLore For Nintendo Switch

Nicalis has announced that it has acquired the publishing rights to upcoming hack and slash title RemiLore, and we have a shiny new announcement trailer to celebrate.

In the game, players must utilise twin-stick controls to battle fearsome enemies and engage in epic boss battles. The adventure begins when an ordinary schoolgirl named Remi awakens a magic book called Lore. Fate takes them both to the magical world of Ragnoah, which has been overtaken by fierce ‘mecha-monsters’. Remi and Lore must venture together in a quest to find their way home, but Remi is unsure on just how much she can trust her magical companion.

Throughout their journey, players will hack and slash their enemies using a variety of melee and magical ranged attacks that can be changed by acquiring weapons. There are over 200 different weapons discovered throughout the world, and players will have the freedom to journey through its procedurally generated levels, in both a single-player story mode and two-player co-op mode.

RemiLore is scheduled to launch on Switch in “winter 2018”, with digital and physical versions arriving for a suggested retail price of $39.99.

Do you like the look of this one?

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Netflix Has Already Renewed Castlevania For A Third Season, Says Belmont Voice Actor

We really liked Netflix’s Castlevania series. Adapting a beloved franchise is always tricky, but it struck the right balance between doing something fresh and new with the source material and honouring the original games – in this case, the story of Castlevania III.

The series clearly did well enough as Netflix renewed it for a second season of eight episodes last year, due to air this summer. Now, actor Richard Armitage – who voices Trevor Belmont and is perhaps most famous for his role in The Hobbit films – has revealed that a third season has already been ordered by the streaming giant.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Armitage said:

We’re about to record a third. The second season hasn’t been aired yet, but we’re about to do a third.

He also spoke a little about the upcoming second season, which picks up with Belmont joining forces with Alucard:

The son of Dracula [Adrian Tepes, voiced by James Callis] and my character get much more collaborative. I think that’s one of the most exciting things, they start to really work together.

He also said that he’d love to do a live-action movie, something that has been attempted in the past without much success:

I love my character in Castlevania… he’s this anti-heroic, drunk, slightly foul-mouthed, irritable git! I feel like it would make the most brilliant live-action piece. It’s slightly anarchic and humorous – we don’t often see vampire heroics in that vein. One day, maybe.

Let us know if you’re looking forward to more animated Castlevania by posting a comment.

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Video: Watch Mario Battle Bowser In The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

The modding community has been quite strong for The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, bringing new and bizarre changes to Nintendo’s awe-inspiring open world adventure. Whether it be the inclusion of an in-universe character, like a playable Zelda, or someone from outside, like Cloud, there seems to be no depth to the amount of creativity or ambition in the community. Now, a modder has finally brought together two of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, and the results are rather impressive.

If you watch the above video, you’ll see that modders WilianZilz and LynardKiller have produced some fairly high-quality models of Mario and Bowser, replacing the models for Link and Hinox, respectively. Seeing this makes one wonder why Nintendo has never gone for an official crossover between its two big franchises, though with E3 just around the corner, perhaps we may be surprised by what Nintendo has in store.

What do you think? Would you play a Mario/Zelda crossover game? What do you think such a game would be like? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Bill Trinen Discusses Smash Bros. Invitational 2018, Won’t Disclose Whether It’s A Port Or New Game

One of the most anticipated games of the year (or perhaps 2019), is that of the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo Switch. After a surprise reveal in a Nintendo Direct a few months ago, there’s still very little known about the project, other than the Inklings making their triumphant debut. The burning question on everyone’s minds is whether this is a simple “enhanced edition” of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, or a proper Smash 5.

Bill Trinen recently talked to Hollywood Reporter about the upcoming invitational, which is due to pull some of the best players from across Smash 4 and Super Smash Bros. Melee for a winner takes all bout. Trinen makes it sound like the invitational is intended to showcase the strength and depth of the Smash competitive scene; here’s what he said:

It’s an exciting way to showcase the new game with some of the best players in the world playing it. Typically players from the different games don’t play against each other, but we wanted to showcase the game before launch and wanted to represent both sides of what is a very strong Smash Bros. community.

The interesting nugget came, however, when Trinen was asked directly whether it’s a new game or not, to which he coyly replied, “Stay tuned.” He then followed it up with this statement,

The tournament is going to be designed to show quite a bit of the game in terms of modes, characters and items, but obviously we won’t show everything and we’re keeping a few surprises for later in the year.

It would be a bit deflating if Trinen outed the new game as Smash 5 in an article like this just before E3, but his wording does make one wonder what the final game is shaping up to be. Suffice to say, all eyes will be on Nintendo when they show it off this week.

What do you think? Is this a new game or a port? Who else do you think could realistically make the roster? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Nintendo serves up the deliciously strategic Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido

Nintendo serves up the deliciously strategic Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido

You are the only one who can save the world’s sushi – by eating as much as you can! In the fast-paced action-puzzle-RPG Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido – now available for both the Nintendo Switch system and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems – you must vanquish the evil Empire by devouring delicious sushi and hurling the empty plates at your opponents.

“This wonderfully clever game is sure to work up an appetite for fans of frenetic action-puzzle games,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “With a simultaneous launch on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS, fans can enjoy a veritable buffet of sushi anytime, anywhere.”

In the game, you play as the orphaned hero and budding Sushi Striker, Musashi. As you journey through the massive collection of more than 150 stages, you will get to better know your hero and a colorful cast of other characters through fully animated voiced cutscenes.

Each battle consists of two opponents, who both have access to three conveyor belts of constantly changing sushi – along with a seventh shared belt in the middle. By linking (and eating) sushi plates of the same color, you create stacks that can then be hurled at your opponent. The fun, sushi-eating action is coupled with significant tactical depth. You’ll encounter divine beings called Sushi Sprites that provide special skills that you can chain together for powerful combos. One Sprite might turn all of your plates the same color for a certain time, for example, while another will turn sushi into sweets that restore HP. You can equip up to three different Sushi Sprites in battle, and there are more than 50 Sushi Sprites to befriend, many of which can evolve into more powerful forms.

In the Nintendo 3DS version*, the action is split between the two screens, with the ability to use the stylus to control the action. Touch controls can also be used while playing in Handheld mode on Nintendo Switch. Both versions also allow for local or online multiplayer.** Two players who each own the game and a Nintendo 3DS family system can battle each other locally, while two people can each use a single Joy-Con controller to compete on the same screen when playing on Nintendo Switch. They can also battle each other locally if they each have their own game and Nintendo Switch system.

Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido is now available on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS at suggested retail prices of $49.99 and $39.99, respectively. A free demo of the game can currently be downloaded in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch. For more information about Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, visit https://sushistriker.nintendo.com/.

Remember that Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about other features, visit https://www.nintendo.com/switch/ or https://www.nintendo.com/3ds/.

*The Nintendo 3DS version of the game is only playable in 2D.

**For the Nintendo Switch version, a Nintendo Switch Online membership will be required for online play when the paid service launches in September.


Mild Cartoon Violence
Mild Suggestive Themes

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Hero accessories and version 2.6.0 updates for Fire Emblem Heroes

Hero accessories and version 2.6.0 updates for Fire Emblem Heroes

Here are the changes you can expect:

Hero accessories

Accessories for Heroes’ mini units have been added! These accessories can be seen by other players in the Arena, so you can customize the look of your Heroes and show them off.

Accessories are planned to be available through events, quests, and more.
Note: Accessories will not alter a Hero’s stats or skills.

New Weapon Skills and options for the Weapon Refinery

Tiki: Dragon Scion, Tiki: Naga’s Voice”, Linde and Merric will be able to learn new unit-specific weapon skills at 5-star.

To learn weapon skills, tap Learn Skills in the Ally Growth menu.

Note: To access the Weapon Refinery, after clearing Book I, Chapter 13 in the main story, you must clear the second Intermission map, The Rite of Blades.

The Allies menu adjustment and expansion

Starting in version 2.6.0, each function in the Allies menu has been separated into related categories.

  • Menu options like Level Up, Learn Skills, and other options related to strengthening Heroes will be located in Ally Growth.
  • Menu options related to changing skills and accessories will be located in Change Equipment.
  • Ally Support and other options related to bonds with allies will be located in Interact with Allies.

Additionally, Catalog of Heroes and Hero Merit List, which were previously under Misc., will now be located in Interact with Allies.

An Auto-Learn function has been added and is located in Learn Skills. The function allows Heroes to use their accumulated SP to automatically learn available skills. If the Hero doesn’t have enough SP to learn all of the skills available to them, skills that fill empty slots will be learned first.

If a skill slot already has a skill equipped, a new skill for that slot will not be learned or equipped through Auto-Learn. To learn a new skill through Auto-Learn, any skill in the target slot must be unequipped in Equip Skills.

There are now eight types of favorite marks to use for your Heroes. In the top left of the menus where you select allies, if you tap the favorite mark (heart icon), you can reorder your Heroes based on the mark you choose. (Sorting simply by favorite will no longer be possible.) Heroes can now be sorted by accessory.

Arena Assault Scoring Changes

The way scoring works in Arena Assault is changing.

If Legendary Heroes or Heroes with blessings that match the season are deployed, the score will increase by 1 for each Hero.

Notes:

  • This change will take effect on 6/12/18 at 12:00 a.m. PT
  • This change will not affect the strength of enemy units in Arena Assault.
  • If Heroes are defeated during battle, the bonus from their blessing will still be counted.

To coincide with the change, the season starting on 6/12/18 at 12:00 a.m. PT will offer slightly more Hero Feathers for Rank Rewards.

Easier Shards and SP

To make strengthening your Heroes easier, the following changes have been made:

  • The amount of SP gained from leveling up has been increased.
  • The number of shards earned in the Training Tower has been increased.

Home Screen Labels

To make the function of each option clearer, labels have been added. This way the Home screen will be easier to understand for new players.

Other Changes

  • When logging in, the speed at which the Notifications are displayed has been increased.
  • If the results of an event have not been viewed, there will be a “!” icon displayed on the corresponding event.
  • Future Grand Conquests will indicate the points earned for an area after battle.
  • The weapon-type icon will be displayed for bonus allies in the Arena and Tempest Trials.
  • For summoning events that begin after the update, the colors of the featured Heroes’ summoning stones will be displayed.
  • A problem with the skill Spd Feint has been fixed. Heroes with Feint-type skills equipped can now use Rally skills on Heroes that have already had their stats boosted by other skills. Additionally, Heroes with Feint-type skills can have Rally skills used on them even if their stats have already been boosted. (Stat boosts from Rally skills will not stack, and each stat will have a limit on how much it can be boosted.)

For more information about Fire Emblem Heroes, visit the official site.


Fantasy Violence
Suggestive Themes
Partial Nudity
Digital Purchases

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Review: One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 Deluxe Edition (Switch)

In terms of sheer longevity, it’s hard to beat Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece. The long-running adventure started out as a manga in 1997 — still running today! — and along the way has picked up every form of cross-licensing known to humankind, with anime, video games, novels and even theme parks retelling the tale of Monkey D. Luffy and his loveable pirate crew. The seafaring series has also already seen action on Nintendo Switch with last year’s enjoyable One Piece Unlimited World Red – Deluxe Edition, but now Bandai Namco has brought one of the strongest adaptations yet to the portable powerhouse in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 Deluxe Edition, an expanded version of the 2015 PlayStation title. A mashup of Musou/Warriors-style gameplay and over-the-top shōen style, Pirate Warriors 3 is a brilliant beat-‘em-up for fans and series newbies alike.

Somewhat unexpectedly for a game with ‘3’ in the title, Pirate Warriors 3 actually starts way back at the beginning of the One Piece saga. We witness a young Luffy inspired to take to the seas to find the mysterious One Piece treasure, his ambitions to become the King of the Pirates, and the early days as he gathers his famous crew one-by-one, and then carry through a surprising amount of the saga until the Dressrosa arc. It’s a wonderful tale at the heart of it — this is the origin story of a legend, after all! — but it’s told at an interesting level of depth that only half works. It’s perfect for longtime fans, who will get just enough nostalgia to jog their treasured memories, but it’s a somewhat shallow introduction for players who have never cracked open a One Piece volume before.

It may not go into all the emotional backstories and character development that make people love One Piece so much, but we still hesitate to say that you need to already love the series to enjoy Pirate Warriors 3 — primarily because of its absolutely lovely gameplay. It follows the same template as Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Fire Emblem Warriors, and other Musou/Warriors games: playing as Luffy, Zoro, Nami or one of the other three-dozen-or-so (!) controllable characters, you’ll move swiftly around a battlefield, attacking huge groups of much-weaker foes, taking territory, defending allies and charging forts, fulfilling objectives as you edge closer to each stage’s impressive boss battle.

It’s furiously fast fun, and the signature scale of Warriors’ battles — where individual enemies are paper-thin but aggregate groups and commanders pose a real threat — is a perfect fit for One Piece’s superpowered source material. Maps are dynamic and engaging, with victory conditions constantly changing; in the course of a single level, you might have to fend off invasions in several separate sectors, deliver key items across the map, help allies survive until reinforcements arrive, or prevent key foes from reaching a base. These shifting orders lend an impressive urgency to the game, to the point where we were genuinely ready for a respite at the end of every 30-minute stage. It helps that your AI allies are remarkably helpful (notably more so than in Fate/EXTELLA, for instance), and being able to really count on our computer-controlled crew was a pleasant surprise.

In the nuts and bolts, combat in Pirate Warriors comes down to combo sequences of weak and strong attacks, along with character-specific special moves and the Kizuna Rush system, which lets you call in allies instantly — no matter where they are on the map — to team up for stylish tag-teamed screen-clearing attacks. It’s a great-feeling system, with plenty to do and lots of situationally useful combos that help elevate the combat beyond button mashing. This is especially true on higher difficulties and in the spectacular boss fights, which require fast reflexes, precision dodging, and well-timed assaults to best.

Most characters also play pleasantly differently from each other as well, which makes it fun to switch off, and gives real incentive to dip into the Free mode, which lets you replay levels with new fighters. Our only complaint with the combat is that — shockingly — there’s no jump button. While it’s standard for Musou games, it’s also hard to overestimate how weird it feels to be locked to the ground in a One Piece title, and we longed for access to high-flying attacks the series is known for.

Another Musou standard that Pirate Warriors 3 upholds is having a massive, almost silly amount of content. There’s the main story mode, the Free mode where you can revisit stages with new content, and the Dream mode, which acts as an alternate remix of the story. All that overlaps with the huge list of unlockable, playable, and level-up-able characters, gallery unlocks, and a smorgasbord of dress-up DLC, not to mention the two-player co-op mode. Co-op is a perfect fit for Switch’s break-away setup, with controls mapping neatly onto a single Joy-Con, and performance is impressively smooth — it’s a wonderful way to enjoy the game. We won’t say it’s all roses — Dream mode can get pretty grindy, and while there are bucketloads of stages to tackle, the basic gameplay can feel repetitive after a while — but it’s an excellent example of the genre.

That’s all well and good, but Pirate Warriors 3’s best asset might just be its gorgeously stylised presentation. The game goes above and beyond to maintain a manga-like feel — as distinct from the anime — through inspired use of shaders, digital screentone, bold lines and bright colours, and Japanese onomatopoeia emanating out of the screen at every whiz, bang, and wallop. Cutscenes cut into the action seamlessly through manga panel framing, as do Kizuna attacks, and dialogue bubbles and emotes feel like they popped right off the page. It’s technically impressive too, looking vibrant and running smoothly in both handheld and docked configurations.

The audio front is more of a mixed bag, unfortunately. The Japanese voice-acting is excellent, and helps set the stage throughout, but the music is less memorable than in past One Piece titles; we’d argue that the orchestral arrangements of Unlimited World Red suit the sea-shanty style of the series’ scores much better than Pirate Warrior’s cheesy electric guitar riffs.

Conclusion

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 Deluxe Edition is a wonderful example of a licensed adaptation doing just about everything right; if you’ve ever read or watched One Piece and thought, “this would make a great video game!” this is that game. While it doesn’t spend nearly enough time on its story beats to fully immerse new players into its world, we’d still recommend it even if you’re new to the Straw Hat Crew — there’s plenty of rollicking fun to be had throwing elbows (and swords, and staves, and…) with Luffy and co., and longtime readers will have a blast revisiting their earliest days. A recommended romp for One Piece and Warriors fans alike.

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Motion Controls Will Be Compulsory To Catch Pokémon In Let’s Go Pikachu And Eevee

Adding to the ever-flowing avalanche of information being revealed for Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, it has now been confirmed that motion controls will be a mandatory requirement for catching your beautiful collection of Pokémon.

The news comes from Eurogamer, who claim to have received a statement confirming the actions required to capture Pokémon in the game. Of course, we’ve already seen that a throwing motion is used when playing the game in docked mode, but this information tells us that you’ll also need to use some movement when playing in handheld.

“In handheld mode with both Joy-Con attached – you are still required to move around to aim, but you press a button to throw the Poké Ball.”

“It is not touch screen like on a smartphone because the Switch is quite a bit heavier than your smart phone.”

This means that if you’re playing the new Pokémon Let’s Go titles while on the go, even in awkward places like public transport and the like, you’ll still be required to move the console around – even if only slightly to line up your throw. Hopefully the movement will be incredibly subtle, just being enough to perfect the aim rather than completely dictate it, but if no alternatives are available as this comment suggests that does raise several concerns.

Of course, some people like to play without motion controls as a preference, and you would usually expect to see the option to turn them off in a menu somewhere. More pressingly, though, any major motion requirements could result in people with limited movement capabilities not being able to enjoy the games. We’re hopeful that the developers will have thought about this, and hopefully things will become clearer when we see the games in action at E3 next week.

Would you like the option to play the game without the need for motion controls? As ever, share your opinions with us down below.

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Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker’s Switch File Size Is Surprisingly Smaller Than On Wii U

A listing for Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker has popped up on the Nintendo Switch’s eShop, revealing that the file size of the game is considerably smaller than the original version on Wii U.

The fancy new Switch listing shows that you’ll require 1.4 GB in free space to download the game – a very small amount by today’s usual standards. The Wii U version released back in 2015 needed a still-not-so-whopping 1.9 GB for our favourite little mushroom fella’ to grace our screens.

The numbers might not seem that different at first glance, but when you consider that a drop of 0.5 GB is actually over a quarter of the entire game, that’s some pretty impressive stuff. Of course, the Switch version of the game is also coming with additional brand new content, with courses based on Super Mario Odyssey being present for the first time. The genius folk over at the ‘Big N’ have well and truly worked their compression magic once again.

Remember, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker will be launching for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS on 13th July. Will you be wibbling and wobbling your way through these challenging courses once again next month? Let us know down below.

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Muddledash Brings Octopus-Related Hijinks To Switch On 10th July

Publisher PQube has confirmed Muddledash, the fun-filled couch co-op party game where four octopuses try and grab a present and carry it over a finish line, is still coming to Nintendo Switch and will arrive on the eShop on 10th July.

It’ll launch at the price of £4.79/$5.39/€4.99 with a pre-order available on 12th June from 14:00 BST/15:00 CEST offering 10% off! With its levels that dynamically change with each round and all manner of ways to slap, grab and fling your fellow eight-legged friends in pursuit of that glorious present, Muddledash aims to bring some silly, party-friendly counchplay to Nintendo’s hybrid hardware. Check out the new trailer below.

What do you make of Muddledash? What do you think of its friendly take on competitive co-op? Share your thoughts below…