Speaking to the BBC, the general manager of Nintendo’s EPD division said:
Nintendo constantly works on hardware, so we have been doing research and development, so you may see the new system sometime in the future.
Takahashi is, as many will point out, merely stating the obvious; companies like Nintendo are constantly working on new hardware, and systems like the Switch will have been in the works for many years before release. It’s just as true that many hardware projects don’t see the light of day.
Taking this into account, this tease could perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt; given that Nintendo has scored such a major success with Switch – which unifies the handheld and home console arenas in a single platform – it’s hard to see why it would produce another system focused on either of these two sectors. Unless, of course, the system to which Takahashi refers to is something totally different and utterly groundbreaking.
What do you think? Could we see another dedicated handheld or home console system hit the market alongside the Switch? Or could Takahashi be referring to another “Classic Edition” release, perhaps based on the Game Boy or N64?
HAMSTER’s admirable Neo Geo streak returns next week with Real Bout Fatal Fury Special showing up in the Switch eShop on April 19th.
In case you’re wondering what makes this one ‘Special’, we are here for you. Along with the entire roster of the original Real Bout Fatal Fury, the game sees the return of fan favourite Tung Fu Rue, along with Cheng Sinzan, Laurence Blood and the insanely powerful (please read ‘super cheap’) Wolfgang Krauser as the new final boss.
Hidden from the roster spotlight are bonus EX versions of Billy Kane, Blue Mary and Tung Fu Rue, which grant the characters new special moves. A secret dark version of Andy also exists; Shadow Andy explores the dark side of the Shiranui martial artist and will give something fresh for Andy players to mess with.
Last but certainly not least among the hidden characters is Nightmare Geese, who, despite being killed in the first game, returns here for a hidden nightmare battle. ‘Special’ stuff indeed!
Becoming ‘Special’ will set you back the usual $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29. Will you be partaking once more in the SNK’s stellar brawling arena?
Imagine heading out to a market, picking up some copies of classic retro games to add to your growing collection, and accidentally coming home with a small stash of illegal drugs at the same time. It seems almost unimaginable, yet this was a recent reality for one unlucky gentleman.
Retro game collector Julian Turner recently uploaded a video to YouTube (thanks Kotaku!), sharing the amazing moment in which he discovered the illegal goods. The two games containing the drugs, Rollergames and Golf, caught the attention of Turner thanks to an increase in weight over other cartridges. Luckily, he had other copies of both games available to weigh for comparison.
The YouTube channel in question is host to a number of videos showing the opening of cartridges, so this no doubt seemed like a perfect opportunity to open them up for a very different reason. You can watch the action unfold in the video below (he starts to examine the cartridges at around the 7:40 mark).
Not content with only seeing the suspicious looking packaging inside the cartridges, Turner went on to open up the little bags, too. After confirming that the product inside was indeed an illegal substance, the police were called to deal with the situation.
Amazingly, this isn’t the only time that a copy of Golf has been found hiding suspicious items, as one copy was once found containing $5000 in bills. This money dated back to 1985, and with no evidence being found to suggest that the drug transaction was a recent thing, the products found may well be over 30 years old.
If you have any copies of Golf for the NES lying around your house, erm, have fun with that!
With a combination of mind-bending puzzles and an intriguing cyber noir setting, Belgian developer Fishing Cactus’ second title Shift Quantum has been on our radar for a while. By transforming barriers into escape routes and manipulating negative space in the monochromatic environments, Shift Quantum will flex mental and physical muscles with user-generated content and a dystopian story.
We chatted to the team about the game before EGX Rezzed begins this weekend in London.
Nintendo Life: Could you introduce yourselves?
We’re Sophie Schiaratura (PR/ business), David Bailly (game design), along with Pieter Vantorre and Michael Delva, who handled development on Switch.
So, how has development on the Switch been?
Much better than expected! We were expecting the need to optimize a lot of our game because the Switch looks like such a small piece or hardware. We were really amazed to see it running smooth at first try.
What was it like working with Nintendo?
The online documentation is really clear and straightforward. It’s not bloated and it has a good search functionality. It was a pleasure to use.
How was it using Unreal 4 in relation to development of the Switch version?
All features were working out of the box. Unreal Engine 4 provides a lot of options for the switch: different input configs depending on Joy-Con usage mode, battery saver option… It’s not perfect though. You can’t use all features of HD Rumble (yet), and there are some bugs. The good thing with Unreal Engine 4 is that it’s open source. So if you really need that functionality, you can just add it in!
Are there any games or works from popular culture that influenced Shift Quantum?
Not really. But people keep telling that the game reminds them a bit of the old Prince of Persia. The game wasn’t a reference at all, but why not.
What is the story of Shift Quantum?
We’ll try to not spoil you too much with the answer. There is a company called Axon Vertigo who promises to deliver happiness to everyone using their new Shift Quantum program in exchange for collecting data in your mind. As the player, you control someone connected to that program. In the beginning, you are nothing more than an ID number solving puzzles. Then the story starts to reveal itself, giving you clues of why your character asked Axon Vertigo for help.
We waited to do a next-gen version of the Shift series for years. After Epistory it felt like the right time to do it. Some people amongst our team were hyped about the project because they loved Shift and wanted to be part of our very first console game.
How important is the monochrome look and art style to the story and gameplay?
The black and white colors represent the basis of our core gameplay mechanic called SHIFT. When you use the SHIFT ability, your character can go from a black world to a white world, where air becomes solid and solid becomes air. You’re playing in both the normal world and its negative counterpart.. Going from one world to another will help you to overcome obstacles and reach the exit.
Were there any design ideas that didn’t make it into the final game for any reason?
We started with a lot of ideas, but we only kept what was the most suitable to build puzzles. Most games blocks were rejected because they did not combine well with the other. Also, some gameplay elements such as the Portal Block won’t be in the game for the release, but we hope to add them later with an update.
Is there a level creator? Are you excited to see what the community does with it?
Yes. Shift Quantum comes with a Level Editor allowing you to create your own deadly levels and share them with the whole community. We can’t wait to see what kind of crazy or arty levels players will make. It also looks like there’s also a bit of an action/ platforming element as well as the puzzles. What was the design process like?
We see the game more as a puzzle game than an action game. The action part like jumping, running, pushing block, activating buttons, and totally serves the puzzle elements. It’s like using your fingers when you solve a Rubik’s Cube.
Shift Quantum could not be more different from your previous title, Epistory. Was that a conscious decision or did it happen more organically? Do they share any themes or ideas?
It seems like they have nothing in common, but they both share our vision. At Fishing Cactus we don’t have a specific art style or game genre. We develop games that we would like to play and we are 18 people, so this could bring us to 18 different kinds of game.
How has the reception of the Nintendo Switch been in Belgium?
Good, I imagine. I can’t speak for the whole Belgium, but I can say that the Nintendo Switch was eagerly awaited amongst the Belgian bev community and day one purchase for a lot of people at Fishing Cactus.
What impresses the team about the system?
The ease of use, power of the hardware and flexibility of the system. The console is tiny, but it’s big on the inside!
Are there any features of the hardware used in Shift Quantum, or anything you’re interested in for a future project?
We had some ideas of using the gyroscope to shift the world, or to use gestures with the Joy-Cons to so some actions in the game. As of now, these are all nice to haves. They’re not essential to finish the game, so let’s focus on that first.
When can we expect to see Shift Quantum on Nintendo Switch?
Spring, but look out for more information soon.
Shift Quantum will be playable at Rezzed this weekend in London. Go and check it out!
THQ Nordic has issued a light-hearted press release detailing its reasons for skipping E3 this year.
According to the PR, THQ Nordic’s team have decided that it doesn’t want to miss any of this year’s World Cup – which is being held in Russia – and therefore won’t be displaying its wares at E3.
Here’s the full PR:
It is with great regret that we at THQ Nordic must report that we will be unable to miss a single moment of this great sporting event. Therefore, we will be forced to stay in our lovely Viennese beer gardens, blowing the froth off a couple, watching football and one or two cool press conferences on Twitch (looking at you, Devolver) instead of rocking it ourselves.
We have to admit, we are going to miss our 9 AM pint of beer in the “Ye Olde King’s Head” Pub in Santa Monica, where they show all matches live, but with the World Cup being held in Russia, it would mean a 7 AM beer – that’s too early, even for Austrians, let alone the Swedes.
We are looking forward to presenting all our great upcoming games like Darksiders 3, Biomutant, Fade to Silence or Wreckfest and even some unannounced titles for the first time at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany and shortly after at PAX West in Seattle.
Perhaps THQ Nordic will have some Switch-related stuff to show off at Gamescom also? Let us know what you think by posting a comment.
We all know that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey are fantastic games; having taken the world by storm last year with some fresh ideas for its top franchises, Nintendo has been taking countless awards home for these top titles left, right, and centre. Amazingly, this trend is still continuing over a year after the former’s release.
Yesterday saw the 14th British Academy Games Awards (or BAFTA Games Awards) take place in London. Celebrating the best games of 2017, the event played host to numerous awards for some extremely well-deserving titles, and Nintendo’s evergreen efforts certainly played their part.
Breath of the Wild was nominated in a whopping total of five categories: Artistic Achievement; Best Game; Game Design; Music; and Game Innovation, winning the last one in that list for good measure. Super Mario Odyssey was nominated for three awards, losing out to opponents in the Best Game category, but taking home both the Family and Game Design awards.
If you’re interested, here’s a full list of the winners:
Fellowship: Tim Schafer Artistic Achievement: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Audio Achievement: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Best Game: What Remains Of Edith Finch British Game: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Debut Game: Gorogoa Evolving Game: Overwatch Family: Super Mario Odyssey Game Beyond Entertainment: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Game Design: Super Mario Odyssey Game Innovation: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Mobile Game: Golf Clash Multiplayer: Divinity: Original Sin 2 Music: Cuphead Narrative: Night In The Woods Original Property: Horizon Zero Dawn Performer: Melina Juergens as Senua in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
A worthy list of winners? Or do you angrily disagree entirely? Feel free to share your thoughts on the list in the comments below.
Want to feel old? The 1000th episode of the Pokémon anime recently aired. The series began in 1997 in Japan, and follows the exploits of Ash Ketchum as he travels the world with the goal of being “the very best, like no one ever was”. During that time new monsters have appeared with startling regularity, fierce rivals have bitten the dust and new regions have been explored. Ash has also starred in numerous spin-off movies, directly related to the TV show.
The trouble is, statistically speaking, Ash is a terrible Pokémon trainer – despite having ample time to git gud.
Think about it; in over two decades, Ash has only managed to capture 77 out of over 800 different Pokémon types. For someone who hopes to be the best trainer in the world, that’s a dire total; Ash’s Pokédex must be pretty slim when compared to the average Pokémon GO player.
Being serious for one moment, we’d like to know your favourite Pokémon episodes. Have you been watching from the start, or are you a relative newcomer, enticed by the popularity of the recent video games? Let us know by hurling a few Pokéballs in the comments section below.
E3 is rapidly approaching with only two months separating us from some (hopefully) great gaming reveals, but one publisher that hasn’t been building the hype for the latter half of this year is DOOM and Skyrim wonder-studio, Bethesda. Until now…
In a conversation with Dualshockers, Bethesda Softworks’ Senior Vice President of Marketing Pete Hines was asked about any potential news surrounding the company’s presence at E3 and what fans could expect to see. Aside from teasing “a lot of new stuff”, one phrase in particular has us wondering if there might be a little more than meets the eye.
“I couldn’t give you any guesses as to what we’re going to announce and when those games will be out. But I will say, we have a lot of new stuff to talk about at E3. Whether or not folks realize it, this is the hell on Earth time for us with E3. We are in the midst of so much planning and work for all of that content but I’m really excited.
In case you’ve missed the reference, describing E3 as “hell on Earth” time for Bethesda could absolutely be a subtle nod towards an upcoming DOOM sequel. The original series of id Software’s DOOM games, released back in the ’90s, saw its second release be titled DOOM II: Hell On Earth, launching for the MS-DOS shortly before arriving on the likes of the Playstation and Sega Saturn. Could an upcoming second entry in the recently rebooted franchise be released under the same name? It’s definitely possible.
What do you think? Does this seem like a cheeky little reference to you? Or are we looking into things a little too hopefully? Let us know if you’d like to see DOOM 2 revealed at E3 this year in the comments.
The Switch may be a runaway success but Nintendo isn’t content to sit back and take it easy now the cash is rolling in; it has announced that it is collaborating with San Francisco-based Scrum Ventures to find startup companies which can unearth new ways to leverage the power of the console.
The Nintendo Switch + Tech program will look for startup firms, groups within larger companies or university researchers developing new tools to augment the capabilities of Switch. Developments will be strictly hardware-based, and will cover new components, sensors, chips and other add-on devices.
Scrum and Nintendo will be on-hand to provide assistance to bring products to the market, but neither firm plans to invest directly in the startups and groups involved in the program. Scrum has stated that it will choose which ideas are best to pitch to Nintendo, and successful applications could find their way into official Nintendo products.
Nintendo is clearly keen to expand the horizons of its Switch system; this month will see the launch of Labo, a cardboard construction system which uses the console’s features – most notably the Joy-Con’s IR camera – to create functionals objects such as cars, fishing rods and pianos.
Ko Shiota, a senior executive officer at Nintendo, said:
We are always exploring ways to evolve entertainment. As one of our approaches we look forward to discovering unique technologies that add to the Nintendo Switch experiences through the program managed by Scrum Ventures.
The market has reacted positively to the news, with Nintendo’s share value rising 1 percent on Friday.
This unique approach shows the company is focused on keeping the Switch as vibrant and exciting as possible, but it also contrasts sharply with the accepted way of doing things in the games industry, where new hardware ideas are often developed in-house at a staggering cost, or licensed directly from other established tech firms.
Could this venture result in some new and groundbreaking Switch accessories and add-ons? Let us know what you think by posting a comment.
In 1987, Brøderbund released Wings of Fury, a thinking-man’s scrolling shmup that borrowed Defender’s free-roaming gameplay but was otherwise an original concept. Thirty-one years later, can Infinite State’s Rogue Aces be the dream sequel you never knew you needed? Throttle up and lets find out.
The game immediately drops you onto the tutorial training missions, where you are instructed by your extremely British Captain on everything you need to know. Throttle is set with the right analogue stick: up and down will increase or decrease the level and your engine will do the best to match it. The left stick will control you airplane’s flight path. It took some time to stop ourselves pushing up to go down and vice-versa, and not before we’d experienced a few hilarious crashes. We stopped flying like idiots by imagining our left analogue stick as a clockface and our plane flying towards whatever ‘hour’ we set the pointer to. ‘L’ or ‘LZ’ pushes the fuel into the engine to achieve ‘war speed’, giving you a slight boost at cost of accelerated fuel consumption.
The trickiest bit of flying is (ironically) landing safely back to the ground. It’s certainly doable in the peaceful skies of the training mission, but once you get a few enemy planes harassing your six, it becomes much trickier to find the zen-like state and nerves of steel to throttle down, line up your place, hit the carrier deck and stop on the spot. Coincidently, this was also the hardest bit of Wings of Fury, with many frustrating ‘Game Over’ screens popping up after a botched landing. However, in Rogue Aces, Infinite State has elegantly taken care of this issue; by pressing the ‘B’ button your mighty metal flying steed will simply auto-land safely on your carrier (or enemy landing strip) at a cost of a point penalty. It’s a small but excellent game design decision.
That’s the flying bit sorted, onwards to shooting. ‘R’ or ‘R1’ will fire up your trusty machine guns, which are blessed with infinite bullets. These are weak but are the perfect harassing tool when facing enemy infantry and lightly-armoured vehicles. They’re also your main offensive weapon in aerial combat, with a handful of well-placed shoots turning formidable foes into falling debris. The rest of your arsenal is made up of limited unguided rockets and free-falling bombs (‘X’ and ‘Y’ button respectively). Enemy structures and heavily-armoured ground units (like tanks) and air units (like bombers and airships) are easier to take out using this explosive ordinance. You can choose to line up your plane perfectly and deploy in precision strafing runs like a true ace, or just suicide dive and drop everything at once, turning whatever was your target into a glorious display of chained explosions.
Both are sound strategies with different risks, but they will always end up with your plane in need of a quick pit stop back at the carrier to get some more ‘boom’. Enemy airfields are very valuable targets – once you demolish every structure and defiantly land your plane on them, allied bombers will fly overhead and drop friendly paratroopers that will take over the strip. This is not only an excellent way to refuel, repair and rearm; it effectively extents the range your plane can operate.
You will spend the most of your air time in the game’s normal campaign mode. The ‘Rogue’ bit in the title actually refers to the procedural-generated islands and missions you will face every time you start a new game. The odds are vastly against you; one single pilot and three planes on your carrier versus thousands of enemy units. The campaign is won by successfully completing 100 randomly-generated missions. These can be as straightforward as taking out a set number of enemy planes, commit war crimes by shooting down paratroopers before they reach the ground or blow up a certain number of tanks. More complex missions will have you single-handedly sinking enemy battleships and other such seemingly impossible tasks.
Airplanes don’t take kindly to taking enemy fire. Sadly, damage from engaging enemy planes and ground fire will be a constant reality. Pushing left on the digital D-Pad will toggle the damage report, with percentages displayed across key components. If you get too much damage to your engine, you will no longer be able to use war speed. Such handicaps will severely limit your capacity to properly control your war machine, so you will often need to land back at your carrier or captured airfield for repairs. With just three planes to conquer 100 missions you might feel this is an impossible task, even if levelling up your pilot allows you to start missions with extra upgrades. However, this is where Rogue Aces drops one last ace from its already rather sleek sleeve.
While it is also done automatically when your plane explodes, double-tapping ‘A’ will allow you to eject your pilot out of the cockpit in any situation. In campaign mode your pilot is mysteriously blessed with infinite grenades that you can throw in any direction and make sure you leave a bitter last message to your enemies. Considering the limited amount of explosive ammo your plane can carry, this represents a somehow unorthodox but effective strategy to clear out a massive enemy entrenchment. Just do make sure you press ‘A’ again after ejecting to deploy your parachute.
Raining down grenades is fun, but it’s not the best way to make the most of your ejection seat. Line up roughly with an enemy plane cockpit, eject towards their direction and boom: instant enemy plane hijack in mid-air! Just make sure of a couple of things things before you commit to such a crazy stunt. First, don’t try to hijack an enemy plane that is in worse shape than your own, and secondly, try not to miss the target. If you do, not only will you have ditched your precious plane but you will also look a bit daft as you slowly fall to earth, surrounded by enemy pilots making depreciative comments towards your person. It’s always a gamble but an essential one; not only is it the best way to repair / refuel / rearm your plane on the spot, it’s the only way to extend your limited air force fleet from three to a theoretically infinite number of planes.
The graphics are lovely, with nicely detailed and animated 2D sprites roaming across the land. There is a pleasing, Advance Wars–style feel across all of the military vehicles in the game, with airplanes, ground units and naval units all seamlessly integrated as part of the same world. There’s a continuous day-night cycle which allows for some absolutely gorgeous palette swaps and even some incredible Donkey Kong Country Returns–style silhouettes when the sun is just in the right spot behind your plane. It’s almost a shame that you only get a few seconds to appreciate this small but lovely detail, since that is all the time you are given before being harassed by enemies. Since your plane is the main ‘character’ it showcases fantastic frame-by-frame animations of all possible flight angles with your aerial foes. Music is dynamic, so in the brief moments of peace you will hear little more than the satisfying sound of your engine revving to your command. But, as soon as action picks up, so too does the soundtrack, blasting hard rock by Kevin ‘Kevvy Metal’ Black. Explosions are satisfying and since they can be chained by proximity, you often end up with an hilarious aural cacophony that is more than a match for the ongoing pyrotechnics displayed by the visuals.
If you do manage to clear the normal campaign you unlock the ultimate challenge, the ‘Veteran Campaign’ with no aids whatsoever, as well as the time-attack variant ‘Frontline Campaign’. Infinite State has also shoe-horned in a bonus Arcade Mode with a few secret variants to unlock, such as ‘Survival’ where you only get one plane, unlimited fuel and endless supply of enemy fighters to deal with, or the surprising ‘Bomber Defence’ mode that we stumbled on by accident while browsing the game’s credits.
As for the game’s less accomplished aspects, it’s a real shame that there’s no Goose to your Maverick; Rogue Aces is a single player only affair and we can’t help but imagine how fascinating the chaos caused by another human player on the field would be. Something to consider in the eventual skies of a Rogue Aces update or sequel, we guess.
Conclusion
Rogue Aces is a stellar, fresh experience – even more so if you never played spiritual forerunner Wings of Fury – that has landed on the Switch eShop seemingly out of nowhere. It not only delivers an audio-visual treat but also an overwhelmingly entertaining stimulation of the senses thanks to the frenetic aerial ballets you will take part in. Easy to pickup but devilishly hard to walk away from, Rogue Aces demands just the right amount of arcade shmup skills and strategic planing with the odd lucky break when something just works out. All of this is complimented by some excellent humour in the form of audio quips from your Captain, the enemy Baron aces and the one-liners from ally pilots. Kick the tires and light the fires, fellow Switch pilots; this war won’t be winning itself with you sitting pretty on that carrier deck.
