Category: Nintendo News

FIFA 18 is finally with us, and if you’ve already consulted our exhaustive review then you’ll know that, despite missing some key features, it’s the best football (soccer if you’re in North America) game we’ve seen on a Nintendo system in years.

While it was always clear that the Switch version wouldn’t be a match for its current-gen rivals in the visual stakes, it’s always interesting to compare how they shape up – especially when you take into account that the Nintendo version is one you can take with you on the road, making the graphical standard on display seem even more impressive.

As you can see from the footage, the Switch version does lose a lot of visual detail when compared to the PS4 edition, but what’s really important is that from a gameplay perspective the Nintendo offering is a very, very close match; the controls are the same and the whole thing “flows” almost identically on both systems – and that’s perhaps the biggest achievement here, even if Nintendo owners don’t get the swanky new “Journey” story mode.

Have you downloaded FIFA 18 on Switch, or will you be playing it on another system? Let us know with a comment.

Last week we went along to the Tokyo Game Show, Japan’s best known and most popular games expo. Various publishers went all-in with live events and streams, such as Sony, Capcom and more, while Nintendo still opted for a low-key approach. It offered some support, however, for smaller publishers and developers showcasing Switch and 3DS games, and the current-gen hybrid was the focus for the impressive stand held by CIRCLE Entertainment and Flyhigh Works.

The two companies share some employees and business; CIRCLE is a familiar developer and publisher on 3DS and now Switch, while Flyhigh Works is a newer name to Western audiences. They’re businesses that aim to succeed in the West – often by localising games out of Japan – but are also increasingly active publishing PAL and North America-developed games on the Japanese eShop. For example between them they’re the publishers of games like SteamWorld Dig 2 and RIVE in Japan.

During TGS we had a chance to chat with Chris Chau, CEO of CIRCLE Entertainment and foreign (outside Japan) business director of Flyhigh Works. We caught up on the TGS experience and the general business of building a library on Switch.

Thank you for meeting with us, and welcome to TGS. How has it been so far? 

Chris Chau: Busy! Not eating much, just cookies! 

This is the first time we’ve had a proper booth at TGS, in previous years we have had a couple of blocks, but this year, we have 20 TVs at our booth. This is the biggest investment we’ve ever had at TGS so we feel it’s important and we need to do our best for everyone involved. We feel this is our duty and are extremely happy to be here.

It’s great to see the relationship growing, in terms of developers and building a library with Nintendo. 

We have worked with Nintendo since DSiWare, and then on 3DS eshop and Wii U. Five years ago we started focusing on the Japanese market. The eShop is really suitable for Nindies. Nintendo is also aware of us as a company and we are really thankful that we are only focusing on publishing for Nintendo. Nintendo trusts us which is a precious thing. 

It’s exciting to see the range of titles you have brought to TGS – right up to games still in development. 

Of course we are planning on new titles and It’s been really positive developing new titles, but it takes a lot of time, so Flyhigh Works are also publishing some games in Japan that were released on the Wii, such as World of Goo, but Nintendo Switch exclusives such as Kamiko are also very important, even though it’s a smaller title.

We like this platform, we are fans of it and Nintendo games in general, this gives us passion to continue our work.

The turnaround from the announcement to release of the console was short – how did you deal with it? It must have been fast paced compared to other consoles, and the Switch is still so early in its lifecycle.

The best example is Kamiko. It is a brand new title which took four months to make. The developer Skipmore developed Fairune for 3DS which came out in 2014, so they have good experience, they knew how to make a good pixel art game. They are professional, but they also needed help to learn about releasing in this region and on the new platform. They have also been very positive and passionate about their upcoming game Picontier, which was announced last TGS but has been really well received and will launch at the end of the year. It suits the platform really well, plus we want to create more content for it to make a more premium product. We are still thinking about other titles to bring to Nintendo platforms. 

We want to be bigger, but we need to build as we are ‘hand crafting’ the company. We are always learning, getting a lot of feedback which is really precious. I’m so happy so many gamers still support us – in the future we want to make more exclusive and new titles like Picontier, also maybe different art styles, but we are still a small company with a few employees. While it is true that at the moment that we are publishing some ported games, they are enhanced ports and we are really focused on bringing new, exclusive games to the Switch. 

You mentioned about different art styles. We’ve just played Deemo – not only is the art style gorgeous, it’s great to see the hardware being utilised in different ways. 

Due to the portable nature its possible to see AAA as well as games that are smaller or have different control schemes. 

We have gotten so much support from Nintendo, especially with the music games.  

VOEZ was our first title on Switch and we were ecstatic about it. In the early stages we can’t use all of the features all of the time, but people had a great experience on Switch and people appreciated the free DLC. 

We have a physical release coming out and it’s been confirmed to have controller support. It’s really exciting that the Switch is so popular already and, going forward, we are excited to release another music game. It’s true that we are used to pixel art games, but it’s not just about being satisfied or not, it’s about being happy or not happy with the product and experience. So far we are so happy because of player comments, so we can carry on. Our first Switch title VOEZ, and the positive comments we received, motivated us going forward into publishing Deemo in Japan.

All sorts of games can find a home on Switch; as a publisher, what are your thoughts on the immediacy of digital distribution and how important it is for this platform?

A good example is PAN-PAN. PAN-PAN was announced during the Nintendo Direct in Japan.  It’s a cool title but it’s still a new title and from the comments we have received, gamers are finding it satisfying and say they want fresh experiences. 

After the showcase it was available straight away, but maybe western gamers won’t watch the Japanese Direct, also the release is sudden – so there isn’t much build up. Things like timing in addition to the fact that the Switch is region free are still important, but It’s a double edged sword – it’s doing well in Asia but it’s still a learning experience. We can still satisfy global users when there are titles coming to the global market. 

We’re always telling ourselves that we need to learn from past experience; the markets can change fast and we need to learn fast.

Issues with titles for the global eShop include ratings like CERO or localisation, it can take time, so we want to focus on a specific region and also take care. Not just releasing the English versions in Japan. Maybe we have to wait but then more titles or AAA titles come out which is unavoidable, so we prefer to focus on regions for each project. 

What do you look for in a game?

We did try other platforms, such as PS4, but we are focused on Switch and this is our main consideration. Due to the size of our team, we should focus and don’t want to divide our energy, so for now Switch as a first priority, then even when we decide to port a title, we are looking for the reason why players want this on Switch. If it’s not a good match for Switch users it’s not fun. The game might be a hidden gem on other platform, we give it a second chance but it still might not be suitable. Party games such as Death Squared have thrived on Switch.

It’s great to hear how much care you’re taking in choosing the right titles to bring to Switch, to new audiences as well as suiting the hardware.

We have lots of games, get lots of feedback and we have our viewpoints which we have shared with developers, sharing advice regarding localisation or even the nature of the market. We don’t want to just port fast to get money. We want to build our reputation and trust. 

There are so many games on other platforms, especially Unity. In theory it’s easy to port it to other platforms. As a publisher we want to make the right decision and choice. 

The diversity of the titles is fantastic and, going forward, SteamWorld Dig 2 is a big title for you.  

It was stressful (laughs) so we want to do our best and the CEO of Image & Form, Brjann, knows Japanese, therefore we can’t be lazy. We need to earn developers’ trust. Sometimes when starting a partnership with a developer, it’s about timing.

SWD2 is the first sequel that you’ve taken on – there’s that legacy/ fanbase to honour. 

It’s not easy to get the opportunity. It started about 4 years ago. We already knew each other, but we missed out on SteamWorld Dig. Looking back, we did learn a lot about the market. He gave us the opportunity and I’m really thankful. We have been patient, as a result, now we have finally got to work together. You can’t buy trust or support and it takes years. It’s not just business. Many years ago 3DS eShop games were simple, now they are rich in content and can compete for space. Developers have to choose partners carefully. It’s a huge risk. 

We have talked about Japanese titles in Japan and their success in the West. How about bringing western games to Japan? 

For me, we need to think about this because it’s not just about it being a good title, there could be something like the actual pronunciation of the game itself – it might not be easy or catchy to the Japanese audience. For example, Death Squared – in Japan the word ‘death’ maybe is a bit too strong, so we changed it to the katakana ‘rorororo’ which is… ロロロロ – four squares! And the Chinese is ‘㗊’ which means clamour and match for party game concept, also four squares!

We need to care about the sensitive issues to understand them, but we bring Japanese games to the West and vice versa, so we need to think about the western market which is a lot of pressure. The main thing is to do our best. We care so much about different cultures and the developers are indies so there is an element of risk regarding global sales, but it’s going really well right now. Most western gamers are understanding and embracing ‘traditional’ Japanese games more than ever.

An interesting example is Urban Trial Freestyle on 3DS – a western and western-style motorbike game, and it turns out it sold really well on the shop in Japan, and exceeded western sales. It can depend on timing, but we are getting the word out there and saying to consumers that it is suitable for the Japanese market – they are putting faith in our judgement.

There’s been a resurgence of Japanese games coming into the western market – with the indie scene and digital distribution, are consumers more globally aware than ever.?

Japan is still a traditional audience in terms of preferred genres, to a certain extent, it is a cultural thing and there are of course long running series that have huge userbases. Most of the most popular titles are still local titles. 
We have the chance to do certain things slowly. We can understand why other companies have been aggressive but we can be patient and observe. You can’t build a house with a 3D printer! 

Flyhigh Works’ most recent releases – PAN-PAN, SteamWorld Dig 2 is coming to Japan soon and Deemo has just come out in Japan, as well as Golf Story next month. We have nearly thirty titles. It’s exhausting but very rewarding.

As you see, we have had a great booth this year. However we have learnt from having a smaller booth in the previous two years that it’s step by step, year after year. 

Thank you for you time and showing us your booth at TGS. 

Thank you.

Happy SNES Classic Edition launch day, folks! If you’re reading this you most likely fall into one of two camps – those who were lucky enough to get their hands on a system, and those who weren’t and are really, really sore about it. Sadly we can’t help if you’re in the second camp, but what we can do is show you exactly what the North American SNES Classic looks like.

As you can see in the shots below – snapped by our very own Steve Bowling – it’s a perfect replication of the boxy beast which launched in North America all those years ago – while we’re sure a great many of our American readers will disagree, we vastly prefer the Super Famicom / European SNES design.

If you take issue with that, why not post a comment below – you know you’re going to anyway. In the meantime, browse the images and then let us know if you’re SNES Mini has arrived today.

Video game spin is a curious thing. It must be difficult for publishers and developers to turn a negative into a positive, but sometimes the excuses are so odd our eyebrows can’t help ascending skyward. The FIFA series has been a good example of this for a number of years. Nintendo fans need only cast their minds back to the launch of FIFA 13 on Wii U: it was essentially FIFA 12 with major modes – most notably the massively popular Ultimate Team – completely removed.

The game was heavily criticised for this, and gamers stayed away as a result. EA then decided not to make any more FIFA games for Wii U, citing “disappointing commercial results” despite “featuring FIFA’s award-winning HD gameplay and innovative new ways to play” (as opposed to being because all the best modes were, you know, totally missing). More recently, FIFA’s much-hyped story mode, dubbed “The Journey”, made its debut in FIFA 17 but was only available on the Xbox One and PS4 versions: Xbox 360 and PS3 owners missed out because those editions didn’t run on the swanky new Frostbite game engine and according to its creative director, “without Frostbite a story this immersive doesn’t happen”.

Now here we are with FIFA 18 on Switch, the first FIFA game on a Nintendo home console for half a decade, and the spin machine’s out in full force again. This time, while the Switch version finally has the much-loved Ultimate Team mode the Wii U game omitted, fans will be curious about the fact that none of the new Ultimate Team features in this year’s Xbox One and PS4 version are in there. The reason, according to a Eurogamer interview with one of the game’s producers, is that having every feature in there “might be too much” for someone new to Ultimate Team. We’re calling nonsense on that: and we’ll explain why in a bit.

First though, let’s judge the game on its own merits. To be blunt, FIFA 18 on Switch is a fantastic game and a brilliant technical achievement. Fans of the FIFA series will immediately be able to get to grips with the game as soon as they start playing, because at its core this is ‘proper’ FIFA, not the odd bespoke versions on Wii and 3DS back in the day. The full array of abilities is available in this version, due to the JoyCon Grip (and Pro Controller) offering enough buttons to cope with it. Right stick skill moves, finesse shots, driven lobs, threaded through balls, you name it – every expert-level technique you can pull off in other versions of the game is here too. No more Wii Remote flicking, slow-mo Matrix moves or any of that other rubbish Nintendo-owning football fans have had to put up with over the years.

However, because it’s not running on the Frostbite engine, FIFA 18 on Switch doesn’t play exactly like the other current-gen versions. The pace is slightly faster and player animations and physics aren’t quite as fluid, lending the game an ever-so-slightly more arcade feel (but not to any major degree). It actually works well; as long as you aren’t a stickler for intricate animation detail, you’re going to have fun here. It runs smoother than a greased-up jazz musician too, with a full 60 frames per second in both docked and handheld mode making for a silky performance and the general feel that you’re playing a high quality product. Although its (slightly less silky-smooth) cutscenes and other close-up moments reveal that the character models are a good deal less detailed than their Xbox One and PS4 counterparts, squint a bit during normal gameplay and you’d genuinely struggle to tell the difference.

The ability to crack out those JoyCon controllers and play some two-player matches anytime and anywhere is also a welcome one, although the game’s simplified a bit in this form. If you’re playing with a single JoyCon you’re missing out on a second stick, a D-Pad and two shoulder buttons, which means things like on-the-fly tactics, threaded through balls and finesse shots are no longer possible. Consider this a more casual version of multiplayer FIFA, then, designed for quick games on the go: for more serious grudge matches on the move each player will need either a Pro Controller or both JoyCon so that they’re armed with a full set of buttons.

Every element of the game is produced to high, error-free quality. The commentary is crisp and varied, the crowd noises are a treat and load times are reasonable (with the series’ ever-present skill games on offer to keep you busy while you wait, but we found you can jump into the game in seconds anyway). If NBA 2K18 was an example of how to completely mess up a port and riddle it with errors, FIFA 18 is an example of how to do it properly. Well, on the field at least. It’s when you’re off the pitch and in the game’s menu screens that FIFA 18’s limitations start to rear their disappointing head. Again, let’s be clear: this is still a far greater suite of modes than any Nintendo FIFA game has ever had (or any portable version, for that matter).

The standard Kick Off and Tournament modes are in there. Women’s football, first introduced in FIFA 16, is present and accounted for. There’s a Career mode in there – more on that in a while – and a Switch-exclusive Local Seasons mode lets you play a five-match series against a FIFA-owning friend locally to see who’s the best when the dust settles. In terms of online, you’ve got Online Seasons – the league-based mode in which you start in Division 10 and have to play 10 games against random online opponents in an attempt to get enough points for promotion – but the most important addition has to be the ever-popular Ultimate Team mode.

For those new to it, Ultimate Team is one of the most addictive things to happen to football games, and sports games in general (which is why it’s since been imitated in PES, NBA 2K, Madden, NHL and the like). When you start it you pick a team name and are allocated a bunch of hopeless 50+ rated players and a random team badge, kit design, ball and stadium from the ones available in the game.

The aim is to play games to earn coins: these can then be traded for packs containing better players, or spent in the transfer market to buy specific players you’re looking for. And yes, microtransactions rear their ugly head here, but they’re by no means essential. This reviewer has been playing Ultimate Team since 2010 and has never spent a single penny, yet still adores the satisfaction of building a team into world-beaters through nothing more than hard graft and skill.

Also present are the Squad Building Challenges. These were introduced to Ultimate Team last year and are a series of regularly updated puzzles that ask you to put together specific squads with players you no longer need, then submit them in exchange for rewards like rarer packs of players. The whole thing is an obsession, though on Switch this excitement has to be tempered a little. The Switch Ultimate Team is a separate entity to the Xbox One and PS4 versions, so even though all three versions require you to create an EA Account to save your squads online, each edition’s teams are completely different. This means you can’t, for example, play the Xbox One version on your TV then take your Switch on the train with you and load up the same team. There’s also no Switch support for the FIFA 18 Ultimate Team web app or mobile app, which let you tinker with your squads and Squad Building Challenges while away from the game.

This is the tip of the “missing content” iceberg, sadly. As you make your way through the game’s menus, FIFA 18 on Switch can just as easily be judged on what features and modes it doesn’t have as it can on what it does. Long story short, there’s a lot. The brilliant new Squad Challenges mode in this year’s Xbox One and PS4 versions of Ultimate Team? Not there. The new Daily Challenges, which give you mini-achievements (score three goals with a Brazilian player) for rewards? Not there either. The FUT Champions mode, where you compete in weekly tournaments to try and enter an elite league against the best players and win rare prizes? Nope.

And that’s just in Ultimate Team – there are many more gaping holes in the game’s feature set. All the fancy league-specific graphics packages are missing, so if you play a match with two teams from the likes of the Premier League, MLS or La Liga, you’ll still get the standard EA Sports scoreboard and timer instead of the official authentic ones. The EA Sports Football Club feature – in which you earn points as you play the game which can then be spent on historic kits, different balls, new goal celebrations and Ultimate Team coin boosts – is nowhere to be seen, meaning all that content is missing. 

Online gameplay, meanwhile, is nice and smooth: as long as you plan on playing against strangers. Even before the game was launched we were able to find Ultimate Team online Seasons matches within seconds, so that side of things works perfectly. But there’s currently no way to invite any of your Switch friends for an online match. This is almost certainly Nintendo’s issue rather than EA’s – hopefully the still-to-come paid online service will sort out this side of things – but it’s still annoying that if you want to play FIFA against one of your mates instead of a random opponent, they’re going to have to be in the same room as you. Whether or not this is a deal breaker for you is down to personal taste, but we imagine that it will compromise the experience for a great many FIFA addicts.

Most telling of all, though, is the Career mode, and that’s how we managed to figure out why the aforementioned dose of spin – that the Switch version is missing modes because it “might be too much” for the players – was a load of old kippers. The Xbox One and PS4 Career mode in FIFA 18 has a new transfer negotiation system in which you hammer out a deal face-to-face with players. This isn’t in the Switch game, presumably because of the whole “this is only possible in Frostbite” malarkey. The Xbox One and PS4 Career mode in FIFA 17 didn’t feature this. It was just a normal Career mode with some new objective-based features. But here’s the thing. The Switch version of FIFA 18 doesn’t even have that version of Career mode. It’s got the one from even older versions of the game, because (drum roll, please) FIFA 18 on Switch is basically the Legacy Edition that’s on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Now, let us clarify a few things before you plug in the old pitchfork-sharpening machine. There are still a few things in here that set the Switch version apart from the last-gen games. As previously mentioned, its custom game engine means that it runs smoother and looks sharper (the developers claim it renders at full 1080p when docked and it certainly seems crisp enough for that to be true). It adds the four new stadia that the Xbox One and PS4 versions get, its Ultimate Team mode has the Icon players like Maradona, Pele and the like (the last-gen ones don’t) and you can unlock a special Switch football shirt in Ultimate Team, too.

So let’s not go too overboard: it’s clear that at least some work has gone into optimising the game for Switch and ensuring there’s at least some new content in there for the system. Our complaint here is more that it’s not enough. The Journey story mode aside, there’s no actual technical reason why any of the other current-gen modes – the Ultimate Team Squad Challenges, the Daily Challenges, the weekly FUT Champions event, the EA Sports Football Club section with the retro kits and other goodies (none of which are in the Xbox 360 and PS3 Legacy Editions either) – couldn’t have been in the Switch version. Despite the producer’s claim, we all know these features aren’t missing because it “might be too much” for Switch owners’ delicate brains to process. They aren’t in there because it was decided (be it down to lack of resources or time) that there’d be no effort made to implement them in the game.

What we ultimately have, then, is a game that – when we look at it logically rather than emotionally – is far and away the greatest modern football game on a Nintendo system and the greatest handheld football game ever made. If you don’t own an Xbox One or PS4, this still looks great and plays fantastically and is a more than acceptable version of FIFA. If you do own an Xbox One or PS4, however, you should only really buy the Switch version if you plan on mainly playing it in handheld mode. While it’s still superb both handheld and docked, the latter can’t really hold a candle to its more powerful and feature-rich siblings.

So you’ve got your SNES Classic Edition Mini – consider yourself to be one of the lucky ones. 

But getting the micro console itself is just the start of your journey. Here are some amazing accessories to go with your Super NES Classic Edition that will enhance your experience exponentially.

Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

Let us know if you plan to pick up some of these lovely accessories to go with your SNES Mini with a comment below.

Famed accessory maker 8Bitdo is releasing special wireless controllers for the SNES Classic Edition.

The pads are available in two designs – North American SNES (purple buttons) and Super Famicom / Euro SNES (four-colour buttons) – and each comes with a 2.4G wireless adapter. 

The internal rechargeable battery means you don’t need to rely on AAs, and you can use the pad to access the console’s home screen by pressing down and select, which is handy.

The controllers ship on December 10th. Will you be placing a pre-order? Let us now with a comment.

Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

We do like our Switch logos to be nice, don’t we? On the one hand it’s understandable, as like all of our gaming systems it’s a big part of our life – we want it to be as good as possible, and that includes the ‘look’ of our download collection on the HOME screen.

A few developers have fallen foul of this, with iffy logos ranging from games like LEGO Worlds (since fixed), SteamWorld Dig 2 (due for a change in an update) and then – most famously to date – Snake Pass. The latter had a nice logo at launch relatively early in the system’s life, and then developer Sumo Digital changed it to one that’s rather ugly; the internet then did its thing.

While other developers have bowed to consumer demand, however, Sumo Digital – which started the whole HOME logo saga – dug its heels in. It’s been an odd little drama, but now the publisher has had a change of heart. It’s told Kotaku that the decision has been made to change the logo back to the original, albeit it’ll have to wait for an update that’s due early next year.

The reaction to the icon change has been interesting, and as this is our first self-published title, it’s definitely a valid part of our learning experience. It’s also testament to the passion that players have for Nintendo and Switch that a detail like icons are part of the overall gaming experience and connection they have with the handheld.

We’ve definitely taken the feedback on board and will be changing the icon back with the next update which is due early next year. It’ll mean the branding isn’t unified but our focus is on our players and community so we’re OK with that.

Interestingly, that branding reference is related to the fact the same current logo is used on PS4 and Xbox One, but Nintendo gamers have made a bigger fuss. The Kotaku article raises an interesting point on that side – the reaction seems in part to be a resistance to the Switch HOME screen looking like “the bargain bin of mobile F2P games”. Another perspective suggests the logo looks like a dodgy ad that pops up online. The interesting thing is that Nintendo fans seems to be more vocal about these things online, perhaps showing their eagerness for the Switch – as a platform – to be as good as it can be.

In any case, Snake Pass will have its nice old logo back, eventually.

Level-5’s Yo-Kai Watch drew plenty of comparisons to Pokémon when it first came West, thanks to its monster-gathering mechanics and playground appeal, but it really started to resemble Nintendo’s Pocket Monster powerhouse with the split release of its 2016 sequel: Yo-Kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits and Yo-Kai Watch 2: Fleshy Souls. And just as with Pokémon since the Gold and Silver days, a third incarnation followed soon after to cap off the generation, localized as this latest title in the series: Yo-Kai Watch 2: Psychic Specters. Adding in new quests, new Yo-Kai, and some fantastic new areas to explore, this is undoubtedly the best of the bunch, and a wonderful game besides — a polished, charming RPG that stands among the 3DS’ best.

Right off the bat, it’s worth noting that if you’ve played either Bony Spirits or Fleshy Souls, Psychic Specters is very nearly the same game; there are some notable additions that we’ll cover later on, but for the most part the story and structure remain the same. You’ll play as an elementary school boy or girl in the town of Springdale, and along with your faithful Yo-Kai friends — ghostly, thoroughly endearing creatures from Japanese folklore — you’ll set off on a new adventure to uncover the mystery behind some unsettling, very likely Yo-Kai-related occurrences in Springdale and beyond.

At least, you will after a bit of a warm up. Yo-Kai Watch 2 kicks off with some disreputable demons stealing both your character’s Yo-Kai Watch and their memory, so you’ll spend the first few hours more or less repeating some familiar beats from the first game: meeting key Yo-Kai like Whisper and Jibanyan, unmasking the cheeky spectres causing arguments and anomalies around town, and gradually exploring more and more of Springdale.

The basic gameplay template remains largely unchanged from the first title as well: it’s a Pokémon-style monster-friend-‘em-up, where you’ll roam the city taking on quests, meeting new Yo-Kai to add to your 6-member team, and challenging opposing Yo-Kai, in both smaller encounters and larger boss battles that advance the episodic plot.

These battles are one area in which Yo-Kai feels completely different to its Pocket Monster inspirations. Instead of commanding your team by selecting moves from a menu, as in Pokémon or most turn-based RPGs, your Yo-Kai will act on their own, using either physical attacks, special moves, or buffs/debuffs as they see fit. Each Yo-Kai also has its own ‘Soultimate’ power, however, and this you can control; by selecting a Yo-Kai with a full Soul gauge and playing a quick mini-game on the touchscreen — tapping spheres, spinning a circle, or tracing shapes, for instance — you can unleash these powerful moves, complete with an always-charming cut-in cutscene.

Soultimates aren’t the only source of interactivity in Yo-Kai combat, either; though you’ll usually fight enemies in groups of three, your own six-monster team is arranged in a circle, with three active at any one time, and you can ‘spin’ this circle around using the touchscreen (or shoulder buttons) whenever you like during a fight. Placing Yo-Kai of the same Tribe (think type) next to each other can yield bonuses, and between making sure healers are in the front line when needed, cycling in charged-up Yo-Kai to trigger series of Soultimates, and pulling out ‘Inspirited’ Yo-Kai to ‘Purify’ them with more mini-games, there’s always something to do; we never felt uninvolved.

Aside from a few new touchscreen mini-games and the addition of tag-team ‘M Soultimate’ moves, not much in combat has changed since the first Yo-Kai Watch, but that’s just fine by us. It might not be for everyone, and there will absolutely be moments when you wish you could just order your demons directly, but we still love the kinetic nature of Yo-Kai battles. It feels utterly unique as an RPG combat style, and — especially thanks to the ability to speed up fights with ‘X’ — stays fun and engaging throughout.

We mentioned that Yo-Kai Watch 2 starts off with strong déjà vu, and while that’s certainly true it doesn’t stick around for long. The first game’s Springdale setting still features in the story, but after five or so hours in you’ll start unlocking new towns — like sleepy rural Harrisville and seaside San Fantastico — and soon after, the ability to time-travel to the Springdale of 60 years ago. 

Between the time-traveling element and these new locations, there’s tons of new real estate to explore in this second Yo-Kai adventure. Wandering Harrisville’s rice paddies and riverbed, tumbling down San Fantastico’s breezy hills, and diving into the sepia-toned Springdale of the past is a blast, and feels just as special as discovering Springdale for the first time. The outstanding presentation plays a big part, too; everything looks fantastic, and really comes to life with the 3D effect on, while the new music fits right in with returning tunes from the first game’s soundtrack.

And as much as there is to do in and around Springdale — including excellent new mechanical additions like Challenge Doors and “Name That Yo-Kai” quiz spots — one of the most impactful changes in Yo-Kai Watch 2 is how you get between them, on the vastly expanded train system. Before you can warp from point to point using helpful mirror Yo-Kai, you’ll have to get around town just like everyone else: by buying a ticket and hopping aboard the fully-realized rail system.

This is admittedly a divisive point, because it’s basically the opposite of ‘fast travel’; riding Springdale’s rails means watching the train journey unfold stop-to-stop, with a prompt to alight or remain on the train at every station and the possibility for chats, cutscenes, or Yo-Kai battles between each stop. A journey between Springdale Central and Harrisville, with nearly a dozen stops and one line change, can easily take 15 real-world minutes — and that’s assuming you don’t get on the wrong train!

But what they lack in speed, the trains more than make up for in fun. We loved exploring the system, hopping on and off to take in the scenery at different stations along the way, and watching our character have heart-to-hearts with Jibanyan, Whisper and other Yo-Kai friends. It’s the kind of beautifully inefficient, stop-and-smell-the-roses mechanic that’s there purely for the fun of it, and it also plays into one of Yo-Kai Watch’s biggest strengths as a series: the feeling of wonder and adventure that comes from a child-sized sense of scale. Taking a train to visit grandparents all alone is a big event in the life of a kid, and that’s exactly how it feels here: a real journey with hurdles, inconveniences and surprises along the way.

That feeling carries over into plenty of other aspects of the game as well, and it makes Psychic Specters incredibly charming to play through. Earning pocket change instead of massive amounts of money from battles and quests, clambering up and tip-toeing along low walls to find secrets, or being able to kick empty soda cans endlessly along the road — and into open recycling bins for a bonus! — all contribute to the sense of being a small kid in a big world. If Pokémon games feel like the globe-spanning adventures you wished you had as a child, Yo-Kai feels like the ones you actually went on; just with a few more monsters at your side.

We’d be remiss not to mention those monsters specifically, in fact, because the lovable Yo-Kai themselves are the real stars of the show. From twin-tailed cats to macho tofu, samurai cicadas to dream-eating doggos, incontinent elephants to buff blowfish, there’s a Yo-Kai for almost everything, and each one has a ton of personality. Coming across new creatures is reason enough to search everywhere the titular Yo-Kai Watch indicates paranormal presence, and they’re as diverse in character as they are in stats and techniques. We still wish they were easier to befriend — it’s luck based and only slightly improved from the first title — but even with the ones that got away we never had any trouble assembling a six-specter team we loved.

All that was true of the first two Yo-Kai Watch 2 releases, of course, so what’s new in Psychic Specters? The biggest addition is that a new train’s come to the Springdale system — the ghoulish Hexpress night service, which heads directly to Gera Gera Resort. This all-new area is Disney World for the demonic set, complete with an unearthly amusement park, traditional restaurant, Kabuki theatre, and Spirited Away-style bathhouse. The neon-lit nighttime colours and fantastical setting really set Gera Gera Resort apart, and it’s a fantastic way to extend the post-game fun; right from the moment you hop on the Hexpress there are lots of problems to solve, spirits to help and foes to battle, and the otherworldly escape makes a great contrast to the more earthly trappings of the main game. 

Outside of Gera Gera Resort, there are also a handful of quests exclusive to Psychic Specters sprinkled throughout the game. Most of the new vignettes focus on the backstories of major characters in the game — like Whisper, Darknyan, Dame Dedtime — or on fun, fanservicey missions (like rounding up human actors for a Yo-Kai movie shoot), and they’re all a good time. There are also a few new exclusive Yo-Kai — variations on Kyubi and Venoct, some bosses, and the newly befriendable Wicked tribe — though for us these feel like less of a selling point, especially since the Wicked tribe has some of the least exciting designs in the Yo-Kai kingdom.

Elsewhere, the local-multiplayer Blasters mode — where you take direct control of a Yo-Kai and run around the city battling gargantuan oni in an overhead beat-‘em-up — has been expanded with quite a few new bosses. This can be fun with the right crowd — we think younger players especially will have a great time in four-player co-op — so it’s nice to have more bosses to battle, and linking up with Bony Spirits or Fleshy Souls will let you fight new exclusive enemies in those games as well. Along with Psychic Blasters, Psychic Specters also includes the bevy of multiplayer features from earlier games, so you can link up to battle (either casually or in ‘official’ league matches) and trade, locally and online.

In terms of updates, then, Psychic Specters adds quite a bit on top of the Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls formula. It’s definitely the best of the trio, but whether or not that’s enough to warrant a purchase if you’ve already played through either of its previous iterations will likely come down to how much you enjoy the Yo-Kai world; Gera Gera Resort and the new backstory-focused quests are perfect for players keen to soak up as much of the Yo-Kai universe as possible. Best of all, there’s an option to import save data from Bony Spirits or Fleshy Souls before you begin, so you won’t have to play through the main quest again to access any of the new content; you can pop in Psychic Specters and hop right on the Hexpress, with all your Yo-Kai friends along for the ride.

Though there were plenty of teething issues with it—who could forget that tiny file size limit?—the Wii Shop Channel marked a milestone moment for Nintendo, as the company made its first notable foray into digital game distribution. Considering the age of the Wii, and the fact that all other online services for the console have been disabled, it was only a matter of time before Nintendo would announce the end of the Wii Shop Channel, and now that day has finally come.

On January 31^st, 2019, the Wii Shop Channel will close its doors for good, though the date for adding points to your account is coming much sooner. Users will be able to add funds to their accounts until March 27^th, 2018; after that, you won’t be able to buy games from the shop on either the Wii or the Wii U. It’s a shame to see it come to an end, but this was inevitable. If there were any Virtual Console or WiiWare games you were thinking of getting, now might be a good time to jump on those.

What do you think? What was your favorite WiiWare game? Will this spur you to buy something from the shop? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The latest notable news in ARMS was the recent addition of Lola Pop—a brand new, clown-themed fighter—alongside an associated stage, new ARMS, and various balancing tweaks. Nintendo sure isn’t slowing down with the updates though, as it’s already prepped and released a new patch that makes a series of notable tweaks to the core game.

The biggest change is that Sparring Ring has now been added as a fully playable stage, and can be accessed in Ranked Matches. Also, there have been a series of bug fixes and tweaks to Ninjara and certain ARMS. Here’s the full list from the patch notes:

·  The versus stage Sparring Ring can now be selected.

• It’s a square stage without gimmicks, used in the Warm-Up minigame.
• Enjoy some serious bouts while enjoying the soundtrack of the ARMS Official Song (Electro-dance Ver.).
• Sparring Ring will also appear as a stage in Ranked Match.

·  Fixed an issue in Hedlok Scramble where sometimes Guardian and Clapback ARMS would fail to expand.

·  Fixed issue where the rewards for 1-on-100 would change if played while searching for a Ranked Match.

·  Adjusted some fighters and ARMS as shown below.

Fighters / Arms	Adjustments
Ninjara	After getting some advice from a Ninja College alum, distance traveled when performing a mid-air mist warp has increased. Mid-air mist warp” refers to the ninja technique performed by dashing after jumping.
Sparky	Increased retraction speed.
Megawatt	Increased extension speed.
Slamamander	Increased extension speed. Decreased retraction speed.
Biffler	Increased retraction speed.
Blorb	Increased retraction speed. Adjusted how damage multipliers for Rush attacks function.Total damage when connecting with all hits is unchanged.
Funchuk	Increased the time span from exceeding a target until retraction. Adjusted how damage multipliers for Rush attacks function. Total damage when connecting with all hits is unchanged. Fixed issue during online play when Rush damage would increase under certain conditions. Fixed an issue where at times an opponent’s throw could be deflected with a successfully completing throw attack.
Clapback	Decreased Rush attack damage.
Chilla	Decreased curving.
Phoenix Thunderbird	Decreased homing.
Nade Tribolt Chakram	Decreased speed of charge attacks.

What do you think? Do you like the changes that have been made? How long do you think it’ll be before another new fighter gets added? Share your thoughts in the comments below.