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Category: Nintendo News
Nintendo News
Third Editions Launches Kickstarter To Translate Zelda, Dark Souls And Final Fantasy Books Into English
If you’re a fan of video game books then chances are you’ll already be familiar with the name Third Editions. This French publisher has produced some incredible books in the past and recently translated some of them into English – including an excellent analysis of the Zelda series.
The company is now seeking crowdfunding to translate three more books in English, with a target goal of 60,000 Euros (just over £53,000).
These books are Zelda: The History of a Legendary Saga – Volume 2: Breath of the Wild, Dark Souls: Beyond the Grave – Volume 2: Bloodborne and Dark Souls III and The Legend of Final Fantasy VIII. These three books will be available in both hardback standard limited-edition “Collector” versions.
We’ve sampled the work of Third Editions in the past and have come away very impressed indeed; are you also a fan, and will you be supporting the publisher with this Kickstarter campaign? Let us know by leafing through the comments section below.
Random: Nintendo Labo Isn’t The Only Way To Combine Cardboard With Your Switch
Some days you do just have to chuckle to yourself when covering the latest gaming news. While some were skeptical of Nintendo Labo when it was first revealed, the concept seems to have won a lot of people over and the use of cardboard alongside the Labo games is genuinely innovative.
And then we have the photo above, which shows how Imaginative Technology Land’s Handy Mahjong makes use of a similar idea. It’s coming to Japanese eShop on the 8th March for only 500 Yen, and uses a piece of cardboard (which you’ll have to fashion yourself) to prevent your opponent from seeing your section of the screen.
It’s actually not such a bad idea if you want to play a game of Mahjong with a friend and have some privacy when playing on Switch’s own screen in tabletop mode, but you probably aren’t going to win any awards for fashion if you play this in public.
The proposed solution for playing on the big screen is even more hilarious. What even is this? A coat hanger suspended from the TV with a paper curtain hanging at a 90-degree angle in the middle of the TV screen? That is pretty far out!
Do you plan to pick this up from the Japanese eShop store next week? Would you kill for a western release of Battleships or Guess Who? in a similar vein to this? Let us know your thoughts with a comment below.
Feature: Remembering Toys R Us, The ’90s Gamer’s Paradise
Retailer Toys R Us has been in dire straits for some time now, with the US side of the operation filing for bankruptcy in 2017. This week has brought us the news that the UK arm of the business is going into administration, putting 3,000 jobs at risk.
You may view this news with indifference; in the age of the internet, massive stores like Toys R Us feel like relics of the past. However, gamers of a certain age will have a tremendous affection for the store, because back in the ’80s and ’90s it was one of the best places to source video games. Back when specialist video game retailers were limited to tiny independent stores or shops like Radio Shack, Dixons, Woolworths and Boots the Chemist, Toys R Us was a major player in the games business; its incredible buying power meant that it got the latest games first, and was a great place to buy hardware and accessories.
As the curtain falls on one of retail’s biggest names, we decided to have a little look back at our favourite memories related to the UK arm of the brand.
Anthony Dickens
We didn’t have a Toys R Us in my local town, so we had to travel a good 30 to 40 minutes to the out of town “superstore” in Leicester. As a child, this distant location added to the magic, making it a real occasion to visit, like travelling on an adventure to a mythical land of toys and games. Toys R Us was also a unique shopping experience for me; games were usually behind cases, so you had to pick up a slip of paper and take it to the counter and pay before you could even touch the game box.
I have fond memories of visiting the store in Leicester on the first day of opening after Christmas. I would have counted up all the money I had received as presents and figured out which game I was after – there was rarely any browsing done at this time of year – I usually had a specific game in mind.
Specific memories that spring to mind would have been 1993, when I finally got my hands on the almighty “SuperFX” powered Starwing (Star Fox) on the Super Nintendo, and 1997 when I bought Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64, alongside my very first Rumble Pak.
The drive home would consist of meticulously reading every single word on the box, cart and instruction booklet as the excitement grew. Both these games had “first-of-a-kind” memories for me, I was wowed by both the 3D graphics in Starwing and the Rumble Pak support in the N64’s premier karting experience, Diddy Kong Racing.
It’s a shame that Toys R Us has found itself in its current state, and I wonder if gamers of the future with instant digital downloads will have the same sense of excitement getting a new game physically in their hands. Alas, digital is here to stay, but I’m glad I’ll always have those memories.
Damien McFerran
Like Ant, I lived a fair drive away from the Leicester branch of Toys R Us, which was nestled in a (then) futuristic-looking out-of-town shopping complex called Fosse Park (it’s still there now, but Toys R Us moved into the centre of the city many, many years ago). I recall visiting the store when it opened in the ’80s and my prime focus at that time was toys rather than video games; I have many happy memories of buying Transformers, Lego, He-Man and Hero Quest, as well as many other classic toys and board games of the era.
However, as the ’90s dawned my attention was captured by the rows and rows of glass-fronted cabinets near the front of the store, which I would normally have walked past without giving a second glance. Inside these were all manner of gadgets and gizmos connected to glowing television sets. This was the first place I witnessed a NES in action, alongside the interesting-looking R.O.B. the Robot and the iconic Zapper. Around this time (Christmas 1990) I got a Japanese Mega Drive, and Sega was – at the time – most definitely the biggest gaming brand in the UK console area. Despite this, Toys R Us bucked the trend by giving Nintendo products pride of place, and for a while the NES and Game Boy looked like exotic items I’d never own myself, given that my love of Sega was so strong.
Nevertheless, I would use my visits to the Leicester store as “research” to check out what all the fuss was about with these systems; I will readily admit to being a Sega fanboy even at that tender age, and couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to own a NES when the Mega Drive presented such clearly superior visuals. However, picking up the controller and playing Super Mario Bros. changed my mind on that; the visuals may have been primitive compared to my shiny new Mega Drive, but the gameplay was utterly sublime and I don’t mind admitting that I later rented a NES from my local convenience store (yes, they did that back then) just to spend a bit more time with the game.
Toys R Us is also the first place I saw Sonic the Hedgehog in the wild; the classy, minimalist UK box art still gives me a pang of nostalgia today, and seeing it hung up in the store was a real thrill, as I’d been following its progress in the pages of CVG and Mean Machines for months. As the ’90s progressed, the Mega Drive gained its first real rival in the UK in the shape of the SNES. With video game retail in the country still limited to big chains and tiny indies, Toys R Us was vital when it came to actually securing a system at launch; I remember nervously visiting the Leicester branch with my dad, and him making sure my expectations were tempered (“A lot of people want one, you see”) only to find that – amazingly – they actually had one in stock. We picked up F-Zero along with Super Mario World, and for the weeks that followed my Mega Drive gathered dust. Later visits would result in seminal titles like Super Tennis and Final Fight entering my collection; all of which were supplied by Toys R Us.
Shortly afterwards, we began to give local indie stores more and more of our patronage as they not only stocked tantalising Japanese imports but also offered a part-exchange schemes which – for someone who only got £2 pocket money a week – were vital. With another source available to fulfil my gaming needs and my interest in toys now well and truly put to bed, I stopped visiting Toys R Us. My next visit would be around 1997, hunting for Tamagotchi (which, I’m sorry to say, were totally sold out).
It’s easy to feel sad about the passing of a store you have fond memories of, but the fact is that the world of retail has advanced to a point where gigantic shops like Toys R Us are no longer relevant. Online shopping is changing the way we purchase practically everything (UK electronics chain Maplin has also gone into administration this week) and if we’re happy to take advantage of lower prices on the web, we shouldn’t be shocked when bricks-and-mortar stores close. Toys R Us has also seen its relevance in the video game arena eroded by the rise of specialist chains like GAME (which, ironically, is also feeling the pinch in the age of the web) as well as superstores like Tesco, which stock a wide range of games alongside almost every other household item. Add to this the arrival of Amazon on the scene and it’s clear these old-fashioned chains stand little chance; at least we’ll still have our memories.
Let us know your own memories of Toys R Us – both in the UK and worldwide – by posting a comment below.
Review: The Men Of Yoshiwara: Kikuya (Switch eShop)
While we’ve seen all sorts of titles make their way to Nintendo systems in recent years, one genre that’s been distinctly underrepresented – and largely confined to PlayStation Vita – are otome games: romance titles starring female protagonists and marketed to women. D3 Publisher’s The Men Of Yoshiwara: Kikuya is the first title on Switch to fill that role, and it’s an excellent and welcome start. An otome visual novel with a mature theme, erotic elements, and a well-rounded cast of courtesans to romance, it’s an enjoyable game and – occasional issues with the script and a bit of a budget feel aside – an easy recommendation if you’ve played something similar before.
The Men Of Yoshiwara: Kikuya opens as you, the heroine, sets out on an errand to deliver a package, on an island where all men work exclusively as courtesans, and women hold all other posts. On the way to your destination, you encounter a woman and her still-indentured lover attempting to elope to freedom on the mainland – a crime not met with leniency on this alternate-reality island. Moved by their plight, you help them find a boat to escape, and then take refuge in Kikuya, the titular house of ill repute where you meet the game’s six romanceable courtesans for the first time.
As well as starting you off on the lam, this intriguing setup also leaves you wide-open in terms of who to romance. There’s Takao, the tall, confident, and cocky courtesan who won’t let you forget he’s the house favourite; Kagura, a calm, refined gentleman skilled in dance, calligraphy, and other classical entertaining arts; Tokiwa, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and endlessly flirty foreigner; Kagerou, Kagura’s novice apprentice and the resident sourpuss; Iroha, Kikuya’s older, somewhat mysterious leader with a serious secret; and Hayabusa, the protagonist’s childhood friend and one-time boy next door.
There’s quite a lot of variety in the different courtesans at Kikuya, and it’s also easy to get to know them all. Unlike many otome games, where you’ll pick different ‘routes’ (and who your character falls in love with) based on in-game dialogue choices and triggering different event flags, in The Men Of Yoshiwara, you simply select your path from a menu. After completing the prologue, which sets up the story and introduces you to the courtesans, you’re free to jump around between all six routes as you like, with a bevy of save slots making it easy to bookmark your progress. As you read through each route, you’ll be presented with occasional dialogue choices. Your responses determine minor differences in the conversation, as well as your ‘likability rating’ with your current partner; higher levels of likability unlock more event CGs and different endings.
As you might imagine, this ends up being quite a lot of courting; each courtesan has a 13-chapter main story, an epilogue, and a separate ‘date event’ to his name. Chapters are bite-sized reads, between five and 15 minutes apiece, and each character’s route rounds off to a very respectable two hours or so – a nice length that doesn’t feel either drawn out or rushed. There are also a handful of extra ‘side stories’ that act as additional epilogues for a few of the bachelors, with the welcome feel of fan-service DLC.
Of course, as with any story, a visual novel is best judged by how enjoyable it is to read, not how long that reading takes, and The Men Of Yoshiwara (mostly) provides the quality to back up its quantity. The characters are distinct and well drawn, and each individual route features notable character development – either for your chosen bachelor, the protagonist, or both – as well as lots of steamy payoff throughout.
And it certainly is steamy! The Men Of Yoshiwara: Kikuya easily earns its Mature rating through prose alone, from suggestive innuendo all the way through to outright raunch, and there are scores of scenes engineered to make you blush. On the subject of blushing, it’s worth noting that the sex scenes tend to be written from the ‘innocent heroine embarrassed at her lover’s boldness’ perspective, so if that take-charge approach is (or isn’t) your kink, you may be more (or less) inclined to enjoy what’s on offer at Kikuya.
The writing itself is generally of a good standard, and while it’s not the most memorable or literarily ambitious visual novel we’ve come across, it’s still an enjoyable read free of the awkward wording or sentence structures that can plague poorly translated titles. The sole exception is that some of the side stories are of a significantly lesser standard, poorly written and puzzlingly phrased. It’s particularly notable since these side stories tend towards the more explicit end of things, and there’s no turn off quite like a lack of quality control. Apart from those unfortunate dips, we also encountered the odd encoding issue throughout – being introduced as ‘SleeperMorgan’ and once as ‘.’, for instance – but overall, the main story is well written and error-free.
Aesthetically, The Men Of Yoshiwara relies on an appealing neon-and-sakura effect. It’s colourful and sleek, with both traditional Japanese and modern fantasy trappings. The character portraits are the main focus, and they’re very well done, with particular attention paid to the courtesans’ elaborate kimonos. The CGs you’ll unlock as you play are also impressive, with a warm watercolour style that fits the tone of the story. Less memorable are the generic-looking backgrounds, which feel sparse and distinctly low-budget. The game also suffers from characters beyond the main bachelors being completely invisible, which unfortunately highlights those backgrounds during many scenes.
The music follows the same modern-traditional style as the visuals: wistful melodies in pentatonic scales played on synth-kotos and backed by strings and digital percussion. It’s nice, but there’s not very much of it, and over the course of even a single route the soundtrack becomes rather repetitive; transitions between pieces are also awkwardly jarring. There’s no voice acting, which is a shame, and sound effects are minimal, but that also means you can play without audio and still get nearly the full experience — a boon for quick reading on a commute or lunch break.
Conclusion
As the first otome game on Switch, Men Of Yoshiwara: Kikuya is both excellent proof of concept and an enjoyable piece of electronic erotica in its own right. With a memorable cast of courtesans, a generous amount of content split over several discrete routes and sub-scenarios, and affection-based unlockables, there’s plenty here to keep you busy and blushing. The backgrounds and music give off a bit of a budget feel, and occasional text encoding issues and some steep (but infrequent) quality drops are blemishes on an otherwise well-written script, but overall, we’d certainly recommend a trip to Kikuya for otome fans.
Video: See The Real-Life Mario Players Recording Super Mario Odyssey’s ‘Jump Up, Super Star’
Whether it’s a behind the scenes sneak peek or a director’s commentary, there’s nothing quite like learning how the sausages are made. Especially so when you’re talking about a bona fide banger in the form of ‘Jump Up, Super Star’ the big band hit that plays as you finish up in Super Mario Odyssey‘s New Donk City.
So here’s an official – albeit short, sadly – video that shows the real-life Mario Players recording the song in-studio over in Japan. Much like the recent look at the recording of the Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle soundtrack released by Ubisoft last month, it’s great to see just how many talented musicians were involved in the process.
Have you returned to New Donk City for Luigi’s Balloon Challenge? Have you been filling your pockets with all the coins? Share the Mario love below…
Nintendo Has No Plans For A Switch 2.0, Sources Claim
Nintendo has a long history of revising its hardware; there were multiple editions of the Game Boy, DS and 3DS, and taking this into account, it’s understandable that some are expecting the Japanese company to announce a “new” Switch model in the next 12 months (the DS Lite, lest we forget, came just over a year after the original model).
However, The Wall Street Journal has spoken to sources which claim that Nintendo has no plans to produce new hardware variants of the system at this time. The sources state that a “Switch 2.0” isn’t on Nintendo’s radar, and that it will maintain the current model for some time yet. That’s understandable, as the hybrid console is expected to hit 17 million sales worldwide by March this year – a remarkable achievement. Nintendo will instead focus on improving manufacturing and shipping for the current model.
According to the sources, Nintendo will drive Switch sales with accessories rather than hardware revisions:
The people familiar said expanded Switch features in the coming year could also include additional network-related features and peripherals to be attached to its USB Type-C port. At an investor briefing in February, Mr. Kimishima, the Nintendo CEO, said he wanted to make the Switch’s product cycle longer than the five-to-six-year span that’s become customary in the videogame console industry. One person familiar with development plans said waiting longer to introduce variations in the hardware would serve that purpose.
What do you make of this news? Do you think Nintendo will keep the current hardware configuration for some time yet, or were you anticipating a similar approach to Apple’s iPad, with new variants being released every few years? Perhaps there are elements of the Switch which you’d like to see Nintendo revise in future editions? Let us know by posting a comment.
Last Year Was Particularly Good For Pokémon Sales In Europe
Sometimes it’s easy to just think of Pokémon as a very successful video game franchise, with recent releases such as Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon on 3DS and Pokémon GO on mobile both performing really well.
Of course, the Pokémon franchise is so much more than just video games and today we got an update from the Pokémon Company to say how well other aspects of the business are performing in Europe – namely trading cards and toys.
It has been established that Pokémon is now the number one trading card game property in Europe, with total sales exceeding €100 million (total sales for such games in Europe over 2018 were over €122 million, giving Pokémon a phenomenal 82% share of the market). In addition to this, trading card game sales rose in key territories with growth of 42% in the UK, 56% in Spain and a massive 644% in Italy.
If all that wasn’t good enough, Pokémon toy sales also saw a significant rise in 2018, with an increase of 54% in the UK, 14% in Germany and 146% in Italy.
Here are some more juicy details from the official press release:
Pokémon gained additional recognition at the UK Toy Fair in London by winning two separate awards. The Pokémon Trading Card Game collected Pocket Money Toy of the Year at the Toy Industry Awards, organised by the British Toy & Hobby Association and Toy Retailers Association. Additionally, the new line of Pokémon toys made by Wicked Cool Toys and distributed by Character Options was crowned the winner of the Toy Fair 2018 Editor’s Choice Award, which was voted on by media visiting the show.
Simon Benton, VP of Pokémon TCG Sales Europe, said: “2017 was another exceptional year for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. We are the number one Strategic Card Game in Europe, and the UK toy industry voted the Pokémon Trading Card Game the top Pocket Money Toy of the Year. The continued success is testament to the fantastic support of all our retailers and the Pokémon TCG’s huge appeal, and with further expansions and promotions planned, we expect another strong performance in 2018.”
Peter Murphy, senior director of marketing at The Pokémon Company International, said: “Wicked Cool Toys’ first Pokémon master toy range has been fantastically well received by retailers and the media at the recent toy fairs in London and Nuremberg. The huge interest in the new toy line is hugely encouraging, and we expect sales to continue to rise when the range launches later this year.”
The global phenomenon of Pokémon was first launched in Japan in 1996 as a role-playing game for Nintendo’s Game Boy system and reached the United States and Europe in 1998–99. The first Pokémon games introduced the original 151 Pokémon. Today, the Pokémon universe includes more than 800 Pokémon that players can catch, trade, and battle against their opponents with in the quest to become a top Pokémon Trainer.
Pokémon has since grown into one of the most popular entertainment properties in the world. It is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, with more than 300 million video games sold worldwide. In addition, 23.6 billion TCG cards have been shipped to 74 countries in 11 languages, and over 450,000 players take part in Pokémon events every year. There are also more than 900 episodes of the animated TV series, soon starting its 21st season.
Let us know what you think about the Pokémon mania in Europe. Do you think this bubble might burst soon, or can this franchise stay strong for the foreseeable future? Let us know your thoughts with a comment below!
Clustertruck Has Gone Gold, Now Pending Final Approval
A few weeks ago, Indie developer and publisher tinyBuild unveiled six games that it has in production for the Switch, following on from the successes of Phantom Trigger and Mr. Shifty last year. One of the titles revealed was that of Clustertruck, an odd first-person platformer wherein you must survive by deftly jumping between crashing trucks hurtling down a freeway. Evidently, it won’t be too much longer before we get to give it a go, as tinyBuild just announced the game went gold.
As of right now, it just needs to make it through Nintendo’s testing and then a release date will be decided. To get fans of the studio excited, a video—which you can find above—was recently posted showing one of the developers playing on the Switch, and having a rather amusingly rough time of beating the levels.
We’ll be sure to give this one a review whenever it goes live on the eShop, but what do you think of the footage? Will you be picking this up? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Guide: Upcoming Nintendo Switch Games And Accessories For March And April
The year may be dashing past at an alarming rate, but it’s a great time to be a Switch owner; February saw the release of Bayonetta 2 (with the original Bayonetta included of course) and Payday 2. 2018 may have gotten off to a slow start compared to last year’s amazing release schedule, but now we’re on a roll.
So, what’s on the horizon for Nintendo Switch fans, then? We’ve complied a list of all the good stuff coming out at retail in March and April, so feast your eyes and prepare your wallets.
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The pink ball with an unending appetite is preparing to make his Nintendo Switch debut and he’s bringing some pals along for the ride. It’s still your usual Kirby platforming fare, only now you can play with up to three other players locally (or go solo with AI at your side). Abilities can still be eaten and acquired, but now you can combine them with your allies to create unusual combos for puzzle solving and platforming alike.
Wait a minute! Isn’t this supposed to be a round-up of Nintendo Switch games and accessories we hear you cry? OK you got us, busted! We just couldn’t resist listing this as the oversized Detective Pikachu amiibo is just so darn cute. The 3DS game looks good, too!
Nintendo Switch is finally getting an Attack On Titan game, with the hotly-anticipated AOT2 following the story arc of the anime’s second season. If you’re new to the franchise, the game takes the central premise – humans seeking shelter in high-walled cities while naked giants roam the wilderness trying to eat them – and spins it into an acrobatic take on the giant monster hunting of, err, Monster Hunter. The sequel enable you to create your own custom character but you’ll be able to play as fan faves Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert and more.
Since its surprising reveal, Nintendo Labo has become one of the most talked about games on Nintendo Switch. Whether you’re mildly intrigued or all in, this cardboard-based gameplay revolution is going to be one of the most important releases on the Nintendo Switch calendar. With two Toy-Con packs already announced, and plenty more designs shown off already, the new origami-esque concept makes for a tempting purchase when it arrives in April.
More Awesome Nintendo Switch Games
Other than Kirby Star Allies, Attack on Titan and Nintendo Labo there are lots more Switch retail games which might take your fancy in March and beyond.
Awesome Accessories For Your Switch
We saw a whole slew of interesting accessories released for the Switch in the past few months, but more are on the way. Here are some tantalising accessories coming up in March and beyond which we found for your consideration.
So that’s it for March and April – did we miss anything? Let us know with a comment and also tell us if you’ve preordered any of these goodies!