Category: Nintendo News

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

The saga of Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong high score continues to rumble along following accusations from score-verifier Jeremy Young that Mitchell – who was a key figure in the cult movie King of Kong – used MAME to record his record-breaking runs on the game, as opposed to original hardware, as Mitchell has claimed.

Mitchell was quick to respond to the claims, stating that he’d never played MAME and suggesting that the footage he had submitted had somehow been switched. Young has now responded to Mitchell’s comments, pointing out the sheer implausibility of what he’s claiming.

Mitchell said:

And the film footage that he has, that Jeremy has, shows MAME play. Now, I contend, that if he gets the original tape, or he gets the original room shot, he will see that what I say is true. I’m not disputing what he says. What I’m disputing is the fact that I want him to have the original tape.

According to Young, the only person who could have possibly switched the tapes is Dwayne Richard, a world-record holder in several games on Twin Galaxies:

Claiming the video footage in the evidence is not real does not make sense to me. In regards to video sources and their potential fabrication, I would label that so unlikely as to be impossible. The amount of foresight, patience, and technical knowledge required would be staggering.

Dwayne claims [the Mitchell tapes] were given to him directly by [disgraced competitive gamer Todd Rogers], by request of Billy Mitchell. Dwayne uploaded a copy of [the 1.047 million run] to YouTube a couple of years ago… All of this uploaded footage directly matches segments shown in both the theatrical release of King of Kong and a screener version that has circulated over the years.

In fact, Mitchell’s entire defence rests on the idea that Richard swapped the tapes. Young explains why this is highly, highly unlikely:

By my reckoning, Dwayne would have to:

1) Know, for over a decade, this bug existed in MAME, and not tell anyone
2) Know every potential independent source that would, in the future, publish clips of Billy’s gameplay, know exactly what that footage would contain, and whether that footage would contain the MAME signature
3) Either: A) know that the press conference video is also MAME, or B) organize a conspiracy to swap the tapes being shown that day.
4) In the case of 3A…why wait this long?
5) In the case of 3B…he would have had only a few days to craft a full performance of TWO games (DK and DKJR) faithful enough to fool Billy himself AND convince someone to swap the tapes at the event.
6) Apart from 3A, he would need to craft at least 2 full-length (~2.5 hours) games to match the independent footage. These would have to match Billy’s original gameplay, pixel-for-pixel, frame-for-frame.
7) Wait, for years, for the right amount of general skepticism and technical knowledge to coalesce.

Mitchell will no doubt respond to these comments in due course, and you can sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of this saga. It’s a sorry end for one of the most famous figures in the world of video game high score-chasing.

We’ve known for a little while that a port of The Snack World – a Japan-only RPG that’s evolved into a multimedia hit brand with its own film and a line of super popular toys – will be getting a Nintendo Switch port, but now we finally have a date. Developer Level 5 has confirmed the game – called The Snack World Trejarers Gold – will release on 12th April, 2018.

The port marks Level 5’s first game on Nintendo’s latest hardware, and will include a whole host of improvements, including tweaked graphics, an improved battle system and all the DLC released for the 3DS version. It’ll set you back a good ¥6,458, should you be a Nintendo Life reader based in Japan. No word on a western release just yet, but we hope Level 5 gets round to one because The Snack World is a hit just waiting to happen in the West.

Drop us a comment or two below on The Snack World Trejarers Gold and all things Japan-only on Nintendo Switch…

Nintendo Switch continues to sell in strong and impressive numbers across the world, but all that success has also helped out the other companies involved in its hardware – specifically PC component giant Nvidia, which included its Tegra X1 processor in Switch’s architecture.

Nvidia has now recorded was of its most profitable fiscal quarters, with its shares jumping 14% yesterday. In fact, shares had increased in value by 34% when compared to the same period last year, so clearly how well Switch has sold has fed right back into Nvidia’s market value. Nvidia’s Tegra processor revenue, which is said to have totaled a staggering $450 million, was up 75% year over year. That’s a lot of moolah.

So Switch is doing well and everyone is benefiting – even the people who provided the processor. Let us know what you think of this story, and Switch’s continued strong run, below…

The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will be making sports headlines for the next few days, but one story we didn’t expect to see is the fact that a Super Mario lookalike is taking part.

U.S. Curling Team member Matt Hamilton – alongside his sister Becca – holds the distinction of winning the first Olympic mixed doubles curling match in history. However, he’s currently gaining column inches due to the fact that he bears a slight resemblance to a certain video game mascot.

Sure, the likeness isn’t exactly massive, but the fact that the official Twitter account of the U.S. Olympic Team has tweeted about it is amusing. For his part, Matt has remained silent – but he did re-tweet the original image, so we assume he approves of the comparison.

Thanks to SLIGEACH_EIRE for the tip!

Monolith Soft promised that it would be supporting Xenoblade Chronicles 2 plenty in the months following launch, with the first major addition being a New Game+ mode. This rather substantial update to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was expected once the new year rolled over, and though it missed the month of January, the wait for the new update will end next week.

Tetsuya Takahashi—the game’s director—recently confirmed the update comes out sometime next week, while describing in detail what all will be changed. Here’s the full list of changes, courtesy of ResetEra, though be warned that there may be some spoilers:

Quality of Life:

• Blades can be locked so they aren’t accidentally released

• The Core Crystal bonding scene can be skipped (finally)

• When the mini-map is enlarged, icons form the skip travel map will be displayed

• Easy Mode is being added

• A new sorting option for items is being added

Advanced New Game Mode:

• Unlocked once you beat the game once

• Torna’s Blades (Obrona, Sever, Perdido, and Cressidus) can be obtained and equipped Blades

• Torna’s Drivers (Akhos, Patroka, and Mikhail) can be obtained and equipped as Blades

• All Blades can be dispatched on Mercenary Missions

• Adds new skills to Driver skill trees

• A Driver’s level can be lowered at inns, granting more bonus EXP in battles

• Bonus EXP can be spent on items, with one allowing you to hold more accessories

• Things carried over:

               Driver Levels

               Unlocked skills for Drivers and Blades

               Blades

               Items and Gold

               Mercenary Ranking Level

               Town Development Level

               Unique Monster Kills

               Cutscenes

*Quests, Heart to Hearts, Skip Travel Points, and Mercenary Missions don’t carry over

What do you think? Are you pleased with these changes and additions? What do you think of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so far? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Fire Emblem Heroes was an interesting project from Intelligent Systems, managing to adequately miniaturize the depth of a Fire Emblem game while still having the accessibility of a mobile game. It certainly isn’t a stand in for the full retail game due out on the Switch sometime this year, but it no doubt went a long way towards improving brand awareness and growing the fanbase.

Google Play recently reported that Fire Emblem Heroes has crossed the 5 million mark on total installs, and while the exact number is a mystery, that’s still quite a lot of people that have at least tried it out. With estimates putting revenue at just shy of a quarter billion dollars, Nintendo is likely satisfied with the app’s success thus far, and it still receives regular updates to keep users coming back. Hopefully Mario Kart Tour will find a similar level of success, though it’s fair to say that one will likely be a much easier sell.

What do you think? Have you spent any money on Fire Emblem Heroes? Do you still play it much? Share your thoughts in the comments below.