Nintendo’s all about the virtual outfits today, as it’s now confirmed that we can all have Junichi Masuda in some fetching gold pants on our 3DS systems; yes, he’s a surprise visitor to StreetPlass Mii Plaza on 3DS.
As 3DS veterans know, all guest Miis in the plaza wear these stylish golden pants; we like to think that’s Nintendo / Game Freak staff uniform behind closed doors.
As the tweet shows this is to celebrate today’s release of Pokémon Gold and Silver on the 3DS Virtual Console, with the Game Boy Color titles having the added bonuses of wireless trading and battles, as well as support for Pokémon Bank.
Time for us all to dig out our golden pants / trousers for the weekend.
If you’ve picked up Pokkén Tournament DX for the Switch today you may want to give your Trainer avatar a bit more style. Well, Nintendo’s solutions aren’t necessarily stylish but, whatever, they’re free outfits.
You can get the following outfits by doing the following:
On the Ferrum Region map screen, press the X Button to enter the System Menu
Select the Special Code option
Enter the code when prompted
This writer hasn’t seen many people sporting the leather jacket + jeans look since the ’90s, but fashion is cyclical – we suppose.
Anyway, it’s free virtual stuff for a game – enjoy!
The latest entry in the Atelier series – which has been running for 20 years, fact fans – Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings follows the exploits of twins Lydie Marlen and Suelle Marlen, who uncover a mysterious painting which draws them into a world of alchemy and adventure.
If this sounds like it’s up your street, then post a comment below to tell us.
We already know that Nintendo has some of the most stable hardware out there, but thanks to the introduction of Two-Step Verification today, now your Nintendo Account can be super-secure, too.
When you opt-in you will be using Google’s 2-Step Verification system, which of course makes everything as painless as possible. You’ll simply need to use an app on your phone to scan a QR code. Job done!
Head over to https://accounts.nintendo.com/security to enable the extra layer of security on your Nintendo Account. You can also change your username / sign-in ID too, which is more than you can do on the PlayStation Network.
Let us know if you feel more secure with these two-steps with a comment below.
The news that Bethesda is bringing DOOM and Wolfenstein 2 to Switch certainly caused some shockwaves in the Nintendo community. You might assume that along with Skyrim, Bethesda is still in the process of testing the waters on Switch, but according to Bethesda boss Pete Hines this trio of releases is by no means the end of the story.
While so many other publishers continue to take a “wait and see” approach, Hines – speaking to Venturebeat – is adamant that Bethesda is in for the long haul as far as Switch is concerned:
We’ve been in constant conversation with [Nintendo], and not just about the two games we have now, but about our whole approach to the platform going forward – what we can do, best practices, what things are a good fit, what they’re excited about in what we’re doing. We’re obviously excited about these two games, but it’s not as if we’re going to just do these two games and that’s it. We want this to be the start of a relationship that we build with Nintendo and Nintendo fans.
Earlier today, we reported on the news that The Evil Within 2 director Shinji Mikami is interested in porting the game to Switch; perhaps that is more likely than we think, given Hines’ positive comments.
Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded.
Do you wish there were more scary games on the Switch? If so, you might be in luck if Shinji Mikami, Resident Evil co-creator and producer of The Evil Within 2 gets his way.
Speaking to GameSpot, Mikami seemed very enthusiastic about porting the game to Switch:
I think a Switch version would be interesting. I’d like to try it if I had the chance.
First I’d like to buy a Switch myself. I had to borrow Zelda with the Switch from another staff member to play it.
He probably has his hands full preparing for the The Evil Within 2’s launch, so we’ll cut him some slack. Let us know if you’d like to see this terrifying game make it over to the Switch one day soon with a comment below.
Releasing a kart-racer on a console that already has the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe spear-heading its software library is an interesting move; Mario Kart is a series widely accepted to be as close to perfection as we’re likely to see, so what is left for other titles to offer? Beach Buggy Racing (a title that has previously been released on mobile devices and other consoles) is attempting to prove that there is room for more than just the heavy-hitter in this genre and, for the most part, it succeeds.
The game sees six racers take to the track to find out who can come out on top. There are items scattered around the track in item boxes (exactly like how you might imagine) which cause havoc and destruction at every turn and, on top of this, each individual racer has their own unique power-up which can be used once per race. Both these specialised abilities and the standard items have some utterly bonkers effects; you might be used to laying down bananas as a trap but how about a box full of chickens instead – leaving a mess of feathers and an actual, full-sized, squawking chicken smeared across your screen when hit? We’re down for that!
You’ll likely spend the majority of your time in the Career Mode, a place where you play through lots of races earning stars to unlock more events. The goal is to work your way through multiple series of races, unlocking a new driver to play as when you complete each one. Along the way you’ll face standard races as you’d expect, but also other challenges such as Elimination rounds (where every few seconds the last placed driver is eliminated until only one remains), Boost Blitz (a time trial-like event where you have to complete sections of the track before the timer runs out) and even a Shooting Gallery, where your main goal is actually to shoot targets as you drive around to get a high score. It feels similar to the setup of games in the Need for Speed franchise and it works rather well.
The tasks vary further in the Daily Challenges mode. Here, you will be presented with a random driver and vehicle and must complete a challenge. You are rewarded with coins for doing so which can be spent on upgrading your cars in the Career Mode. There is also a Championships mode which consists of tournaments of five races which you must win on every difficulty class with every vehicle; Quick Race, should you want to just play for fun; and Split Screen which supports 2-4 players playing locally. Sadly, there’s no online mode.
The presentation and feel of the whole experience is fine; by which we mean it does the job, but never blows you away. The controls are simple to understand – ZR is your accelerate button, the left control stick is used for steering, and A and X house your items and abilities – but even so are not quite perfect. The cars often feel rather ‘floaty’, which is something you’ll get used to over time – and does add to the ‘party-fun’ feel of the game – but isn’t ideal for those looking for a serious racer. It looks and sounds ‘fine’ too with TV, Handheld and Tabletop modes all working well; there is nothing ground-breaking to report but it does the job. The soundtrack actually consists of an odd blend of country and surf-rock, all of which is rather pleasing to the ears.
There are two main problems here, however. Firstly, despite the different types of challenge on offer Beach Buggy Racing does start to feel rather repetitive. This is most likely because the hundreds of races making up your Career and Championship modes are spread across only 15 tracks; the circuits are decently designed and 15 isn’t an ungenerous amount, but driving along the same stretch of road again and again gets a little stale. Secondly, there’s the items. On the one hand they’re great fun – their craziness means that you can have a laugh whilst playing and there are some interesting ideas here like dodge-balls and springboards – but when you’re trying to complete harder races at the end of your career, being shot down at the last second can be infuriating. Of course, you could argue that this particular aspect is present in Nintendo’s offering too, but the wild nature of the items on offer here seems to make this more severe; perhaps that’s because Mario Kart’s items are ingrained in our memories and we know what each one does instinctively.
If you do happen to get on well with how the game plays, though, then you’ll actually have a surprising amount of content to play through. As mentioned, the Career and Championship modes contain an awful lot of races and will take quite a while to complete fully. On top of this there is as an excellent set of in-game achievements that leave this writer screaming for an integrated system on Switch (but that’s an argument for another day).
Conclusion
Beach Buggy Racing is a decent kart-racer; the driving is fun, the items are bonkers, and you’ll likely be playing it for some time. Perhaps enjoyed best in small bursts, and without the expectation of it being a mega-serious racer, the game does offer some easy-to-play fun for both solo players and groups of family or friends. It can’t steal Mario Kart’s pole position and it suffers from a couple of little niggles but for a fraction of the price it does offer an acceptable alternative.
We don’t think it’s unfair to say that Pokkén Tournament DX targets a particularly devoted fanbase – you have to be into both Pokémon and Tekken-style fighting to get the most out of it, though a loyalty to either can help you have some fun.
While it was a pretty easy decision for many (based on sales figures) to double dip and pick up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokkén Tournament DX is starting off with a smaller Wii U fanbase in the first place and arrives a little ahead of a very busy line-up demanding our spare cash.
Nevertheless it is a very good complete edition of the game, and Nintendo’s rather lengthy launch trailer tries to sell its various merits – check it out below.
A love letter to the tough-as-old-boots 2D action platformers of the ’80s and ’90s, Volgarr takes a large helping of inspiration from the likes of Rastan and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. We have to say we hope it all comes to pass as this looks like a whole heap of fun. We’ve no idea what has happened to the 3DS version, but we’ve asked the developer and once we know for sure we’ll update this post.
Let us know if you plan to flex your gaming muscles and step into the arena with Volgarr the Viking with a comment below.
