Category: Nintendo News

Sonic Mania is pretty darn good but it can be a tad buggy at times, from minor issues to problems that have frustrated some players. It’s taken a short while, but the first update to tackle fixes seems to be rolling out.

The official social channels for the mascot announced the news.

At the time of publication the update hasn’t kicked in on our copy (even after manually checking for updates), though as it’s rolling out it’ll hopefully reach everyone soon. Rather humorously some responding to the tweet have been joking that the update is really a meme; the social media channels are reaping what they sow.

We’ll keep an eye out for the update, in any case.

We’re big fans of Thumper here at Nintendo Life, awarding it a 9 in our review – its ‘rhythm violence’ approach is heart pounding, challenging and a blast on Switch. A game that made its name on PSVR, the option with Nintendo’s system is to have it on the TV or on the go, preferably with a good pair of headphones plugged in.

For those that have been on the fence with this one there’s a little extra incentive – a 25% discount is live in the North American and European store.

It’s normally $19.99 / €19.99, so you’ll be able to pick it up for $14.99USD / €14.99 until 2nd October.

Are you tempted to pick this up?

Yooka-Laylee arrived back in April across PC and various systems, but it’s had a longer route to Nintendo hardware. The Wii U version somewhat predictably bit the dust, and since then it’s been a wait for the title to make its way to the Switch.

Playtonic has given various updates, and its latest includes a new GIF of gameplay and assurances that progress is being made. A transition to an updated version of Unity is cited as causing some hiccups, with the goal still being to clear outstanding issues and get the game submitted to Nintendo.

The Playtonic team has been working tirelessly to bring Yooka-Laylee to Nintendo Switch and we’re very nearly there (we promise!) However, we’ve encountered some final technical hurdles and had been waiting for the arrival of Unity 5.6 in order to fix them. Although this has now been released, it has unfortunately introduced other issues which we are working with Unity to resolve before we can submit to Nintendo and lock in our release timeline.

We understand the frustration that it’s taken so long to get the game in your hands but we hope that you understand that we’re working as fast as we can and want the game to perform as well as it possibly can on Switch. Once these remaining issues are resolved we hope to finally be able to commit to and share a launch date. Thanks as ever for your patience and please bear with us – we are getting there!

Here’s hoping that the final steps go smoothly for the Playtonic team.

The My Nintendo programme may not be blowing the doors off quite yet, but it has been improving a little in recent months. One example has been the opportunity to redeem Gold Points for some full downloads, a way to turn purchases on the eShop into free games.

The latest European update to the loyalty programme adds four more games to this list, two each for the Wii U and 3DS; details are below.

3DS:

Wii U:

Are you tempted to grab any of these, or are you holding out for the Nintendo Switch Rewards that are still ‘coming soon’?

Long-time readers of the site make recall that we covered Josh “Bit Block” Thomas’ previous efforts in the “Make Believe” series of YouTube videos, where he creates his own assets to show how future Nintendo titles could look.

He’s retooled the format to focus around static, mocked-up shots and has created a surprisingly fleshed out part of a possible future Animal Crossing game, focused on a fishing mini-game. The level of depth is stunning; it’s not hard to believe that these screens could be taken from an official video game (a trick Thomas has pulled before).

Animal Crossing has become one of Nintendo’s most important franchises, scoring million-selling hits on the DS and 3DS. We already know that a smartphone title is one the way, but the inevitable Switch release could be one of the console’s biggest releases yet, if the life-consuming 3DS entry, New Leaf, is anything to go by.

Let us know what you make of this fan-made take on Animal Crossing by posting a comment below.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is all set to be an enormous – and likely intimidating – release at the end of the year. Since its announcement it’s nestled comfortably on plenty of wishlists, as it’ll be the first hefty RPG from Monolith Soft on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo is keen to demonstrate, too, how the game continues to progress in development. An interesting tweet highlights visual differences with Rex in a cutscene, for example.

The recent screen also shows increased detail around his outfit. The two trailers in question – from January and then this month’s Direct – are also below.

Nintendo Switch Presentation – January

Nintendo Direct – September

It’s pretty clear, we think, that the development team has been doing plenty of optimisation and polish through the course of this year; here’s hoping the end result delivers the quality we’re all hoping to see.

Golf Story has been capturing attention since it was first unveiled for the Switch eShop; developed by Sidebar Games, it blends RPG elements with retro-styled overhead golf. In the recent Nindies Showcase it was confirmed for a September release, and if the European Switch eShop is correct it’ll hit that target.

It’s dated for 28th September, priced at £13.49 in the UK; the North American eShop doesn’t have a game page yet, though it’s typically less thorough in listing games ahead of time. Golf Story’s hook is that you go through the plot – full of quirky characters – across eight different courses, as well as solving puzzles by hitting a golf ball at them.

We’re looking forward to getting into the swing of this one soon.

We almost didn’t believe it ourselves, but Sega of Japan is teaming up with the racy restaurant chain Hooters to promote the forthcoming Sonic Forces.

We can’t help but feel this kind of marketing would be better suited for Sega’s Yakuza franchise, but there you go. 

The full, lurid details of the campaign are yet to be fully announced, but we do know that the Hooters locations where the promotion is due to take place are apparently located in Akasaka, Ginza and Shibuya West.

The campaign also appears to be exclusive to Japan. Sorry to get your hopes up, Sonic fans.

Factor 5 enjoyed quite a unique relationship with Nintendo. Due to some bad fortune, we already know that the company had a complete Rogue Squadron game on the Wii that sadly never saw the light of day, and we previously reported on their plans for a new Pilotwings game on the same hardware.

Now former Nintendo Life contributor Liam Robertson – with his latest video through DidYouKnowGaming – has shown actual gameplay from the project that was called WeFly. It got quite far in development and seems like it could have been pretty much every Pilotwings fan’s dream game turned into reality.

From cockpit view head tracking AR, to using the Wii’s clock and Weather Channel to change the game in real time, it remains quite clear the abundance of talent that was available to Factor 5 back in those days. Just the prospect of prancing around on the Moon immediately gave us a silly smile.

The series has not been heard of since the 3DS debut title Pilotwings Resort. Maybe it’s time for Nintendo to finally let us spread our wings again, perhaps on Switch? Time will tell; in the meantime share some of your favourite Pilotwings memories in the comments.