Archive
Earthbound!!!!
After years of hounding, Nintendo has finally listened. During today’s Nintendo Direct presentation they announced that Earthbound will be making it’s way to North America and Europe. It will be heading to the Wii U Virtual Console sometime before the end of the year. That’s all we know.
Just understand that it’s coming and, if you’re like me and you’ve never played it, download it immediately to show Nintendo that we’ll put our money where our mouths are.
Pandora’s Tower Has a Date!!
Operation Rainfall and Wii fans rejoice. Xseed Games has announced the date you’ll finally be able to get your hands on a copy of Pandora’s Tower. The wait is almost over as the game will hit stores on April 16th for a budget price of $39.99. If you’re not familiar with the game here’s a little bit of information from the press release announcing the release date.
Developed in Japan by Ganbarion together with Nintendo, Pandora’s Tower takes the familiar maiden in distress theme and turns it on its head, asking the protagonist to slay over a dozen giant monsters and collect their flesh in order to lift a curse that has befallen his lover. The game opens in the Kingdom of Elyria, where an unassuming singer named Elena succumbs to a wretched curse during a festival performance. Bearing an arcane mark on her back, she begins a seemingly irreversible transformation into a cursed monster. It comes to pass that only the brave Aeron, a young ex-soldier whose heart has forever been pledged to Elena, can save her.
Like I’ve said many times before, this was my most anticipated game in the trio that was a part of Operation Rainfall. It caught my attention with the Final Fantasy style visuals mixed with the God of War style gameplay. I’m really excited to get my hands on the game here in the next couple of weeks.
Retro City Rampage Coming to WiiWare Next Week
The long delay-filled journey of Brian Provinciano’s Retro City Rampage is soon coming to an end. The game originally began development in 2002 as an homage to GTA III on a custom built NES development kit. It was announced for WiiWare years ago and was supposed to hit that platform first. It didn’t. It first landed on the PS3 and PC last year, XBLA earlier in January and will finally make its debut on WiiWare next week on February 28th.
The wait by Wii owners could be considered a little sweet, however, as the game will be $5 cheaper at 1,000 Wii points. It will also include the original Grand Theftendo ROM, which is now being called ROM City Rampage. This additional mode is the game as it would have been on the NES and is 100% accurate to that hardware meaning it could be played on the original system.
The “box art” for the game features a parody of Doc Brown and Marty McFly (?) from Back to the Future. I like the idea of the original ROM bonus, but I think a better name for it would have been Retro City ROMpage.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Getting Demo
As we announced yesterday Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will be releasing in North America on March 19th. It will be making its way to Europe three days later on the 22nd. What wasn’t mentioned was that the game will be giving you a chance to try it out early.
Beginning on February 21st you’ll be able to download a demo of the game on both Wii U and 3DS. This will give you a taste of the 200+ quests that will be available in the game.
The game is going to offer something Nintendo owners haven’t seen yet. In addition to online play for up to four people using the same system 3DS and Wii U owners will be able to mix and match systems in four player local co-op. Up to three different handheld systems will be able to join someone playing on Wii U.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will be available at retail and through the eShop on both systems.
Pandora’s Tower Coming This Spring
At this point could you consider Operation Rainfall a success. XSEED Games has just announced they will be publishing the third and final game of Operation Rainfall. Pandora’s Tower will be released exclusively for Wii this Spring.
“It’s fantastic to be bringing such a highly-anticipated title like Pandora’s Tower to such a vocal fan base. North American gamers have been very patient in waiting for this game to be released, and we’re confident they will be pleased when they get their hands on the title.” – Shinichi Suzuki, President and CEO of XSEED Games
No official date has been announced yet. This was the one title I was most looking for of the three OR games. Xenoblade Chronicles ended up surprising me, but reviews of Pandora’s Tower have been fairly mixed. Could this be too little, too late for the title or will Wii/Wii U compatibility mean there could still be life for this game? The Last Story proved to be very successful for XSEED. Let’s hope it happens again.
Nintendo Unveils New Wii Mini
In what can only be called a surprise move, Nintendo has announced they will release a new version of their now last generation system, known as the Wii Mini. This new system, which will be exclusive to Canada for the duration of the holiday season, was revealed by a Best Buy listing. It will run $99.99, and come packed with all of the items you would expect like a pretty red Wii Remote and Nunchuck as well as the power adapter, A/V cords and sensor bar. What the system won’t feature, however, is built-in Wi-Fi or GameCube support.
I do like the form factor and the red/black color scheme. I would almost be tempted to pick one up just based on that but without the ability to use it as a streaming box, it loses a lot of its appeal.
Castlevania: The Adventure (3DS VC)
Castlevania is one of the longest running video game franchises in history. To date it’s seen about 83 jillion releases across eleventy-billion platforms (okay, It’s more like 38 unique titles). The game has a huge following and has stayed mostly true to its origins, with some exceptions. It’s been the basis of a whole genre, along with another NES classic Metroid, and numerous games that come out today are compared to it. Castlevania: The Adventure was the first game to appear on Nintendo’s handheld, the Game Boy. While the structure was similar to that of its NES predecessors it does make some changes to the formula. How will the game hold up more than 20 years after it’s original release?
What You Need to Know
Castlevania: The Adventure takes place 100 years before the original game and follows the story of Simon Belmont’s ancestor, Christopher Belmont. There are four stages that can be quite lengthy. Unlike its NES counterpart there are no sub-weapons that can be used and the hearts you will find restore Christopher’s health. You’ve also got a time limit on each level to contend with, so keep moving.
Ronimo Releases Demo For Cancelled Game Snowball Earth
Ronimo Games are the folks behind the wonderful WiiWare RTS Swords & Soldiers. Today they announced, through one of their developer’s blogs, they’re releasing a playable demo for one of the projects that was ultimately cancelled.
The game was called Snowball Earth and you control the main character, who believes he was responsible for a pre-historic Ice Age and wants to fix the mess he’s made. To do so you wander around the world melting the snow that’s covering everything. The project was one of the first games they were developing out of design school and they had worked on the project for over a year. After no publishers picked the game up they decided to cancel the project. You can however, play a working demo of the game through a torrent on the developers website.
Fabian Akker, one of the designers at Ronimo said:
Although it’s a shame the game never got a chance to see the light of day, we hope people will enjoy playing the demo. Hopefully we will be able to give the game a second chance.
So, unlike some other developers that we won’t name (you know who you are), the project was cancelled but they felt the game was still worth giving people a look at. Even better is that they’re allowing you to do so for free.
Kirby’s Dream Collection (Wii)
Back in 1992 the world was graced with the presence of a pink hero named Kirby. Never before had I seen a main character who would inhale his enemies only to spit them back out as high-speed, projectile stars. Growing up, I spent a lot of time playing Kirby Super Star on the SNES. Since it was a two player game I had help from my little sister. Eventually my little sister grew to love Kirby games, which has led getting her Kirby plushies as Christmas gifts. Since his first appearance, Kirby has appeared in over 25 games and has shown the world that being fluffy and pink does not make you weak. With Kirby having a huge number of games under his nonexistent belt, it was time to do something special for Kirby fans. Nintendo and HAL Laboratory have given fans a way to celebrate Kirby’s 20th birthday with Kirby’s Dream Collection.
What You Need To Know
Kirby’s Dream Collection isn’t just another game staring Kirby, it’s a 20th anniversary game stuffed so full of Kirby that it oozes pink. Having six iconic Kirby games in one package wasn’t enough so new challenge stages, a special soundtrack and history booklet were added. Controller options are also present for those who are picky. If that wasn’t enough, then you will have note all the love and care put into the menus to truly understand how much attention Kirby is getting for his 20th birthday.
Nintendo Dropping the Price of the Wii
If you or anyone you know is still in the market for the Wii, Nintendo just announced it’s going to get a little bit easier to pick one up. Beginning on October 28th, the Wii will be dropping in price from $149.99 to $129.99. It will also be packed with copies of both Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. This will replace the current bundle that includes New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The system will be black with a Wii Remote Plus and the games will come bundled on one disc.
“Nearly six years after it launched, people are still attracted to the pure, inclusive fun of the Wii console. A new suggested retail price and the inclusion of two great games make it an easy choice for families looking for a great value this holiday season.” - Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing
My question is this. With the Wii U coming out in just about one month, why is Nintendo still keeping the price of this system over $100? I think this would be the perfect time to drop the price of the system down to $99.99 and bundled it with the two games. Get one last push from people who are just now getting into consoles or want a lower priced alternative that still has a great library of games. There also might be some people out there who have sold their Wii but want to pick one up to play those last few gems they might have missed.
Name The Turtle!!!
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
Find Us
Recent Comments