Looks like Phoenix Wright has taken a case for a different platform. Capcom has just revealed that their latest downloadable 3DS game, Phoenix Wright: Duel Destinies, will be making its way to iOS.
Although an official release date was not specified, the 3DS version is already out in Japan and will release everywhere else on October 24th. The game will be re-rendered in full HD and include the exact content that is present in the 3DS version.
Two Zelda fans, named Paco Martinez and Pablo Belmonte, have been working on an HD version of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for the past couple years, and they have just released a new video documenting the progress.
In the video we get to see a slew of character models like Link, the Happy Mask salesmen and several masks, as well as several locations. The footage looks absolutely fantastic, so I highly recommend you check it out below. [youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zhSCoGePvk’%5D
It’s worth noting that this game is not meant to be playable, but is instead being used to show Nintendo once it is completed. They are hoping that the footage will convince the company to go ahead and remake their own version of the game.
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has teased another interesting bit from the upcoming Super Smash Bros. games, this time electing to show off a cameo character known from the classic arcade shooter Galaga.
The character in question is Boss Galaga, who is infamous for trying to pull the player’s ship in with its tractor beam and double its power. Boss Galaga will do the same thing in Super Smash Bros., though this time it will just lift you up off the screen.
Sakurai said the following about Boss Galaga:
“If you get caught in the Boss Galaga item’s tractor beam, it will carry you away to the top of the screen. You can shoot it down, but it won’t join you in battle for double the firepower.”
Super Smash Bros. is set to release for the 3DS on October 3rd and the Wii U by the end of the year.
Who says old-school RPGs are dead? The 3DS’ great Bravely Default has defied the odds and sold over a million copies since it was released at the beginning of this year.
Siliconera reports that 400,000 of those sales were from Japan and the other 600,000 are split between other countries. It’s no surprise the game is doing so well, as a solid RPG is hard to come by these days and Bravely Default is an example of a developer doing the genre really well.
There is already a sequel to Bravely Default that is in development, which currently has the title of Bravely Second. The developers have said that the sequel will have a more mature tone compared to the first game, as more dark and intense themes enter into the narrative. The sequel does not have a release date as of yet.
Sonic’s latest adventure, called Sonic Boom, has finally been given a release date. The 3DS version is called Shattered Crystal and is coming out on November 11th, while the Wii U version is called Rise of Lyric and is coming out on November 18th.
The Sonic Boom games marks a huge departure from the Sonic formula, as neither game is being developed by Sonic Team. Shattered Crystal is being developed by Sanzaru Games, while the Rise of Lyric is being developed by Big Red Button.
It’s interesting that these titles will be exclusive to Nintendo platforms, but I’m still really worried about how their overall quality will turn out. The Sonic series has been more misses than hits, and the fact that these games will supposedly line up with a kids TV show doesn’t exactly spark confidence.
When I was set to receive a 3DS version of Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, I was more or less expecting a dumbed-down version of the same game that would be coming out on consoles. The Rise of the Dark Spark that came out on consoles was an action-adventure video game that featured all the standard tropes of the genre and little else, so it would be safe to assume that something with such little ambition would get similar treatment on the 3DS. The 3DS is notably the weakest console on the market, so often times when a multi-platform title is coming out on 3DS it just gets a thrown-together version of a game that is almost certainly superior on any other console. That’s the same case with the 3DS version of Rise of the Dark Spark, right?
Wrong! The 3DS version, unlike the console versions that were developed by Edge of Reality, was developed by WayForward Technologies, who are known for developing many titles based on popular licenses. Where the console version is an action-adventure game, the 3DS version is a strategy RPG with turn-based combat that is very similar to the Fire Emblem series. You move around an overworld map and when you land next to a space that an enemy is on a turn-based battle begins. You have three rounds to do damage to each other and pick from a variety of moves that recharge after each turn, with the more powerful abilities taking longer to charge up.
Unlike the Fire Emblem games, the story contained within Rise of the Dark Spark is bare-bones. There is a powerful artifact called the Dark Spark that is capable of ripping holes in dimensions, giving its wielder unthinkable power. Of course, the Decepticons (the bad guys) are going after the Dark Spark to take over the world and the Autobots (the good guys) are trying to stop them from getting their big ugly robotic mitts on it. The problem with Rise of the Dark Spark being a strategy RPG is that strategy RPGs rely on an intricate and engaging story to keep the lengthy battles and overall game interesting , but all of we have here is a MacGuffin and everyone is racing towards it with no character development or well-written dialogue in sight.
Interestingly, Rise of the Dark Spark switches between the Autobots, Decepticons and mercenaries throughout its 32 missions, giving you different perspectives on the same story. Even though you’re controlling different teams they all control exactly the same and your mission objectives are just as similar. You will be asked to do things like defend a certain area for X amount of rounds, eliminate all enemies on the map and take down walls of defense, but it always comes down to just killing everything in your way. Considering these battles can be lengthy you would expect some more variety in the objectives, but unfortunately the game just cycles through these objectives tirelessly.
The types of transformers that you control in battle throughout the course of the game are limited, but they each serve an important purpose. The more powerful “hero” transformers have the highest HP, the strongest move sets and can transform into vehicles to move further than regular transformers. These are your tanks that you send out to the front lines to do the heavy damage and take the heavy damage that will soon be coming your way. Then you have the far weaker hackers and healers who are much better suited to stay in the background and hack objects to attack enemies or heal allies. If you play your cards right, as long as you keep your healers behind your “hero” characters you wont have to worry about losing hardly any units or battles at all.
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is surprisingly far more interesting than the games that showed up on all the other consoles, but at the end of the day it’s still a so-so game. As far as strategy RPGs go it’s mediocre at best, as the combat scenarios are repetitive and the story and dialogue are an absolute bore. People who enjoy strategy RPGs and have exhausted all other options will surely find some entertainment with Rise of the Dark Spark, but as you spend more and more time with the game it’s quickly revealed that there simply isn’t enough here to hold your attention for very long.
Objectionable / Respectable
Everyone knows that Super Mario is an Italian plumber made by the Japanese, but we also know that he is most loyal to the country that made him an icon. In the latest Super Smash Bros. games, Mario’s alternate costume prominently displays the American flag in all of its glory.
The news was revealed via the official Super Smash Bros. twitter account. It has also been noted that the costume was inspired by the NES Open Tournament Golf costume (which you can view here).
Check out Mario’s alternate costume below!
Super Smash Bros. releases for the 3DS on October 3rd and on Wii U at the end of this year.
The Legend of Zelda series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has gone on record saying that there are ideas for a new Zelda game on the 3DS at a shareholders meeting last month.
Miyamoto said the following:
“We are gradually changing the structure of The Legend of Zelda series, and we are preparing to newly evolve the series for Wii U. In addition to that, we have ideas for Nintendo 3DS which we have not announced yet, so I hope you will look forward to them.”
The last Zelda game to come out on the 3DS was last years acclaimed A Link Between Worlds. Ocarina of Time was also remade for the system and there have been rumors that Majora’s Mask may be getting a similar treatment, as well.
Square Enix is working on a music game for the 3DS that will utilize music from the Final Fantasy series called Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, and today they have revealed a trailer that contains music from the first 3 entries in the series.
What sets apart this latest entry in the series is that it will contain music from spin-off titles, such as the phenomenal Final Fantasy Tactics. The game is set to have over 200 tracks and will be open to further tracks via DLC.
Check out the trailer below.
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT8O4Ius_sw#t=56′%5D
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is scheduled for release on September 16th in the U.S. and September 19th in Europe.
What if I told you that Nintendo had created another game that was ridiculously addicting like Animal Crossing, but in completely different ways? When I first popped in Tomodachi Life, at first I was pretty unimpressed with what it had to offer. Instead of having a world that I could create and fully interact with like in Animal Crossing, i’m more or less a God-like spectator who watches over all of the town’s citizens. However, what at first seemed boring quickly transformed into a world with a bizarre sense of humor and zany scenarios that I couldn’t get enough of.
When Tomodachi Life begins you are asked to create a Mii that is your look-alike. This Mii will be the first resident of the town and thus will begin the life on this little island. What’s fantastic about the creator mechanics in this game is that you can pick what your Mii sounds like, which is fantastic considering the game has full voice-support for all dialogue. When I heard my Mii say back to me my name, birthday and favorite color I was beaming. I’ve always been a fan of Nintendo’s simple-yet-expressive Mii’s, but actually hearing mine talk was another experience entirely.
It isn’t until you start creating other residents of the island when the true fun begins. You have the option to create other Mii’s manually or scan them in through QR codes that you can find online. This is what I ultimately ended up doing, as I was able to find QR codes for Batman, Master Chief, Harry Potter and a bunch of other awesome characters. Soon enough, I had an island overflowing with characters that you would never expect to see in the same game and watching them interact and become friends is awesome. In my particular game, Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite and Woody from Toy Story are best friends, which never fails to make me laugh whenever I see them hanging out together.
As life on the island progresses and you add more and more Mii’s you will find that new places will appear for your Mii’s to hangout in. Places like coffee shops and amusement parks all provide unique ways for the Mii’s to interact with one another, potentially providing you with another zany scenario for you to witness. One of my personal favorite places is the Mii News station, where one of the island’s Mii’s will report the latest major happening on the island, which is always something completely insane. One particular news story talked about how Thor bought a Power Disco Ball, and suddenly he had a string of good luck that he credited entirely to the purchase of said Power Disco Ball. He reported that he found a tooth brush in the street, his laryngitis went away in 5 days and his acne cleared up by 10%. Who thinks of this stuff?
The true depth of Tomodachi Life comes in the form of you interacting and assisting the island’s Mii’s when they need your help. When you do something good for the Mii, their happiness level will increase and you will get some money. This money is used to purchase all matter of food, clothes, furniture and a bunch of strange items that your Mii’s will be begging for. Sometimes a Mii will be hungry and you will have to go and buy their favorite food, and other times they will be bored and ask you to play with them.When playing with a Mii you are usually given one of several very simple mini-games, such as trivia, card games and reflex-based games. While there is really nothing to these games, they are less about providing actual gameplay then they are providing brief bursts of humor. Sometimes you will come across one of your Mii’s sleeping with a dream bubble above their head, and you can tap on the bubble to see what it is they are dreaming about. The last time I played Master Chief was having a dream about him and a bunch of the islanders dancing around a dish containing a fried spring roll, and all of them were chanting, “All hail the fried spring roll!” I wanted to laugh so hard, but I feared I might wake the Master Chief from his slumber.
The only true fault of the game is that it’s one that really has no purpose or goal. Unlike in Animal Crossing where you are constantly improving your home and paying off your debt, Tomodachi Life‘s only true purpose is to check in and see what’s going on. This will be a bummer for some, as if you’re not in tune with the game’s style of humor then you will probably get bored with the game rather quickly. However, taken in small to medium bouts of gameplay I found that the game always held my attention and made me laugh more often then not.
Tomodachi Life is yet another kind life simulator game that is able to stand on its own feet thanks to its charming style and bizarre humor. It’s a game where you feel like you have little to no control of what is going on, and depending on where you’re sitting that could be very good or very bad. In my opinion, though, this game never fails to provide consistent displays of greatly charming and humorous scenarios when ever I pop it in to play. It may not be an Animal Crossing replacement, but it’s a game that I can confidently say is its own unique experience that should be checked out by anyone looking for some light-hearted and goofy life-simulation.
Respectable
The Kirby series is one of Nintendo’s most enduring yet often-overlooked franchises that they have going. It all began in 1992 when Masahiro Sakurai (who is more known for creating the Super Smash Bros. series) directed Kirby’s Dream Land, which spawned countless critically-acclaimed sequels. This is the first game in the series to pop-up on the 3DS and Kirby’s first game since 2011’s 1-2 punch of the DS’ Kirby Mass Attack and the Wii’s Kirby’s Return To Dreamland. So, how does it shape up? In a nutshell, it offers just about everything a Kirby or platforming fan could want.
The story starts with a giant beanstalk called the Dreamstalk showing up while Kirby is sleeping and taking both his house and King Dedede’s castle into the sky. When Kirby wakes up the next morning he is suddenly in a new land called Floralia, which means that he must fight his way through several worlds that all contain many levels in order to make it to King Dedede’s castle and right the wrong’s of everything that has transpired.
Kirby Triple Deluxe controls like many of the other 2d Kirby games, as you traverse from left to right as you suck up your enemies and adopt all of their different powers; such as bombs, swords, boomerangs and a hell of a lot more. You’ll also be tasked with collecting Sun Stones and Key Chains throughout each level, which help you unlock more levels and drive up the completion rating, respectively. The one major addition to the gameplay is an item that transforms Kirby into Hypernova Kirby, which allows Kirby to suck up humongous monstrosities and lay absolute waste to everything in the level.
Of course, this being a Nintendo 3DS game, the 3D element comes in with full force and actually makes great use of the system’s capabilities. Sometimes you will come across instances where you will move form the foreground to the background of the screen, which allows you to discover hidden goodies or keys that must then be brought back to the foreground. These sections truly shine when you come across a giant beam that extends to both the foreground *and* background, allowing you to reign destruction on two different areas at once. Elsewhere the 3D is simply used to make things appear as if they are coming out of the screen; such as enemy attacks, items or text.
The enemies in Triple Deluxe all vary greatly and force you to utilize different strategies to come out in one piece. Some enemies will be extremely fast and require precise timing to take them down, while others will be flinging bombs or shooting arrows at you. How you decide to take down these enemies is entirely up to you, as Kirby has a plethora of different skill sets that he can absorb that give him a huge variety of abilities. The game always gives you many different options in each level, making each new level feel fresh and exciting.
A platformer of this ilk would be nothing without great boss fights, and that is definitely one area where Triple Deluxe knocks it out of the park. Throughout the course of the game you will come across both mini and regular bosses and many of them put up quite a fight. They have large amounts of health which requires you to be patient and time your attacks, otherwise you’ll find yourself taking big amounts of damage very quickly. I won’t spoil the finale, but the final boss sequence is one of the most intense and rewarding finales that I have played in a long time.
All of this and we haven’t even delved into the other modes that this game offers! Outside of the story mode you also have access to the Kirby Fighters and Dedede’s Drum Dash modes, and once you complete the game you unlock The Arena and Dedede tour modes. Kirby Fighters is a Super Smash Bros.-esque mode that pits you against a variety of different Kirby’s all contained in a handful of Super Smash Bros.-esque stages. This mode is an absolute blast, as all of the chaotic mayhem of the smash series shines through brilliantly as all matter of items, environmental events and more all add up into a consistently exciting experience. The fact that this game packs its own Super Smash Bros. mode is worth the price of admissions, alone. It also has a multiplayer feature, making this a mode with infinite replay value.
Dedede’s Drum Dash is a rhythm-based game in which you must jump from drum to drum to the beat of the song. The better you time your beat the higher that Dedede will jump, which allows you to collect more coins and improve your score. You can also clap to the beat of the music to get bonus points, but mastering this while also timing jumps and avoiding obstacles is truly challenging. It’s not the most in-depth of modes, but the core mechanics are so addicting that I find myself coming back to it a lot.
The two unlockable modes are more standard affairs that you come across occasionally in other platformers of this type. The Arena is essentially a boss rush mode, pitting you against both mini and regular bosses in a row with a hub world in-between that gives you a breather and limited health regeneration. Dedede tour lets you play through the story mode as none other than King Dedede, who controls a bit differently and has to take down more difficult enemies and bosses. Make it through this mode and you will even face off against a new boss at the end and witness new scenes.
Kirby Triple Deluxe offers so much content that is all insanely fun to playthrough. The main story mode is a solid length that has great level design, enemy variety and challenge that would be more than a solid package all on its own. However, the fact that the game also packs in Kirby Fighters, Dedede’s Drum Dash, The Arena and Dedede tour make this a game that is impossible for me to not completely recommend. The Kirby series has always offered consistently high quality games, but Kirby Triple Deluxe mixes that high quality with high quantity to results in yet another must-have game on the 3DS.
Condone
Big Red Button Entertainment and Sanzaru Games’ Sonic Boom is shaping up to be a pretty big departure from the tried-and-true Sonic universe, at least visually. Now they are showing off a brand new character in the game that goes by the name of Sticks.
Sticks is a jungle badger that has been living alone in the wilderness for a long time, and has a very different personality compared to other members of the cast. Chief Content Officer Hiroyuki Miyazaki says that “”Sticks is a significant addition to the Sonic Boom universe and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. She brings a quirky personality and perspective to the team dynamic, and we look forward to sharing this energetic and funny new character with the world.”
They released a video showing off Sticks and her voice actor, and you can watch it below. [youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsIvZ0lcYDM’%5D
Sonic Boom is being released exclusively on Nintendo consoles later this year.
My Judgment:
Although it remains to be seen how the quality of the overall game will be, this Sticks character looks like she could be extremely annoying. Her voice is quite irritating, and in a series that has become known for bad-voice acting Sticks could be taking it all to a new low. I guess we’ll find out sometime later this year.
When it comes to the sports genre in gaming, I tend to avoid it all together. I’ve owned many of them in the past, but there’s only so much that can be done before the whole genre gets very stale. Sure, you get your prettier graphics and your annual roster update, but if you’ve played one game in a particular sports genre then you’ve basically played them all.
There is one exception to that rule, however, and that is the Mario sports series. When I hear that I will be able to do all kinds of crazy stuff in a typical sports genre, that’s where I get interested. My first foray into the Mario sports series was with none other than Mario Golf 64. It was a pretty simple game, as you just picked a player and you were off to face other golfing rivals on a variety of different courses, enter a tournament and what not. It was a golf game that was ridiculously fun, and as such kicked off my love for the Mario sports series.
Which brings us to Mario Golf: World Tour. This 3DS game is the first in the Mario Golf series in about 10 years, so I was obviously excited as heck to hear that Mario would be hitting the green again. The major thing that World Tour adds to the series is the online function, which allows you to play with others all around the world in vs matches or tournaments. This gives the game a lot of replay value, as the gameplay is so sound that it’s always a blast to face off against others.
Pretty much everything else that is on offer by Mario Golf: World Tour is essentially a new version of what we usually see in the series. Like the portable titles, you are given a hub world that is full of many of the characters from the Mario world all standing around just waiting for you to talk to them so they can tell you relevant or completely irrelevant information. The hub world is a feature that I’m glad to see back, as it adds some meat to the typical sports formula and the Mario world is always full of charm.
At the start of the game it is your mission to begin a practice round so that your handicap can be calculated. Once your skill has been tested you are then eligible to enter the first of the 3 major tournaments that the game has to offer. The first one is pretty straight-forward and contains courses that lack any major wind, obstacles or uneven terrain. It’s essential that you master all of the intricacies of the gameplay here, though, because it won’t be long before the game throws everything and the kitchen sink at you.
World Tour offers noobs of the series a pretty forgiving swing mechanic that only requires you to press the button once when you’re swinging the club. This means that you won’t have to worry about missing the marker when the meter comes back and your ball goes flying off target. Though you can use this feature and do relatively well, I find that the traditional style is the most rewarding, as it also allows you to add some spin to the ball and control what it does when it lands on the green.
Outside of the traditional 9 or 18 hole scenarios there are challenges that ask you to collect as many coins as you can, hit the ball through all of the rings in a course or complete each course in just 2 shots. They add a nice amount of variety, but none of them are as fun as the traditional mode. They do allow you to unlock new equipment for your characters, though, so it is important to give them a shot at some point.
Speaking of equipment, World Tour allows you to unlock and purchase new clubs, balls and gear by completing challenges or spending coins at the shops. This equipment will improve various stats like power, control and trajectory, which is definitely important if you want an edge once you hit the online world.
Mario Golf: World Tour doesn’t do much to really re-invigorate the franchise and the online function is pretty bare-bones. However, the gameplay continues to be very addicting and rewarding as you improve your game and master the effects of wind, obstacles and angles, making it an extremely satisfying experience. It may be a little light on features, but Mario Golf: World Tour is definitely the place to go if you’re looking for a non-traditional golf experience.
Respectable
Things are picking up this week as we have a major new release in the form of Wolfenstein: The New Order. The game is a reboot by MachineGames of the classic FPS series that is set in an alternate historical reality where Nazis won World War II. Scroll down to see a complete list of what is coming out from May 18th to May 25th, 2014.
There’s more Pokémon madness coming for all you Pokémon fans, as the Pokémon Company has revealed that seven more competitions are on the way for Pokémon X & Y. These are in addition to the Pokémon World Championships and the Pokémon International May Challenge.
These online competitions are all essentially battlegrounds for Pokémon trainers to duke it out with one another and improve their skills. Trainers who do well may even get the chance to compete in the World Championships.
Below is the complete schedule for the competitions for Pokémon X & Y:
May 16–18: 2014 International Challenge May. Registration is closed.
June 6–8: Think Fast Competition: Single Battle.
Late June: 2014 International Challenge June.
July: Eevee Friendly Match [Name TBD].
July: All Star Battle [Name TBD].
August: Think Fast Competition: Double Battle.
Autumn: Fairy-type Cup [Name TBD].
Autumn: Halloween Party [Name TBD].
Condemn O.R. Condone 
