Two years to the day, the highly-anticipated Nintendo 3DS system succeeded the DS line of consoles in Europe, with some promising hardware, all-new control inputs, and perhaps most importantly, that auto-stereoscopic top screen; capable of displaying 3D graphics without the need for special glasses. Continue reading
Where does the time go? It feels only a few weeks back that we sat down with the first big-name release of 2012; yet here we are, looking ahead to what 2013 is set to bring us, deciding whether last year’s big releases lived up to their names, and taking a look at the under-appreciated gems which have surely surprised us all. Without further ado, here are the games we’ve enjoyed most throughout 2012: Continue reading
Finding it hard to keep up with the abundance of Wii U news from Nintendo Direct? Struggling to find trailers for the games you’ve heard about and want to see more of? Not to worry: we have all the trailers from yesterday, right here in one handy post; conveniently organised in alphabetical order. Now, get some popcorn and enjoy!
If you think the Nintendo 3DS XL is just a 3DS with bigger screens, think again. The 3DS’s first reiteration offers a plethora of small tweaks and improvements over the original model which you may not have noticed; allow us to take you through the finer details of Nintendo’s new handheld in comparison with the original Nintendo 3DS.
Keen for us all to remember the launch of the Nintendo 3DS XL tomorrow, Nintendo’s kindly reminded us all of what the 3DS’s first reiteration has to offer. Rather than copying out the entire press release, here’s our summary:
- Nintendo 3DS XL launches across Europe tomorrow (Saturday, 28th July).
- Will be available in the colours Silver + Black, Red + Black and Blue + Black.
- Boasts the biggest screen ever on a Nintendo handheld with 90% bigger screens.
- Its surface is only 46% bigger than the current Nintendo 3DS – 3D experiences still comfortably fit in the palm of your hands.
- Glasses free 3D upper screen offers a larger area – measuring 4.88 inches, there will be proportionally more 3D screen compared to the overall frame.
- The rim around the edge of the top screen has been streamlined, creating a slim look.
- The 90% increase in the upper screen size is reflected for the bottom screen, which is now 4.18 inches.
- It features a larger battery capacity which offers six hours 30 minutes – up from five hours on the original handheld.
- With upcoming titles such as New Super Mario Bros.2 becoming available as digital downloads, you’ll be glad of the extra space – up from 2GB to 4GB.
- Nintendo 3DS XL features the full capabilities of the original Nintendo 3DS.
- The console launches alongside New Art Academy: Learn New Painting Techniques and Share Your Art and FreakyForms Deluxe: Your Creations, Alive!
- So get ready for an extra-large July 28th when Nintendo 3DS XL launches across Europe.
All of our previous Nintendo 3DS XL articles are here for your viewing pleasure. If you are yet to pre-order your new, extra-large handheld, you can do so from Amazon here.
Thanks to the magic of the Internet, we can see what people have tapped into their search engine of choice to find Nintendo Invader, and with that we’ll be putting together monthly posts which points out our most-used search terms, and attempts to answer the most popular questions from the past thirty days.
And with that, let us begin:
Mario Tennis Open 3DS www,pegi.info
While we’re not pegi.info, we can inform you that Mario’s latest sports ace has an age rating of 3+ from PEGI.
Cooking Mama
While we haven’t seen the release of a new Cooking Mama game for the best part of a half a year, Cooking Mama Ltd. does have bundles of games in the series coming to Wii and DS in two months’ time.
Pokémon Conquest Europe
We’re hopeful, too, but Nintendo’s yet to reveal anything for those of us in this part of the world. If you want to satiate your non-main series cravings for Pokémon, you can check out our Pokémon Conquest articles. Or pre-order Pokémon Typing Adventure, of course.
Wii U game cases
Maximum Games has revealed the Wii U boxart for Jett Tailfin, although the Wii U-branded cases did appear to be placeholders.
Heroes of Ruin
The 3DS’s latest online-focused action-RPG… Okay, who are we kidding? The 3DS’s first online-focused action-RPG has gone largely unnoticed in the UK charts, but that doesn’t mean the game was a bash to play, for those that took the plunge. Check out our Heroes of Ruin-related articles here.
Is this something you’d like to see more of on Nintendo Invader? Let us know what you thought of the first in a series of hopefully-many monthly features in the comments.
As per usual for this time of year, there’s been a lot of rumours floating around the Internet ahead of E3 which is set to take place from 5-7th June; so to save you the hassle of scouring the ‘net for every tidbit of leaked information, we’ve gathered it all up and placed it right here for your convenience.
Release date, price – As you can read in our own article, an ‘insider’ who claims to work for Ubisoft has revealed the release date and price of the Wii U, as well as some new information regarding its system, operating system, controller and more.
“According to an insider who claims to work for Ubisoft, the Wii U is launching in America on 23 November with a price tag allegedly sitting somewhere between the $350-$450 mark. However, as Nintendo shan’t be confirming these details to the public until after E3 in two weeks’ time, it’s unlikely that this information would have been passed to third-party publishers.” – Nintendo Invader
Achievement system – After speaking with an anonymous developer, Techtroid has reported that Nintendo are indeed going to implement an achievement system with the Wii U, although it will apparently be different to what we’ve seen on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
“The developer stated that the ‘achievements system’ has its own “Nintendo-spin” that makes it quite unlike the Trophies and Gamerscores we all know so well. They added that it will be a system that tracks gamer-time, scores and more.” – Techtroid
Cloud saves – According to Wii U Daily, the Nintendo Network is set to receive 512Mb of free online storage for Wii U save files thanks to Mozy, a cloud and backup storage specialist.
“A source from Mozy tells Wii U Daily that the company was approached by Nintendo in 2010, but that work on the service began in late 2011. The Wii U cloud will be integrated into the Wii U channels and tied to the specific Wii U user account.” - Wii U Daily
Star Fox – Another rumour from Techtroid says that a brand-new Star Fox game is in development for the Wii U by Retro Studios, and set to be revealed at E3.
“An inside source [...] has suggested that we may be seeing a Star Fox reveal at E3 this year, along with the already announced Pikmin and Mario games.
“The new title is believed to be developed by Retro Studios, who we know for a fact are working on a Wii U game.
“Retro has previously said: “It’s a project everyone wants us to do.”
“The source added that the game will be shown off, but will not be a launch game for the Wii U system.” - Techtroid
Metroid – An extremely far-fetched rumour, this: a brand-new Metroid game is in development for Wii U – so far, so believable. What would make for an astounding E3 reveal, however, is that the title is being co-developed between Retro Studios and… (wait for it) Epic Games, with the game running on the Unreal Engine 3.
“The first and most interesting rumor is that a Metroid which is currently in development for Wii and U in the hands of Epic Games. The studio famous for its Gears of War but especially its Unreal Engine 3, is the cause of the tech demo… This impressive tech demo was developed in cooperation with Retro Studios with an improved version of Unreal Engine 3.” – Nintendo Town (via Google Translate)
Final Fantasy XV – What was the PlayStation 3-exclusive Final Fantasy Versus XIII is allegedly now Final Fantasy XV, and also heading to the Wii U. That’s according to Cinemablend who uncovered the following footage:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 – Nintendo Power have already confirmed that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is coming to the 3DS, but rumour has it that a direct sequel to 2010′s Lords of Shadow is heading to home consoles, including Wii U.
“Apparently a Wii U version [of Mirror of Fate], which interacted with the 3DS version, was in the works before Konami ditched it in favour of a Wii U version of Lords of Shadow 2.
“Wii U owners will have to settle for a “safer” port of Lords of Shadow 2, which could retain some of the planned connectivity with Mirror of Fate. Both games are being made by Spanish developer MercurySteam and will be unveiled at E3 next month.” – Eurogamer
MMO from LucasArts – A floor plan for this year’s E3 has seemingly revealed that LucasArts are bringing a MMO game to the Wii U. Developers in the past have claimed that the Wii U will be a great platform for MMOs, and more recently, LucasArts have confirmed that they have an unannounced title set to be revealed at E3.
“Most interesting regarding LucasArts is that it’s listed under “MMO – Nintendo Wii U.” – NeoGAF
“Wouldn’t it be great if LucasArts finally revealed Battlefront 3? Now I’m not saying that will, but when you get an invitation to come see an “unannounced game in development,” you can’t help but be optimistic.” – EGMNow
As you can see, there seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding the Wii U online at the moment. Are you as hyped for the console’s full E3 reveal as many others are? Which of the above rumours do you think have the most substance behind them, or which would you like to be true? Do you think we’ll hear any of these rumours confirmed during the Nintendo Direct presentation tonight?
MARCH 25 2011, the date Nintendo’s all-new, glasses-free 3D-enabled handheld hit European shores, accompanied with an admittedly lacklustre launch line-up. However, the console (and its software developers) have now had almost an entire year to settle in and, arguably since the launch of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D back in June, finally get some quality games released for the system. Let’s forget about the quality of said games for a moment, though; what this article is interested in is which games you have invested the most time into – which ones are the real time-sinks? And what better way to find out? By asking our lovely Twitter followers to check their 3DSes’ Activity Logs, of course! Here’s what’s been occupying your 3DSes since it launched nearly a year ago:
Mario Kart 7 Despite only releasing in early December, the Italian plumber’s latest kart racer has already occupied your 3DSes more than any other game, and we can understand why. With arguably more-addictive-than-ever single-player modes and a refined eight-player online multiplayer mode, Mario Kart 7 was glued into our 3DS over the Christmas period, and seemingly yours, too!
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Was it the lack of other games of this calibre at the time of its release? Was it the absorbing Golden Skulltula sidequest? Maybe it was the challenging Master Quest that kept you playing this game for almost longer than any other game on the system; but whatever the reason, we can guess that every minute spent with this classic was a minute well-spent.
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition The first launch title on this list, SSFIV:3D was arguably the best game to release alongside the 3DS a year ago, and it seems you lot took advantage of its online multiplayer modes to kick your fellow early 3DS adopters’ butts.
Super Mario 3D Land Sure, it’s not the longest Mario game ever, taking us just over 30 hours to fully complete, but we think it’s definitely a great start for the legendary series on the 3DS; now let’s just hope there’s more!
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Recently overshadowed by the fantastic Resident Evil Revelations, The Mercenaries 3D is undeniably a little short on content. However, this didn’t stop you from playing this game more than most others, possibly thanks to its replay value, unlockables and online co-op.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars Another launch title, this game’s appearance comes as a nice surprise. While Ubisoft mainly opted into re-releasing games in franchises such as Splinter Cell, Rayman and Asphalt, Ghost Recon is not only a brand-new game, but a brand new approach, with the usual first-person, squad-based gameplay being replaced by a Fire Emblem-type top-down strategy game.
Pullblox The Nintendo eShop’s first hit title is a fantastic puzzler that just oozes value for money: £5.40 in price, well over two-hundred stages to boot, and a level creator which allows you to create and share your own stages via QR codes. Definitely a must-have with plenty to see and do, and it seems you lot have been doing a lot of seeing and doing!
Sujin Taisen So an obscure number-based puzzle game that released on DSiWare back in 2009 rounds off your most played 3DS games. Why? Probably because of its cult following on Twitter.
Many thanks to Twitter followers @SilverL_, @VicBigBoss, @MD1500G, @Dusty_Knackers, @NoodleUprising, @Shaolin_Jaster, @DJEvstar, @Kezz182 and @Grdtrm for helping with this article by telling us their most played 3DS games.
With just a couple of months until the end of the Nintendo 3DS’s debut year on the market, we thought we’d take a look at the best games that have appeared on Nintendo’s latest handheld prior to the first true system sellers such as Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7; not to mention upcoming third-party efforts such as Cave Story 3D, Sonic Generations and Resident Evil Revelations (all of which we hope to have reviews of before February).
Now, where do we start?
1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
With an enhanced remake of arguably the greatest game of all-time, of course! With updated graphics, the original’s niggles ironed out and the fiendish Master Quest added in, there’s no reason to look any further than Nintendo’s 3D masterpiece if you’re searching for a new game; or to quote our review: “the definitive version of the highest-rated game of all time. An essential purchase”.
@Moody_Loner says: “Zelda in 3D plays very well. It certainly adds to the epic feel of the game. Great showcase for the 3DS.”
2) Donkey Kong (Virtual Console / Game Boy)
An excellent puzzle/platformer that fans of the more recent Mario vs. Donkey Kong series will adore. The variety in gameplay and level-design keep this game fresh throughout its seemingly endless number of levels – especially when compared to the relatively tiny Super Mario Land and Kirby’s Dream Land.
3) The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition (DSiWare)
Strictly speaking, this isn’t a Nintendo 3DS game, but it’s available for download via the Nintendo eShop so we feel it’s suitable for the list. If taking many of the Zelda series’ items and gameplay quirks then putting them into an addictive, multiplayer GBA puzzler was a genius idea of Nintendo’s, to release it as a free download with an added wireless mode to celebrate Zelda’s 25 anniversary simply highlights the company’s dedication to its fans.
4) Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition
Okay, so the genre isn’t exactly our favourite here at Nintendo Invader, but even we appreciate the effort that’s gone into this game. With 35 characters, a new, over-the-shoulder camera angle to highlight the 3D effect and enough online play to see you through to Capcom’s next big 3DS release in February, you’ll be playing this until your fingers are sore. If you like the genre, of course.
@RLsniper789 says: ”I love playing online and I love the controls. The statue collecting is a great bonus aswell. Love the SS art style.”
5) Super Mario Land / 2: 6 Golden Coins (Virtual Console / Game Boy)
If we were forced to choose one of these two games, we’d have to say Super Mario Land 2 if only due to its technical advancements over the 1991 predecessor; but that’s not to say the original doesn’t have its own charm. While the first of the two games was a great start for the handheld series with varied levels and a superb soundtrack, the sequel added more levels, a map screen and saw Wario make an appearance in a video for the first time ever. Basically, if you’ve never played either of these games, download them both. Now!
Your picks:
@DJEvstar says: ”Mario’s Picross is a gem on the 3DS VC. It’ll please you for hours and show that great gameplay does stand the test of time.”
@PhoenixSilverL says: ”Dead or Alive Dimensions. Well, until TotA [Tales of the Abyss] 3DS turns up no doubt anyway….”
@Noods_kun says: ”Would have to be StarFox 64 3D, or Lylat Wars 3D as I and many others like to call it. Brilliant game. I personally think it’s much better revamp than OoT 3D. EVERYTHING has been redone! The 3D is also absolutely astounding. Of course, it’s not all about visuals. The gameplay is still very fun indeed to this day. It’s StarFox, basically.”
Thanks to those who got involved on Twitter. Feel free to continue to tell us your favourite Nintendo 3DS game so far via Twitter or, of course, the comments below.
On a side note, who’d like to see more community-based features such as this on the site? Let us know!
