Nintendophiles 1.27.10: New Super Mario Bros (AGAIN!), Black Boxes, Greatest Hits, Harry Potter, More

Posted by John De Large on 01.27.2010

Super Mario Bros. Wii sells 10 million, the Nintendo DS2 is supposedly coming this year, LEGO Harry Potter is like Zelda, Nintendo starts to color code their mature game boxes in Japan and much more!

Hey there, it's JDL on your computer screen with the news! Tonight I'm flying solo after a quiet day at work and a particularly busy day from 3PM EST on. Quick updates: I got new glasses (free, thanks to my insurance), I finished off a review and I had a sweet turkey/bacon wrap for lunch (sorry Chris, they had no Irish Nachos at Brentwood High). It was that epic.

Anyway, here's the news! Take it away.... myself!

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New Super Mario Bros. Wii Sells 10 Million!
SOURCE:411mania and Vooks



New Super Mario Bros. Wii, has broken another sales record! With 10 million units sold worldwide, New Super Mario Bros. has become the fastest single-format title to sell that many units. NSMB Wii managed accomplish this in just 8 weeks, selling 3 million units in Japan, 3 million in Europe and 4.5 million units in North America, with some sales in other regions contributing to the total sales. Wowzers! New-per Mario Bros. is quite the hot ticket and possibly the most successful game of the decade! (Sure that's a dubious honor, given that it's still January of 2010, but still!) I only know a scant few gamers who don't already own it and there's even a tournament on the way for it in Japan. Even with this announcement, I can still see the game selling lots and lots of copies.

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Nintendo DS2 In 8 Months! (Says Divinich)
SOURCE:Softpedia


Something wicked this way comes?

Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo in Japan, hinted that a successor to the DS handheld was being readied for launch later in the year and that it might have a motion sensor. While it's believed that he was misinterpreted by the media, rumors --


I love rumors!

Rumors persist that gamers will see a new Nintendo handheld and one notable videogame industry analyst believes that we will see it in less than eight months. Jesse Divnich, Ace Analyst for EEDAR had this to say: "One of the biggest reasons for Nintendo's success in the handheld market is their ability to remove opportunity gaps for competitors to enter. Nintendo's transition from the GBA to the DS, a year earlier than anticipated, was a brilliant strategy to remove any upper hand the Sony PSP could have by being first to market."

It's also expected that Nintendo's competition won't be the PSP Go, but rather the iPhone, which is rapidly becoming an important portable gaming platform. Some think that a "DS2," handheld which offers some kind of motion tracking and more multimedia options might give the DS a little more longevity. As I've said before, there's nothing wrong with the DS (Classic, Lite, DSi), there's no need to keep adding, changing, modifying things. Leave well enough alone and come up with a game that'll make everyone BUY the regular DS' and a copy of the new game. If it isn't broke, don't fix it! Leave well enough alone!

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Nintendo to Publish Digital Romance Novels in Japan
SOURCE:Nintendo World


I got this from Mark Salmela's bookcase.

Genius Sonority is Nintendo's partner-in-crime involving all things Pokemon. While it's true that they've developed the 100 Classic Book Collection for the Nintendo DS, their partnership with Nintendo has been all about holdin' all the Pokémon.

Their latest title is a little less kid oriented though as they're getting ready to release a collection of digital romance novels from the Harlequin Series. Love Stories for Adults: DS Harlequin Selection will be released in Japan late next month and will contain 33 novels, including five of which have never been released in Japan. The titles are not limited by genre and will include different themes/elements such as Passion, Tenderness, Suspense and History.

This game also comes with a character chart (sounds like they've been to TVTropes.org lately), which becomes more fleshed out as readers progress through the stories, a key names and key terms glossary is available and last but not least, the game comes with adjustable font sizes for people with poor vision. Hmm, maybe if you make the text big enough it'll look like it's stuck on Caps Lock or like Sam Jackson wrote the book.

Even better, this company should make audio books for the DS, as read by Sam Jackson. Can you imagine "Little Red Riding Hood," as told by Sam Jackson?


"How'd grandma taste, mothaf#cka?!" asked Little Red Hiding Hood.

The collection will sell for ¥3,800 (or about $40 in the States).

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Nintendo Color-Codes Mature Game Boxes in Japan
SOURCE:Nintendo World


Not quite, but close

Zangeki no Reginleiv will be the first game to get this special treatment, but starting next month, all Japanese games published by Nintendo that receive a CERO C rating or higher will be sold in a special black box designed to warn parents of the mature nature of the title. The black boxes are only used in Japan by Nintendo of Japan, there's no word if and when Nintendo of America will also be black boxing their more mature titles.

I honestly think this is a good decision. Employees at stores with policies that don't allow them to sell mature games to minors will find it easier to follow these rules (and thereby not get themselves fired or worse). If a kid isn't supposed to have the game, then parents can immediately spot the box if it's hidden haphazardly on a shelf or under something else. Why WOULDN'T we do this in America, it sounds like a great idea!

Then again, I might just be saying all this because I'm older than 18. Hmm, ask me about this idea again later.

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Nintendo Starts Wii Greatest Hits Line in Japan
SOURCE: Nintendo World

More Japanese news, which might also affect us Americans: Nintendo will kick off their new budget line of Wii titles in Japan starting next month. The Minna no Osusume Selection ("Everyone's Recommendation Selection," in English) will be a selection of (good) re-released third-party games.

In order to be eligible as "Everybody's Selection, a game must reach bronze, silver, gold, or platinum status on the Nintendo Channel, so the choice is all up to the gamers. Currently, there are already 75 games that qualify for "Everybody Favorite," but the first titles in the series are going to be: 428, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Arc Rise Fantasia, We Ski & Snowboard, One Piece Unlimited Cruise Episode 1 (Namco Bandai, Silver), Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Dragon Ball Z and Sparking! Meteor.


All this for $30? Hell yes!

Each of these games will cost ¥2,800 (Around $31) and will be available starting February 25. Again, no word on if and when Nintendo of America will follow suit, even though this is another excellent idea that NOA should steal from their Japanese counterpart. Hopefully we could get the same games AND things like New-per Mario Bros. Wii for cheap. I mean, I already have it, I'm just thinking about all those kids and gamers' girlfriends who want copies for themselves but don't have the cash.

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Crystal Chronicles Franchise Finished?
SOURCE:Final Fantasy Union



When Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles was released for the Nintendo Gamecube in 2004 it ended up doing quite well. Sure it had some strict requirements, but four people could play at once, which was one of the reasons that the game ended up selling well over a million units. Square Enix then released a prequel of sorts in the form of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates for the Nintendo DS and also allowed people to join together to play the game. This time around though, sales reached just over 600,000 units worldwide instead of over a million.

Despite poor sales, Square Enix kept attempting to recapture the success of the original title, next releasing Echoes of Time, with the Wii version only selling 160,000 units worldwide. The latest version, The Crystal Bearers hasn't been doing so hot either, selling 50,000 copies thus far and garnering luke-warm reviews.

While lots of people love the Crystal Chronicle series, the depressing trend of declining sales must be addressed. I say give the series one more game (a downloadable one or something) and make it an SRPG. Everybody loves an SRPG. Also, you could make the next game in the vein of FF1, except with more character (and crystal?) customization.

Yeah, I'm aware my answer for all of life's problems is "Add a create-an-X-mode! Lol!"

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LEGO Harry Potter is 'a bit like Zelda'
SOURCE: Official Nintendo Magazine



When asked about the DS version of the upcoming LEGO Harry Potter versus the Wii version, Lead Designer Arthur Parsons had this to say: "This time the DS version is a completely different game. LEGO Batman was a very similar game, whereas LEGO Harry Potter is completely different. It's an isometric adventure-style game. You use the stylus to guide your characters around. It's a bit Zelda-y. You can use a gesturing system to cast spells by drawing shapes on the touch screen."

That's pretty cool that the two different ports are going to be two different games! I don't really get down with Harry Potter or Zelda games that aren't A Link To The Past, but I could see many fans or collectors or a LEGO enthusiasts trying both flavors of the game – and I can also imagine the game developers making a nice profit off this idea, too.

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Use Camera On Sister = Good Times?
SOURCE: Beef Jack (and yes, I approve of that name)

Konami is going to bring Foto Showdown to the DSi. Using the DSi camera's functionality, gamers can take pictures of people and have in-game characters that physically resemble the real person. Take for example this trailer where some kid's sister gets turned into an orc.



You can pick up Foto Showdown for the DSi this March.

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Thanks to Joe Roche for this weeks DLC list!

WiiWare
UNO (1,000 Wii Points)
bittos+ (800 Wii Points)
"Aha! I Found it!" Hidden Object Game (500 Wii Points)

Nintendo DSiWare
Number Battle (500 Nintendo DSi Points)
AiRace: Tunnel (200 Nintendo DSi Points)
Escapee Go! (200 Nintendo DSi Points)

Virtual Console
Ghoul Patrol (800 Wii Points)

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UNTIL NEXT TIME.....
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PEACE!

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