Nintendophiles 01.31.08

Posted by Theo Fraser on 01.31.2008

It’s the biggest Nintendophiles yet, with some major Smash Bros news, Nintendo’s 2008 releases, a potential WiiWare title in the works, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed sounding MUCH better, and a potentially great survival thriller gets the axe, much to the dismay of Nintendo fans. Check out all that and more inside!






Oh I've got a MECCA edition of Nintendophiles for you this week! That's right, MECCA I tell you! I was in the middle of watching ROH Glory By Honor VI Night Two, and the incredible Danielson-Morishima rematch, but I had to stop and get this all typed up as I was just too excited; THAT'S how big this week's edition is! So enough of my banter, let's get to all the good stuff...



Virtual Console demos to be included on Smash Bros. Brawl disc

Wow, even MORE gems hiding inside that little Smash Bros. disc. How the hell did Nintendo manage to keep all this secret for so long?

The final update at the SmashBrosDojo last week revealed that the game will contain a mode entitled "Masterpieces", which enables you to play short demos of some of the historic games from Nintendo's back catalogue, featuring the cast of characters available in the main game.

Demos confirmed so far include:

• Ice Climber [NES- 1985]


• Super Mario Bros. [NES- 1985]


• The Legend of Zelda [NES- 1987]


• Kid Icarus [NES- 1987]


• Kirby's Adventure [NES- 1993]


• Super Metroid [SNES- 1994]


• Starfox 64 [N64- 1997]

Quite a treasure trove of Nintendo gaming, huh? Sakurai hinted at more demos being hidden away, potentially unlocked through the Challenge Mode. I can't stress how much of an awesome move this is by Nintendo. At face value, the demos provide a welcome change of pace from the brawling of the main title, and generally help to make the game a better overall package. But it's also tremendously clever marketing, as gamers will be able to try these out, free of charge, and if they like them, they can go straight to the Wii Shop Channel and download the full Virtual Console version, all in the space of a few minutes. And for those of you who don't have your Wiis connected to the internet, fear not; the demos are pre-loaded on to the disc, so you won't have to worry about getting connected in order to take advantage of this wonderful offer. Of course, that's a double-edged sword, as you'll realise what you've been missing out on all this time!

For those interested, here's what the Masterpieces menu screen looks like:





Nice and simple, user-friendly, easy to navigate. Yikes, you really do only get a snippet of Ice Climbers, don't you? Notice in the bottom right-hand corner, it says "0:40 Trial Version," which I'm assuming means 40 seconds, as a 40 minute trial would be ridiculous (you could complete the whole thing in that time!). Anyway, Nintendo have selected a good choice of titles in my opinion; ones that younger gamers are less likely to have played. Don't get me wrong, these are obviously still massive titles and highly influential in their own right, but the younger generations of gamers are more likely to associate Link and Mario with their Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 outings, rather than their original old school NES adventures. Including these older titles as the chosen demos for such characters should encourage that type of gamer to broaden their horizons and check out some of our heroes' earlier work.

This was quite a big announcement last Friday, but it was quickly overshadowed by the other Smash Bros. news of the week...




Smash Bros ships in Japan with bug; Secrets revealed!
Credit: CVG

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is released in Japan at the end of this week, and already Japanese gamers and retailers are reporting that the title has shipped with a bug that appears as soon as you load the game up, turning the screen black and issuing an error message. Personally, I think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion, as you can still play the game perfectly well; you can simply skip the error message and go to the main title screen. I guess it's just a bit annoying...

Nintendo have since issued leaflets to retailers that will be sold with the game, informing customers of the problem, and telling them what to do, in case it's not apparent. Conflicting reports are floating around about how to *properly* solve the issue, with some stating that you simply need the latest Firmware patch. Strangely, the game doesn't appear to have been packaged with said firmware patch, unlike most first-party Nintendo titles, which may be where the problem arises; if your Wii is not connected to the net, you're obviously not going to have the latest patch.

Nevertheless, a bug it may be, but I've seen it referred to as a "crippling" fault, which is just plain not true. At most, it's a minor annoyance. I'm sure it'll be sorted for the Western releases, so no need to write the game off just yet!

With that out of the way, what about these "secrets" I've teased you with in the headlines? Well, first, allow me to bust out my trusty...


**!!SPOILER WARNING!!**


There, that's better. Anyway, the game has found its way into a few eager fans' hands, meaning that those much-talked about secret characters have been revealed. And I can now reveal that the hidden characters include Ganondorf (who appears to transform into Twilight Princess Ganon as part of his Final Smash), Luigi, Lucario, Ness, Jigglypuff, Falco, Marth, Captain Falcon, Toon Link (in Wind Waker style), and... R.O.B the Robot! Crazy stuff. Plenty of videos are floating around on Youtube, so if you want further proof, do a simple search and you'll find something pretty quickly. Much debate is currently going on about Wolf from the Starfox universe being included, but that's still not 100% confirmed. Ridley is also included as a rock-hard boss in the Subspace Emissary, which is awesome, but no sign of him being playable. What other surprises are still in store for us? We're sure to find out soon enough.

On a final Smash Bros. note, the Japanese opening video has been uploaded onto the net, and you can see some of the returning characters in FMV form. Again, spoilers abound, although not quite so major, but skip the video if you don't wish to know.





**!!END OF SPOILERS!!**




Guitar Hero DS named?
Credit: Trademork.com

Activision haven't announced anything official, but a quick look into their recent trademark filings shows a patent for the name "Guitar Hero: On Tour". Naturally, this sparked speculation about the upcoming DS iteration of the Guitar Hero franchise, and most are now assuming that this is the game's full title. Considering it's a portable game, it makes sense for it to be called "On Tour" so it's no real stretch of the imagination to consider this the final title.

No screens have been released thus far, but we do know that the game will utilise a special DS peripheral as opposed to touch screen/stylus control. Interesting! With the name trademarked, I'd say we're within weeks of seeing something official from the Activision HQ. The Guitar Hero series have produced consistently awesome titles, so I think it's fair to expect something pretty good for its first foray onto the Nintendo DS.




Sadness joins the list of promising titles never to see the light of day
Credit: NGamer

Despite the fact that no actual in-game screens or footage exists of the title, I've been an avid supporter of Sadness, the survival thriller developed by Polish company Nibris, for quite some time, quite possibly since its initial conception. Any time a developer reveals plans to create an original and ambitious title, you can instantly count me on the bandwagon. Which is why it comes as a great shame to hear that the plug has been pulled on the project, at least according to a Nintendo spokesman.





I'd be a lot happier if I heard from Nibris directly, but I guess you can't really argue when a Nintendo spokesman says that the title "isn't recognised as a future Wii release." I'm sure some bright spark will interpret that as meaning the game has simply been moved across to the DS, but really, I highly doubt it. The game had gone through setback after setback, constantly seeing delays and even the publisher backing out of the deal. I know it was all part of the marketing campaign, but when all you've seen after 3 years in development is a bunch of artwork, it's probably not a great sign. Still, I'm extremely disappointed, as this was one of my most eagerly anticipated Wii games, and I applauded Nibris' guts to break away from the mainstream and produce something radically different from anything else that's out there on the market today. Ultimately, it seems that the project was either too radical or overly ambitious, and so the decision was made to simply cancel the whole thing. Woe is me, to say the least.

No word on Nibris' other projects either. Man, they need a new public relations department, STAT! Raid Over the River for the DS was looking really promising last time I saw it, so I pray that hasn't met the same fate as Sadness. In fact the last time we heard from Nibris was last summer, when they announced a brand new DS project entitled Children of the Night. Can you guess what we've seen of that game so far? Artwork! But with Sadness being given the axe, it should free up some of the development team to concentrate on these titles. Come on, guys, don't let me spend another year hyping your games in blind faith; show me something that proves I was right to stand by you all this time!




Sadness, we hardly knew ye. RIP.




Top Nintendo titles re-confirmed for 2008 release including Animal Crossing
Credit: Cubed3

Nintendo of Japan recently updated their release lists for the upcoming year, and in the process of doing so re-confirmed a few titles as hitting store shelves in 2008 (in Japan, at least).

Wii Music was always scheduled for a release this year, but it's nice to see it officially confirmed. A Wii Kirby title was listed, which comes as a surprise after Nintendo officials point blank shot down all rumors of such a game last month. So that should please Kirby fans, at least! Disaster: Day of Crisis (pictured below) was one of the more notable inclusions, chiefly because we've still seen very little of it, and I was personally worrying about it slipping into 09. Thankfully, that seems not to be the case.





However, the title that stands out above all others is the entry for Animal Crossing Wii (name still TBC), which is now a lock-on for a 2008 release in the East. I'd probably wager that a Stateside release will slip into next year, due to the obscenely massive task of localizing all the in-game dialogue, but it's refreshing to see that a game we know absolutely nothing about will only be in development at most until the end of the year. Wait, that came out wrong. Um...if we were talking about a third party developer, sure, I'd be worried. Because it probably means they started work on it last week. But this is Nintendo. If Animal Crossing is really coming out by the end of the year, they probably began development back in the Wii's infancy. Nintendo have been very sensible in holding back information on the title. If they're clever, they'll hold off on anything official until E3, when gamers will only have another 6 months or so until its release, meaning that we won't have another agonising wait (like we've had with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which was seemingly first announced when Henry VIII was on the throne).

It should be noted that none of these release dates were specific, with all of them simply being listed under the 2008 time frame. Wii Music is likely to come first, as I think I recall a June date being talked about a short while ago, followed by Disaster: Day of Crisis either in the Summer Gaming Drought (TM) or shortly thereafter in early Fall. We've got some great stuff coming in the not too distant future, that's for sure, and as always I'll be here to cover any major developments each and every week in Nintendophiles. [\cheap plug]




Wii Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to contain 5 extra levels over PS3 and Xbox 360 counterparts
Credit: NGamer





Last week, the first reports of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the Wii came in, and to say it sounded disappointing would be a major understatement. One week later, however, and things are looking much brighter, in part due to the fact that some issues have been cleared up, and it's not nearly as much of a "Crappy Wii Port" as I thought it would be.

For starters, that lightsaber gameplay. We were led to believe last week that NONE of it would end up being motion-controlled, as it was said that the Wii remote would control the Force Powers with various shakes and stabs, leaving the proper combat to be handled by button presses. As it turns out, this is far from the case, and whilst it's still a far cry from the 1:1 Wii-mote flailing we had imagined, it's more than enough to fulfil Star Wars fans' fantasies (unless those fantasies involve Leia in THAT gold bikini, in which case...no one can help you), and above all else, it sounds like it could be a heck of a lot of fun. Developer Krome Studios (who are handling the Wii and DS versions) confirmed that there are 5 lightsaber motions to carry out; left to right, right to left, a downwards thrust, an uppercut and a gut-piercing stab. That's all the basics covered there, ensuring that those lightsaber duels will still be pretty intense and you can probably get some good parrying on the go too.

So now we know that the Wii-mote will indeed be used for lightsaber duelling, but what about those Force Powers? They've been assigned to the nunchuk, so you'll basically be dealing with two-handed combat throughout the game, with your left hand choking victims and sending out lightning bolts from the tips of your fingers, and your right hand slicing foes in two with a deft swoosh of your lightsaber. Combat obviously plays an integral part of the game, so if they can pull this off effectively, we could be in store for a really fluid fighting system, and I for one can tell you that I'm looking forward to this title a lot more than I was just 7 days ago!

My other primary concern last week was whether or not Wii owners would get all the fancy stuff that is being touted in other versions of the game, in particular the impressive "Euphoria" and "DMM" technology and physics engines. It turns out that I was right to be concerned on that matter, as neither engine was able to be translated for the Wii, but it's not all doom and gloom, as Krome Studios are using their own engine for the Nintendo version which embodies the main principles that the 360 and PS3 versions hope to convey. So we'll still get an impressive physics engine (supposedly one of, if not THE best on the Wii) to mess around with; it just won't have all the bells and whistles that you'll see on rival platforms.

By now, you might be forgiven for thinking that the Wii version is clearly the inferior title. Technologically, yes, it likely is. But Krome Studios aren't content to give us the bare minimum. No, in actual fact Wii owners will receive a cool bonus of 5 extra levels, where the story veers off from the Sony/Microsoft counterparts, taking Darth Vader's Apprentice to places such as the Jedi Temple (pictured below). It remains to be seen whether or not these levels are meaningful excursions or just an excuse to pad out the adventure, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt right now.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been pencilled in for a July release, and in the meantime, please enjoy the very first in-game screens! Like I said, I'm feeling a lot happier about this, and there's definitely the potential for something darn good coming out of it. I'll be watching its development very closely, that I guarantee.








Zoonami to produce WiiWare title?

Many thanks to reader Barry Halloran for sending along this news piece.

UK developer Zoonami have put up an advert on their website for a new Senior Artist/Director, needed for an as-of-yet unnamed project. Now, at face value, nothing really stands out about that, does it? But let's look at the situation a little further. For a start, 9 months ago a similar advert was put out for a Senior Programmer, and the advert specifically mentioned programming for the Wii. Zoonami have made one previous title for Nintendo's latest console, Zendoku, but that was released back in June...coincidentally just prior to the Senior Programmer advert going up on the site. But it gets even more interesting...

Take a look at the job description, printed below for your convenience.

"We are working on a 2D game with a novel visual style. We are searching for a well rounded artist with a strong interest in 2D to work on this fully funded title from concept to delivery over the next 6 months.

The work involves all aspects of the game including character design and animation, backgrounds and objects."

Notice anything interesting there? They are planning a SIX MONTH development timeframe, from concept to delivery. If they were looking to make a "proper" retail game, they're either clearly insane or it would just be THE worst game ever. There's no question about that, you simply can't go from scratch and have something decent to offer in just six months. And as Barry pointed out to me in his email, they are a team of about 10 staff. Anyone been following the development of the Wrestler Gamers United title Pro Wrestling X: Uprising? They have a similarly tiny team of staff, and it has taken them THREE YEARS to get something even remotely playable. There's no way Zoonami could make a full-blown game in that amount of time, with that amount of staff. Naturally the only conclusion you can come to is that they are working on a WiiWare title.

Adding fuel to the fire, if we go back to an interview the Zoonami CEO, Martin Hollis, did with CVG back in August, we can see that a WiiWare title may have been on the cards for some time.


CVG: What are you currently working on at Zoonami? You've mentioned that downloadable games is a direction you may be heading...

Hollis: I will reveal as much as I can. We are happily dedicated to Wii, which is a very exciting console indeed, and are working on multiple projects. Incidentally I believe Wii will capture first place in this generation of the console race within a year, by all important measures. I also believe that Wii will change the world.

Downloadable games have changed the business landscape of the game industry for the better. The idea that a new console game has to cost upwards of $30 or pounds has been funnelling the industry for too long. As I touched on above we have created three games now available for download. Downloadable games are likely to play a very large part in our future.


So they're concentrating on the Wii, they want to move away from the idea that games always have to cost $30+, and they see a bright future for themselves in the downloadable game market. Hmmm...yep, I'd say that's a likely WiiWare title in the works!




The 411 Games Crew


Dan Owen steps up to the task of covering Mark Salmela this week, bringing you a rare guest edition of The SIXAXIS News Report.

The Select and Start News Report by Vincent Chiucchi covers the possible termination of the 80GB PS3 model, the battle between Fox News and EA, and much more. Oh, and don't miss the hilarious "Smash Kingdom" parody video of Smash Bros.

You find out more on the Fox News/EA issue in Chris Evan's PC-Centric Extravaganza, plus news on the latest titles to be distributed through Steam and how Manhunt 2 may never see a UK release.

In this week's Full Circle 360 News Report, Mike Minotti gives us a hands-on impression of Burnout Paradise, as well as the finalised release date for GTA IV and thoughts on the DMC4 demo.

Damian Sarcuni presents the Gamer's Bill of Rights in the latest edition of Angry Gaming.

Derek Robbins covers the Top 10 Xbox games in The 10th Hour.



Phew, I think I need a rest after all that excitement! I've been playing a lot more of Final Fantasy VI on the GBA recently, and it's still awesome, so I'll get back to that. That Kefka guy...quite a bastard, really. Not someone you'd invite round for cocktails, methinks.

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