Results Get!
Mutsumi Inomata, main character designer for the 'Tales Of' series has sadly passed away
Rest in Peace
Mutsumi Inomata, head character designer for many of Namco’s Tales Of series games, has sadly passed away on Sunday, March 10th 2024 at the age of 63.
The news comes from Inomata’s sister who took to social media with the below message. She also reveals that the funeral was held privately and thanks all the fans who have supported her work over the years.
Stardew Valley creator teases change to Trees in 1.6 update
See the valley for the trees
Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update has been a long time coming now and if words by the game’s creator are anything to go by the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to shine.
Concerned Ape took to Twitter/X teasing that they’ve begun writing the patch notes for the 1.6 update. The creator took the moment to tease an update coming to how the game handles fruit tree breeding. You can read the full post down below.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a Stardew Player so I don’t necessarily know what this change means in the grand scheme of things but considering ConcernedApe’s post got 33K likes it’s clear that the player base is excited.
Anyways it seems Stardew Valley’s fabled 1.6 update is coming along at a good clip and if the update’s patch notes are already being written one can only hope that news on the update’s release date will come any day now.
Monster Hunter Stories Soars onto Switch June 14th
Write your own story!
Capcom have announced that the remaster of Monster Hunter Stories is making it’s way to Switch June 14th. The game will see both a physical and digital release on Switch.
The 3DS game has been remastered with new textures, lighting, and complete voice acting. The new release also includes a museum mode filled with concept art and music, some of which that has never been seen before!
Pre-orders for the game will start soon, players who decide to pre-order will receive the King and Queen outfits for Navirou as a bonus. You’ll also receive a Mahana Rider out for Navirou if you have Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin save data on your system!
You can check out the full trailer above and read an official overview of the game’s Switch release down below.
Get ready for the return of Monsties, as Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin spread their wings onto new platforms this summer! The first entry in the series will bring its turn-based RPG action to Nintendo Switch™ on June 14, 2024.
Riders can expect an epic summer full of adventure with Monster Hunter Stories and its new features, including full Japanese and English voiceovers, seven new subtitle languages, a new Museum Mode that spans over 200 pieces of concept art, background music, and developer sketches, and title updates that were previously only available in Japan. Experience riding Monsties in stunning detail on larger screens, enhanced with refined modeling, textures, and lighting in high definition.
Pre-orders for will be available soon with special bonuses including Navirou’s King and Queen outfits for Monster Hunter Stories.
Match Village finds it's match on Switch March 14th
It takes a village
Rising Moon Games and QUByte Interactive have announced that Match Village is coming to Switch March 14th.
This relaxing simulation/puzzle game tasks players to combine buildings to create villages on lovely islands. No need to worry about resource management or enemy villages, just relax and build to your heart’s content.
You can read a full overview of the game down below and check out Match Village’s trailer up above.
Match Village is a minimalistic puzzle and strategy experience about combining buildings to build villages on beautiful, procedurally generated islands.
Combine buildings to create your villages and cities on endless islands scattered around the world and enjoy a minimalistic and relaxing atmosphere, no resource management or armies, just focus on building.
Game Features:
- Different and intuitive gameplay.
- Infinite randomly generated islands.
- A minimalist and relaxing atmosphere.
- Just build, don’t worry about armies or resource management.
- Great to play from time to time, discover new islands, buildings and beat your record.
Swipe-based adventure game Reigns Beyond coming to Switch later this year
Ready to Launch! Ready to Rock!
Former Apple Arcade exclusive Reigns: Beyond is coming to Nintendo Switch sometime later this year. In this swipe-based adventure game you’ll rock out through space with your indie rock band, performing gigs and wowing crowds all while keeping your resources managed.
This new release will feature all content from the Apple Arcade release including updates. You can read an official overview of the game down below and we will be sure to let you know when a full release date is announced.
Originally released for Apple Arcade in 2020, Reigns: Beyond challenges players to navigate the cosmos as an intergalactic indie rock band, plotting their rise to stardom, traveling from planet to planet and gig to gig on their quest for fame and fortune.
Featuring all updated content from the App Store version, play local (and not-so-local) clubs throughout the galaxy, recruiting alien band members along the way and rocking out across the universe. But make sure you’re managing your ship’s resources and keeping your crew in check while on this interstellar tour, because one wrong decision may leave you dead in space.
In Reigns: Beyond, you’ll:
- Unlock the legendary Galactic Guitars and rock out in front of your adoring fans
- Fight pirates, overzealous tax collectors and more in swiping dogfights
- Hang out on your ship for band practice and offer directions to lost space travelers
- Meet 70 curious characters, including your manager Lord Shark, Strombo the scholarly mollusk, Gron the space bear … and of course your crew and your ship’s know-it-all AI
- 1,700 decision cards, weirder encounters, more deaths and infinite possibilities
- Jam to an original soundtrack by Sam Webster
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 designer pays tribute to Akira Toriyama with new art of Sonic and Tails
A legacy that lasts
Yesterday we reported on the unfortunate passing of famed artist and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. In the waves of the announcement many artists who were inspired by his work have come forward to share their tributes such as Yasushi Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi was a designer at SEGA who worked on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and was even the creator of Sonic’s little buddy, Miles “Tails” Prower. Yamaguchi took to Twitter with new art of Sonic and Tails dressed as Dragon Ball characters Piccolo and Gohan respectively. Yamaguchi explains that Piccolo and Gohan’s dynamic influenced Sonic and Tails’ relationship and he thanks Toriyama for his influence.
We’ve included the art and a translation of Yamaguchi’s post below.
Making Retro Cups for the next Mario Kart
Our Cups Runneth Over
The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass has come and gone, and now speculation about what’s next for the Mario Kart series is at an all time high. This, combined with the white-hot speculation of when the Switch successor will be revealed, has Nintendo fans chain-chomping at the bit for the next Mario Kart title.
While I could go into some ideas for what a sequel could bring, I instead want to focus on one of the most oft-wondered aspects of the supposed sequel – how the series beloved retro cups will be handled.
Since Mario Kart DS (technically Super Circuit, but it just had SNES tracks) the series has had a tradition of creating 4 cups consisting of courses from past titles to stand alongside the 4 brand new cups and tracks. Given the fact that we just had an entire DLC dedicated to bringing back old courses, many fans have wondered if the next game will even have retro tracks. After doing admittedly WAY too much research into this topic, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not only possible but Nintendo would have plenty of options.
The thing about the retro courses is that they weren’t really interesting until Mario Kart 7. They were a neat bonus to have in the games, but they were often held back by the system they were on or were too faithful to their source material. MK7 and especially 8 introduced the concept of reimagining these courses to be expansions of their original concepts while still retaining their charm.
Altus have announced that the persona series has now achieved 22 million worldwide sales, an impressive feat indeed!
This shouldn’t come as a shock though, while the series has always enjoyed popularity the release of Persona 5 has slowly but surely climbed the series to new heights.
With the recent release of Persona 3 Reload and rumors of more coming down the pipeline it feels safe to say that Persona will be around for a long time!
Capcom Highlights Digital Event Announced for March 7th and 11th
A look at things to come
Capcom have announced two upcoming Capcom Highlights events which will reveal details on upcoming games and updates.
The first event will start on March 7th at 3PM PT and will focus on Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and Dragon’s Dogma 2.
Th second event will start on March 11th at 3PM PT and will focus on Street Fighter 6, Exoprimal, Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Now.
We will of course keep you updated on any Nintendo relevant news that comes from these events.
New Japanese Switch Commercial Highlights Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC
A bit of home wherever you roam.
A new Japanese Switch Commercial has just been released, this time highlighting Pokémon Scarlet and Violet as well as The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC.
The commercial focuses on two brothers who once connected over Pokémon at a young age and rekindle their bond over the game before the oldest leaves home. It’s a touching commercial that ties cleverly into the themes of Pokémon, setting out into the world and growing up.
Super Mario World Icons now available on Nintendo Switch Online
An Iconic world indeed!
From now until April 1st you’ll be able to purchase icons from the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World.
As always, the character icons themselves are 10 Platinum Points, while the borders and backgrounds are 5. This time however, you’ll need to first play a bit of Super Mario World through NSO to unlock the ability to purchase. This can be easily accomplished by opening the game in the app and closing it so this shouldn’t be too big of a hurdle to jump.
Streamer achieves first 100% no-damage run of Majora's Mask
Dawn of a New Record
Streamer MajinPhil has made history by completing the first recorded 100% no damage run of The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask, you can see their reaction the claiming victory up above. This comes as a follow up to their previous no damage Any% run three years ago.
The incredible achievement was made over a 10-hour long marathon in which MajinPhil also forbade themself from using glitches or even the shield requiring themselves to dodge every enemy attack. Reflecting on the challenge MajinPhil credits their victory to practicing the final boss early in the stream which helped them bring the win home.
The world of challenge runs is a testament to the legacy games can leave long after their original release date.
Rainbow Sea descends onto Switch this Summer
Can you ascend to godhood?
Developer Shirokurohitsuji has teamed up with publisher G-MODE Corporation to release the pixel-art adventure game ‘Rainbow Sea’ on Switch this summer.
The game has you take control of a Human trying to prove yourself to the Seven Lucky Gods of Japanese myth and join their ranks. As you sail for a year aboard the god’s treasure ship you will make choices that will lead you to one of the games twenty-two different endings.
You can read a full overview from the game’s Steam page down below.
About
Rainbow Sea is a multi-ending adventure with pixel-art style based on the myth of the traditional Japanese gods—Seven Lucky Gods. It depicts a year in the life of “Human,” who was chosen as a candidate for god, and the Seven Lucky Gods, who do not seem to open up much to her. You—the Human explores inside a treasure ship and make choices to change the storyline. All twenty two endings are true endings, and only you, the player, will know the authentic story.
Story
You wake up in an unfamiliar storeroom with nothing but the sound of waves. As you are trying to figure out why you are here, you are spoken to by yourself in a mirror. The mirror tells you to tell a lie and it disappears.
When you leave the storeroom, you meet people who call themselves the Seven Lucky Gods. According to one of them, Daikoku, you are “Human” who was chosen to become a god. Most of them do not seem to welcome your sudden appearance.
When the treasure ship returns to the human world in a year, will you become a god who can be one of the gods on the ship, will you return to your original world as a human, or will you…?
A bittersweet year with the Seven Lucky Gods begins.
System
Move around the treasure ship and trigger events by talking to gods and examining objects on the ship. Events begin when certain conditions are met, such as the level of affection from the gods, the weather, and the time of day. In the events, you can make choices to change the story.
In the game, every second of reality passes as a minute, and you can be active from 6:00 to 24:00. Note that if you are not eating or sleeping enough, you will fall asleep in less time than that.
One year later, on New Year’s Day, you will have a final ending, depending on the events you have seen and your choices.
It takes roughly two hours to play a round of the game.
As of now we only have the release window of Summer but we will be sure to keep you updated on the official release date when it is announced.
FInal Fantasy VII Rebirth director had no idea about Sephiroth's Smash Bros. Inclusion
A well-kept secret
By now Super Smash Bros reputation precedes itself, it’s one of the biggest gaming crossovers and was thusly prone to lots of rumors and leaks whenever a game was in active development. With so many prying eyes on the series it’s only natural that eventually something would fall through the cracks and leak to the public before Nintendo wanted, but it’s also just as impressive when an announcement is made that no one was expecting.
One such announcement was that Sephiroth would be joining the roster as part of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter’s Pass Vol. 2. Announced during the 2020 Game Awards, many fans were shocked by this inclusion as rumors and speculation was not pointing to Sephiroth or anything else from Final Fantasy VII at the time. Turns out another group that was just as shocked were people who were more familiar with Sephiroth than anyone else in the gaming industry, the developers of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
In an Interview with Kinda Funny Games, game director Naoki Hamaguchi revealed that neither him nor anyone on the dev team was aware of Sephiroth joining the battle and found out at the same time as everyone else. You can read his full words down below.
So, actually, um, with sort of Sephiroth in Smash Brothers, it was actually extremely confidential that he was even going to be in it…So, none of the dev team knew, including myself. So it was more like when the whole world knew it, and that’s when we knew it like, ‘Oh! I had no idea!’
Given the iron grip Nintendo tries to maintain on Smash’s development this makes sense. Information on Smash fighter’s development is on a need-to-know basis and the developers of a game featuring the character wouldn’t need to know at all as funny as that may sound.
You can watch the full interview with Hamaguchi on Kinda Funny Games’ YouTube Channel down below!
Latest Episode of The Simpsons references Mario Kart
I sleep in a Mario Kart, do you?
The Super Mario series, and by extension, Mario Kart is no stranger to being parodied. Things like SNL’s gritty HBO Mario Kart sketch show that the series is well known not just by Nintendo fans but by the greater entertainment industry. This is all to say that it’s no surprise that the latest episode of ‘The Simpsons’ would also parody the series.
The episode entitled “Lisa gets an F1” (Season 35 Episode 12 to be exact) features Lisa becoming a pro kid go-cart racer and Homer fearing for her safety. Homer’s concern leads to a nightmare sequence in which Homer dreams himself as Wario tossing a bomb at a Mario-esque Lisa and knocking her off Rainbow Road, Homer even straight up calls himself Wario in the dream and does the iconic “WAH!”.
The nightmare also features other cameos like Milhouse as Yoshi and Nelson as Bowser and it also gets referenced later on in the episode as one big Mario Kart reference by Lisa, a fact that is completely lost on Homer. You can watch all the clips down below.