Our live radio broadcasts are currently on hiatus while we work on improvements to Sanitarium.FM's core services. For further information, visit our Discord.
Who remember their first game of pokemon? Whether it was on the grainy black and white screen of the classic Gameboy, or in colourful 3D on the N64, pokemon is close to a lot of gamer’s hearts. I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in a world inhabited by strange and wonderful creatures, that can be tamed and used to battle your friends? Well now you can!
A new phone app allows you to search out pokemon in your local areas, and with the use of a pokeball watch, capture and battle them with people around you.
Geo-caching is not a new phenomenon. It’s a simple premise where you are given map co-ordinates and go treasure-hunting. This sort of real-world application is always open to abuse; some people may remove the treasure, or you might not live in a place where a treasure hunt has been initiated.
Pokemon Go eliminates all these problems by making everything digital. Your pokemon are available in cyberspace, located over physical co-ordinates. Although details are scarce on release dates and game mechanics, I for one have never been more excited to wander round my town and collect ‘em all.
We are now within a week of Nintendo launching not only the next entry in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, Tipping Stars, on the Nintendo eShop; but with it, the first ever cross-buy promotion – with Nintendo offering to give free download codes for the Wii U version of the game to anyone who downloads the 3DS version – and vice versa! However, if you live in a territory served by the American version of Nintendo’s eStore and can’t wait to get your next fix of Donkey Kong action – and you’re one of the handful of people who DIDN’T already get Donkey Kong Country Returns or its sequel when they first released on Wii and Wii U respectively – Nintendo have you covered.
In a deal that so far seems restricted exclusively for American eShop Users – i.e. Nintendo gamers using Nintendo 3DS or Wii U consoles registered as being in America, Mexico or Canada – starting today and lasting until 8:59am Pacific Time on March 3rd, Nintendo are offering 30% off Nintendo eShop purchases of either Donkey Kong Country™: Tropical Freeze (Wii U) or Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (Nintendo 3DS), when you purchase one or more of six qualifying Donkey Kong Virtual Console titles. These are any of the three Donkey Kong Land titles from the 3DS Virtual Console (priced at $3.99 each at time of writing); or any of the original three Donkey Kong Country titles from the Wii U Virtual Console ($7.99 each at time of writing).
The usual catches apply, of course: The same Nintendo Network ID must be linked to your Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems as well as your eShop account prior to purchase in order to be eligible for discount; and all of the games must be purchased before offer’s closing. For those of you serviced by the Nintendo eShop in other regions – sorry to disappoint. But if a similar offer comes your way, we’ll be sure to update this as soon as we hear it!
Say goodbye to Club Nintendo. Nintendo’s long-standing loyalty program that allowed people to register their games and consoles, collect points (deemed Stars or Star Points in most territories, although America boringly used “Coins” instead), and spend them to claim exclusive merchandise, will be shut down this Summer after many years of service.
Nintendo have decided to phase out Club Nintendo to make way for a new, more modern loyalty scheme after reviewing its current business strategy; and after user feedback supposedly suggested many were dissatisfied with the current service – which makes sense, given that complaints were often made by users on the need to fill in a survey for EVERY game and console redeemed on the service to claim the stars and the annoyance this often caused. Part of the reason for the move may also be down to the belief that the service failed to catch on to a widespread audience in territories outside America, although this was not mentioned by Nintendo.
North Americans will have their service phased out first: Products released after January 20th will not contain registration cards; and from March 31st all Club Nintendo members will not be able to register any products or collect coins at all, nor will any new members be accepted to Club Nintendo. The Club Nintendo program shuts down in North America on June 30 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time and all Coins will be deleted when Club Nintendo accounts are closed on July 1, 2015.
As for those of us in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, we have been granted a little more time to prepare for the phase-out, with the removal of registration cards in new products delayed until after April 1st. The schedule for these regions is described by Nintendo thus:
April 1st 2015: From this date, Nintendo will no longer include product registration cards with its packaged products, so such products cannot be registered in Club Nintendo. You may still find product registration cards in products that were in stock before this date, however.
April 20th 2015: Termination of the registration of digital products downloaded from Nintendo eShop. Digital products obtained from Nintendo eShop after this date will no longer appear in the My Registered Games & Systems page in Club Nintendo. In addition, surveys for download software titles will no longer be available.
September 30th 2015: End of Club Nintendo programme. All Club Nintendo features, such as signing up as a new member, logging in as a registered member, earning Stars, and exchanging Stars for items from the Stars Catalogue will no longer be possible from this date.
Nintendo are so far saying little about the service that is planned to replace Club Nintendo, though state the company expects to share more information about the new scheme and its launch date in the near future. What is known however is that it will exist as a service completely separated from the old Club Nintendo system; and thus no data is being moved over. Therefore, in order to encourage users to use up their remaining Star (or Coin) balances before the service expires, dozens of downloadable games and “a limited quantity of exclusive reward items” will be added to the catalogue before its termination.
As an added incentive, the company plans to give out a new version of Flipnote Studio – Flipnote Studio 3D – for free to existing Club Nintendo members. Club Nintendo members in North America will receive a free download code for Flipnote Studio 3D in February 2015 automatically, most likely on launch date; for other regions, Nintendo state the code will be available as a welcome bonus for members who sign up to the new loyalty scheme in the first few weeks following its launch, with full details to come at a later date.
As a result of the closure, Nintendo have announced that the soon-to-be-released “New Nintendo 3DS” handheld consoles cannot be registered to Club Nintendo. These, it appears, will be rolled into the new system instead. However, Nintendo 3DS games – including those intended mainly for the New Nintendo 3DS – may still be registered if they have been or will be released before the registrations cards are phased out.
Last night, Nintendo announced it would host a Nintendo Direct for Europe today at 2pm to reveal its plans for the next year. Though the email about the event (which I only myself received at 8pm – talk about short notice, Nintendo!) claimed we’d just hear about “upcoming Wii U and 3DS titles”, with the announcement of the Ambassador Promotion for the New Nintendo 3DS and numerous leaks, many of us at Sanitarium.FM put a bet on a European Release Date for the New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL models being confirmed – and we were right! But first, let’s take a look at the other stuff we saw during today’s 30 minute session:
Fire Emblem
A recurring theme about Nintendo Directs is as well as hearing more concrete information about games that we already know are in the works, we also often hear about new titles but are only given basic information so that we know they’re in the pipeline but don’t know much else until the next episode. Sure enough, Nintendo started the show with one of these teasers. Nintendo revealed that a new Fire Emblem game is being developed for the Nintendo 3DS by the same team who created Awakening. Intelligent Systems have also got some new staffers on board to help with the game’s storyline which is apparently being designed to give players more choices than ever in the game’s events. It remains to be seen when we’ll learn more about this new title.
Puzzle & Dragons Duo
Excitement – and a little eyebrow-raising – was generated when rumours spread earlier this week that Puzzle & Dragons might not only make an appearance on a Nintendo platform in Europe for the first time, but also might include Mario characters in the game. The franchise – combining RPG and puzzle elements – is already a popular hit in Japan and has made a name for itself on mobile platforms as well, but given Nintendo’s disdain for smartphones and unwillingness to allow its IP onto other devices, it was clear any Mario-based Puzzle & Dragons title would have to be a console exclusive to Nintendo.
In fact, the reality turned out to be even more exciting. The Puzzle & Dragons series is to make its first European appearance with TWO new 3DS titles – a more traditional entry called Puzzle & Dragons Z; and an exclusive Nintendo-themed spin-off called Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition. Both are due to be released as one package this May; and it will be interesting to see how Europe reacts.
Nintendo have not made footage of the Super Mario Edition available on YouTube, but we can bring you the official trailer for Puzzle & Dragons Z:
Pokémon Shuffle
DAMN YOU NINTENDO! How DARE you get involved in the murky world of in-game micro-transactions! After the success of the Pokémon Trozei line of match-three style puzzle games (known in some regions as Pokémon Link), Nintendo are releasing yet ANOTHER match-three Pokémon spin-off, this time with the title Pokémon Shuffle, the gameplay of which drew comparisons from my colleagues to King’s popular puzzle hit Candy Crush. In another comparison to Candy Crush, disappointingly the game will feature an optional micro-transaction feature which will allow players to pay to progress further faster if they so choose – because we all know that doesn’t ruin 99% of mobile games, right…?
Pokémon Shuffle will be a free download from the Nintendo eShop some time in February, on the off chance you still care.
Wii Games hit the WiiU eShop
Now that you can download most Wii U games straight to the console via the eShop and never touch a disk again, why should you have to still dig out your Wii disks to play last generation’s games? Though not explicitly stated by Nintendo, you can’t help but feel this is what their Directors were thinking when Iwata announced today that classic Wii games are coming to the Wii U eShop to be downloaded directly to the console. The standard price of £17.99 / €19,99 comes to roughly half-to-two-thirds of the game’s original cost brand new, but you can reduce this even further if you’re quick, as each title will have another 50% reduction – to £8.99 / €9,99 – for one week following the game’s eShop launch. Super Mario Galaxy 2 hits the eShop today; Donkey Kong Country Returns will be available from January 22nd; and Metroid Prime Trilogy comes Jan 29. For those of you reading this in America, a similar deal is coming to you guys too, but Donkey Kong Country Returns is replaced with Punch-Out!! – why the difference I don’t know, but it seems to have caused a small amount of Twitter outrage if my feed is anything to go by. Let’s move on…
Amiibo
Now for the part of Nintendo I keep forgetting about but some of our DJs appear to be crazy over. Nintendo have announced two new waves of their NFC-enabled Amiibo figures, which will launch in Europe on March 20. The Wave 2 figures will include Robin, Lucina, Charizard, PAC-MAN, Wario and Ness; while at the same time we will also see the launch of the Super Mario series figures, featuring all six of the series’ main characters – the Brothers themselves, Mario and Luigi; eternal captive Peach; the trusty steed Yoshi; my favourite Nintendo baddie Bowser; and candidate for “most annoying video game voice” Toad.
All six figures are likely to be used in future Mario-themed Nintendo titles. The Toad figure at least serves an immediately useful purpose, as it will be compatible with Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker to open up a new hide & seek game mode. Following the Nintendo Direct the company also posted to Youtube a Trailer for Mario Party 10, which will utilise all six new Mario figures as well as the Donkey Kong, Wario and Rosalina figures to unlock a new “Amiibo” game mode with its own boards, items and features and a more traditional board-game styling with even the in-game characters designed to look like the Amiibo statuettes. See the trailer below.
In addition, Kirby & the Rainbow Curse releases next month and Kirby, Meta Knight & King Dedede Amiibo will unlock new powers. We were also shown footage of a new jet-fighting game coming to 3DS this year, Ace Combat 4, which will also support Amiibo by unlocking jets based on the character you place on the system, though little else of this game is known.
Project Treasure
Yet another title we know little about – even the title is a code name! Revealed by Namco’s Harada-san, who is spearheading the project, Treasure will be a Wii U exclusive, free to download 4-player co-op action game… and that’s all we have to go on for now.
Splatoon
Colour me impressed, if you’ll pardon the pun 😛 The third-party Wii U title that puts a comical slant on territorial warfare, by asking you to paint the town red (or blue, or green, or yellow) AND use paint to knock out competing teams, is turning out to be far more in-depth than the comical, family-friendly styling would suggest. Throughout the game you’ll collect coins, which you’ll be able to spend in a central Plaza area to kit out your characters. As well as being able to buy and equip different weapon packs consisting of one primary, one support and one special weapon each (Primary weapons being your main attack and painting tool; Support being your defence; and Special being an additional tool for large-scale painting); you will also be able to change various pieces of clothing, each of which affects your statistics in different ways, such as making you faster or slower; adding or taking away power from your attacks and defensive capabilities, and so on. Releasing this May, Splatoon may prove to be more than a kiddie shoot-em-up after all.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Yet another title we know basically nothing about – except that we’ve known that a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles has been in the work for about a year now, ever since E3 when it was originally revealed as just “X”. Now slated for a 2015 launch, Nintendo gave us a new trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles X, but revealed little else.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
Nintendo have announced that the next title in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, Tipping Stars, is to become the company’s first true Cross-Buy game, after semi-trialling the idea with Pullblox. While Pullblox only allowed people who bought the Wii U title Pullblox World to get a 3DS version for free but not vice-versa, MvDK will work both ways – buy the game on either Wii U OR 3DS and you’ll get the other console’s version for free. Bonus!
Anime Channel
Following the success of anime based on Pikmin being released exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS eShop, Nintendo have now announced that 3DS owners in Europe will from 13th February be able to download the free Anime Channel, which will feature anime based on Pokémon, Kirby and Inazuma Eleven. As no similar announcement has yet been made in America, this seems so far to be an EU exclusive and will probably be of interest to the younger Nintendo gamers. The service will be compatible with all models of the 3DS and new content is expected to be added regularly.
And now for what you’ve all been waiting for…
The New Nintendo 3DSes gets a European Launch Date and Special Edition Launch Bundles!
Though it was leaked through various sources beforehand, Nintendo decided to round off the second half of this edition of Nintendo Direct by officially confirming the European Launch date, which will be February 13th for both models (the New Nintendo 3DS and the New Nintendo 3DS XL). As we already know, the New 3DS will be available in White or Black with buttons coloured like the original European SNES Controller, while the New 3DS XL will be available in Metallic Black or Metallic Blue similar to the original colours of first model 3DSes – but it turns out, these won’t be the only designs available at launch!
In a shock to Nintendo gamers anywhere, the recently announced 3DS Zelda Remake, Majora’s Mask 3D is to become a launch title for the new 3DS models – though it will also be compatible with the existing models. To celebrate, Nintendo will not only sell the game on its own, but will also offer a limited edition New 3DS XL bundle consisting of a special Gold-coloured New 3DS XL with the titular Majora’s Mask emblazoned on the front in black ink, along with the game pre-installed on the console.
There’s also a special edition for Monster Hunter fans, who no doubt will be massively excited by the revelation that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be another title launched at the same time as the new 3DS models. The bundle for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate features a New 3DS XL in silver emblazoned with Monster Hunter iconography. Obviously Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be pre-installed too; and the game will still be available separately on February 13 for both existing and new 3DS models.
So to summarise: You can get a White or Black 3DS, a Metallic Blue or Metallic Black new 3DS XL; a silver new 3DS XL with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate built-in, or a gold with Majora’s Mask built-in and etched onto the front. Take your pick! And that concludes all the news from this edition of Nintendo Direct.
Ever since Nintendo revealed upgraded new models of its popular Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL Handheld consoles (called, appropriately, the “New Nintendo 3DS” and “New Nintendo 3DS XL” respectively), Nintendo fans around the world have been eagerly awaiting their launch. Both models hit store shelves in Japan last October, followed by Australia and New Zealand a month later, but elsewhere in the world Nintendo has kept quiet on their plans – all we know for sure is an international release is planned for “2015”. Now though, we have a hint that a European release may not be far away.
Similar to what it did for the launches of the Wii, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo has announced a new Ambassador Promotion giving additional rewards to early adopters of the new console. Although the promotion is currently limited to selected Club Nintendo members, interestingly this does not seem to be limited to people in the original 3DS ambassador program – so all Club Nintendo members may want to check their inbox in the next few days to see if they’re eligible.
Should you be lucky enough to qualify, the exclusive Ambassador Edition set will be available to you at an asking price of £179.99. For this, you’ll receive a white New Nintendo 3DS model (note this is not the XL, which does not seem to have a similar promotion at this time) in a special ‘Ambassador Edition’ box; along some exclusive Ambassador Edition cover plates, and a slick Super Smash Bros. set in case you want to mix things up. Nintendo is also throwing in a charging cradle, stylus and a 4GB microSDHC card.
Although Nintendo are still keeping mum on the final launch date for the New Nintendo 3DS existence of this special, limited-availability promotion (which is basically a glorified invitational pre-order bonus) suggests that we may not have much longer to wait.
