Tag: Nintendo

Nintendo says no Zelda Tears of the Kingdom DLC is planned – yet

Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma says Nintendo has no plans to make Tears of the Kingdom DLC, unlike other Zelda games on Switch

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Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma says Nintendo has no plans to make Tears of the Kingdom DLC, unlike the company’s approach to other Zelda games on Switch. Aonuma made the comments in a recent interview with Famitsu, translated by Twitter user Genki_JPN, where he said the team thinks they’ve done all there is to do in this version of Hyrule.

“We have no plans to release additional content this time, but that is because we feel like we have done all we can do to create play in that world,” Aonuma said. “The reason we decided to make a sequel to the previous game in the first place was because we thought it would be worth experiencing new ways to play in Hyrule.”

Nintendo teased DLC for Breath of the Wild, TotK’s predecessor, before the game even launched and even locked some of the open-world game’s features behind it, such as fully powering up the Master Sword. Age of Calamity, the series’ most recent Warriors spinoff, also had a few small expansions, with new missions and other minor additions, but it seems like the pre- and post-Calamity world of Hyrule has finally run its course.

The news is perhaps a little surprising in light of previous Zelda games, though Nintendo rarely stays with one idea or location for long. Mario Galaxy 2, one of the best Super Mario Bros. games, was billed as an accident created from leftover ideas that Nintendo cut from the first Galaxy, for example, and even Monolith’s visions for Xenoblade Chronicles change dramatically with each new game in the series. 

As for what the next Zelda game or possible DLC may be, that’s anyone’s guess, though Aonuma said it won’t be similar to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

“We may return to the same world,” Aonuma said. “Whether it is a sequel or new work, I think it will be a completely new way to play, so I hope you will look forward to it.”

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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The 17 best Charles Martinet Super Mario voice lines

We delved through Charles Martinet’s prodigious voice work over the past 25 years and picked some of our favorite Super Mario voice lines

Shouting, grunting, and yahoo-ing may sound easy at first glance, but Super Mario voice actor Charles Martinet not only came up with a dozen or more different ways to make the same sound. He also imbued each falling yell, burned overalls, and triumphant leap with an enduring sense of joy that became as much a part of the Mario series as the Koopa King and platforming action. With the news that Martinet is leaving his role as Nintendo’s iconic plumber, we delved through his prodigious voice work over the past 25 years and picked out some of our favorite Super Mario voice lines.

 

9 candidates who would voice Mario for Nintendo so much better than Chris Pratt ever could

As a legend hangs up his famous red cap, we simply have to do better than Chris Pratt.

It’s the end of an era. Charles Martinet, the acclaimed voice of Nintendo’s mascot Mario for roughly three decades, is finally hanging up his red cap for the Super Mario video game franchise. He has definitively bopped the head of his last Koopa Troopa.

For now, Nintendo does not have a planned replacement for the legendary video game character. Yes, we are not talking about someone reciting a monologue from King Lear, but there is still a massive chasm of “yahoo!” and “here we go!” that someone with genuine temerity has to fill. The show must go on, and it must be delightful.

If you’re an esteemed internet purveyor, you might have seen a lot of joking suggestions that Chris Pratt — a human being with surface-level charm who would never dare turn down an easy check — should, once again, voice Mario. After all, he already has the experience of bringing nothing unique or entertaining to the table during this spring’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Why not harness that low-effort, milquetoast energy for the most popular game franchise in existence?

I’ll tell you why: We have standards here at For The Win. And we intend to uphold them. There are many better options to consider for the Mushroom Kingdom’s next lead adventurer. Take notes, Nintendo.

Longtime Super Mario voice actor Charles Martinet is moving on

Charles Martinet, who’s voiced Mario in every Super Mario game since Super Mario 64, is retiring from his role

Charles Martinet, who’s voiced Mario in every Super Mario game since Super Mario 64, is retiring from his role, but not from Mario. Nintendo of America made the announcement on Twitter and said that Martinet will continue as a Mario Ambassador around the world.

Martinet also voiced Luigi, Wario, and several other characters in the Mario universe.

“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time,” Nintendo said in the announcement. “Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue traveling the world and sharing the joy of Mario with you all!”

A Nintendo representative told GameSpot that Martinet did not provide the voice of Mario for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which confirmed what some fans had speculated since the trailer first debuted in the June Nintendo Direct.

Prior to the Super Mario Bros movie’s release, Martinet responded to rumors about him stepping down by saying he never wanted to stop.

“I want to voice Mario until I drop dead,” Martinet said at the time. “If someday I think I am no longer capable of doing it, I will tell Nintendo to look into finding someone else.”

Nintendo didn’t say whether Martinet’s retirement is tied to his health. The Big N also didn’t say what the newly-created role of Mario Ambassador actually entails, though since Martinet regularly appeared at conventions and other celebrations to represent Mario, it’ll likely involve much of the same thing.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder and its fabulous cover art launch for Nintendo Switch on Oct. 20, 2023.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Pokemon Presents August 2023 recap: DLC, Detective P, and more

The August 2023 Pokemon Presents showcase has come and gone, with Scarlet and Violet DLC updates and quite a bit more

The August 2023 Pokemon Presents showcase has come and gone, with Scarlet and Violet DLC updates and quite a bit more. The 30-minute presentation announced a free Mew ahead of a climactic showdown against Mewtwo in an upcoming Tera Raid. There’s also a new Detective Pikachu 2 trailer, new Pokemon forms, and confirmation of The Pokemon Trading Card Game coming to Nintendo Switch Online. What there isn’t is a new Pokemon game announcement, so despite rumors of a new Legends in the works, it looks like Scarlet and Violet DLC is Game Freak’s priority for the foreseeable future.

 

Game Freak announces Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC release date

After months of teasing, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company finally announced the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC release date

After months of teasing, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company finally announced the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC release date during the August 2023 Pokemon Presents, at least for the first half. The Teal Mask, part one of The Secret Treasure of Area Zero, will launch on Sep. 13, 2023, for Nintendo Switch and adds the new region of Kitakami, new Pokemon, and a few new rivals as well.

The Teal Mask kicks off with a school trip to the Kitakami region, an idyllic rural setting with rice paddies, a giant, slightly ominous mountains, and apple orchards around every corner. It’s fitting, then, that one of The Teal Mask’s new Pokemon is Dipplin, an Applin evolution, the apple dragon who first appeared in the Galar region. Like in Sword and Shield’s expansion, this new region is home to Pokemon you can’t find in the base game.

Three additional new Pokemon are The Loyal Three, Kitakami’s guardians who once saved the land from a horrible ogre, or so the story goes. These are:

  • Munkidori
  • Okidogi
  • Fezandipity

Game Freak didn’t say what type these three are, though.

You arrive during an annual festival celebrating The Loyal Three, which means there’s plenty to do and see, including new mini-games such as Oust the Ogre and photography challenges.

The DLC’s second half is The Indigo Disc. This expansion has no release date yet, but when it does launch, it’ll introduce a substantial amount of new characters, Pokemon, and challenges to Scarlet and Violet, including a new Elite Four to battle. 

Your destination this time is Blueberry Academy, a school situated underwater with multiple biomes branching off from the main hub. You’ll find new Pokemon in each of these, including Golurk and Alolan Exeggutor, and you can battle new trainers from across the region.

At the end of all this, you head back to Paldea and finally discove the Secret Treasure of Area Zero.

You can get both halves of the DLC in the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion for $34.99, but make sure to check which version you’re buying. Like Sword and Shield‘s DLC, the expansions are version-specific.

And finally, make sure to grab your free Mew with the new Scarlet and Violet Mystery Code while the offer’s going.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Nintendo is bringing online servers back for Wii U multiplayer games

Almost half a year after taking Wii U servers offline, Nintendo is letting fans play their multiplayer games online again

Almost half a year after taking Wii U servers offline, Nintendo is letting fans play their multiplayer games online again. The news comes five months after Nintendo removed online play for Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon following the discovery of critical vulnerabilities in both games.

At the time, Nintendo only said the takedown was for “extended maintenance” and didn’t mention the vulnerability issue. Dataminer OatmealDome originally suggested the problem stemmed from an ENLBufferPwn exploit, a critical problem that affected multiple Nintendo first-party games, including Animal Crossing New Horizons and even Splatoon 3, along with older games on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. 

ENLBufferPwn lets the hacker execute code in your console just by playing an online game with you. The result could give the hacker control over your game or the entire console, which is particularly problematic given the sensitive financial and personal information that may be on there.

A group of software-savvy dataminers pointed out the problem to Nintendo in 2021, and since then, the Big N has issued patches for a wide range of its games to fix the vulnerability. It’s unclear why Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon had to remain offline for so long, but whatever the case, it’s fixed – for now. 

In Nintendo’s statement on the matter, the company said they may have to disable online functionality again at short notice if further problems arise.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Ubisoft announces Mario+Rabbids Rayman DLC release date

The Mario+Rabbids Rayman DLC finally has a release date, and Ubisoft is bringing a fan-favorite villain back to the Nintendo game as well

The Mario+Rabbids Rayman DLC finally has a release date, and Ubisoft is bringing a fan-favorite villain back to the Nintendo game’s sequel as well. The Mario+Rabbids Rayman DLC, officially called Rayman in the Phantom Show, will launch on Aug. 30, 2023, as a standalone expansion or as part of the strategy game’s season pass.

Ubisoft and Nintendo made the announcement in a new trailer that highlights some of the DLC’s action and teases a starring role for the Phantom, a boss from the first Mario+Rabbid game with a penchant for drama and vocal projection. In a fitting turn of events, the Phantom owns an intergalactic TV production company now, and it’s your job to help improve his network’s ratings.

While most of the trailer spotlights the Mario game expansion’s cinematics, we do get a glimpse of some actual gameplay and Rayman-specific additions. Lum Rings, the purple hoops that Rayman could grapple with, add a new layer of strategy and a way to get around stages, and Rayman uses plunger guns and his own rocket-powered fists to take enemies down from afar.

The stage this time is a set, or multiple sets, to be more accurate. Your battles against new and familiar foes unfold across TV sets for Wild West productions, pirate shows, what looks like a ghost story set, and probably more. Nintendo and Ubisoft didn’t mention anything about new skills or Sparks, though it looks like at least some of the Sparks from the base game tag along for the ride.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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The worst Nintendo Gamecube games of all time

Our worst Nintendo Gamecube games list highlights some of the truly awful licensed games, adaptations, and first-party flops on the console

The Nintendo Gamecube stands out for its library of innovative new ideas and impressive sequels, but behind these triumphs lurks a host of the worst Gamecube games. These imprinted themselves on the minds of the elders – us 30- and 40-something folks – who spent their hard-earned cash on a new game, clicked the disc into place, and watched their hopes of joy and excitement wither away in front of them. You can count yourself lucky if you missed out on these – or not so lucky, since we’re forcing them into your consciousness now in our worst Gamecube games list.

Ash’s final Pokemon anime episodes have a Netflix release date now

Ash’s decades-long journey in the Pokemon anime is finally coming to a close on Netflix in September 2023

Ash’s decades-long journey in the Pokemon anime is finally coming to a close on Netflix. We knew Ash’s days in the spotlight were numbered, and now, after the Ultimate Journeys series already wrapped up in Japan, The Pokemon Company announced during SDCC 2023 that the final 13 episodes featuring Ash’s farewell will air on Sep. 8, 2023.

“The end of an era” gets thrown around pretty often, but seeing as Ash has been the star of the anime series since it first started airing in the mid-1990s, it seems rather appropriate here. In a move befitting such a momentous ending, The Pokemon Company also announced that Misty and Brock – Ash’s close friends and traveling companions in the show’s first several series – will return in the last 13 episodes.

It’s not all goodbyes and partings, though. Pokemon Horizons will take over where Ash’s story leaves off, introducing new heroes, Paldean Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet, and even a high-flying Pikachu. Netflix will also air Pokemon Concierge in December 2023.

Concierge is a stop-motion production that follows a young girl working as a concierge at a luxury resort that serves elite trainers and their Pokemon, so it’s shaping up to be something rather different than we’re used to both from an animation perspective and in terms of what the series usually focuses on.

Meanwhile, on the video game front, Scarlet and Violet DLC expansions are still expected to release in the near future, though Nintendo hasn’t announced a launch date yet.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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