Tag: Nintendo

Everything announced during the April Nintendo Indies showcase

The April Nintendo Indies showcase was packed with release date announcements and new reveals for upcoming Switch games in the next year

The April Nintendo Indies showcase was packed with release date announcements and new reveals, and no, Hollow Knight Silksong wasn’t one of them. Sequels and expansions were still the theme of the day for this showcase, though, with Cult of the Lamb DLC, Teslagrad 2 and  Blasphemous 2, and a release date for Oxenfree 2 among the showcase’s many reveals. 

Nintendo highlighted plenty of other upcoming indies as well, including a new project from the West of Loathing developers and, at last, a release date for Mineko’s Night Market.

 

Tears of the Kingdom fan theories are getting pretty wild

Tears of the Kingdom fan theories are in full force after Nintendo debuted the open-world game’s final trailer, and a few make big claims

Tears of the Kingdom fan theories are in full force after Nintendo debuted the open-world game’s final trailer, and a few make some big claims. One that gained some traction following the trailer is the idea that Ganondorf will become Demise or is somehow connected to him.

Demise is the main villain in Skyward Sword, the Wii game that Nintendo remastered for the Switch. Skyward Sword is a prequel tale for the series, and Demise promises at the end that he’ll be reborn in each era to hound Link and Zelda throughout the generations. Most fans think Ganondorf is that reborn form, and the Tears of the Kingdom version of Ganondorf certainly bears some resemblance to the baddy at 1:18 in the latest trailer.

Another popular theory is that the strange woman shown at 3:09 in the trailer is actually the goddess Hylia. There’s not much evidence to go on for that one, admittedly. The Zelda universe alternates between Hylia and three other goddesses for Hyrule’s mythology. 

While Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild are both firmly rooted in the Hylia mythos, we never actually see her. However, the markedly pointed ears and the beam of pure light emitting from her hand suggest, if nothing else, a strong connection with Zelda and her mother’s family. Zelda even wears the same earrings as this mystery character at one point. And who does Skyward Sword say Zelda is related to? Hylia, by virtue of Zelda being her mortal incarnation.

Fans are less sure about another character who shows up at 1:42 in the trailer. She resembles the maybe-Hylia character, but has a decidedly more sinister air about her. Some think she could be a Zonai sage, a remnant of the civilization that predated Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule, based on her appearance and the fact that the Zonai seem to play a larger role in Tears of the Kingdom. The first trailer shows their distinct architectural and mural designs in the cave with Ganondorf’s mummy, and the gameplay trailer shows Link collecting a Zonai item from a defeated enemy.

Whoever she is – even if she’s Twinrova, as one Twitter user suggested – it seems pretty evident Tears of the Kingdom is placing a much heavier emphasis on lore and very specific series callouts.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches for Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

[mm-video type=video id=01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj-63f0de0fb272e8e5052147565eaa6662.jpg]

The US government just awarded Super Mario Bros. a significant honor

The Super Mario Bros. theme is the first video game song inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry

The Super Mario Bros. theme is the first video game song inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry (thanks, The Guardian). The Library of Congress, an official extension of the United States government’s legislative branch, announced the classic NES game theme and 24 other songs, albums, and musical tidbits as part of “the defining sounds of the nation’s history and culture,” alongside Mariah Carey’s single “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (1994) and Madonna’s 1984 album Like A Virgin.

The Library called the Super Mario Bros. “Ground Theme,” which plays while Mario is aboveground in the original NES game, “the most recognizable video game theme in history.” The news comes a week after Nintendo and Illumination released the Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters, which quickly shattered box office records and had the best opening five days of any animated movie, knocking Frozen 2 off its throne.

Not that the iconic theme had much to do with that success. While Koji Kondo composed the original Mario Bros. theme, much of his music and tracks from the Mario game series didn’t make their way to the film.

Other notables in this round of inductions include Queen Latifah, who became the first female rapper to have a recording admitted to the Library of Congress with her 1989 album All Hail the Queen and a set of commentaries and analysis from NBC reporter Dorothy Thompson on the state of Europe in 1939 leading up to World War II.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

[mm-video type=video id=01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj-63f0de0fb272e8e5052147565eaa6662.jpg]

Final Tears of the Kingdom trailer: Biggest reveals and teases

Nintendo released the final Tears of the Kingdom trailer ahead of the open-world game’s May launch, and there’s quite a bit going on

Nintendo released the final Tears of the Kingdom trailer ahead of the game’s launch on May 12, 2023, and it looks like the series is once again heading in a bold new direction. Where the previous trailer highlighted some of the open-world game’s crafting mechanics, the recent trailer places a heavier emphasis on the story, while teasing what looks like dungeons and a whole new world underground. Not unlike the final Breath of the Wild trailer in 2017, it’s a bit difficult to figure out exactly what’s going on in Tears of the Kingdom, but there are some pretty solid clues and even more tantalizing speculation. 

 

Ranking Mario’s 8 best suits by fashion and function

Number one in the rankings might surprise you.

The career of a video game icon demands constant reinvention. Even the most established characters in the world of gaming have to constantly evolve when it comes to their abilities, their backstory and even their fashion if they want to keep up in the ever-changing video gaming landscape. Like the greatest icons in other fields like music and movies, Mario has had plenty of looks over the years and seems to double his wardrobe with every new game.

It started with a handful of suits that came with special abilities, but as the years have gone on, Mario has amassed more suits than a lawyer’s funeral. Some of these suits are useful, but some of these don’t even give him special powers (other than slaying). We’ve taken on the monumental task of ranking Mario’s most iconic suits and the suit at the top may come as a shock to traditionalists.

Nintendo is giving you more time to redeem those 3DS and Wii U games

The 3DS eShop and Wii U eShop are officially closed now – at least, they would be if Nintendo hadn’t shut them down early

The 3DS eShop and Wii U eShop are officially closed now – at least, they would be if Nintendo hadn’t shut them down early. It turns out the Big N closed the digital storefronts a few hours earlier than intended on March 27, 2023, and to make up for it, they’re keeping both stores open for a bit longer – but only for redeeming download codes.

Nintendo Everything first spotted the news posted on Nintendo Japan’s Twitter account, and not long after, Nintendo of America added a note to the support site’s eShop page, though without announcing it on social media.

“As the feature to redeem download codes was disabled earlier than scheduled, we’ve extended the ability to redeem download codes until approximately 9:30 PM Pacific Time on April 3, 2023,” Nintendo said in the note. “Please redeem any remaining download codes from the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U before then.”

So if you’ve got any unredeemed codes for games you can’t miss, make sure to use them soon.

Even after April 3, 2023, you’ll still be able to re-download games you already own and even access software updates if, for some reason, you weren’t able to download them before the shops went offline. You just won’t be able to access new content, make new purchases, or redeem codes.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

[mm-video type=video id=01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj-63f0de0fb272e8e5052147565eaa6662.jpg]

The final Super Mario movie trailer gives a brief Mario Odyssey tease

Nintendo and Illumination released the final Super Mario movie trailer, and it shows a brief glimpse of a familiar Mario Odyssey location

Nintendo and Illumination released the final Super Mario movie trailer, and it shows a brief glimpse of a familiar Mario Odyssey location. For a scant second, we see Mario and Princess Peach walking through the deserts of Tostarena, the second planet Mario visits in the Switch game.

It’s there for a brief moment only with the large floating pyramid depicted in the background, sandwiched between a scene where a cannon is poised to fire someone into the sky, and Bowser rallies his minions. It’s the first time outside Peach’s Palace itself that we’ve seen a familiar location in the Mario movie. Previous trailers showed a new take on Bowser’s castle and the Mushroom Kingdom, alongside some locations inspired by the games, including a penguin kingdom.

Perhaps Mario and Peach accidentally overshoot their destination and find themselves in Tostarena on the way to fight Bowser, or perhaps Nintendo and Illumination are taking a “kitchen sink” approach and tossing in as many Mario references as they can. Despite Rosalina – presumably – not making an appearance in the movie, the new trailer shows a lone Luma with a sadistic streak imprisoned in Bowser’s castle.

The trailer ends with an extended look at the Mushroom crew racing down the iconic Rainbow Road Mario Kart course, a nice nod to the Nintendo theme park’s signature ride perhaps.

The Super Mario Bros. movie releases in theaters on April 5, 2023, a few days earlier than its original intended release date.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

[mm-video type=video id=01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj/01fvcjnp6fsbvxksdqgj-63f0de0fb272e8e5052147565eaa6662.jpg]

UK regulator thinks Call of Duty on Switch is an empty promise

Microsoft promised Call of Duty on Switch for 10 years if the Activision Blizzard deal goes through, but U.K. regulators aren’t convinced

Microsoft promised Call of Duty on Switch for 10 years if the Activision Blizzard deal goes through, but the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) isn’t convinced. Microsoft originally made the promise after concerns over the deal’s impact on competition in the games space arose, and company president Brad Smith said, during a recent meeting with European Union representatives in Brussels, that Nintendo agreed to the deal.

GamesRadar recently looked back through the CMA’s initial report from February on the deal and found the CMA already expressed doubt that such a deal would matter. Late in the report, the CMA said technical disparities between Nintendo hardware and other game consoles make it unlikely that the Switch could run Call of Duty games adequately. Even if it could, it would require additional, costly work to get the games running.

“We have… seen evidence that large shooter games do not run as well on Nintendo’s consoles due to its technical differentiation,” the CMA said in its report. “One third party [publisher] submitted that graphically intensive shooters may often be targeted originally at PlayStation and Xbox due to the specific characteristics of their console performance and that porting to the Nintendo Switch may require financial investment and compromises on graphical quality”.

There are possible alternatives that might satisfy everyone involved, though. Nintendo may be releasing a new, more powerful console in the near future, and Microsoft may be aware of the company’s plans. The company may also release cloud versions of the games instead, as Capcom did with Resident Evil Village and IO Interactive with Hitman 3.

The CMA will issue its full report on April 26. The European anti-competition agency is expected to issue its objections to the deal soon as well, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against Microsoft, intended to block the deal, remains ongoing.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

[mm-video type=video id=01gsx9sm1zaj86re5pzm playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gsx9sm1zaj86re5pzm/01gsx9sm1zaj86re5pzm-6a3de73fa6f21e56ce128b0798a91116.jpg]

Microsoft signs 10-year contract to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms

Everything arrives “same day” across Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation consoles.

Microsoft has signed a 10-year legal agreement that’ll bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms – arriving “the same day as Xbox” with full feature and content parity.

“We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers,” Brad Smith, president at Microsoft, said on Twitter. “This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms.”

Last December, Microsoft was already in talks with Nintendo about this deal – so it’s likely that the ink is still wet. Sony isn’t getting left behind either, as the announcement also mentions PlayStation.

The series hasn’t been on a Nintendo platform since Call of Duty: Ghosts, which launched for Wii U in 2013. Microsoft didn’t clarify whether future Call of Duty installments would release for the Switch or whatever Nintendo’s next console might be.

This partnership is undoubtedly happening due to Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Since the sale was announced, it has faced severe scrutiny from regulatory bodies worldwide, including a lawsuit from the FTC, along with pressure from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which wants Microsoft to sell Call of Duty.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

[mm-video type=video id=01gstegbew0fdekg4q8m playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gstegbew0fdekg4q8m/01gstegbew0fdekg4q8m-fbe44ce12acfc41bd1354fc8b6096ba5.jpg]

Pikmin 4, Zelda, and all the February Nintendo Direct announcements

The February Nintendo Direct was packed with announcements, mostly of ports and remasters, but with a few new surprises as well

The February Nintendo Direct was packed with announcements for the Switch, mostly of ports and remasters, but with a few new surprises as well. From the first look at Pikmin 4 gameplay and a release date, to the long-rumored Metroid Prime remaster, Game Boy on Nintendo Switch Online, and some niche JRPGs Bandai pulled out of the past, there was, if not something for everyone, at least plenty to keep the Switch powered on as it enters its sixth year on the market – with no new hardware in sight for the rest of the year.