Kolzig

Nintendo 3DS

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I've been playing Minish Cap for a bit. At first I really liked it, it's a charmingly visual game that starts out with imagination. But then somewhere along the way it all goes south. It starts to feel like a facsimile. I got stuck a couple of times, but instead of the game funneling me into new things to do and discover, it grinds to a halt until you've found the thing that was arbitrarily triggered somewhere else in the world.

I can't say exactly what is so different about this than other Zelda's, but Capcom's effort somehow just lacks the Nintendo magic. At this point I'm just going through the motions, but I'm starting to realize why Minish Cap isn't counted among the best Zeldas. The 3D DS iterations are much better, and not coincidentally developed by Nintendo itself.

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3DS demos are live.

Well, demo.

RE: Revelations!

Couple notes -

The demos apparently are going to have limited activations. (30, to be precise. That's an awful lot for a demo, i don't think it's really an issue.)

Another tiny little detail is that the demos don't seem to be added to your download history. (Though they're added to your purchase history.)

^ I really appreciate this, i wouldn't want demos i have no intent of ever playing again polluting my download history on the 3DS. (It's been a big problem with X-box Live for me, god help me if i ever need to find something in that download history because it's been "delisted" or was a bonus that i need to redownload)

Anyways, RE: Revelations is really cool.

The enemies are kinda dumb, i think they're trying to emulate the ultra-creepy regenerators from RE4, but they're not really nailing it. They seem kinda goofy.

It obviously will play better with the add-on stick, but the default scheme is very similar to how RE4 played, and it seems fine.

The scan-for-items thing is kinda dumb.

The game also, i think, shows that the 3DS has some real potential to be visual powerhouse. Where most of the 3DS games i've seen so far are about on par with the PSP, Revelations is showing some stuff that seems more akin to what Sony is showing off on the Vita. Really incredible stuff, really incredible.

This will probably be a very excellent game.

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I've never played any Nintendo games, would a 3DS be a good place to start?

Well there was this one time when I was 14 I played some Mario game on a friends Nintendo... it said "Out of time Luigi" on the first level... they had never even seen that happen.

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Well, the StarFox and Zelda are both just the awesome N64 games, so you could catch up on that. You can play Super Mario Land 1 and 2 and Zelda: Link's Awakening on VC, which are spectacular (I still hold that LA is the best Zelda game). Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart are both fantastic examples of their respective series. Finally, a new Luigi's Mansion and Paper Mario are due by the end of the year. Yeah, I'd say if you're interested in checking out some good Nintendo games, this is a damn good place to start. Also, Pilotwings, but that may just be my nostalgia for the SNES game talking.

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I guess the Wii would be the best choice to catch up then? It plays GameCube games and has almost every Nintendo game ever on the Virtual Console.

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I've never played any Nintendo games, would a 3DS be a good place to start?

Well there was this one time when I was 14 I played some Mario game on a friends Nintendo... it said "Out of time Luigi" on the first level... they had never even seen that happen.

The 3DS is really starting to look like an excellent system, and is also backwards compatible with about six or so years of frequently-excellent DS games. (Though the 3DS Virtual Console is probably not particularly exciting, with its emphasis on selling only old handheld games.) For 3DS software, Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land are both very good classical Nintendo games. The 3DS also has an updated version of Ocarina of Time, which is still popularly held as one of, if not the best game ever made. (For non-Nintendo fare, things are looking pretty exciting, RE: Revelations is potentially crazy awesome.)

It's still new hardware, it could suddenly drop off the face of the planet as Nintendo systems can tend to. Support just randomly dies off and no games come out. Right now though, it's looking pretty promising.

If you want to go diving through backlogs though, the Wii could probably be a good place to start. As Tanu noted, its Virtual Console library is incredibly comprehensive, and the hardware is backwards compatible with Gamecube games. (Personally, i feel that the Wii itself has been a so-so Nintendo system in regards to its own software, but it has some pretty incredible standouts like the two Super Mario Galaxy games.)

The Wii is also nearing the end of its life. Its successor, the Wii U will be backwards compatible with Wii games and likely its digital library in the Virtual Console and Wii Ware services, but the Wii U will not have hardware compatibility with the Gamecube. (Which was an excellent and seriously under appreciated platform.)

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I finally took the plunge and bought a 3DS at Christmas.

Picked up Ocarina of Time & Pilot Wings with the device and have since picked up Pushmo, Mighty Switch Force & Links' Awakening from the eshop. I initially enjoyed Mighty Switch Force until I realised it was created with speed runs solely in mind.

It also reminded me that I don't find Ocarina of Time as boring as I thought I did, however I did forget what a pair of bastards those 2 skeletons are in the forest temple, I've had to take a break otherwise I'll go completely bald.

2012 is going to be a cracking year for the device, just wished I could get those ambassador games somehow, I'd kill for a copy of Minish Cap and Metroid.

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It's pretty nice to have 'em, although I will say that trying to use the D-Pad and L button at the same time sucks, so some GBA games that require that don't translate as well as you'd hope. I never found the Stalfos too bad, but the first time I had to fight two Lizalfos in Skyward Sword I nearly went outside to kill the first passerby I saw. I got their pattern eventually, but shit did that hurt.

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OPERATION MOONFALL LET'S GET MAJORA'S MASK TO THE 3DS!

Yes, please.

I've replayed OoT at least ten times (and I think I don't ever want to again, although I might do a Master Quest run just the one more time on my 3DS at some point in the future - possibly as a no-heart run, since I've never done that), but only ever played MM the once, despite liking it more. I'd like to amend this in the prettiest, most modern way possible.

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Majora's Mask being my favorite Zelda game, i would definitely like to see it get a nice remake.

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I'd rather have some form of 3D classics version of Link to the Past (namely because I've lost my GBA copy along with my GBA SP), I far prefer 2D Zelda in general.

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I am really close to going all in and buying the 3DS.

I tested the RE:Revelations demo with a friend's 3DS and it was great. Also I got my first taste of Super Mario 3D Land and it was just pure, pure fun.

Before my next trip to the magical land of Japan in May, I will buy a 3DS. Yes, that is starting to look clear now.

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Nintendo has finally announced that they're going to build a proper account structure for their systems.

First wave of it for the 3DS sounds like it will be bolted on as an in-game thing for multiplayer and as a way to "securely" have you buy DLC from in-game DLC stores.

By the time the Wii U rolls around, it sounds like it's probably going to be a required thing at system level, for both the 3DS and the Wii U.

Nintendo was very unclear about how this affects the current business model, if/when the existing shops will be overhauled, and if existing purchases can be transferred to this new account structure.

All of which are very important questions.

That Nintendo was specifically avoiding these questions, even trying to lead interviews away from them, it sounds like this shit is super in its infancy and they have no idea what they're going to do with it yet.

They were also talking about wanting to eventually sell digital versions of retail 3DS games, but noted that SD card capacity will surely be a problem. (RE:Revelations is on a four gig cart, for example.)

So yeah, the story was basically that Nintendo is saying they're going to do things, but has no idea how they're going to do those things.

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Yeah it's all a bit of a mystery at the moment, but it's one that gives me a bit of hope. I wonder if there's any chance in hell of them going back and allowing us to do link our Wii purchases with the new account. I'd hate to lose all my VC games. And, hell, I'd have purchased a whole hell of a lot more of 'em by now if I was more confident in the security of my purchases from Wii to Wii U.

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Yeah it's all a bit of a mystery at the moment, but it's one that gives me a bit of hope. I wonder if there's any chance in hell of them going back and allowing us to do link our Wii purchases with the new account. I'd hate to lose all my VC games. And, hell, I'd have purchased a whole hell of a lot more of 'em by now if I was more confident in the security of my purchases from Wii to Wii U.

I can't imagine they wouldn't allow that, right? That'd be crazy, and incredibly upsetting. It would destroy absolutely all of the good will and faith their digital distribution platforms have gradually accumulated.

I mean, but i had some stuff on my DSi that i bought through the DSi store, and i was able to transfer that stuff hardware-to-hardware onto my 3DS. I'm hoping from there i can then eventually tie those things into this new account structure.

The DSi though, it wasn't built to allow that, there was a small app i had to download from the DSi store that would allow the licenses to be transferred between the serial numbers of my DSi and 3DS. (With the 3DS having this functionality built in, buried in the menus.) I had to sit my DSi next to my 3DS and let them talk to each other and Nintendo's servers for a couple hour process as it all kind of slowly processed and executed upon each downloadable game's transfer.

I'm betting it'll be something similarly convoluted for the Wii to Wii U/Nintendo Network. I'm sure there's going to be a way, it's probably just going to be a really laborious and time-consuming one.

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If you'd asked me a year ago, I'd have been pretty confident in their stubbornness to NOT let us transfer purchases. But now I'm definitely much more optimistic. My biggest worry is that I'll need to keep my Wii until I have a Wii U, to physically transfer the purchases. I'm hoping they come up with a more elegant solution than that, but... I don't know.

There are some DSi purchases that cannot be transferred to 3DS. I don't really know why.

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My biggest worry is that I'll need to keep my Wii until I have a Wii U, to physically transfer the purchases. I'm hoping they come up with a more elegant solution than that, but... I don't know.

The best way i can think of for them to do it, is to release a Wii app that lets people tie their Wii downloads straight into a Nintendo account. This then wouldn't require a Wii U to carry out, but would still require hanging on to your Wii until you can complete this process. (Is that still funny? "Hanging on to your Wii?" Can i still laugh at that?)

There are some DSi purchases that cannot be transferred to 3DS. I don't really know why.

There was the Flipnote program, the neat little animation tool with some web uploading functionality, that's the only one that sticks out in mind as not being possible to transfer. I think i had read that it was because it wasn't actually able to work properly on the 3DS, i believe it was stated to be some kind of server issue. Didn't Nintendo say they were making a new version of Flipnote for the 3DS, though?

Edited by Sno

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Does anyone have any experience with the new controller add-on [for RERevelations]? Do you need lots of batteries? Is it fun? Is it crucial to get the most out of Resident Evil?

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Does anyone have any experience with the new controller add-on [for RERevelations]? Do you need lots of batteries? Is it fun? Is it crucial to get the most out of Resident Evil?

The Giant Bomb crew spent a little time looking at it in their RE:Revelations quick look.

It seems like a weird thing, it's super crazy to me that it doesn't make a physical connection with the 3DS, it communicates via the infrared port. It also doesn't lock onto the 3DS securely, it just kind of smooshes into place and is held tight by rubber grips. It also needs only one triple A and apparently lasts for nearly 500 hours, so battery life isn't an issue.

You probably want it if you want to play RE:Revelations, it sounds like it's fine for what it is. The Giant Bomb guys were taking issue with how big and heavy it is, how little functionality it offers while sacrificing portability, but... you know... are you fine playing RE:Revelations with RE4-style control, or do you want dual analog? I guess that is what it comes down to. (For now at least, because other big games are going to need it. Kid Icarus Uprising is just going to use it as an alternate control option for lefties, but some of the other games will probably have greater need of it.)

Anyways, those guys also seem pretty down on Revelations, but it seems more to do with philosophical umbrages than the game itself.

Edited by Sno

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Thanks, that was very informative. I'll probably get the bundle because the price difference between that and the standard version of RE is minimal (ten Euros). I can always choose not to play with it if it raises ennui.

The demo did convince me that the game is quite special, just in terms of graphics and atmosphere alone, so I'll be happy to give it a try. When I saw it for the first time in action my jaw dropped, it literally dropped. It disconnected from my physical face and landed in my lap. The last game I played that was set in a spooky ship was superb as well; I'm talking about visual novel 999. It has nothing to do with RE, but I'm just saying...

Well, I'm not saying anything without a proper jaw.

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999 was a very cool game, i'll be quite happy if the 3DS sequel gets localized as well.

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The best way i can think of for them to do it, is to release a Wii app that lets people tie their Wii downloads straight into a Nintendo account. This then wouldn't require a Wii U to carry out, but would still require hanging on to your Wii until you can complete this process. (Is that still funny? "Hanging on to your Wii?" Can i still laugh at that?)

Yes, you may laugh at that.

And yeah I suppose that would be the best way. Let's hope!

There was the Flipnote program, the neat little animation tool with some web uploading functionality, that's the only one that sticks out in mind as not being possible to transfer. I think i had read that it was because it wasn't actually able to work properly on the 3DS, i believe it was stated to be some kind of server issue. Didn't Nintendo say they were making a new version of Flipnote for the 3DS, though?

There's also some third-party pinball game, IIRC. I never owned a DSi, though, so I'm just going off of hearsay.

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Revelaitons [sic] is a damn fine Resident Evil game, i am really enjoying it.

Some slight performance problems here and there. It's very noticeable that the in-game models don't have any lip-syncing. The rigid check-pointing is really random and kind of sucks. (Especially given that it's very much an RE1-style open-ended environment.)

Raid mode is awesome. I was never a fan of the Mercenaries mini-game, and i think this is magnitudes cooler. There's no timer, it's not a survival thing. You have linear start-to-finish stages made out of chopped up and remixed pieces of the single-player campaign, but really difficult and with a ton of arcadey silliness. (With loot drops, character leveling, and online co-op.)

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