Nintendo 3DS

[Sno]

I had kind of been going back and forth on whether or not i should buy it, but finally decided on picking up a copy of Shinen's Nano Assault for the 3DS. After waiting so long to buy it, of course it would happen that later the same day i would hear about it being remade and updated for both 3DS eShop and the WiiU, so... Shit, i guess. I've always really enjoyed Shinen's handheld shooters though, Nanostray 2 was probably one of my favorite games on the DS, that was an absolutely wonderful game.

Nano Assault seems pretty awesome too. It's a solid, averagely-difficult shooter with some really standout visuals. Parts of the game play out like a 360 degree shooter with you roaming around the surface of oddly shaped cellular blobs while shooting viruses, and other parts play out more like an on-rails game akin to Starfox. I dig it, i would give it a pretty confident recommendation. (Maybe wait for one of the re-releases, i've read the eShop re-release will support the CPP for some proper twin-stick control, which it kind of really should have.)

[Roderick]

Good recommendation, will check it out.

[Roderick]

The latest European Nintendo Direct stream confirmed a host of 3DS titles including Guild 01 and Devil Survivor.

And they announced the Pikachu 3DS XL would arrive on our shores.

I think I want one! A nice design is apparently all I need to take the step towards a marginal upgrade. To be honest, my 3DS is also starting to rattle a little. Something inside the hinges must've popped off or something. The XL is supposed to be a lot sturdier, which I welcome. Of course, the whole thing is still steeped in Dual Feelings, since the lack of a second nub is an astounding oversight they'll almost certainly remedy with another hardware overhaul in two years. I wish Nintendo would stop cutting corners. Compromising isn't entirely bad, but it is if it's to the detriment of the hardware.

[TheLastBaron]

If that comes to America I will buy it instantly. I haven't felt compelled to buy a 3ds yet, but I would buy that day one.

[JonCole]

So Nintendo announced their eShop schedule for the rest of the year and the most notable inclusions by my estimation are the full-game downloads for Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, Ocarina of Time 3D, and Star Fox 3D. The one thing that I will likely always be annoyed with Nintendo about is their total lack of price sensitivity (meaning there's a big $40 price tag on all of those titles). Hell, even Microsoft and Sony decrease the pricing on their old Games on Demand-type stuff after a little while, though always lagging behind retail. I know Nintendo first-party titles always sell like gangbusters, but I can't help but believe they'd make more money after dropping the prices on their titles a year or more after release and build consumer satisfaction.

[Sno]

In North America we're getting the Guild 01 games individually on the eShop, but it looks like we're only getting three of the four? I didn't see all four of them on the list of upcoming eShop games.

There's also a bunch of new demos up with more on the way, and the last few weeks seem to have added a lot of other interesting new games to the eShop as well.

eShop is shpaing up quite nicely, it's looking like a pretty strong digital platform, and it bodes well for the digital business on the Wii U. (I've been hearing rumors that Nintendo is aggressively pursuing indie support for the Wii U.)

Non-download news - Code of Princess comes out in the next week, i'm looking forward to that.

A lane-based rpg brawler very much in the style of Guardian Heroes. (Which would be because it's being developed by a team of people who had worked on that game.)

It even has online co-op!

[syntheticgerbil]

Those Pikachu nipples...

[Roderick]

It is a rather unfortunate placement of the graphic, but I've come to find it amusing and still want one.

[Sno]

So Code of Princess is a pretty fantastic game if anybody is looking for a fun, technical brawler. I really hope people check this game out. Super solid game with a simple, flexible combo mechanic that has tons of potential for ridiculous juggles.

Unfortunately, the framerate in this really struggles when the 3D is turned on, and the game looks kind of muddy and shitty in 2D. (I think the 3D helps its detailed character sprites stand out against the generally ugly environments.)

I'd also like to be able to say whether or not the fairly extensive online feature set is any good, but nobody is playing this game online. Full versus and co-op modes though.

[Sno]

Virtue's Last Reward is out and seems wonderful. (The visual novel sections are fully voiced!)

The opening chunk of the game is a major exposition-heavy slog, but you get through it once and you can skip it on all subsequent playthroughs. Where things get interesting is when you start digging into the possible story branches. Twenty four possible endings, and there is a pretty crazy story flow chart to help you keep track of what you've completed.

The puzzle rooms i've seen are pretty sharp, and they have this thing now where you can hit a button to make the other characters start giving out hints, but at the cost of making you miss out on optional rewards. (Little story documents that fill out a bunch of background details.) I haven't found their easy mode necessary though, nothing has been that hard on my first playthrough.

I'm going to say that Virtue's Last Reward is a thing people should play, and that maybe people should go back and also play 999 first if they haven't.

Also, Grasshopper's Liberation Maiden is up on the eShop. It's pretty flashy and cool, but it feels like it probably worked better as a part of a collection.

[Sno]

Holy shit, Virtue is so good, the conclusion of that first playthrough was riveting. I think this is seriously a must-play, it's so good!

It's also letting me use the story flowchart to jump freely through story checkpoints i've previously reached, on top of the usual ability to fast-forward through text you've already seen. You know, so instead of zipping back to the start of the game and fast-forwarding until i hit a story decision, i can jump straight back to the branching points.

It also starts out seeming fairly stand-alone, but then then the sci-fi stuff starts creeping in. It doesn't seem wildly exclusionary or anything, but the places it goes, i think people would be well served playing 999 first. I hope that doesn't dissuade anybody from checking these games out though, they're both fantastic. The only issue might be that it's apparently pretty difficult to find copies of 999 floating around as of right now.

Edit:

Holy shit, is the story in this game changing depending on the order i do the different paths in? The main character is displaying awareness of me jumping through the story flowchart, kind of confusedly "remembering" the events from the other paths. Fwaaaaaah, that broke my brain a little bit when it started happening.

Non-spoiler version: Seriously, if you own a 3DS, or actually own a Vita for some crazy reason, you really need to play this.

In the interest of not having a string of me talking to myself, here's another edit:

I suppose nobody here is interested in this one. Even so, public service announcement: Nasty save bug! Don't save in the "PEC" room. It's one single puzzle room somewhere in the middle of the game, it's an issue that is very easy to avoid if you know about it. However, if you do save in that room, a few minutes out from that your game will lock-up and your save will have become corrupted. Apparently it's a known issue, but i had no idea, and it just happened to me. 17 hours gone! I am so sad.

At about the same time, my battery died, so i haven't had a chance to see if i can create a new save or if i've bricked my cart. Assuming i can start over, and with the vast majority of the game being non-interactive scenes, i can flip on the auto-scrolling text and try and recreate the condition my save was in fairly easily, it's just going to take a lot of time. I like this game enough that i am not going to give up on it, i'll just let it play itself out while i'm busy with other stuff.

Really, really, really wish i knew about that bug beforehand. What a fucking load of shit.

It's an unfortunate blemish on a fantastic game.

[tegan]

So I've been playing Paper Mario: Sticker Star and didn't want to make a new thread for it, but did want to point out that Paper Mario is apparently now set in the Pikmin 2 world. I keep collecting giant real-world objects as the game goes on, and the game has that Pikmin 2 theme of having a character write descriptions for recognizable objects that completely misinterpret their function. It's so goddamned weird. Miyamoto eventually outright said that Pikmin is set on post-apocalyptic Earth, so where does that put the Mario series now?

Also, I am replacing my launch 3DS (one of the ones with the wobbly hinge where the bottom screen edge leaves scratches on the top screen) with a 3DS XL. I recently made bonus at work, so I could totally do it. Is the XL worth the price tag as a replacement?

[Sno]

There's a Fire Emblem: Awakening demo up eShop, it seems pretty rad from a few minutes of hands-on.

The general buzz has been that it might be the best one since the GBA games, which would be awesome, because i love that series in theory, but haven't actually liked any of the games since the GBA ones.

[Roderick]

I'm kind of getting excited about the European eShop release of Nano Assault Ex. Been out in the americas for a while, but not in Europe, which is crazy since the developer (Shin'en) is German. Ah well. Pricing isn't known yet, but the game is probably pretty good.

[Sno]

Wait, what?

It's not yet available in North America either.

The retail game was, but the eShop release hasn't come out anywhere yet, and by most accounts, it will be a dramatically expanded version of the game.

[shammack]

There's a Fire Emblem: Awakening demo up eShop, it seems pretty rad from a few minutes of hands-on.

My favorite thing about that demo is the way it starts with a fully voiced cutscene and the first couple of lines of dialogue you press B through are voiced as well, but after that, every line of text just has a voice sample of the character going "hmm..." or "huh?" or sighing, so it sounds like they just reached an awkward point in the conversation when nobody could think of what to say. That amused me more than it should have.

[Roderick]

Wait, what?

It's not yet available in North America either.

The retail game was, but the eShop release hasn't come out anywhere yet, and by most accounts, it will be a dramatically expanded version of the game.

I meant the retail game. I know this is a reworked version, but you should by all accounts be able to tell if the game is worth it in the first place. As for pricing, I'm hoping in the 10-15 euro range, since it's kind of not a spiffy new release, but it may well be 20.

[Sno]

Well, Nano Assault Neo for Wii U, the other remake of that game, is ten bucks.

So that's probably what you can expect to spend.

[Roderick]

I am so up for that!

[tegan]

So there was a mostly-3DS-related Nintendo Direct today. In case anyone was wondering:

• Animal Crossing comes out in June and will have a feature exclusive to Western audiences
  
• Donkey Kong Country Returns is being ported to 3DS
  
• Luigi's Mansion 2 is still a thing
  
• new Mario and Luigi game set inside Luigi's dreams
  

There was also some Wii U stuff, including the release of that Google Street View thing (available now!) and releasing New Super Mario Bros. U DLC that effectively builds a Luigi-based sequel for it with another full game's worth of unique levels using the same resources (kind of like the secret worlds from Super Mario 3D Land).

[Roderick]

I had a ton of fun with AC: Wild World on the DS, but this game will have to really work to show me it's doing stuff that exceed that game. DKCR being ported is very interesting news, especially if it opens up other Wii/Gamecube games for conversion. And why not?

[Sno]

By all accounts, the new Animal Crossing is quite a significantly different game from the relatively iterative past outings.

Also, M&L4 surprised me, that looks awesome. (Not that i would have expected it to be bad or anything.)

[miffy495]

I want Chibi Robo 3D! If they can port DKCR (which I will totally be buying. That game is hell of fun, and would be well suited to portable), why not that? Hell, make it a digital only release even and then don't worry about distribution costs. I know it's niche, but dammit I'd love to play that again.

[BigJKO]

Considering buying a 3DS, what are the must-play games so far?

Also.. are there seriously no SNES games on the 3DS virtual console?? Would've thought the Wii and 3DS virtual console would be identical.. Or close to, at least.

[Roderick]

Titles of import:

- Kingdom Hearts 3D (if that's your thing)

- Super Mario Land 3D

- Virtue's Last Reward

- I hear great things about Fire Emblem: Awakening

After that it's totally up to your taste. Layton? Resident Evil? Ocarina remake? At this point there are more than enough games to justify a purchase, the times of scarcity of quality (the first year) are way over.

There aren't any SNES games on there yet, which is kinda strange. Maybe they'll get around to it.