Earlier today, speculation grew that Metroid Prime 4 and Pokemon for Switch would be releasing in 2018. This was based on an interview GameBeat did with Nintendo’s Charlie Scibetta, where he commented that:
We’ve announced a nice lineup through this year, and next year we have some big games coming with Metroid 4. 2018 will be around Metroid, Kirby, Yoshi, new Pokemon game has been announced. We feel good about the lineup for this year and beyond.
Which certainly felt like confirmation of such a release date.
Yet Nintendo’s PR team disagreed. They said they had no release date planned for either game, and reached out to various journalists saying there was no chance to what they announced last week.
So who’s right? Charlie at Nintendo, or the other PR reps at the company?
Well, it’s a tough one to call really.
On the one hand, Nintendo is a very secretive company in general. They will deny absolutely everything, legitimacy of the rumours be damned.
Hence in that sense, it’s quite possible this was merely damage control. That after Mr Scibetta accidentally announced their plans, the company quick sent out updates to try and control the message and stop competitors capitalising on the reveal.
Yet even with that in mind, the chances of said games being ready in 2018 seems questionable.
After all, the amount of information we have on Metroid is virtually nil. We have no idea who’s making it, there’s no footage showing the game in action and Nintendo’s marketing efforts for the title are currently restricted to a single logo and press release.
To go from that to a full release in under a year seems… optimistic to say the least.
Pokemon is a bit more likely here. I mean, generation 7 certainly seems like it’s drawing to a close at the moment.
Yet at the same time, that seems like it’d be a questionable move by Nintendo and Game Freak. Remember, they only just announced Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Which are due out later this year.
Hence a 2018 release might not seem too fan friendly. Can you imagine buying a Pokemon game in November of this year and then being told to get another one months later? That seems like it’d annoy quite a few fans. Especially the younger ones who can’t afford to splash out on games every couple of months.
So it seems more likely a 2019 or 2020 release is what’s planned for these two titles. That would give Nintendo more time to market them, Game Freak time to cool off between games and fans’ wallets a bit of a relief in the meantime.
But what do you think? Will either of these games be released in 2018?
Or do you feel like a later release date is the mostly likely thing here?
Given the wide open sandbox style feel of the game, it’s pretty obvious Super Mario Odyssey will have a lot of content. I mean, it’s basically a given for the genre. You can’t get a 3D platformer with less than a hundred collectables. It’s the law.
But as Nintendo has revealed today, Super Mario Odyssey actually goes far further than that.
Why? Because as mentioned by a Nintendo rep in a Gamespot video, Super Mario Odyssey will have between 30-50 Moons per level:
That’s quite a jump from 64 (6 stars per course) and Sunshine (7 main missions and 2 secret ones). Indeed, if you only count the levels we already know about it in Odyssey:
- Metro Kingdom (New Donk City)
- Sand Kingdom (Tostarena)
- Cascade Kingdom (Fossil Falls)
- Wooded Kingdom (Steam Gardens)
- Luncheon Kingdom (Mount Volbono)
- Cap Kingdom (Bonneton)
You’ve already got a minimum of 180 Moons there and then. Or even a massive 300 if the higher figures are to be believed.
However, it’s probably not going to be just 6 kingdoms here. I mean, look at the world map for Odyssey:
As you can see, there are numerous extra landmasses that could be used for kingdoms in the game. Like the Mushroom one in the top right. Or the icicle shaped one to the south left. Heck, even what looks like a full blown kingdom underneath the Metro Kingdom at the bottom of the map.
So the count could easily rise up to 10-15 kingdoms, like in Mario 64. This would then put Mario Odyssey at a very impressive 300 Moons (at the lowest) or even 750 (assuming best case scenario).
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Back in late 2016, Nintendo and Universal announced that Nintendo attractions would be coming to Universal’s parks. These attractions would be part of a new ‘land’ called Super Nintendo World, with artwork and patents indicating that Mario Kart and Donkey Kong rides would be part of the mix.
Since then though… the two companies have kept pretty quiet about the whole deal. We got a video that basically adapted the concept art into animation form:
There was the ground breaking ceremony Nintendo showed before E3:
And a few videos where Miyamoto and Universal head Mark Woodbury discussed ideas for the park:
But that was it. Some general ideas, a few details, but nothing more than that.
Until a few days ago. Why? Because then, all manner of new concept art for the park was posted online, showing what seems to be tons of attractions and ideas! Here it is:
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Have you ever wanted to play a Mario Kart game in Virtual Reality? Felt like a headset such as the Oculus Rift would work really well for this sort of game?
If so, you may be in luck. Kind of.
Because while Nintendo hasn’t announced any home console Mario Kart games based on the feature, Namco has announced an arcade title that is. Yep, from the makers of Mario Kart Arcade GP and its sequels comes Mario Kart Arcade VR, an interesting sequel which adds VR functionality to the series.
Here’s a video showing the game in action:
As well as a pic illustrating what the game’s cabinets look like:
And even a neat little poster used to market title:
It’s an interesting little setup really. Gameplay wise, it’s basically a lot like Mario Kart Arcade GP crossed with Mario Kart 7. Or in other words, it has an art style and tracks remniscent of the latter and general physics seemingly based off the former.
And while anti gravity mechanics aren’t present here (perhaps for motion sickness reasons), other features from the series are. Like gliding and underwater driving from 7.
So you’ll be able to experience what it’s like going underwater or flying through the air in virtual reality. Pretty cool I guess.
What’s a little less cool though, is how this game won’t be getting much of a widespread release. And by that, I mean even compared to Mario Kart Arcade GP standards.
That’s because this game is currently planned to come to Bandai Namco’s new VR Zone arcade in Japan.
As a result of this, unless you’re going to Shinjuku in Tokyo some time soon,it’s unlikely you’ll be experiencing this game for a while. Which is a shame really, since this game would do really well over here. Just figure out a way to get headsets working with the Switch, post to eShop and hey, Bob’s your uncle. I’m sure a lot of Mario Kart fans would pay decent money to buy this.
For now though, it’s just an interesting novelty. Still, what do you think of it?
Are you excited to play a Virtual Reality Mario Kart game? Or does the fact this is currently only planned to be available in Japan put a bit of a damper on things?
Source:
Mario Kart Arcade VR (official VR Zone website)
We normally don’t write much about that system updates on Gaming Reinvented. That’s because for the most part, they’re usually kind of uninteresting to all but the most pedantic fans and followers, with the average update being nothing more than a few bug fixes to increase stability.
But today we’ll make an exception to the rule. Why?
Because the recent update Nintendo released for the Switch is significantly more interesting than anyone expected. Indeed, why typical updates from them are the bug fix ones no one cares about, this one actually adds multiple new features to the system!
Like for example, an intriguing option to invert colours or convert them to greyscale. So hey, if you want to know what Breath of the Wild looks like in black and white… now you can. Without having to mess around with your TV or monitor configuration.
There’s also a few changes made to the news feed too. Namely, you can now respond to items rather than just reading them. It’s not the most complex setup (it just has two options for like/dislike), but it’s neat to see none the less.
As is the way you can now choose what news to receive. What do I mean by that?
Well, let’s say you just want information on Super Mario Odyssey. Before now, you were out of luck. Nintendo’s news included everything from Mario to ARMS, and there was no way to opt out of that.
Now though, that’s all changed. And so like you would with items in Smash Bros, you can now disable specific news feeds from the system. Or just make it so no news is shown at all.
Much more convenient now, don’t you agree?
As for other changes… well, there are quite a few of those too. These include:
- Being able to find paired controllers by making them vibrate from the system
- Changing the user icon order on the Home Menu
- Having 6 new Splatoon 2 characters to choose from for your user icon
- Having the ability to change the system volume from Quick Settings
- Compatibility with the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller’s wired mode, USB keyboards and controller updates
As well as resolving a few bugs. These include one that caused errors when updating games and another that let you use privilege escalation to hack the console.
So yeah, it’s a bit more of a meaty update than typical for Nintendo, and makes the Switch just that bit better than it used to be.
But still, what do you think? Is it worthwhile to update your Switch console for these new features? Or are you sticking to older firmware versions for potential homebrew reasons?
Source:
Nintendo Switch Updates Page (Nintendo of America official website)
