Yes, it’s finally happened. After weeks of rumours and crazy predictions, Nintendo has announced a new Nintendo Direct. This Direct will be posted tomorrow at 3pm PT (11PM UK time), and will focus on new games for the 3DS and Nintendo Switch.
Here are the announcements about it on Twitter, courtesy of Nintendo of America:
As you can tell, it’s a pretty big Nintendo Direct too, with 35 minutes of 3DS and Nintendo Switch announcements being included in the presentation.
But what exactly could they show there? What games will Nintendo announce at the event anyway?
Well, it’s obvious that Super Smash Bros Ultimate and the Pokemon Let’s Go games will be here. Every Direct has something Smash related in it now, and Nintendo’s been marketing the hell out of those Pokemon games recently. So that stuff seems a given.
Case in point…
Caption: Case in point…
And the likes of Luigi’s Mansion 3D may well make an appearance as well. After all, we haven’t heard much about that game recently, and we don’t have any idea what kind of new features it has either. Same with Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr’s Journey. We know the games exist, but we don’t know much about their features or what exists to incentivise fans of the original to shell out for the remakes.
Hence we’d bet at least one of those will appear in the Nintendo Direct too.
But it won’t just be about games we’ve seen footage of already, there’ll almost certainly be other Nintendo news and announcements as well. So what could those be?
Well in our (not too informed) opinion, we believe at least one or two of the following might be shown off in the Direct:
1. A new Wario Land game. Yeah it’s a bit of a cliche for us here at Gaming Reinvented now, and we do bring up the possibility for every new Nintendo event. But come on, the trademarks exist, the rumours have existed for years now… surely one of these has to come along sometime, right?
Hell, WarioWare Gold did, so Nintendo hasn’t completely forgotten about the franchise. So that’s one prediction we’ve got.
2. There’s also the possibility that we’ll see Metroid Prime 4 at one of these events too. This one was announced at E3 a while back, but we only ever really got a logo for it. That’s got to change soon, so it’s possible this Direct could be this game’s chance to shine.
3. Same goes for Pikmin 4. Like with Wario Land, it’s been in the ‘likely to exist’ category for a while now, and Miyamoto himself has even commented on the possibility a few times before. Hence that’s another possible reveal here, especially if Prime 4 is something Nintendo wants to save until E3 2019.
4. Super Mario Odyssey DLC could be a reveal too. Again, it’s been rumoured for a while now, but with the costumes found in the game’s datamine running dry, it seems all too possible the next update will be along some time soon.
5. Finally, there’s always that Yoshi game Nintendo revealed as well. You know, the mystery one they revealed in the early Switch days, the one that seemed vanished off the face of the Earth shortly afterwards. That’s got to appear again someday, and it’s quite possible that day’ll be tomorrow.
What happened to this thing?
Either way, those are our predictions for the event. They’re probably not all gonna be shown off tomorrow, but we believe one or two may very well be, along with a few smaller ‘surprise’ games that are a bit harder to predict.
Still, what do you think? Could Metroid Prime 4 or Pikmin 4 be in the Direct? What titles do you feel are likely to make an appearance in tomorrow’s event?
Tell us your thoughts on this (and more) over on the Gaming Latest forums today!
And now it seems history’s repeating itself. Why? Because just earlier today, the team behind the game announced that Bloodstained was pushed back a second time, with the game’s release date now being sometime in 2019 rather than later this year.
Here’s the quote about it from their update post on Kickstarter:
Our first announcement is that the game will now launch in 2019. The most important reason for this is to raise the quality level, especially after all the very valuable feedback from the Beta Backer Demo.
Again, it’s for quality control reasons, with the developers saying the delay is needed to ‘raise the quality level’ in response to backer feedback.
It’s a disappointing thing to hear (especially after the same thing happened before), but it’s a completely understandable decision none the less.
Remember, even despite patches and updates, the Miyamoto quote about a ‘bad game staying bad forever’ still holds true for the most part.
And that’s because even when a game gets better, it doesn’t get another shot at a first impression. Remember Pokémon GO?
Yeah, it did well at first, but it’s poor quality in its early days and the constant bugs and issues with the game basically destroyed much of its reputation, and led to a large percentage of the userbase giving up on the game.
Same goes for Yooka-Laylee and No Man’s Sky. Sure they got better as updates got pushed out and bugs got fixed, but the damage has already been done. Their reputation is in tatters and the fanbase has mostly moved on.
Hence for the team behind Bloodstained, it makes sense to try and get things right the first time around. First impressions matter, and as a Kickstarter success story, they don’t want a repeat of Mighty No 9 or Yooka-Laylee’s situation here either.
Additionally, they’ve also announced the PlayStation Vita version of the game is cancelled.
Again, as per their Kickstarter update:
The game will no longer launch on PlayStation Vita. This decision is largely due to Sony’s plans to discontinue the Vita console, ending production of physical copies and stopping certain online store support features.
Again, it’s a perfectly reasonable decision from the game’s team. The PS Vita was running on fumes for a while now, and support for the console had basically died out altogether outside of Japan by the time they promised a release there. And so (like with the various Wii U and Ouya ports for other Kickstarter projects of recent years), the game’s been cancelled for a platform where its commercial viability was basically nil.
So yeah, there you have it. Bloodstained has been pushed back to 2019, and the Vita release won’t be happening.
But what are your thoughts on all this? Are you disappointed in the delay, or hopeful it’ll make for a better game overall? And were you one of the few people who wanted to play the game on the Vita?
Tell us your thoughts on the matter here at Gaming Reinvented or over on social media today!
Damn, these mods are being made crazy fast now! Yep, just days after WarioWare Gold’s release, we’ve already gotten mods for the title, bringing visual overhauls to the microgames and cutscenes in the process.
Such as this interesting one found on Mario Making Mods. This mod is based on the Super Mario Bros microgame in 18-Volt’s collection, and reskins it to feature graphics based on other Mario titles.
Namely, Super Mario Land 2 and the Super Mario All Stars version of Super Mario Bros instead of the original game! Here are some pictures showing the mod in action:
As you can see, it actually works really well all things considered. Hell, if we didn’t know it was a mod (and someone posted it on Mario Wiki or the likes), we’d genuinely believe Nintendo was behind this thing. After all, it certainly fits the style of the game, as well as Nintendo’s tendency to update the graphics for the redone games in WarioWare Gold.
So if you’re interested, check it out. It’s a neat way to make one of WarioWare Gold’s microgames feel that bit more fresh again, and a look at the modding scene that may develop for this game in future!
Which is why we’re so happy to see that unused content has already been datamined from WarioWare Gold on 3DS! Yep, as posted by Ehm from the Cutting Room Floor Wiki, an early version of Penny’s intro cutscene exists in the files of WarioWare Gold. And it’s from such an early stage in development that it actually uses hand drawn sketches by the game’s character designer Ko Takeuchi in place of the artwork used in the final game!
Here’s a tweet showing off some of the frames:
Leftover test video in WarioWare Gold. It's an early version of Penny Crygor's intro cutscene, featuring super cute Ko Takeuchi sketches. I'll try to get a proper video recording of both versions online at some point, but it's just not happening right now. pic.twitter.com/2DswdtUKTW
In addition to a video showing how it works out in game:
It’s actually pretty charming really, and in many cases, actually looks quite a bit more interesting than the final cutscene does. Hell, we’d certainly check out a WarioWare game with an art style like this, even if it was just used for a single cutscene or extra souvenir.
But what do you think about it? Do you find it interesting to see this sort of content in video games, especially this soon after the game’s release?
Would you play a WarioWare game that looked like Ko Takeuchi’s sketches?
Tell us what you think either on social media or over at the Gaming Latest forums!
Well, it’s finally here! After 5 years of no Wario games and a whole handheld console generation without one in sight, WarioWare Gold has finally been released for the 3DS. And with over 300 microgames, numerous extras and unlockables celebrating every part of the franchise’s history, it’s clear Nintendo is aiming for WarioWare Gold to be every Wario fan’s dream WarioWare title.
But does it live up to the hype? Is it the gold standard for the WarioWare series, or is it another disappointment like WarioWare Snapped and Game & Wario before it?
Let’s find out, in our all new review of WarioWare Gold for the 3DS!
Graphics
Starting with the visuals of the game. How appealing does WarioWare Gold look in general?
Well to be honest, about as appealing as every other WarioWare game does. It’s a series that’s never exactly been a graphics powerhouse, and it’s one that doesn’t need much beyond appealing cartoony visuals to do its job.
And in that sense? WarioWare Gold does its job perfectly. The cutscenes are nice enough and look charming, the microgames retain the quirky mix of visual styles the series is known for and everything looks as polished as can be for this sort of title. It’s not gonna compete with something like Luigi’s Mansion 2 or Mario Kart 7 or the Mario & Luigi series’ pixel art, but it looks great regardless, and does exactly what you need it to do.
So, all’s fine on the graphics front. Let’s move on to…
Sound/Music
To the sound department, where things actually get a bit more interesting than the past titles. Why? Because unlike said titles, WarioWare Gold has full voice acting for all major characters and cutscenes. What’s more, it’s not even the ‘couple of treehouse members’ style cheap voice acting from previous titles either, with the voice acting actually being done by professionals with experience in the industry. In that sense, it’s quite the step up.
What’s more, it actually works out pretty well for the most part. Wario is still voiced by Charles Martinet and still sounds as good as ever, whereas the other characters get new voice actors who generally hit the mark in the sound department. Have a listen to some examples if you don’t believe us there:
As you can tell, they generally do a pretty good job for the most part. This ain’t no Mario Sunshine esque deal where Bowser sounds like Cookie Monster, this is actually decent voice acting that compliments the game’s cutscenes perfectly.
Well, for the most part that is. Because unfortunately, while most of the voicework here is indeed top notch (with 18-Volt, Dribble and Ashley being some sort of the standouts), some of the others is perhaps a little less so. Like how Jimmy T sounds less like a suave disco dancer and more like a generic everyman, or how 9-Volt sounds just a bit too much like an average kid. Don’t get me wrong here, they don’t sound bad or anything, just not ideal for their roles in the game.
Still, even if the voice acting isn’t perfect, you certainly can’t fault the music or other sound effects in this game one bit. That’s because WarioWare Gold has quite literally the best soundtrack in the series bar none.
And that’s because in this title, every classic WarioWare tune you can think of returns. Ashley’s theme? Check. Mona Pizza? Check. Tomorrow Hill and Four Seasons? Check.
The records section for the title is a literal museum for classic WarioWare music, with basically every memorable tune you can think of making a comeback here. It’s amazing really.
What’s more, it gets even more incredible when you realise something else about said songs too. Namely, they’re now completely uncompressed and can be listened to at their original level of quality. No more hard to pick out voices or GBA soundchip level graininess here, every tune in WarioWare Gold is as crystal clear as you can get:
But don’t think WarioWare Gold is a mere nostalgia trip. Oh no, the game has quite a few new tracks you can listen to and unlock too. These include a new rap song starring 18-Volt, various mini game tracks (including a few based-on Ashley’s theme) and a catchy Mexican dance song for the final boss game. All of which are as catchy as can be, and all of which suit their place in the game perfectly:
The microgame background tunes and cutscene songs are neat too, though neither are played long enough to leave much of a lasting impression due to the gameplay style. Either way, it’s a good soundtrack, and it’s the best one in the series bar none.
However, as neat as it may be, that alone won’t make WarioWare Gold a good game. A good game needs good gameplay as well as music and visuals, and fortunately, that’s one area where WarioWare Gold succeeds with flying colours…
Gameplay
Since WarioWare Gold is basically the best bits of the WarioWare series in one game, with all the modes, control schemes and mechanics to match. As ever, the aim to complete all the random microgames thrown at you in the story, with the game speeding up after every four or so are completed and getting more difficult after a longer boss game.
And also as ever, this means doing whatever random things the game throw at you, since you have no idea what style of gameplay will come up next. You might be dodging traffic, keeping a cat from getting wet via an umbrella or picking a giant nose, it’s all there and hilarious in its sheer absurdity.
Above: For example, this microgame has Wario trying to keep a solicitor out of his house by holding the front door shut
But WarioWare Gold goes further still with the randomness. That’s because as mentioned before, all control schemes from past games return in this one. That means at any one time you could be mashing buttons, tilting the console, touching the screen or even blowing into the microphone, all while not knowing what control scheme may pop up next.
Well okay, maybe not for the first part of the game. In that one, the microgames are all sorted by control scheme and each row’s sets are based around a single control scheme (buttons, gyro and touch respectively).
But the point still stands, since later on things get mixed up, and your concentration will become a definite necessity if you want to stand a chance.
Yet the insanity doesn’t stop there either. Oh no. That’s because beating WarioWare Gold unlocks a new challenge menu, which comes with a new set of special challenges to take on.
These take the already wacky microgame format and add another twist to the setup in the form of outside mechanics you have to be careful with as well. There’s Sneaky Gamer, which returns from Game & Wario and has you basically playing Five Nights at Freddy’s and WarioWare at the same time:
