Category: Nintendo

Dwarven Vow #108: Let sleeping dogs lie.

Though it’s never quite had the popularity of the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest franchises, the Tales series has set a good reputation as the ‘other’ classic JRPG series that’s consistently maintained a decent quality for quite some time now. Back in 2004, Namco (no Bandai yet) was only on the fifth iteration of the Tales series, which made the bold transition to full 3D with the release of Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube. Sporting an attractive cel-shaded visual style and packing enough content to last for hundreds of hours, there was a lot to love about this release back when the pickings were much slimmer for great RPGs on Nintendo consoles. Now, Tales of Symphonia Remastered–which is based on the 2013 PS3 rerelease, which in turn uses the PS2 Japan-exclusive version as a base–has brought the classic experience to modern hardware and while it still remains a charming adventure, it’s definitely showing its age.

The story is set in the land of Sylvarant, which is experiencing a bit of an ecological crisis. A critical shortage of mana caused by the lingering effects of a war from thousands of years back means that the world is itself dying, and time is running out fast for the inhabitants. The only hope is for the Regeneration to take place, in which a person dubbed “The Chosen” opens various seals across the land to awaken the goddess and return life to all things. You take the role of Lloyd, good friend of the current Chosen, Colette. Lloyd is the headstrong son of a dwarven smith, and after he inadvertently causes a terrible tragedy in his village, Lloyd sets out with his best friend Genis to accompany and protect their friend Colette on her journey to fulfill her Chosen duties and save the world from destruction.

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Get a special Garganacl this weekend.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet‘s next distribution event has been revealed, and through it, you’ll be able to get yourself a special Garganacl.

The code will be distributed during the the Oceania International Championships, Serebii shared on Twitter. But don’t worry, everyone will be able to use the code, and we’ll be sure to share it with you as soon as we can.

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Another GameStop “exclusive”.

In the lead up to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, US video game chain GameStop has announced a new pre-order deal.

If you pre-purchase the game from the store now, you’ll not only receive a copy of the game, but you’ll also score a “free exclusive wooden plaque”. Note: If you purchase the plaque online, you’ll need to print your order confirmation and bring it in-store to receive this bonus.

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Pre-orders are now live!

The Pathless made a successful transition across to the Nintendo Switch earlier this month, and if you’ve been holding out for a physical copy, you’re in luck. Pre-orders for a physical edition have now officially gone live on iam8bit’s website.

It’ll set you back $39.99 USD (or your regional equivalent) and comes with a copy of the game, foldout poster, reversible cover sheet, collectible art cards, some exclusive artwork, and is region-free.

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Zelink 4eva xxx.

Zelink might be one of the biggest ships out there, and it’s hardly controversial to want Zelda and Link, the two owners of the Triforce that aren’t evil, to end up together. They’re entwined in destiny, fated to keep meeting, and falling into the princess/hero dichotomy that keeps them separate once more. And yet, they’ve never really had a romantic relationship. It’s wild!

We’re big Zelink shippers here at NL, of course, so we’ve created the ultimate list of the best Zelda/Link relationships as represented in the Legend of Zelda games. We’ve skipped a few of the games — notably spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors and Four Swords — but all the mainline games are here.

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White plains.

The notion of two disparate species of animals coming together to help one another is not particularly new in the world of storytelling. The trope goes all the way back to the likes of Peter Rabbit, in which our intrepid titular hero enlists the assistance of Squirrel Nutkin to help fend off the dastardly fox, Mr. Tod. It’s a concept that just works and is immediately endearing to both children and adults; so it’s no wonder, then, that Blanc resonated with so many upon its initial reveal. But does the actual gameplay hold up? Mostly, but with some important caveats.

Blanc stars two playable characters – a wolf cub and a fawn – both of whom have been inadvertently cut off from their respective families during a sudden snowstorm. As the two try to get their bearings, they run into each other over two sides of a frozen river, and ultimately decide to help each other return to their parents and siblings. Considering there’s absolutely no dialogue in Blanc, developer Casus Ludi has done a remarkable job in communicating exactly what’s going on with the two main characters in question, despite the admittedly simplistic plot.

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Written by co-director of The Video Game History Foundation.

Last week, the fantastic Boss Fight Books began revealing Season 6 of its documentary-style books along with the first book, which looks at PaRappa the Rapper. And today, the publisher has announced that the second book will be very much in our wheelhouse by focusing on Animal Crossing.

Written by Kelsey Lewin, co-director of The Video Game History Foundation and co-owner of Pink Gorilla Games in Seattle, Washington, the book promises to look at the magic of the first game in the series, which had humble origins as a Japan-only N64 release in Dо̄butsu no Mori. The game eventually came to the West thanks to a GameCube port with expanded features.

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“What’s yer name and where d’ya come from?”.

Looking back on Wales Interactive’s Five Dates in 2023, more than two years after its debut, reveals a fascinating glimpse into what life was like during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a game that leans heavily into the idea that the dating world has migrated online, forcing singletons to conduct awkward interview-style conversations with potential suitors. We certainly enjoyed it for what it was back in 2020, but we’d perhaps argue that it’s aged better as a sort of historical artefact; a brief portal into a world that most of us would quite happily forget.

Its sequel, Ten Dates, isn’t afforded the same novelty. While the pandemic marches on across the globe, many countries have taken to treating the virus as endemic, thus returning to some semblance of normality (whatever that looks like these days). With this in mind, Ten Dates is very much a traditional affair; a game that puts its focus squarely on face-to-face interactions within typical social settings. It’s undoubtedly missing the “novelty” of remote interactions that made the first game so unique, but the focus on real-life conversations makes for a more enjoyable experience all round.

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Catch a Tandemaus on Valentine’s Day.

Update : This event is now underway, here’s your reminder!

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Original article : Last month, The Pokémon Company announced a handful of new Tera Raid Battle events coming to Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.

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Coming soon to a cinema near you.

Nintendo and Illumination certainly aren’t holding back on the marketing for the Super Mario Bros. Movie. Just a day after they released a throwback video to the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! they’ve now released some more posters.

This time around we’ve got the king of the jungle Donkey Kong and another fold out of the mighty Bowser. Squint hard enough at the DK poster and you should be able to see some Mario Kart action in the bottom left. As for the Bowser poster, you can see the penguin army isn’t a fan of him.

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