Feature: Shiren The Wanderer Devs On Preserving Series’ “Difficulty” And “Uniqueness”

“I made sure to preserve what I believed to be valuable”.

Shiren the Wanderer is one of the longest-running roguelike series in the world. Debuting back in 1995 as the second entry in the Mystery Dungeon series, Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer introduced the world to the young boy who would explore many procedurally-generated dungeons over the next few decades.

Amazingly, despite being such a long-running franchise, there are actually only five mainline games in the series, and twelve in total (counting mobile games and spin-offs), but Shiren has a loyal following. In the West, we were oblivious to these endless tower-climbing, dungeon-trawling adventures until 2008’s punishingly difficult Wii title, Shiren the Wanderer.

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Round Up: The Previews Are In For Princess Peach: Showtime!

Standing ovation or slow clap?

We still have a little way to go before Nintendo lifts the curtain on Princess Peach: Showtime! on 22nd March, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a little peak behind it to see how things are shaping up.

The way that we can do this is by checking out the game’s previews (sorry, there’s no actual curtain) which have begun to appear online today. There’s even one from us lot at Nintendo Life which explains that while we found the game to be really rather easy, there is still a lot to enjoy here:

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Hands On: We’ve Played Princess Peach: Showtime! – Is It Any Good?

Show must go on.

Princess Peach: Showtime! is a game that isn’t going to immediately appeal to many of the fans of big shooty bang-bang games like DOOM Eternal, but there’s a place for it still with an audience as sizeable as that of the Switch. Nintendo invited us to come along and give the game a go for ourselves ahead of its release on 22nd March, and so we did that.

Let’s be very upfront about a very important factor which was probably already made blisteringly apparent in the original reveal trailer: Princess Peach: Showtime! is not a difficult game. Deep breaths, everyone.

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New Special Edition TIME Magazine Celebrates 25 Years Of Pokémon In North America

Better late than never, eh?

It has been 25 years since Pokémon Red and Blue was released in North America. In fact, it has been 25 years and five months, but in the spirit of ‘better late than never,’ TIME has decided to get in on the action with a new special edition of the magazine.

Ahead of Pokémon Day 2024 (and the Pokémon Presents showcase therein) on 27th February, the iconic magazine company has unleashed four special edition covers, each depicting a different one of the OG starters or Pikachu — because Pikachu has to be there, right?

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Pokémon Presents Announced For 27th February 2024

And another one.

The next Pokémon Presents showcase has been announced by The Pokémon Company for the end of the month, on Pokémon Day no less.

On Tuesday 27th February at 6am PT / 9am EST / 2pm GMT / 3pm CET / 12am AEST (Wednesday), we’ll be getting a presentation on the latest Pokémon news over on the official Pokémon YouTube channel.

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Nintendo’s Next Switch Online Game Trial Is Now Available (North America)

Kick-off today.

It’s a new month and that means there’s now a new Switch Online trial available to members of Nintendo’s subscription service.

This time around it’s EA Sports FC 24 and it’s accessible to subscribers from now until 26th February 2024 in North America. The same trial started in Europe last week and runs until 21st February 2024 in this region. The catch with this particular trial is it requires a download of “at least 31GB” to play.

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Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution Game Boy Advance Pre-Orders Go Live This Week

News about the Switch release to be shared “later”.

Last July, WayForward announced it would be reviving its cancelled Game Boy Advance title Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution. With the help of Limited Run, it will be getting an actual release on the GBA very soon.

Pre-orders for the Game Boy Advance version of the game will open later this week on 23rd February 2024. There will be a standard edition (featuring a transparent purple cartridge) and a collector’s edition that comes with a gold cartridge. Both carts are playable, as noted below.

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Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase February 2024 – Time, Where To Watch, What To Expect

Partners in crime.

After weeks of rumours, predictions, and general chit-chat, Nintendo has officially announced that the first Nintendo Direct of the year will be a Partner Showcase, taking place on Wednesday 21st February 2024.

The Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase February 2024 will be broadcast on YouTube and is set to last for approximately 25 minutes with a focus on games releasing in the first half of 2024.

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Mario vs. Donkey Kong’s OG Composers Talk Making The Jump From GBA To Switch

“This was the opportunity of a lifetime”.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is finally here on Switch. This remake gives the original GBA puzzle platformer a fresh lick of paint and throws in a handful of new features too — including a fully revamped score. The composers for the GBA original, DigiPen Music Department, were brought back on this time around and a new interview from the department’s website provides an interesting look into the process of updating a 20-year-old soundtrack.

As it turns out, recreating the GBA music was not a case of downloading it onto a computer and hitting a button that says “modernise”. Aside from writing tunes for the remaster’s two new worlds, the team also composed and arranged acoustic performances to complement the virtual soundscape of the original soundtrack. As the game’s production, engineering and mastering lead Tacket Brown states:

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Talking Point: If ‘Switch 2’ Isn’t Coming Until 2025, What’s Nintendo Got Up Its Sleeve This Year?

Is there enough in the tank to coast through 2024?

Reports that Nintendo’s unannounced Switch successor may be subject to a behind-the-scenes delay suggest that the current console might have yet another Holiday season all to itself.

In March, Nintendo Switch will enter its eighth year, and scuttlebutt from industry sources had previously pegged 2024 as the year the long-rumoured successor — which we’ve all dubbed ‘Switch 2’ — might finally poke its head above the parapet. Now, though, rumours suggest Nintendo might need to pad things out longer than previously planned. March’s Princess Peach: Showtime! is the only wholly new first-party Switch offering announced for 2024 so far.

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