This great eShop series continues next Thursday in North America, with the addition of some 20x15 puzzles! That’s too many x too many.
Yikes. You also unlock puzzles by having save data from previous games!
BUYNintendo 2DS&3DS/XL, upcoming games
Catering to our obsessions with making video game systems we play look like another video game we used to play, Datel will produce this neat protective shell for 3DS XLs. It goes well with this case, too.
NintendoTweet points out that this releases in Japan in late June for ¥1,490, or around $14.50.
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Well, this looks great, an RPG by artist OMOCAT. Best of all, it’s already funded on Kickstarter! Omori is “a surreal psychological horror RPGmaker game” taking place across two worlds.”
Not only is it created, written, etc. by OMOCAT, it features music by Space Boyfriend and Slime Girls! This is going to be cool.
In other news about cool Kickstarters, Renegade Kid’s Cult County looks cool and is not nearly funded yet…
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This joins the Mario, Luigi, and Peach Wiimotes in the UK starting May 30 – there’s no announcement in North America yet.
This is also the first time I’ve seen the jackets and wrist straps for this set – nice details! It’s also the first time I’ve thought about Yoshi having hands like a person. Not sure how I feel about that…
Thanks, Matthew!
BUYSuper Mario 3D World, upcoming releases
TinyCast 30! To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the “compact video game system”, we talk about our favorite Game Boy releases, as well as the trauma we suffered because of the handheld. We also discuss Meiji-era Ace Attorney, Bust a Groove, and Mario Golf!
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Episode notes:
Music features in this episode:
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Huge thanks to our Club Tiny supporters — we made sure to call out Metanet, Jeff Staple, Jeremy Jackson, Stephen Maden, Chris Greenhough, Alexakira, Tony, Fangamer, Simon Carless, Michael Zipkin, and Matt Hawkins this week. Much love to Lorenzo Canales for his generous contributions, too!
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The Denpa Men 3: The Rise of Digitoll will be out on eShop in North America and Europe May 8.
Not only will there be a demo (on May 1) from which you can transfer your progress, but you’ll also be able to import from Denpa Men 1 and 2! A long unbroken dynasty of little radio dudes in dungeons.
BUYNintendo 2DS&3DS/XL, upcoming games
Get outta this Youtube embed, and get into my 3DS, Tomodachi Life. Between the hamburger dream and Nintendo just straight-up dropping Kazaam references in promotional videos, this is too much.
Anyway, Shaquille O’Neal joins Tomodachi Life's roster of B-tier celeb cameos (along with Christina Aguilera), again proving that the basketball star will appear in anything. This dream with his Mii somehow manages to be less surreal than Shaq yelling “barbecue chicken alert” at NBA playoff highlights.
PREORDERTomodachi Life (June 6, $34.99), upcoming releases
Amazon has discounted Kirby Triple Deluxe to $29.96 ahead of the 3DS game’s May 2 release. I’ve heard the game is really, really, really good, and I promise you I’m seriously not just saying that because we attach referral tags to these Amazon links. People are calling this the business, and part of that business is cowboy Kirby whipping a big ol’ walrus butt (GIF via Manolizer!).
While you’re preordering 3DS games at Amazon, you can also pick up Tomodachi Life and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.
BUY Kirby Triple Deluxe,upcoming releases
End of Serenity on PSN this summer, Grinsia on 3DS May 8 ⊟
Yeah, a new PSP game! Natsume, following the success of Mystic Chronicles, picked up another Kemco RPG for release on PSN this summer.
Throughout history, mysterious objects known as “Atomigems” have existed all over the world. The people of the world have used them for many things, from simple family heirlooms to even objects of worship. However, recently, a gang known as the Underworld has been going around collecting any and all Atomigems they can find. What exactly is their aim?
Meanwhile on 3DS, Nicalis will publish an updated version of Grinsia on 3DS May 8. When did Kemco’s mobile RPGs become such a hot property?
I had no reservations about telling people to check out Tappingo, but for $1.99/€1.99 I have… fewer than none?
Anyway, the game will be on sale, 30% off, from May 1 through May 15, and I do encourage you to check it out if you like this genre of picture puzzle game! And read more about my first encounters with the Goodbye Galaxy puzzler here.
BUYNintendo 2DS&3DS/XL, upcoming games
Cyber Gadget’s new series of 3DS/XL accessories may best even the Gachapin set. The “Nekonyan" series (Via Inside) includes cat paw covers for the circle pad, styli with paw motifs, and a cat face system cover, with ears.
I’ve long lamented Square Enix’s unwillingness to produce Slime styli for 3DS (recently rectified for XL, at least). But now, so soon after their creation, they already have solid competition!
BUYNintendo 2DS&3DS/XL, upcoming games
Here’s a USB fan in the shape of a Monster Hunter character wielding a lance – which can be adjusted to whatever angle you prefer. It ships next month from J-List for $52, and now I’ve just about made it through the post without acknowledging how phallic this thing looks.
BUYMonster Hunter 3 Ultimate, upcoming games
Pokeballs kind of look like they’d be a delicious hard candy, is that weird? Anyway, now they are some kind of candy, in grape, cola, and “spicy cola” (okay that’s definitely weird) flavors. You can get a bag from J-List for $2.95.
Also available: boxes of little white chocolate Pikachu head snacks, for $5. Each comes with a sticker and the growing realization that you’re eating a cartoon rat.
BUYPokemon X and Y, upcoming games
Not long after I finally discovered and posted Brave Wave’s “In Flux” album, the label has released an EP of b-sides! The above is a great chip piece by Eirik “Strotchy” “Spelunky” Suhrke; the $2 (or more; pay what you want) EP also has tracks by Insert Rupee, Andi Bissig, Benjamin Briggs, Souleye, and halc.
Full disclosure: Brave Wave is a big Tiny Cartridge supporter!
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Jesse Tise’s lovely illustration above will be part of Attract Mode’s Comics vs Games 3D Gallery next week, a collection of video game tributes from talented animation and comic artists — this is the first revealed piece from the gallery! In case it’s not clear, all of the artwork will be presented in 3D, and anaglyph glasses will be passed around. It would be neat if some of these pieces ended up viewable on 3DSes eventually!
Toronto’s Bento Miso will host the gallery, launching it with an opening reception on May 8th — make sure to RSVP on so you won’t miss out on the rad art, food, drinks, music, and Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime tournament. If you can’t make it to the opening, you’ll be able to buy prints at Bento Miso’s amazing Bit Bazaar Spring Fair event on May 10 during the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.
Also taking place May 10 at TCAF under the Comics vs Games banner (presented by The Hand eye Society and Attract Mode): a number of inspiring talks from comic and game creators, and a showcase of experimental games created through collaborations between comic and game makers. Someone buy me a plane ticket for Toronto plz.
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Kirby Triple Deluxe has almost certainly been in the works since the early days of the 3DS. It’s absolutely loaded with 3D gimmickry – stuff going in and out of the screen with all the subtlety of those old 3D Three Stooges shorts. These days, nobody really puts in the effort to sell the “3D” aspect of the 3DS, and the arrival of the 2DS has all but deprecated the feature anyway. So this game must have been made before the world cooled on 3D.
Triple Deluxe is also really beautiful and polished, another point suggesting that it’s been cooking a while.
The 3D gimmick is the distinguishing feature here that makes Triple Deluxe stand out from previous Kirbies. But it’s not an annoying 3D gimmick, and doesn’t rely on stereoscopic stuff at all. Like Mutant Mudds, Triple Deluxe takes place on two planes, one in the foreground and one in the background, and you can travel between them with special Warp Stars placed throughout. Not only does this look cool, it adds an interesting bit of complexity to the level design, along with the enjoyable tease of visible treasure just out of reach in the other plane.
image via Maxxie
Stuff also flies in and out of the screen, like enemies, environmental hazards and the occasional splattered Kirby. The creatures in Kirby’s world are simple, and therefore scale really well. The whole thing just looks nice!
It plays “nice” too. Well, thanks for reading my professional, expert review, everybody! Okay, kidding, I’ll try to be a bit more coherent than that. What I mean is that Kirby has a bajillion copy abilities, as usual, and he has just SO MANY moves that he can do with each. Dash moves, air moves, charge moves… it’s like a fighting game. It’s no surprise, by the way, that there is a local multiplayer fighting game mode in which you can face off against other Kirbies using chosen copy abilities!
Let’s use one of the new ones, Bell, as an example. Kirby can swing handbells in a combo attack, throw them out as projectiles (a few different kinds of projectiles, for that matter), and launch an area of effect attack that sends sound waves out on either side.
The fact that there’s so much to do with each ability, all of it feeling totally different, makes it inherently rewarding to play the game. It’s just fun to pick up a new ability and learn it.
image via I Heart Nintendo
There’s a super special ability called “Hypernova” that pops up in specific places, and turns Kirby’s eating power into a ridiculous vortex, allowing him to devour enemies, bosses, buildings, scenery, etc.
I complained about the super abilities in the last Kirby game, and how they made it feel pointlessly easy. Hypernova is a lot more satisfying than that, partly because it’s used in really funny setpieces (like eating a pile of enemies through an enormous crazy straw) but partly because it’s not an instant kill switch, but rather a mechanic. Kirby’s Hypernova is used to destroy tons of enemies, but also to move huge objects around levels, like putting a giant snowman head on a snowman body.
In general, I think this is emblematic of the main difference between my experience with this game and with Return to Dreamland. The Wii game just felt too easy to me, and not just in the traditional, expected Kirby way. It felt like I was floating through the game totally unobstructed.
Whereas Triple Deluxe offers, if not difficulty per se, enough friction that I actually feel the impacts of all those fun attacks I want to use, enhancing the fun. It may be a distinction only in my head, but it’s real to me. Whatever intangible difference there is between these two (very similar games), it led to one being kind of a blah experience and the other being my favorite traditional Kirby to date.
I smiled through every play session. Even the few times I died! And after I finished the game, I felt just lovely, refreshed. Like I’d taken a nap and had really vivid dreams.
MaxxBUY Kirby: Triple Deluxe ($5 off!),upcoming releases
Sony sent us the new Borderlands 2 PS Vita bundle – containing the new slim model of the hardware – ahead of its May 6 launch. I’ll be spending this week getting acquainted with it, with the goal of a review.
But in the meantime, here are some pictures of the new hardware (black loops on the bottom) next to the old one. It’s noticeably thinner!
BUYPS Vita (PS Vita Slim / Borderlands 2 bundle), upcoming games
If you have PS Plus, Persona 4 Golden will be $14.62 ($19.49 without Plus), the cheapest I’ve seen it, when the PS Store updates today. It’s a good time to get it if you have the spare cash and time! That might still be my favorite RPG ever, and one of my favorite Vita games.
Also amazing: Muramasa Rebirth for $7.49/$12.49, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for $9/$15, and the amazing Danganronpa for $32.39/$35.99. The sales (and many more on PS3 and Vita) all run through May 5 as part of a Golden Week-themed Japanese game sale– quite a nice idea.
BUYPS Vita (PS Vita Slim / Borderlands 2 bundle), upcoming games
So we don’t know what games Nintendo will bring to E3 in six weeks — other than Smash Bros. (plus Culdcept and all the Dragon Quest games obviously) — but we have an idea of how the company will show them off.
It starts with the Nintendo Digital Event on June 10 (Tuesday) at noon Eastern Time. The publisher will forgo a traditional press conference in favor of a Nintendo Direct online video, similar to last year. The stream will “reveal and provide further detail about the gaming experiences on the way for Nintendo platforms in 2014 and beyond”.
There will also be a Nintendo Treehouse: Live @ E3 stream you can tune into: “Treehouse, the Product Development department at Nintendo of America, will provide in-depth game demos live and unscripted from Nintendo’s booth. This new program will be live streamed during all hours of the E3 show.”
As for Super Smash Bros. events, you’ll be able to visit a Best Buy store near you to try out the Wii U version of the game during E3. Nintendo will also host a Super Smash Bros. Invitational in which the company will select highly skilled players to compete in a Super Smash Bros. (Wii U) tournament at E3. If you’re at the event, you can watch the tournament at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE — otherwise, there will be a webcast for you to stream it at home.
PREORDERSuper Smash Bros for Wii U/3DS, upcoming releases
It’s a whole album of music from WarioWare DIY! As a way of sending off the sharing functionality of the DS game creation utility (gone with the rest of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on May 20), five artists united to make an album using DIY.
The original plan had been to distribute this compilation exclusively via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and shared Friend Codes, making it available only until the cut-off date of 20th May 2014. Then we realised that would be even more difficult than first expected, and the plan was abandoned.
All five artists list their friend codes on the Bandcamp page, so you can still have the true hipster experience of hearing this music in its original format. You know what, I was taking the NWC closure in stride until this moment. WarioWare DIY was such a beautiful thing, and so inspiring, that for it to have anything less than 100% of its capabilities is a damn shame.
Thanks to Christian Montoya for the heads up!
BUYWarioWare DIY, upcoming games
