Mutant Mudds is here
Well, that was a long wait. Renegade Kid's acclaimed platformer gets to Europe this week, along with a 1000 Point WiiWare adventure and a kickabout on DSiWare. Here's what's up this week.
[image:1][/image] Nintendo Land is lots of fun. In some ways it's exactly the kind of fun you had when you played Wii Sports for the first time, regularly erupting into laughter and occasional curses when things don't go your way. It didn't look much on stage at E3, but Nintendo's right to put its faith in the game's ability to communicate what makes Wii U different: to play Nintendo Land with other people is to enjoy yourself immensely. [image:2] Leaping right into the game's multiplayer side we signed up for Animal Crossing: Sweet Day. Here, the GamePad users controls police pooches Copper and Booker — carrying a knife and fork respectively — who must chase after four Miis dressed as AC characters (Tangy, Lily, Peanut and what looks like Axel). The four players have to work together to collect 50 pieces of candy, released by shaking trees, but if the dogs make three 'arrests' it's all over. Like all great multiplayer games, it's immediately straightforward but deceptively tactical. The biggest hauls of candy require three players to stand in the same spot for a few seconds, giving the dogs chance to close in, so smart teams will leave the sweets on the floor to collect later. The more each player eats the slower they go, so a rogue gobbler will be an easy target. Matches can be over in seconds if the animals don't work together, or last for ages if they're smart (or the GamePad player is clueless). It all feels sharp and astutely honed; the competition is delicately balanced, and full of tense narrow escapes as the dogs fling themselves at nearby runners or a big-headed elephant drops its hard-won stash to flee from a dog with a giant fork. [image:4] There's more head-to-asymmetric-head in Luigi's Ghost Mansion. You've probably already had your fill of this after Nintendo laboured its reveal during E3, but after playing it we realised it was worth the stage time. On the surface it's hide and seek, but underneath it's a mischievous test of teamwork and psyching-out your competitors. The GamePad user controls a ghost who must drag away four ghost hunters; the four frightened friends have to track down the ghost and shine their torches to damage it. The win conditions are simple, but it's more cut-and-thrust and far more tense than we'd expected. The ghost's invisible, but when the spirit nears a player their Wii Remote will vibrate; slowly at first, then building strength as it gets closer and closer. Smart teams will use these indications to close in on the ghost, but the map's smartly designed and unless everyone works together a smart spook will be able to escape. If the ghoul does grab a Mii and make it faint, other players can revive them by shining their torches on him or her, but this puts them at risk. Again, clever teams will place people on watch, while the ghost can try to lure them away by hovering just close enough to tempt them from their post. The vibrations also work through walls, so the ghost can use these for protection instead of putting itself in the line of fire. Like Sweet Day, Luigi's Ghost Mansion is a simple concept that's easy to grasp but offers subtle depths. By our second game we were shouting commands at our team mates (whom we'd just met) and cursing them for taking the precious batteries, all while the ghost tried to psyche us out with sneaky runs and hints of its location. It's perfectly pitched, bouncing from tense silence to chaotic outbursts of laughter and yelped orders. [image:3] Nintendo Land isn't all competition, though; there's also collaboration in The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest. Here the GamePad player fires arrows while three others use Wii Remote Plus controllers to swing their swords, with some enemies only succumbing to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword-style directional slashing. The GamePad player launches arrows using the controller's right analogue stick — no need for touch screen here — building more power the longer you hold down the stick. The motion control is impeccable, letting you loose accurate shots with little effort and playable in either portrait or landscape, depending on your preference. This being Zelda there are times you'll need to work together to activate switches to open areas, but the level we played was more about waves of enemies than putting puzzles in your way. A communal stash of six hearts depletes whenever any player takes damage but can be replenished by taking down special enemies: a cucco flies overhead at one point, requiring a keen eye and steady aim from your archer. Of the multiplayer games so far, Battle Quest feels like it belongs the most to Nintendo Land's pitch as a Nintendo theme park; whether it's the on-rails movement or feeling of all working together, it's all about action on the path to the boss (a giant clothy Bokoblin, of course). It's jubilant and empowering: you'll hold your blade aloft not just to activate its Skyward Strike, but because it's fun to charge at its hordes of stitched-together enemies with your sword in the air. Battle cries are encouraged. [image:5] Nintendo Land wants to communicate Wii U's asymmetric concept for fans of multiplayer, and the three games we've played did that expertly. They don't need lengthy explanations, and while they may not have the immediate appeal of motion-controlled sports, they're certainly simple enough to be inviting for gamers and non-gamers alike. Forget its underwhelming debut: Nintendo Land looks like being the real deal.
Mad dogs, spider-men, mega men and more
A good all-round week for North America: 3DS gets an ageing arcade game, a demo and a 3DS Virtual Console game, DSiWare is graced with a music-themed take on the Plants vs. Zombies formula and Wii owners get a VC game too.
Update: Pre-orders cancelled
Update: Amazon has cancelled pre-orders for the Wii U, saying "the product was listed in error". Bad luck, everyone. We had a feeling that Amazon listing Wii U for £199.99 was too good to be true, and now the retailer's taken down its cheap listing. The Wii U product page now generates a 404 error, with the Wii U white page not offering any prices. Whether Amazon will honour its cheap pre-order is anyone's guess, but some of you may remember Tesco cancelling customer orders when it 'mistakenly' listed the Nintendo 3DS for far cheaper than its RRP.
Go Figma
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's interpretation of Link gets immortalised in resin later this year, when Japanese manufacturer Max Factory puts out its Master Sword Link figurine. The ¥3,800 statue — that's about £30 or $47 — comes with Link, a Master Sword and Hylian Shield (of course), as well as an effects piece for his sword that gives the impression of a powerful slash. Link himself is poseable, with changeable expressions and even articulated toes, a first for a Figma. There's also a Metroid: Other M Samus Aran statue in the works, but we've only seen her in her box so far. [image:2] [image:3]
Pack away the bunting
It seems like just last week we were celebrating that Wii U won't have Friend Codes, but it seems our fireworks and streamers were a bit premature. Nintendo of America president and honorary purple Pikmin Reggie Fils-Aime has told Kotaku Wii U will have friend codes, but they'll be different. By the sounds of things, you'll be able to interact with the general Miiverse populace without adding their Friend Codes — think the game-specific message boards — but adding users to your friends list will give you more options. Fils-Aime says:There are friend codes, but it's not the existing friend code system, What do I mean by that? Here's what I mean: you will be able to identify people as friends and have a certain level of interaction vs. a different level of interaction for the more general population. The method by which you identify someone as a friend is a lot simpler than what's happening today with Friend Codes.Depending on your opinion on Friend Codes, "a lot simpler" could mean anything from unique usernames to drawing a six-foot sigil on the side of a mountain. Clearly from all the confusion surrounding the divisive digits Nintendo still has plenty to communicate, so hopefully we'll hear more soon.
Strong arm tactics
On a press tour of Asia earlier this year, Yoshinori Ono was admitted to hospital and stepped down from his role as Street Fighter producer following the health scare. While you might have expected Ono's hectic work schedule to slow down after the incident, a new interview with Eurogamer.net reveals that's not the case. Ono revealed that after returning to work, Capcom didn't acknowledge that he'd been in hospital; he came back to a full work schedule and an airline ticket to Rome. Ono says:There's no mercy. Everyone in the company says: 'Ono-san we've been so worried about you.' Then they hand me a timetable and it's completely filled with things to do.Ono is unable to change his situation alone, but has sent out a clear message with this interview:
Capcom doesn't allow a trade union or any sort of worker movement you see. So if I complain I will probably get sacked. You have to say it for me, OK? I want you to write: 'Capcom overworks Ono'. That's your headline.As one of gaming's bona fide characters, Ono's undoubtedly valuable to Capcom, and his work in revitalising the fighting genre should not be overlooked. Sounds to us like he could use a good holiday, though.
Open the TOYBOX
That Project Happiness trailer we showed you last week certainly looked cute, but we didn't know if it would definitely come to Nintendo platforms. And now we know it will, we have an excuse to show it again. Publisher Rising Star Games confirmed the game will reach Nintendo 3DS and mobile platforms. Project Happiness is the new game from Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada and his new TOYBOX studio, with music from Final Fantasy legend Nobuo Uematsu and Pokémon artist Atsuko Nishida. We don't know much more than we did last week but at least we'll see Project Happiness on 3DS sometime next year. [youtube:6R-04CVgFFU]
Speak up
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn hit DS some seven years after its predecessor, Golden Sun: The Lost Age landed on the Game Boy Advance. What are the chances of a new entry in the series, though? Camelot head Hiroyuki Takahashi wants to know if that's something you'd want. In an interview with Nintendo Gamer, Hiroyuki Takahashi said that if enough users ask for a new Golden Sun, it might just happen:A big reason for us making RPGs comes from the requests from all the people who have enjoyed our RPGs in the past. Perhaps if there are enough Nintendo users asking for another game in the Golden Sun series, then this will naturally lead to the development of such a game.Don't expect a rush job, though: Takahashi has asked for "a bit of time":
Speaking personally from the perspective of the story, I think that honestly it may not be so likely because Golden Sun really requires a full effort to be put in. But of course, if there are enough people saying that we really must create another game, then we may just have to listen to them. Still, you would need to give me a bit of time to work on ideas for the story before we could release a fourth game in the series.Golden Sun fans, this is your chance.
Sonic, tattoos and a samurai sword
After all the E3 excitement last week it's back down to Earth with a bump this week, with a Game Gear Sonic game and European releases of decent, if long overdue games. Here's what's available this week.
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