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TripleSpeedRunners take on Nintendo trio for charity
Harnessing the power of Nintendo franchises for charity, the folks at TripleSpeedRunners will be spending 48 hours this weekend speed-running through games from the Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and Kirby series. Live streaming of the event will be handled on the crew's website, with live commentary and chat available to cheer the players -- or jeer 'em if you're a player hater.All proceeds from donations during the event will go to DC Outreach, an organization that provides worldwide support to families affected by Dyskeratosis Congenita. Last time TSR got together, it raised $1,140 for the DC charity, but we know with the full support of the Joystiq BioMass behind them we can help them double that. Right, folks?The speed-runs kick off this Friday at 7PM ET sharp.
Q Games: No interest in more StarFox, Miyamoto doesn't listen to the 'core'
Q Games president Dylan Cuthbert tells G4 he's done with the StarFox franchise for now. Cuthbert lead development of the original SNES game as its unreleased sequel, and his company created StarFox Command for DS. It won't likely be involved in any eventual Wii installment in the franchise.Cuthbert says he might be up for another StarFox "maybe in another 10 years," saying that a Wii version would "be a big project, like 100 people on the staff. It's just not something we really want to do. I'm sure someone will make it. Maybe [Nintendo] will go back to Namco." Remember StarFox: Assault? We try not to.In a slight jab at Shigeru Miyamoto, Cuthbert told G4 that the legendary designer probably won't listen to "core" gamers' wants for a new StarFox, saying, "Miyamoto doesn't really care about that. He wants to make what he wants to make, so he just goes ahead and gets it done." Was that a snap we just heard?
Fox McCloud: 'Wake me up for Nintendo's conference'
Kids, don't forget to set your alarms for Nintendo's E3 press conference in the morning -- 9:00 AM PDT! Though the Star Fox hero will likely miss the event, there is sure to be at least one or two Nintendo DS minitons, if not megatons. Of course, we'll cover the conference and let you know if Nintendo announces a hardware upgrade, Metroid Dread, or any other rumored items that have made the rounds! And if the conference turns out to be a bust, at least we have this cute photo of a sleeping Fox McCloud.
Impressive Falco papercraft doesn't even look like paper
It may not be a tiny gaming console or an incredible Wolf Link, but it's still really impressive. Actually, you know what? This might beat both of them! Well, maybe not Wolf Link. That thing is nice.The piece of papercraft was modeled after the Falco model used in Smash Bros. Brawl. Whether you're a Smash or Star Fox fan, you've got to appreciate how good this thing looks. We can hardly believe it's made of paper! If you're looking to try this yourself, this is the link to the necessary stuff to get your started. Gallery: Awesome Nintendo papercraft
Halo 3 video pays homage to Nintendo
What do you get when you combine Halo 3 with several franchises in the Nintendo universe? A pretty darn funny video, if you ask us, so give it a chance. It has direct references to Super Mario Bros., StarFox and even Pokemon Snap. Let's see if you can get all of the Nintendo properties directly referenced! Winner gets our undying love for all of eternity.[Thanks, Chris!]
Star Fox commands a cheaper price
If you've been waiting almost two years for a deal on Star Fox Command, today's your lucky day. While $30 might have seemed too expensive for a game that only got decent reviews, $20 probably sounds a lot more enticing. Since this is an Amazon "Deal of the Day," though, you only have until 3am EST to decide whether or not to surrender your wallet to your impulses. This blogger never got around to playing Star Fox Command, but do any of you readers have opinions on the game that you'd like to share with potential buyers?
Latest portable SNES mod is actually portable
Typical -- you finally get your hands on a (sort of) portable SNES, only for someone else to bring out a slimmer, more svelte model three and a half months down the line. Bah. Anyway, this latest handheld Super Nintendo mod is the mightily impressive work of a Ben Heck forum user (whose name we can't locate, due to the forums being down; leave a comment for credit and cookies!), who not only shows off his new baby by playing Star Fox (much like the creator of the last portable SNES -- is Star Fox some kind of modding community in-joke?), but also spends some time listing everything he's squeezed in there.As it happens, this includes a 5-inch Zenith LCD, a headphone socket, and ports for A/V out and a second controller. Kudos to you, sir, but we think we marginally prefer the retro look of the older, wooden version, even if it is heftier.[Via Engadget]
DS Daily: The next great Nintendo franchise
So the DS has been on the receiving end of some great games from Nintendo's most popular franchises. We had the excellent Phantom Hourglass, the million-billion-selling New Super Mario Bros. and some solid installments in the Animal Crossing and StarFox franchises. But what's next?Which one of Nintendo's franchises do you want to see hit the DS next? A new Punch-Out!!! game? Or what about the next installment in the Pikmin franchise? What would you like to see from Nintendo?
The DS Life: The artwork of Will Laren
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.While few would describe Will Laren's art as pleasing to the eye, his style -- ungraceful strokes, watercolors, and hand-written monologues providing the piece's humorous context -- certainly grows on you. His characters rarely fit common standards of beauty, either, often depicted with unattractive expressions, their hair a messy nest of lines, their mouths contorted, lips snarling. Still, there's something that draws us to their eccentric caricatures, vulgar patter, and rap culture allusions; we can't get enough of his work.Very few of Laren's pieces have anything to do with video games, and none of them reference handheld gaming at all, but his canvases, ring-bound notepads and moleskine notebooks, sort of qualify as "portables," so that's our justification for featuring his art this week. Plus, the comics can be pretty hilarious. Flip past the break for a look.
Just saw a wooden SNES
And we thought you'd might like to see it too. TechEBlog has featured one of the strangest things to come out of the woodwork in a while -- one SNES squeezed into a somewhat portable wooden case and outfitted with speakers, a PSOne screen and a headphone jack. If you lumber past the break, you'll spot a video depicting the veneer-able Nintendo system in all its barrel-rolling glory.[Via Engadget]
Dojo update: Fox's Misfortune
Today, the dojo reveals a new Adventure Mode in Fox's Misfortune. Based on the video above, it looks like Fox crashes his Arwing and finds Diddy in trouble with some long, snake-like creature. Of course, being the hero he is, Fox saves Diddy and, we assume, embarks on a quest to do some more good. Honestly, the trailer is great and all, but we have no idea what this mode will consist of.%Gallery-6869%%Gallery-3347%
New Smash Bros character listed on voice actress resume [update]
A listing on voice actress Alesia Glidewell's online resume hints that Krystal, who debuted in the much loved (we kid, we kid) Star Fox Adventures, will make an appearance in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Glidewell lists among her credentials for video game voice over and motion capture three characters from the upcoming game: Krystal, Knuckle Joe, and Zero Suit Samus. We don't know how Krystal will be incorporated into Brawl, if at all; she could be an assist trophy, a stage-centric distraction, a cameo in the single player storyline, or even a fully-fledged playable character. Then again, Krystal might've been cut entirely, or the resume is simply mistaken. If it was up to us, we'd prefer the disc space be used to include a Pikmin wearing a Virtual Boy (thanks for the mental image, Justin), but we don't get a say in the matter. We'll have to wait for a confirmation from the Smash Bros. blog to see what plans, if any, they have for the character.Update: The listing has been removed, leaving a blank white row. [Thanks, Ross ... no, not me]
Promotional Consideration: Drop Dead Zelda
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.Though we featured a number of Zelda commercials earlier this week, like Vanessa Williams, we've saved the best for last. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, arguably the finest handheld game ever released, had its share of unusual ads, relying on corny rappers and wacky puppetry to sell the ARPG in the US and Japan. In the UK, however, gamers were treated to the slapstick humor of one of Britain's most distinguished comedians.
Dojo update: Fox Final Smash and some hot dodging action
As if we didn't hate Fox in Smash Bros. enough, we now learn the guy's Final Smash has him piloting a huge tank. You should be familiar with the tank's arsenal of maneuvers, including hovering, doing barrel rolls and firing large bursts from its cannon. Seriously, it looks like too good of a Final Smash. Fox gets that much cheaper, we suppose.The other half of the update deals with shielding and dodging. Dodging will allow you to perform backflips and sidesteps, even rolling to your opponent's back, to get your character out of danger and find your opponent surprised and vulnerable.%Gallery-6869%%Gallery-3347%Read - Shielding and DodgingRead - Fox Final Smash
Revolutionary: Emulation-ary
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. Traditionally, consoles have had to carry over hardware from previous generations in order to offer backward compatibility. This can be thought of as a burden, as the costs of including that hardware might be better used increasing the specs and features of the system for the benefit of new games. This generation marks a change in the method of operations in providing backward compatibility. The Xbox 360, Playstation 3 (in select models and territories), and Wii use a process known as software emulation to provide backward compatibility with their predecessors, so that they don't have to include that old hardware. What emulation does is allow one set of hardware to mimic the functions of another set of hardware. Emulation isn't a new technique, and it isn't exclusive to consoles. In fact, many people have been using it for years to play games on hardware other than for which it was developed.
Dojo update: Andross and special moves breakdown
Today is a double update over at the dojo, revealing the assist trophy of Andross (the boss from StarFox) and Meta Knight's special moves. Andross' inclusion in the game (which is quite awesome, we might add) has him taking up the role of assist trophy, as once he is summoned, he quickly retreats to the background and gets ready to spit out a stream of ploygons set to damage your opponents.%Gallery-3347%Read - Andross assist trophyRead - special moves breakdown
Decent sale on imports at Renchi
We love region-free consoles! Not only does it allow us to play games that never get released in the US, but it also gives us freedom to choose the cheapest version of worldwide-release games. Renchi.com has marked down a load of DS games, and there's plenty of stuff for US gamers to enjoy. First, the Japanese versions of US games. You can get Yoshi Touch & Go (Catch! Touch! Yoshi!), Mega Man ZX (Rockman ZX), Star Fox Command, the just-released Honeycomb Beat, and a few others for $10. If you want a uniquely Japanese experience, there's a bunch of stuff including Mawasunda!!, a lot of miscellaneous non-games and puzzle games (including an amusing-looking coloring game), and a nice selection of D3's Simple Series stuff. Stock is rapidly diminishing, so go browse right now.[Thanks, joe!]
Rumor alert: Pretty much everything you could think of
Hey, rumors are fun! We see two possibilities regarding this list of Wii games that "will be coming out" according to WiiYou.com. First: they scooped the entire world and got an exclusive look at a list of unannounced Wii games that nobody has heard anything at all about. Second, they didn't. We're looking at the list, and it seems to be about half educated guessing and half dreaming. Call us cynics, but we're going to wait for verification before we go put our money down on F-Zero or Metroid Xterme.Of course Sega Nerds latched on to the listing for Shadow the Hedgehog 2, but, in our minds, that's not the biggest news item on the list. We'd be more interested in hearing about the two Zelda games. Check after the post break for the full list.
Rumor: Starfox 64 update restores historically accurate slowdown?
No word if this is a real issue or a NeoGAF freakout, but if the perfect beauty of one of your Virtual Console games is in danger, it's our solemn duty to report on it. What is known is that Nintendo has issued an updated version of StarFox 64. What isn't known is what it does.NeoGAFfer Nuclear Muffin (judging by the name, a level-headed character) reported that after downloading the update this morning, he found the game slowing down in the same way the original Nintendo 64 version. Again, no idea if this is true, or if it's a delusion created by someone trying to find an effect of this update, but it's terrifying if true.Normally, we're all about accurate presentation of emulated games, but we have no problem with Nintendo fixing the resolution and speed of N64 games, because they totally need it. We really hope they haven't decided to unfix it.
VC Friday: Math wars
This week, Nintendo's putting a little Star Fox action on the Virtual Console, but we're not calling it that. No, no, thanks to silly trademarks, it's Lylat Wars. Whatever name you use, it's still one of the greats among shooters on Nintendo systems, and it's a nice cap to all the other shooters they've released. It's no surprise they're only releasing one other title alongside this one. What is that game? Well, long before Brain Age, we had Donkey Kong Jr. Math to make math fun, and now you can have it on your Wii. Math and monkeys apes -- can there be anything better? Donkey Kong Jr. Math - NES - 500 Wii points Lylat Wars - N64 - 1000 Wii points
