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Nintendo 3DS gets first downloadable titles next week: Super Mario and Brain Training sequels
As Nintendo attempts to get its eShop up to speed with Sony's PS Vita provision, it's finally announced a July 28th launch date for its first two downloadable games. Alongside the in-store release of the 3DS XL, the full versions of both Super Mario Brothers 2 and the latest iteration of Dr. Kawashima's Brain Age / Training will be available for online purchase in Japan, priced at 4,800 yen (around $61) and 3,800 yen ($48), respectively. Nintendo already offers a mixed bag of retro titles and demos to download, but this is the first time it'll wheel out fully-fledged 3DS games.
Super Mario Bros. gets modern sound effects, nostalgia ensues (video)
We can only wonder what'll happen when you reach a certain score -- you know, somewhere above 8000...
Braid comes to the Mac
You have to admit: for all of the gaming woes that the Mac faithful has suffered, there's fortunately never been a shortage of great indie games for us to play. Aquaria made it to our platform, World of Goo appeared pretty early on, and now Braid, Jonathan Blow's terrific deconstruction of Super Mario Bros., has appeared on OS X thanks to the kind folks over at Hothead Games. The game has won more awards than you can count, but I can personally tell you it's great, as I played the XBLA release when it first arrived. It's a classic 2D platformer in the vein of Mario with a very important twist: you can reverse, slow, and replay time throughout the various levels. That twist results in an extremely artistic game that takes apart the original Mario story and ends up with something very much more beautiful and sad."Artistic"? "Beautiful"? "Sad"? Can I say these things about a videogame? Of course I can -- Braid stands in a class of its own as an experience that uses art and gameplay together to tell quite a story. If you're a fan of innovative games or just great interactive experiences, and haven't played through it yet (it's fairly short, maybe six hours at the most), it's definitely worth a look. The Greenhouse is selling the Mac or PC versions for $14.95.
Tiny Wiimote "projector" is not nearly as impressive as it sounds on paper
This image is not necessarily one we are thrilled about having projected upon our walls, but we are pretty fond of anything in miniature. This 2.25-inch Wiimote is actually a semi-ingenious mini-projector which projects an image (yes, only one) from Super Mario Kart when its button is pressed. When you order you'll get a random choice of one of the six possible images, each less exciting and more pointless than the next. They're available from ThinkGeek now for $6, which is maybe worth the roughly one minute of amusement you (or your cat) will get out of the thing.[Via Wired]
It's-a Mario World: Mario is Missing (from E3)!
This week, gamers everywhere have been in a frenzy over the 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Following Nintendo's big keynote address on Tuesday morning, coupled with a flood of new Nintendo media, we Fanboys have enough hard news and confirmed release dates to feed our blogging habits for the next ... well, week or so, anyway. Our unchecked enthusiasm is perhaps best exemplified in the wise words of Wii Fanboy's own David Hinkle: "I want to bathe in a sea of Nintendo splendor."But it feels like there is something amiss in the great Nintendo sea. Where is the Mario splendor amid all of our gleeful bathing? Happily, the horizon holds an August 25th release date for Super Mario Sluggers, and a September 29th release of Wario Land: Shake It!, but why haven't we seen much genuine Mario fanfare at this year's main event? Can we trust Iwata that the Mario team is hard at work, or are they hardly working? Take a stroll through our new gallery, in which we make conspiratorial speculation, scathing E3 commentary and as always, hopelessly inside references to Mario games of yesteryear. It's-a Mario World is a weekly feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated: We'll incessantly ruminate about mustache wax, debate the curious whereabouts of the princess and covet the luminous power stars strewn about the galaxy. Check back here every Thursday to find out what strange and wonderful thing has got us tipping our caps.
Playable Paper Super Mario... no really, he's made of paper
Taking Paper Mario to its logical -- albeit extreme -- conclusion, an artist / DIY'er named Keith Lam has created the first physical, playable implementation of Super Mario Brothers. By emphasizing Mario's movement on the background, and turning the "TV" into the object which moves, the character appears to traverse the familiar landscape of SMB, complete with collision detection, brick movement, and mechanized jumping. The "system" is built using a chain-driven platform, which is shakily directed with an actual NES (well, Famicom) controller, thus allowing for some game play -- though with response times like this, you're better off just watching. Speaking of, check the video after the break and see the system in action.[Via Wired]
Super Mario Brothers subwoofer brings the bass, mushrooms
What's better than experiencing the bowel-shaking, wall-rumbling, thunderous bass of a custom made subwoofer? Why, having that bass emanate from perfect replicas of the "question mark" and brick blocks from Super Mario Brothers, (thus making it the perfect thing to play back your recordings of the SMB Tesla coil), of course. According to the owner, the subs sound great, but the low-end gets a little muddy whenever the question mark gets turned into a metal plate.[Thanks, Michael]
The real Mario Party
There's a party going on tomorrow and the Tanooki got a sneak preview of the decor. It's a full-on Super Mario themed bash, complete with all the stuff you'd expect to find in a Mario game. This fantastic Chain Chomp piñata is just waiting to be smashed, hopefully by a jumping kid in a Mario costume. Seriously, if there's an invite going free, we'd love it.Head past the break for the giant Pirahna Plants and chocolate coins!
The most hardcore Mario yet
So, you found all the coins in New Super Mario Brothers? Easy. All the levels on Super Mario World? No problem. If you're after a real challenge, try Hard Relay Mario Brothers. This swirling maelstrom of spikes, jumps and spinning fireballs looks almost impossible to play through. You'll need to take advantage of minor glitches in the game to complete this emulator-only hack. You'll also need patience, skill and balls of steel if you want to make it to the end. Making use of emulator save states might also give you an edge.A lot of the jumps here involve lining Mario up exactly with the bottom of each block. If this done correctly, the game tries to push Mario through the block, enabling him to jump again. Around the 11.30 mark, more than 20 of these jumps are strung together - impressive stuff.
Girlfriend's gift to boyfriend: Mario Bros hoodie
Flickr user "Sabellachan" made this sweet hoodie for her boyfriend for consumermas, then shot him in the back with her new D80 as he strolled down Palo Alto streets. Nice work on both counts. For fun and insight into our editorial process here at Joystiq, we share with you rejected headlines for this post:
