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Pictures from Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country Returns media event
Not many companies can convert a fancy Midtown Manhattan penthouse suite into a jungle, filled with thousands of bananas. Then again, not many companies are Nintendo.
New DSi XL colors, Wii and DS release dates, and Mario Party 2 for Europe
Official Nintendo Magazine has put together a list of upcoming European release dates for Wii and DS games. For those of you who don't want to wait for the 3DS, three new DSi XL colors (yellow, green, and blue) will be in stores on October 8. You'll be able to use that new DS for Professor Layton and the Lost Future, out October 22, Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs, out November 19, and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, arriving December 10. Wii owners in the UK can look forward to Wii Party on October 8, FlingSmash on November 19, Donkey Kong Country Returns on December 3, and in the most random announcement of the day ... Mario Party 2 on the Virtual Console some time in December. Better grab some extra Classic Controllers, because you're going to break the ones you have.
Donkey Kong Country Returns gets new screens, rhino-riffic trailer
It's a good, good day for folks looking forward to Retro Studios' upcoming banana-collecting platformer, Donkey Kong Country Returns -- Nintendo recently sent over a ton of new screens for the game, as well as a trailer showcasing DK's oddly miniaturized rhino companion, Rambi. Check them out below!
Donkey Kong Country Returns pre-order bonus is a-peel-ing
So, here's the problem: We're big fans of the recently revealed pre-order bonus for Donkey Kong Country Returns, but we don't really know what to call it. Everything we've come up with so far has been way, way too suggestive: Banana dock? Banana holder? Banana sheath? The official GameStop announcement refers to it as a "banana pouch," but even that hits the ear in a manner which causes our inner eight-year-old to flare up with tittering. Until we can settle on an appropriate name, we'll simply have to refer to it as a Tropical Fruited Wii Remote Cover. The T.F.W.R.C. can be yours by dropping a five-spot on a reservation for Donkey Kong Country Returns at GameStop, either online or in your nearest brick-and-mortar locale. Now, how do we feel about "banana holster?"
Nintendo dates Q4 lineup, announces Bit.Trip Fate
Nintendo sent out one of its seasonal mega-press releases, announcing pretty much everything at once. Its whole fall Wii lineup now has solid release dates, with newly dated games including: Kirby's Epic Yarn: October 17 Wii Party: October 3 PokePark Wii: November 1 FlingSmash: November 7 Donkey Kong Country Returns: November 21 On DS, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem has been given a November 14 date. But Nintendo didn't stop there with the announcements: we now know we can expect Super Meat Boy for WiiWare and Shantae: Risky's Revenge for DSiWare this holiday season (which was previously announced, but it's good to know that game is still on track). Also ... Bit. Trip Fate this fall! That's right, not content with merely giving release dates to games we knew about, Nintendo went ahead and announced someone else's unannounced game. And that's why we love these press releases.
Reggie confirms 2011 launch for 3DS on Fallon
Nintendo of America's towering president stopped by the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon yesterday, closing off the show's week long celebration of upcoming video games with a look at Donkey Kong Country Returns. After teaching Fallon the correct method of Diddy-maneuvering, Reggie Fils-Aime brought out the big guns: The 3DS, which he told Fallon would be coming out "next year." Oh, that thing you just heard? That was the sound of one thousand Christmases being simultaneously ruined. You can check out the Donkey Kong demo and Fallon's enthusiastic reaction to the handheld's glasses-less 3D effects in the video posted after the jump.
Visual overload: Nintendo's E3 Wii lineup
Nintendo brought most of its franchises back into active duty this year (sorry, Clu Clu Land!), flooding its upcoming Wii lineup with new games starring familiar characters. We've collected all the screenshots and trailers we had yet to post from Nintendo's crowded slate of Wii releases, along with ones you may have missed during our E3 coverage earlier this week. Clear your cache in anticipation of some serious video streaming, and join us after the break to see footage and screens of Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and more.
Preview: Donkey Kong Country Returns
Donkey Kong Country Returns is a return to form. Instead of reimagining Rare's classic SNES series, as it did Metroid in its Metroid Prime trilogy, developer Retro Studios is creating a game that's a lot more, well, "retro." DKC Returns appears to erase the 14-year gap since DKC3 -- really, it has been that long -- doing its best to fit in with a series that was designed for a console benchmarked by "bit." DKC Returns does employ modern platforming design and technology, like 3D environments with playable foreground and background areas, but it does so subtly, as not to stray far from an authentic feel -- how we might remember DKC on the SNES. And, truly, I had forgotten that the original DKCs were not fully co-op. Oh right, I'm remembering, the SNES games had that tag-in/tag-out multiplayer. So, as I demoed DKC Returns at Nintendo's E3 booth with Joystiq's own JC Fletcher, it was actually a new Donkey Kong Country experience that felt just like something I'd enjoyed many years ago. %Gallery-95512%
Interview: Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, on 3DS, Retro, Zelda and Pikmin 3
Nintendo recently unveiled its 3DS handheld, and Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto is hard at work on the next evolution of virtual pets, Nintendogs + Cats, for the system. While the core mechanics remain the same, players will interact with their pets in full 3-D. We had a chance to sit with Miyamoto to see what he thinks of 3-D gaming and more. Joystiq: We knew the 3DS was coming. It was announced a while ago, but we didn't expect so many games to be available. How long have you been working on the technology? Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo's been researching 3-D games for over 20 years. The first time we started looking at 3D with an LCD screen was during the GameCube days. We've continued to experiment with it since then, particularly implementing it into the 3DS. That's something we've been working on for the past three years. With games, what's the ratio of Nintendo first party to third party? It seems like some of them are remakes, such as Star Fox. How many are new and updated experiences? When we first launched Nintendo DS, the touch screen became a new innovative face for gaming, and we spent a lot of time creating things that were probably different from the standard games that you've seen, games that are more like books or Brain Training type games. But with Nintendo 3DS, and specifically with the ability to create 3-D visuals, we're finding that, in addition to creating new game ideas, the 3-D visuals really do a lot for past experiences. It'll be a blend. We'll see remakes that take advantage of the 3-D, but we'll also work on new ideas as well.
Donkey Kong Country Returns ... returns on Wii this holiday
Nintendo has apparently gone bananas, handing Metroid Prime vet Retro Studios its treasured Donkey Kong Country franchise. The company revealed Donkey Kong Country Returns at its E3 keynote, showing a new trailer that looked ... pretty much exactly like you'd think it would. It's the traditional 2D platformer we all know in love, bestowed with new 3D graphics and featuring both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. The game will be available on the Wii this holiday.
