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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sales
Not all of us are up to the challenge of a brutal roguelike, and that's okay. In fact, that's what roguelike-lights such as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon are for. Just because said games don't beat your spirit to a pulp, though, doesn't mean they're not enjoyable, especially for Pokémaniacs. Today's a good time to become an explorer of time or darkness, as both Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness are being offered as Amazon's deal of the day. Each one is currently on sale for $22.99, and will be until 12:00am PDT. Yet, if you're not familiar with the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, you might want to check out our review of the game (well, games) first.
Another exhaustive list of Japan's best-sellers of 2007
Remember that haaauuuuge list of Japan's 500 highest-selling games of 2007? Well, sorry, but you'll have to forget them all. Yep, every last one of 'em. That's because we now have a new list which is also claiming to feature the 500 best-selling games of 2007 in Japan. This one has been compiled by Enterbrain (the original was from rival data-gatherers Media Create), and it's ever so slightly different. The good news is that, despite the origins of each list being different, the overriding message is still the same, and that message is: DS rules all yaaay. Both lists agree that Wii Sports was top dog, but the top DS games have been jumbled about. Now, for example, it is the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers games that are top of the DS pile, while Mario Party DS drops to second. The changes are subtle, but definitely exist. Hit the break to see the top ten DS games!
DS Fanboy Review: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2
When I received a box on my doorstep last week, I was honestly expecting something else. But, that something else never came. Instead, I received a package that contained both Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness. And while I would've been fine with just turning around and handing the games off to our readers, I knew that my responsibilities would not allow that. Oh no, I must review the games! And that's what I'm doing here. After a week of putting the duo of titles through their paces, I'm finally ready to weigh in on this latest pair of Pokemon spin-off games. Having not played the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I found it fairly weird that all of the Pokemon speak like, well ... like human beings. But that wasn't enough to stop me from getting into the game. What did I think of my time with this latest entry? The latest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games aren't too shabby!
European dates for Etrian Odyssey, LOL, Pokemon Explorers
News of a European release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl has dominated coverage of Nintendo's latest European release schedule, but there are a number of tasty morsels on the list for DS owners.For a start, the continent will finally be getting Atlus roguelike Etrian Odyssey, and it's about time -- lest we forget, the title made its U.S. debut last May! Notably, there are also dates (of varying specificity) for Race Driver: GRID (May), the new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games (July 4th), New International Track & Field (Q2 2008), and Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? (June), the European version of Cooking Navi. "ArchimDS" appears on the list as well, though we presume this refers to LOL, or Bakushow as it'll be known in Euroland.Add all of those to this morning's Final Fantasy IV announcement, and Europe has quite the line-up of games to look forward to. Check past the break for the full list!
Another (slim) chance to own THAT Pikachu DS Lite
Many of you will no doubt recall the gorgeous and very, very yellow limited edition Pikachu DS that remains painfully unattainable to us. With no official release planned for the hardware, we began to give up hope on ever owning one, but it looks like Nintendo could be offering another two Pikachu Lites to winners of a new contest being held to promote Pokémon Mystery Dungeon twosome Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Time.You can enter once a day between now and May 21st, when a couple of lucky winners will clinch themselves a treasure chest containing the most beautiful DS Lite known to man, a Wii, a HDTV, and more Pokémon goodies than they can shake a stick at. Head here to learn more.[Via press release]
Get your Pokemons for cheap at Circuit City
Circuit City seems to be the place to go for cheap Pokemon games this week. While a few stores are offering Pokemon related deals to celebrate the release of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, Circuit City has some of the better ones that we've seen. The best deal is Pokemon Emerald for the GBA, which the retailer is offering for $14.99. If you want something more modern, though, you could pick up either Diamond or Pearl, which are marked down to $24.99 for the week. Also, if your sights are set on one of the Mystery Dungeon games, purchasing one at Circuit City will net you a free Pokemon action figure. Unfortunately, we don't know what these figures look like, but since they're free with the purchase, we're not all that concerned. The best part is that these deals are offered online at CircuitCity.com, too, so you don't have to actually leave the comfort of your own home and, you know, socialize. [Via CAG]
Promotional Consideration: Fushigi no Commercials
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out. In advance of this coming week's Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 releases, Nintendo has commissioned two commercials to herald the dungeon crawlers, one for each edition, Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. Once again, this sequel adopts Chunsoft's Fushigi no Dungeon (Mystery Dungeon) design to allow gamers to play as a Pokemon. It's a solid set of titles, by most reports, but many genre veterans consider them inferior to games like The Nightmare of Druaga and Shiren the Wanderer. Nevertheless, kids are crazy for the Pokemon branding, and the original GBA/DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeon releases went on to sell over 5.5 million copies worldwide. And that's why we now have a major publisher supporting an extremely niche genre with two separate commercials.
Mystery Dungeon solved with Pokemon preorder
As excited as we always are when it comes to free stuff, we're ten times more thrilled with this excuse to reuse our Unsolved Dungeon Mysteries image. What better way to introduce a paranomal Pokémon preorder? To promote the April 20th release of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Nintendo is offering a free strategy book to anyone who reserves either edition of the roguelike. The Explorer's Guide will contain game tips, interviews, and an original manga from Ken Sugimori, likely similar to (if not the same as) Ginji's Rescue Team. For the uninitiated, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, like Shiren the Wanderer, are all entries in Chunsoft's Fushigi no Dungeon series. Catering to the license's audience, Explorers will be significantly less difficult and punishing than its peers. Having a strategy guide on hand should increase your survivability chances even more! If you're looking to ease yourself into the dungeon-crawl genre, this is the game you'll want to try out. [Via press release]
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon sees a pair of sequels [update]
Nintendo has let loose news that Pokemon aficionados will get some more games to love in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness. At the outset of the game, players will chose which Pokemon best represents them, from an available roster of 16, and set out for adventure through "a fantastic land untouched by humans." These new games will feature over 490 different Pokemon, and some very nice Wi-Fi functionality. Using Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connect, players can participate in "wireless rescue operations" and send alerts to their friends via email or text message on their cell phone. Sounds like a blast to us! These games will be hitting retail shelves in North America on April 20th. Update: Boxart and a video has been embedded past the break.
