Kirby
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Smash Bros. Brawl controllers confirmed
Don't be surprised if heated debates over Smash Bros. Brawl character supremacy take on a terrifying new dimension now that it's been confirmed on the official blog that all Wii-compatible remotes will work with the game. "Sure, Kirby can beat Meta Knight if everybody's using GameCube controllers," the clerk at your local EB Games might say, "but you don't even understand Kirby until you've turned the Wiimote on its side, that's his spinach."If you're puzzling over what does what exactly, keep wondering -- director Masahiro Sakurai is staying mum. He does admit though that he prefers the GameCube controller because he "like[s] the feel of that powerful rumble." ... Wow, we didn't mean to end the post all creepy, sorry, we'll change the subject. So, how are you planning on playing?[Thanks to everybody who sent this in.]
Nin-bento makes us happy we have to eat food to live
A Livejournal group called "Bento Challenge," which is devoted to making festive Japanese-style lunches in recognizable shapes, is doing a "game characters" theme this week. And, as you may expect, that means a lot of Nintendo. In Soviet Russia Japan, you eat Kirby!We posted the Kirby because it's so adorable-- he's just SO HAPPY about being your lunch! But there is other stuff in the competition that must be seen to be believed, like a Paper Mario-style Bowser that is basically perfect. Forget waggling, devouring is the real Revolution.We spend too much time on unimportant aspects of our food, like flavor. We should really be paying more attention to how much like a Nintendo character our meals look.
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.
System envy: 7 DS games I wish were on PSP
I may write about PSP gaming news, but I own and play every system (including the new and next-gen consoles). So while I do get to play most any game I want, I can't help but wish in a feverish state, that certain system exclusives went to other consoles. In this case, if I wanted to list 7 DS games I'd love to see show up on PSP (however unrealistic that may be). So here it is: New Super Mario Bros (My favorite DS game, but I would like better power ups and more variety. It would also be great to see what the creators could do in 2D with the power of PSP) SNK vs Capcom Cardfighters (Addictive and strategic gameplay that makes me giddy. Only if it comes to PSP, add back in free-roaming and take out the game killing bug) Ace Attorney (Great characters, funny cases and it makes you think. That sorta game would work on any system) Kirby (He may be cute, but the gameplay is classic) Advance Wars (Because Field Commander is good, but not THIS good) WarioWare(Because there aren't enough mini-game titles on PSP) Meteos (Because every Q? Entertainment game should be on PSP) What about you reader? Are there any DS games you'd like to see on PSP, or do you refuse to even entertain the thought?
Wii Warm Up: Reusing assets
The unreleased Gamecube Kirby looked to be running on the Super Smash Bros. Melee engine. Most of the character art in Super Paper Mario Iooks a whole lot like that of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and we don't think that's just consistency in style. Nintendo seems to be reusing art and code from previous games. The advantages of such a practice are obvious: reduced cost, quicker development cycles, and less need for debugging.But does it bother you to have a new game that isn't entirely new? Should Intelligent Systems have redrawn Mario for their new game? Or is there no reason to redo perfectly good work? What do you all think about the reuse of assets in new games?
Devour this Gamecube Kirby video, gain its power
We caught this trailer from the unreleased Gamecube Kirby platformer on Gamevideos, and we are agape. Stunned. We think that given the choice to release this or Kirby Air Ride, Nintendo may have chosen poorly.Kirby is clearly using HAL's Super Smash Bros. Melee engine, and to awesome effect, as the graphics look great and the combat looks fighting-game solid. The video shows off Kirby's ability to not only copy enemy attacks, but to trade in those attacks for helper creatures. We loved the ability-combining mechanic from Kirby 64, and we're glad to see new stuff being done with Kirby's, uh, eating habits.The world needs side-scrolling platformers, especially when they look this cool. We sincerely hope that the release of this trailer is foreshadowing a Wii release of the game. See the trailer for yourself following the post break.[Via NeoGAF]
Europe: WELCOME TO WARP ZONE!
European Wii Shop users got a pleasant surprise: a secret area inside the Virtual Console section! To access it, follow these simple steps: Be European (depending on your circumstances, this is either the easiest or hardest step). Download the latest update. Click on the little smiley emoticon. So far, there's not much other than a blurb about Kirby (a "blurby"), but it's going to be a trivia channel about Nintendo characters! An encyclopedia of gaming! Between this and the Virtual Console, the Wii is on the way to becoming the premiere console for librarians.Jump over the post break to enter GERMAN YOUTUBE DEMONSTRATION ZONE![Via GayGamer]
VC Friday: Puffballs and bikes
Sure, so you could pick up Excite Truck this week if you're in Europe ... or you could save a few quid and go old school with Excitebike on the Virtual Console! Sorry, sorry ... we just loved us some Excitebike back in the day, and we get a little extra bouncy when we have an excuse to talk about it. If jumping blocky hills isn't your thing, there's a lot more to choose from this week: Excitebike (NES) -- 500 points Kirby's Adventure (NES) -- 500 points New Adventure Island (TurboGrafx) -- 600 points R-Type III: The Third Lightning (SNES) -- 800 points Any of these rev your motor?
The VC gets 3 more NES titles
A handful of new NES titles are destined to hit the VC today at their usual time of 9am PST. With all three being solid titles from the Nintendo Entertainment System's line-up of games, we suspect we'll be forced to give each and every one a download. The details for each game are: Kid Icarus - NES - 1 player - 500 Wii Points Ice Climbers - NES - 1-2 players - 500 Wii Points Kirby - 1 player - 500 Wii Points Will you be joining us in giving these a download today?
Kirby, Ice Climber, and Kid Icarus reunite on Wii Virtual Console
The last time these three games -- Kirby's Adventure, Ice Climber, and Kid Icarus -- were all gathered on your Nintendo system, Kirby's producer wasn't yet head of Nintendo, Kid Icarus' creator had gone on to create the Game Boy, and the adorable Ice Climbers had no idea they would be duking it out in Super Smash Bros. Melee in the future. And so, another Virtual Console Monday comes and goes, again just barely missing that promise of four new titles.But that's okay, we're still working on last week's Super Mario World ... though we would like to get our hands back on Kid Icarus. He may not have ever made it to DS or The Console Formerly Known as Revolution as rumored but he did make it to Wii intact. All three NES titles will be available at 9am PT for the standard NES fare of 500 Wii Points.
Featured Friday Video: Kirby gets his squeak on
Earlier, we brought you the metareview -- now see for yourself. After all, if you haven't yet bought the game, it's always nice to check out a little footage along with the reviews. Check out the puff doing his platform thing after the jump.
Metareview: Kirby: Squeak Squad
Kirby has a wide array of powers, among them the little known aura that inspires complete adoration. Who could look upon the puff and not smile? In that, most of us agree. But there's something that no one can agree on when it comes to the newly released Kirby: Squeak Squad -- and that's the difficulty of the game. Sure, reviewers may be extolling Kirby's virtues, but the list of virtues is not quite the same from one write-up to another. Yahoo! Games - 70%: In terms of difficulty, this is one of the easier platformers on the DS ...This game definitely catered to the less patient and less experienced DS owners. Mini-games are another beloved aspect of Kirby titles, but Squeak Squad's are disappointing: Play a variation on bumper cars, engage in speed eating, or avoid bombs in a treasure hunt. Even the prospect of multiplayer competitions can't add much longevity to these quickly cast-aside diversions. Cubed3 - 90%: ...people oft complain that Kirby's adventures are far too easy, thus do not manage to scale the heights of Mario's platform games. They generally point out that it is especially due to the fact that he can inhale fresh air and then just float along at the top of the screen until the end of a level. However, this really is not the case with Squeak Squad as the levels are extremely intricate, housing so many secrets that it is practically impossible to find them all on your first play through. There are eight worlds in total, broken down into separate levels, with a final boss at the end of each one. Altogether there are 37 stages, seven hidden ones and eight boss battles. The main stages and boss battles alone should be enough to keep the average gamer happy, but thankfully for those Kirby masters out there, much more is added on top of this to make the package truly complete. GamePro - 80%: The only thing we didn't like about Squeak Squad is that it's a tad on the easy side. To say that it's forgiving is an understatement. Food, which replenishes your health, is readily available and the bosses don't put up much of a challenge. Also, the cartoonish visual style might turn off more mature gamers who like their games to have a little hair on their chests. But there is no denying the ineffable charm of this title and gamers looking to give their DS a workout should gobble this one up like it was made of sweet, sweet candy.
New Virtual Console games on the horizon [update 1]
Yes, the U.S. Virtual Console launch line-up is a bit ... anemic. We know, it hurts. However, one has to consider why it doesn't really matter: 1) We'll all be too busy playing Twilight Princess to bother with the Virtual Console immediately, and 2) Nintendo has promised ten new Virtual Console releases per month. That's quite a bit, especially looking at how often Xbox Live Arcade is updated, but the question then becomes: what's on the horizon?Well, thanks to the ESRB, we've got a clue. The ESRB requires that games be rated before release, which obviously means that companies need to send in their product quite a bit in advance. Since they publish their ratings, we've managed to score a list of eight potentials, and quite an eight they are (all rated E for Everyone): Duck Hunt Hogan's Alley Kid Icarus Kirby's Adventure PilotWings Pro Wrestling Punch-Out Wild Gunman Kid Icarus, Duck Hunt, and Punch-Out? Holy hell. The Virtual Console is awesome.[via Joystiq][Thanks, Zeke!][Update 1: Legal issues?]
Kirby Squeak Squad site gets second update [Update]
The Japanese website for Kirby Squeak Squad recently received another update. In this latest update, new character bios, screens, and weapon profiles have been added to the site for your gawking pleasure. Some of Kirby's forms, such as the UFO and magician, look especially fun.See also: Kirby Squeak Squad minisite launch Kirby Squeak Squad video Kirby Squeak Squad montage Kirby Squeak Squad gets Japanese commercial treatment [Update: We overlooked the fact that the UFO was featured in previous Kirby games. Thanks for pointing that out to us Rhyhon!]
Kirby Squeak Squad gets Japanese commercial treatment
In this brief 14 second commercial for Kirby Squeak Squad, we get an up-close look at some of Kirby's new abilities available in the game. In getting a glimpse of the pink consumer of all things with his spiffy badger/wolverine/whatever suit, it only helps strengthen our desire to get ahold of the game. As usual, video is embedded into the post after the break.[Via Go Nintendo]
Kirby Squeak Squad montage
Gotta love the puff. He's cute, he's fluffy, and he's incredibly versatile, as this video demonstrates. Nothing gets Kirby down for long. Of course, that's probably because he could eat anything that tried, but that's neither here nor there. This video montage from Kirby's Squeak Squad shows us just what happens to things that get in Kirby's way. Check it out after the jump!
Kirby Squeak Squad minisite launch
Over at the official minisite for Kirby Squeal Squad, you can check out some gameplay videos as well as some info on the game's power-ups and story. Some of Kirby's power-ups this time around include a mole/badger/wolverine suit, bomb hood, and the return of the karate bandana. Kirby vs. Daniel Larusso? Well, Daniel-san may have taken down Kobra Kai, but Kirby can consume all.You can see some of the game's enemies here, as well as the power-ups broken down for your here. Obviously, all of the game's power-ups are not listed, so we assume the page is to be updated up until the game's launch. Yeah, that's the ticket ...
WWE fused with Super Smash Bros: it ain't pretty [update 2]
What do you get when you stretch the skins of characters from Super Smash Bros. over wrestlers from WWE Smackdown!? A disturbingly compelling game along with a pimped out Mario, that's what. Watch as Mario and chums perform maneuvers from head slams to full frontal kicks in the face. There's even a Solid Snake cameo! Just don't show this thing to your kids, they'll never want to play a Mario game again. And yes, that pink fat dude is Kirby. Weiiird.Who's gonna be the next victim of pimp my video game?Update: the video has been removed from YouTube. Apparently it violated their copyright rules. If anyone can find the real video online then let us know and we'll update the post.Update 2: the video is back up, with no explanation as to why it went down. Check it out after the jump.
Upcoming DS games dated [Update 1]
No doubt attempting to organize the masses of people who constantly barge into stores at random intervals and demand games that aren't due for release in months, Nintendo has sent out a handy "release list" thing. If we understand this correctly, it's supposed to tell you on which day some of their major DS games will be set loose upon the public. That's Nintendo for you--always innovating.June 5: Big Brain Academy™June 5: Magnetica™June 11: Nintendo DS™ Lite (although that depends on where you're shopping)June 26: Sudoku GridmasterAug. 28: Star Fox DSSept. 18: Pokémon® Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue TeamSept. 25: Mario vs. Donkey Kong™ 2: March of the MinisOct. 9: Clubhouse Games™Oct. 30: Children of ManaSadly, it looks like the new Kirby game and Yoshi's Island 2 will only be released during or after the cheerfully explosive holiday season. Don't let that stop you from demanding it from the store clerk next week.[Update: To clear up any confusion - this list encompasses Nintendo titles only.]
Smash Bros. Dojo updated
Smash Bros. Dojo, the official Smash Bros. website, has updated the character section. Pit, star of the game Kid Icarus for the NES, and Meta Knight, rival to the gluttonous pink ball that is Kirby, are the first two of the game's characters to receive the star treatment with added screenshots and biographies.
