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WRUP: The World Ends with Pokemon edition
Gamers, this is a good week for picking up something new. Not only are the pair of competent Pokemon Mystery Dungeon sequels available, Square Enix's The World Ends with You is also on tap, ready for your consumption. And that's just here in North America!So, let's get to it. What are you picking up? Were you thinking about getting Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 (did you read our review?), or were you looking to Square Enix's title for some fun? Perhaps both? What are you playing this weekend?%Gallery-11943%
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!
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]
New games this week: Emo kids win (or Persona 3:FES) edition
And verily did Eyelinerus decree that in the fourth week of April the goth kids would hold sway over all that they surveyed. And all the films at the cineplex would be replaced with The Virgin Suicides, and the radio would be replaced by silence, for the mere playing of recorded music through electronic amplification makes it too commercial. The week would be peaceful, save for the Great Goth Kid Purging, a bloodless, but still teriffically weepy affair. And the games? Well, the most impressive console release would be Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: FES, a souped-up version of the RPG released in August of last year. And on portable consoles? Why, The World Ends With You, sure to be an emo kid classic. Oh, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon would also be released too, for reasons Eyelinerus would prefer not to talk about. See all the slightly less emo titles that slipped through the cracks after the break.
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.
Shed some light on the mystery with these Pokemon Mystery Dungeon trailers
Anxious individuals counting down the days until they'll get their hands on Pokemon Mystery Dungeon will likely find the video above (and the other, which is past the break) chock full of the kind of stuff worth seeing. Like, different kinds of Pokemon. And traversing various environments in the game. You all pretty much know what you're getting into, right?
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.
Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 1/7-1/13
The PSP might be inching closer to the DS in hardware sales, but the dual-screened handheld continues to dominate the software charts. Half of the games in the top twenty were DS games, while the Wii, PSP, PS2 and PS3 shared the other half.Many of the top games were old favorites, but relative newcomers like Final Fantasy IV and Rune Factory 2 did well, too. Professor Layton 2 continues to help its predecessor sell more copies, giving the original Layton a chance to reach one million sales. For the most part, though, it was a quiet and predictable week in the Land of the Rising Sun.Hardware: DS: 103,000 PSP: 84,000 Wii: 82,000 PS3: 34,000 PS2: 15,000 Xbox 360: 5,500 The software sales can be seen after the break.
Nintendo dates Wii & DS games for first half of '08
Nintendo dumped a load of dates on us today – 148 to be exact. These dates (some specific, some general) correspond to 65 Wii and 83 DS titles that are scheduled to be released in the first half of 2008. While its obvious that many third-party publishers will continue to shovel their filth onto the systems this year, we've been able to excavate a decent collection of potential gems from an otherwise smoldering pile of manure: Okami (Wii) dated March 25 Wii Fit scheduled for Q2 Pokemon Mystery Dungeon sequels scheduled for Q2 Crosswords DS dated May 5 Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword dated March 25 Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) dated Feb. 10 LEGO: Indiana Jones (Wii/DS) scheduled for Spring Super Dodgeball Brawlers (DS) scheduled for April Bangai-O Spirits (DS) scheduled for Q2 Rondo of Swords (DS) scheduled for April and thus far unannounced by Atlus USA [Note: we haven't listed titles with previously confirmed dates (e.g., Mario Kart, Advance Wars, No More Heroes, etc.).] The full list of releases is posted after the break. [Via DS Fanboy]
Nintendo lays out 2008's releases, we totally freak
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Nintendo_s_upcoming_releases_to_flood_shelves'; Nintendo sent out a press release detailing the 2008 release schedule, and along with all the yay-awesome stuff we knew about, there's a ton of new stuff! We were just casually looking down the list, expecting familiar titles and release dates, and we almost spit out our Diet Cherry Coke when we saw previously-unknown release dates, and even a few new titles! For the safety of your computer, DS Fanboy recommends that you put down your Diet Cherry Coke before proceeding.For the first time, the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon sequels have been announced for U.S. release. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness are tentatively slated for a "Q2" release. More personally exciting is the revelation that Bangai-O Spirits was picked up by D3 of America, also Q2. And by "personally exciting" we mean "OH YES AWESOME. AWESOME."Other surprises include Ubisoft's Quick Yoga Training (April), Nintendo's Crosswords DS (May 5th!), Rondo of Swords (which we Eric surmised is Success Corp.'s Ituwari no Rondo) and complete unknowns like Organize It (May 8th).We've reproduced the whole list for you after the break, so you can freak out. We think we're over the initial shoOH DUDE SUPER DODGEBALL IN APRIL. If you can handle the intensity, check out the Wii schedule as well!
Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 12/31-1/6
The big news with last week's sales numbers is not that the DS managed to top 300,000 again, but that the New Super Mario Bros. broke five million in Japan. Not only that, but the game took the sixteenth spot in today's Famistu chart. Also showing legs is Mario Kart DS, which sold 68,000 copies to take the number eight spot. While it's no surprise that Mario Kart does well week after week (after week), we didn't expect it to make the top ten. We're also happy to see some new DS blood enter the ring, with Rune Factory 2 selling 56,000 in its debut. The rise in sales from the previous week was most likely due to the New Years holiday, which is a popular shopping period in Japan. These numbers are almost certainly not sustainable, though, so we should see a big difference next week. Of course, we fully expect that the DS will end up on top, as always, with a smattering of its games in the top ten. Check after the break to see the numbers, with NSMB sales tacked on for good measure.
Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 12/24-12/31
We were finally able to get our greedy little hands on the Japanese sales numbers from Famitsu for the week of 12/24, and came to find that the DS had another great week.Unsurprisingly, the DS took the top spot in hardware sales, moving 195,000 units. While this was a drop from the week before's incredible numbers, it certainly isn't a bad showing for the three-year-old handheld.In terms of software, Final Fantasy IV is continuing to sell well, meaning that more remakes in the series are sure to follow. The other Square-Enix remake on the charts, Dragon Quest IV, managed to go platinum this week. Mario Party DS, meanwhile, was the only other DS game to make the top ten, as the Professor Layton sequel slipped to the number eleven spot.To see the hardware and software sales numbers for the the week of 12/24, check after the break.
Stay away from the Mystery Dungeon if you value your humanity
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon featured the story of a human who gets transformed into a Pokemon and ends up exploring a big dungeon with a team of Pokemon. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 features the story of a human who gets transformed into a Pokemon and enters the fast-paced world of fashion design. Or does the human explore a big dungeon? We always get the two mixed up. Now that we think about it, it's definitely the dungeon one.We're willing to accept that an entire society is built around the concept of capturing animals and making them fight. We're okay with the idea of technologically rendering said animals pocket-sized for convenience. But this? Preposterous.
More Pokemon, more mystery, and more dungeons
Chunsoft is already hard at work on the sequel to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, a process that they should have down by now after God knows how many licensed Roguelikes. The new one looks pretty much just like the last one, but with new critters. This should not be a surprise to anyone who has ever played, seen, or heard of Pokémon. Check out the screens at GAME Watch and see if you're interested in another journey into the cave of monsters.We have two theories about the sales of this game: either they'll be boosted by renewed Pokémania due to the recent release of Diamond and Pearl, or they'll be reduced due to the fact that fans are satisfied with the real games and don't need to go into spinoff land. What do you think?
