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Five Nintendo 3DS games receive permanent price cuts
Beginning April 22, Nintendo will permanently cut the price on five of its stand-out 3DS games. Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mario Kart 7 and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D will all be $29.99, a 25 percent drop. If you've missed out on any of these games and want some help making a choice on which to pick up, we've placed links to all their reviews after the break.
Europeans, grab Super Mario 3D Land for free in Nintendo promo
Nintendo of Europe is getting into the holiday spirit by giving away Super Mario 3D Land to anyone who registers a 3DS and one of 15 games. Between November 27 and January 13, 3DS owners who register their systems and a qualifying game at Club Nintendo will get a free download code for the popular handheld platformer. If you've already registered your 3DS or you're not from one of the qualifying countries, there'll be no freebie for you sadly. If you qualify, you'll still need to register one of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, A Link Between Worlds, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Lego City: Undercover, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario Kart 7, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Pokemon X/Y, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, and Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. Nintendo has more details on how to claim your game here. As games new 3DS owners should be adding to their collections go, Super Mario 3D Land is right up there. We gave it four-and-a-half stars in our 2011 review, and if you've not got a Wii U to play 3D World on, it's certainly a strong alternative.
Brownie Brown changes its name to 1-Up Studio
Nintendo subsidiary Brownie Brown is changing its name to 1-Up Studio, the company recently announced on its soon-to-be defunct site.The developer is known for its hand in crafting games such as Mother 3 and Super Mario 3D Land, as well as its help with Level-5's Professor Layton and the Last Specter. Along with the name change, the studio also announced a new Mother game for North America... oh, it didn't? Well that's too bad.
3DS holiday bundle includes red 3DS, pre-loaded Mario 3D Land
Nintendo isn't making too big a deal out of Black Friday. Its special holiday 3DS bundle, out Nov. 23, is almost exactly identical to the Mario 3DS bundle from last year! It comes with the same Flame Red 3DS, and the same game (the truly worthwhile Super Mario 3D Land).The only differences are that Mario is now pre-installed rather than bundled as a cartridge, and the MSRP is $170 instead of $200. Those are both good changes. However, it seems incredibly, conspicuously odd to put this 3DS bundle forward as the holiday deal now that the 3DS XL is out – as is a newer Mario game.
Pikachu 3DS XL in UK Dec. 7, headlines trio of holiday handhelds
Quite possibly the most huggable handheld ever, the Pikachu 3DS XL will leave its current Japanese prison for the lush, bountiful lands of the UK on December 7.A pair of white 3DS XLs bundled with games will go on sale in the UK later this month. A white 3DS XL with a pre-installed copy of Mario Kart 7 will be available on November 16, while a white 3DS XL with Super Mario 3D Land will go on sale on November 30.Also, have fun trying to un-see Pikachu's nipples.
Hands-on with the Nintendo 3DS XL
If initial impressions are any indication at all, those who held out for a bigger version of Nintendo's 3DS will find the wait worth it. We just got to play with the Nintendo 3DS XL here at Comic-Con in San Diego, and its big screen really impressed us. The picture is clearer and brighter than the current 3DS (at least in the dark ballroom where we played Super Mario 3D Land), and the 3D is much better. There is still a sweet spot to get your eyes in, but once you're there, the much larger screen makes it easier to focus in, and the 3D just seems more effective as a result.There aren't any significant differences to the rest of the device. The control stick, buttons, and other controls all feel like the 3DS. The larger unit might be a little unwieldy for small hands, but the stick and buttons are close enough to the edges that pushing them around shouldn't be an issue. On the whole, the device is more rounded off than the previous system. From the top, while closed, it looks more like a clamshell than a rectangle.The larger size makes it a very sturdy device indeed. Sitting on the table in front of you, it's almost like a small laptop. The Start, Select, Home, and Power buttons have all lost their white touches, so that top screen just dominates the device. Nintendo's making a serious statement here, and it's that bigger should be better.We're hesitant to get too hyperbolic about the 3DS XL until we're able to really run it through its paces, but yes, on first touch, it's gorgeous. This is not a device designed to fit in your pocket, though it certainly seems like the best way to play Nintendo's growing 3DS library. Below, you can see a gallery of hands-on pictures (including a PSP comparison -- that's the only device we had in the bag at the time).The 3DS XL arrives on August 19, so if you were planning to buy a 3DS you might want to wait until then.%Gallery-160306%
Nintendo launching 3DS in Korea on April 28
Korea is finally getting the 3DS. Blue, pink and black models are launching in the country on April 28 for 220,000 won ($193), Nintendo has revealed.The launch lineup will consist of three games: Tekken 3D Prime Edition, Super Mario 3D Land and Nicola Magazine Model Stylish Audition 2. Later in the year, Nintendo plans to offer Mario Kart 7, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Nintendogs + Cats and the two N64 remakes, Star Fox 64 3D and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
Long Mario never lived: Super Mario 3D Land director was totally joking
Koichi Hayashida opened his hilarious, energetic GDC speech with a look at some content that was considered for inclusion in Super Mario 3D Land, but didn't make it into the final game -- ideas like "Huge Mario," "Long Mario" (who is "sort of scary!") and a shell-riding "Pro Skater Mario."But were these ideas that really almost made it into the game? "No, not at all," Hayashida told me with a laugh during a subsequent interview. Hayashida then went on to explain his use of weird jokes and general high-energy style."Just for this presentation," he said (quietly), "I decided to turn my hilarity meter up to maximum for an American audience. If I was addressing a Japanese audience, of course, I would be much more subdued." In fact, "I think if I tried to give that same presentation for a Japanese audience, they might not even be able to follow it." Hayashida expressed surprise that the GDC crowd offered spontaneous applause for the corny, out-of-place "D. Mario" option that appeared in every multiple-choice question he offered on stage. "I was really surprised, because that's the sort of thing that Japanese audiences might have just sat there not clapping for."
Hayashida: Super Mario 3D Land is a gateway game
Super Mario 3D Land has a curious structure: it's very easy throughout the first eight worlds, and then it surprises the player with a "special" set of eight additional worlds, which test players with insane time limits, ever-pursuing "Shadow Marios" and every other trick EAD Tokyo could think of. So why backload the challenge?"We thought of setting the difficulty level about as low as we could go realistically for this game because we saw this as an entry point to the Mario games for a lot of people," director Koichi Hayashida told me during GDC. "So the way we see it is someone would pick up Super Mario 3D Land and play that, and then maybe they would move onto Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Sunshine or Super Mario 64 after that."There's an even more personal motivation. "Speaking as a Mario game fan personally, I should admit that I had trouble trying to clear the first two Super Mario Bros. games," Hayashida said. "So for me, I wanted to create a game that I could at the very least clear. Even if it meant using Assist Blocks, I was able to clear this one, of course."Hayashida and his team designed a game that allowed "lots of people" to see an ending, which plays at the end of world 8 before the Special Worlds appear. "Even though there's still a little bit of good challenge in worlds 7 and 8, people have at least the option to adjust the difficulty for what feels appropriate to them. If that means they need to challenge themselves to find all the star medals in a certain levels, they can do that. But we're not forcing people to do something at a very high level of difficulty all the way through." At least, not until the Special Worlds.
Long Mario is long: early Super Mario 3D Land concepts that didn't make it
Super Mario 3D Land director Koichi Hayashida opened his GDC talk with some concepts that didn't make it into the final game. They were ... wacky. The ideas included a "Huge Mario," who is so huge that you can only see the bottom half of his body on the screen, and a long Mario: "He has long arms and long legs, sort of scary," Hayashi said, in English. "I'd like to give this idea to Luigi's Mansion 2 team."Hayashida also showed simple animated drawings of a "Pro Skater Mario" riding a Koopa shell on a half pipe, and a cockroach that would appear on the top screen, forcing you to quickly shut the 3DS to crush it. And finally, "You can change Peach's face ... to your girlfriend's face!"He then asked what we expected to see in a 2012 Mario game, showing some of these concepts again. "If you are here today, please don't write 'the new Mario game will be pro skater Mario with cockroaches!'" Hayashida quickly interjected. "We might get in trouble."
Nintendo 3DS sales hit 4.5 million units in first year, outperforms original DS
Nintendo announced this morning that its 3DS handheld will have sold 4.5 million units in the States when it celebrates its first birthday on March 27, 2011. Initial sales were slow for the glasses-free 3D device, but picked up the pace following last year's price cut.The company predicted late last year that the 3DS would beat first-year sales of the original DS and that held true. The original DS sold 2.3 million units by its first anniversary on November 21, 2004, with 5 million units of software sold in those 12 months and $540 million in revenue. By comparison, the 3DS sell hit 4.5 million units, with over 9 million units of software sold and $1.2 billion in revenue. Of course, the software catalog of the 3DS, when adding original DS titles, is immense in comparison to the DS offerings in its first year."With a massive lineup of first- and third-party games and more on the way, a budding library of entertainment options and an engaged and growing installed base, Nintendo 3DS has an incredibly bright future," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "We're just getting started but this platform is built for the long haul."The 3DS passed the 4 million unit mark in Japan and the US this past December. Despite the continued success of the portable, which does show a dedicated gaming device still has a place in this world, Nintendo is still expected to announce its first loss in 30 years at the end of its fiscal year.
Super Mario 3D Land, Resident Evil Revelations talks at GDC
Super Mario 3D Land director Koichi Hayashida will present a postmortem talk at GDC entitled "Thinking in 3D: The Development of Super Mario 3D Land." Attendees will be required to cross a pit of moving blocks while being chased by evil purple versions of themselves in order to attend.Or, what will actually happen is that Hayashida will discuss developing for 3D devices, and "share development philosophies learned from Mario creator and legendary Nintendo designer, Shigeru Miyamoto."Another 3DS-centric talk is "Revealing the Truth About Resident Evil Revelations," presented by producer Masachika Kawata. And Cave COO Mikio Watanabe will discuss "Retro and Japanese Social Games on Smartphones," bringing attention to the company's recent endeavors in porting crazy shmups to iOS.
Iwata throws around the idea of paid Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart DLC
Nintendo head honcho Satoru Iwata hinted at the possibility of paid DLC for two of its 3DS titles, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, at a recent investor meeting. Speaking in terms of hardware and software lifespans, Iwata suggested (hypothetically) Nintendo could benefit from the addition of paid DLC to both Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7:"What if we could provide add-on content through the network?" Iwata asked, positing a solution to the problem of players growing tired of the games they've purchased. "As I referred to before, for example, this is the idea of supplying new stages to Super Mario users who want to play the game more but have completed the game and lost interest in the existing stages."This will not only give us new profits but will lengthen the life of a product, in that it will never be out of fashion and can keep attracting public attention as long as many people play it." DLC functionality was added to the 3DS with the last firmware update, and will first be used in a retail title in Japan with Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.
3DS sales exceed 4M in Japan, Mario sells over 2M games
More 3DS sales figures coming right at you: According to data from publisher Enterbrain, the 3DS has now exceeded sales of four million units in Japan (as expected), wrapping up the week leading into Christmas with 510,629 systems sold. That's an increase of 39 percent over the last week, which also saw the 3DS outselling the newer and more expensive PlayStation Vita by about 13 percent. Mario achieved an accompanying milestone (according to Famitsu), hawking a million copies each of Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land. The portly plumber's latest adventures are reportedly the first 3DS games to sell over 1 million copies in Japan. The most recent third-party game to come close to that target is likely Monster Hunter Tri-G, which has already shipped a million copies.
Wii, Zelda, and Super Mario 3D Land set records on Black Friday
Breaking, obvious news: Mario and Zelda games are popular. All right, it gets more interesting upon getting into specifics: Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told USA Today that Super Mario 3D Land has become the fastest-selling portable Mario game ever, moving over half a million copies since its November 13 launch. As a result, 3DS system sales have spiked, as well. According to info provided by Nintendo, system sales are up 325% for the week of November 20 over the previous week, and sales that week were up 49% over the week of November 6. Fils-Aime told USA Today that the surge in 3DS interest allowed the system to cross the DS's first-year sales threshold (2.37 million units) in eight months, even before Mario Kart 7's release. In crazier news, the Wii had its best Black Friday ever, with Nintendo reporting over 500,000 systems sold just on Black Friday, including early store openings the night before. The combination of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword -- which is itself the fastest-selling Zelda in history, at 535,000 copies -- and rock-bottom prices helped propel the system to its record-breaking feat. See, Nintendo, there's at least enough life left in the system for Rhythm Heaven Fever to be worth releasing! If you didn't get that subtext, we'll lay it out: give us Rhythm Heaven.
Editorial: Lay of the 3D Land
Eric Caoili loved the stereoscopic effect in Super Mario 3D Land. In this article, he explains why it was so good -- and why it shouldn't be a priority for other 3DS games. Since the 3DS's launch, many gamers and reviewers have complained about the lack of titles that use the handheld's stereoscopic 3D features in a meaningful way capable of affecting or improving gameplay -- new experiences unavailable elsewhere, something to justify early adopters' expensive purchases. Some unaccommodating people would act as if 3DS games failing to meet this standard aren't worth their attention. The gimmick of an image that really looks like a dog's tongue is coming out of the screen to lick their face is not enough, not if the novelty ends there. "These puppy kisses mean nothing to me," they will sneer. "Take him away and drown this contemptible creature in a river." If there's a title that will please those demanding more depth to 3DS releases, as well as those puppy drowners, it's Super Mario 3D Land. This platforming masterpiece is the Avatar of 3DS games, proof that 3D in this medium isn't crap when it's thoughtfully planned and executed, evidence that it's worth the (potential) literal headaches because you just might see something you've never seen before.
Toys R Us Cyber Monday: Free Skylanders with Mario 3DS bundle
Appealing to those of us who prefer not to risk physical harm in order to secure some sweet deals, Toys R Us has announced its plans for Cyber Monday (AKA the Monday following Black Friday) and the ensuing "Cyber Week." For starters, the retailer will actually begin its online discounts beginning on Sunday, November 27 at 6pm Eastern. There are only a handful of gaming deals, though they are fairly substantial. First up for grabs, a free game, controller or headset ($59.99 or less) with the purchase of a $300 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle. Also, Toys R Us will offer a "buy one, get one 60 percent off" discount on "hundreds of video game titles," though the press release doesn't specify which titles are included. Finally, starting on Monday at 8am Eastern, those who pick up the $200 3DS Mario bundle will get a free Skylanders starter pack (normally $70). As the "cyber" implies, these deals will only be available through ToysRUs.com, though store pick up is available on certain items. Shipping is also free on orders over $49.
Super Mario 3D Land tops Japanese charts
Americans love Mario and friends as much as anyone else, but it really says something about Japan's devotion to their Italian mascot when his new 3DS game manages to outsell both Uncharted 3 and Battlefield 3 by a fairly massive gap. For the week ending November 6, Super Mario 3D Land sold 343,492 units in Japan, outselling its closest competition by over 200,000 units, earning the No. 1 slot on Media Create's sales charts. Uncharted 3 came in second with 124,989 units sold, and Battlefield 3 slotted in right beneath it at 123,379, scientifically proving that the Tanooki Suit is a powerful psychoactive monetary aphrodisiac. [Image credit: Nintendo]
Super Mario 3D Land review: Depths worth plumbing
For the early portions of Super Mario 3D Land, I was under the dual misconceptions that I didn't like it very much, and I wasn't doing the review. Both of those assumptions proved false after I found myself playing through about half the game in a single, nonstop session. It became clear that I liked it much more than I thought I did -- and I had inadvertently gotten well ahead of our assigned reviewer during my Mario fugue state, hence the duty shifted to me. I also spent that first half of the game thinking this was the easiest Mario platformer I'd ever played. That turned out not to be the case at all.%Gallery-137152%
US copies of Super Mario 3D Land also include firmware update
Yesterday, we found out that the Japanese version of Super Mario 3D Land packed a mandatory 3DS firmware update, which enhanced security (of course) but also streamlined the friends list, adding a new "Join Game" option. Today, upon the arrival of our US review copy, we discovered that the same firmware update is loaded on that version, as well, and offers the same amenities. You can see the "Join Game" button at the top of the screenshot above. It's faded out because the game I had running at the time doesn't have multiplayer. There's more 3DS updating to come, as a more comprehensive update is due this month to add video recording features, along with updated StreetPass games, DLC functionality, and other eShop improvements.
