Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Delay in Europe Explained

I don't think there are enough Wii U games for the holiday season this year. But maybe Nintendo has a surprise or two in the cards?

I was really looking forward to this game but it just means I'll have time to finish some of my backlog.

Their marketing speech itself is like a puzzle. I can appreciate that irony, not so sure about the other Europeans here though ^^

People also get money for Xmas, and if this is a budget release like the US release, there should be enough in the kitty by then.

Lucky you Europe. When games are delayed in the States we don't get explanations. Not sure why.

I read that as "we have no games to launch in january in europe, so we push this back to then to make it look like we do have games in january"

A little off topic but doe anyone know what happened to XType? I was about to invest and got denied by the eShop.....

@gspro15198 my thoughts exactly. My backlog goes back as far as Arkham City and Mass Effect3. I'm still in 2012!

Well I'm not quite sure whether or not I want to own this anytime soon, Captain Toad minigames were great and all and the game looks amazing but there are better things to spend my money on at the moment: Bayonetta 2, SM4SH, Hyrule Warriors, Yoshi's Woolly World and all of that good stuff.

Maybe if I'm bored and Captain Toad is the last resort i'll spend £39.99 for it or however much it'll cost.

Okay personally I'm not to bummed but surely this would have sold more in the Christmas presents rush then post Christmas when people are looking for deals not full rrp just released games?

@ColdingLight To be fair, this explanation really doesn't say much.

This really explains nothing to me. But I'm not sure if I will buy it anyway, so a delay doesn't bother me.

How European the optimum release is any different to the US optimum release I don't understand. Barring Wii U Smash and 3DS Pokemon Ruby/Emerald (is that the right one?), Nintendo has a VERY empty Christmas day in Blighty.

I'm slightly worried the other games this year are going to be delayed as well.

Actually I'm worried Bayonetta is going to be.

Ok, so GOTY 2014 in NA and GOTY 2015 in Europe, haha.

Maybe Nintendo feels that NA is a bigger market and thus spends more in games than Europe?

So for North America,

Are Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad and Smash Bros. definitely among the games available for the holiday season? I'm still thinking Smash Bros. might end up coming out next year.

Sorry bros across the pond

I dont understand what Nintendo are trying to say. What makes Europe so different to the US? We have the same big titles being released at the same time of year. So whats different?

The only thing I can think and I think it was mentioned above, is that Nintendo prefers to put its efforts in the US where there is a potential to make far bigger profits.

The drawback is that releasing any game in January/February in Europe is that no one ever spend money at that time of year. Remember how poorly Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze did?

Oh come on Nintendo , I think we both know this will hardly be a smash hit in the UK, so why let a niche game like this miss out on vital Xmas sales which could make the difference between success and flop? I believe your so-called "strategic" delay may backfire on you, as I could very much see this as being picked up for Xmas, but since it will now miss it, it may get overlooked. Of all the Xmas games they have lined up, this would've benefitted the most. The others all have plenty of selling power with or without Xmas timing.

Read: we don't have anything for early 2015, so we delayed this Holiday release.

At least there's Watch Dogs, that is, if Ubisoft mercifully throws it out of their door this year. With Project Cars gone, there's precious little to enjoy besides the few first party offerings.

I can wait one month. They could be waiting for more Wii U sales before launching Toad. Let's face it, most Europeans especially UK prefers PSBoxOne anyway.

@Nintenjoe64 Bad news for you mate... The good news is that I downloaded XType the minute it was put on the eShop and I am playing it right now (it only crashed for me when I went to look at the online leader board)

@Kamalisk Yep, me too.

NA gets the NES Remix Pack along with Captain Toad and Smash Bros.. and that isn't a problem? 2015 is already full of 1st party games, there's enough to release one about every month. Oh well, I can wait for a month longer.

@Octane Really? I didn't think there were that many coming out next year.

I don't know that my daughter will be into Smash Bros. She's tried Warriors Orochi, which wasn't for her (but good on her for finishing the opening mission) and she likes Zelda (Nintendo Land led her to Four Swords on the DS and into Wind Waker HD) so she might play Hyrule Warriors with me (I hope).

Captain Toad would definitely have been welcome, but we can wait another month.

They hope it sells better after many buy their Smash Wii U bundle?
Im excited about Bayo, Smash and Hyrule Warriors but I would've loved to play Captain Toad between Zelda and Bayo sessions this holiday.
After such a long drought...MK8 is awesome but its just 1 game.

@MAB what's MAB's review of Xtype so far?

Now I understand. It's a bad strategic decision.

I suppose there's some overlap with SSB because so many will buy it, but the games are so different and really the library needs to look bigger and fresher for the Holidays even if it's just by one smiling mushroom on the cover.

@FragRed Well.. there is;

• Yoshi's Woolly World
• Mario Maker
• Mario Party 10
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
• Star Fox U (temp.)
• Project Giant Robot (temp.)
• Project Guard (temp.)
• The Legend of Zelda U (temp.)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong (temp.)
• Splatoon

Xenoblade Chronicles X isn't a Nintendo game, but it's an exclusive if you want to count that as well. And these have all been confirmed as retail games as well, so no download-only titles. This year, however, we only got DKC:TF, MK8, (Hyrule Warrios, Bayonetta 2), and SSB for Wii U.

At least in Europe.. as we still have no word on a NES Remix Pack, and Captain Toad is now scheduled to be released in 2015.

What are families going to buy this Xmas???
Seems like Nintendo has written off this year for the Wii U. Which is a smart startegy. I mean, next year, PS and Xbox will start to get good games as well! More competition= more profit!
Um.

@Octane I didn't know Project Giant Robot and Project Guard were to be retail releases. I know the E3 showing was merely a demo, but I couldn't see that much content to them to give them a full retail release.

Star Fox U is definitely going to be a Winter 2015 release. Unless you are in Europe, when it will be no doubt be pushed back to January/February 2016

Thinking about this, I wonder if it comes down to Nintendo freeing a bit of space so we buy Sonic/Infinity/Skylanders/Lego Batman 3 for Christmas instead?

Not going to happen, but Nintendo may think it.

@Nintenjoe64 Addictive... Now excuse me but I need to keep trying to get passed level 14 in time trial mode

"As the fiendish isometric puzzler "

Its not isometric, its a full 3D camera control. Isometric would imply you are at a locked distance/angle

Isometric platformers
"Arguably a subgenre of both 3D and 2D platformers, isometric platformers present a three-dimensional environment using two-dimensional graphics in isometric projection. Although not the first isometric games, the earliest examples of isometric platform games are the arcade game Congo Bongo and Ant Attack for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, both released in 1983."

I'm having trouble fitting Isometric into this Platformer Puzzle game.

Hey, they know what they're doing, I guess.

@Octane Xenoblade Chronicles X is published by Nintendo and made by Monolith Soft who have been owned by Nintendo for years. You can't get much more Nintendo than that.

Bet most of the 2015 stuff is pushed back to the second half of 2015 or the beginning of 2016. (Zelda U Winter 2016).

@FragRed About the two project games, Miyamoto has expressed that they have some connection to Star Fox U. I assume they take place in the same ''universe''. He also expressed his wish to create an episodical release for Star Fox U, perhaps as a ''trilogy'' of some sort? Perhaps the Project games are there to build up the hype for Star Fox U. Who knows? But here's a list of software they have planned for the coming years:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2014/140730_2e.pdf

I don't think they're going to be big games either, but there's nothing wrong with a $20-30 game.

@Nintenjoe64 As far as I know, Namco Bandai has also published some Monolith Soft games in the recent years, so I wasn't entirely sure about that.

Well. either this or SSB HAD to be delayed, no way no how Nitneod was hitting all it's release "seasons", they just aren't capable. Not that anybody is, just ask Sony. Or really anybody.

Still, as the article points out - this game just screams Christmas present for the kids. I've said before that SSB could come out Dec 28th - Sunday after Christmas - b/c kids w/ gift cards and cash would pick it up, but I think this games gears towards a younger audience and will be a harder sell after the holidays.

So no, not a good idea, no matter how they explain it.

Plsu - and I havent seen it mentioned my apologies if it was - this is 1 of only 5 games listed that work w/ the amiibo toys Nintneod is supposed to be selling this holiday, but 2 of those, MP10 and YWW, aren't due out until 2015, so that just leaves MK8 and SSB. This is a game they want to postpone, the game that plays w/ the new toys? Does that make any sense?

And where's the 3DS portal? How freakin' hard is it to make a IR port pad? SSB comes out on 3DS in 2 months but the portal comes out next year? But amiibo are supposed ot sell on the back on SSB? Nintendo really does drive me nuts sometimes.

"With Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, Super Smash Bros. and more on the way to Wii U in Europe in the rest of the year we're arguably not going to be short of games;"

That may be true for most but personally Captain Toad was the ONLY Wii U release I was looking forward to in 2014! The 3 mentioned above I have no interest in.

I think it's more a case of early 2015 looking baron (again) so they are moving content to that time period rather than there being "too much" content releasing in 2014. I mean 4 games, that's not that much is it? Especially considering not every game is going to appeal to every gamer...

Nooooooooo D:
Are you serious? This sucks...

I'm surprised they're actually being honest about it. They clearly did the same thing last year for Donkey Kong, and Smash Bros has also clearly been finished for quite some time, but they had to space it apart from Mario Kart.

Wait, what? Why does the release timing have to be different? The Wii U is finally picking up steam, so this would have been perfect for Xmas!

Sometimes, Nintendo, you can be real annoying

NOE "explained" the Flipnote delay too, at least at first. NOA on the other hand hasn't said a word since the Flipnote Direct in March 2013. Meanwhile in Japan, it's very popular and successful, having been updated three times.
#EndtheFlipnoteDelay

@Splatom +1

If they make the wii u and 3DS multi region then we would not have this problem as they could just ship the USA game to the UK as we speak the same and delay the rest of the EU to sort their games out.
I wish the UK was NTSC then we would get many more games dam dam dam pal grrrrrrr

@Sforzando #EndTheFlipnoteDelay

I always laugh when the good old na region gets a game 4 days later and half the fanbase seems to ve upset.

Before the xenoblade etc. triple game saga happened, all there ever was was a few days, even today. Meanwhile, if stuff gets delayed here it's always weeks and months, and all the while I'm still not playing scribblenauts or shovel knight.

I understand the marketing department, but loathe its results. They crunch the numbers, they don't push the vision. And every gamer and his dog knows nintendo needs the latter.

so... does this mean that NA won't have the best launch? Though I am still expecting to hear a NA delay for this game.

@Octane Xenoblade is a Nintendo game. Nintendo owns the Xenoblade IP and Nintendo owns Monolith Soft as of 2007 after buying it from Namco Bandai meaning that Xenoblade Chronicles X is a Nintendo game.

@Peach64 They don't need to. They have tried spreading things out and it hasn't worked they should try releasing loads of stuff at once because they haven't yet.

@FragRed

I couldn't agree more. What does make America so different? Aside from a few subtleties, nothing.

I'm hardly surprised though, our PAL region has always been screwed over. The SNES days were the worst. I can understand certain games only being made available for the Japanese market, but aside from a few sports titles Europe and America should be treated identically.

Personally, this title along with B2 and Smash were games I was looking forward most to. There are other good titles I'll be purchasing but this news is disappointing.

@rjejr

I don't follow you. Of the two games Smash is the one with potential to be a system seller/bundle and thus an Xmas present (for both kids and some of their parents) while with the money kids get after Christmas they can go and buy Capt. Toad. for their brand new Wii U. It is even budget priced from what we heard!

While for Amiibo, the NFC is just the icing on the cake. The selling point are the toys themselves. These toys only do an extra thing.

@CaptainToad You and I agree have similar thoughts of view. I too remember the SNES days, and for that matter how Sega treated us too. I think the problem with Europe is that its essentially the UK that holds the majority of potential buyers and theres nowhere near as many of us as there is Americans, so we are shafted.

On that note, I also don't like how the US get games on Tuesday and we get them on the following Friday (assuming its not delayed or worldwide release) but thats another topic.

What a brilliant non-explanation. You might want to explain this "stragedy" you have for the holidays. Right now I only see Smash Bros coming out. Why wasn't it also delayed in the orther regions then?!

My interest in this game is quickly dwindling... Good job "Nintendo of Europe"! If such a company even exist... (I doubt it with decisions like this)

@sinalefa - "The selling point are the toys themselves. These toys only do an extra thing."

While I understand your thinking, these toys are going to be marketed similar to Skylanders and Disney Infinity as toys that work with games. People are going to look and see the toys work w/ 5 games, but only 2 will be out - SSB and MK8, but 3 won't be out, so why not wait to buy the toys until more games are out that support them? That's the way some people will think.

And while I think gift cards are a big part of Christmas shopping after the feact, I just don't see this game being sold that way in Jan. And it's Nitnedo so Jan really means Feb or March. And if you think amiibo will sell w/o games, then all the gift cards will be spent on them, not Capt Toad in Jan.

My kids already said if this gets delayed in the US they want LBP3 for Christmas instead. Which means Capt Toad won't be purchased until it's on sale for $20. Or maybe just a Gamefly rental. It takes a really good game to be purchased mid Jan. Capt Toad looks good, but not that good.

That's too bad!
Really looking forward to this.

I guess that's too bad for the European peeps. I hope you still enjoy the game, no matter how much times it is delayed.

@rjejr

And it takes an amazing game to be purchased the month Smash U arrives. Nothing comes in January so the game may have a chance when it has no competition.

But let's not jinx the NA release date

@sinalefa - 2 different audiences. SAN will sell about the same any day of the year. CT would do twice as good in Dec as Jan w/ or w/of SSB.

Well, Smash Bros is most likely getting delayed anyway.

@123akis Different habits of different continents

It's not too long for us to wait anyway, it's just a month so I don't see why you guys are all feeling sorry for us

"The best possible launch timing" would be to get as many games out as soon a f'n possible, Nintendo. Your console is severely lacking in compelling software for the rest of the year and you decide the best thing to do is delay one of the games some people might actually give some kind of sh*t about. Is it any wonder the Wii U is flopping hard when you have muppets making important decisions like this.

And with that decision Nintendo has nothing that I'm interested in for this holiday season

Xbox One and PS4 have absolutely terrible lineups this holiday season too, especially the PS4. Don't act like Nintendo is the only one guilty here. Besides, I fully expect the 3DS to suffer the same way. Actually, it already is. Only 3 1st party titles for the 3DS this holiday season, 2 in Europe since you guys already have Pokemon Art Academy. That's LESS than the Wii U has.

Yes, smash would destroy this games sales potential as it will for Sonic Boom. Smash has appeal to both kids and adults alike. Amiibo is apparently being sold off of smash as a way to pay homage to the concept behind the series. Whether that is the best business decision is another story.

Hmm, a pity! I was looking forward to it. Well, at least there is Hyrule warriors, and Bayonetta, and Super smash (its still coming this year, right?).

I wasn't going to buy this game myself, but come on! This is 2014; why the he'll is a simultaneous international release not possible by choice? Quite pathetic Nintendo. Much disappoint.

TLDR: Nintendo continues to forget its promise (made when they introduced regionlocking to 3DS) that its regionlocking practices will not hurt the gaming lives of Europeans.

Don't they understand that by starving the market of games, they shrink the demand for consoles, which shrinks the demand for games, which affects the output of the focus tests they do that will say "people aren't interested in this sort of game" (of course they aren't if you're releasing them a year or two later than in the US!).

@electrolite77 There's not a great deal of interest that isn't also being released on the PS3/Xbox 360 though. In terms of console exclusives or games which actually require the newer consoles, it's pretty slim pickings for them both. My 2 most anticipated games on those formats (Arkham Knight and The Witcher 3) have already been delayed until next year