I definitely notice it while paying coins for puzzle pieces in the mii plaza. When I am buying pieces, I usually hold down 'R' to make the process go in fast motion. Usually, especially when the bird is dropping the new panel to your character, the frame rate gets really jumpy. However, the whole process appears to move at 60 fps now, even when the picture is changing.

@bezerker99
Unfortunately, I also played BT runner yesterday but noticed no improvement, especially in 3D.

@Retro_on_theGo I felt similarly. The closest games I can think of are the Bit.Trip Runner games, which aren't terribly good "games" but get away with it since they have some of the best game music in years. This one just feels like any other iPhone running game with some musical beats in it. I found the music and the overall visual presentation to be painfully bland as well. I would probably recommend this to a younger gamer, but I'm definitely gonna pass on this.

I really believe that nothing points out the difference between western gaming and Japanese gaming quite like Monster Hunter. Japanese games (Nintendo-developed aside) seem to emphasize mastering technical controls for what western gamers might consider trivial aspects, whether it's a super move in Street Fighter, comboing in just about any Japanese fighter, or just keeping a camera centered on your target in Monster Hunter. Western devs would probably just use a targeting system in a second, but that would then emphasize different skills. Not saying which one is better, but there is a big difference between Japanese and western gaming... for me, this is waaay too Japanese.

Tails Adventure was a super-well designed portable game. The pace was a bit slow, but that fit the small screen really well.

I hate seeing Sonic Labyrinth get hated on so much. Mario doesn't jump 50 feet in the air every game, so why does Sonic need to move at 1000 mph every game? I thought it was a really neat isometric puzzler, and it was a great way to bring the spin dash into (almost) 3D.

I realize that this might be different for everyone, but $20 US is definitely a sweet spot for me to really consider downloading 3rd party content that isn't AAA. I will probably DL this, since it looked good to me, but not $40 good.

I wish more 'so-so' retail games would move to this point. I'm not gonna drop $30-$40 on a download of Ghost Recon, which got a lukewarm reception... but $20 and I bet it will move. Same goes for stuff like Rayman 3D, Mario Tennis (lol at that happening), adventure time, Pilotwings, Pro Evo Soccer, Splinter Cell... the list goes on. I can grab most of these used for sub $20, so if the eshop would just match the market price for these games, that money could go to the devs.

Again, I think new games and AAA games can maintain their nutty eshop prices, but if older retail games follow mercenary's lead, I'll need a bigger memory card.

wait... why not just have the 3DS version go online? Can it? Is this a Japan-only limitation?

I am pumped for Dillon's Rolling Western: the Last Ranger.

It kills me that Dillon's first outing got mixed reviews. Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault (QForce), a somewhat similar game for PS3, also got panned undeservedly. People seem to get all mad when they have to think during a game instead of just plowing straight forward. I hope they keep the tower defense aspects together for the Last Ranger.

I look forward to a great game from Sakurai. However, sometimes I wish Nintendo would just pull a Capcom and give us some iterative updates to Smash.

Why have the past few years given us FOUR NSMB games but one smash game? I would happily pay 15$ to download a few new characters and roster balancing. Heck, if they charged full price for Brawl 2 which had these with decent online functionality and the possibility for future balancing I would buy a Wii U tomorrow.

You guys should gives PS All Stars a shot. It's not Smash, but if you like Smash, there's a good chance you'll like it.

As much as I like to criticize Nintendo, I actually think the 3DS is reasonably priced at 169; heck, that's only $20 more than when the DS debuted. A $30 drop sounds kinda desperate. Why not drop the usual MSRP on games? Honestly, the jump from 30 to 40 in $US for handheld games is a big turnoff for me. I imagine that this is the case for others as well, since you can grab used games like Mario 3D Land at shockingly big non-Mario-like discounts.

"... a massive audience amongst over 45-year-olds ... "

Now, I'm from Pennsylvania in the US, which is not exactly a major hub of gaming, but I have never met ONE person over 30 who plays a DS.

Is this true elsewhere? UK? Does anyone here know anybody (besides yourselves) in this group Nintendo loves to refer to?

I think this is fine. Really, the best GBA games which weren't SNES ports were extremely similar to SNES games anyway. Besides, the emulation of the ambassador GBA games is still kinda lousy, having no sleep or save state functions. If they opened up multiplayer for the GBA games, THAT would be cause for celebration, but that's never gonna happen.

@Agent75 I'm not sure that this will sell out at launch. Wii sold out due to the mainstream market going for it, not just gamers. Also, I feel like everyone was crazy hyped for the 3DS, and I don't think that sold out anywhere, at least as far as I saw.

The install base for the 3DS has reached a decent level now, so that shows that Nintendo can indeed recover from a completely botched product launch. I think the Wii U will catch on eventually, but nothing like the Wii or DS.

I DO think, however, if MS or Sony get smart and release $250 bundles with a high profile game, that they can really rip Nintendo apart this fall.

@Chris720 This game more than reminds me of Chronos Twins. There are some variations on the gimmicks, but it looks like it plays veeeeery similarly.

I don't normally get a lot of enjoyment out of 'conquering' brutally difficult games, but that's what I did for Chronos Twins. Gotta give EnjoyUP credit, they created a game concept which was a ridiculous challenge without resorting to cheap sneak attacks and deaths. Chronos Twins was a legitimately well designed and BRUTAL game. I don't often recommend it though, since I am not sure if I can even call it 'fun,' haha.

Anyways, I was surprised that this game is NOT from EnjoyUP. Might pass on it for now.

Nintendo Land Pack-in?

Pop island was one of the best DSiware releases. I'll probably buy this asap, especially at 2.99

@GeminiSaint To be fair, the install base of 3DS was much smaller when 3D Land hit, as the 3DS was still struggling big time. That being said, I think the Galaxy games sold around 5 million each, with each NSMB game breaking 25 mil.

Nintendo has already played a lot of its major cards (3D and 2D Mario, Mario Kart) on the 3DS, which I feel came much later on other consoles. They have mentioned using DLC as a way to maintain interest in their 'evergreen' titles, and it has already been confirmed for Kart and NSMB2. I am hoping, maybe against hope, that 3D Land gets some too.

Mario Kart Super Circuit's graphics have "not aged well."

Haha. HUGE understatement. Super Circuit is one of the few games I sometimes stop playing because it just looks THAT bad. I don't understand how they messed up the graphics so badly, considering how FZero on the GBA looked great and ran at 60 fps to boot.

Shame, because it really is a great game.

Only Nintendo can get away with selling downloadable games without any account system of any kind.

@MeWario That completely stinks, man. Did you try calling Nintendo? They claim to replace downloads for a stolen system, maybe they would do it for a broken one. Let us know if it works!

@LztheBlehBird Nintendo historically has a hellish approval process which a game must pass through before it can be released. NintendoLife covered the drama in getting Cave Story to WiiWare, and Nintendo's approval process has received blame for La Mulana getting the can.

True, Nintendo doesn't directly control what developers and publishers make. However, they definitely decide what games get published and what games don't. In this sense, Nintendo is responsible for creating a system where cash-flushed publishers like UFO can pinch off lousy game after lousy game, while smaller devs never get a chance and flee to IOS and Android. Yes, IOS has tons of bad games, but it also has tons of games that would be great on Nintendo's systems - check out Soozis, Hook Champ, Sonic 4, League of Evil, and tons more.

I really don't get why Nintendo doesn't chase down these smaller devs, kind of how Fox Studios uses Fox Searchlight as a way to find small, worthwhile filmmakers.

woooo... Anyways, I won't be getting this game

Sigh... Nintendo refuses to help out and get games like Super Meat Boy, La Mulana, or other potentially great bite-sized games on it systems, yet companies like UFO get to churn out turd after turd. This game is a beautiful example of what is wrong with closed consoles being the main delivery mechanism for games (of course, we have games like Mario 3D Land showing why closed consoles work, but I digress...).

I like my 3DS, but I am really hoping for Ouya (google it) to make a big enough splash that Nintendo pays attention.

I'm utterly flabbergasted that the 3DS, which is far and away the most widely owned 3D media player, does not offer popular 3D movies.

I can understand the technical and logistical issues with making this happen, but I am still shocked that no one has had the will to make this happen.

@ymmas626

The only reason I can imagine for owning all of those games is if you are an employee for UFO.

The trailer for this one looks pretty interesting, but this already got panned by Nintendo World Report. How does a company have the resources to make cool art and get the licensing rights to Chuck E Cheese, but not have the ability to make gameplay that teenagers can do in Flash games in their basements?

@FluttershyGuy I wonder what the break-even sales point is on Kid Icarus. With its ridiculously long dev time, as well as the heaps of marketing behind it, Nintendo's gotta be disappointed in its sales.

Part of me will be sad if NSMB2 kills Mario 3D land in sales. I thought 3D land was a spectacular tribute to 2D and 3D Marios, having tons of content for the hardcore as well as being accessible for new folks. NSMB2 looks... well, like 2D Mario. I'm sure it will be great, but I just don't get why 3D Mario just can't nail the crazy sales ( > 10 mil ) that 2D can.

HOW does Nicalis stay in business? I refuse to believe that selling Cave Story over and over is enough to keep an entire business afloat, seeing how they just seem to cancel things left and right.

"Linkstrikesback said: Coming 2015 in america complete with a gamebreaking glitch."

I love it. Seriously, I think it took all of Nicalis longer to remake Cave Story for Wii than it took Pixel to make the original game by himself, in his spare time.

“The original ‘Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse’ changed the face of video gaming... "

I don't know if I'ld go quiiiiite that far, but it was a very good game. Gameplay-wise, I liked the SNES 'Quest' games a bit better, but Castle of Illusion (as well as the somewhat-sequel, world of illusion) has a fantastic atmosphere about it.

ummm... I don't think ngmoco has released a game in, like, 3 years. Why should anyone be listening to him?

For anyone who follows IOS gaming, they DID have quite an interesting take on freemium gaming, "Eliminate." This was a multiplayer FPS game in which you could get points by killing other players in a small, arena-based deathmatch. These points could then be used to buy weapons and armor, IF you payed an entry fee at the start of the match. You would automatically get a few entries a day, and then just play to your heart's content without earning money for weapons. Real money could be spent to buy more entries, if you felt compelled. This formula worked reasonably well, considering that they were really pioneering not just a FPS on the iphone, but also the whole freemium thing.

Then... they just gave up. I have no idea what happened to them, but they abandoned the game and stopped releasing new games. I must admit, I get frustrated with Nintendo's insistence on sticking with their model, but 1) noone else is stepping up to the plate with games of their caliber, and 2) companies like ngmoco only do interesting things until they find their own comfort zone, then they settle just like Nintendo.

In summary - why are we listening to ngmoco, again?

Nicalis to the rescue once again! Holy frikkin moly, are these guys capable of releasing games that aren't seriously bugged? I love what they do for Nintendo and Indie fans, but their technical guys are just a mess.

I go back and forth on this game. I love Sakurai's Kirby games, and Brawl is probably my favorite game, so I feel like this will be right up my alley, since the videos lately have shown that its philosophy is very Brawl-like. However, every live video I've seen of someone playing this looks like an elderly man trying to steer a bus with his cane. I can't wait to hear some honest opinions once people are allowed to finally give them.

@ retro_player_22 I'm a touch dissappointed that Nintendo continues to ignore Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for GameBoy Color. What a game! Small screen size aside, it gave the game an overworld map, a quick way to play the 'extra' mode, all of the lost levels, achievements, hidden level coins - the works. Anyone else like this one?

I would prefer that, if they ever DID bring back this one, that they would take advantage of the 3DS's beefier resolution.

I've been looking forward to this for a while, but I'm a bit worried that it's just 'going through the motions.' Is high-score chasing any fun in this?

I think I would last 2 or 3 rounds before going blind

@Applejacklove I agree - I would hardly refer to "thinking about the game" as starting development. Honestly, I kinda hope that Nintendo has already started development on resources - updating character models for 3DS and Wii U, getting a soundtrack, levels, etc. There's a good chance it'll be another 4-5 years otherwise.

I would really like to see Retro Studios work on Smash. Having done DKC Returns, PunchOut, and Mario Kart 7, they have a great reputation for finely-tuned, sharp gameplay. Their innovation might be a touch lacking, but Smash has enough ideas as it is, and I'm sure Sakurai is enough of an idea man anyway.

@battLeToaD
I'm not really offended by BOI, I just think it's a poor game (yes, I've played it). I agree with you that the story exists alone, and does not support the gameplay. That story, however, just seems like a cheap ploy to get attention by citing a biblical story and recreating it with crayon drawings. Hell, you could re-skin this game and call it "Mickey Mouse's Cave Adventure" and keep the gameplay exactly the same. The title, the story, and the gross imagery just strike me as most 'avant-garde' art does: some people think that these approaches are not often taken because others aren't 'brave' enough, but really, they don't because this approach wasn't worth taking at all.

Gameplay-wise, I just found it boring. Zelda 1 didn't become famous for its deep combat system, yet that seems to be what BOI dwells on. Puzzles are non-existant; all you really do is fight bad guys, which involves walking back and forth and shooting your... gunk?

I'm coming down pretty hard on BOI, but that's because it's getting so much attention when I think it's a very poor representation of story-telling, art, and gameplay in indie gaming today. Also, again, there is NO WAY Nintendo will allow this on the 3DS, so this point is moot anyway.

@Groovius We got Resident Evil, didn't we? Also, I don't see Isaac on PSN or XBLA either. I think Nintendo would consider a 'mature' themed game if it were indeed worthwhile.

Nicalis seems completely unable to release bug-free games on time. I can't blame them entirely, since they are always porting indie games which are all probably coded differently (I've heard that the source code for Cave Story was a train wreck). However, while these games are designed well, how long could it take to just recode the whole thing? I doubt it's that complicated. While I admire the zeal that Nicalis has for indie games, they seem pretty inept on the development end.

As for Binding of Isaac - can we stop kidding ourselves that this game is worth all the publicity it gets? Full disclosure - I was raised Catholic, so you can consider that in my opinion of the game. Still, it looks like the dev just took a poorly understood, religiously loaded story, drew it with poor art skills, and then filled it with bathroom humor and called it artsy. The gameplay is boring and sloppy, and the entire game is grotesque. I get a huge kick out of bathroom humor (I love South Park, and I still laugh at old Ren and Stimpy shows), but this game is just gross.

Nintendo has gone to absurd lengths to censor games on its hardware so as to avoid controversy with religious groups - anyone who thinks something titled 'The Binding of Isaac' would be proudly displayed next to the Nintendo label is completely full of it.

@Portisanta That's because it IS that random.

Holy moly, could we please get a new KH game already? Honestly, the only must-play in this whole series is the very first one, and arguably the second. How many times do we need to retread the same areas with the same characters?

I tried playing the PSP game, Birth by Sleep, and it was just awful. Nothing but button-mashing, and the story was a mix of StarWars riffs from the Square characters and very poorly written scenarios with the Disney characters. Again, the only game that remotely attempted to decently write in the Disney characters was the first one.

As much as I 'kinda' want a KH3, I don't really know where they could go - the 2nd game pretty much wrapped up the story.

I'm less concerned with the lack of multiplayer than with how the game looks on the 3DS screen. I've only played this game on PS3 in 720p, and I was shocked at how tiny alot of the details were - I imagine playing this game on Wii in multiplayer must look like a muddy mess.

I'm going to wait and see how this turns out, but this game's unbelievable detail might end up killing it on the 3DS. Does anyone who have this for Wii have any comments on the playability of multiplayer in SD?

Taking advantage of glitches has given a lot of competitive games a lot of depth, such as cancel-combos in Street Fighter II (though I have doubts as to whether or not this was actually not intended). Unfortunately, the presence of glitches like this, which cut out supposedly interesting parts of gameplay, just result in games that don't hold up to competitive play. I would argue that certain design choices can kill competitive gameplay just as much as certain glitches can.

I think Mario Kart 7 is a minor example, since in my experience most people have stopped picking Maka Wahu to race on. Look at Mario Kart DS, though. In my opinion, Mario Kart DS featured the most varied selection of driving styles as far as mechanics go - some had long boosts and loose sliding radii, and so on. However, all of this gets washed over by the ability to 'snake,' essentially limiting your competitive choices to one driving style. Does this ruin the game? I don't think so. Does it make the competitive aspect of the game boring and dependent on a single technique? I would argue yes.

Smash Bros Brawl competition is easily dominated by Meta Knight, far and away the best character in the game. Does this ruin the game? Hardly - I love playing this game. Does it make playing to win boring and dependent on a limited number of choices? Definitely.

So far, I think MK7 is a great competitive game, unfortunately suffering from having one of its best courses greatly shortened. Games with easily exploited glitches can still be a blast with friends and for playing, but for 'competing', they just result in a bad game with a tiny community. If glitches like this keep popping up in MK7, the result will be that anonymous, competitive play will get stale and boring. At that point, there's no use in getting worked up over a 'bad' game.

I just want this game to get finished so they can start on the new Smash Bros.

This game is beginning to look more and more like a mix of the Gamecube Starfox and Kingdom Hearts.

I'm actually impressed that they will be getting them out by the end of the year. There are so many issues with GBA games that didn't exist for the NES games.

The GBA's screen resolution was 240x160, even lower than the DS, though not by much. The 3DS has a 400x240 screen, and the scaling would probably make the games look hideous, but not scaling them would make them too small. Also, the Mario advance games had a multiplayer aspect to them, and it would be an eyesore if Nintendo either cut these out or disabled multiplayer functions.

Overall, I'm pretty excited to see how these turn out.

Forget this game - why don't we get Street Fighter HD Remix? For just a few more dollars, Xbox and PS3 owners get the definitive version of Street Fighter II, while the Wii gets the Genesis version (not SNES, not to even mention the Arcade version).

Sorry for ranting, but this is a beautiful example of Nintendo not "getting it." I thought they were trying to do the 3rd party thing correctly?

@lz20XX The original GBA, no backlight, was just a really comfortable console to hold and play with. Did you ever play Crystal Chronicles or 4 swords?

Nintendo says these controllers will be ~$90 USD, and all they can do is stream; they have no processing power. The GBA was a full fledged handheld which ALSO worked as a great controller. I say, sell it for 80 or 90, and have it serve as Wii U's controller - stand-alone operation will encourage people to bring it with them or buy more.

When Nintendo revealed the Wii U, we all knew they would have a tablet controller, but I was really expecting it to also be the return of the GameBoy brand. I don't know where the 3DS fits in here - I own one, and I think its a mess of a piece of tech, as well as ruining my GameBoy/Wii U idea.

Nintendo, just bring back the gameboy advance with wireless and a touch screen and sell it for 90 bucks - insta-buy.

Thanks, lala and Capt_N. The character designs in Shantae, while arguably a bit much, did make sense. This game and subsequent games, though, are just weirding me out.

I can't fathom the horrors which exist on the hard drives of WayForward's artists and designers.

Am I the only person who is weirded out by Wayforward's ridiculous female character designs? There's no way I'ld let my girlfriend - or anyone for that matter - catch me playing their games, for fear of looking like some odd cartoon-fetish perv.

@SUBTERRANEANboy What if, however, instead of finally being released onto mainstream services, music by the Beatles was only available on some Beatles-sponsored audio player? This audio player would also be supplied with "quality experiences" chosen by some record executives. I bet this product would sell, but it would be a slap in the face of music fans.

If the 3DS were a real wiz-bang product, I wouldn't be arguing against it here. However, the 3DS instead is a big, clunky, low-res brick with terrible battery life, poor support except for 1st party efforts, and terrible secondary functions. I am being overly harsh here, I realize, but Nintendo is much stronger at making software lately than hardware.

Imagine the experiences that Nintendo could make on a capacitive touch screen. Instead of everyone talking about Angry Birds on their smartphones, they could be discussing the newest Mario game on their smartphones.

Lastly, a lot of people here are saying that Nintendo games need buttons. If the need for buttons is the only reason games should appear on the 3DS, then this is a very weak argument, indeed.