The main thing I want from Nintendo's online services (aside from games!) is some kind of account system where I have some assurance that the games I buy aren't going to be lost if something happens to my system. If something happens to my PS3 or Xbox 360, I know that my account still exists on their end and I can re-download my purchases.

I'm leery of investing a lot of money into digital games without that sense of security. We just had a scare with my wife's 3DS where an unfortunate encounter with a water bottle that wasn't closed all the way resulted in her losing all the data on her system... but luckily her SD card was intact and they were able to restore her purchases and Ambassador status.

It could just be me being paranoid, as I'm someone who clings to physical media for dear life, but I'd be much happier to buy some of these digital games if I felt like they were less of a gamble.

That's a shame. TvC was one of my favorite fighting games last gen and I'd LOVE to see it in high definition - the game is so stylish that it's almost criminal to have it locked to 480p. I hope they work something out, because more people need to play it.

Poison from Final Fight was always transgender (or "newhalf," as the slightly-offensive Japanese term). Look it up!

@rjejr I was that reviewer! I'm not sure what the pricing is on the game now other than parts of it are free, but $60 was FAR too much for what they were offering. As long as they're charging $10 or below it's a good deal for what it is.

HECK YEAH BATTLE BEASTS

I just re-discovered these recently and I'm dying to collect the old figures again. The only one I remember owning was Major Moose, and my wife managed to find his figure complete with his weapon and a working rub on eBay. What a great birthday present.

Too bad the 3DS is region locked, otherwise I'd be all over this.

I played it at PAX and it's phenomenal. The graphics are sharp, the music is top-notch and it's a WHOLE lot of fun to play. Really, the game I'd most compare it to is Ducktales, which is weird since Capcom just announced a remastered version of THAT (which I ALSO played, and that is also phenomenal). Shovel Knight was my game of the show (as my full set of pins I got from their booth can attest) and I really, REALLY hope it hits Wii U. You guys are gonna LOVE this when it comes out.

@DePapier That's a good point. I definitely want to reward the teams actually putting the effort in. The fact that this will even be the best looking version is a bonus, too.

I'm probably going to pick it up, for a couple of reasons: One, the game looks great and I never got around to picking it up when it was first released, and two, I want games to sell on Wii U so these publishers keep putting more games out. I know that second one is a dumb reason to buy a game, but with all the DOOM AND GLOOM being reported I feel like I gotta do my part.

@bahooney I know they didn't change anything for the Japanese VC release but Japanese copyright law is very different from US copyright law. Japanese TV will often use music during broadcasts that they didn't get legal rights to use. Tomato (the guy who runs EarthBound Central) said that he was able to change the music on his own in a small patch he made himself - I never said it was an official thing.

I've got a hunch we'll see it hit the VC in the west. At this point Nintendo KNOWS how much people want it and I've read that a 4kb patch (or something else crazy small) fixed all the music issues and I know plenty of EarthBound fans would take a VC release with edited music over no VC release at all.

I think we'll get it once the "30th Anniversary" promotion is over - why would Nintendo put up something fans have been asking for for so long at such a meager price when they know they can charge $10 or $15 and people will be more than happy to pay it?

Time will tell of course, but it would surprise me at this point if we DIDN'T get it.

This looks fantastic! Like @THE-WOLF, I'd donate in a heartbeat if I knew for sure it was coming to Wii U... but I probably will anyway. Their Kickstarter says they'll be showing a demo level at PAX East so I'm definitely going to make getting to that demo a priority next weekend.

Perfect subhead, Damo.

I'm in. The first two games have been some of the most co-op fun my wife and I have ever had and the amount of enjoyment we've gotten out of them has been WELL worth the money. We love collecting figures anyway and these have the added bonus of working with a really fun video game.

I just wish they didn't create artificial demand by limiting some figures (lookin' at you Thumpback) to the point where scalpers charge over 4 times their retail value on Amazon and eBay. Although, in a weird way, hunting them down at different stores can be kinda fun, and it's REALLY rewarding when you wander into a GameStop on a Tuesday afternoon and the two rarest Skylanders you've been hunting have literally just been hung on the wall.

Good times. I'm always up for more Skylanders.

@Majin-Naruto It's not the same teams working on those games though. The Final Fantasy XIII team is on Lightning Returns while Nomura's team (the Kingdom Hearts team) has been making Versus XIII.

@Schprocket Graphics can make a good game better. They can't make a bad game good. Period. Square-Enix are perhaps the biggest offenders when it comes to this.

Oh, and an "increasingly difficult console market"? Stop pissing away money on graphics engines that are so detailed that you can see the reflections in character's eyes because WHO NEEDS THAT and maybe try releasing some games on Wii U, where development costs will be lower, you have an audience that is already very receptive to Japanese games and a partner in Nintendo that will be more than happy to help you promote your stuff.

What Square-Enix really needs to do is FOCUS. Rather than slapping the Final Fantasy name on anything and everything they need to get a team together to sit down, decide on the future of the Final Fantasy series and execute on a unified vision.

The reason everyone hates Final Fantasy XIII so much (although I rather enjoyed it) was because that game was a creative mess. They didn't even have the story all the way planned out when they released the beta with the Japanese Blu-Ray release of Advent Children. They were designing levels before they had any idea what the game's world was. They were only able to use about half of what they created, which is why Final Fantasy XIII-2 came to be... they had all those assets, might as well use them.

They don't have much of an identity anymore and it's a real shame. They used to be THE source for RPGs and when you saw the Square name on a box you could rest easy in the knowledge that you were going to get a top-tier experience. Now it seems the passion from that company is all gone and we're getting games designed by committee and a smattering of overpriced mobile throwaway releases.

A company that owns Final Fantasy AND Dragon Quest should NEVER be in any kind of financial pickle. THINK about why those series are so beloved and get them back to their roots. Hire Sakaguchi to come back and help plan the next numbered Final Fantasy. Kick Versus XIII out the door no matter how bad it is right now because at this point there's no way it'll EVER recoup the cost to make it and it makes more financial sense to get that team ready to start Kingdom Hearts 3.

Just... stop sucking so bad and get back to what made you awesome in the first place.

@shinpichu That's what Smash Bros IS though. It's a wacky game that's fun BECAUSE of it's unpredictability. Poker has random elements and people still play that. It's about having the skill to deal with any of the thousands of situations that can occur BECAUSE of those random elements that gives the game its personality. If you turn off items you're not playing Smash Bros if you ask me.

Just checked the donation totals and it's a tight race between Melee and Skullgirls with no other game even coming close. I'm a bit torn because I'd love to see a Nintendo game being repped at EVO with the amount of funding Sony tosses in (haha) but at the same time I really hate when people play Smash Bros without items.

I was talking to a buddy of mine and he said he wasn't going to bother with this since he already had it on 3DS. I told him "I'd rather have another copy of Balloon Fight than thirty cents." He said "Good point" and downloaded it.

@MultiMariosonic I want them to do a Christmas special about Oswald coming home to his brother Mickey's house and re-joining the family. There will not be enough tissues in the WORLD to contain the tears.

This port is so bad my wife was almost in tears she was so disappointed. We both loved the Wii original and decided to wait and get the sequel on Wii U because Epic Mickey feels "Nintendo" to us and we could get the new HD resamalutions that the original Wii couldn't do. Needless to say we're not happy with the purchase.

I think it would have been a lot better if Mickey used the Wii Remote and Nunchuck while Oswald used the GamePad, which both suits his controls better as well as kept his action off the TV so they wouldn't have had to resort to split screen.

Awful, awful port.

Sign me up!

Also just because I think it's awesome, here's the billboard the Phoenix Suns put up to welcome my rookie to town: https://twitter.com/SpaceKappa/status/278637637424795649

@SuperCharlie78 I didn't really notice any. Admittedly I wasn't looking for them, but no issues jumped out at me.

Ugh I can't wait! This is honestly one of my most anticipated games.

@Mahe @bezerker99 I have, in fact! I'd still like more though.

I really want to see Excitebike make a comeback.

@Phle I had trouble with the dodging during combat until I turned off the motion control and used the R button. I couldn't get used to whipping the GamePad up to dodge. Now I'm unstoppable, mwahahahaha.

@RetroGBHippie92 I didn't play the first one either and I haven't felt lost at all. The intro sets it up pretty well.

@ueI Aside from a few camera hiccups I didn't run into any.

@rjejr It's used for a map and inventory when not used for off-TV play. It's kinda cool, though, as it allows you to hot-swap equipment very quickly.

@X-Factor They are! http://www.tomopop.com/wonder-festival-2012-summer-figma-pit-from-kid-icarus-26210.phtml

@3Dash My wife ordered ours from AmiAmi... it was around $40 shipped, I think. She handled all of it.

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?scode=FIG-IPN-4446

@Rect_Pola My wife has all three of the Mega Man X D-arts (X and both versions of Zero), with Zero on display in a permanent flamenco dancing pose because it's hilarious.

I also have the Sonic Nendoroid that I considered bringing in for some of these photos but I thought Link and Layton was interesting enough.

Yes! I sadly missed this the first time around, DEFINITELY going for the Wii U version. I hope they include the option to play it with the original 16-bit graphics.

I love how my launch day picture has become the defacto Wii U "update" photo for Nintendo Life.

@Phle Well, this is more "posable display piece" than action figure, and the price definitely denotes that!

Link looks amazing on display though. My wife @LadyStarstorm is a HUGE fan of Japanese collectibles and figures so she knows all the ins & outs of the different manufacturers and figure lines. Last night I barely got to hold the new Link Figma because she was so intent on posing him dynamically for these photos!

@Slapshot I know, that's why I said HOME console.

I haven't played the original release on 360/PS3, so I really wanted to review this as its own game to see how it stands up. Turns out, pretty well!

Great review Morgan! I'm hopelessly in love with Nintendo Land. I'm a man that loved Wii Sports... but I like this more.

Great review Morgan!

I was disappointed to see so many negative reviews on this one because I have a soft spot for those crazy Rabbids, good to see that there's still fun to be had!

The interface is the same as on the PS3 but it's slower and often won't load any videos at all. When scrolling through my subscriptions it kept saying "no videos" even though I'm pretty sure the Angry Video Game Nerd has a video or two up on his channel.

I'm sure it'll be fixed with a patch, but I'm kinda wondering how it got finalized at this point.

Also in the interest of transparency, I've been spending as much time with the Wii U games as I can, but even though it's an accounting position, I work at a grocery store and have had to help out since it's Thanksgiving week and I've been pulling 13 hour days. Expect an onslaught of reviews by me once things return to normal!

Well then, I gave them a profit on my system and three others!

Geez, where was this years ago when I had school picture day? http://twitter.com/SpaceKappa/status/270885833106673664

It keeps telling me the app is no longer available when I try to download it! D:

@rjejr I was in the same boat... videos on the Nintendo Channel on Wii ran slower than molasses in January if I didn't have them on low, and my Wii was literally ten inches from my router. From my experience yesterday it seems that the Wii U's WiFi capability is substantially more reliable. I was even able to do video chat and aside from an audio hiccup it was smooth as silk.

@SkywardLink98 That's disabled any time the system is doing an update, be it firmware or a game patch.