It's interesting to see how the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games have slowly changed over time. While the first game was a 2D platformer that echoed the philosophy of the classic Donkey Kong arcade game, each successive entry focused more and more on the miniature toy versions of characters. Now, it's become a Lemmings-esque puzzle game series, where the goal is to guide toys safely to the goal in the most efficient way possible.
It seems that the 'Mario vs. Donkey Kong' phrase may now be retired, as the newest entry in this series will be called Mini Mario & Friends amiibo Challenge. The game will support all amiibo; scanning in Mario related amiibo will drop in the respective character, while any other amiibo character will drop in a robot called 'Mini Spec'. Evidently, toys will have certain special abilities - such as a wall run or a ground pound - and these will occasionally give the player access to hidden stages centered around a particular character. Mini Mario & Friends amiibo Challenge releases for both Wii U and 3DS in Japan on the 28th, and while there isn't any confirmation yet of a localisation, it'd be a bit surprising if it didn't make it over to the west. Check out the announcement trailer below, footage of the game starts about a minute in:
You may recall that we reported on a rumour before Christmas that NST was working on such a title - this could well be that game.
What do you think? Would you be interested in this? What are your thoughts on the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series? Drop us a comment in the section below.
[source nintendoeverything.com, via topics.nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 64
Is this the rumoured free-to-play amiibo game by NST?
Suppose that was inevitable. Pretty sure NST made this (the studio that was working on Project HAMMER).
Well at least we know more about Hyrule Warriors Legends from this, the amiibo support will be identical to the Wii U version.
@Infinite8 It willl be at one point, but I think it'll be paid initially, though there does seem to be some kind of deal that will include a download code with the purchase of any amiibo after the 28th.
I wish it had more than Mario and Donkey Kong characters.
It looks identical to Tipping Stars, and I doubt that the game will include any non-Mario vs. Donkey Kong characters. Really, what's the point of even making this an amiibo game?
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
I'll try it out once it comes to the west. I love me some Mario games. 8)
One thing that's annoyed me about Nintendo this gen is how few smaller games they've brought to the Eshop themselves.On the Wii,we had unique and creative games like the Art Style series,Bonsai Barber,You,Me the Cubes,Rock and Roll Climber,MaBoshi Arcade and more,a few of those were great little games,Bonsai Barber especially.Also we had really good online games like Dr Mario and Excitebike.The Wii U though has hardly any and nothing that's actually "new",Dr Luigi , Wii Sports ,Art Academy ,a Pokemon game,PullBlox and Tipping Stars.Now we can add Tipping Stars 1.1 with amiibo support to that mediocre list.
Would it kill them to actually spend time making a decent, new game, instead of the same stop-gap crap over and over agin?
@OorWullie that's a great point, considering how much progress the e shop has made on Wii u especially! You would think that there would be an array of mini game and 'tech demo' type side games available from day one if not now. Tbh it might have helped at one point to 'sell' the console having a few free or cheap insta-fun games available!?!
Looks almost identical to all the other games in the series. I'll give it a pass, especially if it heavily relies on amiibo.
I truly hope this isn't the rumoured amiibo F2P title. Like a fool, I expected some form of adventure game (prayed for 3D, expected 2D due to it being for Wii U and budget likely small), where they'd utilise character's own abilities.
This isn't what I had in mind...
Ah well, open mind: I'll give it a try at least! Maybe isn't the same project
@ULTRA-64 Heck I'm still waiting for WiiWare to appear in the eShop. I cannot understand why DSiWare can be purchased for 3DS and appear like any other game in the 3DS channel row, but we cannot do the same on Wii U. If nothing else it would broaden the selection of small games available in the eShop.
@OorWullie Art Academy: Ateliere is different enough to be considered a new title IMO, although it is somewhat based on old things. I agree with you about the rest, and would like to through in NES remix and the free amiibo tap game into the games which lacks innovative ideas. Generally, the indies impress much more in the eShop-only games category than Nintendo's own offerings.
So...This is an amiibo focused game, specifically for players owning amiibo, that only fully recognize Mario characters while all the others amiibo are rappresented by a generic looking robo? Well, that's an Epic Fail on my book ^^;
If "mysterious projects" we are hyped about are all amiibo-based FTP games, count me out.
In one word: lame. -_-
I could actually care less if we never get this over here in the west.
Use those resources to localize a better game please.
If the game is good, fine. If it is exactly like the last one with paltry amiibo support I don't really understand. Is there something about "mini-spec" that is unique for the amiibo you might use? At least stats? Are we to expect an addition of features or amiibo characters over time?
In the end, the potential free-to-play model might make it worse or quite a bit better. Badge arcade took a simple premise and made it really fun, so maybe this can do that too. I'd prefer it not to be a gateway to gambling with real money, however.
Free to play would get me to play a game in this genre which I haven't in ages. So there's that, too.
Meh. It doesnt sound like my cup of tea. I'm still waiting for the Skylanderesque amiibo game that alot of us have been hoping for now that Nintendo has got the stock situation balanced out.
@ULTRA-64 @Jariw Agreed guys,I really expected a lot more from them this gen.They don't even need to be new titles per se,something like they did with Excite Bike would be great.How about the original Super Mario Kart with wide screen,bump in resolution and online,or some of their old sports games slightly remastered with added online.Or go even further,make 8/16 bit style official sequels to some of their old classics,like what Capcom done with Megaman.Stuff like that would make a lot of fans happy,might even bring quite a few back who've moved on from Nintendo.
Well this was a letdown. Wake me up when they do something like Skylanders or Disney Infinity.
Nintendo could make a killing with its own Skylanders/Disney Infinity and drive Amiibo sales even further...but then they could make a killing with various remasters, compilations etc etc. Nintendo does what it wants.
NST does the MvsDK series so i reckon this is the Amiibo project they are working on and its yet another lazy title, NST have donevfar better than this but they seemed to be reduced to MvsDK all the time or providing assistance on other games. Would it hurt to do one like the first GBA title? Or even something different or work on a franchise that hasn't been run into the ground?
@aaronsullivan Not exactly Subspace Emmissary, but I suppose if they want to pay people to develope F2P games that nobody really wants there's no harm in it. I do like where it's headed though, w/ the download code in the box, so technically not free if you need to buy an amiibo. I feel like the Shovel Knight amiibo should unlock the entire game, not just co-op. Can't do that for a $60 game, but for these $10 games it should be possible. And we should get the characters in SSB for $13 amiibo of Cloud, Bayonetta and Ryu. If you bought the DLC for those 3 at $7 each, and their 3 amiibo for $13 each, that's $60 for only 3 figures, the cost of the entire game which comes w/ over 40 characters. That's way overpriced. So I'm ok w/ F2P, but I'm not all that interested in this. I do like that it's on both systems, shows it's possible for 3DS and Wii U to have the same game. Why aren't more games multiplat?
@Grumblevolcano Something else to add to the next ND. But I have no idea where you learned anything about Hyrule Warriors, I didn't see it in there. Though I also don't understand Japanese. I do wonder how Midna wolf amiibo will work in TP. More than just a rupee a day I would hope.
Not complaining since I get more use out of my amiibo, but that video was showing off stuff we have already seen just to lead up to Mario vs Dk TP footage essentially (which is a good game, but the community for it sucks). Then it ended almost like they end every HW video, but thankfully not as drawn out.
@Thatguywhoeats well donkey Kong one can be solved by getting the skylander/amiibo of donkey Kong they now sell them separately from the game.
Another incentive to buy Amiibo? I'm listening.
@BakaKnight agreed, I'm sure it wouldn't have taken too much time to create some more levels and character models to match other amiibo. Hell, they could have had one world for the whole Animal Crossing line and just had different character models for the different Animals and they all could have had the same ability and that would be better than pretty much just serving the fans that bought entire Mario roster from the smash line or the Mario party set.
Even if it took significantly longer to develop, it would still create a more inclusive product and/or provide an incentive to buy more non-Mario amiibo.
I really hope this isn't the rumored game. C'mon Nintendo! A REAL Amiibo game does more than character swapping.....
Also a REAL amiibo game uses ALL amiibo...
@OorWullie yes, Dr Luigi really was a big disappoint. Dr. Luigi has less songs, and in my estimation less content than the Dr Mario on the Wii eShop, that was so wrong what Nintendo did, they build it like an upgrade and it was actually a downgrade
@rjejr
I think you are on to something with a whole game being unlocked by an amiibo. Or a character in Smash Bros. It could be a split value. All Smash Bros. specific amiibo are a couple bucks more (they are often more intricate anyway) but also unlock the character in the game. You'd have to be able to buy w/out the amiibo as well, of course.
I just picked up Shovel Knight at Target (did in-store pickup but there were two on the shelf) and my son was ecstatic because it opened up cooperative play. Both kids played for awhile. The game is pretty tough so they'd mostly watched me but now they were playing. Plus, it records the progress on the amiibo which just feels great even if it never has a practical purpose because we don't know anyone locally with Wii U and Shovel Knight to bring the amiibo over to. Also, I don't know why, maybe the type of plastics used, but it is far better in person than photos or even videos. It looked kind of cheap and lifeless online, but it has nice detail and "presence" in person.
Anyway, my point is that smaller games might do well as part of an amiibo purchase, not just unlocks in existing games. How about a demo though? Get Shovel Knight bring him home and it unlocks a demo version with the first level, the town and maybe one more... then a discount on a digital download because you have the amiibo. This would work fantastically with SSB. Like if Shovel Knight was a fighter in SSB and someone liked him, got the amiibo and then discovered the game and then bought it. I mean there is an obvious intent to lead people to other games through introduction in SSB, why not make it official and persuade with a bit of a discount?
Thing is, I think we will see much more of this type of thing as we head towards the NX. Infrastructure needs to be in place to make all of this less of a hassle and it can be integrated from the get go.
Oh and the cross-platform thing: Mario Mini games are created in the javascript web format, I believe. That was meant to be a stopgap solution to the Wii U and 3DS architecture problem but it never really took off, presumably because of performance and limitations. A game like this is a good match though.
Some how I don't think Nintendo can keep up with all the amiibo. We are at the point where it is no longer feasible to produce a game that uses them in a similar style to any other toys to life brand. This game is not bring in a wind up toy model based on the amiibo you tap due to how many there are. I cant see a game supporting all the figures and cards. There are going to be 400 ac cards. The only game that can support this is a new animal crossing game and all we got was a party game. In ac I can only see the figures being nothing more then trophy models. They would more likely be fortune cookies from nook with no model in game.
At first by the "& Friends" title I thought it was going to be more amiibo than Mario and DK. At least they give an option to other amiibo owners, but yeah I think they could have added a bit more to make this game feel more unique from past ones.
@rjejr
Also, this isn't the game we are looking for where you get to make all your amiibo interact and adventure together in a mixed universe. Far from it. But we won't get that for Wii U unless Nintendo really is going for the long haul and trying to placate Wii U owners for two more years.
This is, in my estimation so far, another quick one-off to maintain some new releases without a huge resource investment. More circumstantial evidence of teams being reassigned to NX projects, I'd say. It's sort of sad, though. I don't know enough about this game, but as you mentioned the new Tennis had potential and I think the Animal Crossing board game did too. If the scope and features were greatly expanded.
One wonders if one primary launch game for NX will, in fact, be a mixed universe Nintendo game with support for all the amiibo. It could galvanize Nintendo fans, latent and active alike, into buying the platform(s).
And by that time, each amiibo could also unlock a demo of an upcoming or recent available game they star in.
@aaronsullivan I like all of those amiibo ideas. Surely at least some of them will come true after My Nintendo launches? But Nintendo rarley does demos as it is, I still can't believe the dozen or so demos in Target haven't had a home release yet - Tennis could really use one, looks great and fun to play.
I think amiibo were designed by the same people who were planning dual Gamepad support on Wii U, the tech just isn't there. ie 1 save slot on the amiibo, no NFC in the Pro controller so all amiibo in multiplayer games need to be scanned in on the Gmaepad. All NX controllers, whatever they may be, will have NFC readers built in. Still doesn't compeltely remove the need for a portal, which I believe is necessary for any true amiibo game for near constant reading and writing to and from the amiibo, but at least it would help. We have 100 Skylanders and they almost a get used. Same for the 2 dozen DI toys. 6 amiibo collect dust. This won't change that.
As for Shovel Knight. Been tempted, but my kids don't do hard. And they argue almost all the time anyway about what to play. We still have Guacamelee that they never finished, close enough.
@Rob_mc_1
I don't think Nintendo ever intended to have games that support all the amiibo. I think one environment app or super simple game where they could all live together virtually is pretty much a necessity. Maybe by the time NX roles out? Also, one really large mixed-universe game that had them all interact in a deeper game experience would be a great attraction and worthwhile. Perhaps, a completely new franchise. @rjejr would call it a new Subspace Emissary.
Other than that, though, the value of amiibo comes from playing a bit part in many games and a bigger part in 1 or 2. It's been working okay for that. Every time a new game comes with a little bit of amiibo support, it's fun to get them all involved and see what they do.
Always a bit disappointing when something generic happens like the "amiibo" yarn yoshi pattern. :/
The amiibo cards are a curious bunch. I expected Nintendo to use it as a way to fight shortages and give more economical means to unlock features in games, but I think the statuettes are a bit too successful for that. I'd still like to see it happen.
Hmm... Pokemon will certainly be primarily card-based primarily that shoe drops, but more out of practicality with portable devices and numbers...
I hadn't really thought it about much before, but my feeling is that the cards are just expected to be attached to their own game series only which would line up with your thinking pretty well.
@aaronsullivan I hope you are right about NX, b/c the complete Mario Tennis game had about the same contents as a demo. I miss Super Sluggers - choosing my own team, playing on a boat, in a jungle or castle, chasing down Bowser Jr in the story mode, switching out pitchers. SS was a way better baseball game than Wii Sports. And AC:aF does look like a board mini-game that should have been part of a true AC game. How has Ntinedo come to this? Is HD really a valid 4 year long excuse?
For example, my kid has been playing this F2P Brawl rip-off Brawlhalla - why haven't they been sued out of existence yet I really don't know - but it's free, and it's fun, and it has so many choices and options. But my main point is it's fun and free, probably put together by a couple of guys in their basement. But it's really good quality once you get past the rip-off part. But Ntineod charges $60 for Mario Tennis and AC:aF? When games like this are free, $60 games should have a whole lot more going on than demo contents and 1 or 2 minigames.
http://www.brawlhalla.com/
Fortuantley I have XCX, a true game, so I'm not writing off Ntinedo just yet, but I do hope you are correct about Nintod working on complete games for NX. And while the fanbase here will riot loudly, I'm still looking forward to "Mushroom Kingdom" or whatever they'll call their amiibo adventure game.
@rjejr You bring up a good point about the portal. Maybe the console will have it integrated on top? :/
Too many dialogs asking you to put the amiibo on the GamePad. Strangely enough DI finds ways to add too many dialogs for different reasons. "Um, yes. There are two players one is inviting me to a game... I guess it's cool you are asking first, but what are these strange names? Why do I have to hit a button to look at invitations first, why can't I just confirm... or switch to a configuration in settings to just automate the whole thing." /rant
I will say that, with Shovel Knight, and the "custom knight" save on the amiibo, it was actually kind of fun and satisfying to place him on the GamePad every time you finished a level or accomplished something to write the data to it. A bit more satisfying in a tactile way than leaving it on a base. Just like in DI when there is an actual game reason to switch characters (to continue) it makes them feel more valuable.
There could be some middle ground there, but even without a base station a "save after accomplishment" placement could still work as long as each player had a reader on their controller. The bigger mistake on the Pro Controller will always be the lack of gyro, in my opinion.
My kids got stuck running away from some giant nasty in one section of Guacamelee. They really got into it, otherwise. We have yet to go and finish Rayman Legends, either. And we love that one!
I'm impressed that you could be tempted by Shovel Knight in all it's NES-era audiovisual glory. We also just started the Plague Knight campaign and it's just great. If the Shovel Knight amiibo is successful enough, I'd say expect a Plague Knight amiibo (and possibly Specter Knight) by the end of the year. You can't do co-op in that mode yet, a similar custom knight process could be added on and it could have the additional feature of unlocking the plague knight campaign without having to finish the Shovel Knight campaign. Anyway, Wii U will be remembered for me as a sweet spot for the action platform genre, that's for sure. Which is sad considering the tremendous potential I saw in Nintendo Land. sigh.
@OorWullie you forgot remix one and two
I don't mind the Mario vs Donkey kong games they are alot of fun even tho abit repetitive but using the Amiibos could be a nice way of freshing it for awhile at least.
Would Dr. Mario count as a "Mario-related" amiibo?
@aaronsullivan "Always a bit disappointing when something generic happens like the "amiibo" yarn yoshi pattern. :/"
Yarn Yoshi is actually my favorite amiibo usage by far. OK, it' the only 1 I like, but I do like it. I was having trouble w/ that game, but adding yarn Yoshi as a companion changed the whole game and made it playable for me. I'm sure they could have just added a companion w/o the amiibo certainly, but putting him on there when I got in trouble really helped me out and I was able to finish the game - on Mellow mode, but still. And on the few levels I manged to complete w/o my buddy, I always put him on just at the end to double my chances of getting the bonus round.
I know you just mean the skins, which is lame, but having that Yoshi really changed the entire game for me. And no, I could never play SK w/ it's retro look and sound - I much prefer Brawlhalla's Colorforms look - but my kids aren't quite the graphics snob that I am, yet.
@rjejr Brawlhalla looks great! Free to play does not mean they don't expect people to pay loads of cash to unlock characters permanently and it is also still in Beta. Also, just to set expectations of what basement developers can do, this was started by a small group of professionals who left their industry jobs making video games to venture off on their own and then shortly built up to a much larger team. This is not the work of amateurs or enthusiasts.
There is definitely a free-to-play model that could work with Smash Bros. Brawl similar to this game and MOBA games. I wonder if Nintendo would consider it. They might. I mean, that is what they are experimenting with, right? Honestly, I think Smash Bros. should become an ongoing, continually updated, game. It is close to that now, but maybe that will be the model going forward. The flip side is that people will pay $60 at the start without much hesitation so... I guess let them!
As far as Mario Tennis and all that, those games were made for a dying console. The audience will be small, that's guaranteed. In my estimation, Nintendo isn't trying to garner interest in the Wii U anymore. It is just trying not to disappoint with a complete vacuum of available games. The question is whether a vacuum is better than games that are insulting to a fair number of fans. I guess time will tell on that one.
I think Nintendo sees the danger of lackluster games hurting its brand in general though. However we differ on our opinions and anticipation for Star Fox I think it was a smart move to delay it given the mixed reactions. Keep in mind that Shigeru had to be looking at the lineup of games we are talking about here (Tennis, AC:AF, Mini-Mario) while deciding what to do with Star Fox. It's one thing to have some lackluster games but to have a strong brand like Star Fox associated with those would be bad for Nintendo in the long run, not just the short term.
Star Fox and Zelda being the swan song for Wii U in 2016 could be a good end to Wii U. If that's the way it goes, I'd expect most game critics and enthusiasts looking back on it would probably sum up the Wii U as an awkward transition console for Nintendo and a business failure with some exclusive games that are real gems.
Nintendo developed and published many good WiiWare games.
The Wii U eShop really lacks Nintendo's support in comparison.
Not to mention we had good third parties like SQUARE ENIX, HUDSON SOFT, KONAMI, TAITO, CAPCOM and many more supporting the Wii Shop with new (and old) games.
@rjejr
We rarely use that double Yoshi thing because we rarely play that one alone. My son is always begging for someone to play with him in cooperative games. He is the couch multiplayer king and it's probably the fault of our great times with Nintendo Land when he was younger yet could still participate. Anyway, Yoshi's Wooly World is a great game, though, and I'm glad that mode works as intended. We loved the different yarn patterns from amiibo, though! Even the crazy ugly ones.
BTW, love the "Colorforms-look" as a description for that. It would be especially useful as a descriptor for video game art that has an extra white border around the outlines.
As for good amiibo use, Mario Party 10 almost nailed it. I mean if the game was fun it would be great. Your amiibo carry bonuses (tokens I think?) from one game to the next and you could choose which to use before the game starts and it would have you use them (a bit) like pieces in a board game. Those developers were really on to something. Unfortunately, Mario Party has lost the magic since the originals. I actually like the inventive approaches in Wii Party U more, though that game is also just... overall not worth it.
Actually, if NX is everyone has a controller with their own screen, I could see that invigorating that Party franchise quite a bit. Secret actions or motives in board games can help tremendously. Plus, the mini games could get interesting. Let's see... Console $400, 3 more controllers at, what... $200 a piece because they are actually portable gaming machines? $1000. Now let's buy some games.
(I'm so not getting work done right now)
The Skylander games have all present and prior characters coded, which is done at great lengths and pains of their coders. Nintendo needs to follow suit at some point.
@faint I did forget,Jariw reminded me of them above.I've only got NES Remix 2 and I enjoyed it but it's still nothing new really,just old games presented in a different way.They never even cleaned up the graphics for it,just included them in their original form,flicker and all.I'm not one to complain about Nintendo normally,I'm a happily content Wii U owner but their Eshop output has really disappointed me.
@Danrenfroe2016 Yep,I know what you mean. Why they the new version has less than the previous is beyond me!Especially considering the price it sells for,it's £13.49 in the UK and I don't think it's ever been on sale.I loved Dr Mario on Wii too,easily my second most played game on it.I was pretty great at it too,my score was as high as 8500 at one point.Now with Dr Luigi I'm lucky if I even win a round.I only got it a few months ago so it can be pretty tough to find matches sometimes but when I do it's more often than not against some expert Japanese player who quits after beating me once or twice with ease.I kind of knew that would be the case before i bought it with the much smaller user base but disappointing none the less.
@SKTTR Great posts like this make for a great reason for Ninetndo Life to add a "Thumbs Up" button or something.
@aaronsullivan SSBU and it's over $100 of DLC is free-to-start, only Nitneod charged $60 to start. They went from a game not supporting DLC to a game w/ more DLC than game. They should be ashamed of themselves. Plus another $400 in non-playable amiibo. Brawlhalla is free-to-play, and it's been in beta since 2014, so it's not quite an early beta. And Blue Mammoth Games did start w/ only 2 people, even if they were pros. At 12 now that's still a lot fewer than Nintneod, who could have added a few other courts to tennis.
I'm ok w/ the Starfox delay, seems like it needed it. Maybe they just should have made it an N64 reboot which is what it looks likes. Ratchet and Clank is a reboot of the first game but if you visit any Sony site you will not hear anybody complaining about the graphics. It's a remake of a PS1 game that has much better graphics than SFZ sort of remake of an N64 game. True, PS4 is more powerful than Wii U - I don't believe there is much room for debate there - but R&C and SFZ do no look anything alike. XCX proves Wii U is capable of much more graphically than SFZ has shown so far.
It's now Jan 13 2016, do you think Zelda U is still coming out on Wii U in 2016? It doens't have a name, we saw almost nothing of it in 2015, we've heard almost zip about it from Ntinedo. For perspective, 2D sidescroller Yarn Yoshi was shown off in Jan 2012 but released 2 1/2 years later in 2015. For a 2D sidescroller which is Ntinedo's bread and butter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlAj7ieX6wc
I don't believe Zelda U in 2016 anymore. It may still be on the Wii U, but if SFZ got delayed about a month before release, and that's mostly on rails, even if Zelda U did get a name and a date soon, Oct or Nov, I still think it would get delayed again before it releases. How many years did it take Monolith to make XCX? And that was after they already made XC. Open world games are hard, and they don't want to ruin what's left of their reputation w/ a bad Zelda game. March 2017, maybe coincides w/ the NX release in Japan, after late 2016 in the west?
@aaronsullivan um sorry about the work thing.
We have a Wii U - $350, and 3 3DS - $170x3 = $540, and 4 $30 Wiimotes, and a $40 Pro, and a $20 Pro Classic. I think we're over $1000.
NX pricing will be interesting. How about $400 for NX (aka Wii U 2) and the Gamepad also works as a portable (aka 4DS), and they can sell the NX Portbale 4DS for $200, but they could also sell Wii U style Gamepads for $60 (how old is that tech now, and they can drop the TVii button and the seldom used camera) as controllers for mutliplayer for those who don't want to play on the go. Would have to be careful w/ the naming conventions, but I think it could work. Maybe NX Home $250, NX Away $200, NX controller $60. NX Away would have both screens like 3DS, NX Home comes w/ a Gamepad 2 - so essentially a Wii U 2 - and NX Controller would be the Gamepad, so people woudln't confuse the Controller and 4DS b/c 1 has 2 screens, the other only 1.
Of course if NX is x86 and 3rd party friendly then none of the above applies. But I think they make a go of it alone, w/ B/C and SMM2 and Splatoon 2 and Starfox Zero 2. OK maybe Starfox NX for that one. MKNX (b/c 9 is no in German) and SSBNX. Much to the chagrin of almost everyone on here who wants COD and Destiny.
Should be a fun year. Better than last year.
Maybe the generic robot avatar for amiibos other than the Super mario series is a some kind of placeholder. So, in the future, a better implementation and more diverse amiibos could be have. Anyway, let's hope that some kind of stats can be saved on the toy.
@rjejr
For my speculation "needs" I really would like to know if Nintendo is going to ditch backwards compatibility or not.
You are right, though. You could have screen controllers that aren't complete portable machines... In fact, it's almost like a demo unit and would probably lead to sales of the fully-capable ones. My only issue is that for the sake of universal support of the great features a fully-capable-controller could bring (offloading processing and GPU to each device being chief among them), I'd almost want it to be required.
I mean if the new console has to drive all the graphics for each screen-only controller, we may be back to some of the serious limitations the GamePad had... or not. That's all in the details.
Price check: $60 is close to the price of a PS4/XB1 controller without a screen and radio receiver to get the video stream.
Back to your point, though. Maybe it goes more like this:
The initial console comes with the only screen-only controller. So, it is expected that the console can drive the main screen and this controller like the Wii U. Maybe it has additional tech (second GPU?) to help mitigate issues the GamePad had beyond basic power increase, but the point is it saves on cost compared to the fully-capable 3DS replacement.
Then, you expect that most families with the NX console will also be easily persuaded to buy into one NX portable. That way you have a baseline of every game expecting to be able to have 3 screens. A main screen and two handheld screen controllers.
The upside to this being that the console is never expected to drive more than 2 screens worth of graphics and that creating games that support 3 and 4 players each with their own screen wouldn't be much of a stretch, while 3 screen support could be standard. In other words, even "single-player" games would have those nice opportunities for a less active player to help out intermittently.
This also helps mitigate costs from their end a bit. Over time, the number of people with those NX portables grow and you unleash the new free to play Super Smash Bros. to push it over the edge. (These would have a continually close-up view on the screen while playing so you could go back and forth between the big picture and the close proximity or something.)
@RainbowGazelle It's like they've been in panic mode, just getting cheap titles out as fast as they can...for the last several years. We're all waiting for them to become comfortable and start making big projects again, and they're just not wanting to do it.
If the NX doesn't LAUNCH with a giant amiibo game, then Nintendo's in a worse place than any of us could have ever guessed.
@rjejr
On SSB vs. Brawlhalla. I'm not familiar with the monetization scheme but I'm guessing it's you can play rotating random characters but can spend money to make them permanent usable. And they also gradually add new ones. If that's the case, people will spend plenty but you are only paying 12 people and the presentation expectations of the game are far lower. Though the animations look great there are no 3D models for Brawlhalla, for instance and even more important there are no fans to appease with the designs. Anyway, I think Nintendo could try free to start with their next SSB iteration, but they really, really couldn't have when it first released. Besides the need for cash, fast. There might have been severe backlash at that time. Nintendo has been slowly folding in DLC, free-to-start, and other modern monetization schemes against the angry growls of vocal fans. SSB was probably a bit too precious to risk damaging controversy.
I'm still a believer in Zelda 2016.
I waver a bit on NX 2016. But then I think about this year and most of 2017 resting on Wii U. Nintendo is cutting projects short right now. What is going to do for another year? I know Nintendo doesn't want the total drought to happen again like it did with Wii. In addition, Kimishima-san didn't like the Wii U premise from the start and it has done little to prove him wrong. As a business-oriented president, it's conceivable that he is itching to ditch Wii U as soon as possible.
All this to say that In my mind, if NX is coming in 2016, so is Zelda. If NX is coming in 2016, Zelda is not coming to Wii U in 2017. Of course, that's also why a 2016 NX seems to also suggest that it could be bumped up to a dual release on NX and Wii U.
The big contradiction is that I also want/hope for a more conventional architecture to build on (x86 plus and OpenGL and GLSL supporting GPU) and that would make the hope for a dual release pretty remote. Maybe it could be a learning experience? Still... Zelda U in 2017 if NX is at end of 2016 seems unlikely.
@maceng Though the robot my be a temporary replacement for future amiibo support, hopefully something is unique about each amiibo without having you save data to them! I think. I mean, I like it when you can save things to amiibo, but I'm not sure this game will have a strong enough reason to erase save data you might have from another gamer. :/
For situations like this maybe they should just have a sound sample for each amiibo lifted from other games. Maybe just music. And then the abilities of the robot could just be matching the characters a bit without having to make an entire set of animations for each amiibo. Especially when we are talking 2D in a completely new style there's no way to reuse those types of assets in multiple games. Sound bites are aplenty, though.
Mario Maker gets away with this because the animations are so simple and the pixel work is so limited. Plus, they use the sound sample idea.
@XCWarrior
See, I wanted to give a thumbs-up to your post to suggest that I also would love to see a thumbs-up type of system on these comments.
Can I just have my Mini Mario & Friends Amiibos already? dusts off a space on his shelf for them
Oooh nice! I LOVE the Mario vs DK series- especially in the vein of Tipping Stars... that was the best one yet.
There wasn't a whole lot of gameplay footage shown, but what was there looked terrific and way more crazy than any Tipping Stars level I've played,
And amiibo integration is a solid fit for this game- at least the way they describe it. Unlocking character-specific stages sounds way cool!
@aaronsullivan "and most of 2017"
That lightbulb is still lit over my head from your previous comments. As much as Nintendo likes to drop an unannounced game on us at E3 for that holiday - Captain Toad or Mario Tennis - they still always have something big coming out. XCX and Yarn Yoshi were over 2 years, and we all wait for Zelda U, and everybody knows SSB and MK are givens. So while holiday 2016 could see Zelda U and an E3 surprise like Nintneod Land 2 or additional sports or Sports Club, there is currently nothing out there for 2017. And if there were 1 game for 2017 like Super Mario Universe (aka SMG3) can 1 game, plus a delayed Zelda U, carry a system for 8-10 months until NX releases? Heck no, that was rhetorical. NX has to be holiday 2016, you can't release a console in March.
Oh, Pikmin 4 is supposedly nearly done, but if it that was on Wii U we would surely have heard more about it by now.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/09/pikmin_4_is_very_close_to_completion_though_its_platform_is_unclear
And I refuse to accept Pikmin 4 on mobile. A Pikmin spin-off match 3 game I'm good w/, I have a match 3 addiction and colored Pikmin all w/ their own special abilities are an almost perfect fit, but he said "4". I Also think ti would have been announced by now if it was on the "new" 3DS family. So NX it is. And DQ XI. It's coming, and soon.
This is the type of game that would do great on mobile.
At least we now know where the Mario vs. Donkey Kong franchise is headed - F2P...
I wish they'd make a MvDK like the original. A puzzle platformers where you could control mario. Enough with the lemmings
Mini Rosalina! I'd flip if there was a Mini-Sonic.
@CTMike That is my thoughts exactly. You may even be a smidgen more optimistic than me.
Great!!! Love this series, any release is welcome. Hopefully all characters will be released as Amiibos too! Oh, did I say, I REALLY love the Mini-Mario series!
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