Tag: Japan - Page 20
News Nintendo Is Recruiting Level Designers To Work On New 2D Action Games
What could be on the way?
Looking ahead at Nintendo's future release schedule, there are only so many games to anticipate, and right now we know very little about each one. The major Switch exclusives in development at the moment include Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, and of course, a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Apart from...
News Nintendo Has Released A Free Online Japanese Magazine Full Of Game Ads And Adorable Art
Let's hope a western release is next
Nintendo has released an online magazine in Japan showing off all things Switch, and you can check it out for free. Naturally, the whole thing's written in Japanese, but the bright, colourful pictures make it a joy to flick through even if you can't understand the finer details. It features plenty of write-ups...
News Early Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Build Shows Link Running Around Japan
And skydiving, too
Back in 2017 - the same year as the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Wii U and Switch - Nintendo showcased the early stages of the game's development at a CEDEC conference. Now, some images of the footage it shared at this event have surfaced online. It shows a map of Japan, Link running around Himeji...
News Sega's President Has Just Resigned For "Personal Reasons"
Kenji Matsubara had been in charge since 2017
Sega's parent company Sega Sammy Holdings has revealed that its president and chief publishing officer Kenji Matsubara has resigned from the firm due to "personal reasons." Prior to joining Sega, Matsubara had been CEO of Koei Tecmo for 9 years; he later joined the Japanese arm of Zynga, which is famous...
Random This Life-Size Atelier Ryza Statue Will Cost You $25,000
Realistically-proportioned thighs don't come cheap
Remember Ryza from Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout? She caused quite a stir a while back thanks to her ample thighs and is soon to star in a direct sequel to that game. She's also getting immortalised as a life-size statue that is sure to fit elegantly into any home.
Japanese Charts Switch Sales Surpass 12 Million As Animal Crossing Returns To Number One
Hardware sales go from strength to strength
Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 20th - 26th July, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is back at number one yet again. The game sold just under 100,000 physical copies last week, extending its lead as the best-selling Switch game in the region by another huge leap.
News Level-5 Teasing Major Announcement For Yo-Kai Watch Jam: Yo-Kai Academy Y
Update: A demo is releasing on 3rd August
Update (Sat 1st Aug, 2020 13:00 BST): Level-5 has announced it will release a demo for this game on the Japanese Switch eShop on 3rd August. According to Japanese Nintendo the release of a packaged version and western localisation is still undecided. Original article (Fri 31st Jul, 2020 05:00 BST):...
News Bandai Namco, SNK, Capcom And More To Host Fighting Game Roundtable Stream
Starring famous producers and directors
Bandai Namco has revealed that it, along with a selection of other fighting game publishers, will be hosting a special roundtable livestream on 1st August. The full line up of publishers includes Arc System Works, Arika, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Koei Tecmo, and SNK (thanks, Gematsu), and will kick off at 9am...
News Dragon Quest Rivals Is Getting A New Name And A Single-Player Mode
Major update arrives next month
Dragon Quest Rivals, a free-to-play game which is currently available on Switch, PC and mobile devices in Japan, is set to receive a pretty major update next month. Square Enix has confirmed that August will bring with it a brand new single-player mode as well as a name change. Going forward, the app will be called...
News Red And Green Voted Most Popular Pokémon Games In Japanese Poll
But which are your favourites?
Throughout June, Japanese site Goo Ranking held a poll to see which Pokémon games would be voted as the most popular. It might not come as much of a surprise, but the original Pokémon Red and Green - released as Pokémon Red and Blue in the west - have come out on top. You can see the top ten results below. It's...
News Paper Mario: The Origami King Launch Sales Compared To Past Entries (Japan)
A promising start
According to Famitsu's latest sales chart, Nintendo's new release - Paper Mario: The Origami King - sold 109,092 copies in its first week in Japan. It debuted in second place - with the PlayStation 4 exclusive Ghost of Tsushima taking out the top spot. How does this particular entry compare to previous Paper Mario launch weeks,...
Japanese Charts Paper Mario Loses Out To Ghost Of Tsushima On Debut
Paper cut
Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 13th - 19th July, and Nintendo's latest Switch release Paper Mario: The Origami King has made its debut in second place - surpassing 100,000 sales. The PlayStation 4 exclusive Ghost of Tsushima has taken out the top spot in its first week. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has jumped up to the...
News Sega Brings Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis To Nintendo Switch In 2021
Once again, it's exclusive to Japan
Another title announced during the Xbox Games Showcase, which also happens to be making its way to the Nintendo Switch in 2021 is Sega's Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis. According to Xbox Wire, this is the "latest entry" in the PSO2 universe - although, it's also been described as an "update" by Sega. The bad...
News Shin Megami Tensei III Remaster Is Getting Some Limited Edition Goodies In Japan
Including a plug-in aroma lamp!
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster was something of a shock announcement during the recent mini-Nintendo Direct and will offer Switch owners the chance to experience a seminal release in the fran
News The 30 Most-Downloaded Switch Games During The First Half Of 2020 (Japan)
Both retail and digital-only games included
In some ways, 2020 has felt like a pretty quiet year on the Nintendo front, but that doesn't mean that Switch owners have been starved of content. We'd argue that the opposite is true, in fact, especially if you're using this slight lull in major new releases to pick up games you might have missed, and...
News Switch Online Subscribers Can Play Pokkén Tournament DX For Free Next Week (Japan)
With workarounds for western players
Next week, Nintendo Switch Online subscribers in Japan will have the opportunity to check out Pokkén Tournament DX for free for a limited time. The Pokémon brawler is the latest game to be offered as a free experience for subscribers, with the likes of Fire Emblem Warriors,
Video Every Switch Trailer From Japan's Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase
The full round-up
As you've no doubt heard by now, the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase for Japanese viewers was slightly longer. It ran for about four extra minutes and featured additional games and information. For your convenience, we've grouped all of this together on the one page. Enjoy! Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster Shin...
News Kirby Studio HAL Laboratory Relocates Its Tokyo Base To Nintendo's New Building
Joins Game Freak and Nintendo EPD Tokyo
Kirby studio HAL Laboratory has relocated its main Tokyo office to Nintendo's new building in the city, it has been revealed. The company – which remains independent but has strong ties with Nintendo (referred to in Japan as "keiretsu") – has also taken on more staff, bringing its headcount up from 169 to...
News Waifu Uncovered Temporarily Pulled From Japanese eShop Due To Explicit Scene
Naughty, naughty
This week saw the release of One-Hand-Free Studios' Waifu Uncovered on the Nintendo Switch eShop. As you might recall, it mixes bullet-hell shoot 'em up action with "a light-hearted story" in which you de-robe one of eight "beautiful females" by blasting away their virus-infected clothing. It even comes with a "one finger mode" for...
News You Can Now Pre-Order The Amazing SEGA Astro City Mini
Update: Play Asia pre-orders now live, $150 price tag
We recently reported on Sega's upcoming new micro-console, the Astro City Mini which comes packed with 36 classic arcade games. Originally launched in 1993, the Astro City cabinet is still one of the most recognisable features in Japanese arcades, and is beloved by collectors. Here are all the...
Japanese Charts Animal Crossing Loses Top Spot To eBaseball Powerful Pro 2020
Switch hardware sales up week-on-week
Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 6th - 12th July, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been knocked off top spot. The game has been dominating the chart for the majority of its time on sale, but this week's new entry eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 managed to debut in number one...
News Nintendo Locks In Release Dates For Its Joker And Hero Smash Bros. amiibo
Update: European release date also confirmed
Update: The release dates for both amiibo have now also been confirmed for Europe. Joker and Hero will both launch in Europe on 25th September, the same day as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Original Article: One of the highlights during the most recent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate presentation was...
News Nintendo Is Offering Real-Life Super Smash Bros. Invitations To My Nintendo Users (Japan)
Get your hands on the iconic envelope!
If you've ever dreamt of receiving your very own Super Smash Bros. invitation, or perhaps staging your own character reveal video at home, this new gift set from My Nintendo would come in super handy. As you'd expect, the items you see below are sadly exclusive to the Japanese site, but if you happen to have...
News Here Are Japan's Top Ten Best-Selling Games Of 2020 So Far
And hardware sales, too
With June now well and truly behind us, we find ourselves in the second half of 2020. In that time, we might not have had quite as many top tier Nintendo releases as we might have expected, but the Switch continues to sell well and one title in particular has been smashing records all over the place. Newly compiled data from...
Japanese Charts Animal Crossing Still Reigns Supreme As Nintendo Takes Nine Of Top Ten
Catherine: Full Body enters in ninth
Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 29th June - 5th July, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is still sitting pretty at the very top of the table. The game sold an estimated 53.506 physical copies in the region this week, comfortably distancing itself from the closest competition as it has...
News Atlus Says Persona 5 Scramble's Sales Exceeded Its Expectations
Still no word on localisation
Ever since Joker joined the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster, there have been calls for Atlus to release the mainline Persona series on the Nintendo Switch. While there's still no sign of it happening, the spin-off Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers has already made its way across to the hybrid system in Japan...
News Here Are The Switch eShop's Best-Selling Games Of June 2020 (Japan)
Animal Crossing loses top spot
Earlier this week, we shared a list of the top 15 most-downloaded Switch games in Europe for the month of June, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons had once again returned to the top spot. Things are a little different over in Japan, however, as you're about to find out. Below, you'll find a list of the 20...
News Sega's New Astro City Micro-Console Is Packed With 36 Arcade Gems
Update: Trailer and official site are live!
Update: Sega has just released the trailer shown above, as well as the official Japanese site. Original Story [Tue 7th Jul, 2020 10:15 BST]: You may have assumed that, with the release of the Mega Drive Mini and the upcoming
News Shin Megami Tensei Is Being Added To Japan's NSO Super Famicom Collection
Gun-Dec is also on the way
We know Donkey Kong Country was just confirmed for the Nintendo Switch Online here in the west, but once again, Japan's monthly line-up seems to be slightly better. Instead of Natsume Championship Wrestling, in its place is the 1992 Super Famicom RPG Shin Megami Tensei by Atlus. Here's the rundown, courtesy of
News New Video Shows Super Nintendo World's Thwomp With Red Glowing Eyes
Watch out, Yoshi
Although Super Nintendo World's launch in Japan has been officially delayed, there's still new footage of the park surfacing on social media on a daily basis. Last weekend, we got a look at Mario's enemy Thwomp in action and now, in the latest update, someone has captured footage of it at night-time. While it might not sound all...
News New Video Shows Thwomp In Action At Super Nintendo World
Run for your life
Super Nintendo World's opening in Japan might have been delayed, but that hasn't stopped enthusiastic members of the public from uploading new footage of the park to various social media platforms. Earlier in the week, we got a fantastic close-up shot, and while characters like Yoshi were moving and even coins and Koopa shells...
News Crowdfunding Drive For Go-Karting Firm Previously Known As MariCar Fails Spectacularly
Raises less than 1 percent of its target goal
Remember MariCar? It's a company which offers go-kart tours around Tokyo, with participants famously dressing up as characters from the Super Mario series. As you can imagine, this annoyed Nintendo, which took MariCar to court for copyright infringement case against the karting firm in 2017. It was...
Japanese Charts Animal Crossing Returns To Number One And Smashes A New Switch Sales Record
Nintendo takes eight of top ten
Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 22nd - 28th June, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has returned to its usual spot at the top of the chart. With last week's number one, The Last of Us Part II, dropping down to fourth, several of Nintendo's current, popular titles were able to jump back into...
News Namcot Collection: Series 1 Pulled From Japanese eShop After Customers Receive Wrong Games
Update: DLC returns on July 8th
Update: It has been confirmed that the DLC for Namcot Collection Series 1 will be returning to the Japanese eShop on July 8th. Phew! Original Story [Thu 18th Jun, 2020 15:30 BST]: Well, here's a strange one. Namcot Collection: Series 1, a free-to-start bundle available in Japan, has been removed from the Switch...
Feature Missile Dancer Dev Terarin Games On Shmup Design, Future Plans And Embracing Western Players
"Shmups have a simple mechanism, but making good shmups is difficult"
Like so many Japanese gamers, Terarin Games' Junichi Terayama grew up with Nintendo. "The first video game I played was Xevious on the Famicom. However, I didn't have a Famicom as a kid; I was playing it at my friend's house." Despite the lack of unrestricted access to the...
News New Video Gives Us Our Best Ever Look At Super Nintendo World
What a sight to behold
If you've been keeping an eye on our coverage of Super Nintendo World over the past few weeks, you'll have seen a number of aerial photographs, shots from the ground, and even a video of Y
News 16-Year-Old Student Arrested For Allegedly Threatening To "Blow Up Konami’s Headquarters"
Individual was upset by connectivity problems with Konami's PES mobile game
A 16-year-old student has been arrested in Japan for allegedly threatening to blow up Konami's Tokyo headquarters. According to Yomiuri, the suspect made the threats between June 16th and June 18th on the review section of an online app store. Another Japanese outlet,
A huge achievement
According to Famitsu's Japanese chart estimates, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has now surpassed five million physical sales in Nintendo's home region. The game is the first on Switch to reach the impressive milestone. The five million sales total has been achieved in just over three months and leaves New Horizons comfortably...
News Nintendo's Directors Receive New Approval Ratings - Here's How Shareholders Voted
Furukawa, Miyamoto and more
Every time Nintendo holds one of its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, its directors are faced with a new series of votes from shareholders to assess their approval ratings. Today, the day of the 80th annual meeting, is no different, and we have a record of how the votes went down below. Shareholders were asked to...
Deals Pokémon Fan? Check Out This New Line Of Pikachu-COOL & Pikachu-POP Gear For Your Switch
Tough to 'chus a fave
Ask a random stranger on the street to name a Pocket Monster and there's a good chance that a certain yellow mouse will be the Pokémon that passes their lips (assuming they can name one at all). Sure, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Eevee have their fans – and there are a handful of post-Gen I Pokémon that might pop up...
News Universal Studios Japan Postpones Opening Of Super Nintendo World
Mario fans might have to wait until 2021
There have already been many delays this year, and now to add to this, Universal Studios in Japan has officially postponed the launch of Super Nintendo World. Sorry folks, but the park will no longer open this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic. It's not exactly a surprise after the 2020 Summer Olympics...
Japanese Charts Nintendo Takes Nine Of Top Ten As The Last Of Us 2 Topples Animal Crossing
But New Horizons is still selling strong
Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 15th - 21st June, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been knocked off top spot by The Last of Us Part II. The new PS4 exclusive sold an estimated 178,696 boxed copies in its opening week in Japan, beating Animal Crossing's total of 73,680. Still,...
News New Video Shows Yoshi In Action At Super Nintendo World
Another glimpse
Super Nintendo World in Japan appears to be coming along nicely. Just last week, we got our first look at spinning coins, and now we've got an even more exciting tease of Mario's sidekick Yoshi. The following clip has been uploaded by Twitter user @ywki_woo. It shows a life-size Yoshi model walking around a tree and then slowly...
Japanese Charts Ring Fit Adventure Surpasses One Million Sales, Nintendo Takes Entire Top Ten
Animal Crossing's still on top, of course
Remember these guys? Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 8th - 14th June, revealing that Ring Fit Adventure has now surpassed one million boxed sales in Nintendo's home region alone. The game has found itself regularly occupying the top ten since launch and this week's no different. It sold...
News Japan Is Getting A Medabot Collection On Nintendo Switch
Medarot Classics Plus contains eight titles
In the wake of Pokémon's astonishing success in Japan in 1996, many other developers attempted to ape the formula with their own RPG-style adventures. One of the more memorable was Imagineer's Medabot (or "Medarot" as it's known in Japan) series, which spawned a manga and anime and was focused on the...
News Nintendo, Creatures And Game Freak Apply For PokéToon Trademark In Japan
That might not be all, folks
Remember the new 'PokéToon' cartoon The Pokémon Company released earlier this month on its Kids TV channel? It was an animated short inspired by cartoons of America's Golden Age, where series such as Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes rose to fame. The episode itself was called 'Chase The Beans' and starred Scraggy - who is...
Animal trafficking
The incredible popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons – and the fact that many of the characters and items in the game are hard to come by during normal gameplay – has resulted in the establishment of websites which sell content in the game for real-world money. In Japan, it is reported that one of these organisation –...
News The Super Game Boy Is Now 26 Years Old
Only for Super Nintendo
If you're as old as some of us here are at Nintendo Life, you might have fond memories of the Super Game Boy. It was an adapter cartridge for the Super Nintendo that allowed you to play Game Boy and dual-mode Game Boy Color cartridges on the big screen - aka your television. Some games, like the Pokémon titles, even had...
Japanese Charts Animal Crossing Keeps Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics From Top Spot
Nintendo takes nine of top ten
Famitsu's Japanese chart figures are now in for 1st - 7th June, revealing that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is still sitting comfortably at number one. The game shifted another 97,810 copies last week, keeping new release Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics in second place in its first week on sale. Nintendo's new...
News Konami Pulls The Plug On Nintendo Switch Exclusive Hyper Sports R
Track and failed
When Konami first shared the multitude of screenshots from its upcoming game Hyper Sports R back in 2018, it's fair to say that it didn't generate too much interest. The cartooney character models in this sports sim did seem a bit unusual, and perhaps this upcoming Switch exclusive was never going to capture the imagination of...