Akane

I haven't been playing the game much lately due to the removal policy. Two of my levels have been removed (as far as I know) without a good reason given so I don't see the point in spending hours working on a level only to get it mysteriously removed from the server.

Just like every time I can choose the gender of my character, I will go with a female Link if this rumour turns out to be true. I sure hope it will!

I for one am glad for My Nintendo even if the rewards are not that bad. It's better than having nothing. Club Nintendo wasn't a thing in my country so I missed out on all the rewards for years. At least now I can be part of a rewards scheme too.

I thought the Miitomo platinum coins were only going to be usable in the app. That sucks for us that do not have access to the app yet, and also those that do not have or want a smart phone or device.

After day 1 I have still 720 platinum coins to go for Twilight Princess Picross. I'm thinking of making bogus Facebook, Google+, and Twitter accounts just to get more platinum coins. But even still I have until the first of October to get 690 points by visiting the eShop and Miiverse once a week which means I'll get a total of 60 platinum points in a week (unless they add more missions of course). Lame.

@Luffymcduck Tomorrow, yes.

@Moon Ah! Thanks for that! I had no idea how we were supposed to get the app.

@Moon FlipNote Studio 3D will be made available at the launch of the service or afterwards. I contacted NoE earlier this month and that's what I was told.

It's too bad Kid Icarus: Uprising didn't make the community list since I still regard it as one of the best games ever released on the 3DS. It also deserves a sequel.

I'm trying to give Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge a score but the drop-down menu does not appear at least on PC. Any idea why?

The problem with retail games on the eShop is that they are usually for the same price than the retail version - some games even sell for less in physical stores. You also cannot get a price reduction on the eShop like you can in physical game stores of warehouses so there's that too.

@KTT I got a new reply stating that the Launch Period will start when the service is launched meaning that we'll be eligible for Flipnote Studio 3D just like other Europeans. : )

@Mikanes I contacted NoE and was told that registration will be possible once the service launches and that I will be eligible to get Flipnote Studio 3D for free. As a fellow Finn I hope you'll find this calming. No mention of the platinum coins though.

@KTT Much to my surprise I just received a reply. Here's an exact quote: "Users who sign up to My Nintendo during the launch period will be able to download Flipnote Studio 3D to their Nintendo 3DS system for free."

There was no mention what this "launch period" was so I had to ask them whether it meant just the pre-regisration period or if it also spans over some time after the launch. Hopefully I'll get another reply.

@KTT Ah, that makes sense but still sucks. They didn't really think it through it would seem.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure they didn't mention that the Mewtwo DLC was available for free for only people in certain countries. I could be wrong though but I'm usually careful when it comes to things like these.

I've contacted NoE regarding the eligibility of Flipnote 3D just to find out how they have planned it. Let's hope they'll answer my e-mail.

I've had two of my levels deleted. The first one had some stars and a lot of plays which led to me to believe someone had gotten frustrated enough to report it. It got deleted in November 2015.

The second one was also really hard, no one was able to beat it and no one gave it a star either. It got deleted only a couple of months after I had uploaded it and it was probably hit by Nintendo's axe dedicated for unpopular levels. It still sucks.

Akira Tago will be greatly missed. Thanks for the countless of hours of fun you gave us!

@KTT The only thing about Flipnote 3D you said that I didn't know already was the fact that you have to preregister to get it for free. Which sucks but thanks for the info. I wasn't sure about the details on that one.

And yeah, I've been waiting for the app ever since it was first revealed year ago. Back then it was also said to be completely free. Now it's free only for those who preregister for the Nintendo Account. It's not fair, just like you said.

I didn't know about Germany's situation with the NNID and I'm really sorry to hear that Nintendo botched the support for games like that for you. It's simply horrible.

NoE also fails in that they consider Europe only those countries that they have their own office in. This excludes all the countries that have external distributors handling their affairs. Remember when they said in a Nintendo Direct that all who bought both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4 would get the Mewtwo DLC for free? Well they forgot to mention that deal was limited only to the residents of countries who had the Club Nintendo reward scheme, a.k.a. those countries in which Nintendo operates directly without any external distributor. Sucks, right? Well Nintendo didn't care if it sucked or not, they just rolled with it.

Considering Nintendo Account will be available to countries that do not get Miitomo at launch, I don't get why they won't open the pre-registration for Nintendo Account to those who will be eligible to register for it once it's launched. I find it a bad policy to exclude a lot of customers from the platinum coins given to you by pre-registering in this manner.

Plus, considering the way you can get Flipnote 3D when you register to Nintendo Account are still somewhat hazy, I'm afraid I'll be missing my chance of getting it after waiting for it from the day it was first revealed years ago.

This is making me get even more pumped up. I decided to replay the first game just to adapt to the difficulty level of Super Challenge and I've been really hooked to the game again these past couple of days.

@pandoradelphy I don't have a problem with people who see the human body as a thing of beauty or a work of art. Please don't try to intentionally get me wrong.

The skimpy lingerie outfits in Fatal Frame's Japanese version are objectifying for women because they are unlockable rewards for the player for achieving a thing. You don't get to see Daniel Craig as James Bond in only trunks because you did something - apart from buying a movie ticket, dvd, blu-ray disc, etc of course. It's not a reward, it's a natural part of the movie. It's the reward aspect that is the biggest problem.

Had the lingerie thing been essential to the plot, or just depicted as a natural thing in the game without coming off as a way to get certain people play the game, it would have been more alright. It would have not been a reward.

What I was getting at is that you don't see male characters in video games getting the same kind of treatment. You don't get to play as Link in briefs for beating Twilight Princess in a certain amount of time. You don't unlock a nearly-naked outfit for Nathan Drake in any of the Uncharted games when you beat the game. There's way more games out there where you are rewarded with a skimpy outfit for a female character for doing something than there are games where you are rewarded with the same thing for a male character. Thus women in little clothing are being seen as rewards whereas men are not. That's objectifying and a case of inequality between sexes.

Some games do it right though. Take Xenoblade Chronicles for an example: the game features outfits/armor for characters of both sexes that reveal a lot. Dark Souls also has the option of you stripping all your armor and play with little to no clothing if you wish to do so. What applies to both of these titles is the fact that the clothing - or lack of - is not a reward, it's a natural part of the game: you can buy the armor in Xenoblade - and gain it in enemy drops occationally - and you can just take off all your armor in Dark Souls right at the beginning of the game for extra challenge. And like I said, the options are there for characters of both sexes too, not just for female characters.

And before you judge me without even knowing me, I may inform you that I have used skimpy underwear on Shulk (and other characters of both sexes) in Xenoblade Chronicles because it has given be the best stats at the time. I do it when it affects the gameplay and is a natural part of it, not when it's just there to attract people to the game and doesn't affect the gameplay in any way.

@pandoradelphy I'm not a woman, nor a conservatist but I believe in equality between sexes and genders. Any decision that is to reduce the objectifying of women is a good decision in my opinion. You don't see male characters getting the same treatment in video games afterall.

Plus what value would the lingerie outfits had brought to the game? Would they have served the plot of the game? Had they not been in the Japanese version, would they have changed the gameplay crucially? I don't think they would have. The only reason they were added was to please a certain portion of the fan base and to attract certain people to the game. They are still things that the game can do without.

To me it's not a question about morals or decency. It's about the equal treatment of women, men, and those representing the other genders in video games and media as a whole. It's about the fact that nobody should be treated differently based on qualities they were given in birth and could not choose themself.

I already have four of the games in one form or another, so I'm only considering buying Earthbound and the Donkey Kong Country games.

I might have bought Red or Yellow for nostalgia's sake (since the batter in my copy of Red is empty) if they had been €5 a piece but €10 is a bit too much just for a nostalgia trip.

@ultraraichu Tri Force Heroes is a good game, I agree, but the mess that is the online mode makes it frustrating. I've beaten it, completed 100% even but it was a huge task with people dropping out when their choices didn't go through or the connections getting interrupted.

It's also not as fun as Four Swords Adventures even though that only had single player or local multiplayer.

This was a hard decision but in the end I went for A Link to the Past, Majora's Mask, and Twilight Princess.

Sadly Link's Awakening, Minish Cap, and Wind Waker have to do without my vote.

I've played all the Zelda games and have enjoyed each and every one of them. Being such a fan, I find it incredibly hard to choose just three.

I still remember the days I used to chat with my friends on the PS3 in Finnish. Pretty much every third word had to have it's letters s e p a r a t e d w i t h s p a c e s because the words contained letter strings that were considered as curse words in other languages. What does not help is the fact that some some Finnish curse words appear within completely normal words by chance.

I bought one shortly after launch since my old 3DS had showed performance issues following a system update (Home menu and its icons took a long time to load), and the game card slot stopped always recognizing the game card, resulting in a lot of tears when I opened my system from sleep mode only to find out all the progress I had made in-game had vanished.

I really like the New 3DS (basic model), even though the C-nub does not always work as well as a stick. It's still better than nothing.

@Seniormeatbox For me the problem has not been on RK's end except for the fact that they didn't do very well job with communicating with their European fans. For a year or two, the tentative European release date stayed the same, even after it was long past the date. It wasn't before December 2015 (https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/12/feature_a_year_in_development_-_renegade_kid) that RK stated they were still bringing it to Europe. Before that there were no mention about it still being released in the Old World after its initial launch window.

I don't hold it against them anymore since they finally gave a statement regarding it in December but the communication still wasn't very good on their part. A little "hang in there, we are still working on it" would have been nice.

Also, just so people don't get confused: Spanish, French, German, Greek, and Italian are not the only languages spoken in Europe alongside English. Nintendo just has a habit of translating games only into languages spoken in the countries they have their own office branch. Which sucks since using external translation companies wouldn't be too difficult, especially since Sony has done well in that regards with at least their PS3 games, without any problems with simultaneous releases either.

I love 3D Dot Game Heroes so this really hit it for me. It also reminds me of Voxatron which isn't a bad association either.

I might want to start playing Splatoon again this weekend just to relive my childhood spent playing Pokémon Red.

I've already preordered the special edition even though I already own the game on the Wii U. I have more time to play on handhelds than on home consoles so the 3DS version will let me have a chance to play the DLC I never bought for the Wii U version as well as all the new content.

The compass clock will be a nice thing to have as well.

@TimLatshaw And that's completely understandable.

@Morpheel Yeah, I know. I have to work with classifications all the time with my studies. It's just that I'd rather let the actions and words define who someone is rather than qualities they were given in birth and could not influence or choose.

@Morpheel My critique was not only toward the comments but the overall discussion of the character which also includes news articles about it.

The character's gender not being talked about yet was also just briefly mentioned in the article so I don't see why that should even spawn so much discussion and speculation of the character's gender. It makes the character's gender (or lack of) their defining characteristic when gender should never be the thing to define who people (even fictional) are.

Why is the gender of the character dominating the discussion? Is that really all that important?

I think it's a nice design but sadly it's not going to make me anxiously wait for the game. I'm still bitter about the fact that they rather release this in the West than Dai Gyakuten Saiban which is the new Ace Attorney game the series original creator is working on. Ace Attorney 6 is just not doing it for me for some reason.

I used to play this game all the time when I was a kid.

I'm sure the new design will grown on me soon enough. This does not look bad at all.

I have to ask though, will the RSS feeds stay the same or should we update our subscriptions?

@TantXL Well, another photo from the presentation with the map for the My Nintendo thing was posted on Escapist. I don't know why it was never posted on NL.

I find it interesting that My Nintendo will be released in the Nordic countries but Miitomo won't, at least not right away. Could it have something do that Nintendo related products are not being distributed in the countries directly by Nintendo or their subsidiary but by another company?

I was sceptical at first if we were even going to get My Nintendo over here but thankfully the map Nintendo made for that shows I was wrong. Hopefully.

Zero Time Dilemma got my vote but I'm also waiting for Hyrule Warriors Legends and Metroid Prime: FF.

@Drezus It's probably relative.

Thank you for this interview!

I've been annoyed for RK not talking about the European release date of Moon Chronicles and Dementium Remastered before, so it was really nice to finally get a comment on the progress of getting those games released in Europe. The fact that there's finally an official word on those games is all I need at this point to gain back the respect for RK I once had. I'm not sad that there's not a definite or tentative release date yet.

Thank you NL, and thank you Jools! Keep up the great work with your games.

Not just UK. I'm still waiting for mine over here in Finland. Apparently my preorder is within the first four at the retailer and they are also expecting to get four copies of the amiibo in the first batch so I should know the day they get them on stock.

Sadly they haven't given me (or even updated their website) with a new estimated release date. All I can do is wait I guess.

@RainbowGazelle I still buy their games when they interest me since I know they make quality games that I enjoy playing. But it still does not mean I'm not salty about the way they treat Europe.

I think the problem may be partially the fact that they don't release their games simultaneously world-wide. Europe is still waiting for Moon Chronicles and the months-long delays between releases in the NA eShop and the EUR eShop has made some fans feel - if not cheated - at least like they are second class citizens.

The problem gets bigger when you give your European fans a release date, yet fail to release the game in the regions years later said date. It shouldn't be strange that the games don't sell well when you make a market group feel like crap and then never say anything regarding the release ever again.

Like, I would be happy if Renegade Kid just told us Europeans that they are not going to release Moon Chronicles in the European eShop ever. Now the latest news regarding its release is that it's coming out "Holiday 2014".

It would seem that the amiibo has been delayed outside UK too. I went to ask for it from the retailer from which I preordered it today but they didn't have it and didn't know when they were going to get it. They did tell me that they were expecting four figures in the first batch and that I was within the first four preorders so thankfully I should be able to get it the day they finally get the first batch.

This is pretty much what I was expecting when the news broke in that Nintendo is going to use (a) screen(s) that don't have to be rectangular on the NX. I just had hoped there was more face buttons since touch screen controls are still too unreliable and don't give any physical feedback when pushed/pressed.

But then again, this is just a patent for the technology and the actual product might never come out and if it does, it might look very different and have actual physical face buttons too. What's certain is that Nintendo has at least considered using a screen like that on NX.

Pokemon or Smash Bros sounds the most probable right now. My Nintendo isn't due before March anyway so that's less likely. It's of course possible that they have changed the date.

I wish it was a new Metroid game. Or Kid Icarus. I doubt it though.

@mereel If it's another Humble Indie Bundle they better make it available for people in Europe as well but considering this is a NA rep talking, I doubt it.

@zool I'm mainly a gamer too but I love my favourite game series enough to make me buy some amiibos of characters based on those (LoZ, Kid Icarus, Metroid). I see them as collector's items that bring something to the game(s).

The Shovel Knight amiibo is basically physical DLC that just comes with a figure instead of on a disc. It's just what amiibo should be: additional content with the use of a physical item that looks nice.

@c1pher_c0mplet I have to say playing Tri Force Heroes with random people online is plain awesome when everything goes right and you have a team with similar goals to yours. When that happens, it really does not matter if you have to play challenges you have already beaten because the others will help you out with the challenges you have yet to beat.

But then there are people who will disconnect if their level/challenge does not get picked. Being able to blacklist jerks like that is definitely a welcome addition. I actually ran into one person like that immediatelly after they had rage quitted a level so I was able to blacklist them but that was not the optimal way to go with it.

What I'd like for Nintendo to add is a list of maybe ten players you've played recently and a link to their Miiverse profiles. I've had so many great games with people I have enjoyed to play with that I would really like to get in contact with them and chat on Miiverse. Games like this should bring people together, especially since when you see a friendly name in the game the next day, you immediatelly get happy, lift them up in the air and spam the "Hello!" emoticon to make sure they notice you know them from before.

I won't get too excited before I see the game on the EU eShop. I'm still bitter about the fact that Moon Chronicles was supposed to be released in Europe a year ago but there's still no word about it.

I think you've mentioned it in a previous article but I remember reading that Renegade Kid is waiting for the IARC rating system to be added to the 3DS before releasing Dementium in Europe. Here's to hoping they'll finally release Moon Chronicles as well.

I would still like it if Renegade Kid gave their European fans some kind of a message stating whether or not we should be waiting for these games to be released in the region because their silence regarding the matter is annoying.

I think the reason Minecraft got so big was it's unique business model. The early versions used to be completely free. Once it hit alpha, Notch implemented a scheme where you'd get it at half price if you bought it during alpha, and a bit reduced if you bought it during beta. He also stated all additions would be free if you bought it before the beta ended. This resulted in a lot of publicity, both in the form of news articles and youtube videos.

While Minecraft and the way it works definitely is fun, I doubt it would have turned out to be such a hit if it was made as a console game like Game Zero.