GloryQuestor

Since I own (and have played in the past) quite a few of the main games of the characters represented here, it was a must-buy for me, as it would be for any Japanese video gaming fan.

In particular, I like that Kite and Blackrose are here, since I've noticed that .hack is starting to get pushed aside with the anime release of Sword Art Online and getting more forgotten as newer fans come in. (Even though SAO is the older of the two, it's nowhere near the multimedia juggernaut that .hack was.)

Also, one of the biggest cameos for me is Tron Bonne, since a long time ago I played through The (Mis-)adventures of Tron Bonne for PS1 and now miss it all over again. I really wish CAPCOM would just give her more games.

Sorry, but I don't think Nintendo's future is in the Smartphone / Tablet market.

• A lot of Nintendo's games require precise controls that are responsive and easy to manipulate. Smartphones and tablets are really bad at this. I have Sonic the Hedgehog on my iPhone, and it's really tough to keep your thumbs in the right place to move it properly (also ending up obscuring the screen when trying to control it). Nintendo's titles would end up being the same mess of a control scheme, and that hurts the game, not makes it better. Even if you created a "zone" for the control setup, that means less screen space for the game itself and controls that are still dodgy.
• The 3DS has expandable memory via SD cards and is usually more dedicated to gaming than applications and photos. There are many smartphones and tablets that still do not have SD support and your gaming space is easily squeezed out by all the other stuff (photos, videos, and applications) that you use your smartphones & tablets for.
• Analysts see the future their way, not really with informed decisions. There are many that have made quite a few wrong predictions in the past, and here they constantly espouse the "smartphone/tablet gaming is the future" mantra. If what they are saying would be true, then why are Microsoft and Sony also still building (largely) gaming machines and Valve encouraging the building of "Steam Boxes"? Also, if smartphone gaming were so profitable, then why didn't Sony's Playstation Phone idea take off? You can't really separate the sales of smartphones/tablets as to if they will be use largely for gaming vs. being used for other things, unless there are some surveys out there being done.

In my viewpoint, I prefer smartphone games that are made just for smartphone touchscreens (like Angry Birds and Infinity Blade). I just don't think that Mario or Zelda would work well in this format. I hope Nintendo continues to hang in there and keep doing what they are doing. They've survived quite a bit in the past, they will survive this.

For those who haven't played this one, it's one of the greats of the NES era. Life Force is removed from Gradius in many ways, the biggest being the top-down stages — it's not just a vertical shooter, but also a HORIZONTAL one. I liked the level design quite a bit. I've known quite a few gamers who wanted to see this game have a proper sequel that never really materialized.

So, shooter fans just shouldn't wait on Gradius or overlook this real NES gem. Get this — you won't be disappointed.

Pokebank finally showed up as a TBD section in the NA 3DS eShop this week, so it's at least some hope it's going to appear sooner rather than later. With the Flipnote Studio video mysteriously disappearing, that's probably being written-off for NA release.

My only guess as to why SMB3 is so long delayed might be the 3DS VC isn't set up to support the "custom MMC3 (Memory Management Controller) ASIC" that the cartridge version used. Like all emulators, the VC can only go as far as the hardware emulation it supports, which for NES might only be the original formats (MMC1 and regular MMC3). Because SMB3 used custom chips, it's probably harder to adapt than they realized? >_>

Not interested in Starship Defense, and I already have Mario Picross. Pass.

Oh, YES! I loved Sega's arcade version of Initial D, so I see this being something I might get day one if it ever makes it to NA.

Zelda for me!

I have the PC CD-ROM "Special Edition" version of this game, and it's still a game I pick up and play occasionally. Haven't played the SNES version, but if it's largely the same, it's worth getting.

What I found most interesting about this game is that the in-game music for both Uncharted Waters and this sequel were all done by Yoko Kanno. The Special Edition includes some great full-length instrumental music tracks that really showcase what she was going for in the games.

Seems like it's more than just the save game glitch. From http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1061/p/430 :

"Update Details:

• Prevents the occurrence of a rare issue in which players are unable to resume playing after saving their game in certain areas of Lumiose City. Players already affected by this issue will also be able to resume playing normally after downloading and installing this update data.
• Prevents errors which sometimes occur when using certain functions of the GTS (a feature allowing players all around the world to exchange Pokémon)."

So everyone should get this patch, even if they aren't encountering the save bug.

I could see that quite a bit of the scene work was "inspired" from the first season anime episode where Pikachu battles Bulbasaur before Ash catches it. It was a lot of fun watching these scenes recreated from a different perspective.

I've been playing since the very beginning (Pokemon Blue being my first) and have been buying at least one game of every generation since. I really got into Pokemon for what it is: a fun experience of raising your own creatures and training them to be ready for anything. Once in a while, you don't mind familiar, retro experiences (especially when you are a fan of Dragon Quest), but the reason I got Pokemon Y was because we finally get a truly upgraded and modern mainline Pokemon. It took this long to finally get this, and I didn't want to miss out.

My first impression is that it's the best of the RF series so far:

• The characters are nice and varied, and having them come along with you on adventures is a nice twist. Having a map that tracks residents in town is very nice, although the face icons are tiny, even on the XL.
• Combat is no longer a clunky mess with bad timing — now it feels a lot like you are in control. The variety of weapon styles hasn't changed much, but you are given most of the basic weapons early on, so it's a matter of preference which style you want to go with.
• The biggest surprise was the multi-carry ability. You can stack up to 9 of the same item and carry all of them around (although it drains RP faster). This makes harvesting and collecting lumber & stone much faster than it ever was before. Also, if you select a group of items, it will only gift one at a time to a resident rather than sacrificing the whole bundle. It's clearly the one change I'm most impressed with.

So, overall, I'm really looking forward to seeing what more this game has in store.

I'd like to see the 1DS someday. It'd probably be even cheaper than the 2DS, and having a big HDTV as your top screen? If scaled right, that would actually be pretty awesome.

@Memeboy3 Sega Sammy is a producer of various pachinko, pachislo, and other types of arcade machines. It has been mentioned that, with ATLUS now a subsidiary, they might start using ATLUS' characters and game elements in this side of the business. A fully licensed and originally developed Persona pachislo would actually be kinda cool.

Sadly, it's something we won't see internationally, unless said machines are imported or digitized into an iOS or Android app for sale.

Overall, from a business perspective, I don't see any problems on the horizon with this relationship:

• Seems like they had an understanding and/or a prior business relationship before all of this happened;
• If Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft would have picked them up, you could kiss their multiplatforming efforts goodbye, as each of these companies would have locked them into their respective console base;
• Sega Sammy created a subsidiary wall (Sega Dream) just to make sure that they could not directly be in control of ATLUS' decisions; and
• Japan (and ultimately the rest of the world) will end up getting more games and entertainments with ATLUS branded characters, which is great marketing potential (and needed profit infusions) for both companies.

So, ATLUS apparently now remains the same third-party multiplatform game producer it was before. I see this right now as a win-win for a lot of companies.

Finally, in terms of Nintendo, since Sega and Nintendo are entering a cooperative relationship, we'll most likely see more of ATLUS on 3DS and Wii U than we would have before. This will only help Nintendo where it really needs it — getting some solid Wii U RPGs out in the market would boost sales. Can't argue with that, either.

Even though I like the outdoor environments on HD, the indoors are just way too bright in contrast. The visual on the interior of the Forsaken Fortress we're shown is just really bad ... the dark environments that set the mood are replaced with lifeless lighted environments that seem rather dull and uninspired.

I really hope that this isn't how you're going to remake it, Nintendo. If it is, I'm sticking with my GameCube version.

@Rei7 I agree with you. Too much negativity for a console that actually looks like it might do things right for a change.

Biggest and possibly best change — the placement of the controls. There are a lot of games out there (especially Virtual Console games) that work much better through the D-Pad, but even the 3DS XL tends to cause some discomfort. With the controls more towards the middle of the device, I think that might actually reduce some thumb cramping.

Anyone who has a DS or original 3DS should consider this a must-buy. It's XL-sized, the price is really perfect for a handheld, many don't like the 3D option in general (myself included), and even if it can't fit into a pocket you can put it in a backpack or attach a hinged keychain and hook it on your belt. Definitely not worth all the drama, people.

Actually ... I like this game a lot. Sure, it's derivative of Mario Kart, but for a much lower price point, it does have:

• 4 course settings with 3 major path shifts depending on difficulty level = 12 distinctive courses. This really isn't a let-down, though, as playing through the higher difficulty throws a lot of interesting obstacles your way (like off-road action).
• Even though the family member is now an aesthetic choice (unlike Family Tennis, where they did have their own stats), they provide quite a few vehicles to ride in, which leads to crazy combinations. Ever wanted to be a grandma in a kimono riding down a track in a souped-up green tractor?
• The controls are pretty tight for the most part. I didn't have many issues drifting through the lanes, and the game did respond differently based on the car used.

My only gripe with it is that the ice stages are a bit too slippy, but it's still something pros shouldn't have much of an issue with.

Overall, if you have $5 extra, it's really worth a buy if you don't already have Mario Kart. It's not the best cart racer you can get, but the price is too good to pass up. IMHO, Family Tennis 3D and this are must-buys if you're especially a big anime geek.

For those on the fence about Mario Golf GBC, it's one of the best version of Nintendo's golf series I've ever played (outside of Mario Golf 64 & Toadstool Tour, of course). I used to have the original cart, and it was a lot of fun on the road. It's too bad we can't get MG 64, since that's what you really need to unlock the potential of MG GBC, but just as a standalone title, it's well worth the coins IMHO.

Just as a sidenote, Blackgate isn't going to be the first in the Arkham series on a handheld or mobile device. Batman: Arkham City Lockdown on iOS has that distinction. For those who haven't checked it out, Lockdown's pretty cool in its own right — it's Infinity Blade meets Arkham City.

Even though there isn't any mention here, one of the things I hope we see in Blackgate is customizable armor or skin selections. It was one of the best ideas I liked about Lockdown, as you could dress up as '70s Batman, the Animated Series skin, or even the Batman Beyond (Bruce Wayne variant) costume. If not costumes, then at least alternate characters, like in City.

Since I'm a Zelda nut (and sadly have no place to hang or store the posters), I'll get the CD.

The only thing we can hope is that they anticipated the demand for it. I really don't want to see these CDs rapidly burned and sent out — wayy too many disc errors happen that way.

I still have Nintendo's A Link To the Past strategy guide book, which is filled to the brim with artwork, including the first two art-type pictures shown here. There were a lot of articles in it concerning items in the game, accompanied by some excellent painted artwork renditions of each item. There were a lot of "background" articles, like Hylian clothing and customs. They even had a short article on sword tempering.

It was pretty much the 90's Hyrule Historia, and definitely one book the art-oriented Zelda fan should track down.

To me, XBox One is 1/3 Skype, 1/3 XBox Gaming, and probably 1/3 other stuff that may get someone to care about it. Let's examine each piece:

• Skype & XBox Live are actually still the same as always, just more interactive and definitely made for big screen experiences. The casual market wouldn't mind a Skype box, but there's already so many other ways to use Skype that don't involve buying a console.
• The gaming is still up in the air. All we've seen so far is movies and tech demos. Until the games are actually in the players' hands, we really won't know if this part works just as good as XBox 360 or even better. I'm of the camp that says poly counts count for nothing if the meat of the game is dry, and that's all we really know about at this time. >_>
• The Kinect One interfacing is actually kinda cool from a geek standpoint. Finally, we could have a truly Star Trek-ish experience in the home. The question is who's willing to pay boocoo bucks for that? NFL Interactive, Halo Movies ... sounds good on paper, but I'm not a big sports fan nor played much of Halo, so really I get nothing out of these deals.

Finally, I leave with this little tidbit: Microsoft keeps saying how Kinect One will cause us to "throw the remotes away", yet we keep seeing them pull out their smartphones and use SmartGlass interaction to control the XBox One. In other words, using the phone as a remote.

I've been waiting for this moment to happen since the early days of 3DS, so of course I'll get both!

Picked this up when it was released this afternoon. I really like the adventure aspect and the dark atmosphere. The only issue is that I've hit a bad snag with really no way out I can find, so now I have to wait to see if someone else finds the solution.

Even so, highly recommended for anyone who likes adventure, sci-fi, and haunting environment games.

Picked up Damrey & MM5. I had played the Harvest Moon on GBC when it was brand new, but I already have a good portion of Harvest Moon releases (HM: Another Wonderful Life, HM: More Friends of Mineral Town, HM Boy & Girl on PSP, and the first 2 Rune Factories with RF4 on preorder), so will pass on the nostalgia. Having said that, HM on GBC is a good mobile version if you want a streamlined, scaled-back version, and highly recommended if you really don't have any other HM games for DS.

@peach64 Well, here's more business-oriented things that should get EA thinking differently:

• Origin on PC hasn't really worked out as well as it could have;
• They've had too many high-profile screw-ups, especially on the PC market, not to "restart" their brand on consoles again (SimCity);
• Being labelled the Worst Company in America even further damaged their name brand;
• The vast layoff picture is also not really giving anyone confidence.

If I were an investor right now, I'd probably end up declaring EA's stock "junk". They've hurt themselves so badly right now, they need a fresh start. Nintendo 3DS and Wii U are actually the best ways they could rebuild their brand image. By now, everyone knows that PS4 and the next XBox are already setting themselves up for a long-term failure, but Nintendo (and other companies) are looking to the future and see that, even if Wii U were to fail, 3DS is still a healthy platform with 13.95 Million global units and growing.

Bottom line: EA's either going to have to throw themselves into 3DS development and try to rebuild their brand, or get lost in the dust with a name brand that is now synonymous with "worst company for years". :-

I'd love to play this game, and an updated 3DS version would be the perfect way to do it.

(Especially since I'm not an owner of a PS3.)

After a long string of them putting up 3DS titles I already bought with cash prior ( >_<; ), I decided to waste some coins and get 3D Classics: Urban Champion, if only because it's free and at least it's a decent time-waster.

@Nekketsu3D It has a very good chance of coming over. It's obvious that ATLUS used EOIV as a testbed to see if the other games might stand a chance of more widespread international appeal, and so far from the response to EOIV, I think there's a very good chance this will come out globally.

The company is also one of the big reasons we'll see it — it's published by ATLUS, not Nintendo directly, and ATLUS so far has built up its reputation to the point of having a loyal fanbase for almost all of its game imports. Also, SMT is enough of a juggernaut that they can afford to take some risks here and there.

I'm still fuzzy how our court system continues to let this happen. It's a broken system that says anyone around the world can just zip into the U.S. Patent Office, file a patent, then when a foreign company tries to sell technology CREATED IN ANOTHER COUNTRY in the U.S., they can suddenly be sued for it?! They are both Japanese companies and the Nintendo 3DS is a Japanese invention, so just by common sense, this should've taken only to the Japanese courts and left the United States judicial system out of it.

It just boggles the mind how idiotic our patent system really is. @_@

Mega Man 3, Ketzal's Corridors, and HarmoKnight demo for me this week.

(Still waiting on Legend of the River King, next week maybe?)

I was waiting for a good roller coaster game to hit, so I was holding out to see what else it had to offer. Now that I know, I'm getting it right now.

I played the original, and it definitely struck me as something innovative for the time. Combining fishing with fantasy RPG elements was a pretty nice change for the genre as a whole — it's more like Rune Factory than vanilla Harvest Moon for that reason. It's too bad that the later entries in the series didn't stick with the "battle for bait" system, but with Rune Factory doing well... who knows?

I like roller coaster creators, so this sounds like something that I'd look into, but I'll wait for the review before I decide.

Although, I'm betting this will give a lot of people vertigo with the 3D enabled. @_@

Downloaded it a few days ago after playing all the way through the (excellent) demo version. It's worth checking out!

That's odd ... where's the Etrian Odyssey IV announcement? It was released in NA this week...

For anyone who hasn't seen EO4 yet, it's definitely worth buying via download (or at least checking out the demo). Most fun I've had with a dungeon crawler in a long while.

Crashmo & Ketzal's Corridors, when the time comes.

Since I like the original a lot and I'm a Dragon Quest fanboy, this one's a definite buy for me if it's NA bound.

Also, you could call DQ7 "the third Chrono game". Playing the original, I found many elements in it that reminded me a lot more of the Chrono series than what I've seen of the Dragon Quest series, which is probably why it's also considered the "black sheep" of the Dragon Quest line. Even so, it's a wonderful adventure that fans of Squeenix RPGs should definitely play at least once.

A new Mario Golf game by Camelot? Count me in.

I'm definitely getting both of these. I played both of them on the original hardware, and still have a soft spot in my heart for both of these.

(btw, those who are dismissing The Legend of the River King would be remiss to do so. Fighting creatures to use them as bait for fishing is a fun twist and the fishing mechanic in the game never got boring.)

From a business standpoint, it's easy to understand, but lately a lot of companies have been looking at it the wrong way. The mindset of most third-party developers should be, "Can we make X fit onto Y with a minimum of dollars and development time?" Lately, however, the mindset of so many companies has been, "Well, we can't make the Wii U Gamepad work with our game, so we're not going to lift a finger to do anything with it."

Third-parties need to get a clue: stop with the cop-out reasons and start answering the primary question. Or even better, tell us WHY you can't make it work on Wii U, peripherals aside. These days, it's like they have to keep the "why" away from the gaming public, leaving all of us more confused and less interested in their products. >_>

The minute I saw "Biorhythms" was coming out on the shop, I burst out laughing. Not because of the app itself (I have more than a few Biorhythm programs), but just that it's something that I never expected to see on a DS or 3DS.

Yeah, nothing here really says "buy me". Waiting for next week.

@C7_ Firstly, it's tough to sell anything Android to those who have heavily invested in other markets (like eShop, PSN, or even iOS). Secondly, even if this were priced right and you had a ready market of Steam platform games that could support it, it still requires consistent online connection. This is still something not everyone has or can easily afford. Also of note is that to stream games you need a WiFi connection, which effectively makes this not very "portable" yet. If hotspots are reliable and you are willing to pay for the use of a high bandwidth, high capacity stream connection, then this could be a good system. But we're just not there yet.

Hate to say it, but it's already been tried many times before, with Gamepark's GP2X and Tapwave's Zodiac being the most notable that never materialized. Not to mention the other not-so-portable consoles that promised personal computer gaming on a device. The fact that it will most likely need a high bandwidth and persistent Internet connection already makes it hard to sell this to anyone but the upper-middle class and above, which is a pretty small share.
There are numerous examples throughout computer & gaming history where these devices have not captured the market, and it's easy to see that this will end up being one of those footnotes.

@MultiMariosonic SMB:TLL is just as fun as SMB Classic, but has a bit of extra challenge thrown in, like longer jumps and a few areas that are fun to try and reach (like pipes underneath an overhang). Even though it can get frustrating at times, a lot of the challenge is lessened by the use of Restore Points, so you don't have to feel overwhelmed if you are at a point you can't cross right away — just restore and try again.

@47drift Being a CLAMP fanboy, that's definitely one awesome GBC variant I'd like to hear the history on. O_O

Just got Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, but passed on Mega Man (I have MM Powered-Up if I want to play the original). Waiting for Mega Man II to hit the shop.

Just got Crimson Shroud.

I was considering getting Ninja Gaiden, but then I remembered that I could never beat the game no matter how many times I played it on my NES. It's a bit too tough, at least compared to the sequel (which is also the only NG game I've managed to complete).

Pokedex 3D Pro's actually been quite useful to me while I'm playing Pokemon Platinum (so I can get a lot of Pokemon I'm still missing from the Sinnoh releases).

At the moment, I use it for team building, since the statistical data is illustrated a lot better. I don't really want to wade through EV/IV manuals, lengthy online texts, or thick artsy Pokedex strategy books — this has everything that's truly needed right at hand for the more casual player. It's also more convenient than you think: With the 3DS, it's not like you can't save your game, drop out of a bit to check the Dex, then come right back into your game. In practice, it works quite well.

The cherry on top for me is the Pokedex voice — it's nostalgic overload for me, since I was an original Pokemon Blue player and a first-run watcher of the first season of Pokemon when it was new to the U.S. Now I really miss not having Pokemon Yellow anymore. >_<