Rosalinho

Will this be replacing the Kawasaki branding in NSO's version of Wave Race 64?

@calbeau @Lizuka Yeah, exactly. The fact that the castle is normally so empty and lonely puts you on edge and makes the couple of times you find something new there unsettling. When I was a kid and that Boo appeared in the back hall for the first time, I literally turned off the N64 and ran and hid under my bed.

I think that Nintendo's arm's length relationship with esports is down to them making a marketing judgement, with them wanting to preserve the accessible, low barrier to entry image of their brand. As well as avoiding getting a bad rep among parents who think their son or daughter will quit school to play Splatoon professionally if they buy it for them.

I think their calculus is that tournaments that they don't control and the scandals that have existed around them run a risk of damaging their brand. Anything that makes Nintendo seem less wholesome is bad for the bottom line.

I'm not sure about looking for hidden symbolism in this, but if they fix the issue that means I haven't been able to purchase anything using any payment method including Platinum Points since February (which means I missed out on the N64 poster set... rage...) then I'll be happy.

Nintendo are the ultimate preservers. They keep everything, even things they don't release and things that failed miserably, even complete and working arcade games (Google Sky Skipper if you don't believe me).

They also appear to keep all their source code complete with full commit histories, and even original source files for manuals and boxes if the gigaleak is any indication. Yes, the leak was by way of a third party but you can bet Nintendo have multiple backups of everything that was leaked and more.

What happens to all the stuff that hasn't leaked (of which there is a lot) if God forbid Nintendo ever goes out of business is worth thinking about. Frankly, the Japanese government needs to pass a specific trigger law which would establish control over Nintendo's archives as a matter of preserving a national heritage asset in the event that they ever go bust. It's not games themselves that I'm worried about disappearing, it's the kind of rich history that the gigaleak gave us all a glimpse of.

@calbeau Yes, the Japanese version has different ones, such as a parody of Marlboro cigarettes (Marioro) which unsurprisingly was nixed by NoA almost immediately.

Don't agree with the people saying JP MK64's voice clips are better, I much prefer the Western voices, and was annoyed even as a kid when Mario Party 1/2 used what I now know to be the JP MK64 voice clips in all regions.

Literally the least cursed thing I've ever seen. If this is cursed, then Avada Kedavra me.

The ultimate Franken-Nintendo would be the N64 with the Wii U's HDMI output and the GameCube's control stick.

Otherwise it's perfect.

And Ollie: if you sincerely believe the N64 is an "awful" console, then find yourself a list of every game N64 Magazine gave a Star Game award to and don't stop playing until the brilliance of each and every one of those titles slaps some sense into you.

When the Wii U first came out (and I didn't get one on launch, for the first time for every Nintendo console since the N64) I thought you needed four GamePads for four-player games, and was pretty confused that nowhere seemed to sell them.

Honestly, while it seems hip and trendy to bash the Wii U, which is more or less the easiest target in the history of gaming, it restored my interest after several years ignoring new stuff and playing classic consoles, and I have fond memories of it for that reason. The fact that it worked with Wiimotes and anything that plugged into them made it a great party machine given you already had all the controllers.

It wasn't a bad machine as a concept and wouldn't have been anything like the flop it was if it had ridden the crest of the WiiWave and come out earlier with some must-have launch games and maybe a pack-in HD remaster of some kind. But Nintendo were busy with the launch of the 3DS, which they botched too. I think the hybrid approach of the Switch was something they wanted to do for a long time and dang if they didn't pull it off.

For a moment when I saw that picture I thought it was a Game Fighter. https://blog.gg8.se/wordpress/2012/11/11/gameboy-clone-game-fighter-teardown/

"A variety of measures" including involving "outside specialists"? Getting a mental picture of musclebound, heavily tattooed Yakuza heavies showing up at suspected leakers' houses.

"Fellow blockchain bros, our supposedly inflation-proof cryptocurrencies and NFTs are worthless all of a sudden!" "Well don't just stand there, come up with a new scam!"

I watched footage of this the other day, and despite even as a kid being annoyed by the rumours about getting the full Triforce in OoT (did nobody pay attention to the plot?!) and the ending being so twee and sugary sweet... I still teared up a bit at the sheer love for the game and the artistry and effort put into this project that shines through in the execution. I love it.

@KingMike Supposedly one-handed control was the intent, but that's not to say it accomplished it well. I could be wrong, it's a long time ago, I barely remember it.

Yes, I used to own the glove controller for PlayStation! The same company also made one for N64. Both come up occasionally on eBay. The PlayStation one is actually worthwhile for those with two working hands as it makes pseudo-analogue movement possible on games that don't support it.

Accessible controllers are an interesting genre of gaming history. Anyone remember the UltraRacer 64, which was supposed to open up the N64 to one-handed players?

@RupeeClock @Henmii Exactly, the octos' latest plot to take over the world probably implies some horrific genetic engineering where they've spliced in Judd's DNA to create nightmare fuel octopus-cat hybrids. These weird furry tentacles were already shown in one of the earlier trailers, so I don't know why people are losing their ink over them now.

@Anguspuss This is exactly it. I lived through the "games need to have guns, blood, gore and naked ladies for adults to be allowed to play them" era as an out and proud Mario fan, and a fan of Nintendo's other all-ages properties, and I feel vindicated that now there's a name for preferring that sort of game. Nintendo have always pushed "wholesome" experiences for new and established audiences, especially on the DS and Wii, over the objections of industry pundits. Good on them, because I don't understand why anyone would think that refusing to play games that don't feature violence, profanity and pornography is an adult rather than an adolescent preference.

@nessisonett You win at comments.

Been thinking about this a bit more, and I also think the perception that Nintendo was slow to market in online play is a bit inaccurate.

People forget that online play simply wasn't mainstream in many markets before the mid-2000s or so, in no small part because so many people were still on dial-up or on metered connections where you paid by the minute, or didn't have Internet access at home at all.

When Nintendo got in on online play in 2005 with the DS, things were changing because wi-fi and broadband had started to become more common. With WiiConnect24 (underused, but forward-thinking) and WiiWare they were actually quite ahead of the curve in terms of the direction things have moved in since then.

So on balance I think Reggie is a bit off base here; Nintendo have been doing online for as long as they've reasonably expected there to be a market for it. (Whether they've done it well is a whole other can of worms of course...)

Being anti-online play in 2022 is just plain daft. Online will always be a poor second best to getting friends together in a room, something that Nintendo understand and the Switch has rightly put front and centre. But dang if it didn't show its worth in the age of lockdown.

As for Nintendo's conservatism in embracing the trends everyone else is embracing; well, this cuts both ways. It sometimes means we can't have nice things, but it's also the reason Nintendo isn't in a rush to get in on the NFT and blockchain fever dreams that the rest of the industry is having.

Can't EA just hold a garage sale? All the companies and properties that they've gobbled up and then either ruined or done nothing with out on a table for bargain prices?

@Orokosaki I've walked away from the hobby multiple times in the past three decades and all that's happened is that I've missed out on some truly wonderful platforms, games and eras in gaming which I still regret not being "there for" when they were current. I still play tons of old games but I prefer being in the loop. Don't do it!

@Serpenterror What you said about Saturn 3D graphics being sprite based isn't correct. The Saturn does render polygons, but it renders quadrilaterals, not triangles, and this incompatibility with most other 3D mesh systems and the tools that generated them was the cause of developers' difficulties.

Where's ISS Switch when you need it?

@electrolite77 Great points. Sega themselves knew that the mess they'd caused for themselves (outside Japan, anyway) by releasing the Mega CD, 32X and Saturn in quick succession was dangerous and longer term it became clear that it had fatally damaged them.

Meanwhile, Sony concentrated on building a single platform which wasn't extremely powerful but was a long-term investment in terms of the effort and money put into attracting developers and giving it a marketable image.

I think an awareness of the different fates of their 90s rivals might have influenced Nintendo into seemingly taking the PlayStation strategy with the Switch.

Pokémon Mini, wow. That's a deep cut. The forgotten Nintendo programmable handheld. They go for silly amounts on eBay nowadays, which is probably why they need to fundraise.

@Not_Soos There was a Pokémon Mini emulator around at some point in the mid-2000s and some original games/demos targeting it, so they may be using that for development.

When they display the N64 logo before the title screen, presumably it will be... a Companion N-Cube? (silence)

NA wins purely because of the promise of puffed-up special powers.

I don't know if this is just a meme that NL are taking a bit too seriously, but I seriously doubt Daisy won't appear. For better or worse she's been in nearly every Mario Kart/Party/sports game for two decades. Where's Pauline at, is what I'd like to know.

@JR150 Rosalina and Peach are very different. Rosalina is a space captain and single mum to thousands of little star creatures, and Peach is princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. Rosalina's character reflects a maternal streak and a sense of inner loneliness, neither of which are parts of who Peach is, and her character was arguably more extensively developed in her first appearance than Peach, much as I love her, has been developed in all the time she's been around.

Every game should have an org chart, just as every business should have ink fuelled turf wars.

It's about time, and Karl Jobst deserves a Pulitzer Prize for exposing this nonsense. I'm hoping this gets through to the non-games media as well and maybe they'll think twice about publishing copy-paste articles about how X game sold for Y amount complete with soundbites from WATA/Heritage.

It will take a while, but hopefully the speculators will move on to something else. Vintage Walkers Tazos maybe. Anyone want to buy a whole folder full? You there, the berk with the deep pockets!

@Moonsorrow999 I think they're all in a grotty pub somewhere throwing 'em back with the people who predicted the PS3 would crush the Wii, and the men in faded Sonic t-shirts stretched over their beer bellies who still nurse resentment against Nintendo even though they're approaching state pension age.

(I'm just kidding. No offence intended. This news just causes my inner fanboy child to re-emerge.)

I noticed the lack of moving cars the first time I played Coconut Mall and as far as I'm concerned, this is the fixed version. I love Mario Kart Wii, but they were a mistake the first time round and I'm glad they're gone.

@CharlieGirl I think you nailed why Reggie was, and is, so popular with the fans. Nintendo's corporate image was so staid, secretive and serious compared to its products, and when this bombastic bloke appeared and started talking about kicking ass and taking names it was unlike anything we were used to. (Even hearing the word "ass" being used in an official Nintendo capacity was kind of a shock given Nintendo's then-stringent content policies.) And considering the previous face of Nintendo in the English-speaking world was Howard "the N64 will sell itself!" Lincoln, Reggie was exactly what they needed.

I do think we're seeing something of a revival of Yamauchi-era Nintendo in terms of corporate persona, for whatever reason. Reggie and Iwata really jelled with the colour and fun of Nintendo's most beloved games and I hope some new faces emerge from the company to recapture some of their very welcome changes post-Yamauchi.

We know that Nintendo takes down fan projects, folks. You don't need to mention it 3000 times a day.

"I like to call that... TRIPLE TENTACLES OF TERROR!"

Despite all the tedious sourpuss comments above, I found this newsworthy and fascinating, and I love how much careful historical research went into it. Nintendo's very early history has been investigated a lot more in recent years and I imagine there's a lot more to be discovered.

Maybe there's hope for solving the mystery of Super Mario Bros.'s US release date yet?

@tpcstudios Eh? It's not clear to me how this "benefits" the creators of the mod beyond providing a new way to play Metroid Prime, especially since they're not charging for it. The mod doesn't distribute anyone else's copyrighted material, doesn't require infringing copyright to use (in jurisdictions which allow backing up optical media), doesn't involve the creators claiming to own Metroid, and hasn't been taken down, so... eh?

Peach's final look was actually seen for the first time on the Japanese flyer for Super Mario Bros. 2 (Lost Levels). The artwork for that game actually also solidified the design of Bowser and many of his minions, who all look bizarre on the original SMB's Famicom artwork. Ironically though, due to palette limitations, Peach still wouldn't look like she does now in-game until the SNES era.

I love the first Mario Golf. It's a perfect Sunday afternoon game to pick up and relax with. The simple gameplay, gentle learning curve and one thing the review didn't mention, the music, all add up to a mellow golfing vibe. There are so many different modes, like the putting courses, and grindy bits like collecting birdie badges and unlocking characters that there's always a challenge though.

The one thing that drives me up the wall is the random rain and loud white noise that comes with it, which I always turn off with an Action Replay code... which I doubt you can do on NSO.

I can't live with Link not being called Link. In every Zelda game where you can set Link's name (which is most of them) I've never not called him Link. It just feels wrong changing it, like renaming Mario Graham.

@KateGray Totally. Football talk seemed to influence it for some reason. Mags calling Mario "Mazza" by analogy with Paul Gascoigne always being called Gazza in the 90s is something that will never be dislodged from my head.

@Nontendo_4DS Transatlantic dialect differences. Old British game mags used a lot of weird old Brit talk that doesn't cross the pond well.

Rollocking game! Get out there and make yer mum proud Link! You're the geezer! Top bloke. Give that pillock Ganondorf six of the best.

Please write a whole overwrought essay about the B button, Kate. Don't tell us you shouldn't. You know you should. Ⓑ

People are taking this way too seriously. It's just a quaint piece of history. Nintendo don't care about policing how we use their name nowadays, given that the word console (which they promoted themselves) is now universally understood.

(Except by the people who refer to all consoles as "playstations" or "gameboys", of course.)

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I totally missed the boat on 3DS and am just now getting one, and I'm down for anything that makes the games everyone's saying I should play easier to get hold of in physical form. Thanks Nintendo.

I was thinking "oh great, another derivative 64sploitation game" but it actually looks really fun! My interest is piqued.

"Competitive communication tool." I love this. Nintendo really get how multiplayer games are a social activity where what goes on off screen matters as much as the game itself. I love Mario Kart and Mario Party for exactly that reason.

And yes, more characters would be great. Pauline's a must, and when are we going to be able to race as a Goomba?

Nintendo is the definition of a value stock: huge product portfolio of things people want and can't get elsewhere combined with capacity to innovate, massive cash reserves, long history with a proven ability to survive through hard times and a 2.6% dividend. Shares go up and down but Nintendo is one to buy and hold.

(Disclosure: I'm a Nintendo shareholder myself. If you hadn't guessed.)

Insert obvious comment about how at least there are some classic strategy guides Nintendo will let us have.

I wouldn't buy it myself, but a physical Zelda 3D All-Stars with Ocarina, Majora, Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD would probably sell bucketloads and be relatively low effort for Nintendo.

But I don't think it will happen; Nintendo tend to be very cautious about distractions in the lead-up time to their big releases and they would probably think it would cannibalise attention from Breath 2.

Ganondorf might be trying to corrupt and bend the Master Sword to his will. It makes sense: if you're malice and hatred incarnate, you'd probably want to take out the one thing that can seal you away or better yet, turn it against the people who wield it. This certainly fits with the links people have pointed out between Shinto shrines and the sky islands, with both being based on the idea of a spiritual journey of purification.

I do find the idea of time-based mechanics interesting, but I think it could work differently; what if you have to keep the evil within the sword at bay? What if there's a tension between exploring and doing quests and having to prevent corruption overwhelming the sword and Link? That would certainly address the "there's not enough to do in BotW 1" criticisms that some people (but not me) have made.

Fi was probably already in a bad mood after being cooped up inside the Master Sword for however many tens of thousands of years, and now she's gone all melty and corrupted I predict an 89% chance that she's capable of going sicko mode on the reincarnation of her former master.