Slaz

@DanteSolablood Nice! I'm still stuck at 115. I should probably get more incubators at some point because 1 egg at a time.. I'm missing a lot of candies for the starters and some others that are rare spawns in my area. Still need 50+ Dratini candies too.

And the gyms used to switch a lot more often during the summer, but activity has clearly dropped and the remainder is clearly Team Mystic for the most part. I wonder why Mystic is so popular. A few days after this game's launch I just checked all 3 teams and picked what fits my personality, and Mystic just got with my carefree yet cautious personality.

I'm still playing once or twice a day. Not actively hunting Pokémon and mostly through the Pokémon GO Plus. I just did my last 'evolve session' about a week ago. But I'll make sure to regain an army of Pidgey and Weedle in time to fill some other 30 minutes of evolving.

I've been in 2 gyms close to me for weeks now, so Pokécoins is not going to be a problem. And there are more Pokéstop items than Pokémon so I never run out. So as long as nobody is taking down those gyms, I don't feel motivated to use the training and battling features.

Pokémon GO is really more of a routine thing than an excitement for me now. Only new Pokémon (Gen2) will make me play the game 'consciously' again.

To me, the problems outweighted the positives. But I have enjoyed the Wii U for some first and second party games. Biggest problems I had:

1: Little control over te GamePad's screen. I often just want to play on the TV, and while the GamePad is a fine crafted controller that feels good to use and is often even required to play games on Wii U, few games actually make use of the 2nd screen for something other than off-TV play. I want to turn the screen off and just use the controls, but if I do by entering multiple clumsy menu's, pressing a button on the GamePad will turn it's screen on automatically. Really? Now I just turn the brightness all the way down so that it doesn't distract from my TV. But really Nintendo? A software update could still fix this problem!!

2: Weak WiFi. The original Wii also had this to some degree, but other than games like Smash Bros Brawl you didn't really notice the weaker signal. The Wii U is much more online oriented and the GamePad link has it's own separate WiFi module, and both are weak. This may not be a problem in most Japanese appartments, but in my home (and many other western homes) I can't even sit on the couch a few meters away from the console that's on a locker in the middle of the room without experiencing severe signal loss. And worst, turning on the big Xbox One that sits close to the Wii U completely eats up the Wii U's signal. As if that Xbox is telling it something..

3: Online account system. Yes, I am using 2 Wii U's. one in my parent's home where we play more multiplayer and one in my own home. Why can't I use the same NNID on 2 consoles and share it's saves? Why?? Xbox and Playstation supported this from the start. I labeled this as point 3 but this has actually been the killer for my Wii U experience. It's a letdown when I have to support 2 savefiles for Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros, not to even begin talking about Mario Maker and Rayman Legends daily challenges..

I'm confident about the Switch fixing point 1 and 2, but I am worried about point 3 as changes are high me and my bro will buy a Switch for in our parents home too!

Beside the obvious Pokemon hype, I encourage everyone who at least liked Wario Land 2, 3, and/or 4 to try Shake It. It's my favorite Wii game by far and I too believe it's quality is underestimated at the time it came out. Effective and fair gameplay, beautiful hand drawn graphics and animations with so many frames, I don't think other games have done hand drawn graphics that smooth before! Also, the catchy soundtrack is done by the same who did Yoshi's Woolly World. Just read NL's review for the details.

This is going to be the Duke Nukem Forever of racing games.

@doctorzzim Of course. But sadly, by far most GBA-SP models don't have the superior AGS-101 screen (including mine) but have the front light instead. Also, I prefer the form factor of the Game Boy Color to the GBA-SP's.

Mario is well known, so I expect a lot of people are going to try the free version. A portion of them that aren't hardcore fans WILL buy it, especially considering you get a full experience for $10. It's kind of strange that soooooo many mobile games aimed at 'all ages' support some kind of gambling mechanism to let them rob their parents. Even SEGA did it harshly with Sonic Runners before it was shut down!!

One thing that worries me though: did I see a game ticket in the trailer? Does this mean we can also spend $$$ (and My Nintendo Points) on tickets to play this Toad race thingy and possibly items for that kingdom builder?

I'm not interested. I still like a lot of games that are on the machine, but to buy dedicated hardware for them, nah. If you were so dedicated with nostalgia, you better do it right and buy an original NES and preferably a cheap small CRT TV set. Pretty easy to find for a low price!

I first saw this game in Japan, then got interested but wasn't on EU 3DS yet. Soon after I came home 2 weeks later, they announced it for EU/NA. I downloaded it day one and played daily ever since. I spent about €30 on it past year to get the Super Mario Bros badges, but am now trying to get as many Pokémon badges as possible for free.

Badge counter is almost at 1000! Just 10 or so badges to go!

I still have 2 anonymous Suica cards with about ¥2500 on them each from my travels to Japan last year. Too bad (but obvious) that European New3DS doesn't support them.

Using the phone's NFC on the go is a great feature as you usually have the thing at hand whereas your wallet is kept secure in your pocket. For buying 3DS games it's okay but kind of clumsy-looking letting your huge iPhone 7 kiss your 3DS screen like that. you might as well just use regular cards.

Not interested at all. Too many other ways to play these games, so I don't need dedicated hardware for it even though it's such a small device.

To be honest, I don't see what all the excitement is about other than nostalgia. Sega has done this succesfully with the Genesis/MegaDrive years ago.

@nhSnork I agree that the idea of Nintendo Switch is not by far as revolutionary as they want you to believe. For example, the idea of seamlessly continuing across multiple devices has become rather common with cloud services and mobile platforms. The real highlight is that the Switch can do it on the get-go. As in you getting home, placing the Switch in it's dock, grabbing or 'switching' the controller, and continue right away on the TV.

I still have the app installed and will keep it that way. Last time I came back to it to spend all my tickets, candies, and coins on the Mario clothing that was on, then I never touched the app again.

also, just 3 of my friends played it and they're done with it long ago so no matter how cool a new update is, I'll likely be alone on it anyway. Poor Mii.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, I agree that my line about ethics was kind of biased. But at least over in my local area I'm confident in saying that the "general consensus" doesn't bother downloading of old games from illegal sources. Sure there are people illegally downloading as many stuff as possible to reduce costs, and those who oppose doing that and stick to legal options, but I've never came across any harsh feelings about the matter.

Over the years I've seen dozens of flamewars about piracy on the internet though. I think it's the kind of discussion that's very hot on the internet, but relatively tame during teatime talk.

@Ryu_Niiyama I don't think all the defensive comments about piracy here are because we feel offended. Well, at least I don't feel that way, and I too am not pirating anymore last few years.

It's just that few people enjoy those old shortsighted views, such as sticking the label 'piracy' on console modding or NES games obtained from other sources than original Nintendo carts or VC downloads.

Of course human ethics and the law are different, and of course all these ROM sites are an illegal source of games, but if we label any downloader's motive as piracy then we can call half our population criminals.

Point is, lawfully speaking all uploading and downloading of copyrighted games is wrong. But ethically speaking, it's okay to share and download copies of games you own from and to any source. Just try to prevent playing/using any software you haven't bought.

@Interneto There are? I was assuming they just called all of them in their own ad.Thanks for the info, I'll try and look into the list of Pokémon Centers sometime.

@jimi I'm sure this article meant to call 'naughty' the act of tempering with the NES Mini to let it load more ROM's, and not necessarily the act of downloading games you didn't buy.

Also remember that downloaded or otherwise freely obtained ROM files aren't necessarily piracy either. Emulators are part of daily lives on streams such as Twitch, and by far most people use them on games they actually own, but prefer to use emulators for easier control of the stream, which old consoles don't offer without additional equipment.

@samuelvictor There's not much else of a link, really. The advert just shows a kid playing Pokémon GO on various Japanese locations that try to relate to locations in the Pokémon world (especially Kanto where he catches Meowth). Then shows how the Pokémon looks in Alola, opposed to Kanto-Meowth. Then it moves on to name all Pokémon Center stores in Japan, pulls the same trick, and that's it.

It's clearly aimed at the general public who know about GO and not so much about the Pokémon world and such.

@JLPick Yes, even a person walking inbetween me sitting on the couch and the console that's sitting on a drawer near the center of the room drops the signal.

Another problem is that our WiiU used to be close to a Xbox One system. When my bro turned on the Xbox One, the WiiU itself lost WiFi completely. The only solution was to move the WiiU away from other devices that statically 'ate' it's weaker signal. WiiU really needed stronger WiFi modules for both the GamePad link and the access point link to be stable in most family homes that aren't Japanese appartments..

I'll get it day one, but I'm not amazed by the concept, at least not yet. I'm not so easely amazed nowadays, but I'd enjoy true off-TV play that works in and outside of the home. The WiiU Gamepad was kind of limited in that regard, and often lost signal in my home when playing on the cauch a few meters away from the console!

I've ordered mine months ago, and am unusually excited for it. Some consider this device cheating, but I consider it a more relaxed way of playing.

And besides, when trading and battling arives, this device is a clear giveaway that you're into Pokémon and it's sure to spark some gameplay with strangers (on the phone, that is!) due to that!

I'm still playing Pokémon Go daily and gladly kept hold of my pre-order even with Nintendo apologizing in an email about the delay.

But I agree that this device should've been released alongside the app itself. After all, during the E3 demonstration Mr. Miyamoto himself was wearing the thing!

Ah well, now the manufacturers of external battery packs are happy because nobody was able to truly run Pokémon Go in the background, thus being one of the most power hungry apps to date.

I've once tried the Windows 8 version of this app and I can say it does nothing wrong copyright-wise.

The ROM's included with the app are all homebrews and what the user does is not the developers concern, nor is it Microsoft or Nintendo's, assuming this Xbox version will allow you to put your own ROM's on like with the Windows 8 version of NESBox.

Still, that doesn't mean it's a good idea for Microsoft to approve it. It could lead to lawsuits and negative publicity anyway.

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, but I like being dumb and spoil the puzzle anyway. ;P

@sdelfin I've used the Mega Drive 6 button pad. It's definitely better for fighters than the SNES pad. Making diagonal movements swiftly for special moves was slightly easier on the thumb. That said, I generally still prefer the SNES pad for about anything else. No real reason for it, just my hands and experience growing on that controller I guess.

@shaneoh For Hoopa I don't know, I had that one just once printed on paper. But for Mew, Darkrai, and Arceus I got 3 codes for each and they were all different and usable only once. At least the codes you get over WiFi through a participating Nintendo Zone hotspot.

Also, these event Pokémon all have different IV's (but always 3 random ones at 31) that are likely generated by your own game the moment the event is downloaded through Mystery Gift. So you may get a good one or a bad one, I don't know if it's possible to get a shiny one, though I don't think it is.

And hmm, this Victini doesn't have V-create and I don't think it can be learned even by the Move Reminder. Nice to have a legit Victini to play with, but too bad it misses it's signature move.

@ThanosReXXX To spoil the fun early, read: cart-ridges. Ba-DUN..! haha

I have some bad feelings about that D-pad. Now that Nintendo's + design isn't patented anymore they could've just copied that.

Still, I'm not interested in either this or the NES Mini thing. If I want to play these games I rather just get the original system or use emulators with my own controller(s).

I'm no stranger apparently, Kirby's Adventure, Super Mario Bros, and Super Mario Bros 3 for me.

These kind of games came out massively on those '100-in-1 brickgame' handhelds that were sold by other companies alongside the original Gameboy.

Basically, the monocrome screens were made of a Tetris grid, and a score counter/timer. Then those 100 games were mostly variants of Tetris but also an Arkanoid/Breakout ballgame and this racing game with cars made of Tetris blocks.

They were a nice cheap alternative to those just wishing to play Tetris back in the day for a few $. I quite liked those Brickgames for that and the extra games were good time killers. Later on they also made them as Mini's which attach to a keychain!

That said, this 3DS version of that block racing game has no right to exist. I know Nintendo wants to welcome indies and give everyone a chance nowadays, but really.. They should at least do a little quality control. Seeing this being smacked into the eshop like a pile of trash just makes me sad.

Probably due to all the languages Europe has. Personally though, I'm getting my share of virtual monsters from Pokémon ORAS, Pokémon GO, and in a few months Pokémon Sun & Moon! Not that I wouldn't enjoy this franchise, but it always seems like I miss out on things if I try to fanatically play multiple series in the same genre.

As in, I'd rather be a Pokédex completing Pokémon Master than a rookie trainer AND a Youkai, ehh, what do you call it? Youkai buster? Oh wait that's the wrong game series.

@Parkour_LMan Ah, thanks for letting me know. I might check out Federation Force after all then.

I'm not interested in Blast Ball, it's not my type of game and the Metroid branding stamped on it doesn't fool me!

For the Splatoon Testfire, well, I actually downloaded it but didn't play due to unfortunate playtimes.

@Ikramali Haha, don't take it too seriously though. I usually wear XL too and Pokémon Go doesn't make me walk more than I already did, lol.

@Ikramali If not, download and use Pokémon Go first and you'll fit a large Miitomo shirt in no time.

My phone is deemed unsupported due to having 1GB of RAM instead of the minimal 2GB.

But I have been playing the game through the APK since launch without problems on my end. Pokémon GO never used more than 400MB of RAM, so having 2GB as a minimum to officially download the game is utterly rediculous. But then again, the hype makes us forget this app is still in heavy development.

Well, I bought mine anyway. Considering my use of Pokémon GO while being reluctant to take out my phone all the time. I agree that it's kind of meh that they didn't just adopt Android Wear and Apple Watch, but "It's better than nothing" right..

Keep in mind that Nintendo's offering is not just UK, it works in at least the Dutch and probably all other EU language versions of their store. They apparently ship from their German office, where my New 3DS ambassador edition also came from.

Also, their store still only supports credit cards (VISA and MasterCard), so a lot of Europeans who'd want to order can expect a hard time. If you normally don't use a CC, try getting an €50 disposable CC as Nintendo doesn't ask for a named card anyway. You can spend the remaining €5 on Pokécoins haha.

The Dutch version of the European store has it restocked too, so I'll order mine now as I expect them to be sold out pretty soon.

Edit: Oh wait, order failed in a 500 server error and now the store is so slow, it barely loads. Am I too late already!? xD

I kind of miss Club Nintendo too with it's physical rewards. I got some games including the Zelda Collectors Edition, the pac-pix stylus, and the Mario Kart 8 folders, among lots of Nintendo Points on Wii. Apart from the Picross game and WarioWare which are both nice freebies yet nothing special, there is really no motivation to stack and save up either platinum or gold coins. There is literally nothing I want for either category!

That said, I still have Miitomo installed and use it once every week or so, maybe even less. They can keep those 2 points.

I have actually played several hours of this game. My goal was to come into the highest division in the Story mode, which I managed to do (S++). That combined with a win streak of 50+ days in the Timed mode made me resign from this game as the challenge were gone.

That said, I still played it every now and then to fill up some time, and I feel kind of sad to see them ditch this game instead of giving it another chance at gaining more income. But then again, who ever paid for this game aside from that $1 to remove ads?

I used to play it daily with about 3 friends, but honestly activity has dropped a few weeks ago, and now just 1 friend plays it on a regular basis. Therefore, I just check in about once a week, maybe even less.

About the Mii drop thing. Well, it's quite slow and dull as a Pachinko game, and the costumes are useless to me as I use one outfit and that's all I need. And most of the time it gave me candies which are rarely needed to see some answers.. I'd rather play Nintendo Badge Arcade on 3DS for that matter, as it's more skill based and the prizes (badges) can be rather fun.

For the points, well, I already got more than 1000 even after getting both free games.

I still have the launch-day disc for Wario Land The Shake Dimension. Amazing game, by far my favorite game on Wii. Quite unique too, as it's one of the few games with that amount of hand drawn graphics.

A great update to an already great game!

I especially love the Mission Cards that provide variety to the gameplay and rewards it, too!

@Seacliff Got to agree with your points there, and a 7/10 would be a fair score to me as well.

I don't know what's holding back NL staff to rate this. Online play is very populated now and seems to work fine. Also, online play doesn't change core gameplay at all, but rather gives you more worthwhile oponents instead of the quite lacking CPU in this game's single player modes.

My first impression seeing this game and controller in Japan last October was mixed. I thougt it tried to appeal to Nintendo/Pokémon fans first hand as traditional arcade controls (a.k.a. arcade/fight stick) might scare off newcomers as 'another fighting game that takes ages to remember all combos' and stuff. The controller didn't have more buttons than needed and the D-pad is recognizable to the Pokémon audience.

To me, the controller felt fine, kind of like a PS2 controller with slightly wider grip. I don't know who designed it, but if Hori replicated it properly it won't disappoint those considering a purchase.

Biggest problem, again, is Nintendo poorly supporting their own controllers. Why wouldn't this controller work with NES/SNES/GBA games? Why wouldn't the GameCube controller work ouside of Smash? Why did NSMBU need an update to support their own Wii U Pro Controller? Why? If there are enough buttons and it connects, support it Nintendo!!

Actually, the 3DS homebrew scene kind of indirectly confirmed Nintendo's PR by the fact that the unofficial SNES emulator runs smooth on New 3DS and mediocre on the older models.

I remember using a SNES emulator on an Intel 486DX CPU because emulation was 'cool' at the time. It worked, but gave sloppy framerates. While the architecture of that CPU is different, I believe the speed is similar to older 3DS models.

And I might buy Earthbound at some point, but I'm not sure when.

I'm playing Pokémon Blue on my 3DS at the moment. While gameplay is still similar to the new games in the series, I do have to say the natures, held items, double battles, mega's, and several other new additions definitely improved upon this one. Especially during the postgame where link battles thrive. Still, these are amazing games!

I already got the Mega Man collection on Xbox One where it released months earlier, so I have no reason to buy it on 3DS again.

For Pokémon, well I probably get Blue and then my bro gets Red (or the other way around) so we can trade like back in the day.

I believe Geno would be, among several others, a great addition to the series. I personally see Rayman as my first choice, as he's relevant again these days for Nintendo gamers and his limbless body makes for an excellent moveset that differentiates him from the rest.

I am, among others, most disappointed by the Fire Emblem characters. I mean, seriously, did they get paid royalties for their inclusion as DLC? I don't dislike Fire Emblem, I just think 2 DLC characters devoted to the series is too much, especially considering they knew the DLC releases were going to be limited. I'm okay with Bayonetta, not amazed but okay. Her moveset and personality bring some variety at least.

So long story short: Gimme Geno!

Haha this made my day! Priceless!