Stubborn_Monkey

Looks very good, but I wish we got a lenghtier trailer. That being said this feels extremely promising.

BRILLIANT!

I have absolutely no idea what's going on.

2014: The year Summer ended in October.

@BlatantlyHeroic

Fine! I'll take my prejudices regarding a game I know next to nothing about somewhere else!

Whoa, it seems that it's going to be released in Japan first.

February 13th, a week earlier than anywhere else.

TUBULAR!
AWESOME!
COWABUNGA!
REAGANOMICS!

@nindenpamen

Quoting this very article: Download codes will be sent to the email address linked to your Nintendo ID after the promotion closes, between 13th and 28th February 2014.

So, you (and everybody else who takes part in the promotion.) should get the game in February.

@DestinyMan

He is all shadowy and evil-looking, so, yes, I would bet that he's the leader of the Snomads.

Regarding his identity, well... this is a wild guess, but perhaps there's a reason to be so mysterious about him...

Viking K. Rool.

Nahhh, it won't happen. He didn't appear on Returns, so...

Also, Funky Kong's taken Cranky's role as shopkeeper... and perhaps he will be a fifth unlockable character?

@Goginho

Contrary to popular belief, Nintendo does indeed own both the Kremlings and the Kongs that appeared on DK64. Has everyone forgotten that PAON developed games that included Kremlings as enemies? They even designed new ones for Barrel Blast/Jet Race!

Characters created by Rare that got their own games, like Banjo or Conker, are another thing, though. That's why they were replaced in the DS remake of Diddy Kong Racing.

Same release date as the US, oh yes.

Was that an... ice dragon, turning DK Island into a frozen nightmare? Also, the Direct broadcast showed what I thought was Donkey celebrating his birthday (he had a cake with a candle and everything.), so sooner or later, those Snomads are going to pay for ruining it.

By the way, the music during the first seconds of that video sounds like DKC2's Krook's March. You can tell David Wise is composing the soundtrack.

@Giygas_95 No, it's like Returns; player 1 is DK, he carries the other Kongs on his back.

@FutureAlphaMale

Right, right. Gameplay. Hope it gets a better title than "Hyrule Warriors" though. And that it doesn't affect the canon in any way, like the Tingle games. Or Link's Crossbow Training.

@kwandar

That actually looks... I don't know how to describe it, but I certainly don't have the money it costs. Ah, golf, the sport of kings and bored executives...

...wait, actually, isn't chessboxing the sport of kings? Ah, no, it's the sport of crazy people (that's why several kings practiced it.).

@WiiLovePeace

A joke? No, Sir/Madam, I was dead serious in my statement. No game will ever transmit the thrill of putting like that one.

Golf was my favourite back in Wii Sports, and it's nice to see that the use of the GamePad is actually relevant to the gameplay.

Still has got nothing on Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge, though.

Triple Deluxe is getting more attractive with each new video.

Dedede's mini-game sounds pretty good to me. In fact, I'd like to see games starring Nintendo villains. Like King Dedede's Dream Land. Or a Bowser game, they almost did it with Bowser's Inside Story... to be fair, I'd be happy with a new Wario Land.

It may or may not be Lupus.

Dunno what kind of health system they've got in the Mushroom Kingdom, but those plumbers seem all too happy to go around popping pills... then again, they've saved the land several times...

OH YEAH. If you haven't played SMB Deluxe, I TOTALLY recommend getting this; it's got the NES classic, a challenge mode that's simply amazing (and infuriatingly difficult sometimes.), a race mode against Boo that's quite fun, and plenty of secrets to unlock (coughlostlevelscough.). It also has lots of stuff to be used on the Game Boy Printer. A pity we won't be able to do anything in that regard in the 3DS.

It's an excellent offer, but I hope this is released worldwide as a normal purchase, because it's well worth paying for. Really, it's just that good.

@JestermanX

It's not who's developing it, it's the clash with another whole fictional universe.

@element187

Yes, I know Nintendo always supervises his properties, and of course Retro is under their control; after all, Ninty owns the studio.

It's just that Zelda is a bit too... distinct to get a crossover a la Pokémon Conquest. It doesn't feel right to me that foreign characters are arriving to Zelda's universe, and it isn't because they're from a third-party franchise. I wouldn't like Mario or DK or Samus appearing in Hyrule "just because". Hell, I wouldn't like them appearing at all.

Smash Bros and the occasional Link cameo are one thing, but this...

A stellar announcement. She comes from across the universe, to play among the stars... and beat the living hell out of them.

Also, love how DK pokes Kirby when he sees him.

Link in Donkey Kong. Mirrored Super Mario Bros starring Luigi. Zelda/ Dynasty Warriors crossover. Sonic in Yoshi's Island. Luigi pretending to be a doctor. And, for a moment, what I thought was Kirby in Mario Kart.

Today the world of Nintendo has gone a bit upside down, huh?

Also, this game is quite costlier in the US? Sorry about it, but that's good news for eurotrash like me, I guess. Makes up for decades of being dead last in terms of release dates.

We all saw it coming. It was obvious.

Alright, today's WTF gaming moment left me a bit off, because a crossover of Nintendo's most well-known IPs with Tecmo's.... not-so-well-known IPs is not so tasteful for someone who likes to have fictional universes clearly diferentiated.

Nintendo has crossed over with other companies in the past (Pokémon Conquest, Sonic and Mario in the Olympic Games.) and will do it again in the future (SMT x FE.), but leaving Hyrule in the hands of a third-party developer... doesn't sit down well with me. Guess i'm a purist snob.

Hmm. Will Tezuka's role as director help saving the... unconvincing game we saw last time? We'll see...

Little Known Fact: That accent is just part of the show. In real life, Satoru Iwata speaks English with flawless Received Pronunciation.

In America, first you launch a console, then you release the games, then you get the money.

@jjmesa16
Yeah, I think Yoshi will launch in Q1 2015, they didn't even show it at this year's E3 because it still was in early development. X by the end of the year would be ideal, a nice addition to the MK/SSB combo for Christmas. Zelda on Q4 2015.

@Subie98

I think Tropical Freeze will be $50, less than the usual price for a Wii U game, $60.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: Q1 2014
Mario Kart 8: Q2 2014
Bayonneta 2: Most likely Q3 2014
"X": Q3, perhaps Q4 2014
Smash Bros: Q4 2014
"Yarn Yoshi": Q4 2014, maybe even 2015
Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem: 2015

NOTE: These are guesstimates. Stubborn_Monkey does not accept any responsibility for any loss or increase of hype in the reader.

@Alucard83

Hooray for snobbery? I've actually had some of my best gaming moments playing in handhelds, most of them of the Game Boy family. I get what you mean in terms of audiovisual output, but some of the finest works in the history of video games have been made for handheld consoles.

@Relias

No, I don't believe that there shouldn't be consoles and that everything would be peaceful without between the Big Three. In fact, I believe the competition is actually good, it keeps the industry healthy. I was just making a half-hearted attempt at "humour".

Oh, and people (including myself, of course) will argue over anything, no matter how trivial.

@PinkSpider

Imagine there's no consoles.
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to flame or troll for.
And no fanboys, too.

Imagine all the people
Playing games in peace...

...Sounds extremely boring, actually.

@Oren

Eh, saw it somewhere on the Internet and thought it was appropriate.

No idea what it means.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step...

Aaand we're back were we where a day ago. DKC for winter, MK8 for spring, and a vague "2014" date for Smash Bros.

Easy come, easy go.

@Giga-Microwave

Uh-oh. I checked it out and it seems you're right. The newspaper noticed the mistake and edited it.
Anyway, it is unrealistic to expect SSB before Christmas 2014, Sakurai often says that it's still in development when he posts screens on Miiverse...

Gott im Himmel! And I thought that a Q4 2014 release would be reasonable!

So, Sakurai was (laugh)ing at the people who couldn't wait to get the game all this time?

Eh, I would say that the mood of the show was the result of a meeting of TV executives, people that said: "Our target audience is this one, so everything has to be centered around them." I highly doubt that the views and attitudes exposed were what the hosts truly felt. They were actors and they played their roles.

Regarding the awards themselves, well... popularity rules, events like this one have more to do with marketing and publicity than with rewarding actual achievements (We could argue that every award ceremony ever made is like this.).

It is true that Nintendo could've done a greater effort, but as I said, the show was in essence a marketing ploy, so I guess Nintendo's PR branch said: "Nah, it's not our audience.". If they really wanted it, they could've shown something impressive.

Alas, we'll have to wait for a Christmas Nintendo Direct or, hope not, the E3 to see new game footage.

@Caryslan #263

Thanks for the info, it actually made me search for more details about the Sega Saturn.

@Red3025

You tell them, then.

@Red3025

Does that rule apply to the people that endlessly repeat that NINTENDO IS DOOOOOOMEEEEEED?

You finish it, Nintendo haters!

NINTENDO IS...

@SirGreatNose

This.

Of course the whole thing was staged. It's a show. Everyone is just playing a role.

I suspect Cranky isn't the fourth character they originally planned and that said character will be an unlockable fifth character, like Rosalina in 3D World.

I guess Retro saw DuckTales gameplay, said "Hey, it would be cool if Cranky could do this.", included him in the release plan instead of making him DLC or something (most likely because some levels had to be completely redesigned to accomodate his gameplay.), made a phone call to Kyoto to ask for a new deadline, Nintendo greenlighted it, and that is the reason why we can't have Kongs on Ice in time for Christmas.

Just pure conjecture thought. I could be completely wrong.

@Kirk

Three or four members of the senior staff left Retro after finishing Metroid Prime 3... I think a couple of them founded Armature; you know, that developer that made the recent 3DS/Vita Batman game. Not justifying anything, though.

But they moved to a bigger building last year, so perhaps now they start handling several projects at once.

There you have it, parents! Let your kids go on a trip without supervision and they'll be great video game designers in the future!

Cranky Kong (the original Donkey Kong.) made Ninty enter the American market... and people mock him thirty years later. He has reasons to be bitter.

Sega's feature was both educative and entertaining. Edutaining!

To everyone saying Retro should be developing Metroid Wii U and DK should disappear...

C'mon, people. Retro released three Metroid games in five years. This is just Donkey's second outing, and people already want him gone? Samus had her spotlight during the GameCube; meanwhile, DK and the rest of his family wandered aimlessly after Rare's departure.

I mean, Tropical Freeze will have all the elements Returns was missing: underwater levels! Ice levels! Dixie Kong! DAVID FREAKING WISE IS COMPOSING THE SOUNDTRACK! You are free to feel bitter about the lack of Power Armor and Space Pirates, but don't make the Kongs pay for it. They don't deserve it. And Retro will come back to Metroid! We all know it!

Plus, Miss Aran already has a perfectly fine home in Japan. Yes, Other M was... controversial... but Yoshio Sakamoto also designed that jewel called Super Metroid! Have a little faith in the man!

@Kirk

He was the reason Nintendo got into making toys! He designed the Ultra Hand and several later contraptions! Without Yokoi there wouldn't be a Nintendo as we know it.

@Kirk

I'm sure of it. Just look at the handheld market.

I'm not happy, either, with the Wii U's state. But I don't like it when someone kicks a guy when he is down.

What would you do to solve it? What decisions would you take if you were at Nintendo?

Oh, and, the Virtual Boy... poor Gunpei Yokoi. He didn't deserve it after all the good he brought to the company.

@Kirk

True, but Nintendo has basically relied on itself* since the N64. The NES days in America were basically a market monopoly by Nintendo's part. It was almost illegal.

Super Nintendo was a different story. Sega was ready to stand and fight. There was a race to see who would release Street Fighter II first. Sonic had a real marketing push behind. He had TWO cartoons on TV at the same time. Nintendo's censorship policies made sure Mortal Kombat fighters only "sweated", meanwile you could get all the violence you wanted on Sega. Towards the end Capcom and Square left Nintendo... and we know the rest. What I'm saying is that that kind of support won't happen again.

Personally, I think Nintendo will endure. We might have a new GameCube in front of us, but we won't get a new console until 2018 or so. How that new console will be, we'll see.

*not counting Rare's effort in the late SNES and N64. Love these guys.

@Kirk

Nintendo's biggest failure this year was NOT getting DK and Mario Kart ready for Christmas. Something must have gone wrong with the estimated time for development. Or perhaps they need more manpower. Other than that, online gaming has been the Big N's weak point since the sixth generation.

Wii U has been accused of being underpowered for Third-Party games. Well, the GameCube was powerful, and it didn't recieve the same support the PS2 and Xbox did (except for Capcom's exclusives.). What was the deal? They didn't like those mini-disks? Or perhaps the developers also thought that Nintendo was teh_kiddeh?

Funnily enough. Microsoft bought Rare thinking it would help them winning over the Big N's crowd, and both Grabbed by the Ghoulies and the Conker remake tanked.

@Kirk
It wasn't that pretty. The Play got the first 3D Final Fantasy and it seemed like it was the end-all, be-all video game. Then they got the sequels. Tekken was there too, and Resident Evil (N64 got RE2 and it got everybody saying how lucky Nintendo was.). Metal Gear Solid showed us that people will watch a movie and think they played for hours---but only on Sony's console.

On the meantime, the audience was asking for a new Mario since 1997. Zelda got two games because they reused Ocarina's assets. Metroid was MIA since 1994. Earthbound 64? Oh yes, please. It will be hilarious and heartrending and weird and wonderf- CANCELLED.

Fortunately Pokémon managed to sell consoles during 1999-2001 by its presence alone. That, and Rare's support saved the N64. The two Banjos, GoldenEye, DK64... they were vital. Other than that? Desolation. A desert.

It could be worse, though. You could be a Sega fan during the Saturn's lifetime.

@Kirk

Why, yes, Kirk. Golden Age long gone by and all that. But I'm talking about the N64 days. When the cool kids had their PlayStations with their CDs and Nintendo had its stupid old cartridges. When the world loved Square and Final Fantasy VII and its sequels. Fun times.