ToneDeath

It seems to me that if a developer wants to know how to give their games the nicest graphics around (but not necessarily the most complex) despite working with an 'underpowered' console, they need only study the Super Mario Galaxies. It certainly seems to have worked for Shin'en recently (and by the looks of it the new Sonic too), and of course there's plenty else to learn about game design in there too.

Companies like the petulant EA and arrogant Microsoft are making the entire games industry in the west look like a bunch of greedy graphics whores, conditioning their customers to be a mass of drooling zombies with little else but "COD", "FIFA" and "Netflix" in their vocabularies.
At least the backlash to the Xbox One reveal shows we're not all ready to allow an Orwellian Hal 9000 breeze block into our homes just yet.

I know Nintendo want to make money like any other business, but they genuinely want to make great games too, and as it happens what the typical gamer wants to do is PLAY great games. With or without the likes of EA, great games ARE coming.

How many other companies can be as big as Nintendo, yet still maintain an artist's integrity? The investors might not be happy with him, but us gamers should be grateful that someone like Satoru Iwata is leading Nintendo to continue delivering experiences that impact, inspire and stay with us long after we've played them, just like our favourite books, films and records do.

I agree with rjejr (post #12) though, that it would be a little less frustrating if they held off on naming a date for releases until they're SURE!
Don't worry about us; Nintendo fans are a patient breed, and Zelda fans in particular know that GREAT things can come to those who wait.

They're practically giving Trine 2 away for that price, if I had to buy it again I'd happily fork out £20.

Ebert was the only film critic I read on a regular basis, and as someone who would like to make films of his own, it's disappointing to know that even if I ever do manage it I'll never get to read him say 'Your movie sucks!'
For anybody who loves films, his 'Great Movies' articles are a must-read.

Oh well, guess we won't be reading about Phil Fish around HERE any more then...

...please?

Doesn't Konami own Hudson and their games now? I'm not sure I've heard that Konami are doing anything with them though; I hope the Turbografx makes a comeback on the Wii U's Virtual Console, and a new Bomberman wouldn't go amiss (with a bonus Metal Gear themed stage; why not!).

This obviously wouldn't suit a game like Project Cars, but how about co-op arcade racer where player 1 steers the vehicle using (and looking at) the Gamepad, while player 2 (plus 3, 4 & 5?) use a Wii remote to shoot at stuff trying to ram them off the road looking at the TV. Turn everything up to 11 with massive bosses and insane jumps and I think it could be a good laugh (as well as unique to the Wii U).

If I was to transfer everything from my current 3DS to this XL, I wouldn't lose the pre-installed Fire Emblem in the process would I?

I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but although I'm not really expecting a Toy Story beater, I am of course very keen to see it.
However, I have used the release as an excuse to play classic video-game tunes in the foyer of the cinema I work at

I'm hoping Namco release Pac-Man Championship Edition DX on the eShop, with a new version of Pac-Man vs. included.

It might be nice to see the Tingle Tuner return in the next Zelda too...or let you act as Navi with the GamePad; while player one use Skyward Sword style controls, you could annoy them by constantly tapping a 'Hey! Listen!' button.

Just got it! I only ordered it on the 27th (amazon uk) so it's certainly a surprise to get it a day early

I'll wait until developers like Retro Studios and Nintendo EAD Tokyo have made their first Wii U games before I try to judge graphical capabilities. I assume that the quality of performance depends on how well the game has been optimised for the host console, so of course I'd expect to see the Wii U shine the brightest in its exclusives. Think back to when (if) you played games like Rogue Squadron II and Metroid Prime on the Gamecube: you just KNEW there was no way the PS2 could hope to run these games, despite the two consoles supposedly being in the same ballpark in terms of power.

Anyhoo, fingers-crossed the Wii U will do well enough to become the lead format (as far as consoles go) for multi-platform titles in future. It might seem doubtful, but then the first Wii was supposed to be an underdog too, remember

I guess a game about big-game hunting, perhaps set in the days of the old British Empire could potentially be sort of a good thing; the hunting element in Red Dead Redemption seemed okay because it made sense in the context of that world...well, okay leaving a skinned horse by the side of the tracks was a bit weird.

However, having watched the trailer for this Outdoors Unleashed, it really does look terrible. Hunting used to be considered a sport, but where's the sport in trying to wipe out EVERYTHING, and even waiting for meerkats to pop up right in front of you so you can shoot their faces off? It looks so bad it's hilarious really.

I read it from N64 Magazine #22 (or whatever had Wipeout 64 on the cover) up to at least NGC #100. Around that time I think I was starting to read IGN a lot and gave the new ONM a go for a while, then of course Virtual Console Reviews came along So now I've pretty much settled with NintendoLife and GameCentral (on the Metro website these days) and the only video games journalism I get in print is the Retro Gamer 'bookazines.'
I can't comment on Super Play (I was probably still reading Sonic the Comic!) but I still consider the N64/NGC Magazine to be the best I've read (on any subject). I knew I could trust their reviews 100% (they were so thorough it took two issues to review Ocarina of Time) and best of all they were consistently hilarious! I'm sure that reading the magazine did as much to make me a Nintendo fan as the actual games. Great work.

I always had the impression that Nintendo didn't completely approve, as it was published by THQ (in the UK at least).
At the time the graphics, animation and amount of voice acting (a lot of it by Chris Seavor himself I think) were beyond anything I thought possible on the N64, truly making the most of the console, just like Donkey Kong Country on the SNES and Resident Evil 4 on the 'Cube. The level design and gameplay weren't really Banjo Kazooie quality though, and I guess it was mainly funny because you couldn't believe what you were seeing in a videogame...on the so-called 'kiddy' N64 of all things.Gotta love Gregg the Grim Reaper though (I hate cats too), and I always thought the multiplayer was seriously underrated; I spent about as much time on this with my cousin as Super Smash Bros.!

The NSMB games definitely seem to be the least memorable of the Mario platformers. Although there's a chance I'll eventually get it anyway, this won't be a high priority title for me (Don't think I've ever said that for a Mario platformer before). Thinking in terms of scores, I expect it'll feel like an 8/10 at first, then in retrospect 7/10 at best. A lot of Mario games deserve 9 or even 10/10 (even Sunshine, which is often unfairly derided), but I can't see NSMB2 being one of them.

I still haven't gotten Kid Icarus: Uprising, but that looks like it'll be a far more rewarding experience; even if his games aren't always completely successful, Sakurai always seems to put his heart and soul (and everything else bar the kitchen sink) into his work, and it shows.
Nintendo should make their younger developers STUDY games like Super Mario World, and encourage them not to copy it, but to surpass it. That at least seemed to be part of the mindset behind the still recent Skyward Sword and Galaxy games (titles that actually deserve to be included in the same sentence as 'gold'), and that should apply to the 2D Mario games too.

While it's reassuring to know Nintendo are still yet to drop the ball, I sometimes worry that it might be beginning to slip...I'll be happy to be proved wrong though, and on the bright side of things, nobody excels at proving people wrong more than Nintendo

Here's a list of working titles they could throw at their developers next year for a 'Ho-hum' free zone next year...

Mario & Sonic & Knuckles (by Nintendo, NOT Sega)
StarWolf (by Treasure)
Falcon Punch!! (a beat 'em up)
The Legend of Zelda: Link and Tingle's Excellent Adventure (Four Swords and a Tingle Tuner?)
Super WARIO Bros.
Fire Emblem + Pokémon (they stay dead!)
Ski and Break Your Neck!! (with the Wave Race and 1080° characters)
Mii Casa Su Casa (like PlayStation Home, but somehow worthwhile)
Urban Champion: Anniversary Edition (with book and soundtrack CD)

...and for the last ever first-party DSiWare game, The Tingle Totem Turning Tantrum DX (remember Tingle's brothers, one of whom wasn't really related but instead a shanghai'd and surgically altered innocent forced into slavery? Shout into the mic to get them to turn the totem pole faster, because it's really the top of a giant drill that Tingle hopes will expose many thousands of rupees beneath the seabed. For £50,000 worth of Nintendo points you can download a whip to make them work even faster.)

If I'm allowed to dream...Wind Waker - 1080p with optional GamePad or Skyward Sword style MotionPlus controls, and a Master Quest mode that includes the extra dungeon they had to cut out the first time.

Rogue Squadron - A compilation of the best missions from all three games (N64 levels remade with GC graphics), 1080p with some optional motion/pointer controls of some kind.

Resident Evil - If they still have all the stuff to make those pre-rendered backgrounds stored somewhere, dig 'em up and put them back together to work in 1080p. Try to keep the camera angles, lighting and composition the same. I guess you'd want to have it in widescreen now; cropping the top and bottom (and therefore quite a bit of the awesome art design) would be a shame, though I guess the upside might be it would heighten the sense of claustrophobia.

I haven't spent much time with it yet, but what I played of Ninja Spirit seemed very good.

In case any other TurboGrafx games are to suffer the same fate, I urge you all (shmup fans or not) to buy Lords of Thunder before it's too late. I'm not a big fan of shoot 'em ups or eighties metal, and it's unlikely I'll ever beat it even on normal, and yet I love it and think it's one THE very best third party games on the VC. But don't just take my word for it, read the review!

Nintendo's art direction in HD...to me this means the Wii U will have some of the best looking games, regardless of whether or not it's the most powerful console.

I think they might still make a 3D Classics version somewhere down the line. What I think is less likely is the games that come out as 3DS Classics first getting a VC release on the 3DS after, as from Nintendo's point of view they would have already given us a superior/definitive version.

Yes! Balloon Kid is my most anticipated 4/10 scoring game...ever! I can't wait to feel that crushing disappointment when it turns out you guys were right after all. But honestly, although I'm obviously not expecting something with the quality of classics like Super Mario Land 2 or even Kirby's Dreamland, I'm sure it's a nice little game nonetheless.

Though I wouldn't buy a NASCAR game anyway, it's a shame to see Firebrand apparently fail like this. On the DS they were to racing games what Shin'en was to shoot 'em-ups, and I was looking forward to seeing what they'd achieve on the 3DS. Hopefully they're not out for the count just yet.

I've been trying to stick only to games that score 8 or higher, so that I don't clog up my 3DS with any old rubbish...but despite this review and gameplay videos that make it look like the easiest game ever, I'm afraid the charming music and graphics have already worked their magic on me and I'll be downloading it in a minute.

I still intend to get Balloon Kid too, whenever they decide to drop it on us Europeans, even after it scored a 4 on here.

I'm so weak-willed

I too thought I was looking at screenshots of a BAD N64 game, like Carmageddon 64 or something. Jeez Leweez. I know the 'Nintendo Seal of Quality' has always been a bit of a joke, but I guess it doesn't apply to the downloadable games at all.

A few wrinkles, but I expect Nintendo will iron most of these out with updates over time.

I got Cave Story 3D and Kirby Mass Attack, plus enough dosh to buy Kirby's Adventure Wii and Mario & Sonic 2012.

Got my sister Mario Kart 7 and a boxset of Zelda mangas. The family played a bit of Mario & Sonic 2012, TV Show King 2 and then Wii Sports Resort.

Was the Game Boy Color version, Tetris DX inferior in any way? I'm just a little surprised they didn't use that version instead, like they did with Link's Awakening.

I've downloaded it anyway. I remember watching a friend play this on his Game Boy and thinking it looked boring compared to the games I played (Mario, Sonic etc...). It wasn't until I bought The New Tetris for the N64 that I learnt what all the fuss was about, and what a foolish child I had been.

I'm sure we'd also like to know if Japanese ambassadors are able to update their free Zelda game to include the same features.

I've got a horrible feeling any English edition will turn up as a horribly expensive Club Nintendo item.

I agree they should keep the MotionPlus controllers around for Zelda until they come up with something even better.
I was thinking they could include button controls as an option, but a lot of Skyward Sword is designed around the motion controls, so you'd probably end up with two different games.
If they could make it work though, they should call the button-only mode the "Lazy Quest."

I managed to get my pre-order in on Amazon.co.uk in the minute or two they were available for. I was basically updating the page repeatedly around the time it was going to happen, and as soon as I could made the order as quick as I could (can't remember if I used '1 Click' or not). Went back to the product page straight after and it was already over!
Got it on the morning of the launch day, and though it should be embarrassing to say this I was actually trembling slightly with excitement as I opened the packaging. Getting a new Nintendo console usually puts a smile on my face, but this seemed like a bigger deal somehow...it was a revolution!
Played a bit of Wii Sports and a lot of Twilight Princess that day (a very good day indeed).

I think red is the colour my sister has opted for. I don't think I'd swap my black 3DS just to have another colour...unless they bring out Luigi Green!

LOZ: The dungeon music
AOL: The 'friendly' women in the towns
ALTTP: Bunny Link
LA: THIEF!
OOT: Watching the sunrise at Lake Hylia
MM: Anju & Kafei
TWW: Hyrule in black & white
TP: Midna at death's door
SS: Learning about Zelda's origins...whoa!

Can't think of anything for OOA, OOS, FS, FSA , TMC, or PH right now as I'm tired, and I haven't even started ST yet.

I'll just join the 'All items' one for now, because being bombarded by blue shells and bullet Bills is a fact of life...Nintendo life!

I go by the name Tony Lou on the racetrack, you'll see me most often at the back of the pack.

People say that it's not the hardware that is important, it's the games. This is true, but remember that part of what makes Nintendo's games great IS the hardware.
Take Super Mario 64 for example; until Sony incorporated analogue sticks into their own controllers there was no way that kind of gameplay could be presented on the Playstation.
Much of the gameplay in Skyward Sword is inspired by the capabilities of the MotionPlus controller, so there's a more recent example.
What I'm saying is that not being able to design their own hardware would be a major handicap to their game design.

@LittleIrves: Ah, I see you already made exactly the same point. I'm sure that anyone else that has owned more than a couple Nintendo consoles would agree too.

I remember it being described as a Game Boy classic by N64 Magazine, reviewers that I trusted pretty much 100% back in the day.

At the moment I feel confident that at worst it might be average (albeit with an unusual style of gameplay) but certainly not a bad game. I remember enjoying the one or two levels I played, and liking the way it took the Balloon Trip concept further.

So I guess I've pretty much convinced myself to get it anyway (if/when it comes to Europe) even if I end up getting stuck two-thirds of the way in and never beat it!

I'm pretty sure this game was based more on the Balloon Trip mode from Balloon Fight, not so much the Joust-like gameplay of the main mode. I always liked the Balloon Trip mode more anyway.

Apparently Japan got the Game Boy Color version of this? Oh well...

I thought the idea behind this game was great, but only got to play a couple of levels. I've waited years to play it again, but this review is disappointing
If I can find some other decent, but more positive reviews I'll hopefully still let myself give it a go when it comes to Europe.

When it talks about humans, it doesn't mean Link's people, right? Link's a Hylian (hence the pointy ears).

Good point! But you never really hear about it. I just remember looking at the back of the box and thinking it looked like the speedboat bits in Micro Machines.
Not sure if it's worth looking forward to on the VC then, but any other Wave Race stuff would be welcome! (1080° Snowboarding too).

Watching a neighbour play the Battle of Hoth level in Shadows of the Empire was what made me want to get an N64.
The game that impressed me the most in terms of graphics was Conker's Bad Fur Day, and the most played multiplayer was Super Smash Bros. Conker had an excellent multiplayer actually; my cousin and I were shocked to discover that if you killed your AI teammates enough times, they'd turn against you!

Of course my favourite game remains Ocarina of Time...which I only bought because it was going for £20 at Electronic Boutique's online shop, VERY cheap for a brand new game at the time. Before that I wasn't interested because despite scoring 98% in N64 Magazine's thorough review (spread over two issues actually) I thought it looked like 'boring Final Fantasy rubbish.'
Oh well, you live and you learn.

I remember N64 Magazine had Carmageddon 64 as their lowest rated game, with a score of 8%!

I found this quote from their review: "take it off the shelves, rip up the box and throw the cart repeatedly at the wall until it breaks"

115 for me too. The two Rytmiks I have are bigger though.

I had to delete another DSi game to make room for it on my 3DS system memory. I copied it to my SD card first, but does that include the save file? Or do you have to start the game from scratch when you put it back on system memory? Not actually a problem right now as I hadn't actually gotten round to playing said game (Reflect Missile), but could be a bother in future.

Anyhoo, despite that niggle this is super duper generous of Nintendo! Here's to another 25 years of Zelda, and more!

If I was to make a list of my favourite games, I think most of them would be N64 games.

Awesome!

What are the chances of Super Mario Land 2 scoring anything other than 9/10 in it's review here?

Something similar to the 'Disney view' option on the Blu-rays of non-widescreen Disney films would have been better. Basically filling the borders with artwork which alternates to fit the scene.

But never mind; you'll forget about the curtains as soon as you start blasting away.

They might not officially have any plans to do so today, but they could officially MAKE plans tomorrow.