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Hip Tanaka resigns from his former Executive Director role at Creatures Inc.
He is now a "Creative Fellow"
Renowned composer Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka, known for his work on titles such as Metroid and EarthBound, has stepped down from his role of Executive Director at Creatures Inc., the company has announced. He will continue his involvement with the company, one of the three owners of the Pokemon franchise, as a Creative Fellow.
Don’t worry, Hip Tanaka wasn’t fired- it seems like he just opted to shift his focus wholly towards the creative side of the industry. Only time will tell if this impacts future Pokémon projects.
Legendary Hero Hinoka: Thundering Wings is coming to Fire Emblem Heroes on May 31st
Get this Hoshidan hero before it's too late
Nintendo have announced via a new trailer that Hinoka: Thundering Wings will be coming to Fire Emblem Heroes as a Legendary Hero in just a couple of days. You can watch the trailer above to see her in action.
Hinoka will be available from May 31st at 12:00 AM PT to 11:59 PM PT on June 13th. If you want to add this Hoshidan princess to your collection of units, don’t wait until it’s too late.
Patch notes shared for Splatoon 3 Version 4.0.0
The game is adding data for Sizzle Season 2023 tomorrow
Splatoon 3’s Sizzle Season 2023 is starting in just a few days on June 1st, but Nintendo has shared some of the changes coming to the game with the new season ahead of time. Tomorrow, May 30th, version 4.0.0 will be dropping for Splatoon 3, adding in a bunch of data for the new season to prepare for its launch and a ton of little bug fixes. You can read the full patch notes for yourself below:
Opening movie for Neptunia GameMaker R:Evolution released
The game launches in Japan this August
Neptunia GameMaker R:Evolution is coming to Switch later this summer in Japan, and, ahead of its launch, developer Compile Heart has shared the opening movie, featuring original theme song “Dream ON”. You can check it out above.
The game releases both physically and digitally on August 10th, 2023 in Japan. There’s currently no word on any western release.
Masahiro Sakurai discusses canceled games in his latest video
Many games never make it to market
Sakurai has released another video in his ‘Grab Bag’ series, this time discussing canceled games. You can watch the video, linked above, to see Sakurai’s take on the many types of canceled games and the many factors that lead to game cancelation.
Sakurai doesn’t discuss any specific canceled games here, but it’s still interesting to see what such a prolific industry veteran has to say about the many games that never reached the public’s hands.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet update out now (Ver. 1.3.1)
Patch notes are yet to be shared
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet update version 1.3.1 is out now, although the patch notes are not. We do, however, know that it brought with it some bug fixes, including a fix that prevented players in an invite-only competition from seeing their rating or leaving the tournament between battles.
We’ll share more specifics if and when the patch notes are released. You can download the update to your Switch right now, though you may want to hold off until we have more specifics if you’ve been exploiting any glitches recently.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie becomes the third highest-grossing animated movie worldwide, surpassing The Incredibles 2
Only Frozen and its sequel remain ahead
It may be nearing 2 months since release, but The Super Mario Bros. movie is still bringing in lots of cash. As of today, it has passed The Incredibles 2 to become the third highest grossing animated film of all time, with a box office gross over $1.248 billion USD.
All that’s left for it to pass are Frozen 1 and 2, at $1.276 billion and $1.450 billion respectively. Only time will tell if Mario can reach the number one spot.
Sigma temporarily disabled in Overwatch 2's competitive modes
The latest update has brought with it a major bug
The latest Overwatch 2 update seems to have brought with it some unintended consequences. In an attempt to tweak Sigma’s ultimate ability, Blizzard seems to have given him the ability to fly under certain circumstances. Aaron Keller, the game’s director, promptly shared the news that Sigma would be disabled via Twitter.
Hopefully the bug is fixed soon and players can start using Sigma again. As soon as we receive any more news, we’ll be sure to send it your way.
Nintendo Switch Online's Nintendo 64 app updated to version 2.10.1
Pokémon Stadium was slightly tweaked
The Nintendo Switch Online app that allows for Expansion Pass subscribers was just updated to version 2.10.1. We don’t have any official patch notes, but dataminer LuigiBlood has shared that the app’s version of Pokémon Stadium received some tweaks.
It seems that’s all the update entails for the moment. If any more discoveries are made, or official patch notes are shared, we’ll be sure to share the details.
Side-scrolling romance adventure Love on Leave receives a new trailer
Find love in the countryside late next week
Love on Leave was announced for a May 18th release late last month with an accompanying gameplay video, but publisher and developer qureate have finally released a full trailer ahead of the game’s imminent launch. You can check it out for yourself above.
Find love in this side-scrolling countryside romance adventure game when the game launches next Friday for $24.99 USD via the eShop.
Precision platformer Reflectile could come to Switch via Kickstarter stretch goal
You can try a demo for the DS-inspired indie title on Steam
Precision platformer Reflectile just saw its campaign go live on Kickstarter, and Switch fans might want to check it out. If the campaign is able to raise $35,000, the game will get a Switch port according to its set of stretch goals. You can check out a trailer above, a demo for PC on Steam, and the Kickstarter campaign itself here.
Tears of the Kingdom has "more realistic" sound effects than its predecessor
The bird calls will sound even better this time around
Nintendo just shared part 1 of their “Ask the Developers” interview with some of the key developers behind the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and it hid an interesting tidbit about the game’s sound. When asked about how Tears of the Kingdom would sound different from Breath of the Wild, sound director Hajime Wakai had this to say:
While this title follows the same musical direction, we grappled with how to create a sense of freshness as a sequel. The sound effects are generated by a completely new system that’s different from the previous game, so even if the same sound is used, it sounds a lot more realistic in this game. For example, in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we tried to make nearby environmental sounds, such as bird calls, sound realistic. However, with this title, the expressiveness of these sounds has improved to the point where players hear a bird call from afar and sense the distance more realistically.
It sounds like Zelda fans shouldn’t head into this sequel expecting a wildly different approach to audio from that of the last entry, but at least the sound effects are reportedly significantly improved. You can read part 1 of the interview for yourself here.
Tears of the Kingdom's developers wanted the game to be friendly to newcomers
This direct sequel should still work as your first Zelda
Nintendo has recently uploaded part 1 of volume 9 of their “Ask the Developers” interview series, in which they begin their interview with some of the key developers behind the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You can read it for yourself here.
The interview doesn’t reveal a ton of new details, with the conversation largely centering on how the team was determined to reuse Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule from the outset. However, the series producer and game director were sure to make it clear that, despite reusing the same world and being a direct sequel, the game can be enjoyed by those who have yet to play Breath of the Wild. Following a series of statements about how the designers wanted to play with the players’ presumed familiarity of this Hyrule, series producer Eiji Aonuma had this to say:
But the new gameplay ideas we packed into this title are all things that can be solved intuitively, so I think first-time players can rest assured that this game is easy to get into.
It sounds like the story was designed to be newcomer-friendly as well. Game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi made sure to throw in this statement:
The same goes for the story too. We put in some effort to make sure that it feels comfortable for both first-time players and those with experience of the previous game. For example, we’ve prepared a Character Profile feature that players can see anytime during their adventure, so it’s easy to understand the relationship between characters, even without knowledge from the previous title.
So, if you haven’t gotten around to playing through Link’s most recent adventure but you’re intrigued by the new mechanics Tears of the Kingdom has to offer, you should be safe to jump right in.
Indie RPG Mahou Senshi Cosplay Club is coming to Switch
Give a cosplayer her powers with your costumes
Mahou Senshi: Cosplay Club, a turn-based RPG from Behold Studios, the team behind titles like Chroma Squad and Knights of Pen & Paper, is coming to Switch following a successful Kickstarter campaign. In this turn-based RPG you’ll embark on the journey of becoming a Magical Girl cosplayer. Save the world with the powers bestowed upon you by your costumes!
The game is coming to PC later this year, but there’s no word on when exactly it’ll hit Switch. You can watch the trailer above to get an idea of what the game will be like.
R-Type Final 2 gets a whopping 4 DLC trailers, all out now
It looks like lots of content is on the way
Fans of space-shooter R-Type Final 2 rejoice- publisher NIS America has just released a whopping 4 trailers showcasing DLC that’s now available for the title. You can check all of the trailers out below:
DLC Set 4 includes 2 stages, DLC Sets 5 and 6 include 3 stages, and the final trailer showcases the OFX-X MARIKO, a new DLC ship. You can get all four packs for $6.99 USD a pop, or you can grab a bundle with DLC Sets 4-6 for $19.99. They’re all available now.
