It’s weird to think that Mario Kart 8 is already a three year old game. It really doesn’t feel like that long ago that I bought the game and obsessively played through every grand prix on every difficulty until I had a three star ranking on each one. Now Nintendo has put the game back out on their new Switch platform. Does the game still hold up after three years? And more importantly, is it worth double-dipping? Continue reading
I’ve been waiting for Yooka-Laylee for a long time. About two years ago, Playtonic Games, a new studio made up of former Rare developers, launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie games. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on this blog, but Banjo-Kazooie is one of my all time favorite games. Hearing that a new game in the style of Banjo by some of Banjo’s original developers was reason enough for me to finally contribute to a Kickstarter. I gave enough money for a copy of the game and access to the Toybox demo, and then I waited. Continue reading
Even though it’s only been about four months since the Switch was properly unveiled, the console’s release was a long time coming for me. It was right around two years ago that Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president at the time, announced plans for mobile games developed by Nintendo. To ensure their audience that Nintendo wasn’t abandoning the dedicated video game hardware market, he also announced a new console, at the time code named the NX. This resulted in an obsession to figure out what this thing was that held my attention all the way until today. Continue reading
I’m probably the last person who should be talking about Fire Emblem Heroes. I have almost no connection with the series, having only played some of Awakening and all of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. To me, Lucina is the character I play as the most in Super Smash Bros., and the fact that she was in another game is almost irrelevant. That’s not to say I don’t like Fire Emblem, what I’ve played has been great. I just don’t have a lot of experience with it. But despite all that, when Nintendo puts out a new free-to-play mobile game, I need to see what it’s about. Continue reading
It feels kind of strange writing a “first impressions” piece on a game that came out almost a year ago. I got my copy in March, at the same time that Xenoblade Chronicles X had completely taken over my life, causing it to just sit on my shelf all this. So, the game may be pretty old by now, but it’s new to me. And since the PlayStation 4 release of the game was earlier this week, it’s new to a whole bunch of other people too. So, hey, why not? Here’s my first impressions of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Continue reading
Earlier today, Nintendo surprised us by releasing Metroid Prime: Blast Ball on for free on the 3DS eShop. Blast Ball is the competitive multiplayer component of Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which isn’t out until August 19th. This free sample is actually the entire mode and will be playable through September and can even be played with people who bought the retail release. This is all well and good, but how is the game itself? Continue reading
Yesterday, Nintendo released its first mobile app, Miitomo. The game itself is pretty rudimentary, but the fact that it released on non-Nintendo platforms makes it pretty significant.
When you start the game, you have to make your Mii. You’re presented with a Mii maker that’s very similar to the ones found on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. You can also use a QR code to transfer the your Mii from a previous system over to it or use the Mii associated with your My Nintendo account.
Miitomo is a game about answering questions. That’s kind of it. Basically, the game asks you some questions, and then you answer them. Then, you’ll start getting questions from other players Miis, but to be clear, not ones that those players came up with. Soon, you’ll be answering questions about your friends and yourself as well as hearing their answers.
As you answer questions and add friends to your friends list, you earn coins. You can use those coins to buy new clothing items for your Mii. When you change your clothes, your fashion level increases, although honestly, I haven’t really figured out what that does for you.
If you haven’t already figured this out, Miitomo is an exceptionally casual game. Honestly, calling it a “game” is a bit of a stretch. It’s more like a weird social experiment. But for whatever reason, I’ve been playing it quite a bit in the last two days. It’s strangely addicting, and getting into weird conversations is a lot of fun.
I think Nintendo made the right decision in making Miitomo and putting it out on mobile platforms. Nintendo had huge success with the casual audience on the Wii, but really struggled to keep that momentum going with the Wii U. I think Nintendo recognized that the audience they once catered to on the Wii simply doesn’t care about game consoles anymore and has largely moved onto phones and tablets. While I’d be excited to see them put something closer to a real game out on a phone, I think it makes a lot of sense to put more casual experiences on phones and more hardcore games on consoles.
All in all, I’m definitely enjoying Miitomo, but I’m not sure how long I’m going to stick with it. Maybe I’ll check back in with updated impressions later, but for now, I think everyone should check it out, but keep their expectations in check.
Quarter Circle Forward 