Nintendo finally revealed the eagerly awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond during its June 2024 Nintendo Direct. I was so pleased to see Samus Aran once again pulled into an active warzone with a dynamic environment being destroyed all around her, just like in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

What I wasn't ready for, though, was Sylux, who looks like he's become the? Thano??s of this universe.

Who is Sylux in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?

Sylux isn't exactly a well-known character in the mainline Metroid Prime games. His first appearance was in Metroid Prime Hunters on the Nintendo DS as one of five other bounty hunters who all responded to a call fo??r someone to claim the ultimate weapon in a lost sector of space. All five bounty hunters wound up being used by that very same power to create a deadly boss for Samus to defeat.

Following his defeat, Sylux has been hiding in the background of the series. He next appeared in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. If you manage to complete the game to 100%??, the ending shows a ship that looks suspiciously like Sylux's pursuing Samus Ara??n.

Finally, in Metroid Prime: Federation Force, the game's ending shows a character with shoulders similar to Sy??lux's hatching a Metroid egg. Metroids are, of course, t??he titular threats to the universe that started this whole series. They were designed to wipe out entire planets and ecosystems in order to keep even more heinous aliens in check.

What is Sylux doing in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?

Little is known about Sylux, but we do know he hates the Federation and the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who frequently finds herself helping them. That makes it easy to understand why he'd go after both in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but the trailer presents him like he's this u??niverse's Thanos.

We see Sylux show up with not only the main background villains from the Metroid franchise, the Space Pirates, but a??lso a couple of actual Metroids. This means Sylux has somehow gained the allegiance of this terrifying alien race. Coupled with the sheer numbers of the Space Pirates, he has plenty of power to push back against the only force for peace in the universe.

Unlike Thanos, Sylux isn't going to pick up a glove and snap people out of existence. He's a being who crav??es power. ??He's got the Space Pirates under his thumb and Metroids as his pets, and now he wants more. I think the answer to his ultimate plan, because all villains have a secret ultimate plan, lies in his weapon.

In Metroid Prime Hunters, Sylux uses the Shock Coil, a weapon that drains its target of life while restoring Sylux's. You could argue it's similar to Dark Samus and Phazon, which they would suck up before fighting. We've even seen Samus use Phazon herself to become pow??erful enough to fight Dark Samus.

Sylux wants to get his hands on some Phazon, which is a colossal source of power. S??hould Sylux have a way to control it, could make him the ultimate being. Even more powerful than Dark Samus.

Nintendo has now set Metroid Prime 4: Beyond up to have an epic story on a scale larger than any we've seen in the series. Sylux and his gang of the Federation's worst nightmares are putting everything they can into this fight. That means their goal is worth losing everything for, and I can't wait to see Sylux pull off the big reveal just when we think we've got him cornered, allowing all our bounty hunter friends to jump in when we engage our own Metroid Prime version of Avengers: Endgame on him.

The post Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s trailer paints Sylux as the Thanos of the series and I’m so ready for our endgame appeared first on Destructoid.

We're still not sure what's happening with Palworld regarding Nintendo's investigation of the game. I mean, we all know it's been heavily inspired by Pokémon, but if you want to see it veer even closer, a recent demake project really makes the world look like Pokémon.

As spotted by WCCFTech, YouTube channel 64 Bits recently uploaded a proof-of-concept video that shows what Palworld would look like as a DS?? game. This includes giving it the retro look and top-down view you'd imagine it would have if it was released on the N?intendo console.

In fact, the description under the video says the team was heavily inspired by "Pokémon Ranger, Black, White, Diamond, Pearl, basically all the DS Pokémon titles." However, they've also taken some cues from the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

A plethora of your preferred pixelated pals

The video itself really does show what Palworld could potentially look like if it was truly styled after older entries in Nintendo's dominant IP. It's actually quite cute?. However, it should be noted that it is just a video. As f?ar as I can tell, there's no attempt to actually demake the game in this manner.

Nor would anyone likely dare. If Nintendo is keen on pursuing Pocketpair over ??copyright issues, there's no way the community would risk litigation by making?? their own similarly-inspired project.

As for the game itself, it feels like we're passing through the tail end of Palworld's initial popularity. The studio is still sending out updates, but we're pr??obably not going to see another uptick until the gam??e fully releases, whenever that's going to be.

The post Wanna see Palworld as a Nintendo DS game? appeared first on Destructoid.

The World Ends With You fan artist @caehum on Twitter has showcased what Neku would look like in an HD remake or possibly Kingdom Hearts 4 through an immaculate 3D render. Since its publishing on Monday, it has?? received over 2,500 likes.

The 3D model looks like it's ripped straight from a modern Kingdom Hearts game, and has plenty of detail around the face and the odd jacket that Neku wears. The more realistic take on Neku is quite different from the most recent game NEO: The World Ends With You, which takes on a graphic novel art style instead.??

The World Remade With You

It would be cool to see a realistic take on the original DS game through a remake in the future. It has been re-released on Switch with a Final Remix version, however, to mixed results.

"Final Remix‘s failure to utilize the extent of the Switch hardware shows a lack of understanding as to why so many people consider the Nintendo DS original to be the masterpiece it is," said our review.

Neku is expected to appear in Kingdom Hearts 4 by some fans. In Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Neku and Sora promise to see each other in Shibuya. After the events of KH3, Sora actually ends up in an area inspired by the real-life location. We could see Neku in a model like this, in an offic??ial capacity.

If you don't know where Neku comes from, he's the main character of a cult classic JRPG called The World Ends With You. It's one of the highest-rated DS games at an 88 Metacritic score. There was then a follow-up sequel called NEO: The World Ends With You featuring a new character named Rindo.

"NEO: The World Ends with You is a sequel worth waiting for," said our 8/10 review. "It brings together many of the best concepts from the DS original but in a more approach??able and accessible experience."

The post The World Ends With You fan artist shows what Neku could look like in an HD rem??ake appeared first on Destructoid.

A legendary cast of characters

The best Kingdom Hearts characters have a ton of personality, have been through hardship, or simply have powerful and exciting abilities that dynamically elevate the series' battle scenes. A key element why Kingdom Hearts resonates with so many people is not ??just the non-stop action; but the passion behind the cast's motivations.

Characters like Sora and Roxas aren't afraid to express their emotions: to cry, to scream, to love,?? to smile. And many of the legendary series characters are more intriguing than the average RPG cast, and it's refreshing to see heroes, (or in some rare cases, villains), that we are able to relate to.

Warning: There are spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3 and Kingdom Hearts 3: Remind in this list.

[caption id="attachment_367229" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

10) Xigbar/Luxu

One of the best factors of the Kingdom Hearts narrative is how it in?trigues its fans with subtle nods and mystery.

Xigbar is certainly one of those characters that make you think. If you've played and finished Kingdom Hearts 3, you'll know he is in fact Luxu, the Master of Masters' right-hand man. His witty humor makes him a great foil for Sora, and his boss battle in KH2 is phenomenal.

[caption id="attachment_367231" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

9) Goofy

Despite his clumsy origins in cartoon form, Goofy is a reliable ally for Sora. He's the one in the Keyblade Her?o 3 that gives the spiky-haired hero valuable advice and is the level-headed person in the g?roup.

He's endear??ing ?and kind which makes him a great friend!

[caption id="attachment_367236" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

8) Master of Masters

We really don't know much about the Master of Masters, but from his few appearanc?es so far, fans have been intrigued by his presence. He seems to have everything planned with the Book of Prophecies in his mind and has a strangely goofy (not our pal Goofy) vibe from him.

His personality makes him such an odd antagonist, and the intrigue makes him one of the best Kingdom Hearts characters.

[caption id="attachment_367237" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

7) Xemnas

Xemnas is a badass antagonist in Kingdom Hearts 2.

The Organization XIII leader has dual blades, and his battle skills with these laser swords would put even Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul to shame. Xemnas is also an anta?gonist who has a just cause for his actions. He wants himself and his fellow Nobody Organization members to have hearts again but can only do so by making Sora defeat the Heartless. Therefore, he causes chaos throughout the worlds.

[caption id="attachment_367240" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

6) Xion

Xion is another nobody stuck with a dreaded path ahead of her. Those who have played 358/2 Days know that she's a fun, charismatic character that?'s similar to Sora in many ways. Roxas and Axel get to know her throughout the game as s?he struggles to wield the keyblade.

The story behind her existence is a fascinati??ng mystery that begins to unravel as the days continue. By the end, your heart will be broken as a friendship is torn apart by fate.

[caption id="attachment_367241" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

5) Aqua

Another character Kingdom Hearts fans love (myself included!) is Aqua. She is strong-willed, disciplined, and has a sharp wit about her that few other Kingdom Hearts characters possess.

She has a stern exterior, but when it comes to her friends, she will do anything in her power to protect them, especially Ven, who drifted to sleep for a decade before she could rescue him again. She's one of the best Kingdom Hearts characters in my mind? because of her adept abilities and strength.

[caption id="attachment_367242" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

4) Axel/Lea

Axel (or Lea) is a Nobody that nearly everyone loved as soon as he a??ppeared on-screen. He has a rambunctious personality and likes to work outside the lines.

His unpredictable nature and break-the-rules flair helped him gain a buddy in Roxas. He also goes through a tragic story as he's forced to take out his own best friend, who has lost their memories. Axel is just plain one of the best Kingdom Hearts characters: "got it memorized?"

[caption id="attachment_367243" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

3) Roxas

The character that has arguably lost the most in the Kingdom Hearts series is Roxas. He loses his friends, has his bod??y completely taken away from him, and is told that he was never meant to exist. It's quite tragic! During his time in Twilight Town, he tries to think positively. He is loyal to his friends like Hayner and Axel.

However, Roxas is less trusting of others than Sora in many ways. It makes for a refreshing change of pace from Sora's happy-go-lucky approach. He's more critical, able to think on his feet, and is a sharp wise-cracker. He also has a wonderfully dramatic theme song. Hopefully, ??we get another game with Roxas again, his badass dual-wielding style include??d.

[caption id="attachment_367232" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

2) Sora

To some, Sora can be a nuisance. He's loud and obnoxious at times. However, what makes Sora one of the best Kingdom Hearts characters is his compassion for others. Unlike many video game protagonists, he is willing to show his feelings. He begs on his knees to see Kairi again towards Organization XIII member Saix. He cries when the Guardians of Light fail in one fell swoop in Kingdom Hearts 3. 

That willingness to show his?? emotions, within a genre filled with masculine protagonists, is a breath of fresh air. He's super relatable.

[caption id="attachment_367233" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

1) Riku

It can be argued that Riku has the most character progression of all of the cast in the KH series. He grew accustomed to the darkness as Male??ficent convinced him to twist him into a servant. He betrayed his best friend Sora for the wellbeing of Kairi, (even fighting against him). Then, after Xehanort's Heartless took over his body, Riku suffered for a long time, even taking the form of the person he hates.

But he took that form to protect Sora and fight off the powerful (and angry) Roxas. Riku has an amazing character arc as he tries to reconcile his past mistakes. His struggle is the reason why he's the best Kingdom Hearts character.

The post Best Kingdom Hearts Characters, ranked appeared first on Destructoid.

Portable power!

The most popular current-generation console is a handheld. Computer companies with lim?ited experience in the console market are jumping in with handhelds of their own. There's no denying it: portable gaming is in the midst of a renaissance. But as companies continue to release handheld consoles, and as consumers continue to buy them, I'm struck by an interesting question: what was the last mainstream h??andheld game?

I'm not talking about a game that you can play on a handheld. At this point, you can play basically any game ever made on a handheld. I'm talking about a game built for ha??ndhelds, one that benefits from a smaller form factor, l??ower processing power, and increased portability. Handheld consoles are about as big as they've ever been... so where are all the handheld games?

Very important pockets

Think back with me on simpler times. Remember when compa?nies like Nintendo and Sony would have two main consoles on the market at once? A chunky home device and its lean, mean, pocket-friendly little sister? And, crucially, remember when they had different libraries? There was a kind of separation of powers in those days, and it led? to some really compelling design decisions.

[caption id="attachment_359259" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image vi??a Sony Interactive Entertainment[/caption]

The limited power of the handheld has also always been of some import. Patapon, Loco Roco, and Echoshift are all wildly beloved PSP and Vita franchises, and it's hard to imagine any of them connecting on the PS3. While home consoles were in the midst of a graphical arms race, pushing more and more cinematic stories, Sony was quietly publishing some deeply innovative and interesting titles on their dedicated handhelds. At home, you get Halo and The Last of Us.?? On the go, you get a rhythm tactics side-scroller.

Most of these games are designed based on a simple philosophy: a great handheld game is built on the idea that it will be played in your hand. It's a game in which nothing is lost on the small screen, and, indeed, one in which something is gained. Patapon plays great on my PlayStation 5, but its miniature heroes, are built for a smaller world. The characters bear s??imple designs that are readable on a smaller screen. They address the player directly, assuming a level of intimacy that the PSP facilitates nicely. Most importantly, the tight, brief levels are the kind of thing that belong in a back pocket, not on a TV stand.

A delicious bite

When I talk about games that are truly built for handheld play, it's hard to avoid Pokémon: I have long believed that the original Pokémon games would have faded into the realm of the cult classic on home consoles. These games are full of smart design calls that make them sing on the go. Of course, Pokémon has some pretty foundationally pocket-sized ideas. A game about going on an adventure and finding new things outside was undoubtedly able to more fully resonate with young children who could actually take it with them on their own mini-journ??eys.

Portability in Pokémon is baked into its ethos, but it also plays a meaningful role in its design. Battles are tactical, but they're usually brief affairs. Every moment offers up the chance to see a cool new character, or to win a really tough fight. Sa?tisfaction and engagement awaits around every corner... which also means every play session, no matter how bite-sized, is sat?isfying and engaging.

[caption id="attachment_359268" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Square Enix[/caption]

"Brief but satisfying" is the aim in a good handheld game. That's also why a lot of homebound games earned a revival in the back seat of Mom's car. Series like Final Fantasy and Persona earned second lives through handheld ports - where sprawling RPGs with intense stories were once considered TV-oriented affairs, ports like Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions and Persona 4 Golden posited that a sixty hour game with three minute fights might actually be more digestible on the go. These games were already satisfying in bursts, so they made for a natural fit on the PSP and PS Vita. Likewise, Tetris' earliest releases were on Soviet home computers, but its most iconic incarnati??on was on the original Game Boy. As it turns out, people like score-chasing dopamine h?its in their pockets.

A necessary lifeline

Handheld design philosophy also left the door open to iterate on home concepts. Wh??en home gaming systems entered the 3D era, a lot of franchises made the jump with them. Handheld consoles needed games, too, but sprawling adventures didn't always play as well on the go. That meant older design philosophy met with handheld design philosophy to keep certain corners of the gaming world alive.

I often think of Metroid Fusion. This was a 2D Metroid game released on the Game Boy Advance exactly one day before Metroid Prime, which would become the "main" Metroid series for the following twenty years. My personal opinions on Fusion aside, it is a great portable title. It's fairly linear by necessity, because it is designed to be played in shorter bursts by more casual players. More notably, though, it's an actual 2D Metroid game - I can't help but feel that if the GBA wasn't around, 2D Metroid might have disappeared entirely. As a matter of fact, when a new 2D Metroid game finally ar??rived on the Nintendo Switch in 2021, it was a retooled version of a DS?? game.

[caption id="attachment_359263" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Nintendo[/caption]

Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda followed similar traject?ories: as the home console games got more expansive, the portable games tightened the bolts on classic concepts, offering up some of the best games in their respective franchises.

What now?

In 2023, the distinction between "handheld" and "home console" is becoming increasingly muddy. The Nintendo Switch, of course, exists to destroy that distinction entirely, serving as both Nintendo's current generation handheld and its home console. Games made for the Switch need to be both home console titles and handheld titles (and the handheld bit usually cedes itself to the big-screen bit). The Steam Deck, similarly, is a handheld that plays PC games. At least for now, basically nothing is built for the Steam Deck. It also bears mentioning that, while they do fit in your hand, neither of these consoles are especially portable, so the "on-the-go" philosophy that defines games like Pokémon isn't something developers need to consider.

I think the impact of this has been almost instantaneously obvious. It seems unlikely that we'll ever get, say, a new 2D Zelda game on the Switch. When an old 2D Zelda game was brought over, it was prettied u?p and converted to 3D to make it look and feel less like a handheld game. Sony has seemingly given up on its handheld platforms entirely. The company offers PS4 and PS5 remote play on mobile devices, as well as a meager offering of remastered PSP titles for its home consoles, but looking at a list of Sony-published games from the last several years, it's apparent that the portable design philosophy has vanished.

[caption id="attachment_359260" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Nintendo[/caption]

There have been proper handheld games developed and released more recently - Panic's Playdate, for example, is a comically underpowered monochrome handheld with a dedicated and compelling library. It's become something of a safe haven for independent developers looking for a quirky platform where smaller games can flourish. Developers want to make new games like Patapon, and the Playdate offers them that space. While there are plenty of Playdate games that would be comfortable enough on home consoles, the most beloved titles on the platform tend to be games like Bennett Foddy's Zipper, a tactical RPG full of brief, sa?tisfying encounters.

In terms of mainstream consoles, though? We're pretty much out of luck. Every game made for Nintendo's flagship handheld must necessarily be made for its flagship home system, and nobody?? else is even trying to offer a smaller counterpart to their massive offerings. There's a portable hole in the market, and I truly hope someone comes along to fill it.

The post Where have the handheld games gone? appeared first on Destructoid.

Choices were made.

_{[Everyone welcome Sam Arthurs to Destructoid! As you may have noticed, we put out a call for freelancers recently, and Sam answered that call. They have experience writing for several websites, including Gameranx, and they love creepy indie horror games and creepy Metroidvanias, which in fact rule - Chris Carter.]}

Now that we've all been down a Pokémon rabbit hole for over a week, it's natural to contemplate the important questions. Who is the cutest pocket monster? of all time? While coming up with this list, I thought long and hard about how to best answer this impossible question, and I landed on writing about the objectively cute versus my own odd sense of cuteness.

For example, I think scrawny little Salandit has a shifty look about him, and I just want to put him in my pocket. Not everyone would rank him as highly as I would though. Instead, here are 10? Pokémon that I think most of us can agree are adorable.

#10 Cubone

Cubone makes the list for being such a sad baby. It seems so hardcore at first, wearing its mother's skull as a helmet and wielding a bone?? as a weapon. But it's also quick to burst into tears and is considered the "lonely Pokémon." If that doesn't make you just want to hug it, then I don't know what will.

#9 Pikachu

Pikachu is a star for a reason. This lightning ?mouse looks cuddly, definitely has a sense of humor, and runs on the cutest little feet. There's also something so special about a wide-eyed, squishy teddy bear with boundaries. Try to hug a Pikachu ??before it's ready, and you will regret it.

#8 Rockruff

Rockruff is a fluffy rock puppy who just wants to play. The way it prances as it walks makes you feel happy that it is happy.  With its folded ears and fluffy tail, it looks sweet and gentle, but Rockruff shows off its scrappy side with a habit of biting and playing rock chicken. It throws the rocks around its neck at the ground and a??ttacks if its opponent flinches. What ??a good boi!

#7 Dratini

Dratini is a water noodle with big eyes and winglike fins on the sid??e of its head. It's shy, often running away when you try to capture it, and it has an adorable coo-ing sound. It sleeps curled up in a small ball on the shore. I?? rest my case.

#6 Rowlet

Rowlet loo??ks very polite with its leaf bowtie. It ??is a very good listener, turning to face its trainer while waiting on commands. Rowlet is sleepy during the day, but it finds tight, dark spaces comforting. Don't be surprised if you find one nesting in your bag.

#5 Bidoof

Okay, fine. Bidoof is basically just a cutesy beaver. It is only a foot tall and lives by the water where it constantly gnaws on wood to keep its teeth from growing too long. However, it is in the category of "plump mouse" in the Pokedex, and I can't handle how cute that is. Its ab?ilities are "Simple" and "Unaware," and then you look at this image of a round-faced, bucktoothed, fluffy ?groundhog with small webbed feet. Bidoof is perfect.

#4 Mew

Mew may be powerful and mysterious, but it is also playful and sweet. Whether or not its strange look is cute is debatable, but the way it floats around, spinning and giggling with its hands over its mouth is definitely cute. It is kind of cat-like with its mewing sound and tendency t??o delight in gently pranking people?.

#3 Sprigatito

Of the newest generation of starter Pokémon, Sprigatito is hands-down the cutest. This grassy-green kitten has big eyes and fluff on his neck, face, and tail. He's a happy ca??t who often purrs and smiles, and there isn't much cuter in this world than a happy cat.

#2 Eevee

Eevee is the OG sweetheart Pokémon. Nothing but big ears and fluff, Eevee has so much potential to evolve into some lovel??y and powerful Pokémon, but I wouldn't blame you if you let it stay small and sweet for as long as possible. It loves to be petted and held, so it makes a perfect companion.

#1 Shaymin

According to the Pokedex, Shaymin is onl?y eight inches tall! This gr?assy hedgehog is innocence incarnate. It can turn polluted land into a lush field of flowers, where it likes to hang out. It wears a big flower on its head, smiles a lot, and has tiny feet. Don't you just want to scoop it up?

Related: The 10 fastest Pokemon in Pokemon ?Scarlet & Violet on Dot Esports

The post The top 10 cutest Pokémon of all time, ranked appeared first on Destructoid.

Turning an old gaming console from trash to treasure

Anyone who's ever had a beloved old gaming console die on them knows the heartbreak that comes along with it.? A trusty little device that has gotten you through long nights and tough times is suddenly no more, and having to let go of a console that has a lot of memories attached to it can definitely sting. While most of us are likely to take our dead device to an e-waste cent??er and move onto the next one, some gamers out there seem to be a bit more sentimental �and technically skilled in dismantling old hardware.

In a post on the r/gaming Subreddit, user Wolve5000 showe??d off their memorialized Nintendo DS Lite, and it has to be one of the most beautiful ways I've ever seen someone recycle an old console. Essentially they dismantled the old DS piece by piece and laid the whole thing out with custom art that labeled each and every element of plastic and metal, and then framed the entire thing.

//www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/ux1uma/after_years_of_gaming_it?_finally_gave_up_on_me_i/

I have no idea how they managed to make it all look so perfect, but this whole setup honestly looks better than a lot of video game exhibits I've seen in museums. I immediately want one of my own to hang over my desk, but if? I were to just buy one like this already, it would never have the same significance as it does to this person.

I suppose this could be a great opportunity to finally learn how to take apart and fix old gaming consoles, something I've been fascinated with ever since I got hooked on videos from a YouTuber called Odd Tinkering where he does just that. If there's one thing I know about gamers, it's that we're sentimental, and there ?would be a huge market in making these little memorial art pieces for other people whose beloved consoles have also died. Hey Wolve5000, if you're reading this, that might be a good career oppo?rtunity for you.

The post This Red?dit user framed their DS after it died, turning the consol??e into a work of art appeared first on Destructoid.

I'm begging you, Nintendo

Nintendo has been in a trend of bringing back its classic games recently �most notably the return of its Sports series by way of Nintendo Switch Sports, as well as rumors that have been circulating about an official Game Boy Advance emulator. The company likes to hold its cards close to its chest, so to speak, because it knows the chokehold that classic games have on us fans. But now that Nintendo is finally rereleasing, revamping, and monetizing our old favorites, I have one simple request: bring Nintendogs back on Switch.

Nintendogs: what's the deal?

For those who haven't played any of these games, or just simply don't remember, let me give you a little refresher. Nintendogs is a series of real-time pet simulators released for the Nintendo DS in 2005. There were six total versions of the game that were essentially all released at once for the DS, including Labrador & Friends, Shiba & Friends, Chihuahua & Friends, Dalmation & Friends, and the Best Friends Version, with the main differences among them being the dog breeds featured in each version, as well as geographically where they were released. For example, the Shiba edition was only released in? Japan due to the breed's popularity in that country.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGYZxdAS0l0

For some reason I thought there were a ton of sequels, but there's only one, Nintendogs + Cats, which was released for the Nintendo 3DS back in 2011. I definitely had more than one copy of the game, something that was popular amongst fans who wanted t?o collect them all, or try out the different breeds t?hat the various titles had to offer.

Not only were the Nintendogs games in??sanely popular, but they also really paved the way for pretty much all of the pet ??simulator games to come.

Sweet, soothing gameplay

The main gameplay includes adopting dogs, petting them, washing? them, pl??aying with them, walking them �you know, what you do with dogs in real life.

The highlight of the Nintendogs experience for me is the training, specifically the agility course you can do, because you get to lead your dog through the obstacles and compete for the fastest time. Plus, the commentary we got from the competition's hosts Ted and Archie, which was hilarious and rife with sexual tension. It's one of those games that has plenty to keep you engaged and enjoying the experience, but not so much g??oing on that you can't have a chill, relaxing time?? with your pups.

I know for a fact that I'm not alone in wanting a Nintendogs game for the Switch �other players who also have nostalgia for the pet simulator series have been asking for a revival of the franchise for years. There's also a ton of crossover with the Animal Crossing and Pokémon fandoms, two series that both include adorable anima??ls, relaxing gameplay, and most importantly, ??have made huge profits for Nintendo over the past few years.

Gone, but never forgotten

It's one of those games that was so beloved at the time of its release, it has remained in the collective consciousness of both fans and Nintendo alike. I mean, the company has been putting Nintendogs references in its other games for years, so we ??know it hasn't stopped thinking about its legacy either. Seems like a fairly cut-and-dry win-win situation to me �fans get a brand new version of one of their favorite ch??ildhood games, and Nintendo gets to make a pretty penny.

I know the touch screen and microphone were a big part of the gameplay of the original Nintendogs, but I think they could make some really fun changes with the Switch's hardware. The first thing that comes to mind is the Poké Ball-throwing mechanic in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee �that's something simple that would translate well to Nintendogs, and that's just off the top of my head! C'mon Nintendo, I know you guys are creative, and I'd be dying to see what a fun new spin you could put on the series these da?ys.

Until you wise up, I'll be right here with Nintendogs money burning a hole in my pocket. ??The?? squeaky ball is in your court.

//www.tiktok.com/@destructoid/video/7094712402133929221?is_from_webapp=1&sender_devic?e=pc&web_id=7052788164067706373

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Remembering 15 years of Hotel Dusk

If there is one thing about High Fidelity that rings consistently true, it’s that people love to make Top 5 Li??sts. Top 5 movies, top 5 songs, top 5 TV shows that were canceled because ?they cast Scott Foley; we love making lists. But, as much as I enjoy writing up my own top 5s whenever I'm bored out of my mind, I’ve found over the years that I’m quite bad at it.

I can easily name one or two entries that remain at the top of any list I make, but beyond that, it's basically based on a whim. And that’s especially true when trying to rank the hundreds of video games I’ve played over the years. I’m awful at it, and if you were to ask me what my top 5 was on a Monday, chances are four of the titles wouldn’t be there if you asked me again on Friday. It’s all just related to whatever it is I'm fancying at the moment. Sometimes I’m a Marvel’s Spider-Man type of guy, other times I’m a Super Metroid fellow. Or, if a specific game from my past that I enjoyed is celebrating an anniversary, I might subconsciously give priority listing to it, which is what I’ve been doing all this month with Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

This month actually marks the 15th anniversary of Hotel Dusk's release. The game was a product of Nintendo’s “Blue Ocean�strategy. If you missed this era of Nintendo’s history, just look back at all the casual games it published for the Wii and DS as it tried to surf the wave created by the likes of Nintendogs and Wii Sports.

Across both platforms, these titles were referred to as “Touch! Generation�games, and it included some crossover hits like Endless Ocean, Elite Beat Agents, and Clubhouse Games. It also included some that didn’t quite connect with gamers of all colors, like Personal Trainer: Math, America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking, or 100 Classic Books. If you’ve never heard of the last title, it basically makes your Nintendo DS an e-reader that can only access novels in the public domain. Because if there is one thing everyone should know about Nintendo, it’s that it loves to cheap out whenever possible (e.g. the song selection for Wii Music).

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 was among these Touch! Generation titles. When you look at the rerelease box art, it actually bills it as "A Mystery Novel: Lies. Betrayal. Murder." Maybe that’s why I never bothered opening the game after I picked it up from the bargain bin at Target. I know it was on my radar having seen its trailer at a prior E3, but January 2007 was the same month I got my Nintendo Wii, and lord knows the likes of WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Excite Truck had a stranglehold on my attention at the time.

I actually didn’t play Hotel Dusk until a little over a year after it released. It was January 23, 2008. I remember the exact day because I was staying with a friend of mine, and that morning when I logged onto her computer to check my email, I was stopped cold when I read the top story on MSN about the unexpected death of actor Heath Ledger. As a fledgling gay who spent far too many hours rewatching Brokeback Mountain on DVD, his was the first celebrity death that actually made an impact on me. The news left me in a haze of grief, and ?the only way I could find a way to escape the sadness was to break out my Nintendo DS Lite and dive into this little mystery that would consume my life for the next two days.

You can check-in anytime you like, and in about 12 hours, you can comfortably leave

If you’ve never played Hotel Dusk: Room 215, let me first start off by assuring you that, despite what it said on the box art, it is not a mystery novel. Oh, there are mysteries afoot for sure, but it’s a game. I mean, yeah, there is a lot of reading and you do hold your DS sideways like it’s a book, ?but calling it a novel when you’ve actually published a DS cartridge with nothing but novels on it might be misleading to the casual gamers picking this up on a whim.

But it is meaty?? like a mystery novel. There are many secrets to unravel, clues to uncover, and sometimes obtuse puzzles to solve as you figure out what this hotel’s deal is and why the room you’re staying in is known as the “wish room.�Protagonist Kyle Hyde, a form?er detective with the NYPD, arrives at the hotel on assignment from his current employers at Red Crown. What starts as a simple package recovery job quickly spirals into something that taps into Hyde’s past and his pursuit for his former partner, Brian Bradley.

[Screenshots Courtesy Another Code Fandom]

Admittedly, I know the story of Hotel Dusk isn’t anything spectacular, even if its localization is nothing short of amazing. But, for me, it was my gateway to the mystery genre, something I'd only ever skimmed the surface of before. I always thought of mysteries as old, stodgy books written by Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Mystery novels were for old blue hairs with walkers. I was of the generation that read stuff like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Fight Club, or Harry Potter way beyond th??e age I?? should have been reading that.

And this lack of interest in mysteries extended beyond games and books. There are many outstanding films I’ve missed throughout the years because of my aversion to the genre. For starters, I’ve never seen Seven or 12 Monkeys. I’ve yet to see any of the Pink Panther films. Sure, a few snuck in there over years like Momento or Clue �which, if you owned a VHS player, you probably owned Clue �but I hadn’t even seen a Hitchcock film beyond Psycho before I played th?is game. That’s just how averse to the genre I was.

As the title of this article indicates, I wouldn’t be the mystery fan I am today if I didn’t need a break from the heartache I was feeling that cold day in 2008. During the Wii and DS era, I purchased an obscene amount of games. Most of them didn’t get played beyond the opening hour, at which point I’d transfer them to my shelf to be part of the collection I’d admire but never touch. It’s highly likely Hotel Dusk would have faced a similar fate if it didn’t feel as though the world had punched me right in the breadbaske?t.

The end of Cing and the Kyle Hyde Saga

Despite the success of many of the Touch! Generation titles, Hotel Dusk remained somewhat obscure outside most Nintendo-centric circles. It just didn’t click the same way something like Professor Layton and the Curious Village did when it hit the DS just a few weeks after I closed the case of the Wish Room and Osterzone. Since the game’s debut, Kyle Hyde has appeared as a trophy and spirit in the Smash Bros. franchise?, but his flagship series, and the developer behind it, didn’t survive long enough to see the Switch, the W??ii U, or even the 3DS.

Cing, the developer of Hotel Dusk, declared bankruptcy in 2010, following an unfortunate reception to a trio of releases. Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories, a sequel to what was called Trace Memory in North America, only saw release in Japan and Europe. Little King’s Story, which Cing codeveloped, released to incredible reviews �indeed, it is one of the finest games on the Wii �but mediocre sales. Finally, the Tecmo-published Again was just a wild swing-and-a-miss from the developer that more or less sealed its fate. Its final game, released in 2010, would be Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, a sequel to Hotel Dusk set in Kyle Hyde’s apartment building. Much like Another Code: R, it didn't make it over to North America. If you still have a Nintendo DS, there are English-language copies available on eBay, but they’re not that cheap? an?ymore.

With so many loose threads across Hotel Dusk, Last Window, and the series' ties to the Another Code franchise, it's a shame we may never see a conclusion to Kyle Hyde's story. Some of the developers at Cing would go on to create a similar mystery title for the Nintendo 3DS called Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories for Arc System Works. As good as the art direction looked, without a funding sou??rce like Nintendo paying the bills, the eShop exclusive just wasn’t able to capture the same magic of the games that came before it.

Despite its short life, there is no doubt Cing broadened my horizons and convinced me to consider a genre I believe was too old-fashioned for my modern sensibilities. Since playing through Hotel Dusk, I’ve tried to correct that error in judgment as best I can. I’ve loaded up on mysteries and film noirs over the years, have actually cracked open a couple of whodunnit novels, and I have been trying since last year to get The Industry’s Chris Moyse to watch Knives Out, even though I don’t think he’s going to like it that much. Hell, I’m even a bit excited for Death on the Nile, and I really shouldn't be considering w??ho's in it.

None of that would be true for me today if it wasn't for Hotel Dusk. So if you ask me what are my top 5 video games, there is no doubt in my mind Hotel Dusk is on that list. Then again, if you asked me a week later, I'd probably switch it out for Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime or something.

The post Hotel Dusk: Room 215 made me an international?? fan of mysteries appeared first on Destructoid.

Kachou on!

Retro Game Challenge is a bit of a special title for me. I never really stopped retro gaming, honestly. When I had my Gamecube, I still busted out my Super Nintendo from time to time, but 2009 was around the time when “retro gamer�was catching on as an identity. I’ve never really considered myself to be a “retro gamer�because I play new titles with comparable frequency. I prefer to call myself chrono-agnostic. Regardless, the ident?ity made me reflect on my gaming habits and filled me with a sense of individuality.

Years later, however, I would fall in love with a Japanese show, Game Center CX. Following comedian Shinya Arino as he attempted to complete? old titles with his meager skills, it was my gateway into the world of Japanese games and culture. It wasn’t long before I had a Famic??om of my own and was reading Japanese at the comprehension level of a golden retriever.

I bring up Game Center CX, because we got one of the games based on it, even when no one over here really knew anything about the show. That would be localized as Retro Game Challenge, and while any reference to the show would be scrubbed off, the spirit c?an never be removed; experiencing games as we did in the �0s. Well, not me. I’m not old enough to remember the �0s.

At its core, Retro Game Challenge is a compilation of eight games that appear as though they’re ripped straight from Famicom cartridges, but are actually completely new creations. You’re given a list of goals to complete within each game before you can proceed to the next. Each of the games can be completed (and they have to be if you wish to actually finish the game), tho??ugh there are ??often tricks and cheats to get you through to the end quicker.

The games start off with what is essentially Galaga and progress to a strange amalgam of Ninja Gaiden and Metroid, essentially translating the early days of the Famicom to its halcyon days. A decent number of genres are covered, including a Dragon Quest 3 styled JRPG.

This wouldn’t be all that impressive, but it comes wrapped in a package of nostalgia. You’re thrown from the future back to the �??0s where you assume the role of a child. Your goal is to vanquish the demon who sent you back with the help of his younger self. As such, you both plop yourselves in front of a TV and ??while away afternoon in its cathode glow. Every couple of challenges cleared, your friend brings back a magazine highlighting upcoming games and disclosing cheats for the ones you’re already playing. It’s a rather impressive commitment to replicating the era.

The only crack in its facade is that it is more committed to emulating the Japanese �0s experience. Even the living room sports tatami floors and the console looks a lot like a Famicom. One of the major ways it differs from a Western �0s experience is the emphasis on “hidden characters�and other secrets. A lot of Japanese schoolchildren relished swapping tricks and talking rumors, which is why we got cryptic games like Milon’s Secret Castle. They w?ere puzzles that needed a community to unravel.?? That sort of thing never really caught on over here.

There’s also this joke in the game, where one of the titles you play is a sponsored special edition of a game you play previously. Rally King SP is a harder and a bit remixed version of Rally King but otherwise feels like a cop-out to pad the game. This would have been more forgivable if we had experienced the phenomenon of reskinning games with a marketing bent in the west, but I can’t name a single instance of where that happened over here. Meanwhile, in Japan, there were games like All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros based on the radio show and Kyorochan Land??, an adaptation of Nebulus that stars the Chocoball mascot.

Another joke the game plays that I really don’t appreciate is the old “beat the game a second time but harder to get the real ending.�That wasn’t funny when Ghosts N Goblins did it. You can screw right off with that biz.

Retro Game Challenge also celebrates games that didn’t quite catch on in the same way they did in Japan. Star Prince is essentially Star Soldier, which was super popular in Japan in ??part becau??se Toshiyuki Takahashi used it to demonstrate his ability to press the fire button 16 times in a second and rocketed to video game celebrity.

For that matter, the JRPG wasn’t a popular genre in North America until around the release of Final Fantasy VII on Playstation, so while Dragon Quest 3 mi?ght have been a unifying experience in its home country, Enix and Nintendo could hardly even give the game away? in the West.

That sort of thing didn’t really ruin the experience for me, personally, as I was too young to be playing games in the �0s anyway. If you were a Western gamer who is looking for a dose of nostalgia, however, it will be dulled slightly by the choice of titles. A North American version might focus more on recreations of The Legend of Zelda, Rad Racer, and Double Dragon.

There’s also the fact that retro gaming isn’t what it used to be. Today, both compilations and individual releases cover large swaths of old libraries, but in 2009, it was still heavily curated and slim pickings. Like I said, being a retro gamer was still emerging as an identity. Old cartridges could be obtained cheaply. The idea of a game replicating what it was like in the �0s was a novel idea. Now, however, many titles try to emulate the experience, whether it’s with pixel art and scanlines or similar compilations like 198X.

However, Retro Game Challenge stands as an earnest and successful attempt at this. It does more than just present you with a series of new games with old design philosophies, it tries to ?draw you back to the era; back to your childhood (potentially). If anything, it effectively demonstrates exactly how things have changed.

Unfortunately, Retro Game Challenge didn’t sell well at a time when niche games still struggled against inflexibly high expectations. There was a sequel, which Xseed opted not to localize due to the perceived failure of the first. It’s unfortunate, because the sequel takes the formula of the first game and expands upon it, making an even more effective package. There was also a third game on 3DS, but I’ve also heard it isn’t as good. Still, I feel unfulfilled having not p?layed it.

I guess we were lucky to even get Retro Game Challenge. Considering it was based on a show that hadn’t touched our shores yet, Xseed was taking a risk on it. However, in 2009, it was validating to play a game that celebrated the era I still clung to. Old games aren't worse than what we play now, they are simply ever-living examples of how things were at the time. Playing them now on modern consoles only tells part of their story, it's games like Retro Game Challenge that try to tell the whole thing.

For other retro title??s you ??may have missed, click right here!

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I'll take it over a few of the 3D mainline games

Sega has done its best to bury some of Sonic's history; notably when they took down a handful of 3D entries that got lower-than-average Metacritic scores many years ago. But it's also easy to forget about all of the Sonic side projects. Like Mega Man before it, Sega was keen on bringing Sonic into the RPG realm, but with BioWare of all studios. Video game animator Jonathan Cooper (formerly at BioWare) is here to give us the full Sonic Chronicles intro to rem??ind us that yes, this game did come out in 2008, you weren't dreaming it.

According to Cooper, "this fantastic 2D work was inexplicably cut by Sega so the game shipped with the same song backing gameplay footage." Indeed! You can watch the original intro here, which isn't really an intr????o so much as an "arcade demo mode."

Joel MacMillan (lead artist) and Nick DiLiberto (animator) worked on it, and Cooper notes that Nick in particular draws a lot of their style from the influential 1981 animated epic Heavy Metal, which you can really see in the Sonic Chronicles intro,? embedded below. I love how haggard this Eggman is!

While I'm fine with more attempts to capture the magic of old 3D Sonic games, I wouldn't mind seeing a wild swing like Chronicles every now and then; for better or worse. Sega has been v?ery safe with the IP in? recent years, but that statement could apply to?? the industry as a whole.

//twitter.com/GameAnim/status/1473329631189078016

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Would you kindly...?

My love for video gaming would not be what it is today if not for the Nintendo DS. While I’ve been a consistent gamer since I was four years old, the scope in which I approached the hobby during the first half of my life was quite narrow. I was pretty much a Nintendo-only gamer who rarely strayed from first-party or name-brand AAA titles. That’s just the way?? the world worked when you were young and had to rely on birthdays, holidays, and rentals with your meager allowance to enjoy gaming.

By the time the Nintendo DS Lite rolled around in 2006, I was earning my own money as a college student and more willing to take risks. So one day, I popped into GameStop and picked up a copy of WarioWare: Touched! It would be my fi?rst “weird�game, and after just one weekend with it, I realized my true calling in this hobby would be embracing the strange.

And embrace I did. Throughout the DS and Wii era, I bought just about every peculiar and unorthodox?? game that crossed my path. It didn’t matter the quality; I just wanted to play something different than the Marios,?? Links, and Maddens of my youth.

Contact was high on my list of anticipated games for quite some time. That mix of simple, 2D top-screen graphics and ornate, pre-rendered bottom-screen graphics crossed off enough boxes on my weird shit checklist to make it worth paying attention to. The only problem was it was scheduled to release exact??ly one month before the Nintendo Wii, and any extra spending money I had was being set aside for that. The game finally made its way into my hands two years ago when I scored a cheap UK copy on eBay, and this month, I decided it was time to see what weirdness I’ve been missing all these years.

[caption id="attachment_273003" align="alignnone" width="800"] Image Courtesy of Moby Games[/caption]

If you don’t remember Contact, I don’t blame you. It’s a pretty niche RPG on a console that was chock full of them. Developed by Gras??shopper Manufacture, the game followed the Professor on the top screen and Terry on the bottom screen as they work together to locate the gem-like cells that power the Professor’s crashed spaceship. Connecting Terry and the Professor is? you, the player, who acts as an omnipresent third party to their quest. The Professor is aware of your existence, but Terry is not, and the Professor would rather keep it that way.

The removal of the fourth wall between you and the Professor allows Contact to re-examine what a player’s role is in a video game. Unlike television or film or literature, gaming involves a level of player agency to drive the experien??ce forward. But that agency is largely not recognized in traditional games. Some in the past have broken the fourth wall, sure, but very few make you a critical part of the story beyond just co??ntrolling the protagonist.

Not only is your presence recognized here, but you’re asked to act duplicitously in your role as the connection between the Professor and Terry. Within the first hour of the adventure, it’s easy to tell something is not quite right about this whole situation. A lot of red flags pop up in your private conversations with the Professor, and the layers of truth slowly reveal themselves as Terry collects more cells from increasingly ecclectic islands. While I don’t want to give too much away here, I will say the Professor has a few shades of Bioshock’s Atlas in him, which is striking considering Contact released more t??han a year before Irrational Games�??masterpiece.

[caption id="attachment_273002" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Image Courtesy of Moby Games[/caption]

Contact’s story is certainly weird when compared to its contemporaries, and its gameplay is no different. This is o??ne odd RPG with a real-time combat system you don’t much see in the industry. Terry attacks automatically. Just guide him toward an enemy and press the B button to enter combat mode. Terry will do the rest. As he attacks and block??s, he’ll also level up on his own, meaning the only thing the player really needs to worry about his health and use of special attacks. Terry will learn these on his own through combat but will only use them in battle should you tell him to. If it looks like Terry is about to fall, you can feed him to regain HP or exit combat mode and make a run for it.

In action, the fights here resemble a less visually stimulating version of what was seen in the Japan-only Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, which is better known out west as The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls. In that game, anyti??me the Prince of Sablé approached an enemy, the two of them would go into a cartoonish cloud of fighting without any input from the player beyond ?using an item or running away. That’s basically what we have here, except fights aren’t limited to just the monsters and animals that dot the land. You can fight any NPC in the game, and doing so will change the course of the adventure and how people look at you. Murder will make you a monster in the eyes of the people, but you never know. Somebody out there might be looking for a bad boy.

Thankfully, it’s easy to avoid accidentally fighting townsfolk should you want to remain a little goodie two-shoes. All you have to do is refrain from pressing the B button or the fight icon on the touch screen and you should be alright. Still, it’s an unusual combat system and one I wasn’t at all prepared for. In fact, I died fighting the very first creature I came across, like a grandmother playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time. About 20 minutes later, I died again on the first island when I accidentally e??ngaged an enemy far more powerful than me.

(An?d yes, I know I shouldn’t be saying “I diedâ€?when itâ€??™s been established that Terry is his own character separate from the player. But it makes me feel better to say it that way than to be honest and admit I led a man to his death.)

[caption id="attachment_273001" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Image Courtesy of Moby Games[/caption]

So yeah, Contact can be difficult. And when you watch Terry miss hit after hit, it can be a bit infuriating too. Couple that with the fact that many of Contact’s idiosyncr??asies are left under-explained??, and you have yourself a pretty good recipe for a game people will avoid.

Not to mention, it got stuck with pretty bad timing. In the US, it was released right before several more prominent games for the Nintendo DS, including Pokémon Ranger, Final Fantasy III, Yoshi’s Island DS, and Elite Beat Agents. Add the impending launch of the Wii, and it’s easy to see why this got lost in the shuffle. In Japan, the looming shadow of Mother 3’s release less than a month after Contact hit store shelves might h?ave contributed to its lackluster sales.

I might have been ignored back in 2006, but I think the world is ready for another look at Contact. There is just something special about it, from its forward-thinking story to its abnormal combat to the fact that its sticker system lets you turn all t??he enemies on the screen into bunnies that will still try to kill you. It is a supremely strange game, and I’d like there is a better appreciation today for those odd titles people in the past were too quick to d??ismiss.

The post Why did I wait so long to play Contact? appeared first on Destructoid.

Assuming direct Star Control

The Mass Effect series has had a handful of spin-offs and expanded media additions over the years. One left on the cutt?ing room floor was apparently a first-person space?? adventure for the Nintendo DS.

Former BioWare producer Mark Darrah discussed the DS space game in an interview with MinnMax, describing the proj??ect as one where you would fly a ship around in first-person. Called Mass Effect: Corsair, it would have taken place in a part of the Milky Way galaxy that was "more sort of pirate-y and not really fully explored."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwnw9sHHew

He compared it to Privateer and Star Control, where the player would be a Han Solo-type rather than a Spectre,? looting cargo and selling information to ??the Alliance.

The team apparently had the "beginnings" of flight controls, though it was still figuring out how it would work within the IP when it hit a block with Nintendo DS cartr?idges and co?st. Ultimately, the production cost-versus-profit was a problem.

"And that was the problem, ultimately," said Darrah. "Is that we know how to make big games, n?ot games that had control of the?ir cogs. It didn’t make sense. EA was predicting it was only gonna sell like, 50,000 copies."

The team ultimately transitioned to mobile development. It's a bummer we don't get to see the results of that team's efforts, as I'm definitely into the concept of a Privateer-style game in the Mass Effect universe.

BioWare, meanwhile, is currently working on the next installments in both Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Former GM Casey Hudson also recently anno?unced his new s??tudio, Humanoid Studios, which is working on a new IP.

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Shocker: Pokemon games dropping in November

Grab those Poké Balls, trainers. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced the release date for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl. The two Nintendo DS ??remakes will be hitting the Switch platform November 19, just in time for the holidays.

Much like previous remakes Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, or HeartGold & SoulSilver, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl will recreate the player's trek across the Sinnoh region, hunting, catching, and training a roster of critters in tried-and-tested Poké-fashion. The twin remakes are handled by developer ILCA, as stalwart studio Game Freak is already hard at work on Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

A new tweet f?rom The Pokémon Company showcases the cover art for both titles, which once again feature Dialga and Palkia in all of their (literal) dazzling glory. Oh, we also get a shot of our two trainers, Lucas and Dawn, but sadly not in their hilarious and divisive chibi stylings. But don't fret, I put Dawn in the header image to remind you all of her huge wellie greatness.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Pokémon Shining Pearl launch on Switch November 19.

#PokemonBrilliantDiamond.#PokemonShiningPearl.
November 19, 2021.

💎✨ Preorder now: //t.co/xTW1T9xFov pic.twitter.com/zyKjJDsi54

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) May 26, 2021

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Chibi-Robo deserves my happy points

It was pouring down rain on Akihabara. The girls dressed as maids had an extra layer of transparent raincoat on, and I was happy to find that basically every shop carries cheap, plastic umbrellas for 500 yen. I was exhausted after a two-week trip around the country by rail, carrying a backpack roughly the size of a? refrigerator. My back had a knot in it, I wasn’t sleeping well, and my constant nausea meant the only thing I could put in my stomach that night was a donut and a cup of tea from Mister Donut.

It was 2014, and most people near me couldn’t believe that I’d be traveling? Japan alone. The idea seemed to come out of nowhere. I’d never traveled by myself before, it was a rare day that I wasn’t grappling ??with anxiety, and I’d spent most of my life as an extremely picky eater. I was a homebody, an introvert; hardly the worldly traveler. So what suddenly changed? Why did I make such an effort to see another country?

It wa??s a video game. One that never saw release in ??North America.

Growing up, it wasn’t uncommon to see games come out in Japan that never made it to North American shores. It’s fortunately less of an issue today thanks to companies like Atlas, NIS, and Xseed who have allowed otherwise niche titles to make it to our hands. However, this wasn’t always the case. Doshin the Giant, Giftpia, Mother 3; there was so much kept out of grasp because I c??????????????????????????ouldn’t understand the language.

Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Osoujii! on DS was the crack that broke the mother’s back. First released in Japan in 2009, I finally gave up hope that it would ever see release here in North America after the 3DS had supplanted the DS in 2011. Frustrated, I decided enough was enough. I gathered some s??tudy material and began my attempt at learning the language.

Video games were my only connection to Japanese culture at the time. As nerdy as I was, I hadn’t ventured too far into the realm of anime outside whitewashed cartoons like Pokemon and Robotech. I didn’t know that much about the country, ??so it wasn’t until I began my endeavor into learning the language that I started to discover more about the culture. And I quickly fell in love.

It started off innocently enough. I imported some Famicom games, got a subscription to Crunchyroll, and studied. Eventually I discovered Game Center CX, and that’s wh?en things really took off. I watched Shinya Arino talk about the gaming days of yore, visit onsen and game centers, and eat strange snacks. Through studying, I found out about futons and tatami floors, vending machines on every corner, and a railway system that could take you anywhere. The bustling city streets, the omnipresen?t mountains, the quiet countryside. It was so familiar and comfortable, but completely flipped.

I wanted to go there almost immediately, but there were some barriers. You might expect that my anxiety or unfamiliarity with the language would be my first concerns, but no, it was my picky eating. I’m not sure I can accurately describe how picky I was, but it was legendary among my family. My tacos were meat and cheese, my sandwiches were turkey and mayo, and heaven help you if I see anything green on there. Looking back, I don’t know how I survived, but somehow I navigated cuisine to find the most ??basic foods possible.

Getting over picky eating is difficult, but I was determined. I quickly introduced as much as possible into my diet that I could. Sushi, curry, vegetables; it was a mad rush to disconnect my brain from my digestive tract. “Put it in your mouth,&rdqu?o; I’d tell myself. “Judge ??it off of taste and not ingredients.” For anyone who hasn’t had the problem, that may sound ridiculous, but psychologically it was turmoil.

My ?plan for the trip was pretty loose. I wanted to cram as many places as possible into the two weeks as I could while still giving myself time to enjoy each setting; that was it. I had a list of places to see, then I just hopped the ocean wit?h nothing but a giant backpack, a tablet, and a camera. You read that right, I didn’t have a phone. I booked a handful of hotels at the offset, but many of the places I went to I booked the night before.

When I arrived in Tokyo after the 13-hour flight, the first thing I did was take a bath. The second thing I did was throw up, which would be the first time I discovered my anxiety had that symptom. That night, I woke up clinging to my bedsheets. Why? I’m afraid of heights and the room was on the 43rd floor of the APA Hotel in Chiba. For whatever reason, my body became acutely aware of my altitude in the? midst of my sleep a?nd decided I needed to know at that moment.

I’m not going to bore you with the entire travel log, so I’ll summarize it for you. It went well! It was actually pretty smooth. As far north as Nagano, as far west as Fukuoka. There were hitches, but there weren’t any nights where I found myself sleeping in a train station. ?I won a refrigerator’s weight in crane machine prizes, saw a mass salaryman migration, managed to actually eat food that I didn’t recognize, and tried a lot of the vending machine fare. The important thing is that I got to see a lot of the country, had a lot of experiences, and left with all my fingers still attached. The goals of every traveler, I’m sure.

Which brings us back to Akihabara; the last night of my journey. I had two souvenirs in mind to bring home: Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! and a Wonderswan Crystal. I had checked shops all over the country to no avail, but finally I hit the jackpot in Tokyo’s legendary electronic district. I could finally go ho??me accomplished.

And since then I’ve wanted to go back, but my life is in a much differen?t place now. Maybe one day.

My Japanese studies have since fallen by the wayside. After all, I completed my goal, and Japanese-only releases are a lot rarer these days. Even Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! finally received a fan translation, so I can understand the entire thing and share it with my mom. I’d still like?? to become fluent in the language, but the motivation isn’t quite the same.

Maybe I had a petty reason for abruptly deciding to travel, but I don’t regret it at all. It gave me this confidence that I could overcome any of my i??ssues and achieve my dreams if I just put in the effort. That has proven not to be entirely true; anxiety sometimes wins, children. Still, I don’t think I wouldn’t be here if I didn&??rsquo;t learn that it’s okay to take risks and just go for what I want. And all of this because a tiny robot game wouldn’t learn to speak my language.

The post How a tiny robot convinced me to visit Japan appeared first on Destructoid.

Taste the Rainbow

Over the weekend, various reports pointed to the possibility of an incoming remaster for Sega's Sonic Colors, followi??ng the listing of su?ch a title by a German recording studio.

As spotted by Twitter user @Kutairo_, iksample - which provides voice recording facilities for games and animation - listed that it had worked alongside "Sonic Colors Remastered" back in December 2020, though the entry was understandably removed as quickly as it had appeared. This has since been followed by a listing on French retailer Sogamely for a "Sonic Colors Ultimate," with a 2021 release window for PS4, Xbox One, and Nint?endo Switch, though this could merely be guesswork - made in response to the iksample leak - by the retailer. It should also be noted that this year is a big anniversary year for the Blue Blur, and as such projects such as this remaster would fit snugly on the calendar.

Originally released on Nintendo DS and Wii back in 2010, Sonic Colors was part of an effort by Sega and Sonic Team to re-establish Sonic the Hedgehog as a popular and successful video game brand, following years of terrible releases. Combining 2D and 3D platforming, and with a clearer focus on both Sonic and his ongoing battle with Dr. Robotnik, Sonic Colors recaptured the heart of many long-time Sonic fans and is considered one?? of the better and mor?e successful games in a dismal period for the franchise.

We'll keep you informed if there is any?? offici?al word on the remaster forthcoming from Sega.

The post Sonic Colors may be? getti??ng remastered for modern platforms appeared first on Destructoid.

Seize the Day

Square Enix, in collaboration with Domerica and Shin-Ei Animation, has released a third trailer for the upcoming anime adaptation of JRPG The World Ends with You. The?? new video features the debut of ?the anime's ending theme "Carpe Diem," as performed by Japanese musician ASCA.

The new anime is a straight re-telling of the narrative from the kinetic 2007 Nintendo DS release. The World Ends with You the animation will follow the story of unruly teen Neku Sakuraba, who wakes within a ghostly side-reality known as The Underground (UG). Palling up with several equally confused teens also lost within this split-dimension, Neku and his new companions must learn of their respective fates and face the challenges that?? await them within the strange, otherworldly contest known as "Reapers' Game".

The World Ends with You the animation will premiere in Japan on April 9. For those who can't wait, March 14 will see Square Enix host a special pay-per-view "UG Shibuya FES" live stream, which will include an advance screen of the first episode, (complete with English subtitles), interviews with cast and crew members, and the opportunity to win exclusive prizes. For full details on this event, check out the Subarashki Anime website.

The post Che??ck out The World Ends with You? anime new trailer and ending theme appeared first on Destructoid.

Check out its raptastic opening right here

Square Enix has announced that the anime adaptation of hip JRPG The World Ends with You will premiere in Japan ??on April 8. The publisher released ?a new music video, which features a rap remix of the show's original opening theme "Teenage City Riot" as performed by ALI and guest vocalist R-Shitei.

The hype-looking series is a joint production of Domerica and Shin-Ei Animation and is a straight retelling of the narrative from the stylish 2007 DS/Switch release. The plot details the twisted tale of protagonist Neku Sakuraba, who awakens on an unnerving alternate plane known as The Underground (UG). Journeying through this split reality??, Nebu will encounter a host of friends and enemies as he attempts to make sense of his situation and uncover the truth behind the events that lead to his incarcerati?on.

While The World Ends with You: The Animation is set to officially make its debut on April 9, a "Pre-Broadcast Special Program" is set to air a week prior on April 2. No doubt this preview will offer a sneak-peek at the stylistic series, stoking the hype fires one final time before i??ts official release.

The World Ends with Y?ou: The A?nimation begins airing April 9 [Gematsu]

The post The World Ends?? with You anime premieres in Japan April 9 appeared first on Destructoid.

My Pet Monster

I don't think anybody saw this one coming. Majesco Entertainment has announced that it plans to re-release Nintendo DS title Monster Tale on "modern platforms" in 2021. The publisher did not specify which platforms specifically, nor did it offer a tighter re?lease window.

Developed by DreamRift and launched on Nintendo DS in 2011, Monster Tale is a hybrid platformer/virtual pet title, and sees a spritely young girl named Ellie journey t??hrough Monster World, accompanied by her strange, adaptive pal, Chomp. The duo works together to free the land of the nefariou??s "Kid-Kings" and find Ellie a path back to her own world.

Monster Tale features throwback pixel-style visuals, and a cute cast of heroes and villains. As players pick their way through each world, they will unlock new skills and abilities for both Ellie and Chomp, allowing access to new areas and creative boss characters. I'm not sure anyone considered Monster Tale a title? ripe and raring for a comeback?, but that doesn't mean it won't be a welcome one all the same.

Monster Tale is currently in development for a 2021 release on unspecified ?platforms?.

The post Nintendo DS title Monster Tale to re-release ??on modern platforms in 2021 appeared first on Destructoid.

Dance into Deletion

[Update: As mysteriously as they vanished, some (but not all) of the removed DSiWare titles have now returned to the eShop. These titles include Shantae: Risky's Revenge, Plants vs. Zombies, Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ, and Zoo Frenzy. According to Delisted Games, only five titles remai??n unaccounted for. No official word has bee??n offered by Nintendo regarding the temporary removal.]

A selection of DSiWare titles has be??en quietly deactivated from the Nintendo eShop. The deletion seems to be affecting titles released before the summer of 2011, which are currently no longer purchasable? for the DS and 3DS platforms.

The vanishing titles were first spotted by Twitter user @ComeOutPunching, who noted the disappearance of WayForward platformers Shantae: Risky's Revenge and Mighty Flip Champs!, Bandai Namco's Mr. Driller: Drill Til You Drop, and Nintendo's own Dr. Mario Express, among others.

The news also came as a surprise to Shantae co-creator and WayForward CCO Matt Bozon, who expressed his shock via Twitter. Fortunately, Risky's Revenge remains available for purchase on Nintendo Switch, so that's at least one game accounted for. As of this writing, no reason has been given for the titles' removal – maybe a licensing expiration, maybe simply an error on Nintendo's part – nor is it known whether furth?er games will be removed from the digital storefront.

PSA to 3DS gamers and DS fans: all DSiWare games released before mid-May 2011 have been deactivated on the eShop, including the classic Shantae Risky’s Revenge! Luckily I got it on my DSi before that shop shut down. Grab from those still for sale while you can! Recs in thread.. pic.twitter.com/lVcawxTq8e

— 😎 Come Out Punching (@comeoutpunching) January 2, 2021

The post (Update) Shantae and Mr. D?riller among the DSiWare titles disappearing from Nintendo eShop appeared first on Destructoid.

Check out this bangin' new trailer

Square Enix has officially announced that the anime adaptation of trendy JRPG The World ends With You will premiere in April 2021. The anime series - a direct retelling of the 2007 video game - is a jo??int production of Domerica and Shin-Ei Animation.

Square has also released an exciting new trailer, spotlighting TWEWY's cast of eclectic characters, along with the dimension-hopping action that will feature in this adaptation of the beloved Nintendo DS/Switch adventure. The video is set to the anime's dynamic title track "Teenage City Riot," as performed by Japanese artists ALI. Also released was a ??new promotional image, emblazoned with the edgy overseers known as "Reapers."

It should be noted, however, that this trailer/date was not the prize at the end of the mysterious countdown clock over on the official Square Enix website, with fans eagerly anticipating its ul??timate revelation.

The World Ends wit??h You the Animation begins airing in April 2021 [Gematsu]

The post The World Ends with You anime premieres April? 2021, but countdown clock ticks on appeared first on Destructoid.

Promoted from our Community Blogs

_{[The media we consume can often affect us in subtle ways, but every once in a while, something will come along that leaves a substantial and lasting impact. Pretty much everyone has a song, album, movie, or TV show that really resonated with them for one reason or another. For Nior, that was a video game called The World Ends With You. – Kevin]}

Adolescence is the strangest thing. It's that confusing period between childhood and adulthood where? you're expected to act more like the latter but can't enjoy any of its perks. At the same time, you can't fall back on the antics of the former either. For many, it's a confusing period where it’s all too easy to get lost in between finding ou?t who you want to be, versus what you are expected to become.

YOU HAVE 7 DAYS...

It's a tough act to balance, one that you’re guaranteed to fail at least once, and the way you respond to that failure speaks volumes about you??r character. Some are not discouraged, while others choose to rebel altogether. It’s a lot to ask of a 15-year-old. I should know since, ten years ago, I was that kid trying to cross that metaphorical tightrope and failing miserably.

My response was a lot of anger, the source of which I can’t pinpoint to this day. It’s something I paid dearly for -- losing friends, pushing away family, and just overall being a human piece of shit. I’m not proud of that time, and it’s not like I didn’t know I had a problem. I was simply stuck in a vitriolic cycle of trying to improve, failing, and then justifying my ow??n actions as "correct."

When you're in that deep of a hole, you need help to unstuck yourself, and as someone that has been playing games for as long as he can remember, it probably won’t surprise you to know that it was there that I found the help I needed: the attitude-filled streets of Shibuya, in The World Ends With You.

Joshua, Shiki, Neku, Rhyme, and Beat

The World Ends With You is a JRPG, but you'd be forgiven for not picking up on that fact. It plays, looks, and sounds nothing like what you'd expect from the genre. It has a sense of style all its own, and I know that sort of praise is somewhat used liberally when we talk about games, but I swear it’s true this time. 13 years after its original release on the Nintendo DS, I struggle to think of something that might even come close. The game looks like a manga in motion: the expressive and sleek character designs immediately draw you in, the graffiti-inspired design of the enemies sets them apart from its peers, and a stylized portrait of Shibuya -- that I’m told is pretty close to the real thing -- makes the city feel alive and bursting with people of all walks of life.

For a young Nior, this presentation was 100% the thing that drew me to the game, and I can’t imagine that it was an accident. The game has a target, and that target is you. More specifically, the teen??ager version of you, the one that was lost and doing some dumb shit, and unless you really hate the aesthetic, I’d say it absolutely succeeds at what it’s trying to do.

Beneath all the hip-hop, graffiti, and zippers (those freaking Nomura designs, man...) lie the tropes and beats of a story that only a Squeenix RPG could tell: Neku Sakuraba is an angsty teenager with a seriously bad attitude. He wants nothing to do with other people and sees no value in interacting with them. Unfortunately for him, he wakes up at Shibuya crossing, with no memory of how he got there, and finds himself in a g??ame of life or?? death, where he's forced to depend on someone else to survive. It’s a simple premise that’s not unique by any means, but despite that, TWEWY ends up being one of? the most d?own to earth games Squeenix ever made.

Sure, you have a teenage protagonist that eventually comes face to face with a somewhat godlike entity, and he only wins because of the power of friendship, but the way it presents its themes make for one of the most relatable stories in RPG history. The main thing this game wants to get across is that you should get out of your own world and connect with other people. It’s the thematic pillar that ??permeates every aspect of its existence, and it delivers that theme with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. More than once will characters either monologue or straight-up spell out the themes of the game, leaving very little to interpretation. But, that isn't a bad thing. It speaks to the clarity of the game’s vision. If this really is targeted at teenagers, hammer??ing the point home is the only way to make sure the message gets across to their thick heads.

It’s not a coincidence then that Neku isn’t a likable character at all at the star??t of the game. Scratch that, he’s downright awful -- a real piece of shit. His philosophy is something I loathe, mainly because 10 years ago my own outlook on life wasn't too dissimilar. He was a reflection of everything wrong with my 15-year-old self: aggressive, rude, and self-centered to a fault. I know you’re meant to hate his ass, and his journey to becoming a better person is pretty much the entire point of the game, but back then, it just hit too close for comfort.

Actually, it’s not just him. Every main character (except for Rhyme. She’s pure and perfect and would never hurt a soul) seems to have at least one flaw that explores a different facet of the game’s theme: Shiki envies her best friend and that envy makes her depreciate her own identity, Beat has not yet found a goal or dream to call his own and feels pressure from the others (mainly his parents) to "get his life together," and Joshua is a prick?? who shares Neku’s nihilism but still interact??s with people so long as they can be useful to him in some way. I won’t spoil the specifics, but suffice to say that, in all of these cases, the game has one answer: express yourself and open up to others. Which leads me neatly into my next topic...

Art, the way one expresses themselves, and the connections we form through that expression are a very important part of this game. We see it as a mechanic in the brand system, where the popularity of said brands affects your combat pins. There are very few restrictions on how you build your deck of attacks, encouraging you to play it your way. Even the way your most powerful attack requires Neku and his partner to be in sync, something ??that as anyone who has played ??the DS version will attest is not easy, necessitates you to divide your attention between the two screens.

In the plot, most of the characters you meet are artists in some way or another, and their expressions vary from a simple bowl of ramen to actual in-universe music. Music is an extremely important part of&nb?sp;TWEWY too. The main character is named Neku (the Japanese word for sound), he wears big headphones constantly, your enemies are called Noise, the guy in charge is called the Composer, and so on. The headphones in particular are where I think the message of the game shows the m?ost. The surface-level reading is obvious: the phones block external noise and leave you with just what to hear.

It’s a symbol of isolation. However, there's one curious thing you might notice when playing: each week has its own set of songs, with only a few being shared between the three. The entire OST is very eclectic, not limiting itself to a single style or genre, with lyric?s that are almost always reflective of either the person Neku is partnered (or fighting) with, or they relate to the plot ?in some way. Mechanically, it just gives the game a great sense of variety, but the implication is that no matter what you do, other people will influence you somehow. Their ideas and creeds will make their way into your own world, but it’s ultimately up to you to decide how to act upon them.

So, it's very poetic that the final boss theme is a remix of Twister, the opening theme and usually considered Neku's theme. While the original version of the song is very good, compared to this one, it feels incomplete, and I don't say that just because it lasts for less than two minutes and ends abruptly. This remix goes all out, incorporating samples and styles from the entire soundtrack. It's gr??and, richer, chaotic, and all over the place, but it all comes together to make a beautiful melody. Much like Neku's world after meeting with so many different people. Although, what really sells that idea is the break at the point where the original song ends.

The power is yet unknown...

When the song reaches that point, the singer addresses a virtual audience, as if it's a live concert. Let me tell you something about live performances. When you're upstage with your bandmates, you riff off each other. Maybe someone is off tempo, so you tip them off and adjust on the fly. Maybe your drummer is pulling a kick-ass beat that you guys didn't practice, but you all rock along anyway. Or, maybe the bassist has pulled a slapping improv during that break, and you? all can't help but smile. My point is, when you're live, you can perform the same song a thousand times, and all of them will be a unique moment in ti??me that only that specific group? of people could've pulled off.

Making this remix of Twister a live performance is nothing short of genius storytelling. Neku's world isn't static anymore, the people around him all bring their own unique melodies into his performance. It changes him ??and, in turn, he changes them. It's fucking awesome! It’s one of my favorite boss themes of all time, and the perfect song to end this journey.

By the time the credits started to roll, I just sat there. Thinking. Partial??ly because of the very last plot twist that caught me off guard, and partially, because I wasn't sure how to proceed. I got the message loud and clear but pulling it off looked impossible for someone like me. Maybe, I was still afraid. The hedgehog dilemma kinda applies here now that I think about it. Maybe I just had to figure out how to love myself first. As fate would have it, my opportunity would show itself sooner rather than later. I had to change schools a little after finishing the game, and no one from my past class would be there. 

It was the blank slate I was hoping for. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you it was all good from there because God knows it wasn't. Getting out of that s?hell of self-hatred took a lot of effort, but little by little, I felt a bit better. I learned the guitar to impress the girls (it didn't work), took better care of my looks, and reconciled with the people I metaphorically (and sometimes, literally) punched. Hell, I even joined a band and recorded a song as part of a school project! Slowly but surely, my world expanded, and I can't imagine how miserable I could still be if I hadn't changed back then.

The original DS combat is taxing but central to the game's message.

TWEWY is about a lot of things, more than I can reasonably explain or cover in a single blog, and all of it feels more relevant than ever in the year 2020. Even disregarding our current state of social distancing, we've grown colder and more distant as people. Echo chambers provide ?a comfortable but ultimately harmful way of life, and when I look at social media, all I see is a vapid pursuit of validation that leads to the expression of a fake self.

In both scenarios, any connections formed end up being shallow and meaningless. It’s the ultimate antithesis to the game's message,? where it's all about the genuine moments where two different ways of life clash and both parties walk away better for it. These moments don't need to be life-changing events, they just need to be true and actively sought after. Not an easy thing to do, especially when you're young and still trying to find your place in the world,? and it won’t simply happen overnight, but it’s an idea well worth pursuing.

Maybe this is why it resonated with me th????e way that it did. TWEWY ?wants you to realize that despite the bad stuff, the world is still a beautiful, vast, and wonderful place. That's why it rewards you for taking breaks, for finding other people that also play the game, and for getting out of your own world. There are billions of other people, billions of worlds marching to the tune of their own songs. Dissonant lives t??hat may or may not mesh with your own, each a unique encounter waiting to happen.

"The world ends with you" is a lesson that everyone will need to learn at some point, and an obvious one at that, but I argue that it's because it's so obvious that it tends to be overlooked. More than that, it's also a call to ac?tion. Find out what's limiting your world and get rid of it, whether it is anger, fear, apathy, eg?o, or self-doubt. Push your borders as far as they can go.

Let the world begin with you.

The post The World Begins with You appeared first on Destructoid.

Playing in Traffic

Square Enix has released a short 90-second preview clip from the upcoming anime adaptation of 2007 Nintendo DS title The World Ends with You, currently in pr?oduction at Domerica and Shin-Ei Animatio??n.

The clip sees TWEWY protagonist Neku Sakuraba awaken within The Underground (UG), an alternate plane of existence that exists alongside the real world. Over the course of?? the anime, Neku will find others seemingly trapped in this unnerving universe as he forms b?onds with these strangers in an effort to uncover the events that led them to this bizarre dimensional shift.

The World Ends with You The Animation will begin airing in 2021. The World Ends with You: Final Remix is available now on Nintendo Switch.

The post Here’s a new look at The World Ends with You anime appeared first on Destructoid.

Getting the gang back together

Square Enix has announced that the anime adaptation of The World Ends With You will launch worldwide in 2021. The first teaser trailer for the anime was premiered during a special panel at Anime Expo Lite 2020.

The World Ends With You the Animation will see Neku, Shiki and friends relive their strange, psychedelic escapades in "The UG", an alternate reality version of Tokyo's? jam-packed Shibuya district. Having awoken on Scramble Crossing with no knowledge of any recent events, Neku and his band of hot-headed teen pals must now face the wrath of the "Reapers' Game" if they are to understand the twisted fate that has befallen them.

Co-produced by Domerica and Shin-Ei Animation of Doraemon fame, TWEWY the Animation will also reunite several key members of the original game's development team - including artists Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi, composer Takeharu Ishimoto, and numerous voice actors. It seems that the iconic audio/visual style of the unique JRPG will be making a smooth transition into the anime realm. You can find more information, along with fresh character art, over at the official website.

The World Ends with You the Animation will launch in 2021.

The post The World Ends with You a?nime comi??ng 2021, teaser trailer released appeared first on Destructoid.

More details coming in July

Square Enix has announced that it has commissioned an anime adaptation of its urban fantasy RPG The World Ends with You, which launched on the Nintendo DS back in 2007, before being revamped for the Switch platform in 2018.

As of this writing, there have been no images or?? details released regarding this exciting new animated endeavour, but the anime will be recei??ving its official unveiling during next weekend's Anime Expo Lite presentation.

You can check out the action for yourself over on the Anime Expo Lite's official YouTube and Twitch channels. The Day One presentation will kick off Friday, July 3 at 18:00 PT / 21:00 ET / 02:00 BST.  In the meantime, Square Enix has opened an official countdown website, which you can find right here.

The World Ends with You: Final Remix is available now on Nintendo Switch.

Square Enix announces The World Ends with You anime adaptati?on [GoNintendo]

The post The World ?Ends with You is getting an anime adapt??ation appeared first on Destructoid.

A decade later

[Author's note: This is a community blog I wrote almost eight years ago. With only days away from the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and only a week away from our ninth wedding anniversary, it seemed fitting to revisit this story, with years and dates updated.]

Almost ten years ago, I asked a special woman to spend the rest of her life with me. This is the story of it all. I've told it to friends, I've told it on Podtoid, and I've writte??n up an old community blog that is all broken and busted due ?to the constant onward march of the internet.

It started almost 15 years ago, in the summer of 2005. I worked in a laboratory in college, and so did she. Our desks were near each other, and in between experiments, we would help each other out with online crossword puzzles, mahjong solitaire, and ShyGypsy's Funny Farm puzzle. She was cute, and I felt comfortable talking to her, which is something I struggled with when it came to most other people.

One day I invited her over to my apartment to hang out and play video games. My roommates and I were broke college kids, and we lived in an old house in upstate New York, so we kept the thermostat at a chilly 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn't the most welcoming environment, but I was able to use it as an excuse to snuggle up on the couch and play Clubhouse Games wi?th my soon-to-be girlfriend. She seemed to enjoy it and particularly liked ??my Nintendo DS.

I don't remember what exactly spurred her to get one of her own, but soon enough, she had a DS Lite, along with her own copy of Clubhouse Games and New York Times Crosswords. Meanwhile, I had taken her to? see opera excerpts at the local symphony hall, taken her out to a teppan dinner for her birthday, and finally worked up the nerve to give her a kiss.

Things went well for the next few months, but then we had to face an unfortunate truth: I was graduating and moving to California for grad school; she was finished with her work and moving back to Mississippi. Our first summer apart was difficult, though we talked daily. I sent her a gift of a game I thought she may enjoy: Animal Crossing: Wild World. With each of us on our DSes, w?e were able to run around town together, catching fish, gifting items, and making hearts ??appear above our heads. It wasn't quite the same as snuggling together on a couch, but it was better than just talking on the phone.

We spent a year apart, though we saw each other about once a month. Sometimes ?she'd visit me in California, sometimes I'd visit her in Mississippi. Other times we met in entirely different locations. Every time we met we talked about when we'd be together again. After that first year, she quit her job in Mississippi and moved out to California to join me.

Two years passed, and over that time, I played Animal Crossing less and less. I always wanted to play the latest releases, and I tried getting her into other games, but nothing ever really stuck with her. She was content to play Animal Crossing,?? visiting her town and digging up fossils on a daily basis.

It was then that I started planning how I would ask her to marry me. I wanted it to be something personal to both of us, something we would both remember forever. The decision was obvious: I would ask her through Animal Crossing. But I ??couldn't just do something small; it needed to be gr?eat.

My first idea was to bury letters, sending her on a scavenger hunt, findin?g each letter one by one, until the last one had the question. To my chagrin, I realized that it's impossible to bury letters, so that idea was mostly scrapped. I still wanted to do a scavenger hunt, but I ha??d to be creative with it.

For weeks I bought red roses whenever I saw them on sale in Nookington's. They would be instrumental to the plan. I created an alternate character on my copy of Animal Crossing named Mysterio, who strangely looked a lot more like I do than my main character did. With Mysterio, I bought a bottle mail, filled it out, chucked it into the ocean, and then went to her town so it would show up on her shores. While I was there, I wrote her a letter and left it w??ith Pelly to deliver later. I had Mysterio return to my town, then go back to hers. I searched the beaches ??to find my bottle mail, then I got to work gardening, and posted a message on her bulletin board. Everything was set.

Oh yeah, I also bought a ring. Then everything was set.

At the time, I was working a job that let me stay up late and sleep in until noon, so we only occasionally fell asleep together. That night, after she went off to bed, I turned off the TV and followed her in. She still played every night, to the point th?at she had actually conditioned herself such that the 9:00 pm music causes her to fall asleep. She was facing away from me when she started playing, and I watched over her shoulder.

Immediately after she exited her house, she heard the whirr of a UFO and saw Gulliver flying overhead. She ran to try and catch him, but her aim was off and she missed her chance at knocking him out of the sky with her slingshot. Flustered, she saved her game and closed?? her DS Lite. My engagement plans were about to be ruined by an anthropomorphic seagull. "Hang on," I said, "I think you had mail?? to check," hoping I wasn't being completely obvious.

She seemed a little confused that I was interested in? her reading her mail, but she opened her DS back up and restarted the game. She looked in her mailbox and saw a letter from Mysterio, telling her that something important had washed up on the shore of Dogtown. Intrigued, she set off south to the beach, and combed it, until she found an arrow of red roses pointing to the bottle mail. I had to cut down one of her coconut trees to plant that arrow. Inside the bottle mail, the message instructed her to go read the town's bulletin board.

She trekk?ed back north, toward City Hall, where she found the following message on the bulletin board. Meanwhile, I had stealthily grabbed the ring fr?om inside my nightstand and waited.

She rolled over with excitement in her eyes. Almost ten years ago, I asked a special woman?? to spend the rest of her life with me. She said yes.

The post A very Animal Crossing engagement story appeared first on Destructoid.

Company closes its doors after 19 years

Mario & Luigi developer AlphaDream has filed for bankruptcy. The news broke yesterday from a Japanese financial report on Yahoo News. It seems the mounting debt the studio had was too?? much and has forced the developer to close. As of March 2018, the company had amassed around $4.3 million in ?debt, which is what contributed to the recent filing.

Founded in 2000, the company is closing its doors after 19 years in the industry. While the company did produce a few games before the Mario & Luigi series (some licensed games and Japan only releases), its turn with Nintendo is what put the company on the map. I remember how much of a surprise Superstar Saga was in 2003 for me. I had definitely enjoyed Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario??, but I didn't expect a GBA RPG to be so in-depth?? and funny.

It's a sad day for fans, but hope?fully, the devs will go on to something better.

AlphaDream, developers of the Mario & Luigi series, file for bankruptcy [GoNintendo]

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Time to count the Counts

Unless it was made by just one person, it's a bad idea to give all the credit for a game's success or failure to a single individual. Koji Igarashi has produced many of the best games in the Castlevania series, but he's far from the only reason that era of 'vanias is so beloved. That said, with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, he's proven that even without Konami's backing, and the entirety of his old production team behind him, he can still head up a ?great game. 

Personally, I love all of Iga's games in one way or another. Under his watch, a certain knowing absurdity has its way of l??eaking through the layers of gothic fantasy and heavy-metal horror caked on the public face of the franchise. That, along with his tendency to stuff a game with more unessential-but-eye-opening weapons and power-ups than many games see in a decade, are his two signature moves. With that in mind, let's do a mini-autopsy on the Igavanias we have so far and see which ones are the best. 

_{[Note: We didn't include the two Chronicles remake collections and Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth on this list as they are based on earlier games in the series it didn't feel fair to compare them to wholly original Iga titles.]}

11. Castlevania: Judgement

This Wii arena fighter has more in common than the recently released Kill la Kill brawler than it does Symphony of the Night and other 'vanias that Iga is better known for. With motion controls and bold but alienating new character designs by Death Note's Takeshi Obata, in many ways, the feels like a Castlevania in name only. Still, its the IP's biggest? crossover to date, and each character plays remarkably close to their original in??carnations (Dracula teleports around and throws fireballs, Shanoa uses tattoo magic to kill), so it's not all bad. 

10. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

In many ways, Harmony of Despair feels like an apology for Judgement. It's also a crossover, except this tim??e it's a 2D, co-op, exploration platformer. It's a great idea, but in the end, it's so afraid to do anything new that it ends up being nearly as dis??appointing as the game it's apologizing for. Since you're shown the map of every stage before you start in, true exploration is cut to a minimum. The fact that nearly all the characters and graphics are recycled also hampers the sense of discovery and surprise that makes top-ranked Igavanias so compelling. 

9. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

The first Igavania to go 3D has a good heart, but the body is suffering from rigor mortis. It tells the story of Leon Belmont, the first in the clan to battle Dracula, all the way back in 1094. While a huge step up from the painful pair of Castlevania games on the N64, it still pales in comparison to Iga's 2D titles. It's almost like they worked so hard to make a 3D game that felt like a real Castlevania title that they forgot to do anything truly interesting with it, other than the allow you to unlock a playable pumpkin child. 

8. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

It's funny (in a dad-joke sort of way) that Lament of Innocence rhymes with Harmony of Dissonance, as both games suffer from a lot of the same problems. This was Iga's first Castlevania game on the GBA, and after the success of Circle of the Moon, it felt like went a little too hard into reestablishing the basics instead ?of giving us something we hadn't seen before. Starring Juste Belmont, one of the least notable members of the family, the game lacks the much of the beautiful character animation seen in Iga's other 2D titles, while still presenting a serviceable adventure. It also ends on a high note with a battle against a flying skull with a giant eyeball and hear?t attached to it. You can even fight it as the original 8-bit Simon Belmont, complete with limp, who's an unlockable character in Boss Rush mode. 

7. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness

The second Igavania to go 3D is a more confident game than its predecessor. Building off the relative success of Lament of Innocence, Iga did more to make this one align with his unique vision for the series, introducing new protagonist Hector and a detailed new "devil forgery" mechanic that allows you to raise six different types of demonic familiars. With its large interconnected map, simplified battle system, greater variety of weapons and power-ups, and cameos from Castlevania III's Trevor Belmont, this is as close as Iga ever got to producing a 3D game that plays to his strengths as a designer. Still, there's no question his work is better in 2D, wher??e it's easier to control the spacing of enemy encounters, tighten the pace of discovery, and keep the world feeling cohesive. Let's hope Konami brings Iga back to work on a sequel, preferably with Trevor's lightsaber whip in tow.  

6. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

This one feels like a jack of all trades and a master of none. The second Castlevania title for the DS, it's saddled with some unwieldy touch screen stuff, but nearly not as much as its precursor (which we'll get to next). Like Castlevania III, it allows you to change between two playable characters (the whip-wielding Jonathan and the magic-using Charlotte), but not in ways that feel particularly necessary. The two of them together basically do the job of one Alucard, though deciding when to tag one out for the other, or when to combine their powers together, does make for some interesting moments. Like Harmony of Dissonance, this one feels little more by-the-numbers than Iga's very bes??t games, but the art and design craftsmanship here is nothing to sneeze at.

5. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I originally had this game much higher on the list, as I had just finished it was really impressed with how well it all came together. Then I went back and played through my favorite parts of all the other Igavanias, and I saw that for all its new-car smell, Bloodstained doesn't quite have what it takes to make it to the top four. The game's high points are fantastic. When it comes to displaying Iga's unique sense of humor, moments like battling a giant demon housecat, an enthusiastic lead guitarist, a buff Shovel Knight, a dead Belmont, and a giant puppy head are all gold-star p?erformers. The late-game bosses and weapons are also up there among Iga's best. The rest of the game, however, is just good-to-great, which doesn't quite cut the mustard when you're up against some of the best games in the genre.

4. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

It took a lot of hand-wringing to decide if this one should go before or after Bloodstained, as it has a lot going against it. The touch-screen controlled magic spells are a pain in the neck, the anime-style portrait art is a huge downgrade from most of Iga's output, and the game's story and setting don't go too far beyond what we saw in Aria of Sorrow on the GBA. Still, seeing Soma Cruz absorb souls and struggle against the urge to become Dracula, now with DS-powered art and music, is too much fun to rank any lower. I don't know what I love more, the bonus mode that allows you to play as Alucard, Julius Belmont, and Yoko Belnades in yet another callback to Castlevania III, or the collectible soul that's basically a vacuum clea?ner made out of a skeleton.

3. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

A controversial entry to be sure, but I absolutely adore Order of Ecclesia. It combines my favorite aspects of the earlier Castlevanias and the Iga-produced titles that followed them in a way that brings out the best of both worlds. In retrospect, it is also like a superior prequel to Bloodstained in more ways than one, with a female protagonist who can absorb enemy abilities into her tattoos, and a story that offers up a less-than-glowing review of organized religion. Also, like Bloodstained, Iga got weird with this one, featuring monsters like the Invisible Man, a Leatherface look-a-like, and a giant screaming crab who you crush with an elevator. Unlike Bloodstained, it's all packaged with impeccable polish, featuring some of the biggest and best-looking weapons and boss battles in t??he series. 

2. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

This is the ultimate portable Castlevania, made with the knowledge that it couldn't rely on technical power to impress, so it had to go all out in every other way. The original story of Soma Cruz, a teen from 2035 who may be the reincarnation of Dracula, Aria is so packed with inspiration that you'll forget almost instantly that it lacks the horsepower of its siblings. There are so many opportunities to grind for cool weapon drops and souls – and so much feeling crunched into each enemy encounter, each note on the soundtrack, and each area of the map – that it's become the only game in the series that I kept playing long after I'd seen and collected everything; replaying i??t from the start multiple times over the years just to relive it. 

1. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

So if Aria is the game that's most fun to play, shouldn't it be the top game on this list? On any other list, the answer would be yes, but this is a list of Igavanias, and when it comes to what Iga does best, there is no topping Symphony of the Night. This was the first game in the series that Iga produced, and each and every game in the series that followed borrowed from in one way or another. Sometimes actual graphics are recycled, sometimes ??it's gameplay concepts or characters. Either way, its influence is still felt to this day, in and out of the series.

More important to this list, it's also Castlevania at its most unhinged. In most 2D exploration platformers, you might eventually unlock an item that lets you fly. In Symphony of the Night, you unlock the ability to turn into a bat and fly, then later, the ability to turn into intangible mist and fly, and then even later, the power to turn into an intangible mist that poisons enemies while allowing you to be completely invincible. In any other game, this might be overkill, but to Symphony of the Night, it's just one thread in a tapestry of excess that no one, not even Iga himself, has been able to top. The gigantic bestiary of wonderfully rendered, memorable monsters,? the huge selection of weapons, secrets, and exploits, the fantastic score, the entirely ridiculous character-power scaling, the addition?al playable characters of Maria and Richter; the list of things that takes it over the top is as long as your arm.

Symphony of the Night is?? too massive, too overflowing with creativity, charm, and content to deny. Even if it didn't deserve the throne, it would no doubt take it by force, first by turning into a giant horse-man and electrocuting all comers, then beheading any survivors with a giant flying sword, then choking-out strag?glers with a sentient blotch of poison fog. 

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Um, yes

Dragon Quest IX was immensely popular, and one of the most successful Dragon Quest games in the history of the series. Not just in Japan, mind, but I knew scores of US players who were always looking to link up and rock multiplayer, DS-to-DS. It was a social game before StreetPass and mobile titles really took off. Everyone nee??ded a full copy of the game? to play, a concept that helped it smash sales records.

It was also a pretty good game, and that's why we're talking about it a decade later. Square Enix is talking about it too, as they just hosted a special Dragon Quest IX 10th anniversary livestream, which touched on the idea of bringing the game back to modern systems. Although the mobile platform is an obvious choice, given that a ton of Dragon Quest games are on it already, Switch was also heavily discussed, with, according to Siliconera, roughly "80-90% of its playerbase" asking f??or it on Switch.

I??n typical Square Enix fashion you'll need to be??g for it, as co-director Jin Fujisawa has requested that fans keep noting interest: as they have been for nearly 10 years. Level-5 CEO and Square Enix buddy (seriously, he shows up at a ton of their livestreams!) Akihiro Hino says that it could take "about a year" to make from his end if it was a straight port.

As Siliconera points out, the team notes that nothing is confirmed today, they're just talking about the idea. But Square Enix is Square Enix, and they have a nice collection of "smash glass if profits are down" modules, and Dragon Quest IX on Switch would m??ake a pretty penny if they ever needed it.

Dragon Quest [YouTube via Siliconera]

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Failure of a Japan only 'remake' to blame

During the dark eight-year period between Mega Man 10 and Mega Man 11, the franchise went through a series of cancellations. Maverick Hunter, Mega Man Universe, Legends 3, and Mega Man Online have been the only ones made public so far. We've now learned of another potential title that wa??s cancelled behind the scenes.

That game was Mega Man Star Force 4, a proper sequel set within the Star Force franchise.

Courtesy of the Rockman Corner, we know a fair amount about the game and why it was cancelled. For context for all involved, I'm going to give a brief history lesson for the Star Force series leading up to this moment.

Star Force was the follow up to the Mega Man Battle Network series, which was a very successful multi-media franchise, and the two of them make up the "Network timeline". Over the course of 2006 to 2008 in Japan, Star Force received three games on the Nintendo DS (as well as manga and anime adaptations) to recreate the success of its predecessor. Both adaptations ended at the second game, as Capcom couldn't recapture the magic of Battle Network. ?Only 25 of th?e 66 episodes would air outside of Japan on Toonami, indicating a poor reception internationally as well.

Despite Star Force 3 selling only a third of what Battle Network 6 did in Japan - an early indication of the troubles the franchise was in for - Capcom continued their push and published Operate Shooting Star in 2009. What should have been a momentous occasion was instead a bare minimum port of the first Battle Network game, with a single crossover scenario thrown in literally one scenario before the final boss. The lack of effort translated int??o a lack of sales, with?? only roughly 60,000 units sold. This effectively killed not only the possibility of a localization, but also future games in the Network timeline, including this recently-uncovered title.

From what Rockman Corner's source can recall, the mystery game's tone was aiming to be more "mature" in order to attract an older demographic. In addition to an older Geo Stellar, protagonist of the Star Force series, it would have featured a new character named Kazuma, who can be seen on the left in the only known concept art shown above. While he's described as a genius hacker, the more important piece of information is that it was planned for him to be a direct descendant of Lan Hikari's family, the protagonist of the Battle Network series. It's likely that Kazuma - and the change in tone - were meant to try and bring back older Battle Network fans that did?n't make the jump to the successor series.

Outside of that, the premise was for the two characters to cross paths and become outlaw hackers, with an 8,000,000 Zenny bounty on each of their heads. Hacking was supposed to be the new mechanic, with the source comparing it to the Noise mechanic from Star Force 3. While specific dev team members aren't known, the only illustration we have was done by Shinsuke Komaki, a veteran of the Mega Man franchise. In addition, the?? source claims that while development started between 2009 and 20??10, the game was roughly halfway into development before it was cancelled. When exactly it was cancelled was not stated, but it should be noted these games normally had one-year development cycles, so Inafune's departure in late 2010 likely had no influence on the decision to cancel this one.

The wildest thing of this for me is that I'm ok with the cancellation. Star Force 3 ended the series on a solid note. Everything was wrapped up nicely, and it doesn't necessarily need to continue, much like Battle Network and Zero. If we do ever come back to the Network timeline, I'd rather have a fresh start with a new cast of characters, with games?? being given more than a yea?r of development time.

Cancelled Mega Man Star Force 4 Concept Art and Story Details [Rockman Corner]

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