As part of Mega Man’s 25th anniversary Capcom has announced that Mega Man 1-6 will be coming to the 3DS via the Nintendo eShop for the first time in North America. The original Mega Man will be released on December 27th with Mega Man 2 following on February 7th. Games 3-6 will be released throughout 2013.
So get ready, because if you were known for throwing your controller while playing Mega Man 2 (raises hand) you better show more restraint or a new 3DS will be in your future.
For a limited time you now have a third choice in color when picking up a 3DS XL.
The pink and white handheld is available now at Target, and Best Buy. It will be available at Gamestop beginning on December 9th. The system will be available for a limited time and cost $199.99.
Nintendo is normally the king of multi-color systems but has been a bit stingy with the 3DS XL since the system released back in August. It is currently only available in red, blue and now the limited pink.
Nintendo has just revealed a new holiday bundle for the 3DS XL that will include Mario Kart 7 installed on the system. The midnight blue 3DS XL will be released on December 2nd and retail for only $199.99. If you haven’t picked up a 3DS yet or were looking to upgrade to an XL this is a good bundle. Mario Kart is still one of the best games released on the system so far.
Gamestop’s Black Friday ad has leaked online and the retailer is not letting Best Buy and others outdo them during the biggest shopping day of the year. Leading the way this year is what is probably the best bundle available this holiday season. They are offering the Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Bundle which comes with the console, a copy of Forza Motorsports 4 and a download code for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Then just to sweeten the pot you will get a copy of the biggest game of the year, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Hear that shoppers? Gamestop wins the bundle war.
Here is a rundown of the deals that will be available on Black Friday from the retailer.
-Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Bundle w/Forza Motorsports 4, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim AND Call of Duty: Black Ops 2- $249.99
– Playstation 3 500GB Console w/ Infamous 1&2 and Uncharted 1&2- $199.99
– Playstation Vita (White) Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation Bundle- $199.99
– Xbox LIVE 3 Month Gold Subscription- $12.49
– Forza Horizon (360)- $39.99
– Dance Central 3 (360)- $29.99
– Fable: The Journey (360)- $29.99
– Battlefield 3: Premium Edition (360, PS3, PC)- $29.99
– Medal of Honor: Warfighter (360, PS3, PC)- $29.99
– Need For Speed: Most Wanted (360, PS3)- $29.99
– Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS3)- $39.99 w/ new Playstation 3 console purchase
– Little Big Planet Karting (PS3)- $29.99
– Jak and Daxter Collection (PS3)- $19.99
– Diablo 3 (PC)- $39.99
– Lego The Lord of the Rings (3DS, Vita) $19.99
– Lego Batman 2 (3DS, DS, Vita)- $14.99-19.99
– Mortal Kombat (Vita) $14.99
– World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (PC)- $9.99
– World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (PC)- $19.99
– Nintendo 3DS Bundle w/ Super Mario 3D Land and choice of Nintendogs game- $169.99
– Buy 2 Get 1 Free on all Pre-Owned games and accessories
– Double Trade-In Credit On Systems
– 25% extra trade-in credit when trading 2 or more games
– Skylanders Giants Starter Kit (Wii, 360, PS3)- $54.99
– Dishonored (360, PS3)- $29.99
– Assassin’s Creed 3 (360, PS3)- $49.99
– Batman: Arkham City GOTY Edition (360, PS3)- $19.99
– Doom 3: BFG Edition (360, PS3)- $19.99
– Max Payne 3 (360, PS3)- $19.99
– Borderlands 2 (360, PS3)- $39.99
– EA Sports titles-Madden NFL, NCAA, FIFA and NHL 13 (360, PS3)- $39.99
– Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3)- $39.99
– Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)- $19.99
– Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition- $49.99
– FIFA Soccer 13- $49.99
– Scribblenauts Unlimited- $49.99
– Game Party- $29.99
[amazon_link id=”B0050SYLRK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Assassin’s Creed 3[/amazon_link] (360, PS3) $59.99
Besides Halo 4 this is arguably the biggest release of the year. Every bit of the game has wowed anyone that has seen it and the anticipation has been at a fever pitch for months. Finally moving out of the Ezio era and bringing the American Revolution to the forefront looks like it will really pay off for the franchise.
[amazon_link id=”B0085L2T0A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]WWE 13[/amazon_link] (360, PS3, Wii) $49.99-59.99
Last year’s game saw a complete change in the control scheme and physics engine so how do you possibly keep it fresh? By celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Attitude Era with its own storyline set as well as having Attitude Era stars on the roster. Don’t like your WWE programming PG? THQ may have the answer by looking to the past.
[amazon_link id=”B0050SWTAQ” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Need For Speed: Most Wanted[/amazon_link] (360, PS3, PC, Vita) $39.99-59.99
My favorite racing series of all time is Burnout. So when it was announced that the guys at Criterion would be releasing the next Need For Speed game you can imagine my excitement. The real wonder of this release is how they managed to fit the entire game, as in every mode, into the Vita. Nice job Criterion.
[amazon_link id=”B0088MVOUC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Lego Lord of the Rings[/amazon_link] (360, PS3, Wii, PC, Vita, 3DS, DS) $29.99-49.99
Lego Batman 2 was released earlier this year to good reviews as well as being the first Lego game to feature voice acting. Now Lego Lord of the Rings is here and features actual dialogue from all three movies as well as Lego’s own unique humor mixed in. Co-op play are back as with any Lego game as well as tons of hidden goodies and unlockable characters.
[amazon_link id=”B007BJNR6C” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation[/amazon_link] (Vita) $39.99
This Vita only adventure follows a new assassin, Aveline, as she tries to decipher a Templar plan in New Orleans during the years of the American Revolution. I still have to wonder why they would release the game on the same day as Assassin’s Creed 3. Most people won’t have the money for both and releasing apart from the main game may actually sell a few Vita’s. Sony….that is all.
Next week is a bit lighter on the releases with everyone getting out of the way of Master Chief’s return. That’s right, it’s finally time for Halo 4.
Happy gaming!!!!
Nintendo held a direct stream broadcast this morning from Japan and chief among the items talked about was the upcoming games for the 3DS. The Big N released a video showcasing what all the system has to offer for the holidays and into 2013.
There are a lot of big franchises that fans have been waiting to play including: Fire Emble, Monster Hunter, Castlevania and Luigi’s Mansion. If you are wondering what the difference is between this sizzle reel and one that would theoretically exist for the Vita, this two minute video runs around a minute and a half longer than the Vita one would.
Sorry for that pun by the way, I try.
November 11 will see the release of [amazon_link id=”B0053BCMAC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Paper Mario: Sticker Star[/amazon_link] on the 3DS. It is the fourth in the series with the last being 2007’s Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
This new trailer shows off more of the use of stickers to make your way through levels and for attacks on enemies. Paper Mario has always been in a class all by itself when it comes to Mario titles with its unique look and RPG elements and Sticker Star looks to keep that tradition going.
It really is quite amazing to think that in Mario’s long and illustrious history that a game like New Super Mario Bros. 2 has never been released. Making coin collecting the focal point of the game has taken the old premise and added a good turn of OCD coin looting to the mix and rewards players that want to go out of their way to find secret levels, find every star coin and spend every last second they have on a level trying to attain all the little gold pieces possible.
Ok here is the obligatory Mario plot synopsis. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Princess is chilling in her castle when the Koopalings come along and kidnap her and take her to Bowser’s big bad castle. So first off, Bowser has become too lazy to kidnap her himself and also has anyone ever thought about who the Koopalings mom was? I mean Bowser has kidnapped the Princess a lot. Now that I have taken Mario to a deep, dark place that you will never forget let’s move on!
One thing that the Mario franchise has never been lazy on is level design and that does not change here. You will be platforming your way through nine levels which include the normal environments of desert, water, snow and fire as well as three special worlds of the mushroom, flower and star variety. Now while the environments may not change the actual level design is all sorts of Mario goodness. As a lifelong Mario player I still found myself cursing at certain ghost houses or castles filled with rotating buzzsaws….those effing buzzsaws. But that is part of what makes the game endearing. You may want to throw your 3DS occasionally but you keep going onward because as weird as it sounds, the frustration is part of the fun.
The new twist with New Super Mario Bros. 2 is that for the first time ever the game keeps up with your cumulative coin totals. Now that may seem like a simple change but you are given new powers and new game types to ensure that you will be collecting long after you have beaten the game. Special golden fireballs allow you to destroy any enemy you hit with them on screen and add extra coins for doing it. Special gold rings turn enemies gold and assign coin totals to each one killed. Stomp on a Koopa and hit his shell into enemies and watch your coin total balloon. Not to mention all the P blocks to find for blue coinage and each level truly has it’s own chance to be a banking bonanza.
Another new addition to the game is coin rush mode. These are three randomly selected levels from different parts of the game which have you speed running through them to see how many coins you can collect. You start off with 99 seconds and have to take off and try and use all your skills and memorization of the past levels to keep the money coming. Now it’s not quite as rushed as you may think because there are random clocks to find to add to your timer but if you don’t pay attention fully to what’s going on you will quickly be staring at zeroes on the clock. This mode is where a majority of my coinage has come from because you can really get on a roll and get a great count for the three levels and for every flag you hit the top of at the end, your coin total doubles. And when you have your Streetpass on it will automatically send out your high scores and receive them from other players so there will always be a challenge out there for you.
One thing that I could pick out to complain about would be the lack of any kind of 3D look to the game. It is colorful and very vibrant but it had no use at all in 3D mode. When I would set it on any kind of 3D the background would move back but become so smudged looking that it was almost ugly. This is definitely one to play with the 3D turned off unless you like beautiful levels marred by background that appear through dirty film.
Nitpicking aside this game is a good, not great addition to the Mario family. Completely replayable and while it doesn’t break much new ground with enemies or environments it should be applauded for attempting something new that works for this as a handheld title.
42,000 coins and counting. What is your total so far?
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B0088MVPFQ” /]