Nerd Rating

Tag: Mario

  • Watch 9 Minutes Of New Super Mario Bros. U Gameplay

    How Will The Wii U Gamepad Affect Mario’s Future?

    Here is video from Nintendo’s direct conference showcasing how [amazon_link id=”B002I0K3CK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]New Super Mario Bros. U[/amazon_link] will look and play when it is released on November 18th alongside the Wii U.

    If you love Mario gameplay and excited Japanese talking then this is the video for you. It gives you a small sample of all the new modes you will find including the speed runs, multiplayer coin battles, new suits and how the gamepad will be utilized for co-op gameplay. Using the gamepad as a seconday controller for someone to create platforms while another player goes through the level is another way Nintendo is keeping the Mario franchise and the Wii brand an easy way for family and friends to get in on the action together.

  • Paper Mario: Sticker Star Trailer

    Can The 3DS Title Stick The Landing?

    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.

  • Six Flags: Skyrim Adventure

    How Long Is The Wait For The Dark Brotherhood Ride?

    After 100+ hours in [amazon_link id=”B004HYK956″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Skyrim[/amazon_link] I pretty much thought I had seen everything. Every bleeped out fake curse word video, every arrow to the knee meme. But this blew me away.

    Misty Manley over on FakeAnything.com has crafted a more colorful, Sesame Street friendly version of the massive open world map. I would think that using this map may be the perfect mixture of M-rated content in the game and a slightly more Mario feel.

    “I remember where I dismembered that pack of vampires, it was just past that cute Christmas tree near Falkreath.”

  • Here Is Your Official Wii U Launch Lineup.

    24 Titles Announced For Day One Of Nintendo’s New Console.

     

     

    For everyone that was lucky enough to get a Wii U pre-ordered a few weeks back the only question left was which games would be available on launch day so you could decide what you want to pick up with your system. Today Nintendo announced a 24 title lineup that has a little bit of everything for everybody. From Mario to Call of Duty to Tekken, Nintendo seems to have all the different age groups and game types covered for the November 18th launch.

    Take a look at the list below and let us know what games will you be picking up when you pick up your Wii U.

     

    • Nintendo Land
    • New Super Mario Bros. U
    • Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition
    • 007 Legends
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
    • FIFA 13
    • Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
    • Zombi U
    • Skylanders Giants
    • Assassin’s Creed 3
    • Game Party Champions
    • Just Dance 4
    • Scribblenauts Unlimited
    • ESPN Sports Connection
    • Transformers Prime
    • Wipeout 3
    • Sonic and All-Stars Racing
    • Epic Mickey 2
    • Darksiders 2
    • Warriors Orichi 3 Hyper
    • Sing Party
    • Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition
    • Rabbids Land
    • Your Shape 2013
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  • Wii U Games Rundown

    What Will You Be Playing On Launch Day?

    With Nintendo’s announcement of the Wii U price and release date today we are in the home stretch for the new console. Now we know how much will need to be saved (if today’s event convinced you to get one of course) and now you need to decide what games you want to get. Here is a list of games that are either launch day titles or will release in the fabled Nintendo “launch window”.

    • New Super Mario Bros. U

    • NintendoLand
    • Zombi U
    • Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2
    • Assassin’s Creed 3
    • Rayman Legends
    • Mass Effect 3
    • Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition
    • The Wonderful 101 (formerly Project P-100)
    • FIFA 13
    • Madden NFL 13
    • Aliens: Coloniel Marines

    • Bayonetta 2
    • Skylanders Giants
    • Tekken Tag Tournamnent 2 (or T4 -BEYOND!)
    • Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
    • 007 Legends
    • Transformers Prime
    • Wipeout 3
    • Trine 2: Director’s Cut
    • Lego City Undercover

    • Wii Fit U
    • Game & Wario
    • Darksiders 2
    • Avengers: Battle For Earth

      • It’s quite a good list for the first few months of the Wii U but is it enough to make you take the plunge and get one?

     

  • Wii U Releases On November 18. Nintendo TVii Announced.

    A Pricey Situation?

    As expected Nintendo has announced that the Wii U will be released on November 18 and just like the Japanese counterpart it will come available in two bundles.

    For $299.99 you will get the basic set which has a white Wii U console, gamepad, HDMI cable, sensor bar and 8GB hard drive. The deluxe set is a $50 bump up in price to $349.99 and comes with a black Wii U, gamepad, HDMI cable, docks for the console and controller, sensor bar, AC adapters, 32GB hard drive and will come packed with NintendoLand.

    Nintendo is giving you a good amount for the deluxe set but it is still about $50 overpriced to me. I was expecting a $249/$299 combo.

    Yes, It Is Really Called TVii

    Now don’t let the name fool you, this actually is a pretty cool service. The Wii U will allow you to view all your content from your Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime services not just on your console but on the gamepad as well. You will also be able to watch live TV and set your DVR timers from the Wii U.

    The show Modern Family was shown and as the show played on the TV  you were able to see bullet points of what was happening on the show and could mark favorite parts of the show, put emoticons on them to show how they made you feel and even tweet or connect to Facebook the parts of the show you liked. This is a good show of just how different the Wii U gamepad can be when it is used for things besides games.

    Even sports were given the Wii U treatment with highlights shown from last year’s Alabama/LSU game (Roll Tide) and live scores were shown on the gamepad as well as what looked like stats and even campus locations shown on maps.

     What About The Games?

    Nintendo had a pretty good lineup of games to show but it wasn’t a whole lot different from what was shown at their multiple E3 press conferences.

    They did have the announcements that Bayonetta 2 would be coming as a Wii U exclusive and Activision showed off some playable footage of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 which showed off how you can do multiplayer using the gamepad as a seperate screen. This actually excited me about the future of online multiplayer in games on the system because it gets rid of the need for splitting the television screen in two.

    It seems like as of today that Super Mario Bros. U and NintendoLand are the only launch day titles known right now. Nintendo said that more will be announced closer to November 18 but that doesn’t instill confindence for day one purchasers. Anyone that has bought a Nintendo system knows of the dreaded term “launch window” title. And that was thrown around a lot today.

    So What’s The Verdict?

    The event today left me honestly exactly 50/50 about the Wii U. As a Nintendo fanboy it is hard for me to resist a day one purchase but there are still some wants that need to be fulfilled.

    What I liked:

    • The gamepad really looks like it could be a true innovation if used properly.
    • Nintendo TVii, despite the stupid name, was a really cool service that I could actually see myself using.
    • The game lineup looks good even with the “launch window” phrase.
    • I can’t believe I actually want to play Lego Undercover

    What I didn’t like:

    • The price. If I get one it will be the deluxe set and $349 is still $50 over what I was expecting to pay on the high end.
    • That dang “launch window”. We know that with Nintendo that can become a very long wait.
    • The feeling that Nintendo themselves still are not sold on if the Wii U is the next step in gaming.
    • I did not hear how much an extra gamepad would cost. Which most likely means expensive.

    Did today’s event convince you one way or the other on a Wii U? What about the price point? Let us know what you think and stay here for more Wii U updates as they come.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Nintendo Gives You A Heads Up On Their Wii U Event

    Reggie Fils-Aime Is Ready. Are You?

    We are only a day away from Nintendo’s big Wii U preview event and today Nintendo has sent out a video letting everyone know how to catch the live stream of the show. I’ll just let Reggie explain it in true Nintendo style.

    The show begins tomorrow morning at 9AM CST and presumably will be where Nintendo will announce the release date and pricing for the Wii U. I hope they also give us an idea of what their launch day titles will be. Keep checking with us here tomorrow and we will keep you updated as fast as we can.

    http://youtu.be/WyGo4Tbd7O0

     

  • Review: New Super Mario Bros. 2

    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?

     

    NERD RATING- 8/10

     

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  • Wii U Press Event Set For September 13

     

    It looks like we won’t have to wait very much longer to get some definitive answers on the Wii U’s launch. Nintendo has set up a press preview in New York City on September 13 that will be attended by Reggie Fils-Aime and give people a chance for a hands on with Nintendo’s new console.

    One would have to assume that this will be the event where Nintendo will announce a release date, price point and most launch titles. The past few Nintendo consoles have launched in mid-November and on Sundays so my guess would be November 18 for the launch. Which also happens to be my mother’s birthday so what better way of celebrating than by me getting a Wii U….and her a cake.

    I’ll leave you with Iwata and some bananas. Top that next month Nintendo.

  • R.I.P. Nintendo Power

     

    File this under more childhood memories that are dead. News today has surfaced that Nintendo Power is going the way of the Virtual Boy. Future Publishing said they were going to halt the monthly magazine and that Nintendo showed no interest in picking up the licence again to try and save it. Now granted I didn’t read Nintendo Power on a regular basis anymore but this is sad news still because it was such a huge part of my childhood.

    Who didn’t love reading about the awesome new Zelda game that was promised to be out by the end of the year and wasn’t seen for three years more (i.e. every Zelda game) or keeping up with the continuing adventures of Captain N? Memories….light the corners of my mind. Misty, water colored memories. of the way we were.

    So let’s all shed a single Indian tear and pour a 40 for our dear departed childhood friend Nintendo Power.

    Here’s some old Nintendo Power covers for your time of mourning.