Thursday News Update with Nintendo announcing Mario Kart Tour on mobile and an animated Super Mario movie!
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● President Tatsumi Kimishima announced Mario Kart Tour for smartphones. It is scheduled for release between April 2018 and March 2019 with further details being revealed at a later date.
● Kimishima also confirmed Nintendo are working with Illumination Entertainment on an animated Super Mario movie with Chris Meledandri and Shigeru Miyamoto producing and Universal Pictures distributing worldwide. Expect a release around 2020.
● Nintendo will launch the paid service for Nintendo Switch Online in September 2018 with it remaining free to use until that time. ‘Attractive’ content is planned for the paid service.
● Playism announced they are bringing the 2D side-scrolling action game Kero Blaster to the Switch (they have just published TorqueL and will also publish both Croixleur Sigma and Detention).
● The retail version of VOEZ sold just 1,122 in its first week according to Dengeki data.
● ARMS has been updated to Ver.5.1 adding a new Tournament Mode, a Gallery feature, new Badges, Party Crash additions, plus bug fixes. The next Party Crash is on 9 February too with Springtron vs. Kid Cobra.
● The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been updated to Ver.1.5.0 on Switch where adding Traditional and Simplified Chinese, and Korean language support (voice will still be Japanese however), plus “Various fixes to improve gameplay”.
● The niconico Switch app has been updated to Ver.2.00 and now allows players to watch niconico official live broadcasts.
● The Arowana Mall will be added to Splatoon 2 at 11:00 JST tomorrow (tonight in North America).
● Resident Evil Revelations (Biohazard Revelations in Japan) has sold around 250,000 worldwide on Switch according to Capcom.
● Dragon Quest XI: Sugisarishi Toki o Motomete was amongst the list of some of the other publisher titles to be released moving forward on Nintendo Switch in today’s presentation slides.
● The PriPara: All Idol Perfect Stage! website has now fully opened up (here).
● Shigeru Miyamoto said Nintendo’s ultimate goal is for the console to be “one-per-person.”
● Kimishima wants the Nintendo Switch’s lifespan to be more than five to six years, and aims to continue evolving the ways people play games.
● Kimishima said Nintendo are “continuing to develop new software” for Nintendo 3DS and that they “intend to continue the Nintendo 3DS business separately and in parallel [to Nintendo Switch]”. 3DS is being “positioned as an affordable product for budget-conscious consumers” moving forward.
● Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp saw Lottie’s Gothic Rose Festival begin and is much like Rover’s Garden Safari except with Roses and Bats. More details here. Presentation slides today revealed approximately 77% of players are female.
● Fire Emblem Heroes Choose Your Legends: Round 2 Results saw Celica win the Women’s division with Veronica as the runner-up, and Hector win the Men’s division with Ephraim as the runner-up. Nintendo are also planning a TV commercial for the game.
● Super Mario Run is still being played by approximately 20 million monthly active users according to Kimishima.
● PQube announced they are bringing the Switch visual novel game Song of Memories over to the West in 2018. Website with trailer here The game doesn’t yet have a release date in Japan.
● Former Rare developers Team17 are bringing the classic beat ‘em up Raging Justice to the Switch this year. Announcement trailer here.
● Landfall Games announced Stick Fight: The Game is coming to the Switch.
● Wales Interactive will publish Typoman on Switch on 22 February with pre-load now live.
● Ratalaika Games announced Twin Robots: Ultimate Edition for Switch.
● Wired Productions announced they are bringing The Town of Light: Deluxe Edition to Switch this Spring.
● And Mixed Bag Games are bringing both The Wardrobe and Detective Gallo to the Switch.
● Kimishima announced the global sell-through of the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom (including Western SNES variants) is at four million.
● Square Enix will host a Dragon Quest Builders “Builders 100 Landscapes Contest: The Road to Builders 2” broadcast on 16 February at 20:00 JST.
● Sega will have a panel at SXSW on 16 March discussing last year’s Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, plus where Sonic will go next.
● Watch the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 The Game launch trailer here.
● The Shingeki no Kyojin 2 (Attack on Titan 2) battle trailer here.
● The first trailer for the new Hototogisu Tairan game Fujoki Tairan -1553 Ryuuko Aiutsu- here.
● A character video for Veronica from Anata no Shikihime Kyouikutan (Your Four Knight Princesses Training Story) here.
● A TorqueL -Physics Modified Edition- promo video here.
● And an ‘Amazing Creatures Have Been Discovered across the Planet!’ Pokémon Go video narrated by Stephen Fry here!
● Thanks again to Nirbion for the awesome new headers!
● Thanks to Contra Network for a lot of the worldwide news.
● Thanks to RiruKiria for the Song of Memories news.
● Thanks to toutoune for pointing out that I posted the wrong Attack on Titan video.
● And thanks everybody for following!
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