Friday Update：Octopath Traveler Prequel, Fódlan Collection Details, New Splatfest, Plus Much More！

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● Apologies for the late update – I had more dental surgery today and slept for hours afterwards! Square-Enix announced that OCTOPATH TRAVELER for Nintendo Switch has surpassed 1.5 million units shipped including digital worldwide as of January 2019. A prequel was also announced for iOS and Android with OCTOPATH TRAVELER Tairiku no Hasha (literally ‘OCTOPATH TRAVELER Champion of Continents’) scheduled for 2019. The team said “Everyone who waits for a new console game, sorry, we will need more time for developing” regarding a new console game which could be Octopath, Bravely, or something entirely new. Check out the first trailer for Tairiku no Hasha here.

● Nintendo released more details of the Fire Emblem: Fuuka Setsugetsu Fódlan Collection today which includes game, Födlan ARTBOOK (128 pages), Fuuka Setsugetsu SOUND SELECTION (33 tracks), and Steel Case. Check out pictures of all (and presumably the worldwide box art) along with samples from the Sound Selection CD at this post.

● Nintendo announced that Splatoon 2 will be updated to Version 4.5.0 on 11 March at 10:00 JST (10 March at 17:00 PT) with changes to some main, sub, and special weapons, gear power, and bug fixes, but no new content. A Knights vs Wizards global Splatfest was also announced for 15-17 March over a 24 hour period (check your copy for local times) where using the headgear and shoes from the Octoling Boy/Girl amiibo will see you wear that instead of the Splatfest Tee in battles (pictures here).

● The second second round match-up of the ARMS Party Crash Bash tournament will see Max Brass vs Twintelle taking place from 15 March. The winner will face Min Min in the semi-finals! Ninjara vs Ribbon Girl and Mechanica vs Dr. Coyle are the other second round matches with the winner of both competing in the second semi-final.

● In-game events this week include the Destructive Cannon Group Match in Pokkén Tournament DX with a Blastoise reward, and the Taking the Lead Spirit Board event in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – check out all the available spirits for that event at this post.

● Taito announced that M2 are working on a patch for Darius Cozmic Collection for the Summer which aims to further improve the Darius Gaiden game.

● FuRyu opened up the official website for The Alliance Alive HD Remaster. I also collated the four press images here.

● Nintendo of America confirmed that the stadiums from the Pokémon Sword／Shield trailer are Gyms which are now bigger than ever before.

● Ubisoft Japan announced that Just Dance 2019 will no longer release on the Japanese Switch eShop only on 20 March and is now TBD. Japanese promo videos posted here.

● Check out this week’s Nintendo eShop charts for both Switch and 3DS with The Battle Cats on top in both here.

● And Downwell won the most recent players choice in Japan followed by FINAL FANTASY IX. Check out the full top 10 here.

● The first-day sell through of Keito no Kirby Plus is around 20%. The shipment quantity is unknown. Nintendo’s first-day sell throughs are often low as their games tend to have more legs than most other companies, although this game isn’t likely to do anything impressive.

● The Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp team posted an update regarding the issue some users are experiencing after updating to Version 2.1 which causes the game to crash and that they have concluded that it stems from the game using more than the available usable RAM on certain devices. This issue is still persisting in-spite of optimisations made with Version 2.3. They said that “In order to completely fix this problem, a number of different optimisations need to be implemented, and this process may take some time.”

● Dragalia Lost will see a new facility event, The Accursed Archives, will begin on 12 March at 15:00 JST (11 March at 22:00 PT). Three new Void enemies will also be added on 19 March with two (Obsidian Golem and Blazing Ghost) detailed here.

● Fire Emblem Heroes saw New Heroes: Beyond Darkness begin featuring Lugh: Anima Child, Sue: Doe of the Plains, Thea: Stormy Flier, and Idunn: Dark Priestess. Introductory videos posted here and official artwork here. Forging Bonds: Reason to Fight also began. Grand Hero Battle – Rutger: Lone Swordsman begins Sunday.

● Nintendo Co., Ltd., Creatures Co., Ltd. and Game Freak Inc. applied for a アーマードミュウツー (Armored Mewtwo) trademark in Japan. There’s all manner of purposes. Check them all out (obviously in Japanese) at this post.

● In Dengeki data for the past week: Yunohana SpRING！ ～Mellow Times～ for Nintendo Switch opened with 1,467 units sold. Boku no Kanojo wa Ningyo Hime！？ My Girlfriend is a Mermaid!?, AND THE switch versions of both Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart 2 and Trials Rising sold under 1,024.

● Nintendo Co., Ltd. shares dropped again today, this time by +2.97% today to close trading for the week at ¥29,665.00.

● Nintendo of Europe announced for MAR10 Day that double Gold Points will be accrued when purchasing select Mario games – including Super Mario Odyssey & Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo eShop until 23:59 on 10 March.

● It looks like DELTARUNE Chapter 1 has been removed from the North American Switch eShop due to issues with the rating. It will be up again soon.

● PQube Games have returned Tokyo School Life to the North American Switch eShop after resolving their particular ratings issue.

● Yoshi’s Crafted World game and amiibo introduction videos here.

● Promo video for VA-11 Hall-A here.

● A So Takei instruction video for Zoids Wild: King of Blast here.

● Light and Subaru play videos for DIABOLIK LOVERS CHAOS LINEAGE here.

● The cast announcement trailer for BUSTAFELLOWS here.

● A teaser trailer for Zombies Mansion (Undead’s Building) here.

● Teddie trailer from the arcade version of BLAZBLUE CROSS TAG BATTLE here.

● And the UK and US launch trailers (both different) for Kirby’s Epic Extra Yarn here and here.

● Thanks to Naruki for the Octopath Traveler translation and more!

● And thanks everybody for following. Please also follow me on Twitter @toadforsmash and please buy me a coffee!