Club Nintendo is now offering Mario and Luigi pouches for those of you that want somewhere special to keep your Nintendo 3DS. The Mario pouch was available a while ago on Club Nintendo, but they’ve now decided to add a Luigi pouch for good measure. The Mario and Luigi pouches are available from Club Nintendo for 250 points each.
Japanese newspaper Sankei News has blamed the “curse of Mario” for Nintendo posting huge financial losses. The publication states that Nintendo’s mascot Mario has hindered the company from creating original IP’s and catering to today’s consumers tastes.
“The curse of Mario has hindered Nintendo’s progress into a new market of DLC and smaller indie games.”
“As the game market evolves, Nintendo seems unable to move beyond creating games that rely on the image of Mario.”
Shigeru Miyamoto has told Entertainment Weekly that his favourite character in Mario Kart is the one and only Mario, purely because he believes he’s the most balanced character. Miyamoto was also asked by the publication who his least favourite character is in the Mario Kart series and was surprisingly quick to say Toad. Who is your favourite character in Mario Kart?
Nintendo has announced that it’s going to start selling cuddly Tanooki Mario soft toys in Japan starting from April. A small cuddly Tanooki Mario costs 1,400 yen ($18) and a medium-sized Tannoki Mario costs 2,600 yen ($34). Nintendo hasn’t announced any plans to bring these adorable toys to the West, though I’m sure there’s a few of you that would like to get your hands on one.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told investors that there’s a possibility that Nintendo will add additional stages to games such as Mario as downloadable content. Iwata stated that it would not only give Nintendo additional profits, but it will enable the game to remain fresh in the minds of gamers, and lengthen the life of the product.
“As I referred to before, for example, this is the idea of supplying new stages to Super Mario users who want to play the game more but have completed the game and lost interest in the existing stages. This will not only give us new profits but will lengthen the life of a product, in that it will never be out of fashion and can keep attracting public attention as long as many people play it.”
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has told investors that the company is hard at work developing a brand new side-scrolling Mario title for the Nintendo 3DS. Iwata claims that the game is a “key title” for the Nintendo 3DS and will be released in the next fiscal year – at some point after March 2012 and before April 2013.
“[it’s a totally new side-scrolling action Super Mario in 2D”.
- Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata
Strong sales on Black Friday pushed the U.S installed base of the Wii system to 37.7 million units and helped the Nintendo 3DS system surpass the first-year totals of the Nintendo DS system (2.37 million) after only eight months on the market, according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. Other milestones reached in November include:
Software
Hardware
Rayman Origins creative director Michel Ancel has told Gamasutra that while he has respect for Shigeru Miyamoto and is a fan of the Zelda franchise, he just can’t get into the Mario games.
“I will tell you something terrible — I don’t really enjoy playing Mario games. I don’t like gliding, I don’t like its inertia, and I don’t like not being able to give some slaps! It’s a fabulous series, and I understand that people love it, but it’s not my cup of tea.”
“I used to prefer Ghosts n’ Goblins, Heart of Darkness, Another World – games with a focus on the narrative side. Beyond that, I find Mario‘s controls very interesting, but I don’t buy it. I can’t help but seeing the ropes of the game, even if it works.”
Michel Ancel has been referred to as ”the French Miyamoto” which is something he says he’s deeply honoured by, but he admits he’s very different from Nintendo’s legendary games designer.
“I’m very different from Miyamoto.”
“I really loved the idea of introducing artistic features in games — that is to say the storytelling, the artwork, music — and to get everything together in the best possible alchemy. We have two different approaches, two different tracks.”
In the latest Iwata Asks segment legendary games designer Shigeru Miyamoto claims that the critically acclaimed Super Mario 64 became boring. According to Miyamoto the game initially felt fresh and fun and then suddenly it seemed boring which was something the team were extremely quick to rectify.
When I was working on Super Mario 64, I realised halfway through that it was getting boring. I don’t remember if it was when I watched someone playing it, but I was like, “Wait, a minute…” So I went around and asked everyone, “This game was really fun in the beginning, but now it doesn’t feel fun anymore, does it?” And just as I’d expected, they all said, “We agree
Nintendo of America has announced two limited edition Nintendo 3DS bundles. The first bundle includes Super Mario 3D Land and a Flame Red Nintendo 3DS system. The second bundle includes The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D game and the special 25th anniversary limited-edition Black Nintendo 3DS system. Each bundle will be available at a suggested retail price of $199.99 in the U.S and will be released November 24th.
