The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Whoa, gotta set aside about 14 minutes and watch this brief tour of the Nintendo Museum with none other than Shigeru Miyamoto!
The Nintendo Museum is scheduled to open on October 2nd, 2024, in Kyoto, Japan! This is one item we definitely want to cross off the bucket list!
source: Nintendo Of America
Retro gamers rejoice, you can finally put away your physical SNES game manuals as you can now use the SNES Manual Archive online library to check out any game manual from your smart device (or computer) anywhere in the world!
This amazing resource for nostalgic fans of videogaming history was painstakingly curated by a team of dedicated peeps lead by Peebs. To say we owe them all our gratitude would be a massive understatement!
PS: If you look closely, there are Super Famicom, N64 and Virtual Boy manuals too!
Story source: The Verge / image source: Reddit / Title image: Peebs
The way this pandemic is still playing out, we won’t be making any traveling plans any time soon.
Luckily for us, our bucket list is immune to viruses! Still at the top of our bucket list is the Super Nintendo World themed area at Universal Studios Japan! We know this is old news, but we thought it is worth focusing on some fun stuff, again. This themed area is an absolute MUST for any Nintendo or gaming fan (or theme park fan) that is fond of Nintendo’s huge video games franchises.
We are already planning our itinerary, so we can’t wait to grab our Power-Up bands, hit the 1UP Factory for some shopping and grab a bite to eat and sip some coffee at Kinopio’s Cafe 😉
PS: If you want to see each pic in its full-blown resolution, just click on it and let your eyes feast on the awesomeness!
Asking a gamer to nominate their favourite Nintendo game is like asking a parent to pick their favourite child. Well, guess what, we are going to do the unthinkable!
But before we crown our favourite, let us tell you about the top 3 contenders (that we still love playing till this day!):
First contender, Wave Race 64 (N64) – yes, we did pick Wave Race 64 above Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye 007. Don’t get us wrong, the aforementioned games are superb, but nostalgia draws us to Wave Race 64. What wasn’t there to like – realistic water physics, challenging courses and an absolutely cracking 2 player challenge – ‘Bonsai!’. We lost a lot of hours playing this game head to head. Oh yeah, the N64 controller was perfect for this game.
The second contender is none other than Super Mario Bros. (SMB) on the NES. This 2D platformer catapulted the Mario franchise into the stratosphere for good reason. The game had great level design, matched by awesome gameplay, a mesmerising Koji Kondo tune and most importantly, intuitive control – what more could you want!
Well, if it wasn’t for the next game, I guess the choice would have been easy and SMB would have walked away with the prize. Let us tell you about a 16-bit platformer that took the SMB ingredients, gave them a fair shake and then poured the contents into the SNES for a game we call (drum roll please), Super Mario World (SMW)! With SMW, the 2D platformer reached its pinnacle – sublime level design, 16-bit aesthetics that were an absolute feast for your eyes and the sound was perfectly atmospheric. This was a game that you could lose yourself in. SMW is one of those games you can either pick up and play for half an hour to get your Mario fix, or play till the wee hours of the morning. SMW walks away with the prize of our favourite Nintendo game of all time. Thank you Mr. Miyamoto for creating the definitive 2D platformer.
Phew, that was hard!
Check out this one of a kind TMNT SNES Party Wagon console created by Jarno Kotavuopio (aka: JRN33). Surely this would be the first Turtles SNES Party Wagon in the world?!
We love everything about this, from the headlights and passenger compartments lighting up, working tail lights, glass windows, to the steering wheel, the secret battle button “Turtle Power” and the original car parts!
But wait, there is more – the POWER and RESET buttons are located on top just in front of the controller ports and the top loading cart slot. The power and audio/video cables plug into jacks mounted on the back of the van. To ensure completeness, there are matching custom painted controllers and game cartridge. Jarno informs us that all stickers on the controllers, game carts and wagon are custom made (with the exception of the TMNT logo).
Turtle SNES power!
source: Jacki33 via Deviantart
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
This month, at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, the trailer for a new Star Wars game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, was released to a room full of diehard Star Wars fans. The two-minute trailer for the Electronic Arts game gave fans an intriguing story preview and stunning action-packed visuals.
I grew up playing Star Wars games. The Empire Strikes Back for Super Nintendo is still one of my favorite video games. It’s also one of the hardest. I played a little of it recently and I was reminded of how difficult each level was.
Jedi: Fallen Order had a great trailer, but there was little gameplay shown. It takes more than a good trailer to get Star Wars fans excited for a new game. The last few Star War games haven’t been stellar outings. I enjoyed Star Wars Battlefront II, but it felt like it wasn’t the game that was advertised. Star Wars in gaming is like a sleeping giant; with the right creative team and the vast universe at their disposal, something really special could be produced any year.
Star Wars games have always had excellent trailers, but most of the games haven’t lived up to their stellar previews. Jedi: Fallen Order looks like a fugitive story where the protagonist is running from the Empire. That’s a cool, original set-up. The story takes place after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, when Order 66 was initiated. It’s like a superhero origin story where the hero has to hide their powers. In Jedi: Fallen Order, the main character’s powers are The Force. The trailer shows a new Star Wars location; that gives me hope that it’ll be entertaining. However, Jedi: Fallen Order won’t have multiplayer.
The EA game will be released around the same time as the new Disney+ series The Mandalorian. Will the Star Wars faithful be more hyped to play Jedi: Fallen Order or watch The Mandalorian if the entire series drops? Fans can do both, but my main focus will be seeing what Jon Favreau does with a Star Wars bounty hunter series. For many fans, the game will be put on hold if they can stream all of The Mandalorian.
Jedi: Fallen Order, which will be released on November 15, looks like it has great potential. Star Wars needs a game that knocks it out of the park.
If you’ve ever wondered what it was like in the Nintendo offices during their Super Nintendo days, then this excerpt from the 1994 French documentary film Otaku is exactly what you are looking for!
Thanks to William Cladley from Game Escape for discovering this film and for adding English subtitles! Oh yeah, you’ll all recognise a younger Shigeru Miyamoto who even back then was always striving for a balance in creativity and management – both attributes have served him well.
source: Game Escape
Since we are on an R-Type kick (Ed: check out yesterday’s story), we thought we might as well continue rolling with more (great) news relating to this venerable shoot’em up.
Retro-Bit® is set to package two of the most iconic and critically-acclaimed IREM® shoot ’em ups together in one 16-bit cartridge for the first time this month (August) with the release of R-Type®III and Super R-Type® Collector’s Edition.
First released in 1991 alongside the Super Nintendo Entertainment System®, Super R-Type® was hailed as “easily the best Super NES® shooter on the market” by Electronic Gaming Monthly (September, 1991) and “an outstanding piece of work” by GamePro (November, 1991). It sees the formidable R-9 once again go up against the evil Bydo Empire in seven intense stages inspired by the 1989 arcade game R-Type II®.
Three years after the series’ explosive Super NES® debut, the Bydo Empire returned in R-Type III®: The Third Lightning. Named “the best shoot ’em up to appear in a long time” by SNES® Force (March, 1994), the popular action game puts players in control of the most powerful and versatile R-series vessel yet — the R-90 Ragnarok. Equipped with Round, Shadow, and Cyclone Forces of power, as well as the ability to warp between dimensions, R-Type III was an epic fight for Earth’s survival.
Bundled together for the first time ever, R-Type III and Super R-Type Collector’s Edition will include a 16-bit cartridge that can be played on the Super NES®, Super Famicom and select Retro-Bit® consoles. The exclusive hard embossed collector’s box will come loaded with a full-colour instruction manual featuring original artwork, R-Type branded notebook, exclusive sticker collection and an individually numbered certificate of authenticity, along with art prints by the world-renowned artist Paul “OtaKing” Johnson from his R-Type fan-inspired anime collection. Retro-Bit has also collaborated with FiGPiN® to create a limited edition R-Type pin set.
“R-Type is back with the limited edition collector’s package gamers have been asking for,” explains Ron Pang, Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Innex Inc. “We’re taking two of IREM’s most iconic 16-bit shooters and offering fans the ultimate collection of exclusives, high-quality content and value at an attractive price. R-Type III & Super R-Type Collector’s Edition and Holy Diver are just the first of many possible exclusive releases from Retro-Bit® Publishing.
“Shoot ’em up fans looking to take the fight to the Bydo Empire will need to act fast, as production will be limited to only 2,900 units in North America and 2,800 in Europe. The first one-thousand units in each region will come with an exclusive Galactic Blue cartridge. R-Type III and Super R-Type Collector’s Edition is currently available for pre-order and will retail for USD$59.99 when it begins shipping in late August.
More information can be found at Retro-Bit.com/r-type.
We may have to get in touch with Retro-Bit to see if we could have this cartridge in time for PAX Aus 2018!
source: Retro-Bit
When it comes to video gaming related compendiums, Bitmap Books has got you covered. One of their first efforts, the cleverly titled Commodore 64: a visual commpendium was an absolute ripper. We still love and cherish our C64 commpendium, especially the nostalgic buzz we get when flicking through its pages and finding games that we may have forgotten about. That C64 commpendium was the start of Bitmap Books’ journey into publishing awesome gaming related tomes.
Fast forward to today and we are once again wowed by their latest publication, the SNES/Super Famicom: a visual compendium! Not only is this compendium double (and then some!) the size of the Commodore 64 one, it boasts content that you would not normally find in a book like this. We were expecting the games coverage (of course), but the variety of content and contributions from industry legends, like Eugene Jarvis (Ed: OMG!) really blew us away!
The first thing that struck us when we received the SNES/Super Famicom: a visual compendium was its beautiful lenticular fascia slipcase. As mentioned, the size of this compendium (it’s 536 pages!) did get the 16-bit nostalgic nerves tingling immediately. We can bang on about the premium quality and finish, but we have come to expect this from Bitmap Books, which is a great feather in their cap.
The SNES (Super Famicom in Japan) was Nintendo’s entrant in the bitter 16-bit console war with Sega’s Mega Drive/Gensis. Selling almost 50 million consoles worldwide, it made Nintendo’s console a firm favourite with millions of gamers around the globe. If you owned or played on one of these 50 million SNES/Super Famicom consoles, then this compendium is for you!
SNES/Super Famicom: a visual compendium offers a visual snapshot of the best games, developers, box art and product design from across the territories it sold in. As the name suggests, it is a visual book designed to stir up excitement and nostalgia for Nintendo’s fantastic 16-bit machine and its legacy of classic video games. From the varied and amazing visual content, we absolutely loved the behind the scenes look at the creation of the SNES product / console packaging – a fascinating insight into the design team’s thinking!
This is really an easy review to do as the subject matter and quality finish truly sell themselves. Do yourself a favour and grab this compendium before it sells out!
SNES/Super Famicom: A Visual Compendium was kindly supplied for review by Bitmap Books
A very cool video of the evolution of Nintendo consoles by our good friends at GameSpot Today I Learned!
Before some of you say, “But where is the Game Boy, DS and 3DS?”, relax, this is the evolutionary line of their consoles, not their handhelds. Having said that, it seems like the Virtual Boy doesn’t fit in any category 🙁
How many Nintendo consoles have you owned since their Color TV-Game 6?
source: GameSpot Today I Learned