New Kirby’s Epic Yarn trailer straight from PAX

Here’s some more Kirby’s Epic Yarn because the trailer is funny and the game looks rad.

I feel like I should add more to this post because I typically like to give an opinion but … ah, whatever, here it goes.

My love for videogames is pretty strong. I love ‘em in all varieties, be it some epic adventure, a shmup, a sports games, even dark and grizzly shooters (even if there are too many).

However, I have a huge soft spot for games that remind me of why I got into gaming in the first place. When a title really brings the charm and light-heartedness of some of the NES games I grew up loving, something just clicks with me.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn brings that authentic, true-to-its-roots videogame feel that I remember so fondly, and it does so with a completely innovative new look.

Watch Kirby, get happy

I’m not saying it’s going to be OMG GOTY or anything (but really, who’s to say), but Kirby’s Epic Yarn looks really good. It’s so damn adorable and charming it can make the deepest, darkest goth kid smile rainbows.

Nintendo released a trailer complete with a remix of the classic Kirby song and it’s delightful. It’s in Japanese, but I promise you aren’t missing out on key story elements because it’s goddamn Kirby.

There’s some new gameplay footage in there, too, so give it a watch.

As a side note, I find it a little odd that I’ll be getting two games with the word “epic” in the title, both on the same console and within the span of a few months. That’s really all I have to say on that subject, so yeah.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn comes out October 17, which is sooner than I realized. I guess I better start saving up my pennies.

Golden Sun coming to North America this year

Good news folks, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is coming to North America this year. When it failed to show up on Nintendo’s recent list of 2010 games, I pretty much ruled out any chance of that happening.

I was surprised when Nintendo dropped me the press release confirming a November 29 release date for Dark Dawn.

I never picked up the sequel, but I did play a decent amount of the original before someone decided that it’d be fun to break into my vehicle and steal all my Game Boy Advance gear – I’m still pissed about that.

Bold prediction here: you’ll be just fine in Dark Dawn even if you’ve never played its predecessors, so I’m not too worried about trying to catch up or anything.

Here’s to hoping Camelot delivers on this long-awaited sequel.

The recently released trailer is reposted up top, go visit Siliconera for some new screenshots.

And Yet It Moves launches, gets fancy trailer

While I’m one of only a few who take notice of some quality WiiWare releases, it’s been pretty rough in recent months. There hasn’t been much of anything lately, and making matters worse is Nintendo’s decision to damn near kill off Virtual Console support.

Finally something noteworthy released, however.

And Yet It Moves is a WiiWare game I’ve had my eye on for a while and it launched yesterday. It looks like a puzzle-platformer (there’s a lot of those these days) with an interesting aesthetic centered around paper-like environments.

While the slick trailer focuses on tilt controls, the game actually makes use of four different control schemes including the classic controller.

I’ll be scoping out opinions to see what folks are saying about it.

As a side note, there actually was a Virtual Console release this week. It’s another Sunsoft title, this time an old NES game called Ufouria: The Saga. It never made it to the US, so it should be interesting pick up.

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From Starry Skies to Dark Dawn

I’ve just about finished Dragon Quest IX and I have to say, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Keep in mind by “finish” I mean played through the main storyline – I’m a bit too busy to do every sidequest or get overly involved in the alchemy system.

I wasn’t sure I still had it in me to blast through a 40+ hour RPG, but lo and behold, I do.

This has effectively made me realize that I do indeed still enjoy the genre, and allows my hype level to escalate for games like Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Unfortunately for us North Americans, Golden Sun is noticeably absent in Nintendo’s recently released list of upcoming 2010 games. Sad, but it’ll come eventually.

There’s a new Japanese trailer that hit and it looks pretty brilliant. The DS isn’t particularly well suited for 3D but like DQIX, Golden Sun appears to overcome the limited tech, churning out some impressive graphics. I find the battle scenes particularly nice (admittedly, I still would have preferred 2D sprites).

Speaking of battle, it looks like the game features random encounters which is a bit of bummer for people like me. I’d much rather see the monsters on the overworld map then get the lovely surprise battle, no doubt packed with a startling sound and twisting screen animation.

I can deal with that though because watching this trailer and listening to the music gets me wanting to play this game now. Too bad what I want and what I get are two separate things.

Learn your Metroid in seven minutes

Update: Folks at Nintendo sent me a link to download the video, so I tossed it up on YouTube and replaced the first one I had up.

Recently there was some off-screen footage of Metroid: Other M that had Samus narrating her way through Metroid, Metroid II, Super Metroid and on into Other M. I found it to be a pretty interesting way to catch up with the series if you’ve been slacking, but the quality of the footage is rather lacking.

Nintendo decided to finally do something with the American Other M site by posting a high quality version of the clip on their site (apparently it’s on the Nintendo Channel, too, hence the YouTube video up top).

For the best quality head to the official Metroid site, skip the first movie it tries to make you watch and click the movie icon on the bottom right of the screen. From there, watch the “Metroid and Me” video.

There are some overly dramatic pauses here and there and it ends with a cheesy line of dialogue, but I’m sticking with my guns: Samus is actually voiced reasonably well.

If you’re looking forward to Other M and want to catch up on the series without digging through lengthy Wiki articles, I highly recommend watching the video. I really hope Nintendo slaps this on the disc and puts it under a movie gallery tab – it’s cool traveling through the series in one short burst.

Retro City Rampage: GTA meets Ninja Turtles meets Jackal

Considering my love for retro games, I figured I’d be into Retro City Rampage but it looks even better than I was expecting.

There are loads of classic references to be found, and I mean with actual gameplay mechanics and not a line of dialogue or two. Among other games, this trailer calls out to the original Ninja Turtles on NES, Super Mario Bros., Bionic Commando and Jackal.

Oh, and Grand Theft Auto, of course.

Retro City Rampage hits WiiWare later this year, so be sure to pick it up.

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Super Scribblenauts 64 3D trailer

I added the 64 and 3D because it felt right.

Scribblenauts is one of the bigger disappointments I’ve had in a while. It’s not a terrible game or anything, it just failed to live up to the ridiculous hype it received coming out of E3 ’09.

Sloppy touch-only controls hurt and the game actually discourages creativity by rewarding you for creating less objects. That last part usually led to me summoning the same old tried and true items every damn level.

I’m not sure if you’re still rewarded for creating fewer items, but the sloppy controls should be remedied as 5^th Cell smartly included d-pad controls in Super Scribblenauts.

Although better controls are definitely a bullet point, 5^th Cell is mostly focused on pushing the use of adjectives in Super Scribblenauts. Using whatever magic is contained inside the Super Scribblenauts cart, you can now differentiate things like a dragon by describing it as big or small (as seen in the trailer).

The level of customization seems pretty absurd and certainly goes beyond my completely unimaginative “big or small” example. I just hope the game is better this time around.

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Epic Mickey opening cinematic unveiled at Gamescom

Gamescom is about to kick off and like any good gaming event, all the trailers come out before the show actually starts. Took a look at this Disney Epic Mickey opening cinematic; it’s nice.

I’ve been looking forward to Epic Mickey since the first batch of artwork came up. Sure, the art turned out a little darker than the actual game, but it looks like a top notch product and one of the very few legitimate third party efforts on Wii.

It’s being positioned as a key title for Wii this holiday so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nintendo lending a helping hand to Disney and Junction Point to ensure Epic Mickey is a success.

The opening cinematic is a fun watch though I wish I would’ve saved viewing it until I actually own the game. Welcome to the Internet age, I suppose.

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Other M Iwata Asks fully translated

The Metroid: Other M Iwata Asks has finally been translated. There are four pages loaded with text so grab a snack before you sit down and enjoy.

Iwata sits down with D-Rockets’ Ryuzi Kitaura, Nintendo’s Yoshio Sakamoto and Tecmo’s Yosuke Hayashi for an interesting discussion on the development of Other M.

It’s mostly a bunch of stuff we’ve heard before, but I always enjoy reading these Iwata Asks and getting some insight on the development of Nintendo games.

Plus, it also means Other M is right around the corner. Maybe you should go about launching that advertising campaign we’ve been hearing about, Nintendo.

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