Kokopolo returns in 3D!

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/224695-circle-picks-up-go-go-kokopolo-3d

Wow! Where did this go? It was an interesting, colourful and very challenging DSiWare game and although there was talk of a follow-up, this is the first sign of it.

It also brings back memories of NGamer magazine, in which the original game was featured ages before it came out.

Now Nintendo-Gamer's website is shutting down, online highlight

The website of this great magazine was being contributed to by like, one guy: Chris Scullion.

Now, I could wax lyrical about the Nintendo-Gamer legacy but instead I'll share my favourite highlight from their brief online exclusive presence...

Here's Chris demonstrating Pokémon Typing Adventure, one of my favourite games from last year:

Thrilling to the core!

Commendation where it's due; this was one of the few video demonstrations besides Nintendo Direct I could find online at the time when the game was coming out. This was mainly due to the fact that there was no word about this coming out in America and therefore no American style excitement online.

Of course this was something Nintendo-Gamer was always known for since they did import reviews and were often the first in the world to review new games.

Nintendo Gamer demonstrates Pokémon Typing and the keyboard!

Nintendo Gamer lives in video form! I should visit the website regularly as they have a good online presence. Anyway they have a good demonstration here in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kbT2Vr8AzQ

Chris Scullion is one of the newcomers. I never knew he was Scottish. Anyway he does a good job of showing Pokémon Typing here for anyone curious about the game or the keyboard. He also connects it to an iPad which is a good demonstration of its versatility. It's everything you wanted to know and more.

Bought the final Nintendo Gamer issue today

So I guess that's it. No more Nintendo Gamer. The magazine has a few farewell features and the puzzling "on sale 30 Sept" at the very back, whatever that means. Looking at those Super Play covers they have is nostalgic. I never got Super Play but I remember seeing the covers and I always used to see them advertised in "Total!", the magazine I used to get, which was also a great unofficial Nintendo magazine. Whenever I saw the Super Play covers I always avoided them because I always saw Wil Overton's anime style artwork as being for older kids. Hmm..

More reminiscing soon :)

We never had anything like Howard & Nester

American fans are reminiscing about Nintendo Power. Howard and Nester used to be a big part of that. It was a comic in the magazine and looked pretty fun. I would've loved to have had something like that in the magazines I bought growing up.

Brawl in the Family have a special tribute to it which is pretty nice (it's number 435) and there's a special unseen installment that Howard Philips is revealing bit by bit which you can see on blogs like Gonintendo.

In our official Nintendo magazine, which was called Nintendo Magazine System, we had a letters page where a cartoon seal would answer them, which was inspired by the Nintendo Seal of Quality.

Though I wonder if Wil Overton, the guy who illustrated Super Play and now the final issue of Nintendo Gamer, could have made a comic strip? It could've been fun.

How come the last page of the last Nintendo Gamer issue ever...

says "On Sale 31st Sept"?

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/farewell-nintendo-gamer-final-issue-in-pictures/0102237

Nintendo Gamer magazine is dead :/

Wowee.

They just announced on their website that they won't be bringing out hard copies of their magazine anymore. I suppose from now on it's just a blog like gamesradar, kotaku or any of those.

I've been getting this magazine for years as you may know but I haven't blogged about individual issues for a long time now. I'll have to catch up.

Noone really talked about them much but when they did it was always with fondness and I admit it was fun seeing Americans get thrown off by their sense of humour (though they always cop on to the jokes afterwards). They were always great for import reviews of games, often times being the very first review to appear and be listed on the likes of metacritic etc. Sales numbers for the magazine were awful for a loooong time. I think it may have been the worst selling games magazine in recent years but I'm not 100% sure on that.

NGamer Magazine changing their name to Nintendo Gamer

I just flicked through the latest issue of the magazine and saw this so just thought I'd mention it. By the way I have a little backlog of issues I have to blog about! Will do soon!

I have heard that sales numbers for the magazine are low so this name change is probably a reaction to it.

NGamer Issue 67

Nice cover although when you look at Zelda's face for a while it starts to look like it's disconnected from the rest of the official artwork.

The free gifts this month were Skyward Sword skins for 2 Wii Remotes and the console, a double sided Skyward Sword poster and one of those tips books full of miscellaneous Zelda trivia and tips.

The special features this month include an incredibly boring one about games from other formats coming to Wii U and one about the 3DS that talks about its price cut, unknown DSiWare games you can get for it and a list of bargain retail games that have come down in price.

Interesting reviews include Kirby Mass Attack which got an 81(though they're saying again and again that they're not looking forward to his new Wii game at all) and Go! Go! Kokopolo which got 3/5.

NGamer Issue 66

This is most of the cover. At the very bottom there's a red bar listing some other features. But I prefer when the magazine just shows one game and its description.

This issue came with three free gifts: Starfox skins for 3DS, Starfox posters and a Nintendo quiz book in the shape those tips books normally come in. Bleh.


There's some interesting reviews including an import review of Rhythm Heaven which got 88 and Xenoblade Chronicles which got a big fat 93.

Some previews of games too including Skyward Sword and Rocket Slime 3D.

There's a big feature about the Wii U which talks about the type of games I have absolutely no interest in.

There's a Harvest Moon 15th anniversary special interview with the developers.

Kirby's Dream Land is the VC essential this time.

The absolute best feature in this issue however, is Kokopolo developer Keith Webb outlining the steps from creating a game from scratch to getting it published. It's in the form of a board game with each space showing a step in the process. I found it really interesting!

NGamer Issue 65

Remember that voting thing a few months ago where everyone was to vote on an alternative cover for Xenoblade? Well this image was the ugliest option and for some reason it's the cover of this month's issue. There were three free gifts including Xenoblade decals for the Wii and two Wiimotes (one of which also has the ugly artwork), Xenoblade posters (again one of them is the ugly artwork but the other one's nice) and a 3DS tips book.

This issue has the now slightly infamous article about the Project Rainfall people who got a little bit too excited. At this stage, anyone who would boycott Skyward Sword out of support for Pandora's Tower doesn't just need to get over themself — they need a smack.

There's a feature about Xenoblade where I learn about the game's sensible save system, a Skyward Sword preview that is very very detailed and a Fortune Street one in the form of a highly amusing exchange between one of the magazine staff and the E3 booth attendant(well worth reading). The Kirby ones were most interesting to me (it's quite funny the way they awarded the DS and Wii ones best and worst Kirby games at E3 respectively). Their glowing preview on "Go Vacation" has made me very curious about the game. I'll have to look it up.

Other interesting features were in the retro section: one about Nintendo coin-ops and a nice big one about Terranigma. That's another game I'd say a lot of fans want released in the U.S.

NGamer Issue 64

That's a magic number! This is the first issue to cover the Wii U since it was announced at this year's E3. Two free gifts came with it: A giant poster sized AR card of the Pokémon Oshawott and one of those space devouring tips books that contains a walkthrough of the Ocarina of Time as well as the coverage and review the original N64 magazine gave the game.

So yeah mainly the magazine is full of impressions of the team's trip to E3 and the Nintendo games they saw there. There's also the second half of the Ocarina of Time 3D review and other reviews like Solatorobo.

NGamer Issue 63

A Resident Evil cover. Based on the upcoming 3DS game. Looks about as good as how any Resident Evil game would make a magazine cover look. It came with 2 free gifts, them being magnetic photo frames.

Didn't get a chance to look through it thoroughly but I did give at least two belly laughs on the bus home while reading some funny bits. Ocarina of Time 3D is featured in a big way but doesn't have a score and there's a big feature about the Wii Successor with a "truthiness" rating given to some of the rumours. It'll be worth a more thorough read.

NGamer Issue 62

Hmm... not the greatest cover. It was an unusual issue as it came with one free gift (as opposed to the usual two or three) and there was no rubbishy scratchcard or DELL brochure shoved between the pages. The free gift was a containing sleeve for a 3DS.

They make fun of the tabloids that were going on about the dangers of the 3DS which I like very much! They also had a preview for the new Rocket Slime where they reflect on their review for the DS original and say they may not have given it "a fair crack of the whip"(They gave it 68%) which also made me smile. They generally go into a lot about what's coming up on the 3DS and there's a feature about games going to court for committing crimes like unskippable cutscenes which should be a fun read!

NGamer Issue 61

This month's issue came in a cardboard sleeve rather than the usual bag. The free gift that came with it was one of those Panini style books you collect stickers for as well as a pack of stickers to get you started. It was of New Super Mario Bros.

The American version of Dragon Quest VI got reviewed and scored in the eighties, a bit like the scores IV and V got. The Japanese version of the Last Story got a similar mark. Monkey Ball 3D didn't fare so well like I suspected since it didn't get reviewed last month and got 60.

The Zelda feature consists of indepth previews based on the new Skyward Sword trailer that got shown at GDC during Satoru Iwata's keynote speech.

There's also a funny little feature called 221 cool things you can do with your 3DS. Covers the odd thing you might've missed about the 3DS like the game visualisers that come up when you play music.

NGamer issues 58, 59, and the latest, 60

Wow, really sorry about this. Looking back I didn't realise I forgot so many. Anyway let's talk a little bit about them:

Issue 58:

This one came out around the start of the year, soon after I posted about issue 57. As you can see they're hyping up 2011 for Nintendo and they also had their annual golden Mario awards which was quite nice. Ghost Trick and 999 were reviewed, getting 90 and 86 respectively. I definitely would score Ghost Trick higher myself so that's cool. There's also a review for Cave Story's European release where it scored a perfect 5. The free gift was skins for the Wii Remote that make it look like an NES controller.

Issue 59:

Last month's issue. There were three available covers which were of all the starter Pokémon from the latest games. I got the much more appealing Tepig. If I get this game I'm definitely going to choose Tepig because it looks cuter than the other two. We'll see. Anyway for free gifts I got a Zelda belt buckle which is kind of weird but cool at the same time and also there was a skin for the DS Lite which makes it look like a Game & Watch! I'd love to put this on my DS but I love the DQIX one I got free several months ago. What a dilemma! Kirby's Epic Yarn gets reviewed and scored 87 and there's a feature about deaths in games I haven't read yet. Gotta get around to it. Oh, and Pokémon Black/White scored an 88. I quite like Professor Juniper too. She's quite attractive!

Issue 60:

This one came with a lot of little magnets. Mainly, this latest issue is all about the 3DS. I was hoping to see a verdict and score for Super Monkey Ball 3D but I suppose I'll have to wait(even though I'd get the game regardless). Beyond the 3DS stuff a couple of things that stand out are the Shantae review where it scores a perfect 5 and an interview with Matt Bozon for me to enjoy reading when I get to them.

NGamer Issue 57

Apologies for being late with this, especially when issue 58 is on its way to the magazine's subscribers. It's a very nice issue and the Christmas main feature is quite funny! They gave Donkey Kong Country Returns and Epic Mickey an eighty something. The main game they really love this month is Fluidity(known as Hydroventure in Ireland). Maybe I should download the demo of it? We'll see.

NGamer Issue 56

This issue comes with reviews of Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Wii and Golden Sun for the DS. It also has a big feature about Donkey Kong Country Returns. It comes free with DKCR skins for Wii and Wii remotes as well as a big poster of the game's title.

A beanie with the Nintendo logo also comes free with it which sounds cool but the material seems a bit thin for these cold winter months.

NGamer issue 55

 

This is kind of weird because the writing is a deeper orange than is shown here. Ah well. They gave Sonic Colours an 86. I'm looking forward to trying it out myself when it comes out! 

NGamer issue 54

I love getting NGamer magazine. They can be pretty funny and they're very good for import reviews as well, sometimes being the first to review games at all. I also love the way the cover doesn't have any obnoxious taglines(although the disposable bag it always comes in always has plenty, as if they understand that those lines are worthless in the long run and should be treated as rubbish). This month's cover features Professor Layton and has a review for the game inside. It scored 88 and it has a release date of 22nd of October. There's also a gigantic Professor Layton poster with it. I've never played the series before. I wonder if I ought to get into it.

Another thing that came free with this month's issue is this:

An accessory for the Wii remote that gives it handles. To be honest it's a good idea to give the classic controller handles but not the Wii remote, which doesn't even fit properly into it. It's definitely not worth 7 pounds that's for sure.

This issue also has a review of Last Window! Thankfully Matthew Castle wrote a normal one this time(His Hotel Dusk review was a bit crazy) and he scored it 84. It's a good read!