Nintendo 3DS Blog

This videos cover the recent news about the firmware update for the 3DS and the selection of four StreetPass games now available in Europe in Japan. Feel to subscribe on YouTube for more videos.

Nintendo has released a series of new StreetPass-based games on the 3DS in Europe and Japan: StreetPass Squad, Garden, Battle, and Mansion. These are how the games are described:

• Streetpass Squad is like Streetpass Quest. Takes place in space. Battle the Gold Bone Gang.
• Streetpass Garden. You move in to a house in Leafington and try to become a Master Gardener, under the tutelage of Mr Mendel. Grow flowers and decorate your garden.
• Streetpass Battle. Game of strategy and luck. Rule a remote country in a wartorn land. Your butler, Wentworth, helps you build an army via Streetpass to battle other generals. Ultimate goal to conquer the world!
• Streetpass Mansion. Spooky paranormal investigation. You’re a detective trying to solve the mystery of a haunted house, helped by your assistant Ella Mentree. You work to uncover truth with the help of people you meet inside. Battle enemies to reach the top floor.

…and there’s both footage and (small) screenshots after the break.

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Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the Smash Bros. series, has said that the amount of stress he feels over the selection of the roster is “almost to the brink of death”:

Because it’s not just a matter of me personally thinking this character or that character is going to be in the game; it’s that we also have the game balance, animation, graphics and sound to think about in order to make that character fully fleshed out in that universe. I have to think about all of that when I go through this decision-making process.

…and:

Whether it’s a minor character or a character that is one of the most highly skilled and most played, if that character is removed from the game, the people who live for that character in Smash Bros. are going to have their feelings hurt. I think we have to really consider that, so I take a very serious, hard look at that and have empathy for the players who look for these type of characters when we’re making these decisions.

But of course, no matter what, the team’s decisions will always be wrong according to someone. Just try to have reasonable expectations so you’re not completely let down when the full roster is revealed.

(via polygon.com)

A new firmware update has been released worldwide for the 3DS, but it seems that just folks in Europe and Japan receive four new StreetPass-based games:

• Squad
• Garden
• Battle
• Mansion

I have no idea why they wouldn’t be available in North America, but based on what I’m hearing, that is the case. Feel free to confirm or deny in the comments, and if you do have access to the games, share your thoughts on them.

(And with this new rush of love for StreetPass, it sure is good that Nintendo is fixing the feature this year.)

UPDATE: There are also new puzzles for New Super Mario Bros U and Skyward Sword.

You can check out the first screenshots from One Piece: Romance Dawn on the 3DS after the break. The game was originally released for the PSP, but was confirmed for our beloved platform a few weeks back.

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A press release from Nintendo has confirmed that the 3DS was “the best-selling video game hardware platform in the United States in May”. They cite the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (the #2 game for the month) and another strong month for Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (the #3 game for the month) as reasons that “software sales in stores increase by more than 60 percent over the same time last year”.

(via gonintendo.com)

There were reports that confirmed Cloudberry Kingdom — a platformer coming to major home consoles — for the 3DS, but the co-founder of the development company has since unconfirmed it:

Regarding the news about the 3DS being confirmed, I guess I’m getting pretty good at giving out misleading information. We haven’t confirmed anything regarding the 3DS, but we are definitely looking into it to see how possible it all is. That rumor popped up and spread really quickly though. It’s really a good thing that so many people seem to be excited about the possibility. That’s definitely something huge for us to keep in mind while we’re feeling out the idea.

This is definitely a shame, although hopefully it’ll be re-confirmed in the future. And sorry for sharing information that turned out to be wrong.

(via nintendo-ookie.com)