Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: 3DS
13 Nintendo-published games for the Switch have sold more than 1 million copies
Nintendo-branded products have always taken up a hefty portion of Santa’s sack, and 2018 was no different as Switch sales were huge during the holiday season.
Nintendo sold 15.05 million Switch consoles during the last quarter of 2018, bringing the platform’s total install base to 32.27 million. Consumers also spent the last three months stocking up on software, purchasing 63.51 million games from October through December.
Two games stood out last quarter on the sales charts, as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 12.08 million copies and the combined might of Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee! and Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu! sold 10 million copies. All told, 13 Nintendo-published Switch games have joined the vaunted “Million-Seller” club during this fiscal year (April 2018 – December 2018):
| Title | Apr 18 – Dec 18 Sales | Total Sales |
| Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | 12.08 Million | 12.08 Million |
| Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee! Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu! |
10 Million | 10 Million |
| Mario Kart 8 Deluxe | 5.8 Million | 15.02 Million |
| Super Mario Party | 5.3 Million | 5.3 Million |
| Super Mario Odyssey | 3.35 Million | 13.76 Million |
| The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | 3.21 Million | 11.68 Million |
| Mario Tennis Aces | 2.53 Million | 2.53 Million |
| Splatoon 2 | 2.25 Million | 8.27 Million |
| Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze | 2.08 Million | 2.08 Million |
| Kirby Star Allies | 1.16 Million | 2.42 Million |
| Octopath Traveler (US + Europe Only) |
1.08 Million | 1.08 Million |
| Nintendo Labo: Variety Kit | 1.06 Million | 1.06 Million |
| Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker | 1.05 Million | 1.05 Million |
Even Nintendo’s dedicated handheld was still kicking along in 2018 (albeit slower than before). 3DS owners scooped up 1.07 million copies of Mario Kart 7 during the April through December period, bringing its total to 18.11 million copies sold.
Nintendo’s current fiscal year will end on March 31, and the consolemaker will announce their full-year sales figures sometime in April or May.
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Kirby Star Allies, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, Mario Tennis Aces, Nintendo Labo: Variety Kit, Octopath Traveler, Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Party, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo will drop the price of Super Mario Maker 3DS, Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, and Star Fox 64 3D on February 4
Nintendo has announced that three games for the 3DS will be getting a price cut on February 4. Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, and Star Fox 64 3D will all get a more wallet-friendly price of $19.99 as part of the consolemaker’s Nintendo Selects program:
In Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS, build, play and share your own side-scrolling Super Mario levels using a wide variety of tools. Want to make your cannons shoot coins or have Bowser fly? With the intuitive touch-screen controls of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, creating levels is easy and fun. Plus, you can take on 100 built-in courses as you tackle the Super Mario Challenge.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D brings Link’s classic adventure to Nintendo 3DS. This remastered and enhanced version features a cast of memorable characters, unforgettable gameplay and a dark and mysterious story. With control of time itself, Link must save the world of Termina from destruction by helping citizens, battling bosses and solving challenging puzzles.
Join ace pilot Fox McCloud in Star Fox 64 3D, an action-packed space shooter that puts you in the control of the classic Arwing ship as you blast, warp and barrel roll across space. Each mission in the game takes you through a different planet of the Lylat system as you face off against enemies, collect power-ups and fight powerful bosses on the way to the final battle against the evil Dr. Andross.
More than a dozen 3DS games are currently available through the Nintendo Selects program. You can find the full list at Nintendo’s official website.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario Maker, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Kirby’s Epic Yarn will make its way to the 3DS on March 8
Kirby’s Epic Yarn was originally released for the Wii in the waning days of 2010… but it’s about to get a whole bigger (and slightly shrink down) this Spring. Nintendo has announced that they’ll bring Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn to the 3DS on March 8.
The enhanced re-release retains the original game’s unique yarn-based graphical style, but now Kirby will be able to use Ravel Abilities to complete the game’s challenges and tackle an even harder version of the game known as Devilish Mode:
In this enhanced version of the acclaimed Kirby’s Epic Yarn game that originally launched for the Wii system, Kirby is transported into a world made of cloth and yarn to unravel enemies, unzip secret passageways and transform into powerful vehicles. Every stage in the original Wii version is stitched in, but this Nintendo 3DS version has some new features, like Ravel Abilities that power up Kirby in fun ways, new mini-games featuring familiar faces King Dedede and Meta Knight, new furniture to personalize and decorate Kirby’s Pad, and a new Devilish Mode that adds an extra layer of challenge to each stage.
Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn will also include Amiibo support, giving players the chance to tap compatible Kirby Series figures to unlock a variety of hats and abilities.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Kirby's Epic Yarn
New Retail Releases: New Super Mario Bros. U, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Tales of Vesperia, More
2019 promises to be a big year for video games (and possibly the last hurrah for the PS4 and Xbox One), and it looks like we’re starting things off with a trio of major re-releases.
Nintendo leads things off with a Switch re-release of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which originally launched for the Wii U in 2012. This new version will include new playable characters (Toadette and Nabbit), as well as the New Super Luigi U expansion.
The 3DS will also receive a classic Nintendo re-release this week in the form of Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey. The RPG relaunches the 2009 game with Amiibo support and the brand new “Bowser Jr.’s Journey” adventure.
The last re-release of the week comes from Bandai Namco, who will bring Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition to the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One (the game will also be available to download for the PC). The Definitive Edition will include the original game, as well as “beautifully remastered HD graphics, new musitc tracks, exciting minigames, bosses, and a collection of previously unreleased costume DLC.”
Finally this week, you might have missed it, but Nintendo snuck Fitness Boxing onto the Switch last week. Fitness Boxing features a wide variety of boxing-based rhythmic exercises and personalized workout options for everyone interested in getting a jump on their New Year’s Resolutions.
That’s all for now, but we’ll be back later this week with a look at the new additions coming to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in 3DS, News, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, New Super Mario Bros. U, Tales of Vesperia
Fitness Boxing, Catastronauts, KoF 2002, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
It’s January 3, have you already broken your New Year’s Resolutions? If not, Nintendo has a perfect new game for the Switch for you in this week’s Nintendo eShop update.
Like Wii Fit, Fitness Boxing is a game that wants to get you active. Players will be able to workout with a variety of routines in Fitness Boxing, all of which feature “boxing-based rhythmic exercises set to the instrumental beats of songs by popular artists.”
Also available to download for the Switch this week is Catastronauts, a fast-paced party game that asks players to “repair systems, extinguish fires, arm the torpedoes, avoid deadly solar flares, destroy your friends, and clone them back again.”
Finally this week, Hamster Corporation will bring The King of Fighters 2002, a classic from SNK’s NeoGeo days, to the Switch eShop
You can read more about these three games, and the rest of the new releases now available to download through the Nintendo eShop, after the break. (more…)
The first Detective Pikachu: The Movie trailer is here… and it is appropriately nuts
I still can’t believe we live in a world where there’s going to be a live-action Pokemon movie, but that world moved a bit closer to reality today with the release of the first trailer for Detective Pikachu.
Based on the 3DS game of the same name, Detective Pikachu stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular Pokemon, and Justice Smith as the only human being who can understand him (everyone else hears the customary “Pika Pika!”). They’re teaming up to find a missing private eye who also happens to be Smith’s father:
The story begins when ace private eye Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokemon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokemon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokemon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokemon universe.
The hyper-realistic style is not at all what I was expecting from a Pokemon movie, nor was I expecting to see Pikachu threaten to murder someone… and that happens twice! Also, what is Ken Watanabe doing in this trailer? He’s gotta be the bad guy, right?
I’ve never played a Pokemon game before, so I’m not the target audience for Detective Pikachu at all, but it actually looks kind of fun.
Detective Pikachu will open in theaters on May 11, 2019. I’m still as baffled by that as you are.
Posted in 3DS, Etcetera, News
Tagged Detective Pikachu
Stan Lee, the legendary co-creator of many of Marvel’s superheroes, has died
From behind his typewriter, Marvel’s Stan Lee used to answer fan mail with that authoritative declaration when he really wanted to drive home a point in his “Stan’s Soapbox” column. But there’s never enough that can be said about the man who helped define pop culture as we know it today.
Along with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Lee created many of Marvel’s most famous characters… The Spectacular Spider-Man… The Mighty Thor… The Incredible Hulk… The Fantastic Four… “Stan the Man” had a way with adjectives. Sadly, he passed away this morning at the age of 95.
After shepherding his comic creations towards the silver screen in the 80s and 90s, Lee lent his voice to more than a dozen video game adaptations starring Marvel’s mightiest heroes. Most often playing himself (starting with 2000’s Spider-Man), Lee closed the book on his voiceover career with an appearance in Insomniac’s Spider-Man earlier this year as a Short Order Cook.
Lee was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2008 for “his groundbreaking work as one of America’s most prolific storytellers.” The National Endowment for the Arts’s advisory committee also recognized Lee’s fight against injustice in his comics, adding, “His complex plots and humane super heroes celebrate courage, honesty, and the importance of helping the less fortunate, reflecting America’s inherent goodness.”
As Lee would say, “Nuff said!”
SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, Crashlands, Road Redemption, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
More than 30 new games will be added to the Switch eShop this week, so let’s once more dive into Nintendo’s newest digital offerings.
Available to download next Tuesday, November 13, is SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. Now known for its huge stable of fighting games, this compilation goes further back into SNK’s legacy and plucks out a few gems such as Crystalis and the Ikari Warriors trilogy.
Other games of interest in this week’s eShop update include Crashlands, an adventure game about an intergalactic delivery driver who took a wrong turn; Road Redemption, a racing game about post-apocalyptic motorcycle gangs; and Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Ubisoft’s side-scrolling story of “friendship, love, sacrifice, and tragedy” centered on World War I. All three games are now available to download.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Astebreed, Forgotten Anne, Syberia 1 & 2, and more) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch
Tagged Crashlands, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, Valiant Hearts: The Great War