Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Retro
Watch “The Mexican Runner” beat Battletoads in under 13 minutes for a new world record
Battletoads. Just saying the title surely conjures feelings of blissful nostalgia and controller-throwing rage in anyone over the age of 30. As a unique and interesting platformer from Rare, it was beloved by a generation of kids. But those same kids also hated it for its insane difficulty and less-than-perfect controls.
Personally, I think I’ve only advanced past the Turbo Tunnel just a handful of times, and the entire game beyond Level 4 is a complete mystery to me.
But this blind spot definitely doesn’t apply to Piotr Delgado “The Mexican Runner” Kusielczuk. Over the weekend, the speedrunner used a combination of warps and glitches to reach the of the game in 12 minutes and 45 seconds. This astonishing feat set a new world record for an “Any Percentage” run. Kusielczuk bested his own world record of 12:47, which was set less than a week ago.
In other speedrunning news, the annual Summer Games Done Quick marathon kicked off yesterday. The event benefits Doctors Without Borders and features some of the best speedrunners in the world.
Yacht Club continues to joke about Shovel Knight 64… and talks seriously about King Knight expansion
Developers from Yacht Club Games have joked about creating Shovel Knight 64 for a few years now. But the company’s “Pixel Artmancer,” Nick Wozniak, revealed that their fanciful daydreaming about a Shovel Knight sequel that uses the blocky polygonal style made famous by the N64 might be real during an E3 2017 interview with App Trigger:
App Trigger: I’ve seen a little bit of Yacht Club talking about working on more Shovel Knight, or more things besides Shovel Knight after all this is done. What would your personal preference be? If you could work on anything, what would it be?
Nick Wozniak: Anything? I think one of the things we want to work on in the far future is definitely like a Shovel Knight 64, a 3D platformer. We would all love that. We all love Mario 64 to pieces and would just love to be able to jump into that.
Of course, this wasn’t an official announcement for Shovel Knight 64. Wozniak said that Yacht Club doesn’t just want to be known as “the Shovel Knight company,” and that they’re currently hard at work on “something new.”
However, the developer is also putting the finishing touches on Shovel Knight’s King Knight expansion, and Wozniak also had a bit to say about the game’s final add-on:
App Trigger: [King Knight is] great. He’s the light-hearted guy. Even though you guys gave us choices at the beginning of Shovel Knight, your eye is drawn more toward King Knight, so I think that’s the one a lot of people start with.
Nick Wozniak: He’s great. He’s the first guy you probably encounter, and he sets the tone of the rest of the game. You know what to expect, kind of, when you see King Knight. He’s a joke, even in his name. He’s not a king, he’s a knight who’s kingly, and that’s ridiculous and stupid and it sets the bar for your expectations of what the game is and what the knights are. His campaign is going to be a big departure from the very tragic story that Specter Knight was, but it will be interesting and focused on his journey to becoming King Knight. I’m not sure what the timeline is now, we’re still working through what it is, but it’ll be goofy.
Yacht Club has previously said they want to release the King Knight campaign before the end of the year, so it shouldn’t be too long before we can all be royals.
New Hey! Pikmin trailer shows us what the little guys are up to now
Captain Olimar is off on a rocketship, and ecstatic with the view… but something happens… and the spaceman crash lands on a strange new world (again) in Hey! Pikmin. But as you might have guessed, the Pikmin appear to help him collect the Sparklium his ship needs to fly again.
In this new “Lift-Off Trailer,” Nintendo offers up a primer on the game’s universe, including the types of Pikmin Captain Olimar will meet, the dangers he’ll face, and how he can use Amiibo figures to his advantage. If you were in the dark about Hey! Pikmin before, the consolemaker managed to pack a lot of new information into this trailer’s four-minute running time.
Hey! Pikmin will be released exclusively for the 3DS on July 28.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Pikmin For Nintendo 3DS
Culdcept Revolt gets a new trailer… but its launch date has been pushed back to October 3
NIS America has announced that Culdcept Revolt will miss its previously-announced launch date of August 29. Citing a need for more time to “accommodate the manufacturing and production of the game,” Culdcept Revolt will now be released for the 3DS on October 3.
But it’s not all bad news for the game that’s often referred to as a “Monopoly/Magic: The Gathering hybrid.” NIS America also released a new trailer for Culdcept Revolt this week, offering prospective players “The Way to Win.” The video includes a breakdown of several common cards, as well as practical strategies for how best to use the three different classes of card.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Culdcept Revolt
The Master Trials expansion for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now available
The Master Trials, the first expansion for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now available to download through the Nintendo eShop for the Switch and Wii U.
Players who purchase the Expansion Pass will be able to participate in the “Trial of the Sword” challenge, a wave-based dungeon that will “awaken” the Master Sword when completed. New armor pieces, a more challenging Master Mode, and other additions to the game will also be included in The Master Trials:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Expansion Pass: The Master Trials
More adventures await in the Master Trials pack. By completing the Trial of the Sword challenge, Link will prove that he has grown worthy, and the Master Sword will be awakened to always be in its glowing, powered-up state while usable. Master Mode ups the challenge, Hero’s Path mode tracks 200 hours of footsteps on the map, the Travel Medallion creates a warp point, eight new armor items offer unique effects, and the Korok Mask helps locate Koroks.
The Master Trials is available as of Breath of the Wild’s Expansion Pass ($19.99), and cannot be purchased on its own. But players who own it will also receive access to a second downloadable expansion, The Champion’s Ballad, that’ll be available this Fall.
And in case you missed it, the Nintendo Treehouse team recorded an in-depth look at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Expansion Pass: The Master Trials during this year’s E3 Expo. You can find the video after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged E3 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo Download: Mighty Gunvolt Burst, GoNNER, more
It’s time for another look at the weekly Nintendo Download, and two new side-scrollers have been added to the Nintendo eShop…
First up is Mighty Gunvolt Burst, a retro-themed 3DS side-scroller from Inti Creates that features characters from Azure Striker Gunvolt (Gunvolt) and Mighty No. 9 (Beck). Unlike the mashup franchise’s “bite-sized” first installment, Mighty Gunvolt Burst is a “full-sized” game with “a much deeper and more expansive world.”
Also available to download today is GoNNER, a roguelike side-scroller for the Switch from Raw Fury and Art in Heart. According to the developers, players will follow the “largely misunderstood and altruistic Ikk” in his quest to cheer up a giant land-bound whale named Sally.
You can learn more about both of these games (and the rest of this week’s new releases) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Mighty Gunvolt Burst
Super Mario Odyssey wins “E3 2017 Best of Show” from Game Critics Awards
A marquee upcoming release for the Nintendo Switch has once again claimed “Best of Show” from the Game Critics Awards at the E3 Expo. Super Mario Odyssey took home the big prize this year, along with additional wins for “Best Console Game” and “Best Action/Adventure Game.”
Altogether, Nintendo took home top honors in six categories. Super Mario Odyssey’s trio of statues were joined by “Best Handheld Game” for Metroid: Samus Returns, and “Best Original Game” and “Best Strategy Game” for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
The editors that make up the Game Critics Awards panel made a lot of obvious picks in the rest of the categories, but they also threw in a few surprises. Strong debuts from Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (“Best Action Game”), Destiny 2 (“Best PC Game”), and Forza Motorsport 7 (“Best Racing Game”) lead to a few big wins, but I’m not anyone was expecting Arc System Works to surprise the crowd with Dragon Ball Fighter Z.
All of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Destiny 2, Dragon Ball FighterZ, E3 2017, FIFA 18, Forza Motorsport 7, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Super Mario Odyssey, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
PS Store This Week: Crash Bandicoot Trilogy, Valkyria Revolution, CoD Modern Warfare Remastered, more
It’s another big week for the PlayStation Store as a pair of highly-anticipated remakes are now available to download, along with a spinoff to Sega’s Valkyria strategy series, and more.
Leading the way this Friday is the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for the PS4. Developed by Vicarious Visions, the compilation features rebuilt and remade versions of Crash’s first three adventures… Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped. These three platformers helped put the PlayStation on the map, so it might be interesting to revisit them 20 years later.
Also available to download for the PS4 this week is the standalone edition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. Previously bundled with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s Legacy Edition,” the remaster includes the original single-player campaign, as well as most of the game’s multiplayer maps.
If you’re looking for something new, Sega has launched Valkyria Revolution for the PS4 and PS Vita. The latest Valkyria game is actually a spinoff to the strategy-centered series, and focuses on real-time combat for the first time.
Finally this week, developers from the United Kingdom have resurrected two franchises that have been out of the limelight for some time. Micro Machines: World Series will race onto the PS4 courtesy of Codemasters, while Frontier Developments and David Braben have brought back the Elite series with Elite: Dangerous.
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)