Categories
Art Books Games

Famicom Manuals

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As I wrote earlier, I’m a very happy owner of an NES Classic Edition, and I find it pretty neat that Nintendo has put online the original printed manuals for all 30 of the games included in the set. Even better though I think are the manuals for the Famicom. Picture, the cover to Japan’s Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Categories
Games

NES Classic Edition

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I’m not one to wait in line for things, but this morning I did it for the first time in Canada, in order to get an NES Classic Edition. I’ve covered plenty of console launches in Japan for game sites, but never actually waited overnight in line for one — the only time I did wait in line for something was for the first iPad, and I went to line up at around 4-5am at one of the Bic Camera stores in Ikebukuro (my neighborhood at the time), and was the first one there.

But yeah, I really wanted an NES Classic Edition, and from what I was seeing, it was looking like getting one online was going to be impossible. So this morning, as I was biking to work, I made a last-minute decision at the point where normally I would turn left to go to the studio to instead keep going and check out EB Games. As I got there, they said they had just given their last ticket to someone — they were now sold out of all 75 consoles they received. I decided I’d try my luck again and check out the Best Buy on Ste-Catherine, and that’s where I hit pay dirt.

As I got there, it looked like a line of about 30 people. I went to the back of the line, and asked the people in front if it looked like we were going to get one. There was still no confirmation, but they figured chances were good that the store would have gotten at least 30 consoles. A few minutes later (I got there at around 9:15), a staffer came out saying he would hand out tickets for the number of consoles they had. He had 48 tickets. I got number 34.

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Categories
Games Web

GameCenter-DX Plays The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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I’m of course a huge fan of GameCenter-CX and Arino Kacho, regularly watching old episodes. But more than just a gaming celebrity, Shinya Arino is also a Japanese comedian, part of a duo called Yoiko, and his partner is Masaharu Hamaguchi. Nintendo has often partnered with GameCenter-CX to promote some of its releases — notably Super Mario Maker and Pokémon games — and one of these special web series takes the form of GameCenter-DX, where Hamaguchi takes on the roll of Executive Director (quite the promotion, considering Arino’s lowly “section chief” title). Where Arino sticks to retro games (Super Mario Maker being the understandable exception), Hamaguchi only plays new games, and the latest video has him playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s similar to what we’ve seen in the demo videos from E3, but fun to watch nonetheless.

Categories
Games Music

Super Mario Bros Coin Sound

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According to this tweet, what you see pictured is the copyrighted sheet music for the original coin sound in Super Mario Bros, composed by Koji Kondo. So simple yet so iconic.

Categories
Books Games

New Edition of Power-Up

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Speaking of Nintendo, this week marks the release of a brand spanking new edition of Chris Kohler’s Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World An Extra Life. I worked for Chris the year I was a contributor to Wired‘s Game|Life (in 2008), and always wanted to read his book, but it’s been long out-of-print. Not only is it finally back in print, but this updated edition includes a new chapter that looks at the life Satoru Iwata (the late Nintendo president).

Categories
Games TV Web

Mini Famicom

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You’ve seen the recently announced Nintendo Classic Mini Famicom, right? This video does a great job of showing it off, and although I’d sure like to get one, I’m still quite looking forward to getting the NES Classic Edition when it comes out.

The best thing about this announcement though is that Nintendo re-released GameCenter-CX segments that were produced for them, covering some of the games that will be included with the Mini Famicom. The easiest way to watch them is through this YouTube Playlist, which contains all of them, as well as a few more (like the recent Pokémon series). Thanks to my fellow GameCenter-CX addict and Arino Kacho fanclub member Kyle for the heads-up.

Categories
Art Games

October 2016 Calendar from Nintendo

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I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy the monthly iPhone wallpaper calendars that Nintendo shares through its Japanese account on Line, and so I figured I’d share the new one for this month. Very Halloween-y.

Categories
Games

Miyamoto Talks Super Mario Run

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Following last week’s announcement that Nintendo is producing a new Mario game for iOS, Super Mario Run, The Verge was quick to share this interview with Shigeru Miyamoto himself, on what the thinking is behind the game (set to come out in December). I thought it was a pretty big deal to see Miyamoto join Tim Cook on stage during the Apple keynote, and to me it felt as momentous as when Bill Gates showed up in the keynote back in 1997 to talk about the “Microsoft Deal.” Also, I’m pretty jealous that my friend Sam got to be part of the interview.

Categories
Games Technology Tokyo Walking

Maricar

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When I was still living in Tokyo, near Shibuya, it happened a few times that I was having a coffee at Starbucks with my dog, and in front of me I saw a line of people dressed up as Nintendo characters (Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach) drive by in supped up go-karts — Mario Kart come to life. Turns out you can now go for a spin yourself courtesy of Maricar. The prices are quite decent (starting at around 1500 yen for 30 minutes), and it must be a blast to go karting through the streets of Tokyo. A driver’s license is required though — I first learned of the service when I saw a tweet from my friend Kyle about getting an international driver’s license during a recent visit back home to the US, with the express purpose of doing this when back in Tokyo.