The Dojo staff will be holding another game night on Monday, May 20, and we’d like you to join us! This time, Kyle will be hosting a few races in the Wii U version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, while Kevin will be hunting Rathians and other large beasts over in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

WHEN…

Monday, May 20 at 8 PM Eastern

GAMES…

• Wii U: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed with Kyle
• Wii U: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate with Kevin

If you’d like to join Kyle for a few races, just add his NNID (Koopaking) to your friends list, and make sure to post your own in the comments below. Kevin, meanwhile, will be announcing the server and room details for his hunting group via Twitter, so check back on Monday night for more information!

The focus of today’s Nintendo Direct presentation was on Nintendo’s upcoming summer releases, and, as expected, the broadcast gave us some interesting new details on Pikmin 3, the much anticipated (and long delayed) new installment of the Pikmin series.

As we’ve already known, Pikmin 3 will star three entirely new characters, who will be standing in for series veteran Captain Olimar in this adventure– Alph, Brittany, and the burly Charlie, who hail from the planet Koppai. Koppai is in the grips of a food shortage, so our heroes travel to the planet of the Pikmin to forage for food, harvesting wild berries for their seeds and converting the fruits into juice for the captains to drink in order to continue their expedition.

Like in Pikmin 2, players will be able to divide tasks up among the three characters, switching between each one to accomplish multiple goals and make the best use of their limited time on the planet– come sundown, the captains and their Pikmin will have to retreat to the safety of their camp to avoid being eaten by the wild predators that roam around at night. Fortunately, the game will not impose a strict day limit as was the case in the first Pikmin title, allowing gamers to play through the adventure at their own pace.

Pikmin 3 will also support multiple control options. In addition to the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combination (which was demonstrated at last year’s E3), players can play through the title using a Wii U Pro Controller or the GamePad (referred to in the game as the KopPad), which gives you a bird’s-eye view of the environment and the location of each captain. Players can also play the entire game off-TV using the GamePad.

Pikmin 3 is schedule to launch in North America on August 4. Will you be picking up a copy of the game when it launches? Which control option will you be using to play the title? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Nintendo Direct, press release

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime closed out today’s Nintendo Direct broadcast by announcing that the company will be partnering with Best Buy to give fans a chance to go hands-on with several upcoming Wii U titles.

According to Mr. Fils-Aime, Best Buy stores around the country will feature several new Wii U titles during the week of E3, allowing fans who may not have the chance to attend the event to try out some of the console’s major titles before they are released.

In addition to that, Nintendo has reconfirmed via Twitter that it will be revealing new details about the upcoming iterations of Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and the next 3D Mario game (among “other titles”) in a dedicated Wii U Nintendo Direct before E3 begins. Will one (or more) of these games be featured at Best Buy? We certainly hope so!

Source: Nintendo Direct, press release

Despite their contentious history, Mario and Sonic have certainly been getting very buddy-buddy recently; during today’s Nintendo Direct broadcast, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced an extensive partnership with former rival Sega, making Nintendo consoles the exclusive home for Sonic games for the next three titles.

Among these three games will be Sonic Lost World, a new action platformer coming exclusively to Wii U. No further details on the title have been announced, but Nintendo and Sega will reveal more information on the game at this year’s E3.

Nintendo also announced a new installment of the Mario & Sonic series, titled Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. This, likewise, will be coming to Wii U, using the console’s added horsepower for improved character models and particle effects. The title will also make use of the Wii Remote Plus and the GamePad, and will feature a number of new winter events to take part in such as figure skating.

Last, but certainly not least, Nintendo announced a handful of new Game Gear games will be added to the 3DS Virtual Console. Among the games coming to the service are

• Columns
• Crystal Warriors
• Defenders of Oasis
• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• G-LOC: Air Battles
• Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
• Sonic Blast
• Sonic Drift 2
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Tails Adventure
• Vampire: Master of Darkness

No word on when these titles will be added to the eShop, but expect them to be rolled out gradually over the coming months!

Source: Nintendo Direct, press release

Before the end of today’s Nintendo Direct broadcast, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that New Super Luigi U, the upcoming downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U, will be launching on the Wii U eShop on June 20 for $19.99. Best of all, a packaged version of the game will be released in stores on August 25 for ten dollars more, giving even those who don’t own the original title a chance to experience the adventure!

New Super Luigi U is a unique downloadable add-on for New Super Mario Bros. U, taking the original 82 levels and replacing them with entirely new ones for Luigi to hop and bop his way through. Interestingly, despite the distinct lack of “bros.” in the title, the game will also sport its own multiplayer mode, allowing three other players to join the adventure as yellow Toad, blue Toad, and Nabbit, the little thief that hassles Mario throughout the original game. Unlike the other three characters, Nabbit will not be able to use power-ups, but is completely impervious to damage, giving him a unique play style.

Are you looking forward to New Super Luigi U? Will you be downloading it from the eShop or picking it up at retail? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Nintendo Direct, press release

Nintendo will be holding another surprise edition of its Nintendo Direct broadcasts tomorrow morning, which is set to begin at 7 AM Pacific, 10 AM Eastern Time. According to the company, the presentation will focus primarily on 3DS and Wii U games that will be launching this summer.

Fans can stream the broadcast over at Nintendo’s own web site, but you can also join us right here tomorrow morning as we live blog the presentation. Will we see Iwata drop any more megatons, or will the company save those until E3? We’re excited to find out!

Nintendo has once again updated its catalog of bandwidth-consuming goodies with a slew of titles, old and new, big and small.

First, for the more frugal gamers, there are a few sales definitely worth mentioning. The critically acclaimed Bit Trip Presents: Runner 2 is 25 percent off now through May 30. But if you prefer your 2D platforming a little more old school, then you’ll be happy to know that the Wii U Virtual Console version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is now 50 percent off when you purchase Super Mario World before 9 a.m. PST on May 23, and the legendary Super Metroid is the latest classic to offered for the the ridiculously low price of $0.30.

Old school gamers with a masochistic streak will be happy to know that Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is being released on Wii U Virtual console this week, as well. Some bigger, pricier games will also be finding their way on to the Wii U eShop, with LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes and the HD remake of Resident Evil: Revelations both launching on May 21.

3DS is also getting a lot of content this week, with The Starship Damrey, a first person adventure game thick on atmosphere and light on hand-holding, leading the way alongside the side scrolling-strategy game, Swords & Soldiers 3D. The other original 3DS eShop titles being released this week are Bowling Bonanza 3D, Dress to Play: Magic Bubbles!, and California Super Sports. On the retro side of the coin are this week’s 3DS Virtual Console offerings, Mega Man 5 and the Game Boy Color version of Harvest Moon.

Oh, and even the original Wii’s Virtual cCnsole is getting another addition this week in the form of King of Fighters ‘99.

All things considered, this is week has borne some pretty enticing fruit; Damrey looks intriguing, some bona fide classics are getting second chances, and I’m sure plenty of gamers have been waiting years for the opportunity to actually play a scary Resident Evil game in HD. But most importantly,  you would have to be crazy to pass up Super Metroid at such a ridiculously low price.

Source: Nintendo

May 20 will prove to be an exciting day for the Batman fans, because Warner Bros. Interactive will be unveiling the first full length trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins, the prequel the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Arkham Asylum and Arkahm City. Rather than waiting for then to get the hype train rolling, the publisher has teased the big trailer with this, a brief preview of things to come.

All this tease really does is reinforce what we already know; Batman will do battle with DC’s master assassin, Deathstroke. Hopefully the final trailer will prove a little more revelatory once we get our eyes on it on May 20.

Source: Warner Bros. Interactive

Nintendo has revealed that its next Nintendo Direct will occur on May 17 at 7 a.m. PST, or 10 a.m. EST for those more geographically similar to myself. The only other thing the company had to reveal was that the presentation will focus on the upcoming summer releases for Wii U and 3DS.

While I’m pretty sure we are all excited to learn more about Pikmin 3, I know the bulk of us would rather hear about the goodies Nintendo currently has concealed. Though I’d put my money on the Big N keeping those revelations under wraps until the Nintendo Directs we are bound to see sometime closer to, or during, E3.

Source: Nintendo

Summary
Evan and Noah talk about Phoenix Wright excitement and Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move.

You can send in feedback to showmail at nintendojo dot com, facebook.com/nintendojo or twitter.com/nintendojo! You can also leave a comment below.

Recording Date
May 13, 2013

Hosts
Evan and Noah

Show Contents
00:00:00 Introduction and Game Night Stories
00:02:30 Player Input: Mario & Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move
00:13:12 Player Input: Crimson Shroud
00:23:56 Player Input: eShop Pricing Debate
00:28:14 Player Input: Art of Balance Touch
00:33:07 Player Input: Crashmo Verdict
00:36:07 Player Input: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
00:39:31 Player Input: Fluidity: Spin Cycle
00:44:38 Discussion: Sunny Side Phoenix Wright
00:54:54 Discussion: 3DS All-Time Fave
00:59:41 Listener Feedback
01:18:15 Conclusion
01:18:52 Credits
01:19:52 Total Length

Links

• The Best and Only Place for Killer Video Game Remixes