Weekly News Roundup: 06.12.2011

We’re doing something a little different this week at the Weekly News Roundup. Nintendojo’s been faithfully posting news and roundtables all week long, and now that the biggest gaming event in the year is over, it’s time to digest all that we’ve learned. The only problem is that we probably only care to remember just a few things– Kirby: Mass Attack, Kid Icarus: Uprising, maybe even another Skyward Sword trailer. But there are plenty of other games that deserve our attention– games that you probably forgot about and didn’t care to remember once a smiling Iwata unveiled that crazy contraption known as the Wii U. Well, here they are now, fit for your consumption. Worst-case scenario? None of these turn out to be any good, but you get some tasty trivia to share with your gaming friends. It’s really win-win!

The Rolling Western

Does Jiro remind you of anyone you know?

Part mission-based action game, part real-time strategy game, and part-tower defense game, The Rolling Western is set to, er, roll out on the Nintendo eShop, as its protagonist is wont to do. Watching the trailer, it’s admittedly hard to separate The Rolling Western from a certain other Blue Blur’s series– at least, it is initially. Unlike Mr. Hedgehog, Jiro the unidentified rolling creature (we’d call him an armadillo, but would you call Knuckles an echidna?) does more than roll around and turn robots into animals– Jiro destroys strange golem-esque creatures, punching them to their base parts. Jiro then uses these parts to improve his tower defense system into one that League of Legends players would be hard-pressed to avoid, all the while still destroying other enemies in hectic action sequences worthy of any of Nintendo’s other IPs.

The Rolling Western may not exactly be the best-publicized of Nintendo’s games, and that’s a shame. So many of us have been clamoring for a new Nintendo IP that Jiro and his impressive skills should be a welcome breath of fresh air, and yet the game’s neither retail nor really hyped at all. Let’s hope this one doesn’t suffer a Shantae-esque lack of sales, though we’d certainly welcome the same critical reception.

Oh, and did we mention that Jiro the Armadillo-esque Creature wears a cowboy hat? Boy, it’s a good thing eShop games can’t sell out.

Heroes of Ruin

Gauntlet’s got nothing on n-Space’s latest offering.

Something tells us that Heroes of Ruin, the 3DS game currently being developed by n-Space and produced by Square Enix, isn’t getting the audience it deserves. Maybe the story is cliched– four Warriors of Light ragtag adventurers set out from the lush city of Nexus to find a Crystal cure for the its ailing ruler, and discover that the curse that torments the king is only one part of a darker conspiracy. (Spoiler alert?) But n-Space, known for the late-blooming Gamecube title Geist, as well as the DS edition of Goldeneye 007, seems to have a good thing going with Heroes of Ruin. Like its 3DS brethren in The Rolling Western, Heroes of Ruin combines action-adventure tropes with real-time strategy game ones, throwing a generous portion of Square Enix’s RPG pedigree in for good measure. If people are still complaining that the 3DS doesn’t have “hardcore” games, well, Heroes of Ruin is a good a game as any to prove them wrong.

With its four classes of adventurers (Gunslinger, Vindicator, Alchitect, and Savage), and the ability to fully customize each adventurer’s appearance and abilities, the game could almost be Diablo 3DS, if Blizzard ever made the game. n-Space also promises  that “frequent new game content” will be downloadable (though pricing hasn’t been discussed), though with the dynamic dungeons and constantly changing loot, players shouldn’t need it too much. And considering the game is built for multiplayer, with voice chat enabled over the 3DS microphone, Heroes of Ruin looks set to be entertain right out of the box. At least, assuming you can get those 3DS naysayers to get their consoles first.

Fortune Street

Dragon Quest VIII’s Angelo returns in style on Wii.

There’s a reason that Itadaki Street, one of Yuji Horii’s other projects (besides Dragon Quest, we mean), has received such a cult following in Japan– and, to a limited extent, outside of Japan. First of all, it’s basically Monopoly with video game characters, meaning not only do players get to fantasize about making tons of cash and owning countless beachfront cabins– they also get to pretend that they’re actually video game characters. Compare this with Mario Party‘s less-than-realistic premise (you try touching an actual star) and Itadaki Street seems the better dream. Nevertheless, the series has been exclusive to Japan since 1991, when Game Studio released the first of nine games for Famicom. Now, the ninth game, Fortune Street, has been announced for Nintendo Wii, making Wii not only the first seventh-generation console to play host to a Itadaki Street game, but the first non-Japan console to have a Itadaki Street game. Congratulations to Wii.

This particular incarnation, like the Japan-only DS version, will include Mario characters alongside the usual suspects (read: from Horii’s other franchise). As usual, players and their friends will pass Go and collect gold, play stockbroker with their properties (did we mention that?), and snap up houses like they’re M&Ms. They’ll only win, though, if they make enough money to fulfill the board’s requirement, and with three other players vying for the virtual crown, it won’t be easy. One question comes to mind, though: does Mario get to bring all the coins he’s picked up along the way? ‘cos, you know, that would be cheating.

Some 3DS Game or Something

Some green Mario rip-off searches for hidden objects, or something.

Wait, who is this guy again? I think this is one of those find-the-hidden-object games, or something. I mean, he’s holding a flashlight. I’m right, aren’t I?