Nintendo Badge Arcade & The Nintendo Direct

Before I get to talking about the Nintendo Direct, I want to talk a bit about the Nintendo Badge Arcade! It has been something I wanted since it was announced in Japan and I was thrilled to see us finally receive it yesterday. They already updated today with some new Splatoon-themed machines and I even uploaded a video of me playing all the machines yesterday:

And look how nice my theme menu looks now:

I’m even a level 4 collector now!:

I would say my only big issue with the game is that if you get any plays (whether due to buying them or from earning free plays), you can not save them for later. You HAVE to use them all before you can exit out. I have just one Inkling left for one of the Splatoon ones, but have every other machine completed already. I’m not going to spend a dollar for 5 slots when it’s in a position that would only take me one and then leave me to use 4 slots on things I do not want/need. However, considering many of these are limited time (And if you look at the set counts, there are A LOT coming), I don’t really like holding it off until more machines are out tomorrow for me to use it.

A small minor issue though is it uses the style of Japanese UFO catchers of the 1-2 buttons where you really have only one shot to position it unlike the arcade stick crane games that are more common around here (which allow you to fully move the crane up, down, left, and/or right before having it go down as long you don’t run out of time). I’ve definitely seen the UFO catcher styled ones around here too, of course, but it’s just not as common overall and I generally don’t prefer them (even if I do well with them).

But yes, moving onto the Nintendo Direct… as usual, I will be only be mentioning things where I have something to say, so I won’t be going over everything. If you missed the Nintendo Direct, be sure to check it out!

So, the first thing announced was Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. I’ll be honest, I don’t really understand all the wanting or need for HD versions of games. If it wasn’t for the Amiibo and the fact that apparently the data on it will be able to be used in the next Zelda game, I don’t think we’d have even gotten it, but for now, we did go ahead and preorder it.

The only game I can honestly say I would want to see as an HD remake is Pokemon Snap and even then, I’d prefer a sequel with all the Pokemon and way more courses if I had a choice. Going back to Twilight Princess HD, I do think the Wolf Link (and Midna) Amiibo looks pretty cool:
wolfamiibo
Though… the stone base on top of the little Amiibo base does look a bit silly. I really do like the stone base though–just find it looks kind of funny on top of the tiny Amiibo base.

Splatoon has been such a disappointment for me lately. While I was able to try and continue despite some of my issues with the game, after more and more Kraken nerfs (to the point where I can barely use it to defend anymore) paired with the frustrating level up system for 20+, motivation has been hard to keep playing. Despite playing in the Splatfest before last, I never even picked up my Seasnails and I didn’t even bother participating in the most recent one. I don’t want to say I’ve given up on Splatoon, but I think unless there is an overhaul in mechanics and/or a mode where you can do online co-op on one Wii U or play as friends versus the computer, I just don’t see myself having enough fun with it.

Regardless, the two upcoming stages look great. I think the Art gallery looks really nice and the pool stage looks like a lot of fun. I’m super disappointed Squids can’t be in water as I kind of just want to jump into the pool and hang out with the Jellyfish on that stage. The art stage even has a fountain:
fountain

Moving onto outfits, while the North America Nintendo Direct said 40+ new things, Japan’s said 60+. I don’t know if Japan actually did get more things (I really hope that isn’t the case) or if North America just said a smaller number due to it being the same number during the last big gear update. While it’s unsure if there are new dresses just yet (I sure hope so), I did want to at least pick out a few of my favorite pieces of clothing from the trailer we saw:
splatoongear
(I do wish the cardigan was a different color though or even changed with your ink color. And I think the sailor shirt could have been nice as a full dress too.)

Also, there is a giant Sea Snail in the art museum stage and I want it:
giantseasnail
And bonus art feature:
artsplatoon

Moving onto the next thing, I just want to say I think the web portal for Super Mario Maker is pretty cool. I still have no plans to get the game right now, but it reminds me a lot of what LittleBitPlanet did with LBP.me.

I do not have any plans to get the latest Mario Tennis installment, but I actually really like the Amiibo functionality and find it really cool that you can train them and make them your partner.
amiibotraining
They also seem a lot more intuitive than they were in Smash Brothers.

And just to skip a head a bit for a similar “I do not plan to get the game but I like its Amiibo functionality” view is Mario & Luigi Paper Jam which has a cool card thing through Amiibo:
amiibomario
Unfortunately, since both do save data to the Amiibo, even if I did get the games, I would need more of the same character as to not erase my Smash Brothers and Mario Party 10 data…

Heading back to going in order, I’m going to bring up Pokemon Picross… another “free” to play Pokemon game. I don’t even know how a pay feature is going to work in Picross, but I’m just… sick of these free to start Pokemon games. I’d much rather pick up a $30-$40 game than deal with microtransactions. Regardless, it is coming out in December and I might as well try it. Plus they said it will have all the Megas which means Mega Audino and well:
tumblr_nxq7orw2Rb1rk1aixo2_400
Can’t resist Mega Audino dropping in. (Lovely gif done by Baras)

I’m also going to touch briefly on the “Very Important Meeting” (which I am looking forward to the next part of) and say that I really love just how much effort it looks like has gone into bringing YO-KAI Watch over. Between the Anime (and very similar openings–great job, guys. I have so much appreciation for English dubbed versions of the exact Japanese opening versus changing it completely) and commercials and social media accounts, it’s just really great and makes me really wish I could get the game already even more. Once things get a bit less crazy, it’s one of the first games I plan to pick up and I’m really looking forward to it.

Next up is the upcoming Animal Crossing Amiibo (and Lucas)…
amiibojan
While the date is fine for the Amiibo figures, for the cards… I really want to know why? They’re out in Japan. PAL regions are getting them next week. Why are we getting them so much later? Are we going to be months behind for future cards as well? This is just… super depressing. I’m not going to pay the overpricedness of the PAL region cards for English ones. It’s just… I don’t understand. In a money point of view, this really is for the best–between my wedding and other games, not having to buy two boxes of series 2 Amiibo cards super soon is probably a good thing, but from a game playing sense and how they are the only way to unlock the special villager characters (who sometimes have special items), I just feel very… frustrated and disappointed by the decision.

We then move onto Pokken which I still don’t find myself too interested in. Fighting has always been my least favorite part of Pokemon so a fighting game for Pokemon is just… the last thing I’d want I guess. I am curious about any trainer options for it though (as we do see trainers) along with future Pokemon they may add. We already learned Mega Audino is an awesome fighter thanks to the Anime episode that aired today so if Mega Audino gets added, that’d give me a reason to buy it:
megaaudinopunch

(vote Mega Audino for Pokken, gifs by ceresmon)

Also, the very first Pokemon Amiibo card has been announced:
amiibocardpokemon
I think it’d be neat to see one for all the fighters. I don’t want it to get super crazy (one for every Pokemon), but I think I could at least focus on just getting my favorites with these.

Next, I want to bring up Fire Emblem: Fates. Between the split paths and things I’ve learned about it, I’ve pretty much decided I’ll most likely not be playing it. That said, my fiance does still want it and the collector’s edition is honestly pretty good:
fefatesce
It’s a great price considering it comes with both games, the bonus route, and physical goods as well, so we made sure to preorder it already.

We also had an announcement of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow coming to Virtual Console (and trading being done through Wireless). While I am excited for it, I actually still have my original copies of Blue and Yellow so I probably won’t get it. Plus, I’m sure a lot of the glitches (from the Cinnabar Island glitch to getting Mew) have been fixed which really did add to some of the experience. And how else would you get Mew legitly in the game itself? :P Mew’s sprite in Red/Blue is still my favorite Mew sprite overall.

Finally, we’ll bring up one of the most surprising things from the Direct… Cloud being in Smash.
cloudcoming
I think most people felt that way, Cloud. I know we’ll definitely have to get his Amiibo. Final Fantasy VII is one of my all-time favorite Final Fantasy games and is the game my overall favorite Final Fantasy character is in–Aerith. I was hoping she may be part of his final smash, but nope… Maybe some of the other characters can be Assist trophies? At the very least, I would like an Aerith costume please, Nintendo. For now though, at least we have Chocobo hats:
chocobo
I really hope we get an awesome remix of the Chocobo song too. The Midgar Stage also looks really fun.

I’ve noticed a lot of people think Cloud is the ballot winner though and to be honest, I really don’t think so. Besides the fact that I think we’re getting more than one from the Ballot, I feel with the message of a big Smash thing in December, that will be where the ballot results and a bunch of new things will be announced so I’ll look forward to that.

And to end it… still no Style Savvy 3 announcement :( I really do hope we get it someday and I mean, North America doesn’t usually announce those games in Directs, but with PAL regions getting it next week… it’s really hard continuing to stay hopeful.

As for the lack of Pokemon Z (or Y2/X2), I’m not too surprised and probably more relieved than disappointed. I feel like Pokemon games have been coming out too quickly and have found myself more disappointed than excited so I’d rather more time go into something. I hope whatever they do for a sequel X/Y game though that it will be a continuation of the story rather than the usual 3rd version things as I feel there was a lot to expand upon. Also I can have a Mega Audino and a customized trainer so that’d be pretty cool.

On the lack of entries

I’m sure most people have noticed me not using the blog too much lately. The main purpose for it was for game journals and occasional reviews. Unfortunately, the only game where I’m really logging right now is Happy Home Designer. While Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon might get a page, it’s unlikely it will get daily entries, but be more video focused, which is actually a large part of why I do not have much going on here. Meanwhile, on my Youtube Channel (which I recently hit 2,000 subscribers so thank you to everyone who has watched!), I have three ongoing series right now video-wise–Happy Home Designer (which gets updates here as well), Undertale (by popular request), and Yoshi’s Woolly World (a co-op adventure with my fiancé).

Upcoming videos (besides more of the above until they are finished) include:
-More Tomodachi Life Newsflash videos for the completion news.
-Every month of Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival. Possibly other videos showing off some of the other modes and things.
-Unboxings of future Animal Crossing card series. I will probably record myself opening 2 boxes per set.
-Going through Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon. (I will most likely not include grinding on film though)
-As soon as things calm down, hopefully Yo-kai Watch (which I plan to purchase as soon as I have time to actually play it)
-I’m still trying to be hopeful Style Savvy 3 will somehow come out here in the US this year too so if it does, that as well (and it should have some entries here as well, but I don’t want to guarantee anything).

And of course, I’ll sometimes even been streaming some of those on my Twitch channel.

The main thing is though, I can not use Google Adsense and so no, I do not get paid through my videos which means I do have to work while also doing all these things and considering I will be getting married in less than a month, I have even less time right now. I also, unfortunately, need to look into getting a new computer chair so bleh.

Regardless, I just don’t have too much to say here right now. I might do a review for Amiibo Festival and/or Super Mystery Dungeon, but I honestly haven’t decided yet. In the meantime, Little Orbit did give me a review copy of Barbie & Her Sisters’ Puppy Rescue (which you can watch me play a bit of here) and I hope to get that review up soon. And of course, as I play more Happy Home Designer, there will still be new entries here too.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer 19

A few more houses today… Hopefully will get to do even more soon.

Egbert – An even-numbered room.



Rating Address: 0205-7772-930

Rodney – A production studio.


Rating Address: 0795-7775-082

Lolly – A lecture hall.


Rating Address: 0705-7775-952

Puck – A chilly room for icy sports.


Rating Address: 0899-7774-982

Mint – An ice-cream shop.



Rating Address: 0094-7779-022

Canberra – An international restaurant


Rating Address: 0202-7779-912

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer 17 – Filly’s House

So, I finally am back from my vacation and made sure to get the special villager that is out for Nintendo Zone’s today! You may be sitting there wondering one thing though–who is Filly?

It turns out, it’s Number 7–the 7-11 Horse from Japan! However, we do not get all the items Filly is supposed to come with (see below the home overview for that). In fact, Filly only comes with the following:

But yes, while I do plan to play more houses later, I wanted to do a special entry for Filly :) So let’s get onto Filly’s house:

Filly – A 24-hour shop.



Rating Address: 0792-7749-043

For the record, this is everything we were supposed to get:
7spot
Considering nearly all the items (some are brand new for HHD) were translated in New Leaf even if not released here (so you could only get them from Japanese players), seeing this get so many items cut the way it did is super depressing… Only four of the items has the 7/11 logo incredibly big (some have smaller ones, but those could have easily been removed over just being replaced/edited) and considering they could modify Filly’s photo with the shirt, I think they could have modified those to say 24/7 instead of 7/11… and not really sure the need for the other items. It makes me wonder what other items might be unable to be gotten in the US game :(

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer 16

Hopefully this will be longer than the last few entries. It’s been a while since I last played–not so much due to not wanting to play, but just due to generally feeling kind of out of it. I’m still pretty tired, but I really want to play so I figured I’d at least do so for a few hours.

Celia – A royal chamber.



Rating Address: 0609-7722-984

Drago – A mochi delight.



Rating Address: 0305-7722-084

Felicity – A television-show set (Half Courtroom Drama, half game show? Okaaay… >>)


Rating Address: 0793-7755-043

Chester – A Bamboo Playroom.



Rating Address: 0497-7755-043

Rod – A pirate hideout.


Rating Address: 0796-7755-963

Ankha – An ancient tomb.


Rating Address: 0803-7755-023

Peaches – An oasis of round furniture.


Rating Address: 0307-7755-093

Anicotti – A pizza-party place.



Rating Address: 0193-7751-913

Spork – A school cafeteria.



Rating Address: 0897-7751-003

Annalisa – A zen restaurant.



Rating Address: 0003-7751-933

Next, I quickly wanted to do Twiggy’s house because I also love to travel:

But I always like to look at all the requests just incase and well…

Umm… I probably would have done it if it wasn’t for Twiggy being there, but this is… kind of weird to say the least.

Twiggy – Surrounded by Souvenirs


Rating Address: 0907-7751-063

Peck – A birdcage.


Rating Address: 0093-7754-923

Flo – A place to practice guitar.


Rating Address: 0197-7754-043

Upcoming things – Amiibo Festival, Happy Home Designer, November, and more

As most people have probably noticed, I’ve unfortunately not had time to play Happy Home Designer recently. This is especially frustrating to me as I really wanted to get all the houses possible done :( And while I tend to be a bit quicker than a lot of people with designing houses, sometimes it’s really hard to be creative if you’re just not feeling 100%. The fact that I’m barely getting anything new at this point (which really makes me wish more and more that any items that villager unlocked would appear and just not have “new” on them unless they were new–this would also help with awkward translations) doesn’t help either because sometimes they ask for something really vague or I do not have the slightest clue what thy are talking about.

I’ve also gotten to a point where it’s a lot of repeat themes–“I want an office” “I want a store” “I want somewhere with food”. I still adore the game, but I’m sure there’s more to each of these and without knowing what they bring, it makes it very hard to keep making homes unique enough.

I am hoping to find time to play later this week–maybe even stream (I’ve been a bit nervous to stream again after the last time. We’re looking into getting my computer case switched and upgrading it to new parts which will help a lot. As always, stuff that will be used for streaming/youtube videos/this website can be found here so we may add some computer parts to that as well).

I had really wanted to be “finished” before Woolly World came out here (and all the more reason I wish we got it in the Summer like everywhere else…)–that way the only houses I’d still have to do are DLC and new special villager cards and I could focus mostly on that, but between generally not feeling too great and other crazy stuff (such as getting married in only about a month and a half now), time has been a hard thing to keep track of. I’m definitely hoping to play it a lot more later this week, but it’s a bit of a balancing act and while it’s the thing I want to play the most (I wish I could play right now, but my laptop just… hates streaming sadly and I don’t want to risk another awful recording :( ), I still have other stuff I have planned as well.

If you’ve been keeping an eye on my youtube channel, you’ll notice two other games being played right now–Yoshi’s Woolly World and Undertale. Yoshi’s Woolly World is essentially a fun co-op game with my fiance. Unfortunately, while I can play 16+ hours of a game in one sitting and not be bored, he gets burnt out very quickly so when we do co-op adventures, the schedule is very much in his ballpark so if he’s finally up to playing, chances are I’ll play.

Our current plan is to only play/record the first stage of each. We made a slight exception for 1-S due to the fact that the recording cut off in the middle of it and we wanted to show the full stage (and just how bad my aim is). In general though, if we miss something we’ll go back to it off the recording.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Youtube has… suddenly hated some of my files which means I usually have to convert the Yoshi’s Woolly World recordings to AVIs or they look absolutely terrible. I’m not sure what causes the problem (I noticed I had the same issue with Star Citizen, yet I have had no issues with Splatoon, Undertale, or Happy Home Designer), but it’s… beyond frustrating. I wish I understood why it was happening, but I just do not have the slightest clue. The most I can get is Youtube having conversion issues, but with so many things I don’t have to bother using a conversion tool, that doesn’t fully answer the problem. These conversions also take quite a long time and my program’s editor is rather iffy. It’s just a bit of a mess and makes it so it takes a lot longer than it should. :(

As for Undertale, if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a Indie RPG that includes a pretty awesome mechanic: You don’t have to kill anyone. As someone who really dislikes having to kill in games, it’s really nice not having to. I’m pretty bad at the game, but despite how bad I am and even knowing what happens before I finished it, I still wanted to playthrough myself and I am playing again to fully record it. The music is also pretty awesome and there are cute dogs:

I don’t want to talk too much about it as to not accidentally spoil things, but I love all the characters a lot and highly recommend it. It’s also only $10 so if you can afford it, you definitely should pick it up! And has someone who tends to add feelings to everything, this game meshes pretty well with me (no matter how bad I am at it).

Moving onto upcoming games, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival will be out in less than a month now and due to the recent announcement of Series 2 cards being out in Europe the day Amiibo Festival comes out for them, it’s very likely we may see Series 2 on the 13th. This also means it’s pretty likely the promo cards that were included with the game (Goldie, Rosie, and Stitches) will be part of Series 2. I’m hoping to get two boxes again and as promised, I will do an unboxing for them (though, likely only the two and not any further ones).

When the Collector’s Album I preordered for Series 1 from the UK arrives, I’ll also record the complete Series 1 set + the promo Isabelle card. I hope I can preorder the Series 2 one as well. I also plan to get all the Amiibo figures. I currently have the special game bundle preordered from Amazon, K.K., Reese, and Cyrus preordered from Walmart (though, if Amazon puts them up I may cancel to get them all in one place… similarly, if Gamestop has another midnight release for something and I can grab 2 boxes of Series 2 from there, I may just pick up everything there). I still need to catch Lottie, Tom Nook, and Sable from somewhere (and I’m really annoyed Lottie has a different date for some reason), but I definitely want to catch them all.

I’ll be recording (or streaming) a game in each month (most likely with my fiance, but some may be by myself) and then possibly do videos for unlocks or things that we may earn–I don’t expect to do more than one recording per “month” (the course–not an actual month), but we will see.

The only other upcoming console game (well, there’s the Gravity Falls game and YOKAI Watch, but I don’t think I’ll be able to fit them in :( Shall hopefully get them eventually though. We’ll also be getting Fallout 4 and the new Tomb Raider, but the former is more for my fiance and the latter I just don’t think we’ll be recording) I am planning to get is Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon. I still have mixed feelings on it, but I do love the Mystery Dungeon games and will most likely record my entire playthrough. I plan to either stick with the quiz or choose Piplup (one of my favorite starters overall) or Oshawott (who I used in the last Mystery Dungeon game) as Skitty and Audino are not options. Pikachu will probably be my partner.

Besides that, the Beta for Pokemon GO will apparently be out near the end of the year and I’m really crossing my fingers to be able to get into it. If I can, I’ll probably write updates here as it’s not exactly easy to record your phone while out and about. And even if I don’t get into the beta, there will still be plenty of entries once the game is officially out. (Someone make me a Mega Audino wrist-strap for the Pokemon GO accessory, please.)

After that, it’s mostly free until January. I’m still crossing my fingers for Style Savvy 3, but unless we get an announcement with no notice (which would honestly kind of suck), I don’t see us getting it until early next year at this point–months after Europe and possibly a year after Japan which is… awful. I’m not sure why there is such a delay on this game, but it’s incredibly disappointing. I’m so sick of seeing DLC that we never get or things taken out for no reason. I really love the series so I’ll be happy to see it if we do, but I’m genuinely worried we’re not going to…

But yes, in short:
-More Happy Home Designer coming soon.
-More Woolly World coming soon.
-More Undertale coming soon.
-Videos of Amiibo Festival will happen
-There will be a video series of Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon.

Also, for those who have been asking about more Tomodachi Life: I HAVE still been playing and earning things. I have lots of photos too–but I’m waiting until I’ve accomplished another “catalog” goal so to speak because I make an update on the game.

And I mentioned Dragomon Hunter briefly on Twitter as I got into the closed beta which I am pretty excited about. I may record a bit as I try it out, but I’m not going to promise any series unless I really like the game. As it is, the overpricedness of the Founder’s packs have me super down :( But I still really want to try the game so expect some video of it later this week.

For those who were asking about my Star Citizen tweet yesterday :P

So, yesterday was Citizen Con–a convention day for Star Citizen’s anniversary. The game started with a kickstarter before the main website going into a full crowdfunding to make . I’m not going to go into full details (I’ll leave that to Zero Reviews, but I still want to talk a little bit about it. The short condensed version is it’s a Flight Sim–it’s a lot more than that, but that’s one of the big inspirations for it. It’s going to be a full space MMO and having enjoyed SWTOR a lot and liking Space, I was intrigued. Especially as exploration would be a big part of it (and the new star map says plenty) and exploring and collections are my thing. You can even check out a video of my hangar showing a bunch of the things that I’ve already gotten from the various Voyager Direct, Subscriber, and Milestone things

I also have my own organization–S.E.A.C. (Pronounced Seek, stands for “Society of Exploration, Acquisition, and Collection). It doesn’t have many members yet (and probably won’t until the game is out), but I’m pretty excited to get things started with it.
SEAC-Cover
If you already are on Star Citizen, please consider joining? >>

But yes, one of the things announced yesterday was a Referral Program… and I’ll be honest, I hate referral programs in general, but even more so for ones that start a good amount of time after registrations have been opened as usually that means that people who could get someone to refer them already have and/or anyone who would purchase a game package already has.

I’m not very good at finding people to refer–it’s hard enough for me to get friends to click a link where they don’t even have to do anything else, let alone find people who would join and purchase a game package (Which is ~$35–comes with the Squadron 42 game and a ship for Star Citizen).

To make matters worse, I really love all the rewards for referrals and I need 10 referrals (who also buy game packages) to get them all. And while all referrals count, only the ones that buy a game package (this is the cheapest one) count towards the rewards :(

But yes, any referrals, even if you don’t buy a game package are helpful so if you have any interest in the game at all and would like to refer me (and maybe join my organization too), please click here to do so!

My referral code by itself is: STAR-GNDP-P92H

I definitely recommend looking up videos and things of the game over my awful explanations :P

Also, they did this and that should be a win in anyone’s book:

(Skip ahead to 36:13. Though, if you’re interested in the game, I’d recommend looking into all of these!)