Week of: 8/1/16 – 8/7/16
Nintendo Spot is basically the major Nintendo news that blasts onto the internet and such, be it leaks or actual news, you’ll hear it from me. I, Sol, will be tackling it as soon as I can, so come here each day to see what has come out into the open!
Monday, August 1st
Nintendo’s Summer of Fun
With August starting today, Nintendo has put out a “Summer Gaming List” with a lot of popular 3DS games for more casual gamers to try out. Sure, its a little simple, but perhaps one of these games has piqued your interest. Are you going to try out any of these titles?
Arceus Arrives!
Pokémon’s 20th Anniversary is still going on, and since it is the beginning of a new month, a new Mythical Pokémon is available to download. In America, if you go to a GameStop from anywhere between August 1st to August 24th, you will be able to get the Mythical Pokémon Arceus! In Canada and the UK, the dates are the same, but you must go to a EB Games or GAME respectively Arceus is level 100 with the moves Judgement, Perish Song, Recover, and Hyper Beam.
MASSIVE Sun and Moon News!
Holy cow! We were told there was going to be some Pokémon Sun and Moon news coming today, but not this much! I’ll cover, briefly, just what was shown within this monstrous video. Firstly, special forms of already established Pokémon were announced that are native to Alola region. They have new abilities, new types, and a fresh new look. First was the gargantuan Alolan Exeggutor with the ability Frisk and a fresh Grass/Dragon type. Then were the Alolan Vulpix and Ninetales which were Ice and Ice/Fairy respectively. Both of these guys have the ability Snow Cloak. Finally, the Alolan Sandshrew and Sandslash forms were shared and are both Ice/Steel types with the ability Snow Cloak.
Next came some brand new Pokémon. The first was a dancing bird named Oricorio. However, it may be a completely different Pokémon depending on which island of Alola you explore. They are the Baile style (Fire/Flying), the Pom-Pom style (Electric/Flying), the Pa’u style (Psychic/Flying), and the Sensu style (Ghost/Flying). Oricorio’s special movie, named Revelation Dance, will be the same type as the style of Oricorio. It also has the new ability Dancer, which allows Oricorio to copy “dance moves” like Quiver Dance. I think Oricorio might just be my favorite Alolan Pokémon, thus far!
After that came Mudbray. A Ground-type with ability Own Tempo or Stamina. Recognize that body? Yes, Mudbray is the pre-evolution to Mudsdale! Minior came after Mudbray. This meteor-like Pokémon is a Rock/Flying type. However, while Minior may be a defensive-looking Pokémon, with its new ability called Shields Down, if Minior reaches below half-HP, its shell will break and show off its beautiful core. This “core” form comes in many different colors and is more suitable for attack than Minior’s defensive form. Then came Gumshoos, Yungoos’s evolution. It is a pure-Normal type with the abilities Stakeout and Strong Jaw. Gumshoos is also a “Totem Pokémon,” which will be discussed further in a second. Finally were the pure-Grass types Fomantis and its evolution, Lurantis. Lurantis is particularly interesting as it can learn the powerful move Solar Blade. According to its official page, it is also the Totem Pokémon for the Akala Island trial in the Lush Jungle run by Mallow. Both Fomantis and Lurantis can have the ability Leaf Guard.
When all these new Pokémon were shown, I mentioned “Totem Pokémon.” Well, “Totem Pokémon” are a part of what appears to be the new challenge trainers must face instead of the standard Gym challenge simply named “The Island Challenge.” Each island’s trial is run by a Trial Captain. Mallow specializes in Grass-types, Lana specializes in Water-types, Sopohocles specializes in Electric-types, and Kiawe specializes in Fire-types. These trails may not involve battling, but instead, involve you doing something like searching for ingredients around a jungle and whatnot. After completing the trial you must face the Totem Pokémon of the trial. As mentioned earlier, Lurantis is the Akala Island trial Totem Pokémon by Mallow and Gumshoos seems to be a Totem Pokémon. However, these battles will be difficult as the Totem Pokémon will raise its power before the battle starts and during the battle, may call for Pokémon to help them, potentially making your battle a two versus one situation! When you manage to topple the Totem Pokémon, you will be able to face the “Kahuna” of the island; the most powerful trainer on the island. You may recognize the first one as it is Hala, Hau’s grandfather. He also has been confirmed to be the one to give you your Starter Pokémon.
Also announced was the PokéRide feature, which seems to allow you to call down certain Pokémon strictly for field use. For instance, a Charizard may allow you to take to the skies and a Sharpedo allows you to cut through the sea. Mudsdale is also rideable! There isn’t too much information on this, but if you would like to see more on PokéRide, go here.
Lastly came “Z-Moves.” Z-Moves serve as an ultimate fifth move that can only be used once per battle. If the Pokémon is holding a special crystal while you hold the same Z-Crystal, it will perform an ultimate attack. You can equip these Z-Crystals relating to a Pokémon’s type. So you can give a Grass crystal to Rowlet for it to perform its Z-Move, but I’m not sure if you can’t, lets say, give Rowlet the Fire crystal and it will perform the special fire Z-Move. It seems that the crystals are a held item for these Pokémon, too. Go here for more information on Z-Moves.
Tuesday, August 2nd
Splatoon Updated Again
A quick patch to Splatoon was just released. Version 2.11.0 really has one major fix; a bug fix which previously had the “weapon splash” from Rollers and Brushes not work properly. Hopefully the game should run as smoothly as ever, now!
Pokémon Leaks Confirmed?
If you look back to a few weeks ago, I believe I reported on a few potentially real leaks about Pokémon Sun and Moon’s final starter evolutions. Well, for reasons I don’t want to spoil (since these are MASSIVE UNOFFICIAL spoilers), those rumors just got a whole bunch more plausible. PokéJungle has covered just as to why that is as well as a few more supposed leaks from the original source of the images. Go here for more detail.
Wednesday, August 3rd
Articuno in the Wild?
Reports of an Articuno captured in Pokemon Go continued to come in. Video proof showed off the legendary bird in-game, and the user claimed that the Pokemon was sent by the creators themselves. Niantic responded by stating:
Niantic later confirmed that the company did in fact release the legendary in the wild and his since removed the Pokemon from the game and from the users lucky enough to grab one for themselves.
Return of Super Mario Adventures!
Did you ever get the chance to the Super Mario Adventures comic from back in the day? The Nintendo Power exclusive comic ran from 1992 to 1993, and the entire series is being reprinted and set for release on October 12. VIZ Media is handling the redistribution, and you can order your own copy here!
Thursday, August 4th
Mario, Pokemon, and NX!
Let the NX reports keep coming in! According to sources reported on by MCV, Nintendo plans to have a strong content lineup for the first six months of the system’s release, featuring a new Pokemon game, a new Mario title, and of course, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
But that is not all. Third party support is also be covered, with support reported to be coming from Sega, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Activision, and Warner Bros.
The sources also comment on last week’s report, stating that the NX being a handheld console with detachable controllers and a TV output dock is “100 percent accurate.”
A Third Tale for Bayonetta?
In an interview with Platinum Games co-founder Atsushi Inaba, a potential third entry in the Bayonetta series was mentioned. Inaba stated that along with Vanish 2 and any game they have the chance to make a sequel for, Bayonetta 3 is certainly a possibility.
This goes along nicely with previous comments stating that Platinum Games always has ideas on what to do with Bayonetta next. Would you like to see something for Bayonetta on the NX?
Friday, August 5th
Happy 30th Birthday, Metroid!
We want to give a huge shout out to the Metroid series as it celebrates its 30th anniversary today! The original game was released on August 6, 1986 on the NES, and its legacy is still felt today. So go ahead and get your pre-order in for Federation Force! Or… go pick up the Metroid Prime Trilogy or Super Metroid from the Wii U eShop. Let’s celebrate with our favorite Metroid memories in the comments!
Nintendo Lineup at Gamescon Revealed
The next big video game convention is happening just a few short weeks, as Gamescon in Cologne, Germany is set to take place from August 18 to 21. Nintendo has announced the games they’ll have playable:
3DS
- Mario Party: Star Rush
- Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice
- Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice
- Monster Hunter Generations
- Rhythm Paradise Megamix
- Pirate Pop Plus
- Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
- Runbow Pocket
Wii U
- Super Meat Boy
- Severed
- Jotun: Valhalla Edition
- World To The West
- Steam World Heist
- Axiom Verge
- DLC for FAST Racing NEO
- Tournaments
- Pokémon Tekken
- Splatoon
- Super Smash Bros.
- Mario Kart 8
So expect to see new gameplay footage of the games listed above, including Mario Party: Star Rush!
Saturday & Sunday, August 6th & 7th
Nintendo News Block
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeEyAeAuxec
Hey everyone! This is SZ taking over for Sol while he is out and about traveling in search of Donkey Kong. I was able to cover him for the past few days, but you all know me, I can be a dingus when it comes to updating a daily post. Since I missed the updates for this weekend, enjoy our second episode of the Nintendo News Block to go over the biggest news from the week!
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