RedShell

Pretty sure a hardware bundle will happen, and I'm guessing it'd be announced in a MK8 Nintendo Direct. Nintendo must be aware that MK8 is one of the best chances for them to boost the Wii U, and by the looks of things they're going to go all out with promoting it. Are you still getting a Wii U in time for this game then, Retro_Link? Cheers.Yeah, I figured that would be the case. Keeping my existing ShopTo preorder for sure, and will sell that copy on once the special edition arrives.

Annnnnnd ordered. Not a huge fan of the t-shirt, but that is still one awesome overall package. :awesome:

Super Mario Kart (VC) added to the list. Oh! I also added a monthly totals to Jan and Feb a while back (forgot to post about it ) and a year to date section too. Should make looking back on the year interesting, depressing, etc... : peace:

So for anyone that's used the Nintendo online store before, what's their dispatch/delivery speed like? Do they generally get stuff delivered for release date?

Oh man, I'm freaking out here! :bouncy: Why did Nintendo have to kick the hype train into overdrive so far away from the games release date?!

Holy shit. I'm gonna end up buying MK8 at least 3 times at this rate. Must. Get. Red Shell keyring...

*spits out tea*:laughing::laughing: Quality N-E MK moment. And preserved forever at 5:05 on this vid:

I still can't get over the fact you're driving on a vine that's come out of a [?] block on that course. Absolutely incredible. God dammit, why won't May 30th hurry up and get here already?!

Because for them it is future proof. This is the formula Nintendo now follow, in keeping with what I mentioned on the previous page, it's about striking a balance between function and cost, being as efficient as possible. But even more importantly, it's because Nintendo are well aware that for their own games (and for any dev that's willing to put the effort in, which is apparently not many at all ) the Wii U hardware is more than capable to get the job done. I mean just look at ZombiU, Lego City, Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, upcoming games like Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros., Bayonetta 2, X... they all clearly show that the Wii U is a fantastic system which can produce magnificent results, in the right hands. The problem for Nintendo is that 99% of devs (especially western studios) don't share their ideology, and instead just want more and more powerful hardware to make their job easier. The way they see it, why spend the extra effort in optimizing, or have to find creative solutions to development hurdles when you can just take the easiest most straightforward route to producing a game? There's additional challenge in developing for Wii U, which now combined with lackluster performance of the system at retail means these developers simply don't want to know. But at the end of the day limitation breeds creativity, and that's an absolute fact. Take games from the early generations for example. Developers couldn't just come up with something and run with it, they had to constantly workaround the hardware to make their ideas a reality. Same goes for the music back then too, it's no accident that there are so many memorable tunes from games of the 80's and early 90's. Musicians also had to go the extra mile in order to make compositions that could surpass the severe audio limitations. Another example is indie games. Why do so many unique and highly creative concepts come from small development teams? I believe it's because they don't have the "luxury" of hundreds of staff, loads of money, the best equipment etc... They're facing substantial limitations, meaning that they need to be even more creative and come up with unusual ideas that will make their product stand out. But anyway, despite the best intentions of Nintendo, they clearly aren't going to change many developers minds and get them on the same wavelength. So it's now up to them (and a handful of 2nd/3rd party devs) to support the Wii U for the rest of its lifespan. And we all just need to...

Oh yeah. Perhaps it's time I came out of retirement.

Yeah, the enemy placement for most of the game is really just inviting skilled players to use them as a way to get through levels in style/at speed. :awesome:That's why some of the Time Attacks are so spectacular. Once people work out the optimal route and also make use of the enemies, it's possible to do some incredible stuff.

Beat the game a couple of days ago. Have since been going back through the worlds to collect the KONG letters and Puzzle pieces. Did World 2 last night and unlocked 2-K... What an awesome level! I had an ear to ear grin the entire time playing that stage. Definitely the most fun I've had playing DKCTF and easily my favourite level in the game so far. Guessing it'll end up being my overall favourite too, unless there's an even better K stage waiting for me to discover. The whole level was insanely satisfying. And I love how it's setup with a specific route of precision platforming in mind, but that it can be tackled in many different ways, an excellent example of high quality level design. Have you seen the #1 replay on Time Attack? It's mind-blowing!

So you're just imagining this stuff then, or what? No, I get what you're saying. But the fact is Nintendo always strike a really good balance between functionality and affordability. Sure there are (or will be) cooler devices compared to the Fit Meter for example, but chances are they're gonna cost a shit load more than 20 quid.

Do we have any idea what Next Level Games might be working on yet? Still excited by this: Really curious about what they're up to.

I'm up to World 6 now. The boss on the previous world made me laugh:

Nope. Can you give me an example?

Eh? You think the Fit Meter is old tech? Well if so, you don't want to be blaming Nintendo but Panasonic, as they're the ones that made it.

Completed the story today. Mission Time - 11 hours Enemies Defeated - 7099 Missions - 87% (61/70) Titles - 30% (9/30) Outfits - 75% (25/33) Pictures - 23% (9/38) My current character levels: Asuka - Lv 44 (played as her the most, obviously ) Ikaruga - Lv 24 Katsuragi - Lv 18 Yagyū - Lv 20 Hibari - Lv 20 The final moments of the game were actually a bit dark, I was pretty surprised.

Apparently not. I found out exactly what effects each affinity, and it's not play style, it's something much more logical (for this game at least )... it's what your character is wearing, or rather, not wearing. Yeah, if you forgo clothing (aka go frantic) you'll increase the Yin affinity upon completing a stage, regardless of your play style. But if you wear an outfit and don't trigger frantic mode, you'll gain Yang. That's why I maxed out Asuka's Yang affinity, but only had a tiny amount of Yin, because I'd only used frantic mode once. Whereas you on the other hand @Ike... ;) Anyway, I've now gone through the first Chapter again using frantic mode every time and maxed Asuka's Yin affinity too. Going frantic is insane, it makes your character so unbelievably powerful! I actually managed to beat one stage in a matter of seconds! Maxing both Yin & Yang unlocks Flash, and you can set your character to any of those 3 via the select screen. Yang is basically how the characters play at the start of the game, Yin puts you in an automatic frantic state, and Flash combines aspects of both styles apart from you can't go frantic at all. It also gives you infinite aerial rave loops, so once you get an enemy in an airborne combo you can effectively keep it going forever. I got a combo up to 1000+ hits, but the speed at which you attack increases with every rave loop, and it reaches a point which is absolutely ridiculous. Seriously, it's like playing the game in fast forward! You might be right, it does get a bit confusing with it marking each mission as new for different characters. Well I've now done all of Chapter 1 with Asuka, and like I mentioned above, Frantic mode makes you so powerful that the time to complete stages can be cut in half. Plus this is at Level 40. I'm assuming you can level up to 99 or 100, so that should make it even faster!

Some fantastic artwork in that Zelda comp, lovely stuff. Did anyone from here enter? I started one, but never finished. Anyway, on the subject of Miiverse, can someone do me a favour and check out my profile on their Wii U? I think something's up with it, because it only seems load a certain amount of posts (up to this one to be precise) and then stops. It's fine in the browser version of Miiverse on PC though, and also on the 3DS. It only stops loading on the Wii U version, that's why I'd like someone to check it on that, see if it does the same thing.

I think time is the most important factor, yeah. Because I went back through the first chapter and this time just blasted through it, getting all A Rank in the process. So it seems like a bit of a balancing act, as longer combos/more hits will earn a larger EXP bonus, but perhaps at the cost of your overall stage rank. I've noticed that too, not exactly sure what it means, but I always target those enemies whenever it appears. That's interesting, I've managed to max Asuka's Yang affinity, but have made hardly any progress at all on Yin. So it's dependent on play style you say? I'm up to Chapter 3 now. Some of the stages are character specific the first time through, but then you can go back and play them as any character. I think that's what causes a load of 'NEW' missions to appear on the list, they're not really new, just new for whichever character you've currently got selected. There's a red stamp on Chapter 1 in my game now, after I went back and played every stage with Asuka. Hopefully you don't need to complete every stage with every single character for 100%, 'cos that'd be insane.

Good job man. I've been trying to catch up (as you can see in your pic, I improved my time a little bit), but it's so difficult for me to put a perfect run together now. Either I mess up near the beginning of the level, or the part with the high pogo jump to the ledge. Or I make a mistake on the final section with the spike pits. I'm gonna play through and finish the rest of the game now before I turn my attention back to Time Attack.

I'm starting to enjoy the gameplay a lot more now, and reckon I might've been a bit unfair before by describing it as super shallow. Don't get me wrong, it is shallow, but having spent some more time with the game, I'm now starting to understand what the producer was on about in the N-E interview: Even though the control input required is very simple, and the enemies offer basically no resistance at all, it is strangely enjoyable just getting a massive group of them into one of your combos and seeing how many hits/ninja arts you can pull off in a single attack. You're so ridiculously overpowered, but it's actually pretty fun. Some of the costumes/accessories you unlock are really funny too. I've now got one of my characters wearing a giant pink cat costume, with a piece of toast stuck to her mouth. Oh Japan... never change.

I see.Those casual families are much more likely to play local multiplayer rather than online though I reckon, in which case many of them wouldn't even notice Wi-Fi Connection being shut down. And it's surprising that hardcore gamers are kicking up a fuss about this, as I'd have thought they would've moved on to either Xbox/PS or Wii U a long time ago anyway. It kind of seems like people just wanting something purely because it's going to be taken away.

Pretty sure they're trying to send people off to buy/spend more time online on the 3DS and Wii U actually, but never mind. Did a lot of people on here still regularly play DS and Wii online then? I'm pretty surprised by that if so. Last time I did was a bit of MK and Smash around 2 years ago.