It might be hard to imagine playing another super-stylish RPG set in modern Japan this spring, I am just so fascinated with this one. It looks entirely different from Akiba’s Trip, to the point that it feels weird to even associate the two.
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Add a little bit of menace to your next 1-2 Switch rooftop party with this item, available through the 3D printing site Shapeways. It’s available in a variety of fun colors!
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Somehow The Great Ace Attorney 2 is happening ⊟
For some reason I thought the first game in this historical-era, Japan-only series didn’t do great, but it did well enough for a sequel! Ryuunosuke Naruhodo, Sherlock Holmes, and Watson-who-is-a-little-girl-for-some-reason will all return for Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2.
Still no word on localization for either of these…
[Thanks, Tony!]
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[Tiny Cartridge friend Francesco Dagostino has done the legwork, and returned with a travelogue of great Super Mario Maker levels, and also one of mine! -jc]
Hello, fellow Mario Makers!
It’s been just over a week since Super Mario Maker came out, and you can bet I have spent a lot of time spelunking through the community-made stages in the Course World (at the expense of LBX’s wonderful postgame T_T) and I want to say I’m really surprised and shocked at the quality of some of the creations I’ve found.
There’s a little bit for everyone online: automarios, single screen puzzlers, classic Mario stages and even some crazy (not so) serious artsy masterpieces such as “Will You Save Your Son?” (C046-0000-003F-3825), which I strongly recommend playing!
Anyway, here’s a list of the best levels (and the codes to access them) I have played so far curated by yours truly! Give them a try, and don’t forget: follow the creators in game to check all their uploads (there’s a lot of REALLY good stuff in there) and make sure to leave nice comments and stars to reward the effort they put into creating these amazing stages, so they feel compelled to create even more! :P And you can save the levels you like best on your game, so you can play them forever.
Slippy’s Castle of Ennui - Zac
FA24 - 0000 - 0038 - 2561
Okay, let’s kick off with the third of a trilogy of really fun and silly levels made by everyone’s beloved artist Zac Gorman (Magical Game Time, Costume Quest, Over the Garden Wall, Rick and Morty) featuring none other than Slippy (yes, from Star Fox). Castle of Ennui is my favorite of the three not just because it’s full of things that made me chuckle, but also because “ennui” is one of my favorite words.
For the curious folks reading, my second favorite word is “gargantuan.”
Tall Pipe Trouble - Otter
9463 - 0000 - 003A - 89B3
I have a soft spot for levels that look like classic Mario ones but have some sort of twist. I ran into Otter randomly browsing through the Miiverse, and a lot of his stages are really fun, so make sure to check them all if you like this one!
Thwompin - JC
3B3A - 0000 - 004B - 8D86
If you follow Tiny Cartridge you can’t not follow JC! I really like his latest creation, which I just played while researching cool stages to include in this list! And if you like getting wiggly with it, check out his WiggleQuest series!
2 Spooky 4 U - Matt
4D04 - 0000 - 002B - B6F2
This is probably one of my favorite Mario stages of all Time. Yes. Of all time. Not just on Super Mario Maker. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering it’s made by Matt Thorson, who made Towerfall, which is also one of my favorite games of all time. I swear I’m not fanboying, this is legit amazing! All his stages are!
Big Small World - Jacob
2416 - 0000 - 003A - A1DA
Jacob, I don’t know who you are, but this little level you made made me chuckle a lot! I ran into it by chance playing the 100 Mario Challenge, and the concept gave me a lot of nostalgia for Super Mario 3, which happens to be my favorite 2D Mario of all time (together with New Super Mario Bros 2!). The fact that you can just stumble on levels like this one, levels maybe not 100% polished but with a fun idea, while playing the 100 Mario Challenge makes it totally worth stomaching all the terrible ones!
Fight or Flight - Cosmo
98B6 - 0000 - 0048 - F856
Everyone’s favorite speedrunner Cosmo Wright has posted a lot of really hard stages on his Super Mario Maker page that are totally worth checking out! I only beat this one so far, so it’s the one I like the most, ahahah!
Descent of the Lost Chomps - Konjak
727C - 0000 - 003A - 8128
Chomps are terrifying creatures. If you’re scared of them but at the same time feel brave enough to face them in a tricky, deceiving little stage made by the amazing Joakim Sandberg, the guy behind games such as “The Legend of Princess”, “Noitu Love 2” and soon “Iconoclasts”, you better play this!! To be honest, the levels Sandberg, Wright and Thorson posted alone are worth getting this game for.
Daddy’s Home - Tommy
B060 - 0000 - 0014 - 9590
A stage celebrating the Mushroom Kingdom’s #1 Dad. Besides the fact that you play as Bowser, which is always a pleasure, I really liked the fact that this stages mixes vertical and horizontal platforming pretty well. It’s also a well balanced and quite polished stage: despite being a good challenge it’s not frustrating at all! Definitely a good thing, considering I ran into it playing the 100 Mario Challenge!
Welcome to CANADA!!! - Sharla
587D - 0000 - 001C - 1908
This is the first stage I ever played on the retail version of Super Mario Maker. I just had to include it in the list because when we saw it, Christian and I knew this game was going to be something really special.
P is for Penance - Ferricide (@ferricide/@franpaccio)
32D3 - 0000 - 001D - E385
A little bit of shameless self-promotion can’t hurt, right? Christian and I decided to try to create a stage during a stream based around the idea of using P Switches to stop Conveyor Belts from spinning. Our initial concept changed a lot during the creative process, and what eventually came out is what I think is a really fun autoscroller with a really tight timing. It’s kind of a hard stage, but people online seem to like it! Maybe you will too!
To conclude, the Nintendo Minute team is posting some nice videos highlighting fun community stages, so you might want to keep an eye on that too!
My husband Christian (@ferricide) and I sometimes build and play levels in our streams, so if you have a twitch account, follow us twitch.tv/kitandfran! And if you’re a Mario Maker yourself and want to share your levels, feel free to send me a holler @franpaccio on twitter! If I get some good ones I’ll make sure to include them in the next Tourist Guide to the DIY Mushroom Kingdom!
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That seems to be the gimmick in Wii U’s Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (holiday 2015). You are Mario characters playing tennis, and occasionally someone is very big. I may sound dismissive, but I actually do trust Camelot and Nintendo to make that fun!
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This photo comes to us from the William J. Clinton Library, shot back in 1993 by Ralph Alswang. The former First Lady and current presidential candidate is said to have “mastered” the Game Boy back in the day, and since then Hillary has demonstrated that she likes to take care of her business on the go.
Was she just playing Tetris? Was she trying to decide to go with Squirtle as a starter? Or was Hillary composing some sick chiptunes while flying to her next show? Shout-out to Tony, Gideon, and Gingerbeardman for the pic/links.
SEE ALSO More handholding posts (our handheld gamer photo series)
Nintendo is either coming out swinging or made a mistake, because there’s a million Wii U/3DS eShop trailers on the YouTube channel right now, a day before its E3 conference! Go look! (Via @stealth__)
I’m not linking to individual trailers in case it is a mistake and they get taken down (then I’d have a bunch of useless links!) but here’s the list of stuff:
3DS: Moon Chronicles episode 2, Thorium Wars, Starwhal (AWESOME!), Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal World Dual Carnival (retail), Tappingo 2, Citizens of Earth, Blast ‘em Bunnies, Phoenix Wright Trilogy, Woah Dave!
Wii U: ANNE, Wooden Sen’SeY, Teslagrad, Nihilumbra, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 (retail), Pier Solar, One Piece Unlimited World Red (retail), Cubemen 2, Chromophore: The Two Brothers Directors Cut, Armillo, Chariot, 6180 the moon, Tengami.
What’s up E3.
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A new report out of Taiwan says that Apple has already chosen display suppliers for the iPhone 6, with LG and Japan Display being the primary suppliers. In addition to those two companies, Innolux has apparently also been contracted to provide 4.7-inch iPhone 6 screens, UDN says, in order for Apple to meet the expected increased iPhone 6 demand, while Samsung and Sharp have been both rejected.
TinyCast 33! We celebrate Mega May with tons of Mega Man talk, looking at the series’ boxarts, music, and portable games. There’s also some chatter here about Yokai Watch, old handhelds, and … J.J. & Jeff?
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I am usually not into masacore platformers at all, but 1001 Spikes makes it look so fun with its hectic multiplayer (not on the portable versions unfortunately) and variety of playable characters — many from other popular indie games. Here we can see heroes and heroines from Cave Story, Tempura of the Dead, the Bit.Trip series, Nyx Quest, and Knytt Stories.
What’s great about these characters is they all play differently, something I’ve been down for since Super Mario Bros. 2. This all seems so Super Mario Bros. Crossover-y! 1001 Spikes will release for 3DS, Wii U, PS Vita, PlayStation 4, PC (Steam), and Xbox One this summer.
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