Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- 2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More
- The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History
- Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
- BAFTA Games Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today
- The 2024-2025 BAFTA Games Awards Goes With the Flow as Astro Bot is Named “Best Game”
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone – Digital Trends (2025)
- 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive – The Verge (2025)
- The B-movies of Paul W.S. Anderson double as acts of devotion to his muse, Milla Jovovich – The AV Club (2025)
- Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality – Uncanny Magazine (2025)
- ‘I Could Make “Fart Fart Boobie Fart: The Game” and Maybe It Would Eventually Get Taken Down’ – Devs Reveal Why the Consoles Are Drowning in ‘Eslop’ – IGN (2025)
Most Recent: 3DS
Nintendo Download: Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, Mr. Shifty, Bye-Bye BoxBoy!, more
Nintendo added two surprising new 3DS games to the Nintendo eShop this morning…
Team Kirby Clash Deluxe is a standalone expansion of the “Team Kirby Clash” minigame included with Kirby: Planet Robobot. The game is free-to-start and features four different Kirbys battling it out with a series of giant boss monsters.
Also available to download for the 3DS today is Bye-Bye BoxBoy!, the conclusion to the black-and-white BoxBoy trilogy. This time around, Qbby has to overcome obstacles and rescue the Qbabies in this new side-scrolling platformer from developer HAL Laboratory.
Switch owners will get the chance to purchase several new games this week as well, and TinyBuild and Team Shifty added Mr. Shifty to their side of the eShop today. The overhead action game mixes will look familiar to fans of Hotline Miami, but Mr. Shifty is a thief with superheroic teleportation abilities and a penchant for “distraction and trickery.”
Finally today, Jackbox launched The Jackbox Party Pack 3 for the Switch, and it includes five new party-friendly games… “Quiplash,” “Trivia Murder Party,” “Guesspionage,” “Tee K.O.,” and “Fakin’ It.”
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few more new additions to the Nintendo eShop) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Mr. Shifty
Blaster Master Zero Review: Tanks for the Memories
The Nintendo Entertainment System was my first foray into real gaming. Granted, I played a lot of Atari and Intellivision back when I was a young ‘un, but the NES was a huge part of my childhood, and helped shape me into the gamer that I am today.
As a young hardcore gamer (did that term exist back in the day?), one of the things I loved doing was signing up for video game magazines. At Doc Lewis’s behest, I joined the Nintendo Fun Club. When I would get my allowance, I would head over to the local Woolworth and pick up the newest GamePro magazine. And yes, I was a subscriber to the short-lived Sunsoft Game Time News. I loved reading about their newest games, learning tips and tricks, and bugging my mom for $5.00 to order that Xenophobe T-shirt (I never did get it, though). One of the games that always piqued my interest in the Sunsoft newsletter was Blaster Master. It looked like a fun game, with lots of action and adventure.
Unfortunately, my only experience with the title was renting it once at the local movie rental shop. While it was a somewhat fun experience, I was pretty much lost and didn’t know what to do. I also never played it again, because I was knee deep in Mega Man, The Legend of Zelda, and Dragon Warrior. But I always regretted that decision, because Blaster Master has a reputation as one of the great games from the NES era. Well, fate as smiled upon me, as now I am able to play a new Blaster Master… and I don’t even have to hook up my old system! (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Reviews, Switch, Top Story
Tagged Blaster Master Zero
Rising Star Games will serve up Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop for the 3DS on May 16
Cooking Mama is back… and this time, she’s bringing dessert.
Set to be published by Rising Star Games and in development at Office Create, Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop will be available for the 3DS on May 16, and dozens of recipes and more than 160 minigames will be on the menu:
With over 60 different recipes to create, spread throughout 160 different minigames, players use the stylus to slice, stir, bake and decorate their creations – you can even use the microphone to blow and cool your delicacies! Create a wide assortment of delicious looking sweets and puddings, and serve customers in the shop to keep them happy. The more sweets you create and complete, the more your shop expands. You may even trigger a special event! Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop also features a competitive multiplayer mode for two to four players… challenge your friends and see who can make the tastiest treats. And just like always, don’t worry if you make a mistake… Mama will fix it for you!
For an appetizer, the first trailer for Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop has been embedded above.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop
Nintendo Download: Lego City Undercover, Graceful Explosion Machine, Vroom in the Night Sky, more
Four new games are now available to download for the Nintendo Switch… and three of them will offer players plenty of explosions.
Lego City Undercover is an open-world action game that takes the gritty “cops and robbers” genre and gives it a family-friendly makeover. Players will take control of Chase McCain, an undercover officer who has been ordered to take down notorious criminal Rex Fury. But they’ll also be able to keep themselves busy with “more than 20 unique districts to investigate, car thieves to bust, hilarious movie references to discover, vehicles to drive, and hundreds of collectibles.” Oh, and an explosion or two.
As you’d expect, Graceful Explosion Machine is also packed with fiery detonations. In this side-scrolling shooter, Switch owners will pilot the Graceful Explosion Machine, using its quartet of weapons to blast a bunch of aliens. If you prefer your shooters to scroll vertically, Alpha Mission II, which was originally released for the NeoGeo in 1991, is also available to download today.
Finally this week, Switch owners will be able to download Vroom in the Night Sky, which doesn’t appear to include explosions of any kind. Instead, players will fly through the night collecting Stardusts to unlock the Magical Gate.
You can learn about this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (which also includes several 3DS and Wii U games) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Graceful Explosion Machine, Lego City Undercover
It looks like Udon will publish a Shovel Knight: Official Design Works artbook in August
We’re still waiting patiently for the release of those children’s books based on Shovel Knight (they’re currently scheduled to arrive in stores on April 18), but it looks like you’ll be able to purchase yet another tome featuring the titular knight later this Summer.
According to a new listing on Amazon, Udon Entertainment will publish Shovel Knight: Official Design Works on August 29. The artbook will include 184 pages of images from the game, as well as new information about Shovel Knight from the development team at Yacht Club Games:
Shovel Knight: Official Design Works collects the fun and original artwork behind this landmark title. Inside you’ll find key art, character concepts, enemy designs, sprite sheets, unused ideas, and an all-new Shovel Knight tribute art gallery! This epic tome is also packed with creator commentary, as well as exclusive interview with the Yacht Club Games team.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, the newest expansion to Shovel Knight’s side-scrolling adventure, will be available to download for the PC beginning tomorrow. If missed its Nintendo Switch launch last month, you might not know that it’s an AMAZING addition to the franchise.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment will be released for the PC on April 5
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment was one of the best games released for the Nintendo Switch during its launch weekend, but we have good news if you’ve been waiting for it to make its way to other platforms.
Late last night, Yacht Club Games announced (via their official website) that Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment will be available to download for the PC on April 5. The game is also in development for more than a half-dozen other platforms (3DS, Fire TV, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One), and each one is currently scheduled to be released by the end of April.
Players who previously purchased Shovel Knight (which is now known as Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove) will receive the campaign as a free expansion. But PC, PS4, and Xbox One players who have never played Shovel Knight before will also have the option to purchase Specter of Torment as a standalone download.
Two additional expansions (King Knight’s Campaign and Battle Mode) are also in the works at Yacht Club Games. They’re expected to launch before the end of the year.
Atlus Japan unveils new trailers for a Radiant Historia remake, SMT: Deep Strange Journey, Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2
In case you missed it, Atlus Japan revealed three new games over the weekend during a special “Spring Broadcast 2017” livestream…
Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology is an enhanced remake of Radiant Historia, which was originally released for the DS in 2010. The remake will be available for the 3DS in Japan on June 29.
Shin Megami Tensei: Deep Strange Journey is also an enhanced remake, and it’ll give players the chance to reexamine 2010’s Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey on the 3DS. It’ll launch in Japan this Fall.
Finally, Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2 is a dungeon-crawling sequel to 2015’s Etrian Mystery Dungeon, and it’ll be released for the 3DS in Japan on August 31.
Atlus didn’t announce a North American release date for any of these titles, but it seems likely that all three will eventually make it out of Japan. For now, teaser trailers for all three games can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged Radiant Historia, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey