All Articles: Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Nintendo Download: Animal Crossing New Leaf Welcome Amiibo Edition, Metroid Other M, Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, more

Nintendo is going retro with this week’s eShop update, as four games from the consolemaker’s past resurface in new locales or with new features.

Leading the way is a 3DS re-release for Animal Crossing: New Leaf that adds Amiibo functionality to the game. The appropriately-named Welcome Amiibo Edition adds new features and activities, as well as support for all Amiibo figures and cards in the Animal Crossing series. Players who’ve previously purchased Animal Crossing; New Leaf will be able to access all of the Welcome Amiibo content with a free update.

3DS fans might also be interested in Demon’s Crest, which is also now available to download for Nintendo’s handheld. Originally released for the Super NES in 1994, Demon’s Crest is the final adventure of Firebrand, a heroic gargoyle first glimpsed in the Ghosts N Goblins franchise.

Over on the Wii U eShop, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is now available to download for Nintendo’s home console. The strategy RPG is a remake of the first Fire Emblem game, and it was originally released for the DS in 2009.

Finally this week, the divisive Metroid: Other M makes the leap from the Wii to the Wii U. Developed by Team Ninja, Other M gives bounty hunter Samus Aran a very complicated backstory in a game that combines first-person and side-scrolling viewpoints.

More information on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)

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Mario Kart 8 sells 8 million copies as Nintendo updates their best-selling Wii U and 3DS titles

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Nintendo fans are absolutely giddy with excitement about the company’s upcoming Switch console, but we shouldn’t forget about the Wii U and 3DS. Earlier this week, the consolemaker updated investors on their best-selling titles for the Wii U and 3DS, as of September 30, 2016.

As the biggest-selling Nintendo-published game on the Wii U, Mario Kart 8 recently tallied total sales of eight million copies. The game’s success was measured using worldwide numbers for retail sales and digital downloads. While Mario Kart 8 is far and away the most popular game for the Wii U, Splatoon’s sales (4.57 million copies) are pretty impressive for a new franchise. Here’s the full top ten:

Best-Selling Nintendo-Published Games on the Wii U

  • 1. Mario Kart 8 — 8 Million
  • 2. New Super Mario Bros. U — 5.45 Million
  • 3. Super Mario 3D World — 5.19 Million
  • 4. Nintendo Land — 5.13 Million
  • 5. Super Smash Bros. For Wii U — 4.99 Million
  • 6. Splatoon — 4.57 Million
  • 7. Super Mario Maker — 3.73 Million
  • 8. New Super Luigi U — 2.74 Million
  • 9. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD — 1.98 Million
  • 10. Mario Party 10 — 1.94 Million

Over on the 3DS, Pokemon X/Y proved that the RPG franchise is still first in the minds of Nintendo fans, with total sales of 15.64 million copies. Once again measured using worldwide numbers for retail sales and digital downloads, it finished slightly ahead of Mario Kart 7, which almost lapped its console-based big brother with total sales of nearly 14 million copies. Here’s the full top ten:

Best-Selling Nintendo-Published Games on the 3DS

  • 1. Pokemon X/Y — 15.64 Million
  • 2. Mario Kart 7 — 13.94 Million
  • 3. Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire — 13.18 Million
  • 4. Super Mario 3D Land — 10.98 Million
  • 5. New Super Mario Bros. 2 — 10.6 Million
  • 6. Animal Crossing: New Leaf — 10.34 Million
  • 7. Super Smash Bros. For 3DS — 8.35 Million
  • 8. Tomodachi Life — 5.3 Million
  • 9. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon — 5.03 Million
  • 10. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D — 4.52 Million

The Wii U has struggled on store shelves since it was released in late 2012. The console currently has an install base of just 13.36 million, which is just a shade over 10% of the Wii’s final sales total. Meanwhile, the 3DS can claim an install base of 61.57 million, which is impressive, but still a far cry from the record-breaking sales of 154.02 million units for the DS.

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GTA5 is “Game of the Year” at the 2013 VGX Awards

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The first ever VGX Awards (formerly known as the Spike TV Video Game Awards) were held last night and the best games of 2013 were once again crowned by GameTrailers.com’s Geoff Keighley (with an assist from Community‘s Joel McHale). The general consensus among the Internetatti is that the show still doesn’t know what it wants to be and that the “intimate studio setting” (and McHale) made the whole thing feel a bit bizarre. But what about the award winners?

In what is sure to be the first of many, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V was named “Game of the Year” by the VGX Advisory Council. Rockstar’s crime saga also took home “Best Soundtrack.” But, the developer missed out on “Studio of the Year” honors. That award went to Naughty Dog for their work on The Last of Us. Their apocalyptic story was also awarded “Best PlayStation Game.” “Best Voice Actor” (Troy Baker), and “Best Voice Actress” (Ashley Johnson). Other multiple award winners include indie sensation Gone Home (“Best PC Game” and “Best Independent Game”) and BioShock Infinite (“Best Shooter” and “Best Song in a Game”).

A complete list of this year’s winners, including the remaining genre awards, “Best Xbox Game” (the surprising Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons), and “Best Nintendo Game” (Super Mario 3D World), can be found after the break. (more…)

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NCAA Football 14 finds the endzone as July’s best-selling game

ncaafootball-boxThe July 2013 best-selling games chart has been released by The NPD Group and EA’s NCAA Football 14 has gone to the head of the class. It will be the last game to carry the “NCAA Football” moniker as the NCAA has ended their licensing agreement with the game publisher.

A mixture of recent and older titles populates the rest of the top ten, which you can view right here:

1. NCAA Football 14 (Xbox 360, PS3)
2. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Xbox 360)
3. The Last of Us (PS3)
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
5. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
6. Far Cry 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
7. Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
8. Injustice: Gods Among Us (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U)
9. NBA 2K13 (Xbox 360, PS3 ,Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)
10. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PS3, 3DS, Wii U, Vita, PC)

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The Last of Us is first among June 2013’s best-selling games

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Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us cashed in on years of hype and some of the best reviews for a PS3 game ever (including a 7/7 from our own Andrew Rainnie) to emerge as the best-selling game of June 2013. Last month’s report from The NPD Group featured plenty of other new faces including Animal Crossing: New Leaf (#2), Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (#3, the first time its been available for retail sale), and Deadpool (#8).

Call of Duty: Black Ops II, NBA 2K13, and Battlefield 3 continue their lengthy runs as they sold enough copies to land at, respectively, #4, #5, and #9. The complete list of June 2013’s top ten best-selling games can be found after the break.

According to the NPD’s monthly report (via Game Informer), total retail sales of games, consoles, and accessories amounted to $593.3 million, a 15% decline from June 2012’s $700.6 million total. (more…)

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Animal Crossing: New Leaf Review: No Place Like Home

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Let me get a little personal before this review begins. My regular, full-time job is that of an automobile claims adjuster. My day consists of assisting people whose lives have been turned upside-down by getting into automobile accidents. People react to these situations very differently, and at times I have no choice but to be a punching bag for some. The job, as expected, gets stressful. Hell, even the great Daniel Day-Lewis couldn’t handle what I do. A few times during the summer, I will take a Friday off and spend a long weekend at my parents’ lake house in Indiana. During those weekends, I fish, go on boat rides, watch a horror movie or two, and relax. Come Monday, my batteries are recharged and I’m ready to take on the claims.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is my video game lake house. (more…)

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New Releases: The Last of Us, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Dark

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The E3 Expo begins this Tuesday (and several press conferences are scheduled to take place tomorrow), so the average gamer will likely be fairly distracted for the next few days. In response, game publishers have wisely avoided adding anything to the release calendar this week. So that makes it the perfect time for Nintendo, Naughty Dog, and Kalypso Media to release a few of this year’s most anticipated titles.

Starting things off, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the first game in the series to be released on the 3DS, is in stores today and is also available to download from the 3DS eShop.

Also available this week (on Friday, actually) is The Last of Us, Naughty Dog’s first non-Nathan Drake game in nearly ten years. Gamers have been clamoring over each other for any new information about this PS3 post-apocalyptic title since it was first announced in 2011. Thankfully, the wait is almost over.

Finally, Kalypso Media will release Dark, an action RPG where players control a powerful vampire, for the PC. I’m not sure gamers are as hyped up for Dark as they are for Animal Crossing and The Last of Us, but it does look interesting.

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Nintendo Download: Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Yoshi, more

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Welcome to this week’s Nintendo Download, which includes two new titles to download today and two more later this week.

Available today on the Wii U eShop is Spelunker, a Virtual Console console game originally released for the NES. The Wii Virtual Console has also been updated today with Sengoku 3, a side-scrolling brawler originally available for the NeoGeo.

The biggest game in this week’s Nintendo Download will be available in three days as 3DS owners will be able to download Animal Crossing: New Leaf on Sunday, June 9. Three days after that, on June 12, Yoshi, a puzzle game originally released for the NES, will be added to the Wii U eShop.

More information on all of these titles can found after the break. (more…)

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