Hello, Fire Emblem: Awakening; goodbye, holiday weekend

Guess what our pipe-smoking, shorts-wearing (even in winter) mailman plopped onto our doorstep the other morning? If you guessed a brand new copy of Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS, pat yourself on the back. Don't let your head get too big, though--after all, I basically spoiled the surprise in the headline above.

Anyway, the game's cover art (below) is pretty nifty, don't you think? In person it looks even nicer than it does in the photo below, actually, as the gray/silver background has an appealing shimmer to it.

Fire Emblem: Awakening's cart art is similarly noteworthy thanks to the pixelated reworkings of what I'm guessing are the game's main characters. Yes, I just admitted that I know next-to-nothing about this title at the moment.

Why did I buy it if I know little about it (and if I've never before played a Fire Emblem game)? Because I really liked the looks of the battle scenes that were shown off when it was first announced.

Also, I've long been a fan of tactical RPGs, and this is supposed to be one of the best, so the question really should be: how could I not buy it?

As of now, I've yet to even stick the Fire Emblem: Awakening cartridge into my trusty pink-and-white 3DS XL, but that's only because I'm completely obsessed with Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime right now. (More on that tomorrow or Monday.)

I promise to tear myself away from Rocket Slime sometime today (or maybe tomorrow), though, so expect to hear me gushing--either here or on Twitter--about my experience with Fire Emblem: Awakening shortly. In the meantime, are any of you playing it? If so, what do you think of it so far?

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Touch Detective edition)

I've got the BeeWorks-developed, Success-published (in Japan) Touch Detective series on the brain at the moment thanks in large part to my recently professed obsession with the soon-to-be-released (and soon-to-be-in-my-grubby-hands) 3DS-based spin-off, Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku.

As such, I thought it would be fun to write up another "Which Box Art is Better?" post that focuses on these portable point-and-click adventures.

To get things off to a proper start, here's the art that graced Japanese covers of the first Touch Detective game (known over there as Osawari Tantei: Ozawa Rina):

And here's the illustration that appeared on copies of the North American release:

The European version's box art isn't too different from its North American counterpart, but I'm sharing it here anyway due to the fact that it's more colorful.

Finally, the more-precious-than-it-has-any-right-to-be box art seen below was used for the Japanese budget re-release of the game:

Which one is my favorite? Well, right off the bat I can tell you the Euro art is my least favorite (mostly because I find it a bit garish).

Strangely, I think the budget re-release cover would top my list (if one were to exist), even with its yellow border and excessive use of text. That said, I like the original Japanese and North American versions quite a bit, too.

Which one do you gals and guys prefer (assuming it could be said that you prefer one at all)?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts

A few thoughts on this morning's trifecta of Nintendo Direct broadcasts

So, the folks at Nintendo provided us with another trio of Nintendo Direct broadcasts this morning. (The last ones arrived less than a month ago.) Unlike the company's previous Nintendo Directs, the three that aired today--watch the North American one here--focused (mostly) on the 3DS. And not only that, but they focused on 3DS games featuring Luigi.

Here are a few brief thoughts on the three 3DS titles that fit the above-mentioned bill:

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (aka Luigi Mansion 2 in Japan)--This long-awaited game, which will, at long last, hit store shelves across North America on March 24, looks as gorgeous as always. Also, the online-enabled multiplayer modes sound like a lot of fun.



Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (aka Mario & Luigi RPG 4: Dream Adventure)--This one was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it? I mean, I assumed Nintendo would release another Mario & Luigi game at some point in time, but I never imagined they'd do so as soon as this summer--especially since Paper Mario: Sticker Star only came out a few months ago. Anyway, this iteration looks superb, and it'll likely be my first foray into this AlphaDream-developed series.



Mario Golf World Tour--I guess you could say this announcement was less surprising than the one above given that a new Mario Tennis title has already appeared on the 3DS, but I still found it a bit shocking. The question is: will this game, also due out this summer, be more worthy of purchasing than Camelot's earlier effort? I hope so, as I've been itching to experience another Mario Golf game for some time now.

After Nintendo president Satoru Iwata was done dropping those bombs, he turned the reins over to the crew at Nintendo of America, who chatted about Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC and (finally) pulled back the curtain on Animal Crossing: New Leaf's North American release date (June 9).



They also revealed that Game Freak's highly anticipated rhythmic platformer, HarmoKnight, will hit the eShop on March 28. (A demo of the game will be made available on March 14.) Oh, and HarmoKnight will soon be joined by a curious-looking title called Kersploosh!, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move and Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger--the last of which will appear on April 11. All of the above looked good to my eyes, although I'm most interested in HarmoKnight at this point.



Finally, it was announced that Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D hit the streets of North America sometime this summer. I'll probably pass on the title myself, despite the fact that I enjoyed the Wii version of the game, but I'm sure a lot of 3DS owners will snap it up.



One other piece of news a select few of you may be interested in hearing: during the Japanese Nintendo Direct, Iwata discussed the next Daigasso Band Bros. game, saying that it will be able to access and play the more than 9,000 tracks that were created for Daigasso Band Bros. DX. Unfortunately, the title is still without a release date.

Another (Japanese) Nintendo Direct was promised for next week, by the way, and apparently it'll cover third-party 3DS titles. As such, expect a similar write-up about that event to appear here shortly after it wraps up.

You had me at 'geeky retro video game pillows'

On the one hand, I'm glad that the gal behind the raindrop23 etsy shop is on vacation right now, as I really don't need any more gaming-related paraphernalia taking up space in one of our home's few closets.

On the other hand, I like her quilted pillow covers so much that I'd be more than happy to hand over my credit card and say, "Give me one of these and one of these and one of these," if that were possible.

Here are the pillow covers I'd buy if given the chance, by the way:

I also like a number of the Bob-omb, Fire Flower, Mario and Kirby pillow covers she's created.

Regardless, I love the different patterns and textures that raindrop23 puts to use while producing these functional pieces of art.

(Via gameswithboys.tumblr.com)

Duck Hunt x 3

I'm a sucker both for Nintendo's Duck Hunt and for the works of the artist known as SUIKA (or melonjaywalk), so I couldn't help but share the following photo here.

By the way, is anyone else wondering why in the hell Nintendo has never given us a Duck Hunt sequel? Sure, a similar game was packed within the first Wii Play, but that wasn't what I was looking for.



I can understand why the company wouldn't want to release such a title via retail, of course, but doing so digitally could be a pretty successful endeavor, if you ask me.

Or maybe I'm completely alone in wanting to return to Duck Hunt's grassy plains?