litladventures: Nintendo Holiday Showcase 2023

litladventures: Nintendo Holiday Showcase 2023

litladventures: Nintendo Holiday Showcase 2023

The litlgeeks we beckoned to a beautiful studio in NYC for their Holiday Showcase 2023, and we absolutely were not going to miss the chance to answer the call!  Nintendo showed us marvelous things, glorious things, …WONDERous things!  We got a chance to get hands on time with Super Mario Bros Wonder, and the new DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, we ate delicious treats, drank delicious mocktails.  And! Nintendo even let us make our own swag bag, and it was amazing!  Always thankful whenever we get to check out the new Nintendo things, and today more than ever! Super Mario Bros Wonder OMG!!!

 

This post is for entertainment purposes only.  Music included in video is part of the games being played.  We received free products as a part of this post from Nintendo

 

litladventures: Dad’s Night In With Nintendo!

litladventures: Dad’s Night In With Nintendo!

Nintendo is an absolute favorite in our house.  No matter what game they have, we are game to play it, from Kirby, to Mario, to Pikman, to Oh My Gosh I can’t wait for The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, we are Nintendo fans through and through.  We have owned every console since the NES, we have 2.5 Switches (one for each litlgeek, and I get the very original version that has …seen some things).  So when Nintendo reached out to have me attend their special Dad’s Night In event, where I could sit on my couch, play some Splatoon 3, and watch some amazing new previews with Nintendo online?  Yes, absolutely, count me in 1000 out of 1000 times.

Nintendo sent us a fun care package in advance of the event, featuring a sweet Splatoon Nintendo Trucker hat, a pdp gaming headset, and a copy of Splatoon 3.  We are Splatoon fans for sure, and are so excited to get a crack at painting the town splat with Splatoon 3!  In advance of the event, we’d brushed up our Splatoon skills, got our level up, bought some fun new blasters, and now we are ready to go!

The Night

Our night started with our friends at Nintendo hosting an outstanding walk through of some of the hottest titles out now and coming soon!  With a key focus on…listen, Nintendo games are fun for the whole family.  But sometimes, Dads need to put their feet up, and dive in to a fun game on their own, whether it’s an enriching single player with the most open ended puzzle solving in the history of gaming, or flinging a turtle shell at high speed at an opposing racer.  Nintendo has you covered!  Let’s have a look at some of the games we got to check out!

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

One of our most anticipated games of 2023!  The puzzle solving above, I was talking about this, and you can check out our full preview here.  This game is set to redefine the way we play games, the way games are made forever after, and it’s going to be a heck of an adventure!  Tears of the Kingdom releases on May 12, 2023 for $69.99

Metroid Prime Remastered

Metroid Prime Remastered is a beautiful remaster of one of the best Metroid games to ever hit a console.  This entry in the series took the game from side scrolling into first person, and changed the way we thought of Metroid.  The graphics are beautiful on the Switch, and the gameplay is that same, revolutionary, genre defining perfection we remember!  Metroid Prime Remastered is available now for $39.98 here.

Minecraft Legends

Minecraft Legends finds players constructing defenses to protect your village!  A totally different take on the Minecraft formula, turning it from a build / battle first person creation game to a real time strategy platform!  Fans of the game, and folks who love defending….which is definitely a key dad thing, should have a blast with MInecraft Legends, available now for $47.99 here!

Mageseeker

MageSeeker is a story based extension of the world built in one of the hottest competitive E-Sports games in the history of E-Sports, League of Legends!  MageSeeker takes you into a single player action RPG to explore the rich world and stories within.  Battle as Sylus a mage, now free from captivity and have a blast!  Available now for $29.99

Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8.  What can we say about Mario Kart 8 that hasn’t been said? If this isn’t one of your all time favorite games by now, you are missing out.  This game is perfection in the racing genre, and Nintendo keeps on enhancing with more courses, classic courses, customizations, characters and more!  It feels weird to tell someone they need this game, because I feel like everyone should already have it!  But if you still need it, it’s available now for $44.90!

Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack

Now, before we get into our last game of the night, and our awesome play session, we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the fantastic addition to Nintendo’s online service, Nintendo Online.  It adds an awesome Expansion Pack feature to your membership, aptly named “Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack”.  It comes in two flavors, Individual for $49.99 per year (1 account), and Family for $79.99 per year (8 accounts).

Expansion Pack includes all of the great features of Nintendo Online, plus N64 and Game Boy Advance Nintendo Switch Online, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass, Animal Crossing New Horizons Happy Home Paradise, Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion, Sega Genesis Nintendo Online.  Of course, you would need to own the original games to access any expansion content through this service, but Nintendo is here to help with that too, thanks to the Nintendo Switch Online member exclusive Game Vouchers!  For $99.98, you get two games!  You can buy the voucher now and use it before 12 months.  Given that many switch games are 59.99, and the new Zelda will be 69.99, this is a steal!

Splatoon 3

The belle of the ball if you will, why myself and many other dads came out to join Nintendo for this night of game previews, recaps, education, and fun, we came to play Splatoon 3!  Splatoon 3 is out now for $48.88 on Amazon.  It features fast, paint splattering fun for all ages.  It’s easy to hop into matches and start splatting, tons of great modes, awesome paint blasting weapons, clever levels and more.  The game is played online / local multiplayer, only one player on your Switch screen, it’s third person, and it is fuel for my OCD soul.  The main focus of all modes is cover the level in more of your paint than of your opponents paint.

Now, the fun final focus of the night was being able to play some Splatoon 3 with other dads and Nintendo in some breakout / private rooms.  We’d been practicing for about a week and a half, and training up to level 9.  That practice paid off in our play session because we made sure to be on the winning side all but once during the night, and two of the matches were us on a 2v3 short side.  So to win one of those was great!  Of course, not a competition, all in fun, but man it’s fun to win once in a while!  Fun to hear the cries when we broke out our spider mech.  It was a Splatoony great time!

We want to thank Nintendo so much for having us out for a night that in many cases was a literal actual blast!  We had a great time checking out some very soon coming games, some very recently released games, and a great time mopping up in Splatoon! As a dad, it’s great to know that Nintendo has a ton to offer for a quiet…or very loud night at home with your Nintendo Switch!  Dads out there, we can’t recommend Nintendo Switch enough, and the stack of games we had a look at are sure to be a great time for all!

The Stuff

Splatoon 3 – Available now for Nintendo Switch for $59.99 (now for $48.40 on Amazon!)

Nintendo Splatoon 2 Lime Trucker Baseball hat – Available now for $19.99!

PDP Gaming LVL40 Stereo Headset with Mic for Nintendo Switch – Available now for $12.41

Don’t forget to check out these other fine Nintendo Switch Games!

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

Yoshi’s Crafted World

Luigi’s Mansion 3

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

 

 

Preview: Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Preview: Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Preview: Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

True Story.  I love the Zelda franchise.  I’ve played, I can’t tell you all, but most Zelda games, and I’ve played the ones that I have from start to finish, quite frequently, in OCD fashion, pressing all the buttons, turning all the switches, collecting all the things, revealing all the secrets.  I sport a Tri-Force tattoo on my outer right calf.  I love Zelda.  And man…oh man, did I invest a wild amount of real life hours into Zelda Breath of the Wild.  It was a title that truly re-invigorated my love of video games.  Not that the love was ever lost, but you grow up, you get a little older, you have kids, responsibilities, and it gets hard to find your way back to the console.  Always make time for Zelda.  The above said, and I’ll probably say most of it again in the full review, when my email notification dinged, and it was a note from Nintendo asking if I wanted to come out to NYC, to a fancy high-rise with floor to ceiling glass windows, to come demo Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, my answer was a wildly rapid “Oh Heck YES!”.  I’m very excited to share with you, a recounting of that adventure below, now a week removed, with time allowed for that joy to sink in, and official images and game clips to share!

litlgeeks / MUReview may receive a small commission from links used to make purchase from this article

The Location A beautiful high rise in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, floor to ceiling glass windows, delicious coffee and snacks served! (THANK YOU!!).  It should bare mentioning, there were restrooms in a series and one had the most beautiful view of the NY City skyline, and I didn’t ever think that was something I’d see when I had to tinkle.  It was pretty neat!

On Display The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, was front and center, and being demoed on multiple TVs around an open floorspace.  In one corner a full, life sized Link diorama (pictured in the gallery), that was beautiful, and so cool to take a picture with!  We got a close up look of the special Tears of the Kingdom Edition OLED Nintendo Switch (available April 28 for $359.99, preorder on Amazon here).  I don’t need to buy another Switch, I don’t need to buy another Switch, I don’t NEED to buy ANOTHER Switch!!!

The Game Preview

  • The very small crew of media members, myself included gathered around a large screen TV, and a Nintendo representative walked us through some of the new gameplay mechanics show us how beautiful some of the areas are, and step us ably and delicately back into the world of Hyrule.
  • What’s new?
    • Puzzles and challenges are going to have a massive amount of ways to solve each, your imagination is the only limit
    • New gameplay mechanics
      • Ultrahand – An ability that you can use to pick up, move, merge, build objects with, this tool will be instrumental in gameplay and puzzle solving
        • Practical use – You’ve got a set of tracks over here, and a minecart over there.  You are going to use the Ultrahand to put the cart on the tracks…but then it needs power, so you are going to then want to procure one of the magical devices from a vending machine or strewn about the land, like maybe a fan, that you activate with a sword hit.  You’ll put the fan on the cart, get in the cart, whack the fan and off you go!
      • Fuse – Fuse in game objects to your weapons or shields to make them stronger and more durable.  Fusing a new object to a damaged weapon will reset it’s durability!
        • Practical use – The use is in the description here, but to restate Fuse will enhance the damage, defense, and or durability of your weapon or shield.  Use the loophole above to reset durability to 100%!
      • Ascend – Aptly named.  You can ascend up through things above you.  You click it, you look up, and if it’s in range you will fly up through that ceiling and you are given a peek around before you can commit to going all the way up and remaining there.  Enemies won’t react to you until you are fully up
        • Practical use – You are in a house, but if you were on the house, you could look around at your surroundings for puzzles, traps, and enemies.  Ascend through the roof, now, with your birds eye view, you can see all around you!
      • Recall – You are going to move things in the world, and at some point you are going to need them to come back to you, or maybe you need to take another action while an object you move is in a different state than it was when you started your shenanigans in an area.  Recall does what it says, it essentially rewinds time for the object you select, for example, you can ride a minecart across a rail, highlight it with recall, and send it back to where it came without you in it
        • Practical use – You can ride a minecart across a rail, highlight it with recall, and send it back to where it came without you in it, maybe you have a friend to pickup on the other side?  Just one example obviously
      • There is also another feature in the game that streamlines the building process with Ultrahand
        • Practical use – I dunno yet…
      • There are new devices in the game, some you have to merge components you find to create, some you’ll find around the land, but these devices, like rockets, fans, flame boxes, and more, will add a new level of interaction, and a new way to ‘power’ or move some of the things you may build with Ultrahand
        • Practical use – These new devices are mentioned above with Ultrahand, they, at least as far as I saw will be used to power, or move the things you put together with Ultrahand, Fan on a minecart example above
    • All of these new gameplay mechanics, together with new enemies, and a massive new world to explore in the skies of Hyrule…but how do you get there?
      • Rest assured, there are some cool new ways to get to those places way way up!

Gameplay and More

  • Addressing some of the online fears of Zelda fans.  Tears of the Kingdom is no mere expanded DLC or expansion to Breath of the Wild.  The scope of this game is darn near overwhelming.  You will certainly see familiar locations in Hyrule, though being honest, I didn’t see much that was familiar besides enemies in my demo session.  However, the fact that the sky is now the limit as a phrase, carries so much more weight in this instance.  This is a brand new, full fledged, hundreds of hours demanding, Legend of Zelda title in waiting!
  • As with Breath of the Wild, controlling Link is comfortingly intuitive.  All the buttons are where they make sense (We played with the Nintendo Pro Controller), navigating the menus was slick, and the longer I played, the more adept I got at switching between abilities, menus, weapons, the map, etc..
  • As there are some new abilities and mechanics, players of Breath of the Wild should be able to adapt quickly, but will notice the differences and it may take some game time to get used to
  • Graphics are once again, absolutely stunning, the world of Hyrule is museum quality art in motion
  • Enemies range from teeny tiny to absolutely massive, and we got the full gamut in size within the hour and a half or so of hands on time we had

If you are new to the Legend of Zelda, Nintendo has put together a beautiful, educational web experience to bring you up to speed.  Head over to www.zelda.com to check that out!

There is also an incredible wealth of Zelda specific Amiibos to collect!  I don’t know yet what they will do in Tears of the Kingdom, but you can pre-order a brand new Link Amiibo (here currently unavailable), so I expect that all things Amiibo will give you some fun in game goodies, some more fun than others!

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch releases May 12, 2023 and is currently rated E10 by the ESRB

litladventures: Every Day is MARIO Day; Nintendo NY

litladventures: Every Day is MARIO Day; Nintendo NY

Every Day is MARIO Day; Nintendo NY

litlgeeks and Nintendo?  We go way back…and we are so grateful that whenever they throw a shindig at Nintendo NYC, they throw an invite in the mail to us!  Today, we got to visit Nintendo NYC to celebrate Every Day is MARIO Day, just in time to celebrate Mar10 day proper (March 10th).  Tons of exciting Mario greatness coming out of Nintendo this year, not the least of which is the opening of an incredible theme park, a brand new Mario Movie (The Super Mario Brothers, in theaters 4/5/23), and also, tons of great Mario and Mushroom Kingdom games to play on your Nintendo Switch, THE BEST! Game system of all time!!  Where we we? Oh Right!  We got to go to NYC to Nintendo NYC to play a ton of great games, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Yoshi’s Crafted World, Super Mario 3D World+ Bowsers Fury and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze…AND! We got to hang with our friends at Ryan’s World (Ryan Kaji). Don’t forget, you can pick up a ton of the great Nintendo games we played today below! (litlgeeks and MUReview may receive a small commission from links used to purchase in this post)

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

Yoshi’s Crafted World

Luigi’s Mansion 3

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Let’s check out the fun we had, and the sites we saw!  And remember everyone, every day is MAR10 Day!!

 

 

Preview: Kirby’s Return To Dream Land Deluxe

Preview: Kirby’s Return To Dream Land Deluxe

Preview: Kirby’s Return To Dream Land Deluxe

Nintendo invited us to check out the soon coming Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe for Nintendo Switch, and what a treat we were in for!  Well it’s some of the same amazing gameplay and adorable characters of the original…plus more!  Check it out!

3 Game Modes 

Mode 1 – Story help Magolor rebuild his ship!

  • Story mode is drop in drop out, multiplayer co-op joy!
    • Play as one of four color Kirby’s or, a different character including King Dedede, Waddledee, or Meta Knight
    • Leave the game and return as a different character if you want!
  • Side scrolling fun and action with tons of optional objectives
  • There is a change to Kirby’s inhale.  He can inhale enemies and larger objects, and friends, with different levels of inhale
  • Kirby gets a new copy ability – Mecha Kirby, awesome laser / jet pack added to deluxe version of the game
  • Magolore assist, he will catch you out of holes, bring you health, makes the game easier for inexperienced players, more accessible
  • Ahead of each boss there are a multitude of copy abilities you can choose from to fight the boss
  • Shoulder buttons allow you to block / dodge attacks
  • Collect chunks of Magolor’s ship
  • After the main story is completed, an EX / extra difficult mode is unlocked, with harder, more challenges

Mode 2 – Merry Magoland

  • A fun theme park of mini / sub games to play, 10 total, 8 returning, 2 new games!
  • A bunch of fun control options (make sure you wear your wrist straps!)
  • Mini games are for up to 4 players, if fewer, the CPU will fill the empty seats
  • 100 missions in sub games – completing missions gets you stamps, use stamps to unlock masks.  Masks are purely cosmetic, and purely awesome!
  • The masks can be worn in Story mode, and they are a ton of fun!

(New) Mode 3 – Magolor Epligogue

  • Play as Magolor, this mode is unlocked after you beat the main game
  • The goal of this mode is to help Magolor regain his magic, with a little help from your friends (up to 4 players all playing as Magolors)
  • Controls are different than standard Dream Land gameplay
  • Build up your combo meter (if any player takes a hit, it sets the combo back to 0)
  • Earn magic points to spend on Magolor’s Magical Skills (upgrade your abilities)

Kirby fans rejoice.  It looks like we are going to get an exceptionally fun upgrade to an already great game, and more Kirby is always best Kirby!!

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land™ Deluxe – Nintendo Switch releases February 24th 2023 and is currently RP (Rating Pending)

Pokémon Violet

Pokémon Violet

Pokémon Violet

Make sure you check out this, and all of the great stuff the litlgeeks have reviewed at http://www.amazon.com/shop/litlgeeks

It was just last month that we were in NYC celebrating the launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet with our friends at Nintendo! Since then, the game has come out, we’ve all gotten a lot of great time with it.  In fact, one of the litlgeeks have even finished the WHOLE GAME! So now it’s time to give you our thoughts on it.  We’d like to send a special thank you to our friends at Nintendo for sending us a copy of Pokémon Violet.  And we want to let you know up front, this is an absolutely perfect litlholiday gift, last minute or otherwise.  If you run out of time, you can even get it digitally right on your Nintendo Switch!

These are litlholiday 2022 approved gifts!

litlgeeks / MUReview may receive a small commission from purchases made through links on this page

Pokémon Violet

Pokémon Violet features a brand new region of Pokémon to explore in the beautiful open world of the Paldea Region!  There are a ton of new Pokemon to collect too, like:

  • Fuecoco (Starter)
  • Quaxley (Starter)
  • Sprigatito (Starter)
  • Lachonk
  • Smolive
  • Paldean Wooper
  • Charcadet
  • Miraidon
  • Koraidon
  • Armarouge (One version is exclusive to each Scarlet and Violet)
  • Great Tusk (Scarlet exclusive)
  • Scream Tail (Scarlet exclusive)
  • Iron Treads (Violet exclusive)
  • Iron Bundle (Violet exclusive)

That’s just to name a few, and you are going to want to explore all of Paldea to find them and catch every one!

Graphics

  • Graphics look great, and are a step up from Legends of Arceus
  • Bright, colorful
  • Smooth textures
  • The Pokémon look like Pokémon!

Gameplay

  • In Pokémon Violet (and Scarlet), players will experience more freedom than they ever have in a Pokémon game!
  • There is no set path for Gyms or places you have to go.  There are 3 different paths you can take through the game though, you must complete them all to finish the game
  • Your friends can join your very own Pokémon region of Paldea to explore and play with you, this is the first time you have ever been able to do that in a Pokémon game
  • Tera Raid battles are timed by a timer and not by moves
  • You can now hunt Pokémon, and make more spawn by making SANDWICHES!
  • This is the second time in the series that Shiny Pokémon can spawn in the world for you to see and catch (instead of starting a catch before finding out it’s Shiny)
  • You can bring older Pokémon into the world, like Greninja and Hoopa using Pokémon Home (free on the Nintendo eShop!)
  • You can complete Gym Challenges now, before you go to the Gym / beat the Gym Leader
  • This is the first game in a while where you can fully customize your Trainer before you go on your journey
  • After you finish Violet and Scarlet’s story, you’ll want to complete your Pokedex to receive the special Shiny Charm that will give you a better chance of catching Shinny’s from then on
  • After the story is over, you can quickly and easily challenge any Gym Leader, and you can return to the School to participate in the Academy Ace Challenge to unlock 7 Star Tera Raids!

Differences Between Scarlet and Violet

  • Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the same game, with the same story, but with just a few differences you should know about:
    • Scarlet is based on ‘the past’
    • Violet is based on ‘the future’
  • What that means, is that the Pokémon exclusive to each, have a future, or past look to them.  The same can be said for each Paradox Pokémon, and how your Professors appear in the game
  • Armarouge will also look different between Scarlet and Violet
  • litlninja thinks there may be one different Gym Leader between each, but we need litlzombie to catch up!

Availability

litldecision

litlninja has already completed the story, and is working on completing his Pokedex now.  He played through Scarlet.  litlzombie is about halfway through Violet.  Both litlgeeks LOVE Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and we can’t recommend it highly enough as a great game to add your library, and as an oustanding litlholiday 2022 gift!  Nintendo has a winner here, and you have got to catch em’ all!

MUReview and litlgeeks received Pokemon Violet for the Nintendo Switch for free for review. This game is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB. This post / video is for entertainment purposes only.  Load times in video were shortened / edited.  Video was captured using an iPhone 14 Pro Max pointed at a 65″ LG OLED 8 Series TV, no direct video feed was captured