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NintendoWare Weekly: Cave Story, Game & Watch

by JC Fletcher { Mar 22nd 2010 at 9:32AM }

You know what you're downloading on Wii today without having to look at the full list. In fact, we'll save you some time: Cave Story is the full list. In what we still regard as a pleasant surprise, Nicalis's remake is actually, for real, being released today! The only thing better than actually getting to play Cave Story today would be getting to download it for free -- which you just might be able to do, if you follow @nicalis on Twitter and take part in the dev's daily giveaway.

DSiWare is also home to pleasant surprises today, in the form of three DSiWare versions of Game & Watch minigames.

Gallery: Cave Story (WiiWare)

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Cave Story includes playable Curly Brace

by JC Fletcher { Mar 17th 2010 at 5:30PM }

In case anyone is still on the fence about paying for a WiiWare version of a freeware game -- although a couple of years of anticipation have probably killed that -- this Cave Story video (after the break) shows something pretty appealing: a second playable character. And not just any character, either. Curly Brace is a fan favorite, appearing in the game in a capacity we won't discuss too much to avoid spoilers.

We're checking with Nicalis now to learn more about her inclusion -- whether she's part of the initial download or DLC, and how her presence affects gameplay. Worst case scenario: we find out on Monday when the game comes out.

[Update: Nicalis has confirmed to Joystiq that Curly mode will be included with the initial download!]

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This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Cave Story

by David Hinkle { Mar 15th 2010 at 5:45PM }

This week's most noteworthy Nintendo Channel item is by far the Developer's Voice video on Cave Story above. Next week, we'll finally get to play it. How pumped are you? Like, beyond pumped? We sure hope so!

Head past the break for the rest of this week's content.

Gallery: Cave Story (WiiWare)

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Nintendo Media Summit 2010: The Recap Post

by Xav de Matos { Feb 28th 2010 at 2:00PM }

The 2010 Nintendo Media Summit has come and gone, and sent a wave of huge Nintendo news through the industry. We had hands-on time with some of the Wii's biggest upcoming titles, screenshots for almost everything on Nintendo's 2010 calendar and a big ol' sack full of new videos. In case you missed anything, we've wrapped it all up and have it here for you in one tidy little package.

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WiiWare screens and trailers from Nintendo Media Summit

by JC Fletcher { Feb 24th 2010 at 6:15PM }

Nintendo had a few awesome new WiiWare announcements at its Nintendo Media Summit, most notably, Cave Story! Most notably in the field of games we didn't know about, new Art Style games! The series hasn't been on Wii since the DSi came out, but now we've got Light Trax (a Wii version of the original bit Generations game Dotstream) and Rotozoa (a game about multi-tentacled organisms absorbing creatures of the same color) to look forward to this spring.

Check out the trailer for Light Trax above, and see a trailer for Rotozoa, as well as screens of Max and the Magic Marker, WiiWare's WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase, Rage of the Gladiator, And Yet It Moves, Super Meat Boy, and Cave Story after the break. Oh, man, Cave Story!

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Cave Story out on WiiWare March 22

by JC Fletcher { Feb 24th 2010 at 12:44PM }

Finally.

Update: Developer Nicalis has confirmed the release date and noted that the extra modes previously announced as DLC -- Boss Rush and Sanctuary Time Attack -- are now included with the initial download, "so there's no need for additional downloads or purchases." Nice!

Gallery: Cave Story (WiiWare)

Interview: Nicalis's Tyrone Rodriguez on Cave Story, La-Mulana, and more

by JC Fletcher { Jan 19th 2010 at 8:30PM }

Nicalis, the developer of the anticipated Wii remake of the indie hit Cave Story, briefly noted in a Christmas Eve blog post that the WiiWare game had been delayed into 2010. It seemed like a good time to check in with Tyrone Rodriguez, head of Nicalis and producer on the title.

Rodriguez spoke to us a bit about the progress of the remake, as well as Nicalis's other projects, Nicklas "Nifflas" Nygren's physics-based platformer NightSky and another WiiWare remake of a retro-style cave exploration platformer, La-Mulana.

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Cave Story coming 'after the new year' with new difficulty modes

by JC Fletcher { Dec 24th 2009 at 2:45PM }

Cave Story, first announced in October 2008 for release that same year, has missed 2009. In a blog post, Nicalis confirmed that the remake of the brilliant freeware title won't be available until "after the new year." The last we'd heard, it had been submitted to Nintendo for approval in November, so it's likely that the holdup is with the platform holder.

In more positive news, Nicalis also revealed what the deal was with the alternate-color Quote sprite that it's been teasing on its Twitter account: it's the outfit the player character wears in the new Easy mode, one of three difficulty modes. Hard Mode, which gives you only 3HP and no missiles, features Quote in blue with blonde hair. The developer also has "a LOT" of DLC planned, "AND we're taking possible requests." Finally, as a little stocking stuffer (or ear stuffer), Nicalis posted three remixed Cave Story tunes. Huzzah for the holidays!

This Week on the Nintendo Channel: E3 interviews

by David Hinkle { Jun 22nd 2009 at 2:15PM }

This week, the Nintendo Channel has been flooded with a variety of interviews about big upcoming Wii titles. There are interviews with the folks behind FFCC: The Crystal Bearers, Red Steel 2, Cave Story, and, as you can see above, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. So, hit up the video above, then if you want more E3 interview goodness, be sure to boot up your Wii and check out what's on the Nintendo Channel.

Gallery: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii)

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Nintendo celebrates one year of WiiWare

by JC Fletcher { May 12th 2009 at 2:45PM }

On May 12 of last year, Nintendo of America launched the WiiWare download service with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, LostWinds, Defend Your Castle, Pop, VIP Casino: Blackjack, and TV Show King. Today, on the one-year anniversary of that launch, Nintendo sent out a video featuring the highlights of the service's 81-game lineup.

For all the complaining Nintendo fans do about WiiWare, and Nintendo system releases in general, all the games presented in this video make for a pretty strong year of releases. In the press release about the anniversary, Nintendo gave us reasons to be excited about the next year of WiiWare, including Cave Story, Icarian: Kindred Spirits, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story, Bit.Trip: CORE, Cave Story, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and CAVE STORY.

Nintendo of Europe reveals April-June WiiWare/DSiWare releases, including Cave Story

by JC Fletcher { Apr 8th 2009 at 10:25AM }

As mentioned in the announcement of Squibs Arcade, Nintendo of Europe is holding a WiiWare (and DSiWare) media summit this week. During the event, Nintendo released a list of WiiWare and DSiWare games planned for release between April and June.

On WiiWare, the biggest news is Cave Story! Even though we knew it was scheduled for release in April or May, seeing more confirmation of that (for more regions) is great! Swords & Soldiers is also on the way. In addition, there are also a few games we haven't heard much (or anything) about. Each game has a brief description in Nintendo's announcement.

Bonsai Barber
Cave Story
ColorZ
Crystal Defenders R1
Icarian: Kindred Spirits
LIT
Overturn: Mecha Wars
Robocalypse: Beaver Defense
Spaceball: Revolution
Squibs Arcade
Swords & Soldiers
Water Warfare

In DSiWare, the most exciting title (to us) is Nintendo's Art Style: PiCOPiCT, a retro-Nintendo-themed puzzler with reinterpreted NES music by YMCK.

A Little Bit of... Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: Maths Edition
Art Style: PICOPICT
Mighty Flip Champs!
Mixed Messages
Pop Superstar: Road to Celebrity
Real Football 2009

[Via NintendoLife]

How Night Game got to WiiWare

by JC Fletcher { Mar 16th 2009 at 11:00AM }

The silhouette-style puzzle platformer Night Game represents the first WiiWare release from Knytt creator Nicklas "Nifflas" Nygren. Nifflas and Tyrone Rodriguez from developer Nicalis spoke with Gamasutra (specifically, Joystiq alum Eric Caoili!) about the new game and about its home on WiiWare.

Surprisingly, Night Game, which still isn't its final title, wasn't intended for WiiWare at first. Rodriguez made the call to put Night Game on WiiWare early in development. Nifflas told Gamasutra that "I've always wanted there to be a PC build of (Night Game), since many of my fans have been waiting for this game. I however respect Tyrone's decision here." Adapting the game concept to the Wii Remote led to a change in control mapping that "would have been an advantage even on a PC version. "

It was GoNintendo's RawMeatCowboy, according to Nifflas, who put him in contact with Nicalis, and therefore indirectly led to Night Game becoming a WiiWare title.

Cave Story dev: Nintendo opens Wii to Flash development

by JC Fletcher { Mar 13th 2009 at 9:00AM }

Nicalis's Tyrone Rodriguez went to a "secret developer summit" for Nintendo developers in Los Angeles this week, bringing back news of an important new announcement for WiiWare game creators: Nintendo has now made it possible to develop Wii games entirely using Flash -- something that is presumably most useful for WiiWare. We will probably hear more about this new WiiWare Flash functionality at GDC -- it seems an appropriate venue.

"This should open up the Wii to a lot of web developers who already can do killer Flash games," Rodriguez said. You may think of this as enabling more quick shovelware, but we think of it as enabling Dolphin Olympics 2.

In other news, The Escapist has posted an interview with Rodriguez and Cave Story creator Pixel that provides some insight into the kind of DLC planned for Cave Story. Rodriguez said that the structure is being designed to allow "all sorts of fun stuff like Boss Rush Mode or other fan-requested modes."

Cave Story coming in April or May!

by JC Fletcher { Mar 9th 2009 at 9:10AM }

The whole Nicalis team contributed to the latest Cave Story blog post, providing a fairly detailed snapshot of the game's progress at this point. "If all goes well," Tyrone Rodriguez said, "you'll be playing Cave Story by the beginning of May or even end of April."

Rodriguez is working on localizing the manual into Spanish and French, programmer Tiffany is working on the DLC, to make sure that "the game will be able to support all the new content that we have planned over the months following the initial release." And Yann and Nicklas (aka Nifflas) are finishing up the audio, and ... " also building the speech synthesizer that will sing lyrics over each song while the playing the game!" Which might be a joke.

Gallery: Cave Story (WiiWare)

Another Cave Story screen as the game nears completion

by JC Fletcher { Feb 15th 2009 at 10:30AM }

Nicalis has posted its weekly Cave Story screenshot, and we have, as usual, been staring at it for a good few minutes, just taking in the lovely backgrounds and the detailed sprites. More details are starting to be filled in as the game approaches release: as Nicalis's Tiffany points out, the weapon icons have been updated with new graphics, and the UI text is back in its proper pixelated form, rather than the "smoothed" look it previously had.

Tiffany also mentions that "the MIDI player is ready to go and the new music is on the way." Finally, the weak link in the WiiWare Cave Story experience, the music, is getting fixed! It sounds like the game is getting very close to release, and we could not be more thrilled.