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Pole's Big Adventure: Year of the Cow Suits
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jan 23rd 2009 at 12:44PM }
The countdown at the Eventful Journey! Pole's Big Adventure site has elapsed, revealing a lot of inscrutable Japanese info and wonderful media about the new Famicom parody game from Phantasy Star Universe producer Takao Miyoshi. While the graphics and Mario-esque gameplay suggest Nintendo, the music sounds kind of reminiscent of the Master System. Speaking of which, isn't it a bit strange for Sega to be revelling in NES nostalgia?The comedy-based game actually keeps a count of the jokes you encounter, and even has big red text on the screen commenting about it like a Japanese TV show!
The site features character portraits for the major characters, including this hilariously non-representative "realistic" take on the protagonist. The main enemies are cow-suited "poachers", apparently chosen because 2009 is the year of the cow.
Clicking on the red button under the control diagram will pop up a video. Speaking of controls, Pole's Big Adventure supports the Wiimote, Classic Controller, and GameCube Controller.
Super Famicom Classic Controller available at Play Asia [update]
by David Hinkle { Nov 21st 2008 at 4:25PM }
If you're looking for more of an authentic experience when playing those Virtual Console games, then know that Play Asia is now allowing folks to order the Super Famicom Classic Controller. Of course, if you want that authentic experience, you're going to have to pay for it. The controller is going for a whopping $70 at the site. Frankly, we'd advise tracking down a SNES controller and doing one of those wireless hacks to the thing. It's got to cost a lot less than seventy freakin' dollars.
Gallery: Super Famicom Classic Controller
[Thanks, MoFro!]
Virtually Overlooked: Popeye
by JC Fletcher { Nov 13th 2008 at 7:12PM }
Nintendo's Donkey Kong features an everyday tradesman saving a helpless, reedy girlfriend from a giant brute, using only his agility and the occasional pickup of a trademark item that makes him super-strong for a short time, marked by a fanfare. Replace the carpenter with a sailor and make the ape a bit less hirsute, and you've pretty much got the theme of every Popeye cartoon.It's not that surprising, then, that Donkey Kong was conceived as a Popeye game. And it's even less surprising, considering the runaway success of Donkey Kong, that Nintendo was able to secure the rights to the property for a subsequent game.
Wii Music reflects on Nintendo's past with playable Famicom
by Chris Greenhough { Sep 29th 2008 at 4:24PM }
Nintendo has been happy to think outside the box when selecting Wii Music's line-up of instruments, and over the weekend, the company revealed another unconventional choice: the Famicom. This isn't as weird as the dog suit -- there is, after all, a whole scene dedicated to making music from old game sounds (and even household names have dabbled) -- but is an interesting and fun addition nonetheless.
The other recently unveiled instrument, the Timbales (there's a video after the break), is less interesting as a result, though Wikipedia (yes, we call this "journalism" -- Pulitzer, here we come) taught us that "Timbales" doubles up as a Spanish euphemism for, well, a rude word. Expect much childish giggling in Spanish-speaking households later this year, then.
Gallery: Wii Music
Show and Tell: Recipes for awesome
by Alisha Karabinus { Aug 12th 2008 at 3:00PM }
Good news -- we're expanding Show and Tell a little to include not only your personal creations (though these are, of course, our favorites), but all sorts of interesting fan-created things we find in the wide world of the internet. Each week, we'll show off a new set of Nintendo-inspired projects, and this week, we're starting with the basics: recipes and ingredients. Every creation has to begin somewhere, after all. Your journey can start right here.Gallery: Show and Tell: 'Recipe' Edition
Show and Tell is all about fan stuff, so long as it's Nintendo-related. We love to see your collections, your crafts, your frosted creations, your t-shirts and swag of all sorts.Just snap a few pictures, tell us what's up, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest. Not a handy type, but found something neat? Send us a link instead.Datel releasing Famicom-inspired Classic Controllers
by Eric Caoili { Jul 20th 2008 at 6:00PM }
Available in Japan starting this September, Datel's line of retro Classic Controllers -- all four of which you can view in the gallery below -- will retail for ¥1,659 (approx $15.54). It's nowhere near an exact replica, as you'll notice several missing and inconsistent design elements, but the controller features Home and Turbo buttons. Also, you can relive those childhood memories of throwing an NES pad at the wall after crashing into the aircraft carrier for the 20th time in Top Gun.
[Via VC Reviews]
Famicom leaves college and settles in to a secure office job
by Phil Larsen { Jul 15th 2008 at 8:45PM }
Time to get nostalgic, proud, and teary-eyed all at the same time. On this fifteenth day of July in the year 2008, the legendary Famicom turns 25 years young. Some of us (though not all of us) weren't even born when the Famicom was released in Japan in 1983, and that day marked the beginning of Nintendo's plot of world domination. They didn't get around to the United States until 1985 with the NES, but it's the thought that counts.A few committed folks at 1up have gone to extreme lengths marking this occasion, reminiscing about the life and times and significant games that made the little white box of fun so legendary. Is the Famicom dead? Hellz to the no -- in fact, you might say the Famicom legacy is just taking shape with new games and new ideas, all with origins dating back a quarter of a century.
As we begin today's E3 proceedings, spare a single thought for the console that changed the world for the better. Happy 25th birthday, Famicom!
Virtually Overlooked: Star Wars (Famicom)
by JC Fletcher { Jul 3rd 2008 at 10:15AM }
Star Wars games aren't always great. In fact, sometimes they're Masters of Teras Kasi. Sometimes they're Super Bombad Racing. They suffer from the same fate as any other licensed game: the developers put the universe before the gameplay, and insert whichever popular genre of game they feel like into a Star Wars framework, knowing that enough units will sell regardless of quality.Namco's Famicom Star Wars game is the worst, and the best. It deviates from the source material not just to fit the genre (Super Bombad Racing required the existence of karts, for example, though in this case the game just shouldn't have been made), but seemingly at random. Somebody on the team may have heard of Star Wars, maybe. Even Soul Calibur IV, which actually isn't a Star Wars game at all, makes more sense as a Star Wars game than this.
Famicom Lite
by Alisha Karabinus { Jun 30th 2008 at 8:45AM }
Genius modder Kotomi is at it again. A couple of years ago, he redid a DS Phat in the old Famicom colors -- his favorite console, apparently -- but as he recently came into some free time, he realized it was time to live in the now. At least, as "now" as you can be when doing a modern system over in the colors of a retro console. With a black DS Lite as his base, the modder worked his magic, and the result is simply stunning (and shiny!). Kotomi says he's got some more projects in the pipeline at present, so we'll be keeping an eye on this master.
Want more? We've got a few of his other, older projects in the gallery below.
Gallery: The best (and worst) handheld mods
Promotional Consideration: Dragon Quest IV commercials were weird
by Eric Caoili { May 25th 2008 at 11:30PM }
With the Dragon Quest IV DS remake announced for the US and Europe this week, we thought it'd be good a time to dig up Enix's commercials for the original Famicom game's release in Japan. They're completely different from the retro ads used last November when the DS remake shipped.
As with Squaresoft's chocobo commercials for Final Fantasy IV on the Super Famicom (launching a little over a year after Dragon Quest IV), these ads were just plain odd! They show hardly any in-game video, relying on logos and recognizable theme music instead. Gather your party and meet us in the fifth chapter, past the post break, for the commercials.
Collection of strange and obscure Famicom peripherals, controllers
by Eric Caoili { May 21st 2008 at 1:15PM }
It's astounding that, despite all the eBay auctions we've followed and Nintendo oddities we've researched, there are still so many Famicom accessories out there that we've never seen, much less heard of. Thankfully, an obsessive Japanese collector has put up a page documenting these rare controllers and peripherals, like Hori RF adapters and Disk System cleaning sprays. Check out the Hyper Shot Zapper-clone pictured above -- can you believe that Bandai made a submachine gun for the Famicom? Jump past the post break for more Famicom odds and ends.
NES coffee table is so much more
by Chris Greenhough { May 9th 2008 at 10:30PM }
Kyle Downes' NES coffee table isn't just an awesome coffee table, oh no. Read up on the making of this beautiful piece of furniture on Kyle's blog, the appropriately named Ultra Awesome, and it's obvious that Downes' work is far more than a mere coffee table -- make the jump to see what else it can do.
Man chats about his $15k NES game
by Chris Greenhough { Apr 30th 2008 at 10:30PM }
James Baker collects games, but probably not in the same way that any of us collect games. Baker recently coughed up $15,000 for one of the 26 gold-colored NES carts that were originally manufactured for the Nintendo World Championships in 1990 (only twelve are still accounted for) -- in fact, we're fairly certain that his is the cart we posted about recently.Speaking to Edge about his latest acquisition, Baker confesses that spending so much on a single videogame is "pretty crazy," but also says that he "doesn't really see it purely as a videogame."
Not only is the guy richer than us, he's also a lot braver -- when he received the cart, he popped it into his NES to give it a go! "I didn't even need to blow on the end of it to get it to work," he said, nonchalantly. You better believe that playing such a game would be the last thing on our minds. Instead, we'd be handling it very delicately, and then only after washing our hands several times over.
(Fun fact: $15,000 would cover the cost of 1.5m Wii Points, which in turn could be used to purchase the whole of the current U.S. Virtual Console line-up -- more than ten times over.)
Clean up with a cheap Famicom-style towel
by JC Fletcher { Apr 28th 2008 at 6:00PM }
We're guessing that, for some reason, the segment of NCSX's customer base that regularly visits the beach is smaller than they expected. If we needed a beach towel, we would totally buy this one, but we have no use for a beach towel, much like most shut-in game nerds. Well, except for when we run out of regular towels and we have to awkwardly dry off after our shower with one of these giant things. But we're not buying a beach towel just for that.
Virtually Overlooked: Kart Fighter
by JC Fletcher { Apr 24th 2008 at 3:00PM }
What if a bunch of Nintendo's world-famous franchise characters stopped adventuring and just got in a big fight? No doubt that would be an awesome game. You can just imagine the dollar (or appropriate currency) signs in the eyes of the person who came up with a surefire idea like that.
That was the idea behind Kart Fighter, created ... some time after Super Mario Kart was released, by an unknown Hong Kong developer. It's a 2D fighting game starring Mario and friends, in familiar settings based on the Mario games.
Nintendo totally ripped these guys off. Have they no respect for intellectual property?
That was the idea behind Kart Fighter, created ... some time after Super Mario Kart was released, by an unknown Hong Kong developer. It's a 2D fighting game starring Mario and friends, in familiar settings based on the Mario games.
Nintendo totally ripped these guys off. Have they no respect for intellectual property?
