Tag: Nintendo

The Nintendo Wii U: A 12-Year Retrospective

Despite the massive success of the Wii, Nintendo had a problem on their hands just a few short years after its release. While the system exploded in popularity shortly after its launch, it was failing to maintain that same level of interest over time. The motion-based controls that Nintendo (and their competitors) had gone all in on over the subsequent console cycle had clearly been a passing fad. Changes to the design of their next home gaming system would be necessary if Nintendo desired to stay relevant.

For inspiration, Nintendo decided to look no further than their very own successful line of DS handheld game systems. They came up with the idea for a tablet controller that would serve as a second screen, offering developers and players a choice of how they wanted to control their gameplay, be it with standard buttons and sticks, a touchscreen, or motion controls (for those that still wanted them). As an added bonus, this would also let players choose (in most cases) to either view the gameplay on a regular television screen, or the tablet controller itself, offering a unique level of versatility and flexibility for gaming enthusiasts who had to share the TV with other members of their household. The new console would ultimately also boast better graphics, HDMI output (which the Wii had notably lacked), and full backward compatibility with the Wii.

Dubbed the Wii U, Nintendo's new console would make its debut on November 18, 2012. Sadly, despite looking like a pretty respectable machine on paper, the console ended up being a pretty big flop for Nintendo, not even managing to reach a quarter of the numbers that its predecessor had sold. While the astoundingly poor choice of name was a big part of the Wii U's problems, so too was its comparatively anemic library of titles. Though the Wii U did have a fairly reasonable selection to offer at first, support for the console waned after the first couple of years, to the point where major new titles for the system began to come pretty few and far between.

That isn't to say that the Wii U's library was bad, however. Far from it. By nearly any metric, a good portion of the Wii U's titles actually ended up being objectively better than those that had been released for the Wii. Not only was the Wii U not absolutely rife with the same massive pile of third-party (wrist) waggle-controlled garbage games that the Wii library became infamous for, but many of its Nintendo-published titles were higher quality as well. Most games on the Wii U tended to score better with critics, featured more precise controls, and were arguably just more fun. Please read on for a list of 12 of the best games that the Wii U had to offer.

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Notable New Gaming Releases: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II, and More…

Well, we're nearing the end of September and all the year's biggest titles have pretty much dropped by now. This very week saw the release of what has probably been the most-anticipated Switch title of the year, Echoes of Wisdom, a Legend of Zelda game that actually stars the titular character! As arguably the freshest title in the series since the multiplayer fun of 2004's Four Swords Adventures, this may have just been the most-anticipated game of the year for any platform.

Also out in the last 18 weeks, a follow-up to the surprisingly good 2011 Warhammer 40,000 title, Space Marine; an aquatic-themed follow-up to the outstanding 2015 robots-in-space action strategy game, SteamWorld Heist; and a collection of most of (if not all) of Capcom's incredible late '90s Marvel-themed arcade fighting titles. "Save Hyrule - - this time with Princess Zelda!" Jump past the break to see more new releases from the last 126 days.

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The PlayStation State of Play, Xbox Games Showcase & Nintendo Direct Formerly Known as E3 – 2024 Edition

A few weeks ago, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, all held their annual May/June video presentations to show gamers what titles they can get excited about playing in the coming months and/or years. While these late spring announcements used to coincide with the long-running, world-famous Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, sadly that event is no more. Thankfully, the video game industry remembers and still carries on the long-standing tradition, with or without a central physical venue to do it from; and as long as they continue do so, we will strive to do our part and cover them. Please read on for some of the highlights.

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Notable New Gaming Releases: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and More…

Well, another month and incredibly, this year will already be half over. Insanity. But at least it's been filled with some pretty fantastic new games thus far. Why, even this past week saw the release of a sequel to Ninja Theory's award-winning 2017 title, Hellblade, as well as a Switch remake of the absolutely phenomenal 2004 GameCube classic, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In fact, TTYD is widely regarded as one of the better Mario games ever made, Paper or otherwise, so if you've never had the privilege to play it, now is the time.

Also out in the last 15 weeks, a pair of fantastic Toaplan arcade shoot 'em ups; and a follow-up to Capcom's somewhat underrated 2012 action RPG, Dragon's Dogma. A comical adventure that pops off the pages! Jump past the break to see more new releases from the last 105 days.

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AJ’s Picks: The 12 Best Games of 2010 – A Twinstiq Retrospective

Well, it's another new year and time, once again, for another retrospective. This time around, we'll be taking a look back at the best games of 2010. As the start of a new decade, it was certainly an important year; and it also happened to be a pretty exceptional year for gaming as well, with some of the biggest releases, well ever. Please read on for a selection of the 12 most notable titles that 2010 had to offer.

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AJ’s Picks: The 12 Best Games of 2022 (In Just Under the Wire Edition)

Well, 2023 is drawing to a close and I haven't even released a best games of 2022 list yet. (And you thought last year's was late!) Well, consider that box now officially checked off. It took a long time to get it right. Way longer than it probably should have. It's pretty likely that many out there will still take issue with these choices but, whatever, I'm pretty proud of these picks. All I can do at this point is apologize for the extreme tardiness of this article and promise to do my best to at least release a 2023 list in the first half of next year. But in the meantime, please read on for my selections for the 12 best titles that 2022 had to offer:

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Notable New Gaming Releases: Star Wars: Jedi – Survivor, Advance Wars 1+2 – Re-Boot Camp, and More…

Well, it's been longer than I meant it to be since my last new releases post, but better late than never, I suppose. At any rate, we're not even to May yet and already one of the heaviest hitters of 2023 has landed! Of course, I am talking about none other than the just-released, Star Wars: Jedi - Survivor, Respawn's hotly-anticipated follow-up to their incredible 2019 smash hit, Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order. Early reviews are looking good, but honestly, as long as it plays anything like the previous game, I'm pretty sure it will do nicely.

Also out in the last several weeks, Nintendo's long-awaited Advance wars compilation, Capcom's hotly-anticipated modern console remake of Resident Evil 4, and a PlatinumGames-developed prequel to their bewitching Bayonetta series. Stand against the darkness, then jump past the break to see more new releases from the last few months.

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The Nintendo 3DS: A 12-Year Retrospective

3D Stereoscopy has experienced something of a recurring fad since its discovery, beginning with stereoscopic photograph viewers, all the way back in the mid-1800s. 3D films first rose to prominence in the 1950s, before mostly dying out and then enjoying a somewhat brief resurgence in the 1980s, and then again from the late (20)00s to early '10s. That most recent period of renewed interest in 3D films also gave rise to some new 3D technologies and devices as well, including televisions and, perhaps most notably, the Nintendo 3DS

For decades, Nintendo had invested in and experimented with various types of 3D tech, including their infamously ill-conceived Virtual Boy system, which they released to the public in the mid-90s (before quickly cancelling it within a year's time) Despite their failures with that much-maligned gaming device, Nintendo eventually opted to try one more time, with the successor to their wildly successful DS portable. In order to avoid one of the most common complaints associated with the vast majority of stereoscopic displays (the need for glasses), as well as to try and avoid any more disastrous product failures, Nintendo wisely invested in a somewhat novel approach for what would become their 3DS system. By utilizing a parallax barrier inside the screen of the 3DS, Nintendo was successfully able to generate 3D images completely free of the usual glasses requirement.

Despite this groundbreaking approach to 3D gaming, the 3DS, not unlike its earlier 3D predecessor, got off to a pretty slow start sales-wise (though not nearly to the extent of the Virtual Boy). Luckily for Nintendo, they were able to mostly turn things around with an early price cut and the announcement of incoming downloadable NES and Game Boy Advance classics for the system, some of which were made available at no cost to early adopters. The 3DS eventually went on to become a moderate success for Nintendo, selling more consoles than the GameCube and the N64 combined (though still only managing to move about half as many the record-holding original DS system). As would be expected of just about any Nintendo device, particularly one with such unique stereoscopic 3D capabilities, the 3DS boasted some pretty uniquely excellent games to match. Here are 12 of the very best titles that the 3DS had to offer.

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The Nintendo Entertainment System: A 3×12-Year Retrospective

In 1984, the video games market was virtually non-existent in the West. While Atari and it's competitors had been making money hand over fist just a few short years earlier, a steady stream of poorly made and wildly unpopular titles, coupled with the rise of personal computing alternatives, led to the infamous video game crash of 1983. Many believed that the dedicated video game console was merely a fad that had already passed and would never turn a profit again. Meanwhile, in Japan, Nintendo had found great success with the release of their new 8-bit Famicom system, actually managing to reach the number one spot in game console sales in a still-thriving Japanese market. This newfound success, in addition to the complete non-existence of any would-be competition in the West, gave Nintendo the confidence to see if they could reignite game console sales in that market as well.

Nintendo first decided to test the waters with their newly-created Vs System, arcade cabinets housing slightly modified, localized versions of already existing Famicom titles. In addition to generating additional revenue via the arcades and giving Nintendo a way to gauge the popularity of various titles, this strategy also had the added bonus of creating buzz and fostering awareness of those titles ahead of the console's launch. Furthermore, when it came time to release the console, Nintendo opted to start out with a limited test market launch, first in New York, and then in Los Angeles, in order to make certain that the system would in fact sell. Nintendo's strategies paid off, and on September 27th, 1986, they finally released their rebranded Nintendo Entertainment System nationwide in America. The video game console was back and here to stay.

In order to help restore consumer confidence and avoid another flood of low quality titles on the market, Nintendo also enacted strict controls on product approval and game licensing for their console. This was made famous by their official seal of quality that could be found on virtually all game cartridges produced for the system; and the NES had quality titles in spades. In fact, it was mostly thanks to its strong stable of games that the system was such a spectacular success. Here are but 12 examples of the best titles that the Nintendo Entertainment System had to offer:

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AJ’s Picks: The 12 Best Games of 2021 (Late to the Party Edition)

Well, 2022 is already 2/3rds of the way done, and now that the "new" generation of consoles (that came out nearly two years ago) are finally starting to become easier to obtain at the suggested retail price, it seems that the time is finally right to discuss the best games from the prior year. Assuming you can still remember that far back, 2021 was actually another decent year for gaming. Even though the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 remained next to impossible to obtain at sane prices, they both saw the release of some great new titles and even the occasional exclusive (although in the case of the Series X, the term "exclusive" may be somewhat generous). There were also a number of big releases for the Switch and PC as well. Please read on for a list of the best games of 2021, according to myself:

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