INDIE WORLD + PARTNER SHOWCASE: August 27

[Nester the Lark]

www.youtube.com/live/JApUMBscKOc?si=UkyIhdbpatqClZFe

This seems like a really cool place that I'll never be able to visit in my lifetime.

I like how prominently the Popeye game is shown at one point. It's interesting that Nintendo is acknowledging it. (Think they'll display Time Twist?)

It was clever how the Ultra Machine is set up so that you're supposed to try to hit things in the room. It reminded me of old fashioned shooting galleries.

Using a giant Famicom controller to play Super Mario Bros was pretty funny, but then seeing two people trying to use a giant Wii Remote actually made me laugh. It seems more like a joke than something that would actually be real.

[Fryguy64]

It looks like fun. Of course I loved the historical stuff, but I like that they've leaned into some quirky play ideas as well - those batting cages in particular were very "Nintendo".

I would be surprised if Time Twist wasn't on the shelf, but equally shocked if they had any footage of it running on the screens. They'll be able to do more as a historical archive than as a storefront, no doubt. I am of course very curious if anything IS missing...

I hope there's a bit more of their arcades in there than we saw. They bridged their history between toys and the Famicom without a nod to the insane success of the arcade Donkey Kong. Very curious. And of course I just love those old arcade machines.

[nocturnal YL]

The building is a giant cuboid, which is very much in Nintendo's style.

They said they're covering all Nintendo-published games. The display of game boxes look empty with their current format of putting the regional boxes next to each other. Late Famicom and Super Famicom have a lot of Japan-only entries.

It looks like it'll be a fun side activity if you ever plan to visit Kyoto, but the site looks pretty small. I wouldn't plan a whole trip around that unless I have other reasons to return to Kyoto. Maybe in some years?

The Q&A says a visit should take about 3 hours, which combined with transportation and other overheads should eat up half a day for an ordinary tourist.

The ¥3300 (after tax) price tag is a bit steep for an interactive museum (even for a private one), or maybe even when compared to something like USJ (¥8600 after tax), but its uniqueness and (I guess) tendency to attract dedicated fans should justify the price…? The coin mechanism may be a problem though; each ticket comes with 10 virtual coins (which cannot be topped up), and the giant controller exhibit alone costs 3 coins.

A little elaboration on the price: I once went to a computer museum that costed £15 in 2014 money, which had a warehouse full of retro consoles, computers and (emulated) arcades that I could freely play with no limitations. A few years later, I went to another smaller, one-week interactive game exhibition at no cost. These aren't direct comparisons, but the point is, there are much cheaper ways to look at game boxes.

Overall feeling pretty neutral about Nintendo Museum. I will think about going there if there's a chance, but this isn't going to be a primary reason.

And I certainly didn't expect them to have giant Wii Remotes. The giant controller thing has been done by others, but Nintendo is unique in doing this with Wii.

[Nester the Lark]

Double showcase announced! Indie World + Partner Showcase.

Direct link

Direct link

Direct link

"Please note, there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during either of these presentations."

[nocturnal YL]

…Whoa. What did I just see? I'm stunned.

Suikoden and Tokimeki Memorial making a comeback. Tetris 40th anniversary. Capcom Fighting Collection 2, which finally brings Power Stone to modern systems. Trails in the Sky FC. New Atelier game. Shiren the Wanderer 6 DLC. Rune Factory with a Japanese flavour. Yakuza finally appearing on Switch. Probably something else I missed because I can't process everything so quickly. *checks* Oh yeah, Tales of Graces, a Castlevania collection, Fit Boxing 3, and a few smaller titles.

I'm generally happy to see new games. Well, new re-releases with a few actual new games.

I do wish to see more actual new games to be honest, but it's reassuring to see so many 2025 announcements. Whatever's happened to "mainly surrounding games released in the rest of 2024"?

Not sure what do I feel about the individual games. Is Capcom Fighting Collection 2 worth getting for me? Atelier Yumia, given how the series' graphics went lately, would probably benefit from a successor system. I'm not interested in the rest, at least not yet.

I've said this before, but Nintendo Switch reminds me a lot of the older PlayStation systems. Besides hosting PlayStation ports, it's the go-to system for Japanese games these days, which makes sense since it's the only Japanese console now.

[Nester the Lark]

www.youtube.com/live/Bh7o96_yIWw?si=8e-ZXcREZM93KquS

Once again, there was more to unpack here than I was expecting.

Tetris Forever



I knew this was Digital Eclipse as soon as they showed the documentary footage. Otherwise, it has a rather strange selection of games.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 1st



I have to say, it was rather strange to announce a full 3D remake of the original Tails in the Sky (using what seems to be Trails through Daybreak's new gameplay style) with a 10-second clip in a sizzle reel. I know it's still a somewhat niche series, but fans have been wanting this for a long time. Seems like this should be treated as a bigger deal.

Perhaps it's just very early in development. NISA is not mentioned at all, and the logo is still in Japanese, but it still appeared in the NA Direct. Hmm.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think of it, this would actually be something Xseed Games would localize since they did the original.

Also, it got a full trailer for the Japanese Direct. This was more of a "directly from Falcom" inclusion rather than a localization announcement, so I guess credit to NoA for including it anyway.



EDIT 2: Apparently, there's an English screenshot floating around that came from Nintendo of Europe's press kit. It appears to use Xseed's localization.

Capcom Fighting Collection 2



It was expected that Capcom would re-release the Capcom vs SNK games, but I think most people were expecting it to be its own collection rather than part of something else.

But hey, it's also got Power Stone 1 & 2! Also Project Justice! (The absence of the original Rival Schools is a little conspicuous, though.)

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land



Didn't quite catch on to what this was at first, but right before they announced the title, I thought to myself, "Wait, is this Atelier?" Looks interesting, though.

Castlevania Dominus Collection



I was a little surprised to see this, but it's good to see DS games being ported to modern systems. I don't plan to buy since I played the three DS games already. However, it's cool to see a remake of the arcade game Haunted Castle.

I think I'll just wait for IGA to announce the next Bloodstained game.

Yakuza Kiwami



This was definitely a surprise considering that this series is largely established on Playstation consoles. There was an HD remaster of Yakuza 1 & 2 on Wii U, but it wasn't released outside Japan.

I don't plan to get into this series at this time, though.

Overall, a pretty good Direct!

[nocturnal YL]

The Tetris Forever lineup is like that because those are the games published by BPS. After they dissolved in favour of the establishment of The Tetris Company (which indirectly puts Yoshi's Cookie in copyright limbo), The Tetris Company and later Tetris Holding retain full rights to those games.

For games from well-known Japanese developers, I could roughly guess the developer of each game a few seconds into the trailer. Atelier Yumia and FAIRY TAIL 2 from the last presentation are obvious from the animation and rendering style, as is Tales of Graces (I don't know much about Tales, but it's graphically unique), Stray Children (from the Moon developers) and that Kairosoft Doraemon game. And the re-releases are obvious (characters like Shiori from Tokimeki Memorial need no introduction, and Suikoden was introduced as "an RPG with 108 heroes", which only one PS1 game featured).

I didn't know what the Rune Factory game was going to be at first, though. I'm not familiar with its later, Unity-based style, and I wouldn't have guessed it getting a pre-Restoration Japanese locale anyway.

Nintendo Direct presentations are getting worse at "hiding" what the games are prior to title reveal lately. Or maybe I got better at identifying games with more third-party exposure this generation.