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Ready for Splatoon 3?

Good to see you around here again, Fry! We've been keeping the lights on for you. Mostly.

Here is part two. It mostly covers the character designs, music, and cutscenes.

Impressive that they actually created Noah's and Mio's flutes in real life, and then used them for recording the actual music.




They also mention trying to make the transitions between cutscenes and gameplay as seamless as possible. I've seen footage from early in the game where a cutscene simply zooms out to show all the characters, and a battle immediately starts.

I seem to remember that there was a similar intention with Metroid: Other M. I think it was less successful, though, simply because Other M's cutscenes, on their own, were rather jarring.

Here's a look at some of the content for the first two waves of DLC:






Well, that silhouette certainly doesn't look like Shulk or Rex. Some people are theorizing that it's a version of Poppi, while others note that their "ribbons" resemble those that Pyra has, but most likely it's an original character.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that we won't see the likes of Shulk or Rex or some other returning character. Comparing this to the expansion pass for XC2, previews originally only showed silhouettes for the three original Blades, but they ended up adding Shulk, Fiora, and Elma on top of them. Also, Shulk's and Rex's swords are part of the artwork for a reason. It could be related to the extra story content being added next year.

XC2's expansion passes overdelivered on what was originally announced, so who knows what content XC3's expansion pass might have that simply hasn't been revealed.

On a completely different note, I wanted to mention something interesting. I'm sure you remember Operation Rainfall, the fan campaign to convince NoA to release the original Xenoblade Chronicles in North America, especially after it was already localized by NoE. There was a little bit of debate over whether it actually made a difference. (IIRC, Reggie, himself, back in the day said it didn't.)

Well, Kit and Krysta, on their latest podcast, confirmed that it actually did.

You can hear them talk about it in this video starting at about 1:11:11 (interesting time):



It also confirms what I suspected: That NoA was reluctant to localize it because it didn't fit their MO for what type of content they wanted to have on the Wii. ("Oh, grandma can't play this? We don't want it.")

So, I found out that if I go into the Cloud Save Data menu in my Switch's system settings, it lists every piece of software I've ever had on the system, including demos. I apparently forgot about quite a few of them.

ARMS/Global Testpunch

Boo Destroyer will hate me forever for this, but even though I downloaded both the original Global Testpunch, as well as the regular ARMS demo, I never even started either of them up, and eventually deleted them.

Yoshi's Crafted World

I talked about this a long time ago, but I was initially interested in this one, but actually lost interest after playing the demo.

Trails of Cold Steel III

I tried this just to see if I still felt the same about the Trails series (and also to see how it ran on Switch). I spent most of the time mashing through cutscenes, and never finished it.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

I felt about the same about Forgotten Land as I do most Kirby games. It's cute and fun, but I generally don't feel compelled to keep playing.

Lonely Mountains: Downhill

A physics-based indie game where you ride a bike down a mountain. It was a little too physics-based for my taste.

Blue Reflection: Second Light

Gave this a try. It's another game that feels like a visual novel trying to disguise itself as an RPG. The premise was intriguing, but I didn't finish it

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

Obviously, this was just a way to try a game I was going to buy anyway.

Touken Ranbu Warriors

This was a pathetic demo. All it was was a shallow tutorial that could be finished in about 15 minutes. It gave me very little idea of what the full game would actually be like.

New Super Lucky's Tale

A cute 3D platform game originally for the Xbox One. Actually pretty fun, but I'm not big on 3D platform games.

Shining Resonance Refrain

I talked about this a long time ago. IIRC, it was OK, but didn't hook me.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

I talked about this very recently. It's a rare instance where a demo made me reconsider a game I didn't intend to buy.

Project Octopath Traveler

Tried the early version of this when the devs were taking feedback. It was OK, but I'm not a big fan of the so-called "2D HD" visuals.

Trials of Mana

I previously said this felt like a slow Ys game, but I still enjoyed it. I've since still considered getting the full version, but I always have other things to play.

Balan Wonderworld

Yes, the infamous Balan Wonderworld. I liked the style and idea of it, but it was so oddly slow for a Yuji Naka game. I've heard the final version is a bit faster. It seems that the game was victim to behind-the-scenes drama, which is unfortunate, but it seems to have gained a cult following anyway.

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk

I'd completely forgotten about this one. It's a first-person dungeon crawler. I don't remember much else about it.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

The other Monster Hunter game I tried. Didn't hook me.

Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories

When I first tried this, even I was put off by how badly it ran. I recently gave it another chance to see if it was as bad as I remember. It was. But I'm still intrigued enough by the game, itself, that I'm reconsidering it anyway.

Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain

This was my first time trying this series. It was OK. Just seems like a more cerebral WarioWare.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition Lite

This is one of those demos where you can technically play through the full game if you play online with someone who owns the full version. Again, this was just a way for me to start playing a game I intended to buy anyway.

Mario Tennis Aces: Special Online Demo

I tried this twice, but it just felt too complicated for a tennis game to me.

Mario Strikers: Battle League First Kick

Felt similar to this as Mario Tennis Aces. You would think a Mario sports game would be more "pick up and play."

Daemon X Machina Prototype Missions

I remember being intrigued with this, even though it was a bit repetitive, but then kinda forgot about it.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle

A button-mashy crossover fighter. It was OK, but I'm mostly not familiar with the properties represented.

Bravely Default II Demo Version

All I remember about this is that the demo was really hard for some reason. I don't even think I finished it.

R-Type Dimensions EX

A simple demo for R-Type. I bought the full game.

Stardew Valley

This was a free game trial. Unlike the Story of Seasons demo I previously tried, I enjoyed this one quite a bit! I ended up buying the full game, partly because I wanted something to play while I wait for Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Phew! I think that about covers it!

Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase announced.










Interesting. So if the general Summer Direct gets pushed back to July, will the Autumn Direct end up October? And if the Summer Direct ends up in August, will Nintendo just skip an Autumn Direct altogether?

This isn't directly related to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but here's a retrospective of the Xenoblade series by The Kiseki Nut. It glazes over XCX a bit, though.