A beginner’s guide to Mario RPGs
Like your Mario games with a bit more story and progression? You’re not alone! Here’s our guide to the many permutations of Mario RPGs, from the SNES days to now.
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3DS
The best of the Nintendo 3DS: a guide
The venerable Nintendo 3DS is well into its twilight years. After a rocky, uncertain launch, the system built a following and a library that allowed it to become one of the most successful systems released, and it certainly has the top-tier games to show for it. Before you put the handheld into long-term storage (or if you’re picking up one for cheap now that they’re largely off the market), check out our guide for the best the system has to offer!
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A beginner’s guide to Fire Emblem
With its 30th anniversary, a lot of people have been talking about the long-running strategy franchise, and many are being introduced to what it has to offer. So where do you start if you want to get into the series? What’s the next step if you enjoy Three Houses or mobile hit Fire Emblem Heroes, and where do you go after that? We’re here to help you answer those questions.
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What to expect from Monster Hunter Stories 2
We are getting a second Monster Hunter Stories game! The sequel was a part of the September 2020 Nintendo partner showcase, and then went on to be discussed in the follow-up Monster Hunter Direct. But while knowing Monster Hunter Stories 2 is on the way is exciting, it’s also a shock and might leave people wondering why they should be excited. There’s a lot of missing information, which isn’t helped by the preliminary footage seeming to pull from cinematic segments. Fortunately, we’re here to help!
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Picking the Right RPG Maker to Use
It is a great time for people who don’t have game development experience to begin making their own RPGs. Thanks to various localization efforts, lots of Gotcha Gotcha Games and Kadokawa Games programs designed to make RPG creation easy are available to a wide audience in multiple languages. There are so many that, well, it might be overwhelming. You have console programs, PC software and even the 3DS has a tool you can use. Which one is best for your needs? Can you actually make a full game? It is a lot to take in at once.
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Many of the final Nintendo 3DS games are substantial ones
The Nintendo 3DS has entered its sunset years. Nintendo had nothing to announce for it at E3 2019. There don’t appear to any new games on the horizon in any region. It seems time to bid a fond farewell. However, for a system at the end of its lifespan, it is quite a fortunate one. Those gathering around to bid it goodbye will find a number of games that, well, are intended to be played for not only days, but perhaps even weeks or months. It seems like a rather positive send-off for a handheld that greatly deserves it.
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How slightly weird dice make Culdcept Revolt a much more tactical game
Culdcept Revolt is the latest in a line of board-based strategy games that, while tactically deep, have generally kept to their particular method of doing things for two decades. Revolt certainly changes some things around elsewhere, but its biggest contribution to the series is what would seem at first to be a simple, inconsequential change to how players move around.
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Interview: Brian Gray on localizing Gotta Protectors
Brian Gray is a veteran of the localization industry, working on big franchises such as Kingdom Hearts and Fire Emblem, cult favorites like The World Ends with You and Jeanne d’Arc and recent releases like Xenoblade Chronicles X and Azure Striker Gunvolt. We talked with him about his latest project: Gotta Protectors, a 3DS eShop release from composer Yuzo Koshiro’s studio, Ancient.
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What do you need to know about Rune Factory?
Not long ago, we went over the Harvest Moon series. It is somewhat complicated to cover, seeing how the Bokujou Monogatari line ended up splitting into Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons outside of Japan. But that is only one reason. The other is because of Rune Factory, a spin-off that ended up founding its own line of games.
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