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Pokemon Sun and Moon Release Next Week!

After a long 2 year wait the newest generation of Pokemon is finally here. On November 18th at midnight game  stores across the United States will be hosting midnight launch parties for Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon. The new versions will have differing stories happening 12 hours apart from each other and are based in the tropical Alolan region that is made up of 5 Islands.

The games feature dozens of new Pokemon, as well as Alolan forms of gen 1 favorites; an all-new progression system with bosses being Totem Pokemon; and revamps to the classic core mechanics of the game making the Alola region different than any previous Pokemon experience to date. The game also features the addition of ridable Pokemon that can be used anywhere to get around the map easier.  You will also face new challenges in quests other than battling to progress the game.

On top of that Mega-evolution makes a return as well as the addition of Z-moves that can be activated by a separate physical watch you have to use in connection to your game. We have no word yet of any Amiibo usage, but it is a possibility you can’t mark out yet. The game will incorporate the Pokemon bank starting in January so you can transfer up your favorites from Pokemon Omega, Alpha, X, and Y.

The Pokemon Sun and Moon demo was released in early October on the Nintendo 3Ds e-shop for free. By playing the demo you can unlock Ash Greninja as well as play through in-game events that will give you items to transfer into the full version of the game. The demo also introduced the Alolan form of Dugtrio to the world.

Be sure to preorder your copy today or write it down on your present list for the holidays. The games will retail at $39.99 USD and will work on the original 3Ds.

$99 USD New 3DS Deal Available For Black Friday

If you are new to the Poke-craze or just haven’t got a chance to upgrade to the newest 3ds now is your chance. Nintendo recently announced that they will be shipping out a special “New 3DS Model” made especially for the holidays this year. The model will cost you a mere $99 Usd similar to the price point of the durable 2 DS model from last years holiday season. It will come in two colors black and white with Mario artwork decorating the front portion of the system.

The 3Ds is new to the U.S. market where before we only had the Xl version available. This version will still have the higher processing power that the Xl does, but with a smaller size and screen overall. We do not yet know if anything additional will come with the 3DS or if it will be anything more than a Black Friday deal. The system is already listed in Gamestop’s black Friday ad.

The New 3DS will benefit Pokemon Sun and Moon players as the game will use more processing power than any previous title in the handheld series.  The new 3Ds will make load times shorter and animations run smoother with less hiccups than the basic model. The system will also be able to play the New 3Ds exclusive game Xenoblade chronicles 3D, as well as run the much loved Hyrule Warriors 3d at its maximum potential.

For more 3Ds Holiday news be sure to check ads for holiday sells for stores that carry gaming merchandise. As well as the official Nintendo website for more holiday related announcements!

Shop for 3DS

Awesome Pokemon Go Functioning Costume!

This costume is hilarious- the dude made himself into a “functioning” game of Pokemon Go for Halloween this year! Watch the video below.

This year for #halloween it's #pokemongo time. #halloweencostume #halloween2016 #ポケモン #ハロウィン #nintendo

A video posted by Matt Borgelt (@mattcyborgelt) on

Nintendo Switch Video

Nintendo released a video of their upcoming gaming system “Switch”. Pretty interesting concept of using a single system for both mobile and home/console based gaming. The video is a bit weird as it seems to endorse full-on game addiction- I mean, can’t you even take your dog for a walk without keeping your eyes glued to a gaming screen? But anyway, have a watch and comment below!

Why you should play Dragon Quest

The Dragon Quest series is a major JRPG series that is often compared to Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest has a similar structure to Final Fantasy in more recent titles, but the first six games in the series were two separate trilogies, after which each game has its own world, story, and characters. The series is actually what lead to the JRPG franchise and has been quoted as some of the inspiration for the Final Fantasy series as Dragon Quest was the first true JRPG originally releasing its first game in 1986 in Japan.

Dragon Quest was known in the US as Dragon Warrior until 2005 due to copyright issues, so be aware of this when searching for older games, although remakes released after 2005 are renamed to Dragon Quest. With this noted, there is one huge reason you should look into some Dragon Quest games, most likely you already love Dragon Quest. How can such a little-known series already have your love you ask? Dragon Quest and its many side games encompassing several genres have inspired and are directly linked to almost every modern JRPG in existence. First the series established ed the classic turn-based combat, directly inspired Final Fantasy, was a pioneer in spinoff games that expanded secondary characters as protagonists of their own stories, started the popular Mystery Dungeon series which Pokémon has a huge side series for, and the artwork is 100% handled by Akira Toriyama the artist of the famous Dragon Ball series. This is just a taste of how much Dragon Quest has affected the gaming world.

As stated previously Dragon Quest has a long series of side games that encompass several different genres.  So if a traditional JRPG isn’t exactly what you’re looking for you can find games in the series to introduce you to the ever-present monsters that the series is recognizable for. One of the largest spinoff series is the Dragon Quest Monsters series. There are a total of 4 unique games in the series as well as Nintendo DS remakes of the first two. This series is all about taming and breeding the monsters of the Dragon Quest world and using them to battle similar to Pokémon. As well as Monsters, there is the most recent spinoff for the PS4 Dragon Quest Heroes, a Dynasty Warriors inspired game that pulls characters from many popular Dragon Quest games to fight together on an epic quest spanning an entire continent. All the games generally have JRPG elements for game mechanics but are built around different concepts and allow for much different gameplay. The spinoffs are also easier to step into as they’re more widely available and cheaper, but they still have a lot of great content to offer.

As for the main series of games they are extremely story focused and usually revolve around a hero building a party to stop a great villain. While the stories are usually much more in depth than this simple concept they drive themselves with unique and memorable characters and settings, and all share monster designs and art styles. They also improve the battle system and graphics with each release, most recently Dragon Quest VII was re-released in a full remake version for Nintendo 3DS in North America, and Dragon Quest XI is currently slated for a 2017 release.

In short, Dragon Quest will have something for almost anyone who loves JRPGs of any sort. It has been a driving force for much of Japan’s gaming industry and is still a major influence in Japan. It’s worth checking out the long list of games from the series to see if any catch your interest.

Pokémon GO Portable Pokeball Chargers

Since the release of Pokémon GO it seems that many people have acquired portable chargers to assist with playing the game for long periods of time without having to stop to recharge their phone. However, a majority of these chargers available are simple rectangular blocks with no details save for their USB ports on one side or maybe a logo. So it only makes sense that someone decided that these portable batteries should be made to fit more into the immersion of playing Pokémon GO. This lead to the Pokeball charger.

The most common one available is a standard sized Pokeball with several variants you can choose from to fit your style. They have capacities ranging in the 10000 to 12000 mAh range, and can charge your phone several times over. They even have LED lights on the ball to give it a more advanced look. There are several design options, the chargers come in three ball variants of standard red, a black luxury ball, and a pink ball similar to the lesser known love ball. Each one can also have your team logo of choice pictures on the top half of the ball. The charger port is located on the front center of the ball, where one would normally expect the opening mechanism to be located.

The chargers all look amazing, and you can find them on eBay for $18.99 USD, which is actually pretty fair considering the cost of most similar powered chargers being the same if not more. If you really wanted to immerse yourself in Pokémon GO you could combine this charger with the Pokedex phone case we covered to get a full set of poke-gear for all your hunting needs!

Yo-Kai Watch The Movie Launches

Yo-kai Watch is the new and upcoming monster befriending series that is capturing the hearts of gamers around the U.S. In every store you go in you can find Yo-kai Watch toys and games being sold and the commercials for the show are on every tv channel you turn to. The games had a successful launch a few weeks ago with the second games in the series Yo-kai Watch Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls. This week Level-5 and Nintendo contracted with Fandango to bring the movie to select theaters across the nation winning, even more, fans over.

The movie is based loosely on the plot of the second games with some key elements changed to make it more fitting to fit in a movie time slot. Some of this article will cover key details from the movie and game so to avoid spoilers stop here!

Yo-kai Watch The Movie takes place mostly in the past where Nate ventures to learn the origin of the Yo-kai Watch. It connects back to the T.V. series which shows key points leading up to the movies events including the interference of the antagonists. Like the show the movie has heavy comedy built into it, but for story lovers, there is a heavy overtone of seriousness when it comes to Nates Grandpa.  The movie starts when the Yo-kai Watch mysteriously disappears overnight with memories associated with it and the shopping district comes under attack by a giant cat Yo-kai. Upon the realization that Nate has lost his memories he regains the ability to see Jibanyan and Whisper and win the battle against Meganyan who convinces him to go visit his grandma in the country.

Upon, arriving he stumbles upon Meganyan again who he has to save from being trapped in a shed. Upon releasing Meganyan he turns into Hovernyan who tells Nate his grandpa who he never got to meet is in trouble in the past and needs his help. With the use of an item, they teleport back in time where Nathaniel, Nate’s grandpa has gone into a depression and refuses to finish making the Yo-kai Watch. Because of this, there is now time interference causing the watch to never even exist. This sets our heroes on an adventure to help Nathaniel realize he has friends in the Yo-kai and convince him to finish the watch. Along the way, they will end up confronting powerful enemies that have been working behind the scenes to skew the friendship between the humans and Yo-kai and must uncover the truth hidden in the past.

The movie also has heavy Star Wars references and parodies the series many times throughout it. The movie has enjoyable content for both kids and adults to enjoy. Depending on your age you will be able to take the jokes as they really are and appreciate the story itself at different depths. The movie is also a great companion to the games and can quickly bring you up to speed on the series as whole if you haven’t had time to check it out as of yet.

Harvest Moon, A Great Simulation Game With Rpg twists.

The Harvest Moon franchise has been going since the days of the SNES in 1996. The series revolves around a story where you generally end up inheriting or buying a farm in a town you’re not familiar with. Over the years the game series has immensely improved on features and formula to become a staple of the gaming world.  Harvest moon games have featured everything from story driven tear-jerkers with deep character development to achievement hunting for magical music notes.  The series also has a strong presence on DS consoles and has just about something for everybody looking to get into the series.

First off, we should explain that Harvest Moon has had a name change to Seeds of Memories in the U.S.A. and while there are still Harvest Moon games being made, they aren’t from the mainline series. There was recently a split between the company Xseed who wanted to import the games and Natsume who wanted the name to make spin-off type games. This has triggered a lot of confusion for gamers, but needless to say, while the spin-offs are different, if you happen to pick one up they still have quite a bit of the original formula involved in their gameplay.

Moving on to some of the games you can get for your DS. The most current mainline Harvest Moon game is called “Story of Seasons” and has you growing your farm over a large plot of land, it features the most updated cast of animals, mechanics, and all new characters to the series. The game also is one of the first to feature the long awaited character customization feature of the series. If you’re interested in a less expensive, but equally as fun Harvest Moon game you can purchase “A New Beginning” for about 20$ USD less than “Story of Seasons.”

What can you do in these games, though? In Harvest Moon games you can, of course, grow crops and raise animals on your farm. If you don’t want to make money that way you can scavenge, fish, mine, win festivals, or in some games you can even pick up odd jobs to do. One of the main draws to the series is the marriage system where you woo a potential partner with gifts and by triggering cutscenes eventually win them over. In the story driven games you can complete tasks like milking a cow for the first time to earn achievements that expand the town and pull you closer to finishing the story, see Magical Melody and Sunshine Islands for this type of gameplay.  Other types like Save The Homeland and A Wonderful Life are heavily story driven games where you roleplay the life of your character.

If you are interested in having the newest of the new features in your first Harvest Moon playthrough look into “Trio of Towns” the official cannon line of games next upcoming release. If you don’t want to wait until  February to play then pre-order “Skytree Village” for your 3DS. Skytree village is under the Harvest Moon name and made by Natsume, it will be releasing at the end of this month.

 

Animal Crossing: New Leaf, A Laid Back Simulation.

If you’ve been having trouble finding a new game to pick up lately, why not pick up Animal Crossing? Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the newest game in the series for 3Ds and is currently trying to make its way to your mobile  device in 2017 for phone users. The series is lighthearted and can either be played each day or by changing a clock at the menu screen to speed through the year. The series doesn’t have any type of combat in it, and is completely about interacting and building a life in a new town.

Animal Crossing’s main focus is decorating and updating a house you move into on your own. The games always start with you getting off a train to find Tom Nook who gives you a house under the condition you pay him back for it later. Each time you pay Tom Nook a loan back you get to expand your house more giving you more room to decorate. There are several different styles of items in the game and Nintendo is known for adding more through updates or events throughout the year.

The secondary focus of the game is interacting with your town. Animal Crossing has an ever-changing real-time world in which new animals move in and out of your town at random points.  One of the things the game wants you to do is interact with your neighbors, each different NPC character has its own style, personality, and things they want to talk to you about. They will also flag you down to ask for favors that result in getting free items for your house. Some will even send you letters or come to visit your home. Neighbors in Animal Crossing will also interact with each other which can result in them being in different moods when you finally get to talk with them for the day.

In New Leaf though, there is one other main focus the game gives you when you venture into town for the first time. There has been a strange mix-up and you get pulled into being the mayor for the town. Being the mayor gives you the ability to make modifications to all types of things like money inflation, night hours, daytime hours, and a focus on town beautification. The Mayor position also allows for you to commission new structures to be built anywhere you reasonably can. This feature makes pretty much the whole town your personal canvas.

To make the deal with Animal Crossing: New Leaf even sweeter Nintendo just dropped the price of the game down to 20$ USD. They also are rolling out all new Amiibo related updates to the game in December. With these updates, you will get a campsite that you can invite your favorite villagers to if you have collected their amiibo card. You also can get all new items by tapping other Amiibo to the game like the Squid Sisters from Splatoon. With new features and a mobile port coming for New Leaf now is as good as time as ever to look into picking the game up, especially with the price cut!