SANTA MONICA, CA – MAY 12, 2008 – Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today “Pitfall: The Big Adventure” for Wii™ is in development at Edge of Reality and will swing onto shelves this Fall. With more than 10 million Pitfall titles sold to date, Pitfall: The Big Adventure will introduce the franchise to a new generation of gamers while bringing a fresh Pitfall experience to long time fans.

“Pitfall is one of the most legendary franchises in the history of videogames, so we look forward to releasing a new version exclusively for Wii,” said Dave Oxford, Activision Publishing. “What could be more fun than using the Wii Remote™ to swing on a vine over blood thirsty crocodiles as retro-cool Pitfall Harry?!”

(more…)

Metroid Prime designers Mark Pacini (lead dev), Jack Mathews (game engineer), and Todd Keller (art director) have left Retro Studios for “unknown reasons”. The trio developed the entire Prime trilogy, and has been with Retro from the beginning. Rumor spread fast that the three had left due to Retro being shutdown, but IGN has confirmed that the developer will not be closing their doors. Thankfully Retro has stated that they will continue to work as a 1st party Nintendo dev and put all effort into Wii software.

It’s sad to see these three brilliant game developers leave a company like Retro, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them.

Racketboy has a .pdf up today of the very first Electronic Gaming Monthly. The issue, conveniently for us, is a preview of the “HOT NEW Nintendo games” coming soon (in 1989). You can see them in the pic above next to the insanely retro boxart from timeless classic, Mega Man 2.

It’s a pretty eclectic list, which got me thinking. Operation Wolf? Shooter. Bubble Bobble? Action puzzler. Ultima? One-of-a-kind RPG. Super Sprint? Retro racer. Mega Man 2? Power-up platformer. These games cover many genres and appeal to many tastes. That’s a pretty hardcore list, wouldn’t you say?

What I started thinking about, thanks to the NES, is that it is never the player that’s hardcore, or even the games. It’s the system they’re played on (”hardcore” is a marketing myth). The NES was the hardcore system of the late 1980’s. No player was more hardcore than any other, because every player had their likes and dislikes, and could find them all in one spot and excel at them. This post is brought to by backward thinking consoles and history repeats.

Retro game get!

Infendo reader Dave writes: “I was at a book sale the other day and picked up The Macmillan Visual Dictionary, which is an amazing resource with picture references of anything you can think of. There is a section called ‘indoor games’ which includes a ‘Video Entertainment System.’ It’s actually the greatest console ever made by Nintendo, the Super NES! Too bad the picture on the TV looks like something off ATARI.”

Crave says the original Game Boy is the toughest consumer electronic device ever made. From the article:

There’s no two ways about it: the original Game Boy is one of the hardest gadgets ever conceived. Rumour has it this beige behemoth isn’t made of plastic, but from the skulls of fallen Gurkhas. If you ever saw one that was broken, it’s because it lost a boxing match with a nuclear bomb — on points.

He was a tough little booger.

Two games hitting the Virtual Console this week:

Operation Wolf - NES - 1989 - 500 points
A group of desperate terrorists is keeping hostages in their jungle fortress. As a member of the elite tactical squad Operation Wolf, you must invade their hideout, destroy their operations, and get the hostages out alive!

Columns III: Revenge of Columns - Genesis - 1994 - 800 points
This single-player or multiplayer experience expands upon the game play of the original two Columns titles giving players some extra attacks to spring on opponents.

I absolutely loved playing Operation Wolf in the arcades. Unfortunately, the NES version was rather disappointing. I never finished Columns or Columns II, so I’m not sure if I can follow the storyline in Columns III. What are you picking up this week?

Don Reisinger of CNET blogged about the best console ever and he picked the SNES.  This concurs with Infendo’s recent poll on a similar subject, where our faithful readers chose it above all other Nintendo consoles.  Big difference with his post, though, is that he claims it to be superior over all consoles.

You picked SNES above other Nintendo systems, but do you think it deserves to be called the best above all others?

Only seven games have received perfect scores from Famitsu since the Nippon magazine started in June 1986 (in chono order):

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, N64)
• Soulcalibur (1999, Dreamcast)
• Vagrant Story (2000, PlayStation)
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003, GameCube)
• Nintendogs (2005, Nintendo DS)
• Final Fantasy XII (2006, PlayStation 2)
• NEW ENTRY: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Wii)

I both loved and hated the original Rygar. I played it on a friends’ NES a lot, and we usually ended up screaming at the TV because, as any gamer knows, cussing out a television actually affects gameplay and allows you to beat final bosses. It was also pretty enjoyable nevertheless.

And now there’s a “new” Rygar coming to Wii. I use quotes because it’s actually the 2002 Playstation 2 game with tacked on Wii controls. Or so I thought until today. 1up — yup, that 1up — has a preview up today that fleshes out a bit what Tecmo has planned for this remake. Yes, I said remake, as in the Wii Trauma Center kind of remake, because there are some fundamental changes to the game that are worth a mention. (more…)

With all of this Wii talk recently, we often forget that there are other Nintendo systems out there today that need a little love once in a while. No, sorry InvisibleMan, I’m not talking about the Nintendo DS and its plethora of Pokemon platitudes, I’m talking about the original NES!

Luckily, Fusion Ring has a list of the 20 things they learned from the NES up today. Here’s a quick sample before you jump on over there check them all out.

No one jumps around the NES!

Franticly waving the NES controller is the original Wii.

No matter what you do for her, the princess will always get back into trouble.

I can’t remember how many times I lost my progress in a great game (of whatever) because my younger sisters were jumping around my parents’ bedroom a tad bit too close to the ol’ NES. Damn those faulty connectors, damn them I say!

Tell me though, what did you learn from the NES?

I wrote an article for GamePro last week in which I documented the major Japanese contributions to video games since the birth of the medium. Here’s a relevant snippet for Infendo Nation:

1889 - Nintendo is formed in late September by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards which are used for several popular Japanese games. Over the years the company will transform into one of the most powerful and influential video game companies in the world. (full article here)

Before writing the article, I errantly thought that American and International game developers paled in comparison to the Japanese. Upon further research, however, I realized the extent to which everyone has contributed: Americans invented/commercialized gaming, Japan saved the industry and still leads in terms of risk-taking, and Europeans largely introduced mature content (Grand Theft Auto).

It was fun to take in, analyze, and appreciate all the major milestones achieved in gaming since its inception — something I’ve personally taken for granted up until now.

It’s good to be a gamer.

His red cap expresses more than words are able. The fact that “his” name is not necessary information, and that a mere description of his headwear floods the mind with fond memories - punctuated, of course, by a gleeful “Woo hoo!” - is proof enough.

Mario defines gaming.

Nary a single one of his adventures has been ill-received by critics over the years. His entertaining romps through the Mushroom Kingdom are celebrated events for gaming faithful, and production values and quality of the highest order are expected of each entry in the series.

But in 2002, Nintendo updated the classic Mario gameplay formula with a new look resulting in one of the most controversial games and clear opinion splitters in the company’s storied history.

(more…)

As with many of you, I fondly remember my first Nintendo experience. The year was 1986 and I was at a friends house playing the original Nintendo Entertainment System. This wasn’t the first console I played at home (the Atari 2600 owns that honor), but I instantly knew I was playing something very different. I also remember thinking the graphics were amazing compared to the stick figures I was used to on the Atari.

Though the details of the experience are a bit foggy due to my young age at the time, I was instantly hooked on Kung Fu and Super Mario Bros. Additional titles followed like Pro Wrestling, Metroid, RC Pro Am, Zelda, Tecmo Bowl and about 500 more.

Whether young or old, regardless when you started playing Nintendo consoles, I’m confident the experience was probably the same. Can you remember your first Nintendo experience? If so, comment away!

Originally published on September 26th, 2005.

Wired’s Chris Kohler likes Super Metroid. A lot. Strangely, him and I are sort of in the same boat. I’ve never played Super Metroid but absolutely love Metroid: Zero Mission. Behold the persuasion:

Virtual Console’s winning streak hits six weeks with the release of Super Metroid, aka One Of The Best Games Ever. I actually was late to the party on this one. I’d played Metroid and didn’t like it. Then I tried Metroid II and, uh, didn’t really like it. So I assumed that Super Metroid, when it came out, was just more of the same. It was only after playing Metroid Fusion in 2002… that I realized: “Wait a second, you mean there’s a game on the SNES just like this, but way awesomer?”

I’m buying this game today, but I’m screwed for time. This, BioShock, Metroid Prime 3 next week. And I want to get my mitts on Brain Age 2. Gamers are so screwed this fall…