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Samurai is back and back with some new stuff including a message board, finally. For the lowdown, go here and check the first message with rules and other explanations:
(Link removed, new forum is now here)
You can access this forum any time you come here by clicking "The Forum" in the above section. Samurai Nintendo's forum is proudly hosted by the United Forums !
The Ranking has been updated in Japan Weekly, the only new entry is Shikigami no Shiro. Check also what's happening to the former number 1, Wario.
Check the ranking in our Japan Weekly section and be amazed: Made in Wario on GameCube is number 1 this week in Japan with pretty good sale number.
It's actually pictures from the last Tokyo Game Show so you might have seen them before. However, they're worth a second look. With these 9 new pictures, there are now 20 screenshots for the preview of Resident Evil 4. I must confess I discarded 6 pictures which were quite identical and fuzzy so that you only got the best.
» Preview of Resident Evil 4
These latest pictures are from the video, if you want to see it on Capcom site, here's the address to download the biggest version:
(Addresses changed, links removed)
I know the date reads 2003. It is really the review of NBA Courtside 2002 though, there's no other. I just happened to play the game lately and I didn't really like it. It's sometimes amusing, only because everything works so strangely. Well, here's a review anyway. And sorry for the delay ! I completely forgot the weekly review...
» Review of NBA Courtside 2002
The Japanese planning has been updated with the latest additions: Dragon Ball Z and a joke from Konami: a special edition to their silly baseball game Power Pro Live 10. Ha ha, they really like money these bastards ! ^O^
You want to know all about the next Christmas hits and how well GameCube titles perform in the charts in Japan ? Then visit our Japan Weekly section ! You'll find the very latest ranking and planning, they've just been updated with fresh info. Accordingly, the past news entitled "Japanese Planning and Statistics" has been updated.
Yes, you read well, from now on there'll be a review every week. I don't know for how long, but at least a month and half and after that I hope. Some reviews will bring us back in time, several games haven't been tested yet on Samurai Nintendo and now, yes, the time has come ! The first of our weekly review, however, is not so much of an oldy. It's Burnout 2, Acclaim's racing game which came to save the genre on GameCube.
» Review of Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Uuuuh uuuuh.. Aaah aaah Aaah ! As Donkey Kong just told you, he's not only banana addicted, he also loooves music. But just one type of instrumental music: congas. I know it might come as a shock to you but it's the truth. If you don't believe it, check our preview of Donkey Konga, Namco's new title for GameCube with Nintendo's benediction, you'll see just how happy primitive music can make an ape.
» Preview of Donkey Konga
Business news, how pompous ! I couldn't find a better title though, most of the recent news are about numbers and sales, along with a few hardware news. Here you go.
Japan up. In Japan, sales of the GameCube in the first six months of 2003 were up by 5% (+9.037 units) compared to the same period in 2002.
Tiny egg. Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg sold only 3.072 units on its release day in Japan on October 9.
Love from US. Capcom US says they sold out all copies of Viewtiful Joe in their online stores.
Low scores. Here are the scores from the Japanese magazine Famitsu for Tengai Maikyo 2 (just released) and Made in Wario (to be released), they are pretty low indeed:
- Astumare!! Made in Wario 27/40 (7|7|7|6)
- Tengai Makyo II Manji Maru 27/40 (7|6|7|7)
Starlight'R US. Nintendo will release a "Starlight Gold" edition of the Game Boy Advance SP only in the Toys'R US Japanese online shops.
Flame. At the Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo showed black and red editions of the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. These new Flame Models will be released at the same time as Bandai's Mobile Suit Gundam scheduled on November 28.
Farewell 59. Nintendo Japan announced they stop producing the Memory Card 59 and will only produce from now on the Memory Card 251.
Canacube. In Canada, the installed base of GameCube is of 700.000 units (2.5 million units of PS2, 900.000 units of Xbox)
Bonus Kart. Mario Kart Double Dash!!'s bonus disk will include 5 playable demos (Mario party 5, F-Zero GX, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars Rogue Squadron III and Sonic Heroes) and 7 videos (1080 Avalanche, Kirby Air Ride, Pokemon Colosseum, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Harry Potter Quiddtich World Cup, NBA Live 2004 and SpongeBob Squarepants). In addition, it'll be possible to unlock secret features in Fire Emblem GBA by means of GC-GBA connection !
Legend of Bonus. Nintendo will also release a Zelda bonus disk, Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition. However, it will only be sold with a GameCube bundle. The disk will contain: The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, both from the NES, as well as Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask from the Nintendo 64 and a playable version of The Wind Waker.
Cheaaap ! The price drop of the GameCube has been world wide. Here's a sum up of what's exactly been happening. First in USA, the price was reduced to 99,99$ on September 25, sales then more than quadrupled. In UK, the reduction happened earlier than in the rest of Europe and the response was strong too: +400% sales increase for a new 79£ price. From October 17, the price will also drop in Japan and Europe, to 14000 yen and 99,99 euros. In Japan, the Enjoy Plus Pack, including a GameCube, a Memory Card 251 and a Game Boy Player, will be sold 19800 yen. In Europe, 4 games will become Player's choice and be sold at 29,99 euros: Super Mario Sunshine, Starfox Adventures, Mario Party 4 and Metroid Prime.
The planning has been updated with the latest GameCube releases in 2003 from October to December.
Now some statistics, we know you like it. Here's a comparison between 2002 and 2003 of the number of games coming during the two last months in Japan. The most important time of the year for game sales.
| Month |
Number of games in 2002 |
Number of games in 2003 |
| November |
8 |
11 |
| December |
15 |
19 |
Nintendo recently updated their planning and it now shows that the number of games released for Christmas in Japan has well improved, 7 titles more than in 2002 (+25%). However, what these stats don't show is what kind of titles are released. So, here's another table to figure that out.
| Companies |
Titles in November-December 2002 |
Titles in November-December 2003 |
| Nintendo |
- Mario Party 4 (Nov 8)
- Zelda: The Wind Waker (Dec 13) |
- Mario Party 5 (Nov 28)
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Nov 7)
- Pokemon Colosseum (Nov 21)
- Donkey Konga (Dec 12) |
| Hudson Soft |
- Bomberman Jetters
- Momotaro 11 |
- Dream Mix TV World Fighters
- Momotaro 12
- PC Kid
- Adventure Island |
| EA |
- HP and the Chamber of Secrets |
- HP and the Philosopher's Stone
- HP Quidditch World Cup
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3
- Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
- Need for Speed Underground
- SSX 3 |
| Capcom |
- Resident Evil 0 |
- Gotcha Force
- Mickey and Minnie Trick & Chase |
| Namco |
- Mr. Driller |
- R: Racing Evolution
- Baten Kaitos
[- Donkey Konga] |
| Sega |
- Super Monkey Ball 2
- Sonic Mega Collection
- Skies of Arcadia |
- PSO 3
- Derby Tsuku 3
- Sonic Heroes |
| Konami |
- Muscle Man
- Yu-Gi-Oh: Falsebound Kingdom
- Disney Sports: American Football
- Disney Sports: Basketball
- Evolution Skateboarding |
- Crash bandicoot 4
- Power Pro Baseball 10 Memorial |
| Bandai |
- Kinnikun Man
- One Piece Treasure Battle |
- Dragon Ball Z
- One Piece Grand Battle 3 |
| Others |
- Eidos with 1 crap title
- Atari with 1 title
- Titus with 1 crap title
- Takara with 2 crap titles
- Success with 1 crap title
- nothing
- nothing
- nothing |
- nothing
- nothing
- nothing
- nothing
- nothing
- Tomy with 1 (crap ?) title
- THQ/Yukes with 2 titles
- Natsume with 1 title |
Obviously the quality will be better in 2003. Konami has just 2 titles for GameCube this december (one of them being a special edition of their Power Pro Baseball 10 which was still in the ranking a few weeks ago ! or how to make money on fools), Japanese players can rejoice Konami spare them more shit games like the 5 of last year. Nintendo has twice more games, however there's not a strong single player offer like Zelda, it's mostly multiplayers games (unless Pokemon Colloseum RPG mode would be bigger than expected - unlikely). Namco is much more present this time, Sega are very active too, and Capcom could do better with Gotcha Force than it did with Resident Evil 0. Surprinsgly, the top editor is EA with 6 titles, releasing all their main western games in Japan. Another good point is that there are many less crap titles from small companies than last year. Titles look more promising, more likely to sell well and enter the ranking though, once again, real gaming hits such as Mario Kart or Baten Kaitos are a minority.
On a final note, Nintendo will release his big hits, Mario Kart and Pokemon Colosseum, in November. Last year, Zelda was released in mid-December, such a late release, due to late development times, was maybe responsible for unsatisfying sale numbers (lower than Mario Party 4 released more than a month before). By releasing Mario Kart as early as in the beginning of November, Nintendo expects to bring its probable best-selling game at the perfect date on the market. In advance, we wish the best possible Christmas to the GameCube ! and keep our fingers crossed.
GameCube's titles in Japan are doing as well these two last weeks as Samurai Nintendo's in the world. Oh my god, it must be horrible !! No, no, don't worry, it's not THAT bad. Go to check Japan Weekly for fresh infos.
Samurai Nintendo is finally back, after 3 weeks without updates. To celebrate this great return (humf, humf), we have plenty of news and stats, plus a review, a preview and a surprise. Enjoy !
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Samurai Nintendo's Forum Now Opened !
Japanese Ranking: Shikigami no Shiro
New Pictures from Resident Evil 4
Business News
