Silent Hill Meets Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime’s Emotion

Galar Expedition Guide for Pokémon tour

The Galar region, where Pokémon Sword & Shield takes place, is inspired by the British Isles and now The Pokémon Company is inviting you on a bus tour of the places that inspired the game.

The Pokémon Bus Tour: Explore Galar is a five-part YouTube series hosted by popular children's TV presenters Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, and will also feature YouTubers DanTDM and Ali-A. They will explore the places that inspired the Galar region, while learning more about the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Digital guide: The series will be accompanied by the Galar Expedition Guide, a digital companion featuring artwork from the Galar region. “Trainers will be able to follow along with the weekly YouTube series using the Galar Expedition Guide, uncovering more secrets about the areas and Pokémon that can be found in the Galar region.”

Hop on: The Pokémon Bus begins its journey today.

<3>Which Metroid item was accidentally mistranslated?

a) The Varia Suit
b) The Paralyzer
c) The Chozo Artifact
d) The Magmaul

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today's issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.

Which organization gave Fable II a Proggy Award in 2008?

Minecraft’s Steve with his meat in-hand

Minecraft hero Steve was recently introduced to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and just like in Minecraft he has to eat to stay alive – preferably a nice steak.

Unfortunately, Steve's victory screen borders on the carnal, as he strokes a pose that makes it look like he has beat his meat rather than his opponents. It's also, uh, a strange shape and color. You might want to get that looked at, Steve!

Join our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today's fact.

Emotional and cinematic Metroid Prime 4

Retro Studios is hiring, and one of their job advertisements describes Metroid Prime 4 as featuring “cinematic pillars” with “emotional scenes that will resonate”.

Retro is looking for a storyboard artist who can work with the cinematic lead to help “explore interesting and innovative scenes that elevate the narrative.” The Metroid series started out with very sparse stories, but has grown more overtly narrative over time.

Reboot: Metroid Prime 4 has had a tumultuous development, and was originally developed by a team composed of former LucasArts staff at Bandai Namco. Nintendo decided to reboot the project last year, and handed the reins back to Retro Studios.

Switch: The new team includes veterans from the Halo, God of War and Call of Duty series, but nothing is known about the game except that it is coming to Switch. No screenshots or release date yet.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit reviews

Nintendo's augmented reality racer Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is out on Friday, and the first reviews have started appearing.

It's a unique take on racing, featuring real RC cars and a track building system where you place gates and drive through them to create tracks in the real world. You view the action through a camera mounted on the RC car, which is streamed to the Switch.

Review round-up

• PCMag (Score 8/10) – ”With Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, you drive a physical toy kart across virtual tracks that you design around your home. It's not a full-on Mario Kart experience, but the augmented reality game offers plenty of racing thrills.”
• Game Informer (Score 7.5/10) – ”Despite its shortcomings, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit still brings hours of fun. While firing up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is more convenient and fully featured, Mario Kart Live’s unique take on the series is worth checking out for those looking for exciting twists on a well-worn concept.”
• IGN (Score 7/10) – ”Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit’s mixed reality novelty excels when you have the space and motivation to make your courses flourish, but occasional tech hiccups and clogged wheels are hazards just as dangerous as any Blue Shell. That said, when I took the time to really lean into the creative challenge building a track presented me with, I was often rewarded by having a blast racing on it. Some familiar mechanics get lost in the translation to AR, but this is still an enjoyable Mario Kart game no matter what roadway I made.”
• GameSpot (Score 7/10) – ”There's fun to be had in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, but you have to invest in it. The more work you put into making your go-kart track craftwork unique, the more enjoyment you'll get out of racing, with or without some frustration and repetition. Mario Kart Live isn't going to have the long-term appeal of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but with some imagination and ingenuity, you can make it something special.”
• Digital Trends (Score 6/10) – ”At its core, there’s a solid Mario Kart game here, and I hope the environmental and gate effects are brought over to the main series for the proper ninth installment, as I think those additions could add something to the franchise. Still, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit has too many little annoyances that can only be alleviated by having a perfectly sized, perfectly lit space – like the one in Nintendo’s promotional materials. This might still be a hit with children, or anyone else less interested is Home Circuit as a game than a toy, but anyone hoping for depth or replaying the game will be disappointed.”
• Nintendo Life (Score In progress) – ”We can't deliver our final verdict on Mario Kart Live until we've fully explored its multiplayer potential with a second RC car, but what we can say at this stage is that this is a startlingly authentic "mixed reality" recreation of Nintendo's most popular racing series which encourages you to be inventive with your course designs and does an excellent job of combining your real world surroundings with the fantasy environments of the Mushroom Kingdom.”

• Google promises “three days of announcements” for Stadia on October 20th. Maybe they will have some games this time?
• Microsoft explains more about Xbox Series X backward compatibility and gives an overview of what to expect
• Silent Hill recreated in Animal Crossing: New Horizons by an avid fan using the new Halloween content
• Borderlands 3 will have upgrade ready for next-gen launch on November 10th for Xbox Series X and November 12th for PlayStation 5
• PlayStation 4 firmware 8.00 launches today and features new avatars, mute-all and 2-step verification

To celebrate the start of a new generation of console gaming we are giving away a new PlayStation 5 to one lucky DailyBits reader. You can find out more about this giveaway on our dedicated page.

Here's the Giveaway Code for Week 42: 1224

Which Metroid item was accidentally mistranslated?

ANSWER: The Varia Suit!

Ever wondered why Samus' Varia Suit is called that? Well, turns out it isn't! In Japan, her armor is known as Baria Sūtsu, or Barrier Suit. For some reason the B got turned into a V while crossing the Pacific.

Fortunately, the name still makes sense: It's a variable suit, able to change depending on the wearer's needs and compatible with a wide range of upgrades. Plus, Varia Suit sounds a bit cooler and more mysterious than Barrier Suit.

Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Erlend Grefsrud, Simon Priest, and Jamie Davey.

We hope you've enjoyed today's issue DailyBits! Please feel free to send any feedback over to team@dailybits.news. Thank You!