Super Mario 3D All-Stars Reveal, Tony Hawk Is Back

Mario remasters coming to Switch

Nintendo has finally confirmed that they will indeed celebrate Mario’s 35th anniversary with a number of remasters for Switch.

The special Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct shows off three major Mario games that will be remastered and optimized for Switch. There will be a limited number of physical editions available of the remasters, which will be available from the Nintendo eShop until the end of March 2021.

• Super Mario 3D All-Stars – Announcement Trailer – September 18th
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – Announcement Trailer – February 12th
• Super Mario All-Stars – Announcement Trailer – Out Now

Nintendo also announced three new games:

• Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit – Announcement Trailer – October 16th
• Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. – Announcement Trailer – November 12th
• Super Mario Bros. 35 – Announcement Trailer – October 1th

Special Super Mario events from now until March 2021:

• Mario-related missions on My Nintendo, with various rewards and a special pin set
• Mario Kart Tour will host the Super Mario Kart Tour from September 8th until September 22nd, with appearances from Super NES Mario and Donkey Kong
• Mario-related ‘historical items’ and 35th anniversary merchandise available at Nintendo’s New York store as well as Nintendo’s official online store (store.nintendo.com) during November
• Anniversary themed Ninji Speedruns for Super Mario Maker 2 in November
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will host special online tournament featuring fighters, stages and items from the Mario series
• Splatoon 2 will feature a Mario-themed Splatfest in January 2021
• Mario-themed furniture for Animal Crossing: New Horizons in March 2021

Which Rare game almost featured Game Boy Camera compatibility?

1. Donkey Kong 64
2. Perfect Dark
3. Goldeneye 64
4. Conker’s Bad Fur Day

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.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was meant to be part of The Phantom Pain

Ground Zeroes was launched as a prelude to The Phantom Pain, but was originally supposed to be included in the full game. However, director Hideo Kojima — or perhaps suits at Konami – wanted to launch something alongside the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The Japanese version of Ground Zeroes is a bit milder than the Western one, and the camera looks away when Paz has some impromptu surgery to remove a bomb inside her. The whole bomb surgery episode might seem harsh, but it’s still better than her original fate: To be discovered dead and decomposing in a cage alongside her traumatized friend Chico.

Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.

Sean Murray talks about next big thing

Hello Games, The indie studio behind No Man’s Sky, has grown to 26 employees and just launched their latest game, the cute adventure game The Last Campfire.

Studio boss Sean Murray has revealed that the studio is working on their next big thing, as well as more updates for No Man’s Sky, and also talked about the many troubles the studio had with their space-faring hit and how a small company like Hello Games can feel trapped between their own ambitions and the expectations of their players.

Hard choices: “The choice that we had with No Man’s Sky where if I was to go back again, I would find it very difficult to know what the right path was. Where you will have incredible interest in your game, you will have a huge amount of excitement for it. But you will be in a rocket ship, launching towards the sun, and you will be building that rocket on the way up,” Murray told Polygon.

Lesson learnt: No Man’s Sky came under enormous criticism from disappointed fans who felt Hello Games had not delivered on the promises they made during development, and the studio has definitely learned their lesson.

Murray said the studio was “naive” and talked too much about their hopes and dreams for the game, but also admits that their overly ambitious enthusiasm, the blowback and the subsequent struggle to meet fans’ expectations all contributed to the game’s considerably success.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 round-up

Vicarious Visions’ remastered Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is finally out, grinding and manualing its way to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It features modernized but faithful versions of the two first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, and the critics are generally kickflipping with joy.

• VG247 (Score 5/5) – “Vicarious Visions has proved that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was more than just a product of its time, and that – like skating itself – it has every chance of penetrating the mainstream once again. The studio should be lauded for twice proving that it is a steward of 90s nostalgia, and that it can reanimate games to be just as good – if not better! – for their second turn under the sun.”
• TheSixthAxis (Score 10/10) – “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+ 2 is a labour of love and an ode to the series’ glory days. Every inch of the game has been perfectly restored and updated for modern consoles and it’s an absolute delight to play from start to finish. This is a must-buy for skateboarders, gamers and everyone else in between.”
• IGN (Score 9/10) – “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is such a tremendous turnaround from 2015’s disastrously dismal Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 that it’s difficult to believe they share even a shred of DNA. The accessible yet tricky skating is earnest and old-school fun, the wonderful looking levels are lovingly designed odes to the past, and the music is like the hearty embrace of an old childhood buddy.”
• GameSpot (Score 9/10) – “Because it nails so much about that original Tony Hawk experience, it’s really hard to be mad at Pro Skater 1 + 2 for any of its downsides. The load times aren’t enough to keep you away from the plethora of satisfying combos, and the lack of level goals for every skater isn’t enough to keep you from jumping back in with a new character. Playing through the newly remade levels is immensely enjoyable, and that on its own is enough to call Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 a success.”
• Press Start Australia (Score 8/10) – “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a one-way ticket to the turn of the millennium. It’s a complete, beautiful love letter to not only Tony Hawk himself as an icon but to a time when both the series and the sport of skateboarding itself were most pure and fun. As a bundle, and with the multiplayer providing even more longevity, this game offers unrivaled value. “
• GamesRadar (Score 4/5) – “Vicarious Visions has built an engine that could actually push the series in a new direction, with the focus on skating rather than gimmicks that came from the annual release cycle that the series was stuck in. Here’s hoping this is more of a warm up than a victory lap.”
• Destructoid (Score 8/10) – “Blemishes aside, Activision is doing so much right this time beyond just putting Vicarious Visions in charge.”
• Jeuxvideo.com (Score 15/20) – “The one and only tangible addition to the studio is a rather messy and cumbersome experience and challenge system that won’t get you much except cosmetic items in the hundreds. The pleasure and the sensations are there. But it would have taken a little more to make an impression.”

Lair of the Clockwork God Review

Developer: Size Five Games

Version played: Nintendo Switch

As far as genre mash-ups go, mixing a platformer with a point-and-click isn’t the most obvious idea in the world – but that’s exactly what Size Five Games has done with Lair of the Clockwork God. The two main characters each embody a genre, Dan being the platformer hero who jumps around traversing the environment, while Ben is the point-and-clicker who solves puzzles.

You need to use both characters’ abilities to get through the game and prevent the apocalypse. Ben can’t jump, but he can interact with objects, point out objects of interest and craft items for Dan to use. Dan’s job is to explore the environment and figure out ways to help Ben get around, usually involving the operation of elevators and moving platforms.

Puzzles generally require you to figure out which character needs to do something at the right time and in the right place, and while it’s usually quite satisfying to figure them out there’s also a tendency for even simple tasks to bog down into overly complex and slightly tedious operations. Of course, that’s part of the game’s absurd humour: The developers are perfectly aware of how hard it is to do even the simplest thing, and they relish in forcing you to jump through hoops.

Unfortunately, there’s a reason point-and-click-style game design fell out of fashion, and unless you are eager to relive the halcyon days of weird item combinations and slightly surreal logic, the game will feel monotonous and overwrought. The fiddly controls also present problems on Switch, just like on PC. The platforming works well enough, but the point-and-click part of the game just never completely gels: Even when you know what to do, solving puzzles feels slow and awkward.

Sure, there are inspired moments in Lair of the Clockwork God, but the game just doesn’t manage to offer the best parts of both platformers and point-and-clickers. The humour feels strained and the all-too-frequent jokes forced, and even manage to annoy you if you’re trying to figure out how to solve a puzzle. The port also runs at just 30FPS, which is a bit sad considering how simple the graphics are. In short, it’s hard to recommend Lair of the Clockwork God unless you have been pining for a new Ben and Dan adventure.

Lair of the Clockwork God is $16.99/£13.16 on Nintendo eShop.

Thumbs up

• Interesting blend of genres
• Will appeal to fans of point-and-click games

Thumbs down

• Most of the jokes fall flat
• Platforming feels subordinated to the point-and-click puzzles

Score: 6/10

Oculus sales suspended in Germany

Facebook has reportedly halted Oculus Quest and Rift sales in Germany pending a verdict from German regulatory authorities. According to an official FAQ Facebook stated that “We are actively working with the German authorities to inform the supervisory authorities about our practices and to ensure that our products comply with local laws”.

However, as far as the Federal Cartel Office is concerned, there have been “no discussions between Facebook and the office on the subject of Oculus” just yet. While it’s not exactly clear what the situation is or how it will develop, Oculus users in Germany will still be able to use their headsets as usual. Customers who purchased a headset within the last 30 days may return it for a full refund.

Native VR in Moto Racer 4 for PC

Moto Racer 4 for PlayStation 4 featured PSVR support, although it was limited to a few tracks. The VR support was supposed to be a PlayStation exclusive, but now it seems like users have found a way to get it working on PC since the PC version has both the Oculus and Steam VR SDKs included.

All you need to do is follow this simple guide and you can enjoy Moto Racer 4 in Glorious VR. If you don’t own Moto Racer 4, it’s usually available at a nice price during Steam sales.

Medal of Honor developer talks about designing multiplayer games for VR

Respawn’s Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has been under tight wraps ever since it was revealed last year, and while recent trailers have given an idea of what to expect from the single player campaign, Respawn has kept quiet about the multiplayer modes – until now.

Game Director Peter Hirschmann has revealed that Above and Beyond’s multiplayer modes will be rather different from traditional shooters, focusing on that kind things “you can only do in VR”. For example, the sabotage game mode has teams compete to plant or defuse a bomb, but VR allows a much more sophisticated and nuanced experience: You might actually have to defuse the bomb rather than just hold a button down. Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is scheduled to launch later this year.

Brave Browser rewards you for surfing

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If you give Brave Browser a go via our link DailyBits earns a small commission, so you’ll be helping us too!

• Niantic staff will take a week off for wellness on September 7th, leaving a ”limited operations staff” in charge of Pokémon GO
• Beenox Pack was the final update to Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled and Beenox is now busy with Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
• Short GIF teases Big Yeetus randomly appearing in Fall Guys, a “Chaotic Neutral” frenemy who spices up levels
• Avid maker turns Game Boy Camera into functioning retro webcam after someone idly wonders if that would even be possible
• Psyonix reveals more as Rocket League edges closer to free-to-play and explains the new seasons and competitive rankings

Which Rare game almost featured Game Boy Camera compatibility?

Answer: Perfect Dark!

Rare was famous for its experimentation, and it’s hardly a surprise that their follow-up to GoldenEye 007 was intended to support the Game Boy Camera.

Using the peripheral, you could take pictures of people and then put their faces on characters in the game – years before Sony’s EyeToy brought the same ideas to a wider audience.

Of course, there were some issues with the technology too. This was just a year after the Columbine massacre, and videogames were public enemy number one. Imagine how it would look if kids could take pictures of their friends and then shoot them in the face over and over again. Maybe the right idea, but definitely at the wrong time.

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