Handheld Gaming News week 25

Time for my weekly write up of Handheld Gaming News. Fortunately I’m able to sit down in a room that’s slightly cooler then last week. We’ve been having tropical days here in the Netherlands. Way too hot for me, and as it’s not customary to have air-conditioning in our homes it really gets uncomfortable when the weather is so uncharacteristic. I mean, trying to sleep when the bedroom is about 27 Celsius (80 Fahrenheit) is no fun.

Still, the weather has cooled a bit, so with all windows open around me I’m trying to get it a bit more bearable in here. Some rain would be good too, especially for the garden! Anyway, do come in and get yourself something to drink. Coffee, or another kind of refreshment? Let’s chat a bit about gaming!

Demo for MiiTopia in European eShop

First of all, last week I mentioned the American demo for MiiTopia in the eStop, now you can download demo for the game in the European eShop too!

Demo for Hey Pikmin! available in the 3DS eShop

Another demo is available for download in the European eShop. No date yet for the American eShop. Here’s your chance to get to know the adorable Pikmin. A pity that it’s not an open world adventure just like the console games, but I will surely give the demo a try.

Ever Oasis released worldwide

Finally, a year after is was first mentioned on the E3-2016, new IP Ever Oasis has been released yesterday. As you might expect I bought it immediately, really been looking forward to this one. Sadly I haven’t been able to play much yet, but I like what I’ve seen.

Somehow there’s this need to compare a new kind of game to other games we already know, and this one isn’t easy to label. It makes me think a Animal Crossing in that you can manage your Oasis, and chatting and befriending villagers is important. I’m reminded of Rune Factory because of the RPG component combined with a bit of farming. And the art style reminds me of Fantasy Life, as well as all the side quests. And all this is combined with some nice puzzles in the dungeons. I think this might be a great game!

Layton’s Mystery journey is kicking off in real life

As I’ve mentioned before, the mobile version for Layton’s Mystery Journey will be released for mobile one month from now (July 20) and is expected on the 3DS too before 2017 is over. The website for the game is up now and eases you into it by having you solve puzzles in the real world. The puzzles range from “examining videos to visiting various websites to gradually grabbing a part of an answer”.

50 puzzles will appear over the next three months. If you enter your gmail account, you’ll get a notification if new puzzles appear. If you want to get in the mood, check out the website here. Registering and playing the game means you will carry over some progress in the upcoming mobile game.

Animal Crossing for Mobile still on course for 2017

In an interview Reggie Fils-Aimée confirmed once again that the Animal Crossing mobile is still on track to be released in 2017. All I can say is: they’d better! We’ve waited long enough now! This is from the interview:

” So, specifically now, Animal Crossing. Animal Crossing development continues quite strongly, the teams are very excited about what they have. It’s an application that is going to launch this year, as we’ve committed. And we’ll be sharing more information in due course. We believe, just as we’ve seen with Pokémon Go, just as we’ve seen with Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, we believe that the application will help broaden the user base for Animal Crossing, and it’s going to end up having a positive impact on our dedicated video game business of Animal Crossing.”

Oceanhorn now available on the Switch

Sunk many, many hours into Zelda Breath of the Wild and you’ve done all there is to do? The game that is inspired by Zelda, Oceanhorn, is now available for download on the Switch. To celebrate it’s release on Switch some 30 minutes of gameplay have been added. Check out the extra gameplay and see if it’s for you!

Huge update for Pokémon Go

Niantic is gearing up to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of Pokémon Go with a massive update. Lots of new features are added, most noticably:

• Gym features significantly updated to add the all-new motivation system.
• New Gym Badge feature.
• Added in-app and push notification system for Gyms.
• Raid Battles, a new cooperative gameplay experience.
• Four new items available only by completing Raid Battles.
• Raids tab added to Nearby screen.
• Search functionality to Pokémon collection screen.
• Visual indicator to unvisited PokéStops.

There are a few other things to mention though. Apparently raid battles can only be played if you are level 35 and higher…wow. That would take a lot of levelling up! And players who’ve acquired new Pokémon by using illegal methods will be marked with a slash in the player’s inventory and “may not behave as expected”.

I haven’t experienced the changes yet myself, but this may be a nice time to dive back into the game!

This weekend’s gaming

Enough for this week. Now I have to figure out where to find more gaming time. I’m still very much immersed in Zelda. Pretty pleased with myself that I’ve conquered the Divine Beast Vah Rutha and in one go too. I did use some tips from the internet, but still: very chuffed about that. And now there’s Ever Oasis to play too!

But, too many games is a nice luxury! What will you be playing this weekend?

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming my friend!