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Nintendo Power V248 is the two hundred and forty eighth issue of Nintendo Power, featuring New Super Mario Bros. Wii on the cover. Contained within the issue was an eight page preview of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a preview on Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, a preview of Infinite Space, and an article about The Legend of Zelda series which listed their favorite games in the franchise.

News[]

Some of this month's news:

Features[]

"Sega on the Fast Track"[]

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is set to be the next big all-star party game with its roster of Sega characters, inspiration from classic racing games like Daytona USA and Virtua Racing, and an assortment of power-ups and weapons. The game features characters from Super Monkey Ball, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, and various other games; not to mention numerous characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. This game is being developed by Sumo Digital, who also developed Sega Superstars Tennis in 2008. Sumo Digital is working closely with Sega of Japan to get the characters just right. All of the characters will not only have distinct personalities but will drive cars unique to them and use special moves that can potentially take a driver from last place to first. The race courses will be based on levels from past Sega games, and while there will be completely new music, Sumo Digital is allowed to pick tracks from Sega's large music library. Producer Steve Lycett is appreciative of all the help given from Sega of Japan, saying that "they've been really involved and supportive and it's been fantastic to have the pleasure of working with both them and their creations."

"Deep Space"[]

In Infinite Space for the Nintendo DS, you are given the ability to build spaceships, lead diverse crews and venture through two galaxies as a young hero named Yuri. This Sci-Fi RPG/starship simulation game, developed by PlatinumGames and Nude Maker and published by Sega, allows players to customize and command up to five starships, outfitting each ship with different facilities and weapons. Players also form an organization from a pool of more than 150 unique, potential crewmembers. Battles are menu driven with a bit real-time strategy; basic commands (Barrage, Normal, Dodge) are standard battle options while advanced commands become available when certian ships are used. Choices based on which characters are employed and how the ships are constructed have a great impact on battle performance, not to mention how the story unfolds.

Infinite Space director Hifume Kouno and PlatinumGames producer Atsushi Inaba were interviewed in the last half of the article. While there was some talk about Infinite Space and it's genre, most of the discussion was focused on game development and collaboration. Mr. Inaba had worked with Nude Maker before and is pleased the work that can be produced from two companies rather than one by itself. Both development teams favor adding depth into their games, and Mr. Inaba said "We would like to continue offering even deeper experiences to our gamers." Infinite Space is currently available in Japan and is set for American and European releases in Spring 2010.

"Ultimate Zelda"[]

In the eve of the release of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Nintendo Power listed the previous thirteen games in the series from least favorite to most favorite. The staff recognized that many people would disagree with the list, but "after a lot of thought and a little compromise" they were able to create list that they felt "pretty darn good about."

They also made known their favorite elements from the series; such as best item, best enemy, best dungeon and best hook (the "hook" refers to the distinct element that separates Zelda games (Examples: sailing in The Wind Waker, changing sizes in The Minish Cap, and becoming a Wolf in Twilight Princess). In this category the staff considered Ocarina of Time's time traveling, but in the end chose the hook from A Link to the Past because Link could travel between the Light World and the Dark World at any spot and also because he became a rabbit in the Dark World).

Favorite Zelda games Favorite elements
  • Best Hook: Light World/Dark World (A Link to the Past)
  • Best Item: Double Clawshots (Twilight Princess)
  • Best Weapon: Bow (All games)
  • Best Princess Zelda: The Wind Waker
  • Best Boss: Twilight Dragon Argorok (Twilight Princess)
  • Best Overworld: The Minish Cap
  • Best Story Moment: Beneath the Waves (The Wind Waker)
  • Best Tune: The Legend of Zelda
  • Best Secret: Second Quest (The Legend of Zelda)
  • Best Dungeon: Goron Mines (Twilight Princess)
  • Best Enemy: Octorok
  • Best Supporting Character: Midna (Twilight Princess)
  • Best Ganon: Ocarina of Time

Reviews[]

Eleven Wii games and twelve DS games were reviewed. Six games topped at a score of 8.0; Phantasy Star Zero, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island, Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Nintendo DS, and Space Invaders Extreme 2. All six of the highest rated games were for the Nintendo DS.

Eleven other games were not reviewed this issue, including: Wii Fit Plus, The Secret Saturday's: Beasts of the 5th Sun for the Wii and DS, Bakugan Battle Brawlers for the Wii and DS, Marines: Modern Urban Combat and WireWay.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage, Rabbids Go Home Wii and DS versions will be reviewed next issue.

Please use the symbols next to each heading to sort the games by "title", "score", "console", "reviewer" and "ESRB rating".
Title Score Console Reviewer ESRB Rating
Academy of Champions: Soccer 6.5 Wii Justin C. 01Everyone
Astro Boy: The Video Game 7.5 Wii Chris H. 02Everyone 10+
Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island 8.0 DS David S. 02Everyone 10+
Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop 6.0 DS George S. 01Everyone
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 3 6.5 Wii Carolyn G. 02Everyone 10+
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans 8.0 DS David S. 02Everyone 10+
Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo 6.5 Wii Justin C. 02Everyone 10+
Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter 8.0 DS Phil T. 01Everyone
Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter 7.0 Wii Chris H. 01Everyone
FIFA Soccer 10 6.0 Wii Steve T. 01Everyone
Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain 4.0 DS David S. 03Teen
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade 7.5 Wii Carolyn G. 01Everyone
Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands 7.0 DS Chris Sh. 01Everyone
Karoake Revolution 6.0 Wii Chris Sh. 03Teen
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 5.5 Wii Steve T. 03Teen
Nostalgia 7.0 DS Phil T. 02Everyone 10+
Phantasy Star Zero 8.0 DS Casey L. 02Everyone 10+
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky 8.0 DS Scott P. 01Everyone
SimAnimals Africa 5.0 Wii Steve T. 01Everyone
Space Invaders Extreme 2 8.0 DS George S. 01Everyone
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack 4.5 DS Chris Sh. 02Everyone 10+
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 7.0 DS David S. 03Teen
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 7.5 Wii Chris H. 03Teen

Interviewees[]

  • David Braben, founder of Frontier (LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias)
  • Mike Stemle, game designer at TellTale (Tales of Monkey Island)
  • Gary and Alison, hosts of Nintendo Week
  • Steve Lycett, producer at Sumo Digital (Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing)
  • Hifumi Kouno, director at Platinum Games (Inifinte Space)
  • Atushi Inaba, producer at Platinum Games (Infinite Space)
  • Akira Yamaoka, producer at Konami Digital Entertainment (Silent Hill: Shattered Memories)
  • Sean Kenny, creator of supersized Nintendo DSi created with 51,324 LEGOs
  • Chad Erwin Yalung, creator of game object recreations
  • Cody Rhodes, WWE wrestler and Zelda fan

Trivia[]

  • In the "Sega on the Fast Track" article, the two subheadings were "Dream Cast" and "Mega Drive", based on two of Sega's previous consoles. Also, the writer claimed that the vehicles in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing are powered by Blast Processing.

Images[]

Staff[]

  • EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Slate
  • EXECUTIVE EDITOR Steve Thomason
  • SENIOR EDITOR Chris Hoffman
  • ASSOCIATE EDITOR Justin Cheng
  • ART DIRECTOR Chris Imlay
  • CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER Rebekah Lane
  • CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Carolyn Gudmundson, Andrew Hayward, Casey Loe, Nathan Meunier, Chris Shepperd, George Sinfield, David F. Smith, Phil Theobald
  • COPY EDITOR Candace Cunningham
  • LICENSING MANAGER Frances Wall Jha
  • EDITOR AT LARGE Scott Pelland

See also[]

External links[]

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