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Golgoth confirms Joe and Mac remake in the works

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 6th 2009 at 3:30PM }

Golgoth recently dropped a press release to cut off conjecture about their next project at the pass, simply stating, "after our Toki remake release, we'll work on Joe and Mac license." That simple confirmation, as well as the concept art seen above, was really the only meat on the release's bones -- platforms for the remake, or a tentative launch window still remain unannounced.

We'd love to toot our own horn for correctly guessing the franchise Golgoth would work on next, but the studio's boss did say it would be a Data East-developed co-op platformer. One needn't be a world-renowned cryptographer to suss that one out.

New, super character art from New Super Mario Bros. Wii

by JC Fletcher { Oct 26th 2009 at 1:15PM }

The new multiplayer mode in New Super Mario Bros. Wii is great, as is the apparent difficulty of the new levels. We're curious about the Super Guide feature as well. But for some Mario fans, the real draw to the latest sidescroller can be seen above: the Koopalings, returning for the first time in a traditional Mario game since Super Mario World. While, of course, we'd still prefer a 2D adventure, Iggy, Morton, et al. have made the transition to 3D quite well!

Nintendo released that render along with some other character and enemy art, and an image of the bizarre all-red box art. See what a Goomba looks like now in our gallery. Spoiler: pretty much like it always looks.

Gallery: New Super Mario Bros. Wii character art

Nippon Ichi teases new Prinny platformer

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 23rd 2009 at 1:15PM }

Are you ready to lose another set of 1000 lives? If so, then Nippon Ichi has a new Prinny game for you. Unfortunately, Nippon Ichi has decided against releasing any information on the game, even obscuring its lengthy title. After playing the first game, can we suggest Prinny 2: This is Going to be a Really Hard Game?

[Via Andriasang]

Trine coming to US PSN today; Frozenbyte answers the obvious question

by JC Fletcher { Oct 22nd 2009 at 6:00PM }

What happened? Frozenbyte has reiterated that Trine will really, for reals be available on PSN today. The PSN puzzle-platformer was supposed to be out in July, before the PC version, but it failed to meet either of those deadlines. So why is it three months late?

Essentially, as Frozenbyte has said, the delay can be attributed to stringent testing for a console release, combined with a long wait for approval of every test -- with just a dash of Sony marketing strategy. Frozenbyte's Joel Kinnunen has described the issue in a lengthy forum post.

"The reason why the US version is so late is a bit of a similar situation as the overall delay," Kinnunen wrote. "We had the US version done around the same time as the European version and I think the publisher submitted it swiftly after hearing the European version was 'ok.'" After that delay, Kinnunen believes, it was Sony's desire to "give the game a good window with regards to other PSN titles/content" that kept it off the US PlayStation Store until today.

Hands-on: Konami's DSiWare 'Reflection'

by Kevin Kelly { Oct 14th 2009 at 5:15PM }

With concept art and a logo that look like they were ripped straight out of a Mirror's Edge anime fansite, it's not surprising that Konami's first DSiWare title Reflection is all about the gameplay and not the graphics. The game features an extremely innovative use of the DSi's second screen as a literal reflection (get it?) of the game, turning an otherwise pedestrian platformer into a challenging puzzler.

You play as Kirra, a thief for hire who has been tasked with retrieving an ancient mirror from some similarly ancient ruins. When she finds the mirror, it does what all ancient mirrors do: it breaks. And in doing so, the mirror shatters her reality as well. She now has to reassemble the mirror if there is any hope of restoring her world, and she does this by traveling through both her world and the mirror world, reflected in the DSi's bottom screen.

Gallery: Reflection (DSiWare)

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Topatoi getting US release next week

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 7th 2009 at 9:00AM }

Back in July, we wrote a headline about Topatoi and its slow journey to the US. Well, looks like we were right: more than three months after its original European release, Topatoi will finally grace the American PlayStation Store next week, on October 15th.

Critics have been mixed about the PSN platformer, with Worth Playing calling it a "fantastic platformer" while OPM faults the game's "mystifyingly unintuitive control mechanic." It won't be long until we can judge the game for ourselves, though.

Trine's Platinum Trophy is all heart and soul

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 17th 2009 at 3:00PM }

Though Trine's lengthy delay has become the butt of many a tactless joke, European PlayStation 3 owners can finally access Frozenbyte's physics-based platformer today -- the pleasant result of a wizard, a warrior and a thief walking into a cross-media bar. As consolation, the trio have brought along a Platinum Trophy, a rarity among downloadable PlayStation Network games.

"Trine has a Platinum Trophy because it's a fairly large game for a downloadable title (and dare I say great quality)," Frozenbyte PR manager Joel Kinnunen told Joystiq. "I think all the heart and soul we poured into the game fused into a platinum core, so maybe that's another reason." The virtual reward, obtained by earning all lower-tier Trophies, is generally reserved for the PS3's retail releases.

You may suspect Trine to become one of them -- the PC version made it to retail in North America, after all -- but Kinnunen ruled out any immediate plans for a Blu-ray release.

Gallery: Trine

Konami announces DSiWare puzzle-platformer 'Reflection'

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 16th 2009 at 10:47AM }

click for gallery

Konami has decided to dip its massive toes into the murky waters of the DSiWare platform with Reflection, a downloadable puzzle-platformer designed to invoke the handheld's dual-screen capabilities. In the game, you play as Kirra, an adventurer on a journey to recover a broken magic mirror. Actually, you play as Kirra's good and evil halves simultaneously on the two screens -- a nasty side-effect of the aforementioned mirror-breaking.

Though the game's art (seen in the gallery below) isn't exactly stunning, that concept actually sounds pretty neat. According to the game's press release announcement, it's set to drop this fall, so we should be seeing Reflection in the DSi Shop soon. We also expect to see it in a snow-covered hill, shortly before the landslide brings us down.

Gallery: Reflection (DSiWare)

Austin GDC 2009: Phil Fish offers first public demo of Fez

by JC Fletcher { Sep 15th 2009 at 2:00PM }

Capping off the "The New Indie Hotness" panel at Austin GDC, Polytron's Phil Fish played an early version of the multidimensional XBLA platformer, Fez, for the audience. Though there were a few issues related to the pre-release state of the game -- specifically, Fish claimed that some platforms were disappearing -- we saw enough to know that this is something to continue following!

Fez plays sort of like Super Paper Mario, but with more of an emphasis on optical illusions. It appears as a 2D sidescrolling platformer most of the time, but at any time the player can rotate the entire world 90 degrees along a vertical axis. This allows the player to use optical illusions to navigate the game world. For example, Fish climbed a ladder up the side of one platform, and then rotated the world to reveal another identical platform several yards away. By rotating again, the perspective shifted such that it looked like the ladder was connected to the second platform -- and so it was, and Fish emerged atop the once-distant platform.

In another example, Fish tossed a bomb onto a moving platform to expose the entrance to a cave. He walked to the entrance, and then rotated the world 180 degrees to reveal the other side of the rock structure into which the cave had been cut, granting him immediate access to the other side.

When Fish paused, we noticed a "leaderboards" item in the pause menu. We don't know as yet what the leaderboards will compare, but at least they'll be there.

First screens for Game Arts' WiiWare platformer

by JC Fletcher { Sep 1st 2009 at 12:30PM }

This May at a Grandia Online presentation, Game Arts teased an upcoming WiiWare title called Kage no Shounen, Hikari no Yousei (Boy of Shadow, Fairy of Light). The latest Famitsu magazine includes the first screens of the game now called Shadow Walker: Kage no Shounen, Hikari no Yousei.

The concept is somewhere between Hudson's Shadow Tower and WayForward's LIT, as far as we can tell, featuring a character who can only walk in shadow. We're sure we'll find out more this week. The game is expected to release to Japan's Wii Shop next month, for 1,000 Wii Points.

G4TV gets hands on Behemoth's 'Game 3' platformer

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 19th 2009 at 12:01AM }

If your pure, pure love of Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid has left you starving for more info regarding The Behemoth's next title -- a multiplayer platformer tentatively titled "Game 3" -- then you should check out G4's recent hands-on with the title, in video form after the break. Adam Sessler got a chance to check out the idiosyncratic game while Dan Paladin rides shotgun, explaining a couple of the game's modes, as well as the overarching story for the title. In a nutshell, said plot features a schizophrenic madman who's managed to kidnap your friends, whom you must rescue. Sounds appropriately bizarre.

The video shows four players slugging it out in "Whale mode," and also gives a brief demo of the co-op mode. We can't wait to check it out -- sadly, with a nondescript launch window of "2010," it seems we'll be doing a great deal of waiting before we can do checking.

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Shadow Tower: Hudson's beautiful Wii platformer officially revealed

by JC Fletcher { Aug 7th 2009 at 5:15PM }

Hudson has opened the official site for its lovely new platformer, Shadow Tower, affording us the opportunity to see more than one screen, and without the glare from a camera flash! Which is good because the game is so pretty.

That is, except for the giant UI in the top-left corner. Why does this game need a big display like that? More screens at Famitsu show that it gets even bigger. We may have to wait for the trailer to figure out what's going on with that crazy display. In the meantime, we're just going to look at the rest of the screen, with all the ruins on lush green landscapes, and the giant industrial structures. Famitsu says there is currently no price or release date given for Shadow Tower.

Gallery: Tower of Shadow (Wii)

Fall Over: A platformer for gentlemen

by Xav de Matos { Aug 4th 2009 at 8:00PM }

Fall Over is a gentleman's platformer, with a twist. Combining a familiar-looking 2D landscape and real-life physics, indie developer Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari has put just enough spin on the genre to combat our rampant attention-deficit disorder.

Fall Over is a simple concept; as a fancy-suited gentleman, reach the end of the level with as many coins in your pocket as possible. The challenge is working with the game's real-world physics, including the little things we take for granted -- like accidentally knocking your character on his back after hitting his head on a platform above -- and keeping your coins safely tucked away. It's the engine that would make Mario scream, and it's a free game worth a few minutes of your time. Make sure to grab your top hat and monocle before checking it out.

[Via BigDownload]

Braid set to perplex PlayStation Network users

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 3rd 2009 at 5:30PM }

There's only one reason for you to have not played Jonathan Blow's time-twisting puzzle-platformer Braid, and that's if you don't have an Xbox 360, PC or Mac. Considering you're reading this right now, we can assume that you can't use this as an excuse. Still, on the off-chance that you can, we've got good news -- IGN is reporting that Hothead Games has confirmed that the well-received indie title is coming to the PSN. You at least have a PS3, don't you? What, are you a Colecovision fanboy?

Though IGN confirmed the rumored port's existence, no release date or possible PS3-exclusive features were mentioned. We've contacted Hothead to hopefully divine these vital details.

Comic-Con 2009: New details on The Behemoth's third game

by Ben Gilbert { Jul 23rd 2009 at 12:14PM }

We'll give it to you straight: we're still not entirely sure what The Behemoth's next game is. It's sort of a platformer, it's sort of a multiplayer brawler, but what is it really? We're one step closer to understanding today, as GameSpot got a chance to preview the game this week at the San Diego Comic-Con, and says the game "falls beneath the umbrella of the platformer genre."

Of what they played, only mutliplayer was available and it featured a handful of game types -- coin collection, territories and kill the carrier, in so many words. Players choose a single weapon before each game (from fireballs to portable fans) and employ it liberally to their enemies, all the while avoiding environmental pitfalls (water, radioactive ooze, etc.) and trying to win the game mode. Do yourself a favor and check out the videos embedded after the break for a better idea of what The Behemoth's third game will look like when it's released sometime in 2010.

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