To recap, on Monday we got to play the games Nintendo had on display at E3 so we thought we'd let you lot ask us questions so rather than give our hands-on impressions like every other website does, we could give you exactly the information you wanted to know.
So Fred posted his blog yesterday asking you lot to submit questions, and I decided to invite the good people over at GoNintendo to ask some questions too (after all, the more the merrier).
One day later I had well over 150 questions to answer! So here are 107 of them. I've left some out because either they were repeats of previous questions, I couldn't answer them for contractual reasons, or I simply hadn't played the game.
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Speaking of which, apologies for anyone who asked Spirit Tracks questions: I didn't get round to playing that so I couldn't answer any of your questions. There'll be more of these Q&As in the future though if this one goes well.
Anyway. Here are my 6000 words' worth of answers to the questions YOU wanted to know. Tell me any other games site that listens to its readers like that!
Wii SPORTS RESORT
1) How many events are there in the game? There are twelve different categories, and each has between one and three different types of game in each. The grand total number of "events" is 24. There's Swordplay (Duel, Speed Slice, Showdown), Wakeboarding, Frisbee (Frisbee Dog, Frisbee Golf), Archery, Basketball (3-Point Contest, Pickup Game), Table Tennis (Match, Return Challenge), Golf, Bowling (Standard Game, 1000-Pin Game, Spin Control), Power Cruising (Slalom Course, VS), Canoeing (Speed Challenge, VS), Cycling (Road Race, VS) and Air Sports (Skydiving, Island Flyover, Dogfight).
2) Does the Wii MotionPlus react to every move as promised? Yes. All the movements are captured extremely accurately with Wii MotionPlus. Depending on the event, some motions are "locked" and MotionPlus will only work on a couple of axes. In Golf, for example, you can't just wildly swing the club wherever you want, it's locked in a straight vertical arc. Within that vertical arc though, your swing is perfectly accurate.
3) Should I wait to buy Wii MotionPlus until it comes out? It's up to you. It still works well with EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, Virtua Tennis 2009 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. However, this is definitely the first game to properly show it off.
4) Will there be any online-functionality in Wii Sports Resort? No. There's been a lot of rumour about this because the Japanese Nintendo Channel said it used WiiConnect 24. The only way I could see it being used in the version I played was the ability to import Miis from the Mii Contest Channel to either play as or have as background characters. The Wii I played it on didn't have any Miis saved on it though, and so I couldn't record my stats: it may be that if you're not playing with a Guest Mii (as I was) then you can upload your scores to a leaderboard, but that's a complete guess and not fact.
5) many courses/holes are there in Wii Sports Resort golf? 18. The nine from Wii Sports are back as well as nine new Resort-only ones.
6) Are all the games playable without the use of MotionPlus or will it be required for some games like sword fighting? You need MotionPlus for all games otherwise they won't start.
7) Does Wii Sports Resort come packaged with MotionPlus? Yes.
8) Do the MotionPlus control schemes for Wii Sports Resort work well, or are they a bit fiddly? I didn't really find any of them fiddly at all. It's worth bearing in mind that Nintendo know MotionPlus inside-out so each sport was always going to work perfectly with MotionPlus.
9) Does Wii Sports have two player in every event? Yes. There are a few variations that don't (such as Showdown or Island Flyover), but every main category has at least one multiplayer event.
10) I know it's probably down to personal taste, but which Wii Sports Resort sport do you think is the most enjoyable? Personally my favourite was Showdown, under the Swordplay category. It's similar to the one-on-one duel except your character walks through various levels set on the island and encounters large groups of enemies (around seven or eight at a time). You then face them one by one but they're trying to block with their sword. You have to see an opening and swipe to beat them. It's great. I was also pleasantly surprised by Canoeing.
11) Will the multi-player in Wii Sports Resort (particularly the sword fighting) be worth buying extra MotionPlus attachments, considering they cost around £20 each? I'd personally say so, yes. The fun is definitely greater in multiplayer (though single-player is great too).
12) Is skydiving in Wii Sports Resort a one-time only experience for each Mii? Or can you do it multiple times with a single Mii? It's an individual sport in its own right and you can play it as many times as you like, whenever you like.
13) Is Wii MotionPlus 100% accurate or did you find any little problems? It's 100% accurate. After long periods it may go slightly out of sync and lose track of where you're positioned but the game constantly reminds you that you can press Down on the D-Pad any time to re-sync it quickly if you notice the controls getting erratic. In the four hours I spent playing it, it maybe got a bit weird twice in total, and a single button press fixed it right away.
14) Do you think it's worth getting Wii Sports Resort with Wii MotionPlus, or MotionPlus on its own with Red Steel 2 (when it comes out)? Because the thing I'm excited about is Red Steel 2. That depends on how much fun you think you'd have with Wii Sports Resort. Red Steel 2's still a while away so I'd probably recommend Wii Sports Resort anyway if you want to see how fun MotionPlus is. Don't forget Red Steel will be available as a bundle with MotionPlus too.
15) Is Wii Sports Resort set on Wii Fit Island? Yes, but it's now called Wahu Island (possibly because of Mario's classic "wahoo" phrase).
16) Is the sword game on Resort worth its time? Because just looking at the screenshots of it made it seem really fun. Yes, it's a great laugh. It's more enjoyable than Wii Sports Boxing was because every swing is unique this time.
17) Will I be able to race against a friend on the Jet skis? Yes. There's a VS mode.
18) How fun is the airplane game and is it just the same as the Wii Sports airplane demo all those years ago? It's similar in appearance to that demo but it's obviously been fleshed out a lot more since then. That was three years ago now!
19) How is Wii MotionPlus used in Bowling? Since it's already considered one of the better uses of the existing Wii Remote, I'm curious if there are noticeable changes? It's pretty noticeable if you played the original Bowling enough to figure out how it worked. Whereas before a lot of emphasis was placed on when you release the B trigger, this time all curve and the like is controlled by the exact motion you make as you bowl the ball. There's a Spin Control game similar to the one in Wii Sports which works much better this time around. There's also an "Automatic" mode for beginners (in other words, other family members) that doesn't require them to let go of B when they roll the ball, which is a nice touch.
20) Anything cool that we may not have noticed or saw at E308 and E309 (easter eggs, cool settings or options)? I'm not sure exactly what all the other sites have reported on but there are loads of nice little additions that made me smile. I love the fact that the Island Flyover game asks you to find as many landmarks as possible and gives you unlockables if you manage to find certain amounts of them over time. I also like the extra challenge in Frisbee Dog where balloons appear in the sky and you have to curve your throw to hit them for extra points. There are many more but half the fun's finding them out for yourself!
21) Does Wii MotionPlus make you want to pee yourself in excitement? Yes. But luckily I don't drink many fluids so the chances of this happening are slim.
22) Is the airplane just for transportation around the islands? There's only one island. The plane's used in two different games: Island Flyover lets you fly around Pilotwings-style and explore the island, while Dogfighting lets you fly around and try to shoot the balloon on the back of your opponent's plane.
23) Are Basketball and Canoeing as fun as they look? Yes. Moreso Canoeing, though.
24) One of my favourite sports is table tennis: how realistic is it with MotionPlus? Is it just as fast as real table tennis is? It's slightly slower to allow for people to react better to it, but it works surprisingly well. You can put spin on your shots and choose whether to just dink it over the net or blast it over. I think this'll be the Resort equivalent of Wii Sports Tennis.
25) What is the challenge in Skydiving? I don't understand how the gameplay would work. Basically the Remote acts as your skydiver. You can tilt it forward (or backward) to make him fall faster and tilt it sideways to make him lean. As you fall you'll see other skydivers in groups of at least three, sometimes more. To get points you have to make your way over to them (by tilting slightly without dropping too much) and gently make contact with each of them to grab their hands. After you grab the first one a timer starts, and if you can grab everyone to form a circle before it runs out you get extra points. When the timer runs out a photo is taken, and when you land at the bottom you're shown all your photos and given a ranking.
26) At the press conference at E3 when they demonstrated Basketball, almost all of the balls got into the basket. In real life that would be quite amazing so is there any challenge to this or can you master this one real fast? There is a degree of challenge to it. You have to learn to make the throwing motion in the same way you'd throw a real ball, so if you just try to cheat and flick it forward you'll throw a flat shot that doesn't go anywhere near high enough to reach the basket. So you have to move the Remote as if you're throwing in an arc. On my first try I managed to sink a grand total of six balls out of 25, so it's not as easy as it looks at first!
27) How more realistic is Golf in Wii Sports Resort then in Wii Sports? Because in the original one you just had to aim with the diagonal pad and swing with enough power but nothing else. There are two main differences. The power reading is much more accurate now and feels a lot more realistic. You can't just cheat anymore by swinging the Remote in any old direction, you have to point it downward and press B to calibrate the MotionPlus and tell it you're pointing down. As you make your swing you also now have to bear in mind how your wrists are rotating, because this affects the hook or slice on the ball. In general it feels more realistic.
28) Are all games in Wii Sports Resort high quality or are there one or more games that are a bit weaker or even bad compared to the others? Obviously, no mini-game collection is going to provide a perfect set of games and there'll be some that some people like, but others that others like. Personally, I wasn't too keen on the Wakeboarding and Archery games, but I know people who were there who were loving the Archery. It's all down to taste but there's a wide selection this time so you'll definitely find a healthy number of ones you really like.
Wii FIT PLUS
1) Can you tell us everything that's in it? The demo version I played didn't have the "traditional" Wii Fit exercises in it. All it had on offer was nine new Balance Games, of which I played seven (since two required a Nunchuk and there wasn't one nearby). The nine games were: Perfect 10 (where you thrust your hips forward, backward or to the side to select numbers that add up to ten) Island Cycling (where you step left and right on the Balance Board to emulate pedalling a bike while you hold the Remote on its side and tilt it to steer) Rhythm Kung Fu (couldn't play without a Nunchuk) Segway Circuit (where you hold the Remote sideways and turn it to steer again, but this time you lean forward to go forward and back to go back while running over beach balls) Birds-Eye Bullseye (where you'd in a bird suit and have to "flap your wings" to reach targets) Snowball Fight (where you hide behind a wall then lean left and right to find other people and use the Remote's pointer to throw snowballs at them... it's basically Time Crisis) Obstacle Course (where you step on the Balance Board to run through an obstacle course and quickly bend your knees to jump) Tilt City (a puzzle game where you have to tilt platforms to make balls roll into coloured buckets. You tilt the top platform with the Wii Remote on its side and tilt the bottom two with the Balance Board. It's trickier than it looks and surprisingly fun) Rhythm Parade (couldn't play without a Nunchuk)
2) Can you name some of the events in Wii Fit Plus that you enjoyed the most? My favourites of the ones above were Obstacle Course, Tilt City and Island Cycling. Believe it or not, even though I was only stepping left and right, Island Cycling really took it out of me because I had to really step hard when going up grassy hills. I also like the fact that there's no time limit in it and you're free to cycle around the whole island in any direction for as long as you want, unlike the jogging game in Wii Fit where you had a set path with branching sections.
3) Will it be worth buying if I already have Wii Fit? and if so, will Wii Fit be worth keeping? It's too early to tell, because the demo didn't show everything the game has to offer.
4) Will it use data from Wii Fit. Such as the BMI graphs, the amount of time you've spent, the extra reps you've unlocked on certain exercises... etc. There's no info on this yet. I'd hope it'd use the Wii Fit Channel to at least carry over your BMI info and history.
5) Is Wii Fit Plus an add-on to Wii Fit or a separate game in its own right? It's a separate game. You don't need Wii Fit to play it. It can be bought either on its own or bundled with the Balance Board.
6) Do you know if the Balance Board will be enhanced in any way? Nope, it's the same board.
7) Will Wii Fit Plus use the Motion Plus? Despite the title, nope.
8) Is there anything you saw in Wii Fit Plus that would justify a purchase from somebody who already owns Wii Fit? Personally, I really enjoyed some of the mini games. To be honest, these days I mostly do the jogging one in Wii Fit and not much else, but I really enjoyed the cycling one and wouldn't mind playing that regularly. It really depends on how into Wii Fit you are and how much you feel like you want a change in exercises and games.
9) Any SD Music support? Listening to your own music while exercising would have been an awesome feature. Nothing's been confirmed. Don't worry there isn't, just buy one of those MP3 players that people take to the gym instead!
10) Is jogging back? Not that I've seen, but like I say, I don't know anything other than the nine games that were shown.
11) Does it take place at the resort in Wii Sports Resort? Yes. This makes it the third game to feature Wahu Island. The first was Wii Fit (the jogging mini-game), then Wii Sports Resort, now this.
12) Are there any dedicated tournament modes or ways to have another game queued to be immediately playable in Wii Sports Resort or Wii Fit Plus? Not in Wii Sports Resort, but Cammie said during the E3 conference that you can now set your own training programme and go from exercise to exercise without having to go through a menu and selecting a new one each time.
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS Wii
1) Is New Super Mario Bros Wii a completely new game (i.e. not a port of the DS edition)? Yes. The demo version had ten levels (1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-5, 5-1, 6-6, 7-1, 7-5 and two World 1 fortress levels), and every single one was a completely new level.
2) Does NSMB Wii have any online features like multiplayer? No.
3) Is NSMB Wii, in your opinion, better than the DS version? It's far too early to say based on only ten levels, but if the quality continues throughout the game than I'd say so, without a doubt.
4) Did you see any another Mario costumes in the NSMB Wii demo, other than the already show Penguin, Fire and Propeller hat suits? No. The only other power-up was the Starman, which I loved because it gave a cheeky nod back to Super Mario Bros 3: if you jump while invincible Mario does the same somersault he did in SMB 3.
5) Does NSMB Wii have Toad and Luigi as single player characters? I'm not sure yet. Since the demo's menu is literally a list of ten levels, it starts you as Mario straight away if you play single-player.
6) Who is the main villain in NSMB Wii? Bowser Jr again? The story isn't clear yet, though it'd make sense to expect it to be Bowser. However, the mini-villain doesn't seem to be just Bowser Jr this time. The two fortress levels featured in the demo had Morton Koopa and Iggy Koopa as the bosses at the end, which is an awesome touch.
7) Do players 3 and 4 have to play as Toads? It depends on what you mean. If you mean "does there have to be two Toads" then yes, but if you mean "are they always allocated to players 3 and 4" then no. Player 1 is always Mario but when you start the game the other players are asked to press 2 to join in. Whoever presses first is Luigi, then blue Toad then yellow Toad. So in theory Player 4 could be Luigi if they press 2 first.
8) With a large focus on multiplayer, do you think this game offers a fun and challenging experience for single player? Yes. As well as playing in multiplayer, I played through all ten levels on my own and it was just as enjoyable as the DS version was the first time around.
9) Does it have themed world maps like on the DS? I don't know yet since the demo was just a screen with a level select on it, but considering two of the World 1 levels were fortresses, I'd say that means yes.
10) Is the amount of lives you obtain saved for the next time you boot the game up, eg - you have 24 lives, save, turn off Wii, then back on, do you still have 24 lives, or reset back to the default amount? Again, there was no way of telling in this demo version. When you started each level, the lives were reset to five.
11) Is there any music other than the main theme taken from old New Super Mario Bros.? Yup. Each of the levels has a different remixed theme from the DS version. Whether there'll be completely new music isn't certain yet.
12) How are the graphics in NSMB WII? It looks great. Although it seems like a port of the DS version, in reality all the character, enemy and power-up models have been greatly improved and the animations are great. Koopa Troopas have a proper swagger, Dry Bones walks with his arms out like a zombie and Mario has a great little skidding animation when you try to change direction on the snow level.
13) Did you see or use the "Demo Play" feature? If so, what are the team's personal opinions on it? The feature wasn't in this version.
14) Any signs of Birdo boss fights? Not in those ten levels, nope.
15) Holding "1" makes you run, yes? Yup. D-Pad moves, 1 is run and 2 is jump. If you flick the Remote, Mario also does a spin jump: it's the equivalent of pressing A in Super Mario World and it has the same properties: if he lands on enemies they pop into smoke instead of being squashed, if he's Fire Mario when he spin jumps he throws fireballs in both directions etc. It's a great little return for a move long forgotten.
16) Does each character "handle" the same? Yup. Even Luigi jumps the same height. Maybe if he's unlockable in the single-player game (and that's just a guess, not a hint: I have no clue) then perhaps his stats would be changed then, but to keep things even in multiplayer everyone has the same abilities.
17) Would you say NSMB Wii will be worth buying as a single player experience alone considering it was made more for multiplayer? Yes. From what I've played I'm getting it on day one for the single-player alone.
18) I'd really like it if you could tell me how the music sounds in NSMB Wii: is it new, are there any cool remixes, or is it just ported? Thanks! All the themes in it so far (and don't forget, there will probably be new ones too in the final game) are based on music from the DS version. It's all been slightly remixed though to make it sound fresh and up-to-date. It's all great.
19) Is it harder to progress through the game in multi-player than in single player? It depends on who you're playing with! If you're working as a team then it can be easier, but if you're playing with friends who feel like stabbing you in the back then obviously it gets harder. When I played it there was a tricky jumping section at one point, which the person I was playing with couldn't get past. So I picked him up (hold 1 and shake the Remote) and did the jumps while carrying him so he could get across. But then I turned round and threw him back off the edge. :-)
20) Has the difficulty in NSMB Wii increased, decreased, or is it about the same as the original? It's difficult to tell since there were only ten levels and six of them were from the start of the game. Certainly the later levels are much trickier. I'm a bit of a Mario demon: I've been playing Mario games for 23 years and can speed-run Super Mario Bros in about eight minutes, so I'm fairly good at the series, but I still died a few times while playing, which is a good sign. Especially during multiplayer, where all bets are off!
21) How long are the levels in NSMB Wii? It depends entirely on the level. Some are short (like the first fortress stage, which features Dry Bones and was very reminiscent of the ones from Super Mario World with the sliding concrete blocks), while others are long (like World 6-6, which takes place on a raft underground in complete darkness, where you have to tilt the Remote left and right to rotate the light on the boat's mast to see around you).
22) Do the Koopa Kids just behave like Bowser Jr. (running, jumping, hiding in their shell, throwing shells), or do they appear to have different methods of attack depending on the kid in question? There were only two of them in this demo: Morton and Iggy. Both had a similar attack pattern but not identical: they'd fire a beam at you with their magic wands then jump at you. You then have to jump on them which makes them spin around in their shell (like in Super Mario World). You avoid them until they come out then repeat. These were World 1 bosses though so they weren't exactly going to be Wart in Super Mario Bros 2!
23) Do more enemies and items appear in multiplayer? Didn't notice if there were more enemies, but some question blocks spit out four of the same power-up instead of just one. You can either all work as a team and pick up one each, or someone can be cruel and pick them all up for themselves.
24) Was New Super Mario Bros. Wii still a flowing game when multiplayer was going on? It seems like the type of game that would get annoying eventually and hard to do on more complex stages. It was still flowing well, yes, even during the more difficult levels. There were a lot of deaths but each person has their own set of lives and so nobody tries to do anything too silly because they don't want to get knocked out early. At least, that's the plan.
25) Any indications that NSMBW will have extra modes, such as mini-games, like in the DS version? No indication yet.
26) Are there certain things in the game (such as those pesky coins) that can only be reached through multiplayer? I like the idea of multiplayer, but I don't constantly have three Mario-mad friends around me, so that would be a little bit of an annoyance. I would like everything to be obtainable in single player as well... Well I obviously can't speak for the whole game but I managed to pick up all three Star Coins in each demo level in single-player. It was more difficult (I had to get one that was high up by doing the old Super Mario World trick of jumping with Yoshi then doing the spin jump to leap off and get extra height: love how that's back again) but I managed it. It certainly doesn't seem so far like there's any Little Big Planet-style "no friends? Well, tough luck" sections.
27) Considering the inclusion of Yoshi and the Koopa Kids in NSMB Wii, would you say the game feels more akin to Super Mario World, or is gameplay mostly similar to the DS predecessor? It still feels most like the DS game, but there are loads of great new moves and details that feel like the best bits of previous Mario games in a big "greatest hits" bundle. Yoshi can eat berries again, he makes the same sound effect as he used to in Super Mario World and he even has the "HNNNG" floating move from Yoshi's Island if you hold jump. If an enemy shoots fire at him too (like a Fire Brother or a fire-spitting Piranha Plant) he can eat the fireball and spit it back. Then there's the aforementioned somersault from Super Mario Bros 3 when you get a Starman, as well as green and white blocks which work in exactly the same way as the bouncy musical note blocks from Super Mario Bros 3. There's loads of stuff back in this game which hasn't featured for a decade and a half.
28) Can we expect more enemy variety in NSMB Wii than in the DS game, and perhaps the returns of some classic favourites? Of the levels I've played there are some great new enemies. The snow level has an awesome penguin guy who wears sunglasses and slides towards you really fast. If you manage to jump on him his sunglasses fly off and he flaps about in distress. As for classic favourites, there are lots. So far I've seen Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros, Boomerang Bros, Fire Bros, Piranha Plants, Cheep Cheeps, Paragoombas, Microgoombas (the tiny ones from Super Mario Bros 3 that stick to you), Dry Bones, Thwomps and the bats from the Vanilla Dome in Super Mario World.
29) It has been said that there is some "lag" (for lack of a better word) when someone gets a power-up or dies in the game... does this affect the flow and is it something that Nintendo plans to tweak? Basically, any time someone dies or gets a power-up there's a tiny pause for a split-second as they power-up or shrink/die, like in the single-player game. Whether this affects the flow is down to personal taste. I heard people saying they hated it but personally I liked it because it let me know something else was going on elsewhere and gave me a split second to gather my thoughts and plan my next move.
MARIO & LUIGI: BOWSER'S INSIDE STORY
1) What are the changes to the combat system? Mario and Luigi's attacks are controlled with the A and B buttons, while Bowser's are controlled using X and Y. The general combat system is the same as before: normal moves are about timing and special moves require something different like the use of the touch screen. One of Bowser's specials sees loads of Goombas run toward the enemy. If you tap a Goomba as it runs past Bowser breathes fire on it to blast it into the air. Once they've all attacked the ones you blasted into the air land on the enemy to do extra damage.
2) Will I be able to understand the plot to Mario and Luigi 3 if I haven't played any of the previous games? Yes. But you really should play them!
3) Does the game still retain the comedy of older iterations? Absolutely. Fawful's back and he's got some great lines. "I have chortles" being a particular favourite.
4) I noticed the bottom screen (Mario and Luigi one) is plain 2D, similar to Super Paper Mario. So is it like other Mario & Luigi games, or is it just a 2D plane? It depends on which part of the game you're at. Some sections (mostly those inside Bowser's stomach) are in 2D, but any time Mario and Luigi get out of his stomach it's back to the usual isometric "walk in four directions" stuff.
SIN & PUNISHMENT 2
1) What's Sin and Punishment 2 like? The demo only featured one level but it was great. It's action-packed and a proper hardcore shooter.
2) How good does it look in motion? It looks great. As you zoom around the city everything looks fantastic and there are loads of enemies on-screen at once with no slowdown whatsoever.
3) Can you use the Gamecube/Classic controller? The demo only let you play with the Remote and Nunchuk, so I don't know. In this case though I think the game would suffer with an analogue cursor.
4) How well does it play with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk? Extremely well. You move around with the analogue stick and press Z to do a quick dodge. The Remote's pointer lets you shoot: the B trigger fires rapid bullets while the A button activates your chargeable special attack. Isa (the boy) fires a huge explosion which damages everything in a certain radius, while Kachi (the girl) lets you lock onto numerous enemies then release A to fire missiles at them all.
5) How much does Sin & Punishment 2 feel like the original? It's certainly a Sin & Punishment game, there's no doubt about that. The Wii Remote's pointer makes it feel much more "free" though, and not as restrictive as the N64's analogue stick aiming did.
6) Is there any indication that it'll be longer than the original? Can't tell based on the one-level demo.
7) Do the flying sections compare to Lylat Wars in anyway? Yes, I definitely got a Starfox vibe as I was playing through.
8) Is there co-op play? Don't know. There wasn't in the demo.
9) What is the music like for this game? It was hard to tell because the TV's volume was very low and other TVs (such as the New Super Mario Bros Wii ones) were very loud. From what I could tell though it's your typical fast, adrenaline-pumping rock stuff.
10) Any reason why the timer is not in this version? Not sure.
11) What difficulty setting was the demo on? There was no indication of a difficulty setting but it was fairly tricky considering it's (I'd assume) the game's first level.
12) Is there voice acting in Sin & Punishment 2? And if so, how is it? I couldn't hear any voice acting due to the low volume but the subtitles at the start of the level were hilariously badly translated! As was the message at the end of the demo: "Thanks for your playing!"
13) After playing Sin and Punishment 2, do you feel that there's is going to be enough replay ability to separate itself from other well received Wii games such as Madworld that were great while they lasted but didn't last too long? I'd think so. The sheer number of enemies and the multiplier system means some will want to work on beating their high scores.
FLIPNOTE STUDIO
1) Will Flipnote Studio have a YouTube-like site over here like it does in Japan? I'm not sure yet. Nintendo are looking into it. The promo video on display made a big deal of showing off the Japanese one though, and the English language version still has the same "frog" icon that lets you upload videos in the Japanese version, though it doesn't do anything just now. I really hope it happens though.
2) Is Flipnote Studio going to be worth the wait? And I mean really worth the wait, like "Gold Award" wait. If you like drawing and you like the idea of creating your own animations then yes, absolutely.
3) How many pages of animation can you do and what colours can use to make them? When we had the Japanese version in the office I tried to make as many pages as I could but got bored after a few hundred, so I don't know! The colours are fairly limited: black, white, red, blue etc.
PICROSS 3D
1) Is Picross 3D really as confusing as it sounds? Not really. At first it can be a bit daunting since it's Picross but with another layer, but there's a really handy tutorial which makes everything really clear.
2) I thought Picross DS was pretty much awesome. Apart from the obvious, can you tell us how Picross 3D differs from the previous game? In your opinion, is it a better game? I can't decide if I like it better. I've completely finished Picross DS and completely finished the Japanese version of Picross 3D and I thoroughly enjoyed them both. The only thing I didn't like about Picross 3D is the lack of retro Nintendo love like the Mario stages in Picross DS.
3) I like Picross but the last few puzzles are really hard. Has the move to 3D made the game harder, or is it just as challenging? Believe it or not, it's actually slightly less difficult. Once you get about halfway through Picross 3D, the puzzles don't really get much harder. It's still great fun though.
MARIO VS DONKEY KONG: MINIS MARCH AGAIN!
1) What new features are in the game? There are around 100 brand new levels, plus you can now upload and download levels from Nintendo's servers instead of only being able to do it over Friend Codes.
2) How different is Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! to its predecessor, Mario Vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis? At first glance it seems identical but there are two huge differences. Firstly, once you start a Mini moving you have no control over it any more. You can't make it stop or change direction like in MVDK2. Secondly, once the first Mini reaches the exit a timer starts above the door and you have to get the next Mini in within ten seconds or so. This means you have to keep the Minis together instead of "trapping" one in the corner to make things easier as you work on another one.
3) Will it be released in Europe? Yes.
PROFESSOR LAYTON AND PANDORA'S BOX
1) Is Professor Layton 2 as fun as the first game? Yes.
2) How many puzzles are in Professor Layton 2? Over 150.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1) Why do Nintendo hate the UK when it comes to quirky robot racing games? I blame Stunt Race FX.
2) Does Wii MotionPlus only work with games that are motion plus compatible? Yes.
3) Did it all rock? Yes. It rocked my socks and if I was female it'd have probably rocked my frock too.
4) If you had to buy one game out of all the ones you've seen today, what would it be? That's a really difficult question to answer because there was lots of great stuff and it's all being released at different times. As a Mario geek my personal favourite was New Super Mario Bros Wii but I was really impressed by Wii Sports Resort too.
5) Will the MotionPlus use up more battery power? Yes, slightly more.
6) What frame rates are the games running at? Especially for Wii Sports Resort and New Super Mario Bros. Wii I really didn't notice any problems there. I can't remember exactly but Wii Sports Resort was potentially 60fps, and Mario may have been too. But don't quote me on that because I'm not sure at all.
7) Are the Wii games running in 16:9 widescreen? Yes.
8) Did you have a nice time? Yup.
9) What game disappointed you somewhat to what you were expecting? Style Savvy. :-)
10) Any jobs going over at ONM? Afraid not!
So there you have it. 107 questions and 6200 words of the answers you wanted. If you want us to do this again, get commenting and let us know if it was worth us doing it. Because trust me, it's a lot of work!
Thanks for the questions guys and gals, it was much appreciated.
