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Firmware Update June 18th- New Mii Plaza Streetpass games
News reported by 
(Editor)
June 18, 2013, 14:16
 
So here's some news out of left field: A new 3DS firmware update that allows the ability to update Mii Plaza with four (count 'em, four) new games:

- StreetPass Squad
- StreetPass Garden
- StreetPass Battle
- StreetPass Mansion

Unlike previous MiiPlaza content, the new games are paid content available to download from the new Mi Plaza Shop for around $5 or so each, or a bundle deal for all four.

As yet the update only appears to be available in Europe and Japan, will update with further details and exact pricing as info becomes available.


(Link to the news here, and huge thanks to r_hjort for the tip off!)

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Posted: 06/18/13, 14:16  - Edit:  06/18/13, 14:23
 
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Just gonna quote myself from the other thread to provide some detail about the games.

Yours truly said:

The gardening game lets visitors help water your plants, which makes them grow and eventually produce seeds, that you can trade. It also has this garden decoration aspect to it, and you can invest in new areas for your garden. This one looked very pretty and relaxing, but it also seems to be kind of limited to someone like me who might not get a whole lot of StreetPasses, since using play coins would make much of it random generated. Might be wrong about that, though.

The shooter actually lets you play a classic auto-scrolling shooting game, and the people you Street Pass will become power-ups to your ship, providing you with extra defense and new weapons. Not much to say about this, but it looked pretty fun, so I'm gonna try it out.

The war strategy game is all about conquering new regions in an attempt at taking over the world, and when you meet people you get to add new soldiers to your own army, or battle against them in an attempt to gain more soldiers. What I thought was really cool is that the number of new soldiers you get depends on how many people they have in their Street Pass Plaza, so if you meet someone who has met 32 people before, you get 32 new soldiers. The battles are a paper-rock-scissors type mechanic, it seems, but I'm unsure how random it is.

The haunted mansion adventure game sounded like a reskinned StreetPass Quest to me at first, but after having it explained to me by a helpful bunny, it actually sounds much more awesome. You're some kind of detective, trying to solve the mystery of the mansion, and as you StreetPass people, they will give you a piece of the map of the mansion. The map pieces are just a bunch of squares put together, kind of like a tetramino, and you actually get to place them down on the map however you like, getting a new route to take. There is some strategy to doing so, because if you manage to make a square pattern of the same colour, you will create a new room, that can have treasure and other neat stuff in it. There is also some RPG-ish battle system in place with some timing elements, and a variety of upgradable weapons. Sounds pretty cool to me, I have to say.

Just finished downloading the entire pack (if you buy all four at once when you perform your first purchase, you only pay for three of them), and will try them out shortly.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 14:18
What I want to know is if the people you PASS have to own these to reap the benefits. Because while everyone with a 3DS has Mii Plaza and Find Mii/Puzzle, few (by comparison) will have these. However if ANYONE can link up to your new paid-mini-games even if they don't own them, this is a definite +1 from me because I adore Find Mii, and it will let me use my Play Coins on yet another thing.

Anyone know?

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 14:19
@-JKR-
From what I understand you will get extra benefits if the person you pass owns the same game as you, but you will still get perks for just passing someone. Like, in Street Pass Battle you will get new soldiers if you pass anyone with people in their Plaza, regardless of their currently owned games, but if that person also owns Street Pass Battle, you can engage them in battle as well.

The Gardening game seems to have similar functions in that any random passer-by will help your plants grown by watering them, but you can only get new plants and seeds from people who have their own garden. Not 100% sure on that, though.

EDIT: Not sure what this is about, but on my new Plaza menu for the games (looks very cosy, btw), I have eight slots, but only seven of them are filled as of right now. One is for going back to the initial menu, one for Puzzle Swap, one for StreetPass Quest 1 & 2, an empty slot, and then one each for all the new ones. Wonder what that empty slot is.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 14:23  - Edit:  06/18/13, 14:25
@r_hjort

Ah, thanks. Well then that seems like it will be worth it, especially after Nintendo launches their Spotpass/Streetpass crossover thing.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 14:28
Just got the update here! Snazzy!

I like the new Streetpass Map, it lets you see all the regions your Streetpasses have come from. I've got Streetpasses from all Australian regions except the Northern Territory and Tasmania, a region apiece in NZ and Japan, 2 from Canada and 4 from the United States. Pretty cool!

EDIT: Ugh. Every time I go to the game list in the shop, the 3DS freezes and the system restarts. WTF?

Some cool stuff here Nintendo, but a little longer in the oven might have been the better way to go here.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 14:30  - Edit:  06/18/13, 14:33
I just tried StreetPass Squad, and it was fun!

Since I didn't have any StreetPass visitors waiting, I spent two Play Coins to hire myself a mercenary. He acts as my main weapon, and only point of defense, as far as I can tell. When I got hit by an enemy attack at one point, I died instantly since the merc left me, and I was left without any defensive capabilities. If I had hired more people, or encountered more StreetPassers, I would be able to take more hits, and use different attacks. Dying didn't mean I had to re-hire the same merc, though, thankfully. I just got to restart the level all over again, if I wanted to.

The actual game was colourful and merry, with a Pop n Twinbee sounding soundtrack to go with it. The screen went left to right, and I was blasting incoming waves of enemies with my laser beam at the push of the A-button. Pressing L or R lets me aim in any other direction I want, 360 degrees around my ship, which was helpful when enemies started coming from behind and so on.

From what I can see, there are a handful of different planets that need to be rid of space pirates, and the first planet seems to have three different levels. All levels have a difficulty ranking (starting at half a star out of five, if I'm not mistaken), a target high score to beat by collecting gems dropped by defeated enemeies, and five special treasures to collect. I only managed to get three, so I don't know what they actually do. I did, however, get some sort of ticket voucher upon beating the level boss (yay! boss fights!), and I'll go back into the Plaza later to find out what I can get from that ticket.

Oh yeah, and I earned a new title upon beating the level. Not sure what that does, but apparently I can unlock those too, and apply them to my character.

EDIT: The ticket vouchers seem to function in part as achievements in the game, but you can also take them back into the Plaza and trade them for hats! Apparently I can get a new hat for two tickets, and the selection seems to change daily, with four different hats to choose from. Intredasting.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 14:46  - Edit:  06/18/13, 14:52
Meh, I barely get StreetPasses as it is so I'll skip this.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 15:03
@VofEscaflowne

You fail to take the new Spotpass thing into consideration.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 15:10
Tried StreetPass Mansion next, and it is sweet.

The goal is to reach the 30th floor of the mansion, but as you enter it, all rooms are gone, and it's up to you to get them back. When you encounter another lost investigator in the mansion (Street Pass someone), you will get a piece of the map. This piece is made up of a number of tiles that you can connect to your current position and by doing so create new hallways that will take you farther, hopefully reaching the stairs to the next floor.

You move the tiles around with the D-pad and rotate them with the shoulder buttons. Placing tiles of the same colour together in such a way that they create a 2x2 space will spawn a room with a treasure chest or some other cool stuff. The first room I created had a vial of potion that lets me replenish my HP by 20, but more on battle stuff later. Placing tiles of different colours next to each other will result in a doorway created between them, and in every doorway there is a chance of an enemy encounter, adding even more strategy and puzzling to the gameplay.

In battle you can use a variety of different weapons that you find in the mansion, and you start out with a Rusty Blaster. Pressing the A-button will let you shoot at the enemy, but will also drain your three batteries in correlation to how much you shoot. Since guarding (pressing the L-button) from enemy attacks also drains your battery power slightly, it can be a good idea to use some restraint. When the battle was over I was rewarded with gem stones (not sure what they do yet) and my currently equipped weapon gained Experience Points, which will count towards it levelling up at some point.

This is all very cool stuff so far. Kicks Find Mii/StreetPass Quest's ass by the looks of it.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 15:11  - Edit:  06/18/13, 15:12
@Shadowlink

You mean that update that facilitates StreetPasses? I guess that could help out but I have over a million steps on my 3DS and have encountered less than 10 unique StreetPasses. I carry it all over the place.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 15:54  - Edit:  06/18/13, 15:55
Street Pass Garden.

In this game you have just moved to a new town where people love their gardening, in the hopes of becoming a Master Gardener. In order to achieve that goal, you have to fill up a gardening journal by successfully growing all 20 different breeds of plant in it. As you start out, you get to pick one out of three different seeds to plant. I went for a lovely orange type flower, myself. After it was planted and I had picked out a pot for it, I now had to wait for my fellow villagers (StreetPassers) to come by and help me grow my plant. Since I had no visitors waiting for me, I paid Mr. Tanabe's and Mr. Hayashida's Miis 2 coins each to come visit me. Paying for friendship doesn't sit right with me, but that flower needed to grow, damnit!

Both my visitors came strutting in with some unreal looking plants of their own, and poured a few drops of water on my plant, causing it to grow a little bit. Since it was apparently close to blooming, my mentor Mr. Mendel sloshed on the last few drops required, giving me my first journal entry. According to Mendel, I should now be able to harvest seeds from my plant since it has bloomed, but I have yet to figure out how that works.

This game seems to require much less skill and thought compared to Mansion and Squad so far, but there is nevertheless something pleasant about it, and the graphics are insanely cosy. I'd kill to be able to live in a house like the one in the game. Gonna have to spend some more time with this one and see what it's really like.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 15:55  - Edit:  06/18/13, 15:57
It is a shame street pass isnt as viable in north america....

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 15:59
Street Pass Battle.

You are the ruler over a small kingdom, aspiring to take over the world. Well, truth be told, it seems more like your butler Wentworth is the one having those aspiration and is just using you as his puppet to those ends, but hey, that's how the world works for real too, right?

The first thing you have to do is to build your castle. There are three distinct architectorial styles to choose from: The feudal Japanese type Shogun style, the European style Medieval style, and the futuristic Cyber style. All of them looked pretty sweet, but for me the perfect combination of exoticism and appearance was the Shogun Castle.

The battles are carried out with paper-rock-scissors type mechanics, even going as far as to show corresponding symbols on your units to make it easier for you to handle. The three types of units at your disposal are the infantry, the archers, and the cavalry. The infantry takes down the cavalry, the cavalry takes down the archers, and the archers take down the infantry. The actual battle seems to consist of choosing the type and size of unit to go up against an opposing force of unknown size. Unfortunately I wasn't able to try anything beyond the tutorial level since I spent my last Play Coins in the gardening game, and I'd need 5 whole coins to hire new soldiers. Guess I'll come back to this game after I've taken a short walk with my 3DS.


EDIT: Additional info about StreetPass Squad. The favourite colour of the person you StreetPass or hire determines the type of weapon they'll provide you with. You are also able to add up to ten allies to your ship. You are free to put these in any of ten strategially located slots on your ship, to make sure you get the most of their weapons or updates. The titles you earn are what you will be identified as, along with your name, on the StreetPass leader boards for the game. There doesn't seem to be online leaderboard support, but hey, it's something.

EDIT 2: Also a correction. It appears you can buy one new hat per ticket, and not one hat per two tickets as I previously wrote. I think I confused my current number of tickets with a price.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 16:17  - Edit:  06/18/13, 16:39
I want this. Maybe North America will get this stuff in the fall, when the new StreetPass/SpotPass feature gets implemented.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 17:02
@Scrawnton

It will be if 3DS keeps being the top hardware sales monthly and people start carrying theirs around more!!

I must admit, I failed to carry my 3DS much at all in the past, so I am partially to blame. However now thanks to some games like Luigi's Mansion and probably AC soon, I now take it with me 24/7 in sleep mode. So I am contributing again! I can't wait until I get a few Streetpasses. I'm going to specifically look for places where gamers go, ha ha. And next trip to New York I am DEFINITELY making a special stop at the Nintendo World Store.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 17:20  - Edit:  06/18/13, 17:20
Those complaining about lack of StreetPassing, did you miss the E3 announcement that StreetPass is going to use a relay system in the future? I think we're all going to end up with a lot more StreetPasses... depending on how often we pass by these relay stations.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 17:23
@Zero

Depending if the stations WORK. I went on the website and it says there are several Nintendo Zones around me. Well I sure as heck can't seem to pinpoint them, because I walked all over Best Buy and it kept saying "no access point found" or whatever. :/

I'm going to try Starbucks later today. Will be the first time I've ever been in there more or less, since I don't drink coffee.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 17:56
@Zero

I guess it could help but like I said, I carry it all over the place and walk around it a lot yet I barely get any. My last one was a few months ago.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 17:59
@VofEscaflowne
From what I've played so far, you should still be able to enjoy StreetPass Squad, if you have Play Coins to spend. The more encounters you get, or coins you spend, the easier the game gets, but the game is still playable with the minimum of one encounter/2 coins spent. I played the two first levels like that and had a good time. I'm not sure what additional perks --if any-- you get from actual encounters, though. Should the game turn into a true bullet hell in the later levels maybe you'll need to have lots of allies, so I'm fully prepared to eat my words, but so far so good.

Anyone who enjoyed the shmup sections of Kirby's Epic Yarn might want to consider getting this, as I'm pretty sure they're both built on the same engine.

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 18:11  - Edit:  06/18/13, 18:13
@-JKR-

Keep in mind you can sometimes find StreetPasses just about ANYWHERE you go. Not just where "gamers" are likely to be. The other day I got several StreetPasses while grocery shopping at Costco, and it's not unusual for me to get a StreetPass at the movie theater, the gas station, or my local 7-11. Starbucks isn't all *that* popular for StreetPasses, at least in my experience. Maybe it'll be different for you? I dunno, I don't think making a special trip to Starbucks for StreetPasses would be worth it, since you don't drink the Kool-Aid. Er, I mean coffee.

Try those other places, though. Assuming you buy groceries, put gas in your car, or enjoy the occasional Slurpee.

EDIT: I have found that going to the movies when there is a film that "gamers" or "nerds" are likely to go see, results in a decent turnout of StreetPasses. When stuff like 'The Hobbit' comes out, or 'Iron Man 3' or, I assume, the opening of 'Man of Steel' happens - StreetPasses will be plentiful.

Again, that's just my experience. YMMV. Get out there in the world and experiment!

Posted by 
 on: 06/18/13, 18:28  - Edit:  06/18/13, 18:30
 
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