A little over half a year after the releases of the Nintendo Connect and the Apple Gemini, and we're starting to get a good idea about how the latest round of the handheld wars might play out. Both devices now have a decent lineup of exclusives, while they also share a few multiplatform titles between them. Sales remain strong for both handhelds, but halfway through 2012, a clear frontrunner has emerged.
The Nintendo Connect has thus far sold just over seven million units worldwide. Just over half of those have been sold in North America, with around 2.5 million sales in Japan and just over a million in Europe. So far, the best selling Nintendo Connect game is The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels, which has achieved more than two million units sold so far. Meanwhile, the Apple Gemini has sold around four million units, with around 1.8 million units sold in Japan, 1.5 million sold in North America, and half a million sold in Europe. The Gemini's best selling game thus far has been Virtua Fighter Infinity, which has achieved around 1.5 million total sales. At the moment, the Nintendo Connect has a significant lead in the first few months of sales for both handhelds, but the Apple Connect is still keeping pace with expectations, and in Japan, it's managed to keep pace with the Connect. The Nintendo Connect is thus far the fastest selling Nintendo handheld to date, outpacing sales of the Game Boy Supernova during the same time frame, and it's expected to clear ten million total units sold by the end of the year. Meanwhile, sales of the Gemini are lagging somewhat behind those of the iPod Play, which raced out of the gate in 2004 and 2005 to become the fastest selling handheld at the time.
The reasons for the continued slow sales of the Gemini relative to both its predecessor and its competition are focused around the system's price and the lack of a true must-play game, with Virtua Fighter Infinity thus far the closest thing the Gemini has to a killer app. The Gemini is also larger than most other previous handhelds, limiting the portability of the device. This, combined with how expensive it is, makes it a tough sell for parents of young children, or even older children, who might lose the device or break it. The iPod Play, despite being positioned as a device aimed at an older demographic, was still popular amongst children, even if not to the same degree that the Game Boy Supernova was. Meanwhile, the Connect, while bigger than any of its predecessors save for perhaps the old gray brick Game Boy, is still big enough to carry in the average adult pocket, and kids can usually fit the device into their backpacks easier than Apple's Gemini. The Connect is also more kid-friendly in terms of its game lineup, with family friendly titles such as Parcels: Special Delivery and Spider-Man driving sales to younger players. The Connect has also proven more popular than the Gemini amongst both casual players and hardcore gamers, despite the Gemini's more powerful technology. The Connect's promise to be compatible with Nintendo's upcoming Sapphire successor, and its compatibility with the existing Sapphire, has helped to give the Connect a more "future proof" image. The Gemini will also be able to connect with the iTwin and the upcoming Apple Virtua, but its connectivity features are less known at this time.
Even though the Connect is beating the Gemini right now, it's definitely possible for Apple to turn things around. With upcoming titles such as Party Karts 2, Railstorm, and Star Siren SSS, it's very possible that the Gemini could turn things around, and indeed, with no new Pokemon game yet announced, the Gemini is expected to have more highly anticipated titles than the Connect, at least in the near future. It's still early in the next generation handheld race, and the Gemini is a formidable machine, more than capable of outselling the Connect if Apple plays its cards right. Meanwhile, Nintendo's Connect is expected to have a strong lineup this summer, thanks to titles such as Final Fantasy Brave and Soul Sacrifice, but many players are still waiting with bated breath for the announcement of a brand new Pokemon game, especially after Game Freak's recent announcement that Pokemon Rise and Pokemon Fall wouldn't have a follow-up game like every other generation of games in the series. It's likely that this is due to Naughty Dog's involvement and the extra work being put into the sixth generation Pokemon game, but it will leave at least a three year gap between mainline Pokemon games and spinoffs, the longest to date for the series.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on June 30, 2012
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X-Totality
A multiplatform title released on both the Gemini and the Connect in April 2012, X-Totality is an RPG/rail shooter hybrid with some gameplay similarities to OTL's Final Fantasy Type-0. The game focuses primarily on three protagonists: Xander, Xinnia, and Xero, who have been recruited by a mysterious corporation/scientific consortium known as the X-Evangelists. The player selects one of the three to control, while the other two serve as "wingmen" so to speak as the player makes their way through a series of corridors and defeats enemies. They're able to upgrade and switch between their equipped weapons, each of which has its own unique firing method, and are also able to build the stats of both their characters and their guns as they progress through the game. Switching frequently between the three characters is encouraged, both due to their unique strengths and weaknesses and the fact that when each of the three achieves their maximum special charge level, they can go into a state known as X-Totality, where ammo is free and bullets do a lot more damage for a limited time. Players have their best chance to succeed by frequently swapping characters to take advantage of enemy vulnerabilities while also using X-Totality at the most opportune time. The game's plot plays out over eight chapters, divided into sub-chapters of a few minutes in length (most of which have a boss or tough enemy group to fight at the end). The X-Evangelists defend the world from destructive entities, including giant space centipedes known as the Vesper, and also from a terrorist group called Grunge. The plot is fairly straight forward (the X-Evangelists, while sometimes a bit too serious about their mission, aren't secretly evil, while the Grunge, even though they have a few sympathetic members, are still mostly the bad guys), and builds up to the Grunge's leader merging with the Vesper Queen to achieve godlike power and destroy the world, forcing the X-Evangelists to destroy him. In the end, the world is saved, and the three heroes have a chance to rest until the next cosmic horror threatens their world. X-Totality is a fairly good looking game, though it's a bit underwhelming on the Gemini (it's optimized for the Connect, and doesn't look any better on Apple's more powerful handheld), with strong voice acting from the people playing the three heroes. Overall, it's a fun RPG/shooter that scores very good reviews and sells quite well, both on the Connect and the Gemini (with Gemini sales stronger in Japan and Connect sales stronger in North America).
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Dungeon Master's Codex
A JRPG dungeon crawl game with a mix of humor and adventure, this isn't quite an Etrian Odyssey style of game, it uses a more traditional combat system (and it's a bit easier) and has a lot of fun little anime-based characters and humor. The game takes place in a forested town surrounded by dungeons, and allows players to create their own heroes with an anime-styled character creator that's fairly limited in options. The characters soon happen upon the Dungeon Master, an ancient witch who looks like a little girl, and needs help defeating the monsters that keep crawling out of the dungeons and messing up her spells. She sends the characters into an increasingly hard series of dungeons, which are navigated in first-person style (much like Etrian Odyssey or the Persona Q games), in which they must descend to the deepest level and defeat the boss within, picking up treasure and gaining levels along the way. They must also gather information on monsters, items, and landmarks to complete the Dungeon Master's Codex, an ancient book with all sorts of secrets about dungeons and adventuring. Completing tasks in the Codex grants the player bonus treasures and money, and sometimes even grants them new character classes or the chance to explore secret dungeons. The game's not the prettiest in terms of production values, and voice acting is fairly limited to a few small scenes and mid-battle voice lines, but for lovers of classic dungeon crawlers, it's a really fun game. It's released in North America in May 2012 for the Connect and the Gemini, and while it's not much more than a cult classic in the States, it does do quite well in Japan.
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Undine Across The Water
A digital indie title exclusive to the Connect, Undine Across The Water has some gameplay similarities to the Shantae series, but has a style all its own, as well as some unique elements and a small focus on puzzles. The game's protagonist is a water sprite named Undine who ends up marooned on dry land after being magically exiled from her home within the Lyric Ocean. She must make her way to the Melodic Ocean, but must do so by venturing across an unforgiving land and gaining the help of others along the way. Unlike Shantae, transitions between the regions aren't seamless: the game has a level-based design in which the player must complete objectives while getting Undine to the end of each level. She has numerous special powers, including the ability to wield weapons and blast water at her foes, and can also pick up various items to utilize or to trade to the characters she meets. With the game's heavy story focus, there's lots of different interactions between Undine and other characters, and she can befriend several different people who will become crucial allies, including two potential human love interests and several other characters who can help her access different areas or provide her with certain items. Each level has its own distinct storyline that ties into the game's main storyline, giving the game an almost "mini episodic" feel and further distinguishing it from other games of its type. The game has a cutesy artstyle that's not quite anime, and characters are designed with distinct traits that help them to feel both unique and important to Undine's quest. There's no voice acting in the game, with the budget mostly devoted to graphical style and gameplay polish, but it's easy to "imagine" the characters' voices from their design and personality. The game's plot is fairly straightforward, and ends with Undine finding her new home in the Melodic Ocean. Even though she has to say goodbye to her new friends, it implies that it will be easy for her to visit them again someday, setting up future adventures. The game becomes a major hit for the Connect when it's released in June 2012, topping the digital indie charts for several weeks and cultivating a strong fandom as well.
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Orpheus
Released in May 2012, Orpheus is a JRPG exclusive to the Apple Gemini. While the game features modern graphics (including 3-D exploration outside of battle), its gameplay style hearkens back to the old school Phantasy Star games, with basic attack functions and only small quality of life enhancements. It's a sci-fi RPG with a focus on music, and its plot revolves around restoring music to a galaxy that has lost said music. This is done by plundering temples and defeating ancient monsters to release the ancient music spirit trapped there. Each temple houses a guardian that protects a different style of music, represented by a certain instrument: there's a guitar spirit, a violin spirit, a piano spirit, a drum spirit, etc., with seven total spirits in all. When the music is restored, the people of those planets gain joy and liveliness, but freeing the music also frees ancient evils that cause an increased threat to each world, forcing the game's heroes (of which there are eight, with four able to be in the party at the same time) to act quickly to restore the galaxy's music without causing the ancient evil to overwhelm everything. It's not a strict time limit, but it's represented with an increased sense of urgency in the plot itself. The game has some of the best production values to date on the Gemini, with great 3-D visuals, full voice acting, and gorgeous animation. It's intended to be one of the premier Gemini RPG titles of 2012, but sales are a bit lower than expected, owing to the game's fairly traditional combat and pacing. It's a fantastic example of what the Gemini is capable of, but it's not quite the RPG killer app that Apple and the game's developers were hoping it to be.
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Shuffle Up
A fully 3-D platformer released exclusively for the Apple Gemini in May 2012, Shuffle Up is a game in which its protagonist, a magician named Lou uses cards to attack his foes as he attempts to rescue his lovely assistant from his magic rabbit (which has gained intelligence and has turned evil). Lou visits a variety of worlds based on various magic themes (with some Vegas scenery mixed in) to rescue his beloved, battling rival magicians along the way. The game is most notable for the cards themselves: There are more than 60 total cards in all, with 52 cards based on the classic suits (Ace through King), a Black Joker card, a Red Joker card, and a few other unique cards that can be added to Lou's repertoire, each with their own distinct effects to make for some truly wacky battles and allowing the player to choose how they best wish to play the game. The platforming itself is fairly ordinary, it's not on the same level as the Mario series, though the graphics are quite nice. The game is also a bit short, which is a strike against it considering that it releases at full retail price. Despite this, the unique card battling system makes the game fun enough to achieve good reviews, perhaps slightly better than the game deserves, and it becomes one of the better selling Gemini exclusives of the year.
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Mixolydia Surround
Released in June 2012, Mixolydia Surround is the third game in Apple's unique music based series starring a hero named Mix who engages with music to fight evil and save his girlfriend Lydia. Like its predecessors, Mixolydia Surround has the unique mechanic of using music from the player's world, as well as music stored on their device, to create a unique world and unique challenges for Mix to face. Because the Gemini is first and foremost a gaming device, the music mechanic is downplayed somewhat, and instead, the player is given the ability to utilize hundreds of unique samples and songs created for the game, in tandem with the music surrounding them in the real world and the music they have on their device (the Gemini is not an iPod, but it can play and store music just the same, even if it wasn't made to do so). These music samples and songs are found as Mix interacts with the world, and the player is then able to mix them together with their own collection of songs (in a mechanic that has some similarities to the OTL game Dropmix, though without the ability to mix real world songs together). As the player mixes songs together, the world changes around them, while Lydia's parallel predicament changes as well. In this game, Lydia has her own adventure running side by side with Mix's. Though the player never directly controls her, they have the ability to see what Lydia's doing at almost any time, and Lydia is able to collect songs and samples as Mix's quest progresses. The game's plot has Mix and Lydia needing to reunite in order to use their unique powers in tandem to defeat an ancient evil, an evil capable of destroying music and corrupting it with its own alien noises (which can also be part of the samples collected by the player). As the music corrupts more and more of the world, Lydia finds herself increasingly corrupted as well, drawing a strange parallel with this evil creature and forcing both her and Mix to discover new powers within themselves to save the universe. Mixolydia Surround, like the previous two games, draws heavily on its music-based mechanics to provide a unique experience for players, and the in-game soundtrack helps to fill in the gaps that would have been created by the Gemini's lack of focus on real world music. Overall, it's a very good game, and proves to be another strong financial success, remaining one of the tallest pillars in Apple's lineup of handheld franchises.