Fashion Dreamer - A release date has finally been announced !

 

Well... boy am I happy for this one. It has been a long and unusually cold 7 months since Nintendo announced that Fashion Dreamer (Style Boutique 5 to those of us who have been waiting for this moment for the better part of a decade) would be coming to the Switch, but we are finally here and a release date has been shared! After almost a year of waiting I'm relieved to have a firm date and Im sure my partner is too - shout out to his tolerance of my monthly meltdown about how there still wasn't a shared release date for Fashion Dreamer. I'm sure the excitement is a sentiment held by many who enjoyed the original Syn Sofia games from the late 2000's and early 2010's but I do also hope the release of a new title will bring in a new generation of designers ready to begin their own fashion journey! I will undoubtedly be pre-ordering the game ready for release day, which will probably look like me staying curled up in bed for as long as I can manage while furiously crafting outfits and uploading them to Youtube. 

Until November 3rd there is yet more waiting but eager fans can take solace in knowing that our long wait is nearly over. 

FASHION DREAMER PRICE: $49.99 (US), $64.99 (CA), 6,578円 (JPN), £39.99 (UK)

Monday in Bermuda: In defence of Tom Nook: The only good landlord.

This is a snip-it from: Monday in Bermuda: In defence of Tom Nook: The only good landlord. Please consider reading the full post and letting me know your thoughts.

 Tom Nook is the business-man turned bellionare landlord who is subject to the brunt of hate from a select group in the Animal Crossing community - but a lot of the hate seems to come from misjudgement of his character rather than genuine negative qualities. These concerns often stem from his character in Gamecube, who was known for non-optional house upgades with ever increasing loans, leaving the player in a seemly bottomless pit of debt, however the case for Tom Nook being more of a victim of angry players than an actually bad man is strong when considering the information Nintendo has slowly shared with us over the past 21 years. Therefore I present today: In defence of Tom Nook: The only good landlord.

It is made abundantly clear that in Animal Crossing houses are just as expensive and as big of a commitment as in the real world, and yet despite this Tom Nook is willing to give the player an entire house - free of charge if the player is never interested in paying off the loan given to them. There is no interest on the payments and profit margins don't appear to concern Nook. While it's true that in older games there was the expectation for chores to be completed for him, planting flowers and delivering carpets for a 20K bell house is still a fantastic opportunity for the player and these tasks can be easily completed in around 20 minutes. 

If the player is not satisfied with their house - since it is a fact that if you do choose to never pay your loans your house will remain a measley 4x4 room - then New Horizons might be the perfect solution because Tom Nook provides the player an entire island, leaving it up to the player to decide how the island will look, feel and operate. The island belongs to Tom Nook (Specifically Nook Inc.) and so, reasonably, if he wanted to take full control and manage the beautiful getaway himself he could; and yet he is happy for you to take control and for him to take a backseat simply excecuting whatever land development wishes you come to him with. It could be argued that maybe he lets you design it because he wouldn't be sure on how to do it himself but even then Nook could still retain a lot more control than he does.

Some may argue that Tom Nook's major drawback is not the loans but instead the view that he is harsh and tough - too harsh and tough. This can be seen in older games where he was abrasive and sometimes outrightly rude, at times questioning the player for slacking or accusing them of making chit-chat when they're supposed to be running his errands. However it is not the case that Nook is just uncessarily rude because his blunt and sometimes seemingly unfair attitude towards the player comes from a place of concern and care. Nook is a life long business man and some of his experiences have left him with a hardened view of the world that the player should be mindful of when considering his personality. It is known when Tom Nook entered the business world he faced hardship - leaving his home town to go to the city with plans of being a successful business man and ultimately being unable to see his dream become reality, in part due to negative experiences with Redd. Tom Nook says himself that he is ok with being viewed as intimidating because it may enourage people to pay back their loans and I therefore believe that criticising him for being 'too tough' is unfair, given that the rough exterior comes not only from a place of care but from real world experience. For Nook, unprofessional behaviour is something that has negatively impacted his life before, so its not unreasonable that he would have a low tolerance for such behaviour - even Nintendo officials said that Tom Nook wanted to teach the player about responsibility as well as the fact that if the player doesn't repay their loans he wont be mad or make an issue of it.

... The rest of this post is linked above (:

08.02.23 Nintendo Direct - Style Savvy fans this is our MOMENT !

 So just as I began complaining that for a long time no new game has come out that has been of interest to me Nintendo has held a surprise direct with 40 minutes of new games and content, some of which I am very very excited for. I do think we were due something new and exciting from Nintendo and am pretty pleased with what was announced, as Im sure my friends who were with me as the Direct happened could tell. (Sorry to Jasmine and Adam for essentially screaming when Fashion Dream was announced hehe). So without further ado here are the games of the 08.03 direct that I will be keeping the closest eye on.

If you have not watched it before reading this I would recommend you do so as I am not about to produce a comprehensive list of the games and will only be talking about select games I'm hyped for.

Fashion Dreamer

*Note: I call the same series of 3DS games both Style Boutique and Style Savvy. I am talking about the same series and simply use two names because here in the UK the series is called Style Boutique but it is better internationally known as Style Savvy.

Now, the keen eyes of Style Savvy fans were FIXED on their screens when a mere few minutes into the direct Nintendo whipped out Fashion Dreamer, a game so akin to Style Savvy in appearcance that myself and other fans of the game thought it could be Style Savvy 5. Fashion Dreamer is produced by the same team who made the original Style Boutique names which explains the resembelance and, for me at least, serves as a reassurance that despite the new name Fashion Dreamer is about to be my new favourite game.

I was so excited to see in the trailer features that I longed for in the original Style Boutique games as a child, like colour customisation of clothes! I know this is a small detail but when you think about the nature of the game its really not a small detail at all. Style Boutique is well known for having a large variety of clothes fitting into so so many styles and aesthetics, and the ability to customise colour just has me over the moon. (I'm not sure if this specific feature was in other Style Savvy games as I played the first game religiously and a bit of the 2nd but never got the others)

Online compatability is something I longed for in the original DS version and never experienced in later titles, so I'm incredibly interested in how that will pan out. A final feature spotted in the trailer that is of interest to me - and likely many other long term fans of the series - it seems to be that theres the option for the player character to be male this time! Style Boutique was always a femme orientated game which gave it a specific fan base, but I hope this extension to others may bring in more players as fashion is not just for femme people.

Overall, I am thrilled for this game to release this year, and pray that it does so earlier in the year rather than later - although I can appreaciate that the lack of a specific release date within the year does not make things look like theyre in my favour. I am a huge fashion and dress up fan, as well as a fan of completionist runs, and Fashion Dreamer looks as though it's a serious contender for my favourite game of 2023 before it's even released.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Ok maybe this makes me a fake fan, but I've never legitimately played a Kirby game. I just like the 'some pink round thing' genre a whole lot, and Kirby is a fun guy who fit in that nicely. I am excited for this newest addition to the Kirby series but likely will not be able to play it anytime close to its release date of later this month due to the fact I happen to be moving to London this month and cannot afford £50 on a pink round guy. Regardless, the gameplay looks as entertaining as ever and I truly am excited for my chance to play my first proper Kirby game.

In the meantime between now and when I can officially buy the whole game, I have downloaded the demo and will be playing that and possibility producing a short review based on it.

Nintendo Switch Online: GameBoy and GameCube games

Ok this announcement drove me literally insane, because of the possibilities it opens up. I am so excited for the addition of GameBoy games to Nintendo Switch Online, specifically Tetris, which was the only game I had for my Gameboy as a child. In the modern day I'd like to see Nintendo do something like they did with the 3DS where you could buy and play Pokemon generations 1 & 2 but I'm not sure how likely they are to do that. 

Something I would really like to see, and something I think the remastering of Metroid Prime may have accidentally planted the seed of in my mind is the return of older generations of Animal Crossing on the Switch. Now, I can hear the laughs from here of 'that will never happen.' and while I'm inclined to agree with that based on experience its fun to consider... wouldn't it just be nice? I would personally pay through the roof to see ACPG ported to the Switch, as I know would hoards of other AC fans. And thats not even mentioning that they have done ports of old Animal Crossing games before, in the form of Wild World on the WiiU! I truly think if they brought any of those games over to an actually successful console (F for WiiU) Nintendo would have a best seller on their hands, and in a less commercial sense it would just be comforting to relive the days of New Leaf in the current world.

I dont know what Nintendo plan to do with old releases of AC, if anything, but there is so much potential for the return of AC games which are quickly becoming 'classics' in the series.

Honourable Mentions

Professor Layton - It had been so long since I saw a new Layton game I was beginning to feel fearful that the series may be heading towards it end, but worry not! A new Layton game is confirmed to becoming, and it looks to be just as capitvating as ever before (:.

Fantasy Life - This is not a series I have ever played personally, but I've heard some good things about it online as a good long-term project game.

All in all, I'm mostly here for Fashion Dreamer but I am by no means disapointed by the news Nintendo gave us this week and I'm really looking forward where Nintendo plans to go next as the Switch enters the end of its traditional life-span - a tradition Nintendo said they wanted to surpass with the Switch.