X-Scape Message Board

#review Can you love shapes and straight lines? Crimson spider robots casting maroon shadows? Pink stripes painted beside tan in tunnels of sky-blue enemies? Fly to an era when game graphics were ugly and the best of that ugliness was beautiful. More »

A portion of a Nintendo Life review… Loaded with content, ambitious and borderline experimental in aesthetic, it’s got enough meat on its bones to rival a lot of retail releases and certainly stands tall on DSiWare. For a heaping helping of space blasting and a glimpse into what a portable Star Fox of 2010 might look [...]

#downloadables Who needs a high-definition cowboy title when you can play SNES classic Wild Guns on the Virtual Console? It joins this week's Nintendo Download line-up along with Ben 10, Beaver Defense, and the sequel to 18-year-old Game Boy title X. More »

Even though it's a holiday here in the US, Nintendo has released a plethora of new downloadable titles for the Wii and DSi. It's a great thing, not simply because OMG moar gamez, but because it gives us a distraction from the day's festivities. There's only so much of Aunt Linda's trip to the Grand Canyon we can listen to, you know?

Click to N-Ter the galleryDylan Cuthbert's Q-Games has returned to the world of X, a Game Boy game designed by Nintendo and Cuthbert's Argonaut Software. Q-Games and Nintendo have created X-Scape, a DSiWare sequel to the 3D space tank game (coincidentally, "3D Space Tank" is the Australian title for X-Scape).

Shortly before the announcement of the DSiWare title's May 31 release date, we spoke to Cuthbert, along with Assistant Director Kazushi Maeta and Kazuyuki Gofuku, in charge of Development Coordination for the title at Nintendo, about resurrecting the old franchise, the freedom of downloadable software, and, yes, the secret "Totaka's Song" first heard in X.

The main highlight of the latest transmission from Fort Nintendo is that Bit.Trip Runner, the quirky rhythm-platformer from Aksys Games, is scheduled for release on WiiWare on May 17. Seriously, guys -- get on the hype train before it pulls out of the station.

As for DSiWare, there's a whole bunch of games being released over the next few months, including Photo Dojo, X-Scape and Metal Torrent. Head past the break for the full list of whats and whens.

In celebration of the 1-year anniversary of DSiWare's North American launch, Nintendo has pieced together this video, featuring highlights of the still fairly sparse lineup for the service. The majority of the video, however, is devoted to games that haven't been released yet, including X-Scape, Photo Dojo and Metal Torrent.

Many of these games were shown at the recent Nintendo Media Summit, which we assumed would be the first and last time we'd see them before release. We're quite taken aback by today's surprising promotion of upcoming DSiWare games!

Two DSiWare shooters were on show at Nintendo's Q1 Media Summit -- X-Scape (left) and Metal Torrent (right). Both hail from different dimensions (of gameplay and graphics). I played them both, and you'll find my impressions beyond the break.

There’s no doubt that X-Scape is related to X, a Game Boy title that never made it outside of Japan. X-Scape clearly references the earlier game, and it follows the same sort of gameplay patterns that made the first so entertaining. I’m just really happy to see Nintendo working on a sequel to [...]

Hop in your space tank and take it cruising around the galaxy.