Reacquainted with Mario

Late last month, Nintendo rolled out a major update for their Wii U console (though acquiring it is still kind of a pain) that added some new functions to the operating system. Not long after did they finally launch their Virtual Console service. Like the Wii, it will allow people to purchase past-generation titles for play on the Wii U, though now these games have Miiverse community support, and can be played on the system’s game pad as well as on a television. Some have been less than pleased about the launch, at least in North America, arguing its rather barren availability even for an initial line-up. The frustrations seem to carry over from the slow updates to the 3DS Virtual Console, and could be doubly frustrating for people since these releases must now take the game pad and Miiverse service into consideration all while running properly.

Nintendo is acknowledging the thirtieth anniversary of their Famicom console, which pretty much helped put them on the map post-industry crash, and ruled 1980 and 1990s pop culture with an iron fist. They’re currently running a Virtual Console promotion that includes one title a month for the cost of thirty cents. Next week, the lauded Super Metroid will join these ranks.

In addition, Virtual Console games purchased on the Wii can be “updated” to the Wii U for $1.00 (NES), or $1.50 (Super NES).

I’d bought all of the games that were available for the thirty cents: Balloon Fight, (Mike Tyson-less) Punch-Out!!, F-Zero (I only ever played Gamecube’s F-Zero GX, but Nintendo, please make another one!), and Kirby’s Adventure. The only one I paid full price for was Super Mario World, a game I hadn’t played in well over twenty years, for a rather hefty $8.00. That’s pretty crazy to me, considering months back I bought several more recent THQ games in a single bundle for the price of $6.00.

It took me maybe two or three nights to get through it, but I still find it one of the best Super Mario games, and one of the best games in history. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me is that it also gave me a strange, new appreciation for New Super Mario Bros U.

Super Mario World released in 1990, and is as fun now as it was then. It takes us away from the Mushroom Kingdom and places us on the sprawling Dinosaur Island. We meet a new acquaintance, and a future Nintendo mascot in Yoshi: green dinosaur by day, destructive eating machine also by day, and night. He and Mario work together to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser (again), as well as several of Yoshi’s multi-colored friends (all of whom possess specific abilities). In the first or second stage, we find new abilities: the cape, allowing Mario to glide around an entire stage all the way to the exit if the area allows for it, the P balloon that allows him to expand and slowly float to higher ground. I don’t know if any of that is as exciting as it was to discover the coveted leaf from Super Mario Bros 3, but the cape serves a crucial purpose that leads to what makes Super Mario World so special for me: its secret exits, an evolution of warp pipes and whistles.

SPECIAL

Some of the locations in Super Mario World are marked with a shining yellow dot, and others are marked in red. A level marked in yellow is an indication of the area having one exit and one traditional left-to-right path. Red-dotted stages mean exploration. You go up, you go down, needing certain abilities to progress, but all that effort gets you a secret exit — a new level, a shortcut. It’s a strange, almost psychological trigger of accomplishment when you find that key and the keyhole it corresponds to. Once the key is picked up, we see the hole grow larger and then swallow Mario, and a new hidden cove is exposed to satisfy curiosity. These secrets all eventually lead us to the Star World, with its own hidden paths requiring the aforementioned multi-colored Yoshi clan that lead to the Special World. I didn’t spend too much time in the Special World, with its surfer language for stage names like “Gnarly” and “Tubular.” I decided my time with Super Mario World was done for now, and time to jump into something else.

Moving through every world in the game though put me on something of a Mario kick, so I went back to New Super Mario Bros U, one of the Wii U’s launch games (New Super Mario Bros 2 released last year for 3DS as well), and picked up from my previous save file. Three days later, I found myself collecting every last star coin the story mode had for me to seek.

I’m always willing to try out a new entry in the “New” Super Mario Bros games. I kind of go through them on a superficial level, getting through its eight worlds and calling it a day. Most of its popularity seems to stem from the series’ multiplayer modes. It seems like casual fun, though I have never honestly had that experience. The series (from the introductory 2006 Nintendo DS game) has always thrown in the star coins as an additional challenge — three coins in places that range from easily visible to requiring timing, skill, and the right power-up to reach them.

Great place for that coin!

I already liked the Challenge mode in NSMBU, which features a bunch of small objectives but requires a bit of skill for a bronze, silver, or gold medal. I initially went through the story mode with the amount of effort I usually put into the series (half-assed). Man, I really hate the 8-1 level in these games, though. In both this and the 2009 Wii game, you start traversing the hellhole-ish lava world somewhat peacefully until all of a sudden it’s raining meteors and you have to watch your steps very carefully. Imagine trying to score the star coins in that mess, although it wasn’t nearly as frustrating as getting to the secret exit! I hadn’t realized, though, that NSMBU had its share of secrets until I started looking at the chart for which star coins I had collected and which ones I hadn’t. I noticed icons representing levels that hadn’t appeared on the world map, which is arguably as diverse as the Super Mario World map, even if some areas are retreads of previous NSMB worlds.

Nabbing every star coin in a specific territory unlocks a level in the Superstar Road, which is perhaps the big highlight of New Super Mario Bros U. I don’t know if the previous games had its own version of it, but this world is like The Lost Levels for a new generation (though not nearly as cruel). There are no mid-stage checkpoints, and getting the star coins in Superstar Road will unlock a hidden stage there. My biggest nightmare was a stage called “Run for It,” which leaves very little room for error, and felt like Call of Duty 4‘s “Mile High Club” level on Veteran all over again in how this experience played out. Even after knowing the first half very well, it’s after the second star coin that the stage went to hell for me because of how fast the platforms moved.

Exploring these hidden secrets of these two Super Mario games have strangely rekindled my appreciation for the franchise, even if I consider this series an appetizer for the next big entry (Super Mario 3D Land is a fantastic game, too). I never necessarily grow tired of the Mario franchise, but it certainly seems like Nintendo keeps output of the series flowing enough that we become less excited and more somewhat intrigued. This probably doesn’t stop some of us from wondering where Nintendo will take this character as E3 makes its way around the corner.

Man, I honestly never thought I’d have this much to say about Mario.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors — “I want to play a game…”

HAPPY 2013!

For Christmas I received two gifts: an Amazon gift card and a copy of Virtue’s Last Reward, a puzzle game for 3DS that had plenty of positive impressions behind it. At first I thought I could enjoy the game on its own merits, but the back of the game case reveals that the game is a sequel to a popular DS puzzle game — Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (informally, 999). Well, I thought, I suppose I should play the first game, and Amazon was kind enough to sell me a copy for close to $20.

The prologue shows a young man waking up in a cabin aboard what appears to be an old steamship. Along with introducing the circumstances of his presence there, the prologue also serves as a tutorial for solving the game’s puzzles. The first two things I noticed: 1) the art looked very similar to the character art for a 3DS game I had been playing called Code of Princess. I love the detail of this particular anime-inspired design, and a Google search revealed the same artist, Kinu Nishimura, worked on both games. Splendid! 2) the layout of 999 reminds me of an old NES/Macintosh game called Déjà Vu, a game I loved when I was younger. You have to look for clues among still images of an environment and use whatever is available to move on to new areas and progress the plot. Many of the puzzles in both games are based on logic. 999 also makes use of a number of numerological and mathematical puzzles that may get you to bust out that calculator.

The story seems like something out of the Saw films. Junpei, the player character, meets eight other people (including a childhood friend) brought to the ship against their will. They’re all trying to figure out why they’re on the ship, and learn the rules of the “nonary game” from the masked, mysterious Zero. One of the nine hostages attempts to go off on his own in search of an exit and dies horribly doing so, communicating to the “players” that this is a deadly game in which they have nine hours to win. The rules explain that certain people with certain numbered bracelets on their wrists are allowed to open certain numbered doors that match up with its digital root (adding numbers until getting to a single digit — e.g. 5 + 6 + 7 = 18, 1 + 8 = 9, the digital root), which helps to create plenty of conflict. This contributes to the game’s choose your own adventure path, of which there are six endings to see, including one true ending. Interestingly, the other endings aren’t simply foiler or red herrings. Each ending provides distinct information about the overall story that makes sense of the true ending. There is a reason these people were brought together. All of them are connected in the big picture. It’s just incredible finding out how.

“Jigsaw who?”

The plot is incredibly well-scripted and thoughtful, which is important since 999 is a visual novel. There is an abundance of hidden information and established connections in numerology I just hadn’t thought of until later. I loved the diverse cast and most of them are written in a way where they are sympathetic but flawed. Everyone presents differing arguments for the next move to take, and you’re always left wondering whose side you would be on and where to go to reach the exit and live. I couldn’t believe just how expansive its plot arcs are. The true ending gets ridiculous in a fun way, although I was honestly still scratching my head when all was revealed.

The puzzles aren’t too difficult for the most part. A few do require patience, and there are a few I honestly solved by luck. If you investigate something enough, the game will be happy to provide a hint or a thought that helps get your mental gears turning (I needed that for one puzzle involving dinner plates). I very much enjoyed my time with 999, though. Its assorted characters are relatable and the plot is well-written and well-paced. I love its artwork. The puzzles are well-done for the most part. A great package. Can’t give it a larger endorsement than that!

Game of the Year 2012 — 90s_underconstruction.gif

For a second year in a row, I participated in voting for the best games of the year on NeoGAF. It is a work in progress, as the deadline is in mid-January and I have a number of games to get through (and some to even open, like Nintendo Land). I’m pretty confident about these right now.

You can read my comments for these games here, but here is the quick list, ranked:

1) The Walking Dead (Telltale Games, PC)
2) Sleeping Dogs (United Front Games, PC)
3) Kid Icarus Uprising (Sora Ltd., 3DS)
4) Journey (Thatgamecompany, PS3)
5) Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (Indies Zero, 3DS)
6) Sound Shapes (Queasy Games, PS Vita)
7) New Super Mario Bros U (Nintendo EAD, Wii U)

Honorable mentions:
a) Binary Domain (Yakuza Studio, PC)
b) Tokyo Jungle (SCEJ Studio, PS3)

2011 “Late to the party” award: Yakuza 4 (Yakuza Studio, PS3)

There are a handful of titles I’m trying to give attention to, and Persona 4 Golden has gotten most of it. It’s definitely more upbeat compared to what feels like the more serious, somewhat darker tone of Persona 3 Portable. The color scheme is incredibly vivid and accompanied by great art design, especially on the Vita’s OLED screen. I’m enjoying the writing so far and even the English voice-acting. It’s the social link system, bonding with characters so you can create more powerful Personas in battle, that keeps me hooked. I love experimenting with the fusion system that allows the creation of powerful Personas. I’m 60 hours into it, but nowhere near finished.

A surprising contender for the best of 2012 is Crimson Shroud, from studio Level 5 for 3DS. Superb writing: a fantasy novel cross-bred with a tabletop RPG. Its characters are affixed to bases like game pieces, no less. The battle system requires careful planning based on various circumstances. I enjoy its characters so far and its narrative. I’m only on Chapter 2, but so far a positive experience.

Kid Icarus: Uprising — “Sorry I kept you waiting!”

Unlike a number of Nintendo’s franchises, I truthfully have no history with Kid Icarus. I never played it on the NES. Years ago, I downloaded it from the Wii Virtual Console service and gave it about a half-hour of my time and shut it off after one Game Over. I wasn’t even aware until recently that there is a sequel on the Game Boy. Unless I’m mistaken, the games’ playable hero Pit last appeared in 2008′s Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Wii sequel of Nintendo’s mascot fighting game series. It’s always interesting how Nintendo utilizes its franchises and also how often. Super Metroid, for example, launched in 1994 on the Super NES, and although there were plans to bring Metroid to the Nintendo 64, we didn’t see another game until Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion appeared for the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance systems in 2002. When Nintendo revealed the 3DS two years ago, it had shown a number of planned games. Among announced works like Luigi’s Mansion 2, Pilotwings Resort, and Animal Crossing, it seemed rather amazing that Nintendo hadn’t forgotten its cult favorite Kid Icarus.

It was through positive word-of-mouth, a Best Buy discount, and generally being on the hunt for something to try on my 3DS that led me to a purchase. Something unexpected happened: Kid Icarus: Uprising has become my favorite 3DS game to date. It is an action game that combines aerial combat with ground third-person shooting and melee combat. When Pit takes to the air, it is an angel-versus-demons version of Nintendo’s Star Fox or SEGA’s After Burner games. The (adjustable) 3D helps distinguish Pit and his enemies and they pop out quite nicely against the game’s various landscapes. Even some of the more labyrinthine areas pop out effectively. The player uses the stylus to move the targeting reticle while the L button fires Pit’s weapon. The circle pad moves Pit himself. If the player waits until the targeting reticle completes itself, he can fire a stronger charged attack that makes it easier to take down stronger enemies. Holding down the button allows him to use rapid fire and clear as many enemies that fill the screen (which can be a lot at times). Also at his disposal are two orbs that, when tapped on the touch screen, will launch a barrage of light arrows and clear the screen of enemies.

Pit, do a barrel roll!

The first chapter teaches the mechanics of the game through banter between Pit and his superior Lady Palutena. It also sets up the story of a resurrected Medusa (the villain from the NES game) launching a war against humankind and upsetting the balance of light and dark. I enjoyed the tutorial for simply instructing me on how the game works and giving me full control the entire way through as opposed to automatic demonstration and limited movement. I also enjoy its customization of various features. The player can set a difficulty level ranging from easy, normal, tough, all the way to brutal on a 1 to 10 scale (I was a wimp and didn’t go past 5). Hearts collected throughout the adventure are wagered (the higher the difficulty, the more hearts are bet) and will either be earned in victory, or lost in defeat. They can also be redeemed in the main menu for weapons. Weapons are also found in hidden areas and earned by meeting certain game conditions and can be fused to create newer, more powerful items. Pit also has special powers that are set up on a grid in a way similar to the Perks from the Call of Duty games. Almost anything you do in the game unlocks pieces of several picture puzzles, though I’ve yet to complete the three that I have. The pieces themselves offer differing rewards like new modes or powers.

Twinbellows, unfortunately not found in Nintendogs + Cats.

The ground combat is the larger portion of most chapters. While Pit can fire weapons on-foot, I much enjoyed the satisfying “POW!” sound of a charged melee attack. The variety of weapons gives ranged and melee combat advantages and disadvantages. Clubs, for example, do much more melee damage than, let’s say, cannons. Bows make for great ranged weapons while blades provide a balance between both combat types. There is always, always a new weapon to try. Some chapters provide vehicles for Pit to control, which I don’t think control all that well, although I’m kind of fond of the robot suit. Its levels overall are linear enough so that the player doesn’t get lost, but open enough to find hidden areas and secrets. One feature I like are the Zodiac doors, which can only be access when a chapter is played at a particular (usually hard) level. Even at a normal difficulty, the game requires some skill to take down enemies akin to The Legend of Zelda: finding their weakness, dodging when required, and striking at the right moment. This is a rather large campaign overall.

While its story is a rather standard good versus evil tale, its biggest strength is in its dialogue: full of humor, wit, cleverness and is very self-referential. The translators seemed to have been given free reign with the Japanese script. Even as someone who did not fully experience the previous games, I enjoyed the 8-bit audio track homages for certain enemies and references to the older days of videogames. Admittedly, I missed some of the dialogue because battles can get heavy-handed at times and I can’t always focus on the banter as much as I want to. The characters themselves are all interesting and Nintendo even recruited a few veteran voice actors for the English dub, which means the performances are a step above the usual quality of a localized game.

There is also a multiplayer mode for both local and online play. There are two standard battle modes: the free-for-all where one person tries to score the most points with defeats and the Light vs. Dark mode where one group tries to eliminate the rival group’s angel similar to Team Leader matches in other games. The multiplayer mode provides some hectic fun and there are weapons and other bonuses earned for being the top player that keeps the player coming back. The game also takes advantage of the 3DS StreetPass functionality that allows weapon gems to be traded for the creation of new weapons.

I think this is a fantastic game, overall, in terms of scope and gameplay, and I got the sense that Project Sora put a lot of love into this adventure. It’s absolute fun even when it gets a bit on the tough side.

It’s ‘Resident Evil’ Day! (Update: Now with trailer!)

Well, sort of.

Starting today, if you head over to the eShop on your Nintendo 3DS, you’re bound to find the demo for Capcom’s upcoming Resident Evil: Revelations, due for North American release on February 7th. Fan favorite Jill Valentine will be the main (playable) character, and it is set in 2005, taking place between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. The game will also release bundled with the controversial Circle Pad Pro accessory, which is exclusive at GameStop. In a rather strange decision, 3DS users are limited to 30 uses of the demo. The demo itself uses 1,146 blocks of memory.

Perhaps the bigger news today is this image that sprang up like a wild Pokémon:

Resident Evil 6 will see a release date of November 20 of this year, available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Perhaps we’ll see Resident Evil 6: Wii U Edition some time in the future. The game will feature Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy, debuting in the first two games respectively, together for the first time in a series entry. Ada Wong supposedly plays a role also and will be a playable character.

Credit to IGN for the image. They have more details here:

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3 

Update! The first trailer for Resident Evil 6 has been released via Capcom Unity!

Nintendo 3DS ‘Ambassador’ program reminds us of primitive goodness and frustration with free NES games.

Surprisingly, Nintendo seemed to have uploaded their free Nintendo Entertainment System games for their 3DS ‘Ambassadors’ a day earlier than they had announced. Typically I’m sitting around in the afternoon to evening waiting for something new to show up on the Virtual Console. I think Nintendo is still trying to figure out this newfangled “internet” business the kids are raving about today.

The NES games are Nintendo’s thanks to folks who purchased their Nintendo 3DS device at the original $249 price tag before it was officially lowered to $169 last month due more than likely to unmet sales expectations. 10 Game Boy Advance games were also included in this reward package. Five have been confirmed.

The following GBA games have been confirmed as of this entry:

• Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)
• Metroid: Fusion (2002)
• Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island (1995, 2002)*
• Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ (2003)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2004)

*Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island is a Game Boy Advance port of the 1995 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island originally on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990, 2003) has been rumored to be part of the package.

Leave it to Nintendo to refrain from keeping it simple, however. Their interface for browsing has typically been notoriously convoluted. Unless there was another way some of us completely missed, this is how you access your free NES games:

1. Access the Nintendo eShop from the 3DS menu.
2. Tap ‘Menu’
3. Find and tap ‘Settings / Other’
4. Find and tap ‘Your Downloads’
5. Find one of the NES games such as Super Mario Bros. and tap ‘Redownload’
6. Once the download finishes, repeat Step 2…

I’m not even kidding. When it asks if you’d like to continue, you are taken back to the first eShop menu, and it becomes a lather and repeat process for all six steps. I use a very good internet connection at home, but folks who aren’t so lucky may be sitting tight for a bit.

Nintendo released the following games, and I will be talking about some of them today:

• Donkey Kong, Jr. (1982)
• Balloon Fight (1984)
• Ice Climbers (1985)
• Wrecking Crew (1985)
• Super Mario Bros. (1985)
• Metroid (1986)
• The Legend of Zelda (1986)
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987)
• NES Open Tournament Golf (1991)
• Yoshi (1992)

Possibly the most successful spin-off of all time. /kanyewest

Super Mario Bros.

A long lost gem by Nintendo, never to be ever revisited–who am I kidding? You know what this is. Your grandmother knows who he is. Moses knew what Super Mario Bros. was and he split the Red Sea in two to find a copy. This was just the beginning of an empire, domination of a world whose subjects would lovingly get down on their knees and bow to a little man in red overalls. To be honest, I’m not one hundred percent on whether Super Mario Bros. was actually a launch game for the NES. Eventually Nintendo sold NES consoles that included the more common Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt two-in-one cartridge in addition to the gray Zapper gun accessory (I think). It is famously Mario’s first real grand adventure having legally changed his name from “Jumpman” and moving to bigger and better things from climbing ladders and avoiding barrels in Donkey Kong (1981). Super Mario Bros. is just about my age, and it’s still one of the most accessible games ever developed. The challenge is perfect. It’s still a fun way to kill a little time if you decide not to use any warp zone pipes. The concept and world design was crazy enough to keep running with it for decades. Its retro graphics have not aged well, but arguably everything else has. In a time now where people are playing quick games on their mobile phones and people embracing indie-developed homages like Super Meat Boy, the old has inverted into new. Playing this straight (that is to say, without any warping), I was able to get to 7-3 before I finally saw a Game Over screen. Remind me to try that Koopa turtle 1-Up trick next time.

Joust, Nintendo style.

Balloon Fight

Balloon Fight is the surprise hit of this collection for me and possibly my favorite in this collection. This is most likely because of my strange obsession with the 1982 Williams Electronics arcade game Joust. In Joust, you repeatedly tap a button to make your character’s giant ostrich fly around while trying to take out enemy characters on their ostriches before they have a chance to do the same to you. You are, well, jousting. I am not a great Joust player, but I love the idea and the design and the execution. Balloon Fight takes this idea and spins it into a friendlier “I’m a guy floating on a balloon and I need to take these birds out before they take me out over water instead of lava.” I think it’s even better embracing the game as an adult because of the hilarious concept and the hilarious idea of birds needing to float on balloons rather than just flying around. The fact that a man is taking birds out of the sky when they may have more of a right to be there than he does is something to ponder. Maybe they believe in fair competition, which explains why it’s one man versus about five or six birds per stage. Not to recycle the point, but much like Super Mario Bros. I found it to be a very fun pick-up-and-play kind of game and it’s the kind of thing you will find today in some mobile app stores. There is a two-player mode, but I’m not actually sure that’s supported on the 3DS. The third mode is “Balloon Trip,” which has the player trying to keep the balloon guy afloat dodging lightning bolts and popping other balloons. Thumbs up, I say.

The world's hungriest dragon.

Yoshi

To be perfectly honest, there isn’t much I feel I can say on Yoshi. It seemed like Nintendo wanted to get its fill of puzzle games in like Dr. Mario and Yoshi’s Cookie after the success of Tetris on Game Boy. In this game, you mix and match Mario’s recognizable rogue’s gallery and essentially score points connecting the same enemies together. Score good combos and keep the queues from spilling over and resulting in a Game Over. Occasionally, top and bottom halves of Yoshi’s eggs will drop, and if you manage to sandwich in many enemies in between the halves, you can score a lot of bonus points and hatch a Yoshi. This is an okay little time-waster, but there is something more appealing about Dr. Mario and Tetris. Yoshi feels rather limited.

Cruelty in a box.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

I should probably alert you to the fact that I didn’t exactly play this on the 3DS, but I recently did play it on the Wii Virtual Console from beginning to end. Zelda II has a bit of gained infamy over the years because it’s a bit of a departure from the design of The Legend of Zelda, which preceded it. The side-scrolling combat of Zelda II would never really see its way into any future two-dimensional entry of the series, nor would the idea of gaining experience points to strengthen health or magic or attacks. We would see the idea of visiting towns and talking to non-player characters who dispense more useless advice than useful in future games. Zelda II might be remembered for two things, if anything: “I am Error,” and its difficulty.

Like the first game, the player travels to several palaces to defeat the boss and find an important item for later use. Honestly, it feels like you as the player don’t have much to go on when not only unlocking new spells, but discovering locations and especially the locations of the palaces of Hyrule. In 2011, this would be a complaint, but I remember that in the ancient calendar year of 1988, a lot of secrets that weren’t hinted at were most likely only available through an issue of Nintendo Power. It’s probably how Nintendo got you to get a subscription! A lot of the game’s difficulty comes in the palaces, where you meet an entirely different set of enemies compared to the ones you run into in the game’s overworld map. In addition, many enemies are just as skilled with a blade as Link is, and you have to maneuver and time your hits to even get a hit in of maybe five just to get to a new area. The palaces become mazes and some areas are accessed in ways that are so not made clear. Unfortunately, if you lose all of your lives (yet another feature that would never be revisited in this series), you start all over from Zelda’s palace where she rests (until you wake her by acquiring the Triforce of Courage) and you have to make your way all the way back. This got especially infuriating at Death Mountain on your way to the final palace. Death Mountain is the stuff of nightmares, with its cruel enemies and their cruel patterns. It is also the game’s real test of courage not only for Link, but for us, who were willing to toil away all those hours gaining strength, to summon the courage needed to face that final palace, where heroes are forged. *ahem* Sorry, got carried away there. The point is, that place is a bitch!

Haunting your childhood dreams.

Zelda II is arguably the least appreciated game in the Legend of Zelda series, but it does have its charm and its difficulty is the stuff of legends. I always applauded Nintendo’s efforts to experiment with different ideas (and that does not include slapping Mario sprites on Doki Doki Panic! and calling it Super Mario Bros. 2) when they did. I was personally relieved when I finished the game finally, compared to my sadness when I finished Ocarina of Time 3D.

It may be a little off for me to jump right into talking about Zelda II without even discussing The Legend of Zelda, but I intend to get to it soon now that I have access to it again. I used to have the Gamecube Collector’s Disc edition from 2003, which had the NES games, Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask but I sold it off.

The next entry will, of course, cover more NES games in this package as I get to them.

E3 2011: 3DS update, Super Mario, Luigi’s Mansion 2!

Let’s get this out of the way.

OH MY GOD THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL TO LUIGI’S MANSION FOR THE NINTENDO 3DS AND I WILL TOTALLY BE THERE DAY ONE!

Sorry about that. It was amazing how divided the original Luigi’s Mansion, launched with the Nintendo Gamecube in 2001, is among people. I didn’t even play it until well into a year of the Gamecube’s US launch. It was a fun concept, if a little restrictive, but I’d have to dig out my copy.

I didn’t download it until yesterday morning, but on Monday evening, June 6, Nintendo released their 2.0.0 system update for their 3DS handheld, which now makes your 3DS a little more useful. It features the long-awaited Nintendo eShop, featuring the Virtual Console and a section called DSi Ware Favorites, featuring presumably some of the games originally on sale for the DSi, like Cave Story and Plants vs. Zombies, now available for the 3DS. In fact, DSi owners can now transfer most their purchases over to the 3DS. In the Virtual Console shop, Super Mario Land, Radar Mission, and Alleyway are available for purchase. As of yesterday evening, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, the Game Boy Color update of the original Game Boy title, is also available for download. I’m excited to play that since I have actually never gotten to play it. Strangely but not surprisingly, Nintendo has decided to sell separate 3DS cash cards to redeem, which is a separate currency from the Wii/DSi Points system, parallel to the Microsoft Points vs. PlayStation Network Wallet Funds.

Nintendo has offered a free bonus in its first of what I can assume a number of games in their “3D Classics” brand: Excitebike. The 1984 NES game is retouched to utilize the 3D screen, although with the adjustable slider it can still be played in 2D. There is not much to be said about the 3D in the game. It’s the same Excitebike I remember, and I’m still terrible at it. The highlight remains the ability to design courses and that catchy 8-bit theme. Downloading popular NES games to my 3DS is already a convenient notion, hopefully Nintendo puts the 3D to good use.

The system update adds a web browser to the 3DS Home screen, which works about as well as you would expect any mobile browser to. I believe entering URLs, along with the typical history saving and bookmarking, will save certain phrases to the 3DS’s dictionary to suppress the need to type out the same words every single time. One tap of the stylus, and it’s there.

At their E3 presentation, Nintendo informed the press they did not forget about the 3DS. The launch of the device has been less than stellar. It featured no true breakout titles (although the acclaimed port of Super Street Fighter IV and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars are apparent exceptions) and this system update is available nearly three months after its launch in the United States. The more anticipated titles, such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, aren’t due until later in the year. Ocarina of Time is seeing a release next week. Even I had considered giving up my 3DS until seeing the trailers for Super Mario and Luigi’s Mansion 2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D is due towards the end of year, but is now rather overshadowed by its high-definition update for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which will utilize the PSP and possibly PS Vita hardware with Konami’s own “transfarring” (that, I assure you, is no typo) system.

As others have argued, the Nintendo DS had a slow start. The games were eventually there, and the handheld crushed the competition. The competition is more fierce now, in the wake of mobile markets, smartphones, and the evolution of smartphone games.

Pokémon Black — The journey is halfway over.

It’s amazing that once you’ve defeated the Elite Four and all of the subsequent story battles, your journey in Pokémon Black is far from over. There’s a whole other half of the region to visit, where trainers hold Pokémon as high as level 65 and there seem to be far more of them around than any point before the Pokémon League. I had spent hours and hours taking down Audinos, whose sole purpose is really just to help you level up faster. They even HEAL you during the occasional battle. I turned a Level 32 Axew into a dominant Level 72 Haxorus, wiping out every Pokémon in sight with Dragon Claw, Outrage, and Guillotine. I didn’t really want to do it that way. Any time I try to break into a new Pokémon game I always attempt to train my six team members evenly, but this time around I was desperate to teach Haxorus Outrage. As a result, it far outclasses even my Level 57 Gurdurr which, by the way, I’d love to turn into a Conkeldurr.

Although I am practically still getting my feet wet when it comes to this franchise, Black seems to tell one of the more interesting stories that still doesn’t make a lick of sense, at least if applied to the context of how our world operates. Although there are more motives afoot, you go about your journey in an attempt to prove yourself as a trainer, naturally. You’re introduced to the game’s antagonists, Team Plasma, whose goal is to set all of the Pokémon free and eliminate their relationships with human beings. The strange take on this is that from a certain standpoint, Team Plasma would probably be in the right given that Pokémon are used as tools and for the purposes of battling. The game has a few moments where it tries to address these issues from the actual creatures’ point of view through one of the antagonists, N, who communicates with them. Again, there are bigger motives in play, and I do appreciate the issue of how Pokémon tend to bring balance to life. It is definitely one of the better stories in this franchise that I have personally come across.

I have to talk about the music. The music has always been one of the stronger features of the franchise, I think. The main theme that everyone is familiar with plays with such flair when you’ve brought down a gym leader to his or her last Pokémon, and it plays with a gusto that you may as well play Bill Conti’s “Conquest” from the Rocky 3 soundtrack. The Team Plasma battle music has a very tense feel to it, which is almost funny considering most of the battles against them aren’t that difficult. I’ve always loved the feeling of serenity in the tunes you hear when you’re walking along any route to the next town. That serene feeling if taking in the roses brings a nice little marching tune to it once your trainer begins walking. It’s all done so well, and I’d totally buy an orchestral version of the soundtrack if one gets released. Fantastic score.

The visuals themselves are somewhat standard for a Pokémon title. 2D sprites are always fun to look at and admire. One of the things I enjoyed was the liveliness in the battle animations, filled with idle animations, breathing, etc. The standout feature for me was the architecture and the environment design. I’m used to wandering through small suburbs and little towns, but Game Freak went all out and gave us bustling towns and villages — people all over the place strolling, working, having drinks at a café, dancing, etc. A lot of the buildings and bridges get a lot of focus, with a third dimension added to them and they are viewed in such a way as your trainer walks around them or past them that I suspect Nintendo might have had plans for this game to utilize the tech of the new 3DS system in some way. There are a few close-ups and certain shots leave you in awe of the kind of world Unova is in comparison to Johto or perhaps even Sinnoh as well as some of the more majestic features of certain Pokémon.

I have much more work to do in this game, beyond the story, although I would like to go back to Platinum and SoulSilver while I still have this high of feeling good about beating a Pokémon game for the first time in forever.

5/5

Pokémon: Black Version — Stop the madness now.

I debated, honestly, whether or not to even write about my experiences with Pokémon Black. It is the newest installment in the franchise, and I am playing it never having finished last year’s installment SoulSilver. Part of why I am even able to talk about Black is that this is honestly the only game I am playing at the moment, while everyone else enjoys their copies of Mortal Kombat and Portal 2. Truthfully, I am not even here to discuss the game in full. I have invested an estimated 35 non-consecutive hours to this game, capturing close to 70 Pokémon species, training six of them like mad, and fighting for seven of the eight gym badges that I need to take on the elite trainers in the next phase of this journey.

I am enjoying the game far more than I expected. Although, in its core, it feels like yet another coat of paint, I applaud the developers’ attempts to make the game’s world feel lively. From my own experiences and memories, most towns were small suburbs and quiet villages. Here they are bustling, busy cities, fast-moving villages, each with their own theme and motif (Icirrus City, home to the gym leader specializing in ice type Pokémon, is practically a Christmas village without Santa Claus). The season changes are an interesting addition, although I’m not sure I want to experience a virtual winter in this April humidity and rain. The design feels straightforward this time. Maybe I finally have the right team this time. I actually really like every single Pokémon I’ve used in my party, and they’re all equally trained, but if it weren’t for the Lucky Egg and Experience Share items, I would probably have found the process a bit grueling as grinding in RPGs tends to be. I love unlocking new moves, watching their evolution processes, and whatever else helps my party feel stronger.

The journey of a lifetime.

Despite how much I am enjoying Pokémon Black, however:

- Fuck you, Elesa, and your Emolga that spams Double Team and Volt Switch.
-I still hate any move that makes my Pokémon confused. I know I’ll end up hitting myself during battles 90% of the time, but should I use the move, all opponents snap out of it in a turn of two.
-Horn Drill. Fuck that shit.
-The encounter rate is through the roof. Literally one step after a battle, you will enter a new battle in the wild. I’ve spent so much money on Super Repels, it’s ridiculous.
-Your character’s buddies/rivals. Bianca and Cheren? Most annoying characters in a videogame since Herbert Moon from Red Dead Redemption.

So far, so good.

E3 2010: Sony and Nintendo: ‘Hey! This isn’t Harry Potter…’

Time passes rather quickly. Already my writing an entry on E3 may already come off as ancient history, but while the event was taking place, two major events captured my attention: the madness of pre-ordering an iPhone 4, and the madness of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the vuvuzelas that come with it.

I say this time, let’s cut to the chase so we can get back to our soccer/football/futbol, shall we?

Nintendo’s approach to appease its ‘hardcore’ fan base, the folks who enjoy jumping on Koopa Troopas and launching fireballs as the company’s mascot plumber Mario over a shooting gallery at a virtual carnival starring their Mii characters, used to offend me. Their only answer to this ‘problem’ was to just throw another Mario game at them, but folks ate them up. Games developed by third-party developers that aim to a less casual audience tend to flop and appear dead on arrival (Sega’s The Conduit and MadWorld, and EA’s Dead Space: Extraction are two examples). This year, Nintendo brought in the big guns, and while I won’t be playing some of their future titles right away, it brings me a sense of relief that they will be there. We have a new Legend of Zelda game, titled Skyward Sword, for the Wii. I have yet to play Twilight Princess, released in 2006, and during that period I had considered myself “retired” from the franchise. In 2007, I had attempted to play the Phantom Hourglass game on the DS, but gave up on it for a number of reasons. Skyward Sword boasts a visual mixture of Twilight Princess, and the love-it-or-hate-it Wind Waker (Gamecube, 2003). It has an extra flavor of an oil painting/illustrated storybook look that drew me in despite series creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s awkward demonstration of the game at the Nintendo presentation last week.

Nintendo spent a lot of the presentation discussing the capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS, and with games like a new Golden Sun (the first since The Lost Age, the second episode, released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003). I had to actually look up the title of the second Golden Sun game. I hadn’t played it since 2004. In addition to the first-party games (a potential new Star Fox and a Kid Icarus game after all these years), there is a lot of third-party support from the big names, including a Resident Evil game from Capcom, a Splinter Cell game from Ubisoft, and a Metal Gear Solid title from Konami. Color me sold.

I regret that I don’t have a whole lot to express about Sony’s time on the stage because, as I remember it, I was physically tired having been awake for a lot of the previous night. Sony discussed their premium service, of which I have no interest in. They managed to show up the Kinect with Move, their take on motion control, by showing a demonstration of a wizard-ing game called Harry Pott– I mean Sorcery. It can be generically described as “interesting,” and absolutely nothing to get excited over. I will stick with my Wii, that I have even decided to touch for the first time in over a year (thanks, Super Mario Galaxy 2!). One of the stronger highlights was the appearance by Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, and his promotion of the much anticipated Portal 2. That wasn’t the big deal. We all knew that. The extra added punch came in the announcement of Steamworks, which allows Mac and Windows users to play multiplayer games on the same servers with one another, and its compatibility on the PlayStation 3. That about topped off the sundae, chock full of Kevin Butler and his motivational “We’re gamers!” speech that provided some genuine humor, with the cherry on top that was the development of a Twisted Metal game, the first since Twisted Metal: Black (PlayStation 2, 2001).

That about does it for this year’s E3, among other things. I need to dock points here, though, or maybe throw a yellow flag on the field.

Microsoft — 5-yard penalty for that creepy Kinectimals segment.

Nintendo — 5-yard penalty for the awkward Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword demonstration. An addition 10-yard penalty for the GoldenEye remake and failure to understand why it was the monster that it was in 1997. They announce the 3DS and its lineup. The penalty is declined. First down.

Sony — 10-yard penalty for an uninteresting presentation. Kevin Butler speech and PS3 Steamworks. That penalty is declined. There is an additional 5-yard penalty for the inability to sell me on a PSP after five years, as well as the failure to sell Move.

Next time: I talk about the iPhone 4.