tetris attacked

[a new year, another round of complete time wastage due to fire emblem ... more confessions to come ...]

the first game of the year i sat down and finished was the original US release of tetris attack, a.k.a. panel de pon. i’ve been a fan of puzzle games since i first played tetris on the game boy, so i was looking forward to seeing how i’d like this, one of the most venerated series of tetris-like games (the other main one being puyo puyo, which i played last year in the form of kirby’s avalanche). in short, i found panel de pon to be fully deserving of its reputation as one of the greats. it’s an addicting game, although with a learning curve that’s much higher than tetris and even puyo puyo. as a result its gameplay is deeper, particularly with the numerous ways there are to make chains. but this is not to say that panel de pon is “the best”; each of the three series for the most part holds its own against the others.

in terms of the implementation of it, as with kirby’s avalanche tetris attack’s artwork, etc. are actually a complete reworking of the original japanese game. in this case, characters are taken from super mario world 2: yoshi’s island. unlike avalanche’s problems with balance in vs mode, here the gameplay is very well balanced and it’s quite easy to have long matches in which garbage blocks get sent back and forth as each player struggles for the advantage. there have been tons of sequels on various platforms, the most recent being planet puzzle league on the DS. you can be sure that i’ll be checking all of them out, as well as revisiting the original (in the US anyway) tetris attack to play some more vs matches and finish the puzzle mode. oh, and this is another great game from intelligent systems (who also do the fire emblem series). they’re my heroes!

attack of the links!
- screenshots of the endings to all the modes
- great fansite with info on how to play, animations of various ways to make chains, passwords, and music
- some worthwhile cheats at IGN
- entry at wikipedia

looking back on ‘07

another year, another list of games conquered. i’ve made some progress in catching up w/ some of “the greatest games of all times”, although it’ll be more than a few more years before i’ll be able to say i’ve made a serious dent in the list. but now’s a good time to look back and see how my most recent year of gaming stacked up and which games have risen to the top. may i present (in approximate descending order) the games of 2007 and their corresponding blog reviews:

HIGHEST
- elite beat agents (DS)
- f-zero GX (GCN)
- fire emblem: the sacred stones (GBA)
- super metroid (SNES)
- fire emblem: path of radiance (GCN)
- the legend of zelda: ocarina of time (N64)
- brain age (DS)

MIDDLE
- fire emblem (GBA)
- kirby’s dream land (GB)
- resident evil 4 (GCN)
- metroid fusion (GBA)
- pinball (NES)
- pokemon colosseum (GCN)
- hotel dusk: room 215 (DS)
- warioware: smooth moves (wii)
- mario’s picross (GB)
- fire emblem: radiant dawn (wii)
- super mario bros.: the lost levels (NES)
- sonic the hedgehog (gen)
- wario land: super mario land 3 (GB)
- warioware, inc.: mega microgame$ (GBA)
- castlevania 64 (N64)
- super mario world (SNES)
- kirby’s avalanche (SNES)
- brain age 2 (DS)
- prince of persia: the sands of time (GCN)
- donkey konga (GCN)

LOWEST
- kid icarus: of myths and monsters (GB)
- golden sun (GBA)
- E.V.O.: search for eden (SNES)
- cooking mama (DS)

yowza. this was def. the year of fire emblem, which quickly rose to become one of my favorite franchises. being fire emblem-less has been sad, and although i’ve started playing advance wars it just doesn’t compare. we’ll have to see what new surprises 2008 brings.

platform-wise the tally for this year comes to: 6 GCN games, 5 GBA, 5 DS, 4 GB, 4 SNES, 2 N64, 2 NES, 2 wii, and 1 sega genesis game, for a grand total of 31 (easily beating out last year’s measly 17 games finished). once again i have a load of games i’ve started and haven’t finished, and i’m half-hoping that 2008 doesn’t bring me anything as obsessive and time-sucking as the fire emblem series. we’ll just have to see. stay tuned, and thanks for reading. welcome to video games rock ‘08!

superior metroid

one more game to round out the year. i had played through metroid fusion earlier this year, but having read so much praise for its predecessor, super metroid, i was interested in how that game would compare. since i had played the two games out of order and the upgrades are almost exactly the same i was somewhat worried that my experience would be marred, but i’m glad to report that super metroid was a completely memorable experience and distinctly superior and worthy of its place among “the greatest games of all time”. in my review of fusion i mentioned that the pacing in that game seemed rushed and that it wasn’t until near the end that i felt there was the real sense of the exploration that was at the core of the original, but throughout all of super metroid the pace is pretty much perfect, with upgrades and areas opening up in a much more satisfying way. it’s amazing to see the difference between the two games: even though they both have virtually all the same gameplay mechanics, because of the superior map and level designs super metroid is an almost entirely different, and clearly superior, experience. it’s pretty amazing that nintendo is able to repeatedly create such memorable experiences with its core franchises, and i’m def. looking forward to working my way through the rest of the series. and here’s hoping another 2D metroid comes out before too long.

super metroidian links!
- fantastic fansite w/ great map and screenshots of each item’s location
- good game site at mdb.classicgaming.gamespy.com w/ maps, the nintendo power comic, instruction booklet, and more
- some metal versions of super metroid songs at metroidmetal.com
- retrospective of the series at ign.com