pac-man madness

it always amazes me how little time reviewers spend with some games; case in point: pac-man collection for the GBA. even though the release is a collection of previously released games, it seems to me that there’s still a fair amount one could say about the particular versions of the games presented. maybe it’s just me, though (definitely not an unlikely possibility, seeing as how i just recently mulled over the differences in gameplay resulting from the difference in well size (6×9 vs 6×12, respectively) in the GB and SNES versions of the same game, tetris attack.)

i’d played through and enjoyed the version of pac-man arrangement that appeared in the collection, and even at that time i’d had my doubts about another game in the collection, the 3D novelty pac-mania. nevertheless, i decided to give it a closer look, and although none of the reviews i’ve read about the GBA version say much beyond that it’s a 3D version of pac-man in which the man has the ability to jump, it soon became pretty clear to me that this game’s port to the GBA makes the game extremely frustrating.

first off, gamespot’s reviewer’s comment that “… the GBA’s screen is zoomed in a little more closely than that of the arcade version” is a complete understatement. like the GBA-ized pac-man arrangement, pac-mania pretty much cuts the size of the original screen in half. this made the former harder but certainly not unplayable, as you still had a pretty good sense of where the four ghosts were at all times and it was fairly easy to find any stray dots you had left behind. but since the original pac-mania was already set to a zoomed-in view so that you could only see about 1/4 or 1/5 of the board at a time, halving that means that in the GBA version you’re only seeing about 1/8 of the board at a time. this is a huge disadvantage, and you’ll find that you’re constantly running headfirst into ghosts.

the original game ameliorated the fact that you have a limited view of the board by making the ghosts’ movements more predictable and by laying out routes that the ghosts tend to follow. this certainly would have helped balance the original game, but it definitely wasn’t enough to compensate for the drastically smaller view in the GBA game. and besides, with the smaller view it’s much harder to even recognize the patterns in the first place. given more time i may have more fully mastered the details of the ghosts’ patterns, but by that time i was already frustrated by the other feature inherent in both versions of the game: the number of ghosts. in both versions of pac-mania the boards take longer to navigate than most other pac-man games (e.g. the original pac-man and ms. pac-man) just by the nature of it being in 3D, so to make things more challenging the game adds more ghosts than the usual four. the number of ghosts varies but it quickly ramps up to 6 or 7 and reaches its maximum of 9 at the 23rd (and final) stage. i can imagine that avoiding all those ghosts would have been barely manageable in the original version, but in the GBA version the number of ghosts makes things completely impossible: in these later stages there are ghosts everywhere running around at full tilt, and because you have no idea where they are poor pac-man is constantly getting tackled, sandwiched, and headbutted.

unfortunately those weren’t my only complaints. the game includes two types of ghosts that jump, one green and one dark blue, but oftentimes in the midst of the frenzied gameplay the dark blue one looks too similar to the regular blue one and the purple one. this may also be more manageable with a bigger (and better-lit) screen than the GBA’s. another drawback is that there are only 4 boards, and one of those is the regular classic pac-man board. also there are two powerups, one that works as a short power pellet (but with added points) and one that gives a speed boost, but they show up relatively rarely and it’s too hard to get back to the center of the board to collect them, so the vast majority of the time it’s just not worth the effort. on the plus side, though, the game offers unlimited continues, and as with the other games in the collection it lets you change some settings, one of the more useful being that you can choose to end the game after 11 rounds instead of 23.

all in all not a great gaming experience, unfortunately. i don’t doubt that playing a full-screen version will definitely be a big improvement (there’s also an NES version that i’ll have to check out at some point), but even then i don’t see this as becoming a great favorite. the game was a nice change of pace, though, for the series, and i’m still as big a pac-man fan as ever. i’m betting that my next pac-man game will be a much more enjoyable experience.

wakka wakka wakka: manic pac-mania links:
- great FAQ at gamefaqs
- entry at wikipedia
- japanese site with pictures of sprites, comparison of the english vs japanese versions, and a link to this site, which has maps
- linked to this before, but still worth noting: the best pac-man clones and spinoffs, at racketboy.com
- a random sketch on youtube: “Lily Tomlin and Her Struggles with Pac Man Addiction”

japanese coached

i’ve been playing my japanese coach for DS for awhile now. i had played my french coach at the beginning of last year, and despite its limitations i had enjoyed it enough that i was quite looking forward to my japanese coach as japanese is a language that i’d been interested in learning at least the basics of for quite some time.

there was a lot i appreciated and enjoyed with my japanese coach. first off, i was looking forward to learning the three writing systems (hiragana and katakana, the two syllabic scripts, and kanji, which is based on chinese characters), and in general the game accomplishes the task decently well. the handwriting recognition works well and the characters are taught sequentially and in manageable groups. people have commented that the stroke orders aren’t completely accurate, but outside of that fact on the whole this isn’t a bad way to learn the characters. (in case anyone’s interested, i ended up looking through some other books to reinforce the writing i was learning in the game, and for katakana i came across a really great book called easy katakana that instead of teaching the characters in order teaches them out of order so that you can write a whole slew of actual words right off the bat. i highly recommend that book, although i didn’t find its companion book, easy hiragana to be as useful.)

the biggest complaint i had about my french coach was its emphasis on vocabulary over pretty much anything else within its 40ish lessons. my japanese coach is a definite improvement and includes 100 lessons and explicitly goes through many grammatical concepts, including verb forms, adjectives, and honorifics, although the game is still far from a perfect teaching tool. for one thing, some of the games are carried over wholesale from the previous games and don’t really apply to japanese as much (e.g. the spelling the game and the seek-and-find game), particularly when they use romaji (the english romanization of japanese characters) instead of the actual japanese characters. the game also doesn’t move much beyond flash cards, and exercises that require more usage and comprehension of the language and actual construction of sentences would have been great. even simple fill-in-the-blank exercises would have been helpful. also, as with my french coach there are some noticeable bugs (although nothing major that i encountered), and after the lessons are all completed the rest of the game consists of random vocabulary which is fairly useless. but in this game 100 lessons will keep you busy for quite some time.

all in all i’m definitely happy i picked up my japanese coach, although as with my french coach i’m disappointed at the missed opportunity. MJC is definitely a step in the right direction, and hopefully the series will continue to improve. i’m not counting on ubisoft to ramp up the quality much, but maybe i’ll be pleasantly surprised, as i was with MJC. regardless, you can bet that i’ll be picking up my german coach and my korean coach when/if they come out.

coach’s japanese links:
- most of the reviews don’t get that far into the game (e.g. don’t even mention the kanji lessons, which start around lesson 50). a typical example is this one from joystiq. but here’s a nice review of the whole game. also, here’s a glowing review from diehardgamefan.com.
- apparently one of the developers of the game has a blog. he even includes a cheat to unlock all the lessons (or however many you want).

tetris attacked — on the go

just a quick post. i know i said i was going to cut down on the sequels, but i had some games already in the pipeline to finish, one of which was the game boy version of tetris attack. i had played and thoroughly enjoyed the SNES version and was looking forward to trying out the various iterations the game has gone through since its original release in 1996.

puzzle games tend not to vary much, and the original game boy version of tetris attack has even less reason to as (according to the game’s page at wikipedia) it was released pretty much simultaneously with the SNES version. in terms of the trappings and modes the games are pretty much the same. the biggest difference is the size of the well [alert! alert! geek speak ahead. skip to the next paragraph to avoid!]: in the SNES version the well is 6 blocks across and 12 high, whereas in the GB version it’s 6 across and only 9 high. this definitely changes the rhythm of the game, and working your chains vertically becomes less feasible. the difference in the well size will probably require you to adjust your strategy if you were reliant on working in the middle of your stack to make chains like i was. also, perhaps as a way to compensate for the limitations on making chains, it feels like the game handles garbage blocks a bit differently than the SNES version. as in the SNES version, making a line next to a garbage block causes all the garbage blocks to turn into regular blocks, but in the GB version there seems to be a significantly bigger pause while the garbage blocks are popping; this makes it easier to rearrange blocks below the garbage blocks and set up chains based on what the garbage blocks have turned into. this change helps make the game more balanced overall, although it also makes it easier to rebound from getting a lot of garbage blocks. since i haven’t played the SNES version in a while i may be mistaken on that, but that was my impression.

since i hadn’t played any version of the game in a while i had a good time just getting back into it. even though i’d played the SNES version a fair amount i’m still far from being a chain master, so there was definitely plenty of worthwhile time spent just improving my tetris attack/panel de pon skillz. i cleared the regular mode on the hardest difficulty, which was rather on the easy side, before proceeding to the “vs COM” mode. on the hardest normal setting this was definitely more of a challenge, but the game gives you infinite continues so it doesn’t take too much effort. after beating bowser the game challenges you to beat bowser without any losses in the first 7 stages (in which you battle your “friends”, e.g. lakitu or poochy, who have supposedly been put under a spell) and with less than 7 continues in the final four stages (i.e. you can use each of the “friends” you’ve accrued as a continue). this is also more of a challenge and definitely kept me coming back for more.

all in all this was a nice portable alternative version to the SNES version. the graphics, music, and sound make the transition pretty much intact, and although the gameplay ends up having slight variations, it’s still the tetris attack you know and love and it’s very much worth checking out. especially if you’re a geek like me who gets into the minute differences between versions of the same game! lucky for me there are still plenty of iterations of the series to check out in the future. hahaha.

another attack of tetris attack links!
- linked to this before, but still worth noting: nice general PdP fansite
- themushroomkingdom.net has a comparison of the SNES tetris attack to the original, japanese-only panel de pon
- passwords at IGN
- entry at gaming.wikia.com with info on all the characters

100+ games and super mario still reigns

i had to set aside my resolution to tone down on the number of sequels i’ve been playing temporarily in order to commemorate the 100th game i’ve completed since i started keeping track of my renewed gameplaying obsession a few years ago. to mark the occasion i decided to play through probably the most iconic video game of all time, the original super mario bros. for the NES.

i’d squeezed in a quick playthrough a while back, but for this occasion i sat down and played through both “quests” without warping. i was also going to try to do it all without any continues and without using the extra lives cheat in 3-1, but in the end i had to use the continue cheat after all. although i have world 8 pretty much completely memorized, i haven’t played world 7 as much as the rest of the game; but i was pleasantly surprised to find that the game wasn’t going to just be a mindless nostalgia trip.

what’s there to say about the game that hasn’t already been said? the game has been rightfully universally praised, and it’s easily one of the top landmarks of video game history; it’s hard to imagine its influence will ever be underestimated. even after countless playthroughs there’s no doubt that this game absolutely holds up and is as much fun as ever. the characters, pacing, powerups, design, music, graphics, gameplay, everything is just fantastic, with each world offering up surprises. from our modern-day persective and hundreds of mario games later it’s easy to take all of its innovations and wacky creativity for granted, and it’s only when we stop to think about how crazy the whole setup is (plumbers in the mushroom kingdom?) that we get a glimpse of how sad and dark a world without mario and company would be.

even after all this time i’m still noticing little details in the game. for example, a while back the good folk at gonintendo linked to a post that pointed out that the bushes are just the clouds colored green, and this playthrough i noticed that the flagpoles are different colors depending on the stage. and i haven’t even gotten into all the dumb stuff that people have found out about the game since it was released that have added to the game’s appeal, like the infamous minus world glitch, the jumping over the flagpole glitch, and the dancing on the ivy trick. (and i’m sure i’m not the only one who still makes the mario face out of the bricks in that one bonus room.)

[as a side note, i happened to be reading an old issue of nintendo power (feb 2006, vol. 200) and in it kazuaki morita, one of the programmers of the game, mentions that when they first heard about the infinite lives cheat he and miyamoto "thought the call was a hoax", but that when they tested it out he had "a real scare". he concludes by saying, "Fortunately, very fortunately, the 'unlimited Mario' cheat had a ton of PR value as word spread, because I sweated bullets over what might happen!" haha. awesome.]

although i’m keeping this post short, there’s nothing small about my love for this game. in looking over the many, many games i’ve played over the years, somehow the original super mario bros. still tops my list of all-time favorites, even after all these years. the world is forever indebted to the genius that is mario creator shigeru miyamoto and all the good folk at nintendo who worked on SMB and continue to give us great gaming experiences even now, a quarter of a century later. it’s because of them that i am and will always be a nintendo fanboy. here’s to another quarter of a century (and more) of great nintendo games!

whoo hoo! mario (and ‘uigi’s) super links!
- nice nostalgic review of the game at videogamecritic.net
- themushroomkingdom.net has a great site on the game including the text of the instruction manual and tons of useless factoids, like the number of goombas in the game (142).

milon’s castle’s secrets uncovered

i realized that i’ve been playing way more sequels this year than ever before, so i decided to step back and dig into the pile of games i’ve been meaning to play (and finish). the first one i laid my hands on was milon’s secret castle by hudson soft for the NES. MSC was one of those games i had owned and played as a kid, but i had never been able to finish it. it had always intrigued me, and at long last i have fulfilled my childhood dream of beating the game. from the vantage point of the current internet age, i was at a huge disadvantage in terms of beating the game, because somehow i had lost the instruction book and was missing the crucial information that you can continue by holding down the left button when pressing start at the title screen. i’m amazed that i was able to get as far as i did back then with this huge handicap; never underestimate the tenacity of a kid whose mom won’t buy him as many games as all his friends’ parents.

looking through reviews online it seems the game is pretty much universally maligned. just starting the game i immediately recalled how incredibly frustrating the first room was. the game offers you no hints on how to progress, and i still don’t remember how i finally had the breakthrough that you have to destroy the two blocks in the bottom right corner of the room, then push the middle block, and then shoot a bubble in the empty space to reveal an essential door. this breakthrough is all the more frustrating since it’s only one of two times you push a block in the entire game. anyway, this random review i came across eloquently further illuminates the game’s gameplay:

My guess is that the presence of the word “Secret” in this game’s title is rooted in the fact that virtually every room here holds hordes of secret rooms and items. You aren’t expected to just fire your weapon at enemies (that quickly respawn), but at EVERYTHING. You’ll be breaking blocks like crazy. You’ll be firing into blank, empty air. You’ll be constantly flooding the screen with bubbles because any single location in any single room just might hide a doorway leading to something you need to clear the game.

a bit of an exaggeration, since the secrets aren’t in completely random locations, but it is true that to progress you’ll be making a habit of shooting bubbles everywhere possible. having gone through all the pain of learning how the game operates so many years ago, playing through the game this time around was mostly just enjoyable. imho, the rooms are well designed with a lot of variety in their layout; the castle, which serves as the game’s map, is fun to navigate; the music and graphics are both enjoyable; the main character is endearing; and the powerups, while not approaching the epic scale of nintendo’s franchises, are all pretty useful. there’s also a bonus level that’s fun. the biggest drawbacks are that the boss battles are pretty much all the same (although the same could be said about the original super mario bros.); the last boss is fairly lame, and the ending consists of a single still image (although, again, super mario bros. doesn’t offer anything better either); and on the third floor all of the three bosses you can choose to face are pretty much impossible to beat until you find a couple of remaining powerups. people also complain that milon doesn’t have an invincibility period when he gets hit, which means that the damage can rack up, but i didn’t have much of a problem with that.

all in all given the fact this was released in 1985, i ended up being pretty impressed with the game’s solid gameplay and nicely designed rooms. once past the initial frustrations i think many people would find a lot to enjoy, but i can see why so many people would never be able to get to that point. if the instruction book had included an explanation of the first stage the game probably would’ve gone over much better, but as it is this is a classic that will probably never get the attention it deserves. the japan-only sequel (available on the VC) is apparently a much more straightforward platformer that has gotten good reviews, and i’ll definitely be checking it out, as well as the game boy version of the original which has a password feature. i think the original game contains all the elements for a great revival, though; but it doesn’t seem like that’s likely to ever happen. too bad!

milon’s secret links:
- great fan site including info on other versions and the text of the instruction manual.
- great info at strategywiki.org, including images of the castle map, level maps, enemies, and bosses.
- this random page has images of all of the in-game “hints” which are amusing. i never did figure out what the heck “A WATERPOT IN ICY ROOM” means.
- entry at wikipedia
- nintendoage.com includes scans of the manual