advancing wars

i’ve been playing advance wars 2: black hole rising for GBA off and on for ages, but i finally finished the normal campaign mode a couple of weeks ago. i’d been playing it for so long that i’ve forgotten what the game added compared to the original advance wars, which i’d played a while back. this review at cubed3.com has served as a good reminder; the main additions to the sequel were: super CO powers, a handful of new COs (each with their own unique powers), some new weapons including neotanks and missile silos, and some new enemy hazards including cannons and lasers. in terms of the structure the game has quite a different feel from the first game because instead of three COs that you use for the majority of the game, in the sequel you’re required to use a new group of COs after every few maps. i actually prefer a bit more continuity, but this change does mix things up a bit.

in some ways i enjoyed this game more than the original, partly because i knew more about what to expect so i wasn’t as fixated on the lack of a story or characterization (esp. as compared to my beloved fire emblem series), and partly because i didn’t have to go through all the work of learning how to play the game so this time i could just enjoy the game and its undiluted tactics from the very beginning. but although the changes weren’t insignificant, somehow all in all it just felt too similar. this makes the second sequel i’ve played recently that was more disappointing than not due to its lack of innovation (the other being metroid prime 2). i was starting to get worried that my interest in the advance wars series as a whole was on the decline, but i started the DS games and luckily they both look like they’re different enough to make them worth checking out. early intel indicates that we may receive reports on that sooner than later …

advance! links against links on the battlefield!
- entry at wikipedia
- PDF of the manual at replacementdocs.com
- good FAQ at gamefaqs
- S-rank FAQ, also at gamefaqs
- guide at IGN

metroid prime hunters: last hunt

this is gonna be a short ‘un. for the most part i try to play games in a series in order, but it don’t always work out that way. case in point: i played through metroid prime hunters even though i hadn’t played the demo of the game that preceded it by more than a year. but i got my mitts on the demo soon after that, so i thought i would take it for a spin even though i was going about it all backwards.

needless to say there wasn’t much that the demo experience offered me, having played the actual game. playing through the three single-player modes was entertaining enough, and it was interesting to me that the modes were focused on getting score multipliers through continuous enemy kills. since you need two copies of the demo to play the three multiplayer stages (alas, there’s no vs computer mode like in the main release) i didn’t get to try them out, but one of these days i will. the game includes a control option where you tap the screen to shoot (apparently the original control scheme), but nothing else much worth noting. by this point hand cramps were definitely not a problem, though: either my hand muscles have strengthened from playing through metroid prime hunters or i’ve just adjusted the way i hold my DS when playing. either way it was fun to have to have this little closer to my metroid prime hunters experience. i doubt the big N’s planning a sequel to that game anytime soon, but i’d definitely be up for one. one can only hope and keep the flame alive.

roundin’ up the last of the first hunt links:
- thorough description of the demo at eurogamer.net
- entry at metroid.wikia.com
- PDF of the manual at replacementdocs.com
- a FAQ at IGN

hunting down the metroid prime hunters

oftentimes when i finish a game if i have the next in the series lying around i’ll try it out just to get a taster for how the series progresses. so even though i’d just finished playing metroid prime: echoes, i tried out the next in line, metroid prime: hunters for DS … and found myself totally hooked.

the first thing you notice is how great the game looks; it’s impossible not to be amazed at how much of the gamecube metroid prime games’ design they managed to fit onto the DS. the game includes movie cut-scenes that also look pretty good. the game does a pretty good job of making the most of the hardware and masking its limitations, except for a fair amount of enemy reuse (including the bosses, of which there are only two main ones that are repeated four times each, with variations) and too many places where rooms are overly symmetric or the room designs are reused too closely. the latter becomes apparent even from the first section of the game where there are three rooms in a row that are pretty much identical, making it too easy to get confused which room you’re in and which door you’re heading towards.

i definitely enjoyed the single-player “adventure” mode, although as people have noted the game is fairly linear. it’s divided into nine sections, two on each of 4 worlds and a final stage, although after all the backtracking of MP2 i found the rigid pacing (and warp portals) to be for the most part refreshing. there’s a clear emphasis on action over exploration, and the game highlights one-on-one battles with 6 spankin’-new rival “hunters”. the rival bounty hunters are pretty well designed and their unique abilities make the multiplayer mode entertaining (although i couldn’t really get into it; just not into FPS games enough i guess). the one drawback to the “formula” is that each of the 8 main sections of the game require you to “escape the planet” in a race against the clock, and having to deal with forced timed battles is just annoying. luckily, automatic temporary save points are fairly numerous. all these differences give the game quite a different feel from the usual metroid game, which is why i found that i wanted to continue playing (and ultimately finish) the game even though i’d just finished MP2.

another thing that people complain about often is the control scheme. the stylus mode is really the only viable option since the buttons-only mode doesn’t give nearly enough fine control, but the problem with that mode is that your hand gets cramped easily. however, i did find that after i’d played for a while i got used to it and my hand didn’t feel cramped so much. i’m really curious about trying the game out with a “thumb stylus”, which you can read about here and also here. the latter link is from a post at IGN about the original DS which came with an early demo version of MP:H, which i’m also curious about trying out.

among my other, more-minor complaints, are that the morph ball mechanics are less forgiving than the other prime games and that there are rather too many insta-death situations, both of which cause some really tedious sections of the game. the story is yet another rehash of the first prime story, and i beat the game without realizing that there’s something you’re supposed to do to get the actual ending which was also quite annoying.

at first as i played hunters i kept feeling like i really understood how mario fans must have felt when they first got to play super mario land: that having a portable mario game made up for any shortcomings. but in the end overall i found this game to be quite enjoyable, so much so that i’d actually give it the edge over MP2, which for me just dragged on. as i mentioned, i didn’t spend that much time with the multiplayer modes which was enjoyable enough against the computer but felt fairly repetitive, but i’ll come back to them at some point. meanwhile, i’m seriously itching to try out metroid prime 3. let’s see if i get sucked into that one as well …

huntin’ for bounty-ful links:
- the official site has a lot of video clips and wallpapers for each of the hunters
- if anyone’s interested, nintendo power’s coverage of the game included a preview of the multiplayer mode (march 2006, v. 201), a cover feature and a poster of the hunters (april 2006, v. 202), a review (may 2006, v. 203), and a guide to beating the final boss (june 2006, v. 204).
- great game site at metroid.retropixel.net
- the entry at strategywiki.org includes a lot of info on multiplayer strategy
- entry at metroid.wikia.com, which includes screenshots of the brawl trophies for all the hunters
- video of the ending
- a good FAQ at gamefaqs
- guide at IGN
- entry at wikipedia.org
- entry at metacritic.com

goin’ for wii gold

i must be the only video game blogger who hasn’t yet reviewed the original wii sports. there are a few reasons i’ve put it off for so long. the main reason is that i wanted to delve into at least one area in some depth. but since i’m not into sports games that much in general, even though i’ve played the five games off and on since i first got it, it took me a while to get motivated to actually spend more concentrated amounts of time with it. similarly, even when i did think about playing it, when i get home from work i’m oftentimes just too lazy to be waving my arms around like a mad man, no matter how much fun it may be.

i finally got my 3rd gold in wii tennis recently, so i feel like now is a good time to reflect. without a doubt wii sports is a historical game that will long be remembered for revolutionizing the way video games are viewed (and played) all over the world. by now everyone’s heard hundreds of stories about how the wii has brought people into gaming for the first time, as well as bringing people back into gaming who hadn’t played since the NES days. as someone who’s experienced this phenomenon directly himself with his own family, it’s a great, amazing, fantastic thing that would be hard to overstate.

has it really already been 3 years since the wii was released? i remember the buzz that had been building about it, and, as a nintendo fanboy, being really worried about how people would react to it. that anticipation will be forever linked in my mind with wii sports, and more specifically wii sports as depicted in the first set of “wii experience” videos (put online before the wii was actually released). i found myself watching some of these videos over and over again, amazed at not only how magical playing wii looked, but also how real the reactions were. the videos feature an international cast including both genders and a range of ages, and oftentimes the immediate smiles of the players’ first reactions are soon followed by the furrowed brows of concentration.

so it was, and so it has continued in scores of wii games that have followed. but getting back to the point at hand, i ended up spending most of my time playing the tennis game. that game, as well as the whole package, runs a fine line between simplicity plus accessibility and a true, “hardcore” challenge, something that nintendo has and continues to openly struggle with. tennis seems to balance the two admirably well, perhaps the best balanced in those terms of the games in this collection, based on what i’ve played so far. getting gold medals in the tennis training mode was reasonably challenging, although i’m somewhat disheartened at even attempting to get the platinum medals. and although i became a wii tennis “pro” without too much trouble, maintaining my ranking and even improving it has definitely required more effort. also, as for how much the games mimic real life i can definitely say that with both tennis and bowling when i started off playing, real-life tendencies were accurately reflected in the games. now that i’ve improved i can’t help but wonder if my real-world game has improved as well, although i haven’t tested that yet.

despite not having much interest in sports games in general, i certainly enjoyed this collection. i’m definitely going to come back to tennis, and although i spent some time with baseball i became too bored with the pitching. so i may turn my attention to boxing next, although being the most physically demanding of all the wii sports games it’ll probably take even more motivation for me to get to it. either way i’m deeply grateful to nintendo for coming up with such a great console with a perfect pack-in.

gold-medal links:
- review at videogamecritic.net
- the entry at strategywiki.org includes the training mode medal requirements
- FAQ at gamefaqs. this one also includes info on the easter eggs.
- iwata asks feature. part 4 is particularly entertaining.
- according to one user, nintendo added some slight updates to the game when they added the update to show the wii remote jacket

metroid (metroid) echoes (echoes echoes echoes)

finally beat metroid prime 2: echoes this week. (here’s a good run-down of the game for anyone who hasn’t played it.) the game seems to be universally praised for being an expansion of the original metroid prime, but the consensus is that it doesn’t offer a whole lot that is new. some people feel that the game does everything that was in the original, but “better”. i was blown away by the original when i played it a few years ago, but much as i love the metroid series i found this entry to be somewhat tedious. the game not only lacks the freshness of the original, it just feels too similar, and its storyline of a threatened alien race feels incredibly stale.

among my complaints are that the game seems twice as long as the first one, and it seems to have a lot more backtracking in general. i’m always skeptical of games that create an “alternate world” in order to reuse much of their design, and like my opinion of final fantasy 3 (a.k.a. 6) the majority of the alternate world in MP2 feels like unnecessary padding. also, when first encountering the “dark” world of MP2 the environments are fittingly drab and somewhat difficult to navigate due to the monochromatic purple color palette. i did appreciate the different feel of the pacing in the dark world, which requires you to hop between the various safe havens of light that are spread out in each room, but by the game’s end the dark world’s galaxy of purple oppressiveness is just boring and dull, dull, dull.

people often mention the boss fights, and they are fun because they require you to actually strategize to determine each boss’s weakpoint; but they’re also somewhat annoying because each boss fight has multiple sections, all of which require some trial and error to master. this definitely gives the boss fights a very same-y feeling, which is unfortunate because for the most part they’re very well designed. the final boss fights are the most annoying of the game, and the game’s ending is pretty lame. i also had mixed feelings about the fact that the game only has three alternate endings: one for if you finish with less than 75% of the items, one for finishing with more than 75%, and one for finishing with 100%. lastly, i didn’t have anyone to try out the multiplayer with, but i checked out all the stages and it looked like it could be pretty fun. not sure why it gets dissed so much, but i’m guessing that’s probably just in comparison to other multiplayer FPS games.

despite all my complaints this was definitely a worthwhile entry in the series and i have a feeling it’s one of those games that’s much more fun the second time through. i’ve already dipped into the next game in the series, metroid prime hunters on DS, and have been quite enjoying the new interface. and i’m really looking forward to playing through metroid prime 3 on wii. and who knows? i may even finish those just in time for the new metroid: other M, due out sometime next year.

metroid (metroid) links (links links links):
- great site on the game at metroid recon, including screenshots, item guides, and a walkthrough
- as with the original metroid prime game, metroid2002.com has tons of information on sequence-breaking and glitches for the sequel
- video of the 100% ending. for all that effort you’ll be rewarded with a few seconds of extra video, yippee!
- guide at IGN

beasts altered

i finally got a dreamcast (just in time for its 10th birthday). continuing the trend, instead of starting off playing one of the classics i ended up playing something totally random, more specifically, one of the sega genesis games that appear on the sega smash pack compilation, the now-classic altered beast.

i’m pretty much a n00b when it comes to sega and its long and colorful history. the genesis version of altered beast was apparently the original pack-in game for the system in most areas outside of japan and is well known, although nowadays it seems to be among the many games that are universally panned (see poor milon’s secret castle as another example, which i recently reviewed). for a sample of modern-day reviews and people’s comments on altered beast, nintendolife.com has reviews of both the the original arcade version as well as the genesis version. both reviewers give the game the same score (3 out of 10), although the latter review seems to contain more nostalgic affection. for a run-down of the game itself, check out this page at i-mockery.com.

having no such nostalgia factor but having a much higher tolerance for old games and their flaws, i actually quite enjoyed this one. the “homoeroticism” is clearly just that peculiar brand of japanese humor that takes the form of extreme camp, which i found amusing, even more so when i contemplate the nations full of confused kids and their baffled parents that must have resulted. i was also entertained by the complete disregard for actual greek mythology (not unlike the classic kid icarus). the graphics are definitely impressive, keeping in mind this was almost exactly two years before super mario world was released for the SNES, and the character, enemy, and boss designs are all pretty well done. the enemies in particular are entertaining, with some classic japanese wackiness thrown in, e.g. the purple jump-kicking unicorns and yellow goats in the final level. i wasn’t bothered by the slowness of the gameplay, and although there’s not much variety in the main attacks they were still varied enough to make them worthwhile. the “altered beasts” and their attacks were the best part, and although i didn’t find the game to be overly repetitive, at five levels the game is definitely quite short; i would’ve definitely enjoyed another level with each of the beast forms. the ending is anticlimactic and the harder difficulties not much different than the normal mode, but the co-op was fun and the soundbites have added some classic quotes to my repertoire (the apparently much-appreciated “wise from your gwave!” as well as the baddie’s sinister “welcome to your doom!”).

i’ve settled on a few simple rubrics to help me rank games, including “would i want to play this again?” and “did i like this enough to check out some of the sequels?” for me the answer to both of those questions is actually yes. and it turns out that there are a coupla sequels, and they’ve been catalogued by the good folk at hardcore gaming 101. sweeeeet. i mean, roooooaaaaarrrrr!!!

altered links:
- cheats at gamefaqs, including how to continue and select a level and difficulty
- screenshots of the ending at vgmuseum.com
- entry at wikipedia
- random page with sprites
- FAQ at gamefaqs (although no one probably really needs it)

uwao, aooh! ragin’ and dancin’ through final fantasy 3

in recent times i’ve realized that i’ve become really, really bored with turn-based RPGs, so much so that the thought of taking on another one becomes rather disheartening. i’ve cast enough fir1, lit2, and cur3 spells to last me a lifetime. but final fantasy III for the SNES (a.k.a. final fantasy VI) is another one of those games that’s so universally praised that i knew i would have to play through it at some point, so despite not having finished FF2 (i.e. FF4) i finally forced myself to sit down and start in on it.

and it actually wasn’t so bad. in fact, i’d even say that the first half kept me reasonably well engaged. having avoided reading anything about the game the climactic event that occurs at the 1/2way point was fairly surprising and pretty notable. there were also a few distinctly memorable events, such as the opera scene and celes’ “leap of faith”. the characters are entertaining, and it’s interesting that each has his/her own special abilities, although rather too many of these specialized abilities are pretty much useless.

the second half was less interesting, however. this nostalgia-avoiding reminescence at gamespite.net puts most of the blame of the second half on the game’s espers mechanic, which enables any character to learn magic:

“[I]t’s hard to really care about the characters once you get so far into the game. Until the World of Ruin, the characters are all distinct in some manner, each with their own skills and the little bit of magic they’re able to learn. … the characters in Final Fantasy VI lack significant distinction as they all eventually become walking death-machines, each with the same magic. Their individual skills, so useful at the outset, are frankly useless in comparison. After a certain point, it’s just hard to care about making a unique team anymore; all of the characters’ original traits are soon destroyed by a broken magic system where anyone can learn anything.”

this is an interesting observation, but not my main complaint. the second half of the game has a somewhat interesting setup where your party is scattered to the winds and you have to find each person one by one and re-recruit him/her. but the bit-by-bit pacing gave the whole sequence a feeling of being just a series of sidequests rather than an actual story, especially since you’re revisiting previous locales. (although the world map’s geography changes, the towns are still pretty much the same.) the writer at gamespite likens this second half to an early version of a sandbox game, and comments that it feels “like a single-player MMORPG in a very empty world”. i’m not quite sure i agree with his assessment, although i do agree with his comment that “after a certain point in the World of Ruin, there’s really nothing left to do but grind for levels, items, rages, lores, and the errata that’s hard to find interesting as an adult.”

i also have some less-than-minor quibbles, such as how tedious it is to collect even a fraction of the rages/lores let alone all of them, and the fact that you have to use so many characters for the final dungeon that you probably never really would use otherwise (and as a result a number of them are probably significantly underlevelled). in the end this was an enjoyable game for an RPG (haha) and although it didn’t become a great favorite i have grown fond of most of the characters, particularly my main man gao as well as mog and umaro. i’m clearly never going to be a huge final fantasy fan, but after this experience i won’t mind playing through more of the main series. i’m definitely on the lookout for more-unique RPGs for the future though. hmmm … foreshadowing … … … ?

finally, final fantasy links. FF RPGs have a zillion links online, but here are a few of the more noteworthy ones:
- this is the FAQ that i found the most comprehensive and useful, although it’s rather bloated.
- pretty good game site at ffcompendium.com including a copy of the game script, lores and rages FAQs, and high-res images of the world maps
- another good game site at rpgclassics.com: has a ton of images, including enemy sprites
- entry at wikipedia
- endings at vgmuseum.com
- PDF of manual at replacementdocs.com

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

season of oracles

even though i’d finished playing a zelda game recently (majora’s mask, as recounted here) i’d been itching to play a 2D zelda game for quite some time, so i started in on the next in line, oracle of seasons for the game boy color. i thought i’d just see how the series’ return to 2D would fare, but by the time i’d gotten the powers of all four of the seasons i was hooked.

it seems a fair amount of the game’s uniqueness is due to the fact it’s paired with the game oracle of ages, so i’m going to withold my final judgement until i play that game. but although i enjoyed playing seasons there wasn’t a whole lot that felt really fresh. the rod of seasons was entertaining but didn’t offer up that much variety; the second world didn’t have a whole lot to make it memorable; and there were a fair number of pseudo-new items, i.e. items that were ostensibly new but had the same effect as items from previous games. there were a handful of unique items that offered up some surprises, though, as well as some animal helpers (a first for the series, i believe, not counting epona), and it was fun to hear some of the tunes (and characters) from ocarina and majora make appearances here. i also felt nostalgic seeing the game engine, which was clearly based on the classic link’s awakening, and also from seeing the reworkings of elements from the original NES zelda including many of the bosses (and the “pay me for the door repair” man who is back with a vengeance haha).

the useless items to collect in this game are rings which potentially could have been much more interesting as each offers different abilities, but since most of those abilities give only a tiny advantage and you can only equip one at a time the overall benefits are practically nil. also, the game was intended to focus more on action while its companion, oracle of ages supposedly focuses more on puzzles. i’ll have to see how that ends up panning out, but it did feel that in general in this game the boss fights were a bit more difficult than usual, sometimes pointlessly so. all in all, though, this was a fun game and a classic zelda title, although not likely to end up as one of my favorites of the series. it might be that i prefer my zelda games to have less emphasis on action, so i’m looking forward to playing oracle of ages before too long.

season of links:
- walkthrough and FAQ at zelda.com
- the official site for the game is still up
- nice game site at midnight castle’s zelda site
- the entry at wikipedia includes information on how the two games interact
- review at IGN which recommends playing seasons first
- FAQ that compares the original japanese vs the localized english names
- page at zeldawiki.org, including a gallery of all of the enemies
- guide at IGN

yoshi’s super island

i’ve never really been that fond of yoshi, mostly because i found him to be pretty useless in super mario world. i hadn’t been that excited by that game in general when i played it a couple of years ago for the first time, but i figured that its sequel super mario world 2: yoshi’s island, would have about as much similarity to its predecessor as wario land: super mario land 3 had to its predecessor (super mario land 2). so i was keeping an open mind about this, my first game with yoshi in a starring role. (although to be unnecessarily exact, i had played the US tetris attack which starred yoshi and other characters from SMW2).

it turns out i was somewhat wrong about SMW2 being completely different from SMW. it’s true almost all of the surface of the game is completely different. one of the central game mechanics that’s new and radically different in SMW2 is that yoshi (actually a whole slew of ‘em in different colors) is always carrying baby mario around and has to retrieve him whenever yoshi gets hit and baby mario gets knocked off. having to retrieve baby mario gets a little tiresome (especially when accompanied by mario’s yelling), but it does give the game a different feel which is appreciated. (although come to think of it, having to retrieve baby mario is rather like getting knocked off of yoshi and having to chase after him in SMW, although i would argue that that wasn’t really central to that game.) yoshi’s ability to swallow enemies and lay eggs and then throw them is also brand new, and he (i.e. they) also has various unique powerups in the guise of some special fruits he can swallow that give him extra firepower, as well as a few somewhat random transformations. the art style, which was intended to have a crayon-like, “storybook” aesthetic, also contributes to the game’s completely unique feel.

but what actually surprised me was that, aside from all of those many surface changes, much of the game’s platforming reminded me of SMW, only way better. and not only that, but the variety in the stages felt improved to such a degree that it reminded me of SMB3, extremely high praise indeed. SMB3 is chockfull of surprises, and although SMW2 starts off a bit slow (the first two worlds, of six, don’t have much character) and had me feeling like i was going through the motions of playing through yet another platformer, pretty soon the game had surprises at every corner and had me completely hooked. the enemies are well designed and oftentimes funny (and i definitely appreciated the return of SMB2’s shy guy to center stage), and i especially enjoyed the admirable number of boss battles. none of them were particularly hard, but all of them were entertaining and fun. i was also surprised that elements i’d first seen in new super mario bros. for the DS actually had their origins in this game.

in terms of difficulty SMW2 wasn’t that hard to complete, although in lieu of the alternate routes of SMW instead the designers added tons of useless things to collect and find in every level (namely stars that increase your baby mario timer, red coins, and flowers). item collection does expand a platformer’s gameplay a lot, and the levels are definitely designed well enough that finding all the items isn’t mindless and dull, but finding 45 items in every level was a bit overkill for me. at some point i’ll probably go back and work my way through all the levels again to find all the items, but for now i’ve added it to my list of all-time greats and moved on to my next challenge … and conquest, hahahahaha! i’ve gotten to be a fan of yoshi (and baby mario), though, and am looking forward to trying out yoshi’s story on the N64, even though it hasn’t really gotten great reviews, as well as his other adventures.

coupla yoshi’s super links:
- entry at wikipedia
- good FAQ at gamefaqs
- quite a few yoshi wallpapers at yoshiart.com