zelda two swords

i played oracle of seasons earlier this year, but i was hankering for some more zelda. i’ve finally found me a gaming buddy, and so instead of hitting up oracle of ages i decided to take advantage of the situation and instead try out the original zelda four swords which was included with the GBA remake of the SNES classic a link to the past.

four swords is intriguing in that the game modifies the layout of the levels depending on how many people are playing (i.e. 2, 3, or 4). it’s still unclear to me how much the levels change within those constraints, although from my limited 2-player experience it seemed that levels do repeat and can be pretty much the same aside from the locations of items, etc. from what i gather from reading online it seems that the bosses are exactly the same each time through, although i haven’t verified that for myself. there were some surprises in the game, including a couple of great new items and some new enemies, including the new main baddie vaati who apparently has gone on to appear in several other games in the series.

not too much to say about the particulars. the game definitely succeeds as a multiplayer romp with a good mix of cooperation and competition (and in a way foreshadows new super mario bros., including its ability to pick up your companions and throw them into a bottomless pit), and although there isn’t much in the way of a true zelda experience in terms of the game’s progression, it’s still fun to play through at least once. playing it through at least twice more is required to “finish” the game, but although there seems to be some variety between the levels it feels like it would get to be a bit tedious because the levels themselves are generally too repetitive. the chance that i’ll be able to coerce someone else to play through the game twice more with me is somewhat slim, but one of these days … in the meantime i’ll have to just play through the one-player version of the gamecube follow-up four swords adventure.

link’s double-edged links:
- the official site for the game includes basic info and screenshots
- nice entry on the game at zeldawiki.org including the story that i assume is from the instruction manual, and info on the bosses, items, etc.
- entry at wikipedia
- zeldauniverse.net also has a nice entry on the game, including a transcript of the in-game prologue and a FAQ that details the requirements to complete the game. the site also mentions this regarding the game’s level generation: “Also note that the layout of each level changes, but it changes in two ways. First off, there’s the setting–which is the outer rim or overall layout of the stage. Then there’s the part–which is the area in the middle. So sometimes you’ll come to a level where the setting is the same, but the part in the middle is changed–or vice versa.” i’m surprised that no one’s tried to generally catalog all the possible level parts or types of level parts because from my limited experience it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near infinite, but it doesn’t seem that many people have played the game anyway.

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

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”

zeroing in on metroid: zero mission

it’s actually been a bit longer than i thought since i’d finished a metroid game, although i’ve been playing bits of some games off and on for a while. i sat down and finished metroid: zero mission a couple of weeks ago, which as you probably already know is the remake of the original NES metroid for the GBA.

the general response to the game was overwhelmingly positive when it came out, with critics praising the rehauled parts of the game as well as the new content, which introduced us to our heroine samus’s now-famous zero suit form. overall zero got slightly lower scores than the previous GBA metroid game, metroid fusion, although personally i preferred zero mission. i know i’m not alone in that, although it’s not immediately obvious why i would prefer it since zero mission is definitely the easier game. but i think i felt the same way as i felt when i played super metroid a while back: what it boils down to is noticeably superior map and room design. the elements of all three games are incredibly similar in terms of gameplay, but zero mission is definitely a case where the cumulative attention to detail makes the experience as a whole more compelling.

one of the things that struck me when i played super metroid was how much slower the pace was than fusion, which led to a more atmospheric and memorable game overall. zero is in many ways an even faster game than fusion: samus is more sprightly and easier to control than ever. although oftentimes you can zip through room after room in zero, the pacing is better than fusion overall in that there are plenty of places where you have to stop and get your bearings, plan your route, or puzzle your way through what seems to be a dead end. the new zero suit samus content has a different feel than the rest of the metroid series, but for the most part that section meshes fairly well with the game and points to some possible new directions for the 2D metroid games to go in (although it’s been more than 5 years now since zero was released with no new 2D metroid game in sight, alas). with zero i was amazed yet again at how in spite of so much similarity each individual game in the series is a lot of fun. i’m almost surprised at how much i enjoyed this game, although i think the next iteration will have to include even more novelty to keep the series from feeling stale.

the original NES version of the game (included in zero mission as an unlockable after you beat the game) forms a stark contrast to all the other games, as samus moves much more slowly and routes take much longer to uncover. i played through it when i was a kid and again years ago, but it’ll be interesting to play through it again at some point to compare it to zero. and i’m definiitely psyched to see how the original NES’s sequel, metroid 2 for the game boy, compares to the other games both in terms of gameplay and pacing. since it’s the only 2D metroid game i haven’t played at all, i’m probably going to tackle it sooner than later. definitely looking forward to it.

zeroing in on samus’s zero mission links:
- guide from IGN, including info on 15% completion, a mode that i’m not particularly interested in but which gives different endings.
- screenshots of all the game’s endings at vgmuseum.com
- game page at classicgaming.gamespy.com, including maps
- entry at wikipedia
- 1up posted a history of the metroid series a few years ago that also looked at the backstories presented in official sources. IGN also posted a history of the series last year.

wario’s twisted wares

i’ve been in the mood for sequels lately, so for my second game of the year i played through the now classic warioware: twisted! for the GBA. this is the 3rd warioware game i’ve played so far, and the novelty hasn’t worn off yet (even despite the fact i’ve been playing them out of order). the series has stayed fresh in large part by the variety of physical mechanics they’ve incorporated: the original only utilized the D-pad and one button, whereas the DS and wii versions made full use of those systems’ capabilities. as you probably already know, twisted includes a gyroscope which instantly makes your GBA a completely new device, and this new mode of gameplay is immediately compelling. (although i’m not alone in recommending that you forego your GBA SP for this one, as the shape of the original GBA is much more suited to “twisting”.)

but on top of the unique mechanics, and what makes the game ultimately a more fun game than the original, is that the microgames themselves have more variety. after i’d unlocked all the microgames in twisted i actually went back and played through a fair amount of mega microgame$ (partly to make the comparison, but then largely because i realized i hadn’t unlocked all the microgames for it). revisiting mega microgame$ really showed up the fact that many of those microgames feel very similar, whereas in twisted i rarely felt like any of the microgames were repeats. this isn’t solely due to the addition of the gyroscope, but also b/c the variety of situations in twisted and the even wackier and more over-the-top presentation cleverly disguise any similarities in actual gameplay. this iteration is noticeably more difficult than the first game, and the inclusion of tons of unlockable “souvenirs”, including music tracks, virtual kaleidoscopes, musical instruments, gadgets, and mini-games, also definitely adds to the fun and replay value, despite the fact most are completely random, throwaway, and useless. but, like the microgames themselves, almost all of them will leave you smiling, shaking your head in disbelief, or chuckling to yourself like an idiot. oh, and yes, 9-volt’s retro nintendo fanboy games are still the best. haha.

all in all twisted is a clear winner, and one of many sequels that is a clear improvement upon the original. i wouldn’t rank it as “the #1 game boy advance game of all time” as craig harris did over at IGN in march of 2007, but it’s def. a classic. of the three warioware games i’ve played i’ve come to appreciate smooth moves for the wii more than i originally did due to the amount of actions you’ll be called on to perform, but, not surprisingly, twisted feels a bit fresher since it was earlier in the series. next i’ll probably tackle touched for the DS, which actually came out before twisted in the US. looking forward to it, although the general concensus seems to be that it’s easier and shorter than previous installments.

out of curiosity, and b/c i’m a big geek, i thought it would be interesting to compare review scores of the various warioware games (although of course the actual reviewer may not have been consistent for each review). i limited the table to just nintendo power, IGN, and 1up, and used the original japanese release dates. a list of the games in the warioware series can be found on wikipedia.

Game	Release	meta	NP	IGN	1up
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (GBA)	3/21/2003	89	92	90	N/A
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! (GCN)	10/17/2003	76	75	85	85
WarioWare: Twisted! (GBA)	10/14/2004	88	85	95	80
WarioWare: Touched! (DS)	12/2/2004	81	92	85	85
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (wii)	12/2/2006	83	90	82	80

wario’s twisted links (bwa ha ha ha ha!):
- entry at wikipedia
- PDF of instruction manual at replacementdocs.com
- FAQ on all of the microgames and a prizes FAQ at gamefaqs
- list of unlockables at IGN
- pretty good review at 1up
- wikipedia entry on the newest installment, for the DSi, utsutsu! (which means “reality”, as it uses the DSi’s camera). looks interesting, although it seems the controls may not work that well.

super mario rendered

geez, where does the time go? i’ve got a review coming up, but here’s a quick post to catch up a bit. i randomly came across this random italian guy’s blog that collects official renders and artwork. it includes two nice collections of official super mario renders/artwork from the sports and RPG series, most of them high-resolution versions. check them out here and here.

doze drillers

i’ve gotten a bit behind on posting comments on a couple of the games i’ve finished. one is drill dozer, one of the last games for the GBA, brought to you by the good folk at game freak who were also the masterminds behind all those crazy pokemon games. i’d gotten interested in the game even before its main character made an appearance in brawl as an assist trophy from hearing good things in various places about it being a somewhat new spin on the platformer genre. this post at pressthebuttons.com has a good overview of what the game’s about and is a good example of what seems to be the general opinion, namely that the game’s novel game mechanics and lively characters and graphics keep the game entertaining.

as for my take, i def. enjoyed the game (and the built-in rumble pack!), but all together it’s kind of a strange little package. to explain: first off, the main game isn’t too long or very difficult. and although i started to get a bit weary of the incessant drilling the game element that really kept me engaged was the number of boss and sub-boss battles, a noteworthy amount and for the most part all nicely designed. but, as with luigi’s mansion and his trusty vacuum cleaner, by the end of drill dozer’s main game i felt like the whole drill mechanic had been completely exhausted, and i was ready for the game to be over. (of course i’d be fascinated to see what a sequel of either game would look like, although i don’t suppose either is a very likely possibility.)

but then, post win, the game really started to shine, in a significant way that most reviews (e.g. ign’s) don’t even hint at. i didn’t delve too deeply due to the drilling fatigue i had developed, but each level of the main game has hidden treasures that you can only look for after you beat the game, and you’ll prob. have to visit each one multiple times to find all of them as some are hidden rather deviously. even better are the extra levels you can acquire that take the game to a whole new level, with some sections that are, if you’ll pardon the expression, balls-to-the-wall hard. we’re talking old-school-NES-style hard. in the average platformer a “hard” area may require you to master a complicated series of 5 or 6 button presses, but in some of these extra maps you’ll have to perfectly time some 15 moves with only a bottomless pit below you to break your fall. in what i’ve played through so far the extra maps also require much more thought, and the process of studying your arsenal and exploring your options approaches almost metroid-like levels. if the whole game had been like this second half is turning out to be this would have easily been a game for the ages. as it is, my final verdict will have to wait until i finish playing through all the extra maps and finding all the treasures. but i’m going to have to shelve the game for now b/c, dammit, there’s only so much drilling a man can take!

one link is all you’ll need!
- great walkthrough at IGN

advanced wars

after becoming such a fire emblem-obsessed freak, it’s no surprise that having exhausted all the english-released FE games i turned my attention to FE’s sibling series, advance wars, as it’s known in the US. the original entry to the series (called famicom wars, for the japanese NES, and only released in japan) was released less than two years before the first fire emblem, and both are developed by intelligent systems (along w/ the paper mario and warioware series).

it’s easy to see the similarities between the two series as both are turn-based strategy games, and no doubt there are many who are fans of both. but there are also significant, inherent differences that make it seem likely that there are many more who are fans of one but not the other. on the fire emblem side there’s an actual story with a huge cast of well-delineated characters, along w/ the fantasy setting and the strong RPG feel. in contrast advance wars is much more about the tactics, as your units never get upgraded and you have to manage their production by capturing cities and factories. all in all i def. prefer the fire emblem series, as story and characters add so much to games for me in general. nevertheless, this is still a top-notch game and there was still a lot i enjoyed in terms of the more undiluted tactics, even despite the somewhat formidable learning curve. w/ advance wars b/c there isn’t much of a story and the gameplay is so focused on the tactics i don’t feel particularly compelled to rush out and play through the sequels. so i’ll prob. replay the main story on the regular mode to unlock the other CO’s and at least A-rank every level before tackling the harder mode. if only the fire emblem DS game would come out sooner!

some advanced links:
- craig harris’s review for IGN is pretty spot on
- FAQ at IGN detailing the CO powers, info for all the units, etc.
- nice guide to all the units at strategyplanet
- damage chart at advancewarsnet.com: for AW2, but i think it pretty much still applies
- details on the calculations at gamefaqs
- guide at IGN: walkthrough for campaign and advance campaign modes

sword sealed

since i’ve exhausted all the fire emblem games that have been released in the states, it was inevitable that i would turn my attention sooner or later to the ones that haven’t been officially translated into english. in this case, sooner, w/ the first GBA fire emblem game, FE6, subtitled “the sword of seals” (no, not the sea world variety). although learning japanese has steadily risen among the items on my master list of things to do in my lifetime, luckily i didn’t have to wait before tackling this game b/c online you can find a great fan translation of it.

sword of seals is notable for several reasons. for one, it was the first GBA fire emblem, so the vast majority of its engine (inc. game mechanics, menus, calculations, and graphics) was re-used for the two subsequent GBA releases, the blazing sword and the sacred stones. second, it features roy as the protagonist, who was featured in super smash bros. melee and who along with fire emblem icon marth, also featured in melee, first sparked the interest of most english-speakers in the fire emblem series and eventually led to the first fire emblem game released outside of japan (although the first to get an international release wasn’t this one, roy’s game, but the next one, blazing sword). third, unbeknownst to most english speakers at the time, the aforementioned game blazing sword, which followed sword of seals, was actually a prequel to that game, and features several of the same characters and more than a few cameo appearances.

so, being the first of the GBA fire emblem trio it’s perhaps not surprising that there are several ways that the game pales in comparison. the main one for me is that support conversations feel slightly less developed. according to wikipedia this was actually the first game in the series that had support conversations, and although the types of conversations are similar to the other games, the characters here just seem slightly less alive. this may be in part due to the fan translation as opposed to having an official one. also, the lack of a support reader showing supports that have been unlocked makes me slightly less motivated to play the game again. similarly, the ranking system tracking overall game performance feels slightly less polished here.

in terms of specifics, one complaint i had about the game is that thieves don’t promote, which was a surprise when i realized it, and somewhat of a disappointment as it screwed up my previous strategy. also, there are three extra chapters at the end that contain the “real” ending that you can only get if you fulfill certain conditions, several of which would be fairly easy to miss on your first or even your second playthrough. the other complaint i had is that the enemies’ overuse of berserk staffs seems fairly pointless and cheap. to my recollection the other two GBA games minimized this, what i feel is just a cheap tactic.

newcomers to the series would be unlikely to miss anything, though, and refraining from comparisons to the others the game on its own is quite enjoyable. the story is engaging, and like the other two games this one has a branching storyline for several chapters. there’s a huge cast of characters which adds to the replayability, and the gameplay, while permanently etched into my brain by now, is still fun and addictive. prequels and sequels are generally entertaining and this one’s no exception for those who have already played FE7. all in all this isn’t going to be the first fire emblem game i’d pick up to replay, but it’s definitely a game that i’m looking forward to playing again despite being so similar to the others. and, yes, even after this my 5th fire emblem game my flame for the series still burns. haha. but i think now may be the time for a longer hiatus, believe it or not. we’ll just have to see how that pans out.

some sealed sword links:
- great walkthrough at fireemblemworld.com
- english fire emblem documentary has some great stuff, inc. a a good character guide, the character endings, and the official artwork.
- serenes forest: indispensible for the other games, but for this one there are some things you’ll have to find elsewhere. also includes the soundtrack and maps.
- gamefaqs has a copy of the translation of the game script.
- text of all the support conversations at neoseeker.com
- coupla wallpapers at feplanet.net
- for the really nerdy (you know who you are), a listing of all the expected averages in all the stats at every level for all the characters in all the games.

pac-man artfully arranged

i’ve had pac-man collection on the GBA for quite some time now, and it’s an enjoyable, albeit somewhat flawed, lot. i’ve been a fan of the ol’ yellow hockey puck ever since the chuck e. cheese ms. pac-man days, and i had the original NES version of pac-man as well (w/ patterns, it should be noted, that are quite diff. from the arcade version). anyway, you can read about the games included in craig harris’s good review at ign.com. after playing through all four for a while, i focused on the first, the 1996 re-make pac-man arrangement, featuring 22 different boards, plus a “boss” stage. the game itself is a great sequel, as it features power-up pills, jump (i.e. teleport) and dash abilities, and “super ghosts” w/ various powers to annoy you. all the additions work extremely well in expanding the gameplay w/out straying too far from the original experience. as w/ other games w/ unlimited continues it’s not too hard to beat the game, but it’s rather more challenging to get to the final stage on one continue. figuring out patterns will def. help, but your regular pac-man strategy is what you’ll find yourself relying on.

the GBA version is limited by having to split the screen and scroll up and down to move from the top to the bottom, and no doubt the adjustment makes the game harder. but all in all it’s not too much of a problem to keep track of where the ghosts generally are at all times. i found it hard to play on the small GBA screen, and the DS directional pad was way too stiff for me, but using the gamecube game boy adapter and the d-pad on the gamecube controller proved to be the best combination for me. at some point i’ll pick up the namco collection that includes it, but w/ the exception of not having the split screen i doubt it’ll offer much of a new experience.

i’m looking forward to delving into the other 3 games in this set to a greater depth, though. i found the split-screen version of the orig. pac-man included hard to play, and the full-screen version is impossible on the tiny GBA screen and awkward using the cube adapter. as you’d expect the full-screen mode is very strangely calibrated and doesn’t feel very natural to play, although i suppose you could get adjusted to it. “pac-attack”, the tetris pac-man game, was quite fun, and i have def. plans to play through the puzzle mode (although you should note that in puzzle mode to make the order of the pieces the same for each board you have to manually change the setting. in the instructions it says to do this: “… highlight Puzzle, hold right on the Control Pad, and press the A Button”). still not sure how the 3-d “pac-mania” is going to fare, but i’ll try to keep an open mind.

and a thought to leave you with today, as namco says at the end of pac-man arr: “the game is never really over. someone … somewhere … is being chased by monsters!”

some pac-links:
- pac-man arrangement on wikipedia
- racketboy.com: rundown of the best pac-man clones and spinoffs
- codes for pac attack