10-year-old boy’s top picks for wii co-op and vs. gaming over wi-fi

i’ve been playing a couple of hours of wii over wi-fi with my currently-10-year-old nephew most weeks for the past couple of years (since he was about eight), and i’ve been meaning to post what his favorites have been. the options are fairly limited, but we haven’t been bored yet. my nephew’s much more of a social gamer than a solo one, and in general he’s very easygoing and not picky, but based on the frequency we play certain games he seems to prefer some games over others. here’s the run-down:

1) at the top of the list is mario kart wii. although i found the game to be more infuriating than fun at 150cc, the game has several advantages over the other wi-fi games on wii, the main one being that instead of just two-player matches against each other, we can play against up to 10 other random opponents. it’s a bit humbling to see how bad i am at the game compared to many others (although i wonder how much more time they’ve put into it, and i do have the disadvantage of always using the wii wheel), but both of us place high enough enough times that we don’t get too frustrated at how badly we’re getting beaten, despite our low overall ranking (measured by the VR score). it’s a little annoying that we usually can’t join each other’s current race right away, even if the other person hasn’t actually started racing yet, but aside from that the always changing competition and variety of tracks, karts, and characters keep this one pretty high on our list.

2) next up would have to be super smash bros. brawl. i’ve waxed poetic about the game several times already, but my nephew likes experimenting with the huge number of characters. the game was easy for him to get into, and his skills have continued to improve fairly steadily. we usually play a 2 vs. 2 team-up against the computer, but every once in a while we mix it up with a 1 vs. 1 match or a multi-man brawl. it would’ve been nice to have been able to have a 2 vs. 2 team match against random opponents, but it wouldn’t be as fun as mario kart wii‘s matchups anyway.

3) in third would probably be tatsunoko vs. capcom: ultimate all-stars. i got this for him this past christmas, but already we’ve had a lot of fun with it. it’s his first experience with the street fighter series, and the simplified single-wiimote control mechanism makes it almost as easy to get into as brawl. it’s still generally more complicated than brawl so it’ll be interesting to see which he ends up preferring, but there’s a nice variety with the characters (although we still haven’t really figured out why some characters seem so useless). i personally would rather play brawl, but i’m interested in spending more time with this game myself.

4) a more-distant fourth would be animal crossing: city folk. i personally would rather play this than some of the other wii wi-fi games, but i can see how a 10-year-old boy would prefer something with a bit more action and competition. we don’t play it that often, but whenever i do he’s always perfectly happy to do so and enthusiastically runs around shopping, fishing, and bug catching. i probably get more out of it than he does, and in part thanks to our sessions together i’ve reached some milestones since my post a year and a half ago including just a few weeks ago finally paying off the last of my mortgage and finally finding the last fossil (i’m still hunting for two more pieces of the robo series). it’s not his first choice, but he seems to fully enjoy it regardless.

5) rounding out the list is excitebike: world rally. the game is perfectly enjoyable, but as a wiiware title it just doesn’t have the depth that the other games do. part of why we don’t play it that much is that, despite holding it in extremely high regard, i lost interest in it after i got all the highest medals. but wi-fi matches against random players is fun (and it’s not difficult for us to get put into the same room), and my nephew gets caught up in playing more matches so that he can unlock the next color (not sure why he finds that so appealing, but he does). a perfectly good, albeit limited, alternative to the other games mentioned.

the number of wi-fi co-op games on wii has been a bit disappointing, but there are still games we haven’t spent much time with yet. we’ve played pokemon battle revolution a few times, but he’s not inclined to play it solo in order to unlock better pokemon. i also got him mario strikers charged for christmas, so we’ll probably be trying that out before too long

and to finish up, for some additional suggestions here’s a list of recommended wii wi-fi games that was the first hit i got from a search online.

wii speakin’ ’bout animal crossing: city folk

despite having thoroughly enjoyed the first two (US) entries in the animal crossing series i was a bit wary about starting in on the wii version, animal crossing: city folk, since by all accounts it sounded like it was going to be extremely similar to the previous versions. having spent an inordinate amount of time on this installment (mostly in the quest of getting the golden watering can, which i finally achieved), overall i’d say that the game included just enough new features to be worthwhile, although my perspective is a bit skewed: although i had played the first two versions a lot i hadn’t played them the obscene amounts that apparently a lot of people have. so i was still entertained with a lot of the core gameplay, including completing fossils, collecting fish and bugs and furniture sets, and decorating my house. i hadn’t spent much time on designs or multiplayer before, so those were areas that were also more novel to me than they would be for others.

in terms of the new features, the aspect i enjoyed the most was the use of wii speak, a microphone that sits on top of your TV that you can get bundled with the game and allows you to voice chat over wi-fi, either within the wii speak channel or within the game. the voice chat works reasonably well, and it was the feature that motivated me to get the game so that i could play it with my nephew. the wi-fi multiplayer’s limitations are often mildly annoying, though, e.g. visitors won’t appear if you have a guest over, and you can’t do certain special activities such as build a snowman or find the money rock. also, it seems that people who live in the same town on one wii get different interactions than playing with friends over wi-fi, e.g. villagers only show letters to and auctions are only shared among people living in the same town. i also enjoyed taking screenshots and being able to send them to an email address or someone’s wii message board. the other notable new feature is the DLC (downloadable content, i.e. new items) you receive periodically from nintendo via wiiconnect24, either monthly or for special events.

in terms of the tweaks, i liked how holidays are more prominent than in WW. i didn’t really care for having to go to the city all the time and didn’t really see the point of it or the mii masks (which felt like an afterthought and looked a little creepy actually), and although there are a handful of new characters no one seems particularly notable. outfits, which are combinations of hats, shirts, and sometimes accessories that go together, are a nice new feature although underutilized. the feature that people complain about the most is the “desertification” where walking over the same path over and over results in the grass changing to dirt. i didn’t have a problem with this, and you can plant flowers and trees over it to speed up the regrowth process, although i can see how a group of avid players all running around one town would really make the town look like a wasteland. a side effect of desertification is that buried treasures are much harder to spot, which makes hunting for fossils and gyroids more interesting than in the previous games.

i was really hoping that city folk would be a step forward for the series, but as with many nintendo titles of late it really is very similar to its predecessor. in the end, though, i’d say because of the wi-fi features this is probably the best of the three, despite its small number of improvements. hopefully the upcoming 3DS version will have more new features. incidentally, the game was recently made available as a bestseller title, although, oddly enough a new copy of the original standalone game is cheaper on amazon.

wii speakin’ ’bout city folk links:
- of all the AC wikis i’ve come across, accf.wikispaces.com is definitely the best of the bunch, although they don’t have specific info about the two previous iterations. for that animalxing.com is a good alternative.
- iwata asks feature
- some interesting nintendo channel stats of the game at coffeewithgames.com: i just beat out the average player with my 80+ hours, although i’m sure there are many who easily double or triple that
- nice solo guitar version of the theme song. the page also includes a link to the TAB.
- interesting rundown of the N64 original (only released in japan)
- it impresses me that some people get really creative with games like AC:CF. this user-created multiplayer game is pretty entertaining.
- official site: nothing particularly interesting on it, though

wild animal world crossed

although i’d played and quite enjoyed the original animal crossing on the ‘cube, i wasn’t quite prepared for how much i would get sucked into its DS sequel, animal crossing: wild world. most reviews seemed to emphasize all the things that were the same, but i found that all the additions really added to the experience and made the town feel more alive, and thus kept me much more interested. the new townspeople and visitors were all memorable, with the taciturn barista brewster and dr. shrunk with his combination stand up and psychotherapy being among my favorites. the old visitors and the townspeople with their seemingly never-ending supply of dialogue were still entertaining, and the addition of extra dialogue for the town staff was a nice touch. letter writing is much improved as the responses are now nicely varied instead of the constant “i didn’t understand you, you big dolt!” responses from the gamecube version, and helping the villagers with their hobbies was another nice addition. i was also amused to find out that there’s a series of trading sequences in the game, which seems like a nod to the zelda series that the game was inspired by.

all the additions, some of which were only small details, helped ease the disappointment in not getting any emulated NES games in this version, and i kept playing for a longer span of time than i expected. so much so that i actually got the golden watering can (i.e. kept my town perfect for 16 days), which i didn’t even get close to getting with the gamecube version. even aside from all the additions to the gameplay, the single factor that contributed to keeping me playing was the fact that the game was on the DS. i found myself playing the game for at least 20 minutes each day, and it was so easy to pick it up and play for a short burst that i could fit it into my day in a way that i couldn’t really get myself to do before. (uh oh, i sound like one of those DS “lifestyle” commercials, which is particularly embarassing b/c i’m a fairly “hardcore” gamer. but it’s true.) and when i was having a stressful day it was a great way to relax and be brainless for a while (uh oh, there’s more of that advertisement talk). my only real complaint, other than seriously dreading the day i go back to the game since my town will be completely covered in weeds and all my flowers will have died, is that there isn’t nearly as much variety in the town holidays as in the gamecube version. as it is the game still manages to achieve greatness in my mind, although it will definitely be interesting to see how the series progresses. in particular i wonder how many more activities they’ll add to the game, since the simplicity is a lot of what keeps it so addictive (and fun). we’ll just have to wait and see.

some wild animal links!
- animalcrossingcommunity.com has a lot of good info, including an HRA guide.
- images of all the possible villagers at animalxing.com
- official site
- gamefaqs has some great info, including a guide to gulliver and villagers (including how to make them permanent residents), a guide to the special visitors, a guide to getting a perfect town, and a flower breeding guide.
- pretty good list of unlockables at gamespot
- basic guide at IGN along with a pretty good general guide, a slew of FAQs, and craig harris’s review

pinballed

this is a game i “finished” today, so while i’m thinking about it i’m going to post this even though there was another game i finished earlier.

high on my list of NES games to play are all the orig. NES games available in animal crossing, almost all of which i think are now available for purchase on ye olde virtual console. i have to say whenever i pick up animal crossing again i always enjoy spending a few days getting back into it, squishing bugs in my dusty house, picking some of the forests of weeds that have grown, getting reacquainted with the townsfolk, and checking out what holidays are coming up. good times. (although, drat, i realized today i missed totakeke last night.)

after my previous escapade with balloon fight (previously recounted here), i tackled pinball. a lot of people have reviewed this game since it came out on the virtual console, including ign.com and 1up.com. although the ign review mentions that this was the 1st effort of nintendo’s HAL laboratory (responsible for the kirby and smash bros. series), both of the reviews lament the limited gameplay and the simplicity.

the user score on ign (currently 7.2 vs. the ign editor’s 5.0) show that the game has its fans, though, and after playing it for a while i def. count myself among them. i’m not turned off by simplicity in games if the game is fun, and even though i have a higher tolerance for repetitive games than some (as must anyone who truly loves NES games) i think the game has a lot more to offer than these reviews give credit for.

granted, this was a game released in 1984, but it’s def. on par with its contemporaries, such as donkey kong junior or the orig. mario bros. (both from 1983). the excellent guide on strategywiki.org describes the game well: “Just when you think you’ve discovered everything the table has to offer there’s usually one or two surprises hidden for you to find later on.” and for that reason i highly, highly recommend you don’t read that guide until after you’ve played the game for a good while.

i hadn’t really played pinball machines, virtual or otherwise, but i enjoyed all the touches that the video game version adds that wouldn’t be possible in a real board, including a bonus round. after some haphazard flipping, i settled down and figured out how to score better, and i’ve gotten to the point where i can break 100,000 pretty regularly (although there are def. a lot of areas where my skills could be improved). there’s something that changes in the game after that that makes the game much harder though, so it’ll take some effort to get much higher.

all in all this is def. a keeper and def. worth a look, and it def. has me psyched to play the other pinball video games out there. my high score prob. isn’t that high, but for now i’m satisfied w/ my top score of more than 110,000. next time i pick this up my goal will be to break 150,000. hahaha.

everybody was balloon fighting

i’ve been playing animal crossing off and on for a while. the game was enjoyable and there were def. some surprises, but overall it just didn’t have much longevity for me (esp. since i don’t have anyone to play with!). when i get a DS (and the subsequent connection to the global community) i’ll prob. give it another go, but these days i only check up on it when i want to play some emulated NES games. the NES games within animal crossing were actually one of the biggest draws for me in the first place, and they didn’t disappoint.

it was nice to get to play clu clu land again which has been a long-time favorite. i’d played balloon fight before, but this was the first time i really gave it much time. a joust clone to be sure, but it def. has its own charms and a great sense of style. i found that the regular mode, in which you progress through a series of stages, didn’t hold my attention for very long (although it is def. more fun w/ a second person), but i found myself surprised at how addictive the “balloon trip” mode was. in this mode (with slightly differently layouts each time) the screen constantly forces you to progress through obstacles which are stationary at first, but soon become drifting mazes. it’ll def. give you a memorable rush as you hold your breath, squeezing through what might or might not be a too small opening between electrocuting stars.

apparently there’s also a spinoff called balloon kid that plays more like a side-scroller. here’s a review i found about it. i’m intrigued enough to try it out, so stay tuned for that one.

although this blog is supposedly focused on 8-bit games, i think this is the first old-school NES game i’ve really written about! expect more in the future, esp. with all the virtual console games coming out that have gotten my attention.

and the requisite links:
- apparently there’s still a lot of affection for this game. nintendojo gives it a whopping 9.5 out of 10.
- here are some people dressed up as the main characters
- here’s a toy you can import where you can use pins to make the balloon fight characters … and also one where you can make all the characters from ice climbers! awesome.
- the text of the instruction manual
- a FAQ at ign that includes board layouts. the author suggests using minimal movement for the balloon trip mode, but i found that my method of darting through clear openings and then hovering to wait for the screen to catch up worked better for me.
- ign also has an interesting article that specifically covers the GBA emulation you can transfer from animal crossing.

animal crossing movie

to inaugurate this video game blog i should have something more momentous to post, but i don’t. i will say however, that it was thanks to my bf’s perhaps unwise gamecube purchase that has lead to my current renewed obsession with all things video game, more particularly all things nintendo. so anyway, sit back and relax and let the log of my video game obsessions begin …

first off, i’m psyched about the news of an upcoming animal crossing movie (in japan anyway). here are two pics (1 | 2) i’ve found, but no trailer so far. one can only speculate on what it’ll be about, but either way it’s going to be awesome. more animal crossing comments to come.