cat-tastic super mario 3D world

when super mario 3D world for wii u was first announced i, like many others, wasn’t particularly excited by it based on the trailer, which aside from the new cat power-up, multiplayer, and character selection (in the form of the return of the quartet from NES’s super mario bros. 2 with the same unique abilities), looked way too much like 3DS’s mario 3D land, a game i had enjoyed but which hadn’t made much of an impression. even after trying the game at the best buy E3 event i was skeptical that this game would be the system-seller that nintendo needs to revive interest in wii u, a console that by all metrics has been off to a slow start.

oddly enough, however, the trailer released months later, in october, just a couple of months before the game’s release, was the one that really got me (and others) hyped for the game. the trailer revealed more all-new power-ups that turned out to be real highlights of the game, and although subsequent trailers went too far in the opposite direction, revealing even more of the game’s secrets, i managed to avoid watching too much more, although the game’s 5th secret character wasn’t much of a secret to anyone by the time it was released.

the game came out to universal acclaim, and the game feels like a culmination of many different areas nintendo has been working on with the mario series. the multi-player is more successful than new super mario bros. wii and new super mario bros. u since players have more room to roam around and not get in each other’s way, and having character-specific abilities again makes the gameplay feel refreshing and makes revisiting stages to track down green stars much less of a chore. peach’s hovering ability makes the game much easier for newbies to get into, and the multi-player is so successful overall that my partner has actually said this is his favorite mario game to date, which has been clearly evidenced by the amount of time he’s spent playing it with me.

like 3d land levels are linear, but they feel more substantial here with more galaxy-like levels of variety. there’s still plenty of exploration with incentive to do so, in the form of the aforementioned green stars plus miiverse stamps. although there’s a wide range of power-ups, the cat power-up is thoroughly explored without overstaying its welcome, and unlike many of the more-recent games in the series i didn’t feel bothered that some of them are only confined to a few levels since those were clearly designed to be more novelties than integrated to the scale of the cat suit. i did find myself missing the glasses-free 3-D of 3d land, though, since that would have helped with some of the hard-to-judge jumps, and i don’t think i’m the only one. the game also evolves 3d land‘s mystery boxes, which were single rooms full of enemies, into more-interesting challenges, including various enemy-defeating marathons.

as for all-new elements, the adventures of captain toad stages are a nice diversion, and i’m not the only one who would grab an eshop-only release of new stages if it were ever created. the plessie (i.e. boat) stages were fairly boring to me and same-y, however, and boss battles tended to be a low point for me (with the sole exception of the battles against pom pom which were entertaining).

i haven’t written about miiverse on this blog yet, but when i first i heard about it i wasn’t that excited about it. but after experiencing how it was integrated with launch titles like NSMB U and nintendo land i understood how brilliant it is. having a chorus of comments from others who have experienced what you’re experiencing pop up within the game has been a fantastic way of feeling that even when you’re playing alone you’re still part of a huge community of nintendo fans, so much so that turning it off makes you aware of the huge wall of silence that results. the miiverse integration in mario 3d world is even better than NSMB U since you can collect stamps, which are more fun to get than the green stars, although it does crowd miiverse with a lot of useless posts. also, i feel like nintendo should do a better job of refining what posts get shown to you. clearly stamps related to the final battle are going to be spoilers (and anyone who’s played the game with the miiverse features enabled must have known what the final battle was going to be based on others’ posts about it) and should be automatically marked as such.

re: the extra character, i think it’s fantastic that a new character (with new unique abilities!) has been added to the series, although i’m still a bit disappointed that that character has been getting so much attention lately and not daisy who has been around a lot longer. the remixed stages featured in two of the post-game bonus worlds are more worthwhile than the challenges that stuffed the post-game of 3d land, although too many of them are just switched to a nighttime setting which was more annoying than fun. i also feel like it’s a missed opportunity to continue to make games that are supposedly set in other locales (in this case the “sprixie” kingdom) but use all the same elements from the main series, usually set in the mushroom kingdom. much as i love the mushroom kingdom, i’m still waiting for the day the series makes a return to super mario land‘s sarasaland or super mario 2‘s subcon.

all in all this was an enjoyable experience, and although it easily surpasses its closest relative, mario 3d land, and the majority of the more-recent mario titles, overall i would have to put it behind mario galaxy. the game is a worthy successor to that game, but much as i appreciate the refinement of the multi-player, as a primarily single-player person galaxy gets the edge for pioneering the mostly-linear-but-with-exploration level structure and the variety of the levels and new elements introduced to the series. if i were anyone else but me the game would have earned a place on my list of all-time greats and the game is certainly impressive on all fronts, but much as i enjoyed it, it just didn’t give me enough “tingly” moments to join the pantheon. it’s been 6 years since galaxy was released, but it looks like i’ll have to wait a bit longer for a mario game that truly astounds me.

cat-tastic super mario 3D world links:
– the official site has some wallpapers and cute “i can has cheezburger”-like character images (the one for peach is particularly cute), along with a set of cat mario ears you can print out and wear
– thorough entry at mariowiki.com, including details on new enemies. for requirements for a 5-star file, see the entry at mario.wikia.com.
– nintendo minute posted a video highlighting two of their favorite levels from the game
– iwata asks feature
– playing the game i was reminded that no one really knows what the ‘P’ in P-switches stands for. looks like people’s best guess is still that it stands for “power”.
– entry at howlongtobeat.com

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descending into the not-too-shallow depths of steel diver

steel diver was one of the 3DS’s launch titles, and seemed to be among the most disappointing of the already-slim first-party offerings. i played through its little-known game boy predecessor, radar mission, last year, and although that game was slim on content it had a certain amount of charm, so i tried to keep an open mind about this game.

like radar mission, steel diver has multiple modes that have little to do with each other, other than that they feature submarines. the periscope strike mode is very similar to one of the modes in radar mission. in it you’re a submarine and you shoot down ships in a fixed 360-degree FPS view, but whereas in radar mission you simply pressed left or right to move around, in this game you actually physically move the 3DS from side to side. this is one of those cases where motion controls really do enhance the experience. you can also use the touchscreen if you want, although it’s much less gratifying. the mode is short and there’s not a lot of depth to it, but it’s an enjoyable side diversion.

steel diver also revisits radar mission‘s second mode, which was a two-player battleship-like board game. in radar mission this mode was almost exactly like battleship, but in steel diver there’s more to do, although all of it ends up being about as mindless. in steel diver you actually move your submarine around and use sonar to detect your enemy’s ships. the enemy’s ships can attack your submarine as well, but basically only have a 1/3 chance of hitting you. this mode also includes more playing fields which add more variation, but clearly it’s nowhere near as complex or satisfying as the advance wars series. still, as a single-cartridge two-player download board-game-type experience there are probably some who would find this mode to be somewhat worthwhile.

the third and easily the most substantial mode is the campaign mode, which is brand new. in this mode you choose between three different submarines (each with distinct characteristics such as size and maneuverability) and pilot it through a series of maps littered with enemy subs and ships and other hazards. the mode is an interesting mix of navigation and battling, and although it only includes seven missions and three bosses, you’re required to beat each mission with all three subs before unlocking the hard mode. there’s also a series of time trials to beat and medals to earn by beating staff ghosts. you also earn decals in timed bonus periscope strike missions after beating each campaign mission that can be “equipped” one at a time and provide a small benefit like increased torpedo speed. so in terms of content, this is all a pretty decent amount even when not including the other modes, and reviewers who have said otherwise probably didn’t play through all of the campaign mode, let alone the hard mode.

the more pressing question, though, is: is the campaign mode “fun”? and here’s where i have more-mixed feelings. it’s easy to see why miyamoto said he waited to create this game until the DS’s touchscreen controls, because the main draw of the game is pushing and pulling levers to steer your sub instead of just using a control stick or D-pad. in choosing this design steel diver joins a range of games, including defender and nintendo’s own drill dozer and donkey kong jungle beat, that wouldn’t have been distinct games without their wholly unique controls. now, in probably all of these cases the games would have been much easier to play with more-traditional controls, and in many cases the gimmick wasn’t enough to offset the otherwise-uninspired gameplay. with its fairly simplistic control panel steel diver feels like it could go either way in terms of the “awkward” controls making the game worthwhile or not, but in the end i found that, although i don’t think i ever felt like i was in any way actually piloting a submarine, the controls were well-designed and fun to use. this quote from the iwata asks article highlights miyamoto’s intentions particularly well:

What I’d like to say is how, to put it in car terms, you have automatic cars and manual cars. Of course, driving an automatic is easier, but you can experience the joy of driving a car better with a manual transmission.
Playing Steel Diver is like driving a car with a clutch. You have to learn how to do it: “If you don’t do this, it won’t move.” “Oh?” “If you don’t do this, it won’t stop.” “Okay, I see.” It’s really fun to do several things at once that you have learned.
I don’t think it really applies to say this game has good or poor operability.

although i was engaged enough to play through the bulk of the campaign mode, i think it’s a stretch to compare the game to a racer, such as f-zero. a lot of the core fun of a racer is its sense of speed, so playing an intentionally slow and cumbersome racer is about as much fun as doing or watching olympic speed walking. water and ice levels in general are annoying, but like the first wave race game, on game boy, although on paper steel diver‘s campaign mode’s gameplay might look unbearably tedious, somehow it all combines to be worthwhile and generally enjoyable. i wouldn’t rank this higher than average and it’s definitely not worth a full $40, but for $5 it’s definitely not a dud and this was certainly one case where i enjoyed a game more than i thought i would.

descend into the not-too-shallow depths of these steel diver links:
– official site. includes info on the game modes and some videos.
– the game was discussed in two iwata asks feature. one as part of a series on the 3DS in general, and one focused on the game itself
– complete list of decals (including a certain nintendo cameo)
– FAQ at gamefaqs
– overview at nintendo.com
– review at nintendolife.com
– entry at wikipedia
– video of the credits

well-behaved but tame nintendogs + cats

there wasn’t much grabbing me among the 3DS’s launch titles, so the first game i bought was a bit random: nintendogs + cats, specifically the golden retriever version. i’d enjoyed its predecessor on DS, and from the reviews i really wasn’t expecting much from the release aside from improved and 3-D graphics. (if you’re not familiar with the original you can find a run-down of all this game’s features at superphillip central.)

despite the irresistible cuteness of my new dog max and a bit later my equally cute cat genji, the game was almost exactly what i expected: a safe sequel, with only minor changes to the formula, but with just enough differences and new features to keep me entertained to the “end” (winning the highest rank in all three competitions). the game’s two major changes are a shift from a 3rd- to a 1st-person perspective to emphasize the 3-D graphics in walks and the agility trial. the latter has been replaced with a lure course in which you just have to reel in a lure for your puppy to chase after; it definitely doesn’t require as much effort as before, but it’s not completely mindless either. the obedience trial completely unnecessarily requires you to use your AR card (which, as most people know, has the mildly annoying side effect of causing the image to jump around), but otherwise that and the frisbee competition are pretty much the same as before. there are a few more tricks and some variation in the locales where you can take your walks, and it’s notably easier to unlock breeds since you can do so just by playing the game regularly (supposedly consecutive days in a row).

in terms of additions, being able to own a cat was about as minor a change as i’d expected. the spotpass DLC in the form of presidents and their pets that also come with a special item is more worthwhile (although the downside is that after you get them you’ll repeatedly run into them on your walks), and the streetpass feature allows you to meet other owners and earn items based on the steps you take. the most effective addition is the ability to take snapshots at any time within the game, a feature that i’ve noted before is becoming part of nintendo’s new standard and is as addictive as you’d expect.

all in all i enjoyed having this as my mindless relaxation game, although i’m not sure i’d be up for a 3rd go around without a significantly different experience. although knowing me and no doubt what nintendo is banking on, in five years time or so i’ll probably be ready to be slobbered on by another adorable virtual pet.

chew on these nintendogs + cats links:
– the nintendogs wiki has a lot of useful information including info on what owner points unlock, what items you can get from the pedometer feature, and what’s been released through spotpass. it looks like a fair amount of info was taken from this site which also has a handy table on version-exclusive items.
– nintendo of america tweeted this entertaining series of pics of a nintendog at the beach
– this guy has some videos of spotpass content

mario kart 64 DS

although mario kart 7 was released only a few months ago, i’m still catching up on the last few entries in the series. the next one up for me was mario kart DS. the game got rave reviews upon its release six years ago, and it does offer some new features. first off, the game introduces wi-fi races and battles, neither of which particularly interest me, although the emphasis on snaking in this game apparently makes that experience very uneven. missions were a mild diversion, although they got rather repetitive, and it annoys me that full mastery of snaking, which i consider to be an optional technique since it’s never mentioned anywhere in the game or its manual, is required to 3-star rank some of them. the retro cups, which include reprises of tracks from the four previous games in the series, were a great addition and have since become a series staple, although only having 3 laps for the SNES tracks often made them feel more frustrating than they could’ve been since the idiosyncratic brevity of those races gives you little room for error. the game also introduces a new roster of karts to choose from with three new stats — handling, drift, and items — which adds some variety.

in terms of the “difficulty”, by now the frustration of last-second blue shells is par for the course. the inclusion of ranks, introduced in super circuit, definitely adds to the replayability, but i’m not into racers enough to have much interest in chasing the highest ranks. the game features the kart debut of a pair of characters, one of whom was a complete surprise, as well as a couple of new items.

despite all these additions, the game feels strongly tied to mario kart 64 since it ignores the gameplay introduced in the gamecube iteration. the new locales are enjoyable, but too many of the new tracks feel like retreads to me. it’s certainly impressive to see gamecube tracks reworked for the more-limited DS, but in terms of the core racing experience there wasn’t much that really grabbed me. on the up-side, the game did make me appreciate the new ideas introduced in the gamecube game. this one ends up ranking in the middle of my list of favorites in the series so far, and i’m hoping the wii (and 3DS) iterations provide more of a progression for the series as a whole.

zoom past these mario kart DS links:
– entry at mariowiki.com
– list of unlockables at strategywiki.org
– thorough FAQ at gamefaqs
– nice chart comparing the appearance of items throughout the series

spirited spirit tracks

even though it had been little more than half a year since i’d finished phantom hourglass i ended up playing through its immediate sequel the legend of zelda: spirit tracks. zelda fans seem to be divided when comparing it to its predecessor: they either strongly prefer one or the other. (the comments in this post at gonintendo.com about the difference in sales between the two games provides a good sampling.)

i fall squarely in the spirit tracks camp, for several reasons. first off, i, along with many other people, was initially very skeptical about the central train mechanics, and was worried it was too un-zelda-like. the creators themselves (as discussed in the as always insightful iwata asks feature for the game) were initially unsure about this as well, but it works quite well as a variation of the ship-sailing mechanic seen in hourglass. although there are occasional reprieves, travelling by train gets to be rather dull, but after wind waker and hourglass i was just relieved that i didn’t have to endure any more of that monotonous sailing.

in general phantom hourglass cribbed too much from wind waker, and in spirit tracks you can really feel the creators enjoying the freedom of not having to rely on a previous template, despite reusing the same game engine. in fact, as with majora’s mask‘s reuse of ocarina of time‘s engine, being freed of focusing on the game engine seems to have given the zelda team the opportunity to develop some almost completely new ideas for the series, and in this case the biggest one is the successful dual-character mechanic involving zelda herself in a starring role for the first time (although similar gameplay has been used to a lesser extent in other zelda games). this in itself would be noteworthy, but aside from some slightly awkward controls the ghost/link partnership provides some great gameplay that doesn’t get stale, helped by the fact that, as with phantom hourglass, these sections take place in the central multi-part dungeon and alternate with the more-traditional dungeons. (although unlike hourglass thankfully you don’t have to trek through the same sections over and over again.)

the game also wins points for being notably more difficult than hourglass. the touchscreen controls are almost identical, as are many of the items, but there are a few new items, one of which is completely new to the series. the DS’s mic input is a bit overused for my taste, but it does help make the game distinct from others in the series. the sidequests are as useless as ever and the useless ship parts make a reappearance here as train parts, but i definitely appreciated that the tedious and slow treasure-hauling mechanic from hourglass is replaced by a snappy “hunt the rabbit” mini-game.

all in all even though i played it a bit too soon after hourglass, spirit tracks feels superior in pretty much every way, and not only that but it’s a highlight to the entire series as well. so much so that it somewhat surprisingly chugs ahead of many of the other zelda games i’ve played recently and onto my “greatest games of all time” list. the game’s mechanics are so well-integrated with the DS itself that it’s hard to imagine how the inevitable 3DS zelda is going to top it, but if any company can be counted on to continue to impress, it’s nintendo. looking forward to that whenever it comes, but in the meantime i’m excited to see what they come up with in the upcoming skyward sword, due out in just under a month.

some spirited spirit tracks links:
– the official site doesn’t have many surprises, but it does include some official wallpapers
– entry at zelda.wikia.com. can you believe this is the 15th game in the series??
– great commercial for the game that aired in north america
– as a promotion, aardman animations created several flipnotes for the game
– the game was featured on a recent edition of nintendo week
– and a bit of trivia: apparently only north america got a different box for the game

choose your own yoshi’s story adventure

i’ve been meaning to get into the yoshi series more after having played and loved super mario world 2: yoshi’s island. next up was yoshi’s story for N64. whether it was intentionally designed to be so or not i don’t know, but the game feels like an early case of nintendo trying to balance casual vs. hardcore gameplay even way back in 1997, and as with similar, more-recent efforts this attempt was unjustly maligned and misunderstood.

the game has a completely unique premise in that it’s incredibly simple to reach the end of a single playthrough since you just have to find 30 pieces of fruit for yoshi to eat to progress and fruit is plentiful. at a minimum on a single playthrough you’d encounter only 6 levels and two bosses, which includes the final boss. after this initially baffling experience i realized that the game is actually quite clever in its setup: each “page” (i.e. world) contains 4 levels of increasing difficulty, but on a single playthrough you only play one of the four. to unlock all the stages in the next page you have to hunt down hearts that are hidden in the current stage. so already the difficulty of the game is completely up to you since you can choose to play the harder stages (which also means choosing to hunt for all the hearts).

the main challenge of the game is clearly not just in finishing the game, then, or actually even playing through all the levels. the real challenge of the game is to skip all the easy-to-find fruit in favor of yoshi’s favorite fruit, melons, in order to achieve a high score. hunting down all 30 melons in each stage is certainly time consuming, although this is a case where the game’s “challenge” is more about painstakingly searching every corner of a stage (often by stopping to use yoshi’s “sniff-sniff” ability) as opposed to feats requiring actual platforming prowess. this type of monotonous gameplay isn’t particularly engaging, but there are enough more-worthwhile challenges to keep one reasonably engaged. it’s somewhat hard to get too excited about the quest for a high score in a platformer such as this, but putting the attention on the collection aspect gives the game more of a focus.

it’s easy to see why people who didn’t delve into the game at all would dismiss it too quickly, but even after playing through every stage, many several times, my enjoyment with the game didn’t rise to the levels one would expect from a nintendo platformer. yoshi’s abilities are a nice expansion on his/its SMW2 skills (minus the whining baby, fortunately), and there are some nice references to that title, including the awesome huffin’ puffins. there are definitely moments of brilliance, many quite original, scattered throughout as well; highlights include a helpful white shy guy, hidden black yoshis and white yoshis, and levels in which you roll through a hamster wheel and ride on a dragon. but those moments aren’t quite plentiful enough, even with all the new enemies introduced (not many of which, it seems, have continued on, which is a shame as some of them are memorable). the pop-up book art style didn’t grab me, although it’s interesting to compare it to the recent wii release kirby’s epic yarn, which also has an arts ‘n crafts aesthetic. the game has some mini-games scattered throughout that require complete mastery for completing the “melon quest”, and this and other perfection-requiring objectives are a definite nuisance. the game is also notable for introducing yoshi’s love-it-or-hate-it voice (courtesy of composer kazumi totaka), and also including totaka’s song.

all in all this is an enjoyable enough platformer that, while certainly not an all-time great especially by nintendo’s lofty standards, is definitely underrated, especially considering the fact that it’s a throwback to 2-d platforming at a time when 3-d platforming was becoming the new norm. yoshi’s next two outings were similarly experimental, so it’ll be interesting to see how his/its series shapes up.

choose your own yoshi’s story links:
– for a typically damning review, see the review at nintendolife.com, although it’s interesting to note that in the comments readers seem to share my opinion that the reviewer is overly harsh. for a more-complimentary review, see nintendojo’s review.
– mariowiki.com’s page is a great resource and includes a complete guide to all the enemies
– the game has gotten some smash bros. recognition, including a stage in the first smash bros. game and a stage in melee, along with palette swaps in brawl to match the colors of the 6 yoshis featured in this game.
– here’s a FAQ from gamefaqs that lists the locations of all the melons, and reveals what the secret message hidden in the game’s 24 stages is, which is “YOU ARE YOSHI’S GREAT PARTNER”, haha.
– entry at wikipedia

i play wii play

i’ve had a copy of wii play, the best-selling video game of all time, for a while but hadn’t really spent any time with it. the game was designed to be a sort of tutorial on the various ways to use the wii remote, and i was curious to see how well it worked as such for newbies. so of course i tested it out with my favorite guinea pig, my SO, who, despite the motion-based controls (or perhaps because of them), still found the mini-games to be a bit hard to master. (as a side note, i would think that warioware: smooth moves would be another good intro to wii’s motion controls, although its fast pace might make the whole experience a bit too manic for a newbie.)

anyway, although that experiment wasn’t much of a success, i ended up enjoying the collection as a whole and am somewhat surprised at how much the game is maligned. it was originally bundled with a wii remote so it’s essentially a $10 game, and for that price i found very little to complain about. one complaint some people seem to have is that the mini-games are almost all quite short, but when the focus is on achieving medals via high scores i much prefer timed games such as these as opposed to an arcade-type experience where you have to slog through the easy parts of the game over and over again until you get to the harder stages. (the one game in this collection that is like that is “tanks!”, which is the only game i couldn’t be bothered to get a gold medal in because of that exact reason, that is, i got bored doing all the easy stages again and again.)

the games certainly aren’t deep, but, as you’d expect, they have nintendo’s trademark level of polish so that even the ones that sound like they would be completely inane (e.g. “find mii” and “pose mii”) actually end up being quite fun. the visuals are simple but clean and effective, and the music, sound effects, and controls are all nicely done. some of the games are actually surprisingly addictive and i found myself playing them much longer than i would’ve thought. in terms of the gameplay the collection as a whole certainly beats others in its category, like rayman raving rabbids and carnival games, by a long shot. each mini-game also has a 2-player version that look like they would be good, clean fun although i didn’t get to try that mode out much.

all in all this was a much more enjoyable game than i had originally thought it would be, so much so that i’m now much more interested in getting wii play: motion, which was coincidentally just released last week. still have other wii games to get through, though, including wii fit and wii sports resort.

play with some wii play links!
– random thread at wiichat.com that lists all the medal requirements
– good FAQ at gamefaqs.com
– you can download a replacement copy of the manual at nintendo.com
– official site at nintendo.com: has some basic descriptions and tips
– typical review at wii.nintendolife.com, although the reviewer completely missed the way the fishing game works
– some stats from the nintendo channel compiled at coffeewithgames.com
– entry at wikipedia

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

mario’s (and luigi’s, toad’s, and peach’s) dream land

i seem to be playing a lot of games with the number 2 in the title lately, most recently the NES and mario classic super mario bros. 2, aka doki doki panic. SMB‘s storied past is by now well known (and for those not in the know themushroomkingdom.net has a thorough comparison), and although i can’t but still harbor some feelings of it not quite being a “true” mario game i was looking forward to replaying this classic from my childhood.

after playing through all the levels i ended up having somewhat mixed feelings about the game. it’s still as big a kick as ever to get to play as luigi, toad, and peach, and in my mind that automatically elevates the game to a notably high level. the game’s production values are incredibly high, as you’d expect (supposedly miyamoto was a producer and designer for the original version, although i haven’t found any definitive confirmation of that), and the music, graphics, and characters, enemies, and boss fights are all memorable. the problem is that the gameplay is much less accessible than any other game in the series. this is due to the throwing mechanic, which while novel and utilizing realistic physics, takes some time to master. it works fine, but i can definitely see how throwing items while standing vs while walking, running, or jumping would be frustrating to newbies. also, the luck-based method for acquiring 1-ups, via a slot-machine-style minigame at the end of each stage, is annoying and much less satisfying than its predecessor’s method of simply collecting 100 coins. and the fact that luigi is so superior to all the other characters makes the character selection mechanic feel a bit underused.

all of these are minor quibbles for what is a classic game though. although i found myself feeling less nostalgic for this black sheep of the mario series than for the original game, i still enjoyed myself and am looking forward to playing its GBA remake (although i can already tell that version is going to be almost painfully too easy). i’m glad that so many great characters who made their debut here have gone on to become series staples, such as the shyguys, pokey, and the much-discussed birdo, although there are many more that i’m still waiting to see again, including mouser and the great villain wart. in the US we got to see luigi become truly distinct from mario for the first time, and it was great to have toad and peach in starring roles, although, again, i still have to lament the fact that it’s been far too long for that trio to reappear to team up with mario in a similar starring role. one can only dream …

mario’s (and luigi’s, toad’s, and peach’s) dream links:
– the aforementioned page at themushroomkingdom.net includes thorough comparisons of different versions, screenshots, glitches, sprites, and MIDIs
– gamesradar’s 10 things you didn’t know about SMB2: all of this stuff is covered at TMK (previous link), but it’s a nice overview
– a guy named cory godbey has been doing a series of cartoons for gonintendo.com, more than a few of which feature SMB2. this one is particularly memorable.
– PDF of the manual at replacementdocs.com
– maps at vgmaps.com
– some video footage of doki doki panic (featuring some really grating sound effects)
– and who could forget the great cover picture and coverage of the game in the first issue of nintendo power?

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 around 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