little bro smashin’ with super smash bros. for nintendo 3DS

since the wii u version released today, i thought i would collect my thoughts on super smash bros. for nintendo 3DS. the 3DS version has been out for just shy of two months, and by now the new characters (which include two awesome, completely off-the-wall additions) have found their unique places amongst what has become an impressive roster of veteran fighters. sakurai, the director, has done a great job of sustaining the hype from the day the game was first announced to today, and as always the wild speculation over which characters would be included was pretty much a national pastime amongst nintendo fans until the final roster was revealed. although the story mode was cut in this iteration, the character reveal trailers were a great substitute and a great way to accompany the announcements of the new characters.

the first aspect of the game to consider is of course the characters. in general i would say the new characters don’t add as much uniqueness to the series overall as compared to the previous game’s batch, but there’s a lot of variety and they’re each satisfying to use (with perhaps the exception of the mii fighters who, because of their completely customizable nature, end up feeling oddly generic). although i miss the ice climbers and snake, their closest replacements (rosalina + luma and a hidden character) provide some of the same flavor and so are somewhat of a consolation. i like that previously combined characters such as samus and zero-suit samus have been made completely separate, and although it takes a lot of time to unlock all the options it’s also entertaining to play around with each character’s moveset variants. the game was intended to be more serious as a competitive game than its predecessor, and although i’m not an expert it seems like most people have been pretty happy with how it turned out in that regard. from the characters’ movesets overall it seems like the game requires a more deliberate play style than before (for example, a lot of the characters have countering moves or moves that put up a shield), but the game is still fast paced and fun at whatever level of skill you’re playing at.

in terms of modes, the game doesn’t really offer too many surprises with the exception of the new “smash run” mode. that mode feels very casual, and although it’s fun to battle against the mix of enemies from different series, the ending battle that decides the final outcome feels too random. having a portable smash bros. game is such a technical achievement that it feels churlish to complain, but its limitations are obvious. although many of the stages have fun gimmicks, the game only has a small number of them, even compared to brawl and esp. compared to the wii u version, and each stage only has two pieces of music. i’ve been playing it on a 3DS XL and the game fits decently well within the confines of that system’s screen size, but i imagine the game would feel much more cramped on a regular 3DS.

there’s not a lot more to say. the game doesn’t offer much in the way of new modes, but the series has always been about the core battling, and the new characters, tweaks to the old characters, and customizable moves provide a lot of great gameplay that will sustain us for the years we’ll have to wait until the next entry. the game is a solid entry in the series, and although overall the game feels limited on the 3DS compared to its big brother on wii u, being able to battle on the go definitely makes up for its limitations and it’s great to have both options.

[as a side note, for those interested as is my wont i spent most of my time playing with robin. as a long-time fan of the fire emblem series i was psyched to be able to finally play as a mostly magic-user, and although having his/her tomes and weapons break feels a bit pointless, overall his/her moveset is pretty enjoyable, if not super unique. looking forward to playing more with that character on wii u, as well as others i haven’t spent too much time with.]

smash with these little bro super smash bros. for nintendo 3DS links:
– official site, which includes all the character reveal videos
– review at nintendolife.com
– entry at ssbwiki.com
– entry at supersmashbros.wikia.com
– table of the series’ playable characters. squirtle and ivysaur = gone but not forgotten!

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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 catching bugs. 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 are 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.

and the brawl goes on …

i’ve already written about brawl twice, once when the game first came out and once after i’d revisited the game and played with a focus on olimar. brawl in the family reminded me that this past tuesday marked the 2nd anniversary of brawl‘s release, and it was good timing b/c i’d been planning on writing a quick post about my latest concentrated burst of brawl.

this time around i focused on a different character, namely fox, and also attempted to improve my performance in boss battle mode (which of course just meant memorizing each boss’s moves). i still find the latter to be fairly pointless, especially with tabuu’s stupidly over-powered moves inc. a ridiculous OHKO (i’m really not looking forward to tackling that mode on the highest difficulties), but i found myself enjoying the rest of the game as much as ever. the nintendo fanboy in me just laps up all the visuals, cameos, and trivia, and with such a huge roster there’s virtually a limitless amount of gameplay left. one of these days i’ll sit down and finish all the various trophy requirements, but in the meantime i’m still just dipping into the game to finish a couple here and there. for regular matches i found myself gravitating back to my early favorites, such as zero suit samus and ike, and as before i could easily have spent many, many more hours on the game but instead restrained myself so that i could try to make a dent in the mountain of untouched games i have. so far the nintendo channel reports that i’ve spent 131.5 hours on the game; not a number that would rival many people’s, i’m sure, but i can’t think of many other games that are going to keep me coming back for more for so many more years to come.

and the list of brawl links continues to grow as well … here are just a couple more:
– a great site that i hadn’t spent much time on before but that i’ve been reading more of is super-smash-bros.wikia.com. it has way more competition-level details about the game, inc. characters’ moves, strategies, and advanced techniques, along with all the accompanying jargon, than i’ll probably ever delve into, but it’s interesting to browse through it. (incidentally, recently brawl was announced as being newly included in major league gaming’s tournaments, which was nice to see.) the smash wiki’s behind-the-scenes looks at the game’s mechanics make for great reading, such as this entry on stale-move negation. also, while highly debatable, i always find tier lists to be interesting to read through. super-smash-bros.wikia.com has ones for all three entries in the series, which makes for interesting comparisons.
– i have little interest in actually taking snapshots myself, but i def. appreciate others’ efforts. brawlsnapshots.com is a fun site to browse through.

brawl revisited

although i’d picked it up on the occasional whim, it had been a while since i’d sat down for some serious super smash bros. brawl action. of course i, along with many others, had really enjoyed myself when the game first came out, but, as with any fighting game, the proof of a great fighter is in its longevity, i.e. the balance and variety of the roster. as i’d said in my previous post about brawl, brawl’s roster is certainly up to the high standard of the other games in the series (although it seems the veteran fighters are weaker than i remember them being, perhaps intentionally). this time around i focused exclusively on one of the new and most unique characters that i’d previously spent very litte time with, olimar and his trusty pikmin. there’s definitely a bit of a learning curve to olimar, and although i’m not convinced that he’s going to be one of my strongest characters i had a lot of fun with his unique gameplay.

as with all the characters, olimar has his advantages and disadvantages. among his advantages are the standard use of his pikmin, which, as in the original gamecube game, involves the little sprouts latching onto an opponent and racking up the damage while you stand watching from afar or join in the fray, if you feel like getting up close and personal. be advised though that the amount of damage they’ll wreak before returning to you is based on the amount of damage your opponent has, and they’ll actually attack weakened opponents less. so they’re best used to get the damage meter close to 50% before you move in for more standard attacks and smash attacks. high on the list of disadvantages is olimar’s up+B. it’s actually a tether move like link and samus’s, but as a recovery move it provides only a very slight vertical recovery, which is a weakness. his specials, smashes, and final smash are all pretty good, although his down+B special, which changes the order of your pikmin and also returns pikmin who are stuck and can’t get back to you, isn’t that useful. also, although he’s small and light he’s only about as fast as kirby and jigglypuff. even with the time i spent with him, there’s still a lot more time i’d have to put in to become a true olimar master. the whole experience has reminded me of what makes brawl so great, namely that it’s such a deep game that you can spend hours and hours perfecting your game with one character, let alone all 35+, not to mention unlocking all the challenges. looks like brawl will be keeping me entertained for many, many more years to come.

there’s some good info on olimar in brawl. here are some links:
– great olimar FAQ at gamefaqs including details on damage percentages
– his page at the official site
– the page on IGN’s brawl site also lists olimar’s moves but doesn’t include the damage percentages

since brawl came out i’ve come across tons more brawlin’ links. so here’s another batch:
– compilations of all the taunts and all the new kirby hats on youtube
– a video on youtube showing tripping is random and one of many videos that show tripping at its worst. still not sure why tripping was put in, other than to make the game more random and thus casual. (ech!)
– nice album of brawl screenshots courtesy of 2pstart.com

time to brawl

i think i’ve been putting off writing this review b/c it means i have to sort through all the links i’ve accumulated since the game was first announced, but here it is. by now, the majority of people reading this have undoubtedly already played through a good part of super smash bros. brawl. the game certainly has enough additions to melee that it can be wholeheartedly recommended. however, since i didn’t have the 6 year gap between games that the fans who have played the other two incarnations into the ground have had (having only played through the other two games in the series last year) my experience was fairly different from many. still, despite being less starving for a new smash bros. game i devoured this installment with almost as much gusto.

as with melee, just mastering all of the additional characters will keep you busy for a long while, esp. since the developers made a point of adding characters that have noticeably different fighting styles than anything that has come before. the most extreme examples are snake and olimar who force you to use hit-and-run tactics much more than ever before. long-time fans will of course also be kept busy noting which characters and moves have been down or upgraded and be kept even busier arguing over which character is “the best”. at the core of any successful fighting game are balanced characters w/ balanced movesets, and brawl’s roster is certainly up to the high standard of the other games in the series. after the endless speculation the final roster is certainly a worthy one (wikipedia has a nice table showing how the roster has evolved), and although i’m sure everyone was disappointed not to see their favorite obscure character included, the addition of 3rd party characters for the first time (snake and sonic), assist trophies, and a few complete surprise choices definitely help ease the pain. an early favorite was ike (not surprising, considering how good he is in general and how much of a fire emblem freak i’ve become), but other favorites included snake and sonic b/c they both felt new in terms of gameplay and strategy, and zero-suit samus and pit who are both a bit weak but are just frickin’ cool.

the biggest addition to the game was the completely expanded adventure mode. the whole “fighter as platformer” setup still doesn’t completely succeed, but the variety of enemies and boss battles and searching for hidden stickers and statues kept me interested for a fair amount of the way through. also, the adventure mode is full of FMV’s (which are prob. the closest we’ll ever come to a nintendo movie) and really kept me playing. nintendo seems to be embracing FMV’s in general a lot more than they ever did before, which to me can only be a good thing.

i’m still somewhat ambivalent about the final smashes. it’s great that they change the game dynamics and they look great onscreen, but getting one does seem a bit too much based on luck at times. i suppose having a longer match would help balance this out. this is def. one of those cases where casual players will prob. like it and use it more than the more hardcore crowd.

my only big complaint was the online multiplayer. the lag made online play pretty much unusable, and even weeks later it still hasn’t gotten any better. a serious oversight, although there’s still time for this to be improved. we’ll just have to see. but the game is so packed full of extras that it should still tide us over to the next installment pretty well. some of the challenges seem more pointless than others, but in any case the number of characters and the amount of nintendo love crammed into every inch is sure to make nintendo fanboys like me goofily happy for a good long while.

now for some brawlin’ links:
– at the top of the list is the official site, which teased us with the latest tidbits of information that we consumed so eagerly that it even helped stave off the disappointment due to all the delays
– this secrets list at the official site will help you keep track of all the unlockables and this FAQ at gamefaqs.com will help you figure out which challenge to tackle next.
– there are a ton of videos floating around, but these collections of highlights are entertaining.
– on the metal gear stage snake can call for info on his opponents. the official site shows how to do it, and someone’s archived them all on youtube. they’ve also been transcribed here.
– complete trophies list (most w/ images) at brawlcentral.com. the official site also has a complete list of the stickers.
– totally, totally, totally awesome caramelldansen video featuring all the characters from brawl at youtube.com.
– and to end, here’s a youtube video of all the final smashes.

coming attractions

while i’m collecting my thoughts for my next review, i thought i’d post this list of games that are coming out in the next few months that i’m interested in. ever since i got a DS (and … i might as well mention this here … a wii … yes it’s true … i’m starting to think i’m in danger of losing the right to call myself a retro gamer … oh the humanity …), ahem, a DS and a wii, i’ve been paying more attention to when games are coming out.

in particular i’m firmly fixated on the release date of smash bros brawl (december 3rd in north america), and each weekday update at the official smash bros website just makes me more impatient. let it be known that the eminent release of the new smash bros is what (almost) single-handedly drove this consumer and fanboy to put an end to his delay buying a wii once and for all. not zelda twilight princess, not mario galaxy, not metroid prime, but it was smash bros all the way. even if it’s only half as good as it looks so far, it’ll still be awesome to play as pit in his mighty comeback, and to see all the other nintendo references — and now including 3rd party characters as well. bring it!

anyway … i had come across this list on amazon, which provides a highlighted overview of the best wii games, past, present, and future. there’s prob. a completely comprehensive list of upcoming wii/DS games somewhere online, but in the meantime here’s my list of games i’m interested in. def. not all ones i’m going to buy, but ones i’m keeping my eye on. most of these dates are from amazon.com. (dates subject to change, etc., etc.)

edit: turns out ign keeps a list of upcoming releases. the wii release dates list is here and the DS release dates list is here.

– Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party Bundle: 9/25/07
– The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: 10/1/07
– Zack and Wiki: 10/16/07
– Guitar Hero 3: 10/29/07
– Endless Ocean (a.k.a. Forever Blue): 10/29/07
– Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: 11/5/07
– Super Mario Galaxy: 11/12/07
– NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams: 11/13/07
– Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords : 11/13/07
– Link’s Crossbow Training: 11/19/07
– Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games: 11/20/07
– Trauma Center: New Blood: 11/21/07
– SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL!!!!!!1!!!!!: 12/3/07!!!!
– Nitrobike: 12/4/07

of myths, monsters, and angels

i’ve been out of town on vacation, which has been an opportunity to set aside the gamecube game i’m currently working my way through and instead pick up some handheld games i’ve had lying around. the first one i finished was kid icarus: of myths and monsters, a game boy game from 1991. i’m def. one of those nintendo fanboys who dreams about the day we get a new kid icarus game and like them i’m completely psyched about pit’s appearance in the upcoming smash bros. so i was def. looking forward to playing through this one.

a lot of people, including myself, have great nostalgia for the original NES kid icarus. i’ve played it through somewhat recently, and the game is def. enjoyable with its colorful protagonist, setting, items, and characters, which includes the infamous eggplant wizard. as a sequel this game doesn’t add much at all, which is rather disappointing, but as a game boy conversion there’s a lot to enjoy. the game includes some notable differences from the original, in particular the ability to backtrack to any part of the level. this eliminates the need for the original game’s feather item and also makes the game much easier, as previously death by falling was by far the most prominent method of losing lives.

some may think it’s unfair to give low marks to a game because it’s a sequel that lacks originality and is easier than the original, but in the final analysis the game’s charms just didn’t keep me engaged to the end. i got bored encountering enemies that blurred together and/or didn’t even fight back, and there were too many rooms (shops, training rooms, etc.) to visit, much more than the original. the last level def. beats the original’s hands down, though, with its balloon fight-like control and its much more challenging and entertaining final boss fight.

anyway, overall this wasn’t the most ideal sequel, and i’m sure there are many others like me who are glad that this wasn’t the last word on our favorite @$$-kickin’ angel. here’s hoping that pit’s appearance in smash bros. is just the harbinger of even greater things to come.

l-l-l-links:
– kid icarus shrine: a nice fansite that has some info on the game boy game, including scans of the instruction booklet and related nintendo power articles and mp3s and MIDIs
– text of the instruction book
– pretty good walkthrough at ign.com
– article at wikipedia.org

fire emblem stoned

another “official” platform first: finishing my first GBA game (although i’ve been playing several others for quite some time). the honor goes to the “sickeningly” addictive strategy RPG fire emblem: the sacred stones. i have to confess here that this was another one of those games that had me uber-obsessed, fighting monsters and levelling up characters in my head throughout the day and itching to get home to beat the next chapter. and when i say “sickeningly” addictive i mean it: the marathon gaming sessions i had last week while home sick combined with the feverish nighttime dreams of beating the game during the same period has left me a bit nauseated when contemplating the game now i’m mostly recovered (from both game and illness). but if i can get over those less-than-ideal associations i can laud the game for what it is: a whole lotta obsessive fun.

the game has all those elements that flip those obsessive switches in your brain: characters that you have to level up before promoting to a different class (with the added geeky thrill of getting to choose between two different classes), endless debates about which characters are the best, and a pretty decent epic fantasy storyline. what was most surprising for me though was the way the game is designed to make you care about your characters. for one, the design feature that a character once slain is gone forever is central (although definitely not without its frustrations), and def. adds to the game’s difficulty. second, and this was quite surprising to me, is that if you have characters stand next to each other for a certain number of turns they have a “support conversation” which means they basically become closer friends and gain stat bonuses when near each other in battle. each character can have one major (level A) friend by the end, and during the epilogue pairs often get married or become friends for life. i found the support conversations to be highly entertaining, and although i went for mostly obvious choices my first time around, i’ll def. be checking out the others next time through. and of course there will have to be a second time what with the branch in the middle (what a ploy! this is the second game this year i’ve been suckered by this!).

the character images above, taken from this site, are just the characters whose personalities i liked and that i ended up using the most. the characterization is pretty well done, and there’s just something so hot about pink, green, and blue hair. uh, or is that just me …

i didn’t find the game to be as blindingly easy as some suggested, but i think most of it had to do with the way i played. like pokemon you can promote your character early on or wait twice as long and end up w/ a stronger character. so for a long while i had an entirely unpromoted cast, but once i promoted the rest of the game was pretty straightforward. there are also def. other ways to make the game harder for yourself. for example, i almost never use stat-boosting items in pokemon and i didn’t here either. next time i’ll also focus on different, perhaps weaker characters, like some of the characters that already come promoted.

this is my first fire emblem game, and perhaps like many others i first got interested in the series through the hidden characters from the series who appeared in the still awesome super smash bros. melee. i’m really making my way through the smash bros. cast. once i play a star fox game i should be pretty well caught up.

i was somewhat surprised that although this is the 8th release in japan this is only the second one that made it over stateside. it would be fantastic if they’d rerelease all the previous ones a la the final fantasy games, but i don’t think anyone’s holding their breath on that one. anyway, all in all this was a great, albeit incredibly time-sucking game (and i still have the ruins to finish!). the most common complaint is that the game is much too close to the first fire emblem game (the one on GBA w/ no subtitle) that came out in the US (which i just bought even though i prob. won’t be playing it for a good while). despite that i’m def. looking forward to playing that, the gamecube installment, and the very first games as well.

oh and one other thing. in a previous post about nintendo translator bill trinen there’s a link to an article where trinen mentions that fire emblem games are particularly tricky to translate b/c of the archaic japanese language used. so i have to give a thumbs up on the great job they did on this game. rawk.

lotta linkz:

– wikipedia has a mostly spoiler-free section on which characters have level A support endings. i can’t believe rennac, moulder, and knoll don’t have any level A support endings. how sad!
– fire emblem: sanctuary of strategy: lots of great stuff, inc. some sprites, wallpapers, and official artwork; a table that lists all the bonuses from supports; and the text of all the support level A endings.
– fire emblem online has some good stuff too, including all the awesome epilogue artwork and a 4-page comic prologue to the game.
– this promotion chart is indispensible.
– ign has a decent, although somewhat barebones, guide.
– ign also has a good FAQ.
– this FAQ at gamefaqs is about FE7, but it has a lot of good info about game mechanics that’s directly relevant.
– this is a good walkthrough, also at ign.
– just came across this character guide, also at ign, that looks pretty cool.

whew!

smashed bros.

it’s kind of silly that the first game i played at all thoroughly on the n64 i got off of ebay was super smash bros. since i played the gamecube sequel super smash bros. melee to the ground. as is my wont, i’ve played bits of several other n64 games, but even though it’s been only a few months since i got over my SSBM obsession, i still found myself intrigued by the n64 version. there were some enticements: the previous owner of the game hadn’t unlocked 3 of the 4 extra characters, so i tackled that first. then i finished all the bonus stages, which in the orig. includes the “break the targets” rounds as well as “board the platforms” rounds which i enjoyed even more. it was interesting to see the differences in the moves; the biggest differences were that you don’t power up smash moves by holding down the A button and there are no special right + B moves (they’re the same as the standing B moves). my hands got used to the new controller fairly quickly, and although the controls aren’t as smooth as SSBM i found that they were just as satisfying and at times they added a sort of deliberateness that made good hits even more satisfying. there were quite a few moves i’d either forgotten or are different in this version, and some moves are more powerful or less powerful between versions. and with all the characters in melee i found the shorter roster in SSB made me focus my attention on characters i’d either ignored or never gave enough time to (which come to think of it was prob. most of them b/c in melee i played as zelda/sheik a lot of the time). all in all, good times, and i could easily play it for longer but i should shelve it in favor of finishing some other games i’ve had lying around. (although now i want to pick up melee again to compare the two from the other direction.)

i’ve been enjoying using ign’s collection feature (a bit obsessively actually), which lets you build up your list of games w/ your ratings (although i think it’s a bit silly to give games ratings that aren’t integers so i don’t bother). it was hard to decide how to rate SSB. melee gets a def. 10 from me, but it’s not quite fair to compare the two since SSB came out first and originated so much of the greatness. in the end i gave it the benefit of the doubt (i.e. a 9 instead of an 8). this reader review from ign gives some interesting context of how different SSB was from the other fighting games around at the time. thinking back i remember how strange it first seemed to me to have damage percentages and not hit points, but now of course we all see how perfect it is.

to wrap up, here are some other SSB-related links i dug up:
– there are several good SSBM guides around, but this is the best SSB site i’ve come across
– a guide to the soundtest
– the wikipedia article has some interesting details and trivia … like i hadn’t known you can use the warp pipes in the secret level! i’m going to have to try that tomorrow

oh, and one last thing: i’m still waiting for the day that i’ll have nintendo-playing friends! some day i’ll be able to play SSB and SSBM with someone other than myself! sad, i know.

i choose you, yellow pikachu

one of the gadgets i was excited (yes, i know how geeky that sounds) — ahem — i was excited to get for my gamecube was the game boy player. (btw, can someone please explain to me why it’s “game boy” (w/ a space), but “gamecube” (no space)? unless there’s some sort of verbal command implied by the former name brand (“name brand” has a space, btw), it makes more sense to me as one word.) anyway, like the super game boy this device enables you to play game boy games (in this case, also game boy advance games) on your TV.

anyway, one of the first games i’ve been playing (other than the legend of zelda: link’s awakening) has been pokemon: yellow version. to be honest the whole pokemon obsession, as i’m sure for most people over the age of 10, had stayed pretty much in my distant peripheral view. i can directly point to the one game that changed all that: super smash bros. melee. i won’t go into that too much since this post is already getting ridiculously long, but the game is a classic for a reason, and nintendo scored a major coup in highlighting all the various characters of their franchise and breathing life into the less well known ones. the game got me scurrying to track down the games all the characters appear in, and making my wishlist grow about tenfold. although next on my list is the metroid and the earthbound (a.k.a. mother in japan, from whence the character ness comes) series, the wide variety of pokemon used in smash bros. piqued my interest the most.

it took a few moments to figure out the difference between all the different pokemon versions, and i don’t have the entire series mapped out in my head yet, but the basics for the first three games are that pokemon red and blue came out in the US at the same time and were designed so that some pokemon could only be obtained in one or the other of the games and thus would require a friend with the opposite game to trade you. pokemon yellow came out a bit later and featured enhanced graphics (although keep in mind this is “enhanced” for the game boy), slightly different game details (e.g. locations of the various pokemon), and a storyline more based on what had become a hit TV series. i ended up getting the yellow version even though i’m still planning on playing through the other two versions, although in retrospect i should’ve started with them. but i just happened to win this one off of ebay first.

phew! with that all said i can finally get around to talking about the game. i was surprised at how much this game is like the NES final fantasy. like the SNES game earthbound the game does a great job of doing a completely modern-day RPG. in earthbound the hero uses such weapons as a baseball bat and a yo-yo. in this the battles are all between pokemon, monsters you capture and train (through battles) and teach increasingly powerful techniques to. the battle scenes are highly reminescent of the orig. final fantasy, but other elements have the same feel to me as well.

i think i’m a little less than halfway through. the games has proven to be addictive, although as with final fantasy the battles do get a bit repetitive. much less so in this game though b/c instead of 4 characters you have 6 that you’re constantly rotating and most that evolve. as someone pointed out, yes you could just stick to the same 6 or so to beat the game (which hasn’t been very hard so far), but the fun is seeing what moves each pokemon has and can learn and seeing them whoop @$$ in battle. as cheesy as it is to say so, you really do find yourself wanting to “catch ’em all”. the designers did a great job giving each pokemon a different look, identity, and name, and as the first installment in the franchise it has def. been worth playing. i’m constantly amazed at how much stuff programmers were able to pack into these early classics, and as usual the simplicity is deeply satisfying. like some good tosci’s ice cream.

ign.com, as usual, has the most attractive guide around. i’ve been purposely refraining from reading too much of it though. after i finish the game i’ll def. be going back and poring over the guide more thoroughly … and getting the next game!