Thursday, April 12th, 2007
I’ll admit that I never had Paper Mario for the N64 (2002), and never jumped on the Gamecube bandwagon, therefore missed out on Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004). Yet, once I saw this demo’d back at GDC with the awesome 2D to 3D flipping gameplay I was instantly hyped for this game.
I picked it up on launch day, but regretfully haven’t had a chance to sit down and give it any attention due to having some relatives and friends in Los Angeles to visit and stay with us (aka hoarding the tele *shakes fist*). Which means the majority of my gaming since their arrival has been via my shiny new Onyx (black) DS lite and New Super Mario Bros. (I had to get my Mario on somehow!).
So finally, late last night (around midnight), pushed the blow up mattress (filled with relatives) that has turned my gaming space into an impromptu guest bedroom, aside and powered on the Wii.
First impressions: Fun, creative, funny, smart, colorful, fun, endearing, fun, oh and fun.
I was anxious to get into the game quickly to try out the 2D to 3D flipping gameplay, but the game had other plans as a 15 minute background-story of the premise of the game was set forth.
I’m all about the story, but at the moment really just wanted to get my hands on some gameplay, regardless you have to at least go through all the text-speak so you might as well enjoy the witty and well written story.
Once finished, you get a mini-tutorial on how things work, and then go into the first chapter. Its not till you enter the first house in the first level that you get the ability to flip from 2D and 3D and once you do its non-stop from there on out.
I’ve only played through the first two chapters thus far and am having a great time. The thing I love about Nintendo games, and especially Mario games, is that they are Video Games. They’re what I remembered growing up as GAMES. They’re fun, creative, unique, and addicting.
The creative ways they use the two perspectives is great. Sometimes they’ll hide items behind what seemingly is an ordinary 2D bush, or a 2nd pipe behind what appears to be just one pipe from a 2D perspective.
Puzzle Solving:
The puzzle solving is great. For instance at one point I came upon a huge gap, previously I could switch to 3D and use the hill in the background, as a walkway across. This time, there was no hill, so I jumped into the nearest pipe, and I popped up really small in the distant background. Using that to enter a house that looked like just background art at first, to discover the bridge keeper who let the bridge down.
Thwomps aren’t so intimidating in 3D when they’re paper thin and you can just walk behind them to avoid their crushing Thwomp. Same goes for seemingly impossible barriers, when you can flip the view, and walk behind / in front of them. I know its been said time and time again in reviews for this game, but it REALLY DOES change the way you look at the world in-game. You’re always looking for what could be hidden from view in a 3D / 2D world.
Power Ups:
Of course in any Mario games we have to have power-ups with Mushrooms and Stars being par for the course, Super Paper Mario throws in all kinds of fun power-ups that add a lot of life to the game. Similar to the Giant Mushroom in New Super Mario Brothers, theres a power up in Super Paper Mario that turns you into a giant 8-bit Mario which plows through the level taking out any bricks, pipes, and enemies in your path.
Theres also Pal Pills which surround you with a handful of tiny 8-bit Marios which attack any enemy that nears you. You jump, they jump, all in sync with the classic jump Sound FX from our 8-bit days. Be careful though, their jump is a little delayed from yours, and if you’re waiting till the last moment to jump a gap, you’ll be sending your little friends down the hole to their deaths.
Their not the smartest of little helpers, but their fun to watch and helpful against attacking enemies. Thats about all the power-ups I’ve come across thus far in the first few chapters, I’ve got some hidden items I’ve found here and there but haven’t used any yet.
Conclusion:
All in all, another amazing Mario game (as if thats a surprise). If you have a Wii, go pick this game up. Its fun, its creative, its fun, and its fun. Plain and simple.
Tags: nintendo wii, super paper mario, thwomp
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Monday, February 26th, 2007
As if I even needed to tell you…
The golden child of the Nintendo 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has finally hit the Wii’s Virtual Console. [pause for applause].
Yeah yeah, if you’re like me you probably have about 8 other versions of this game in different forms and variations from collectors editions, to the original cart on the N64, to a bonus game on a Gamecube disc, to whatever, so whats another version hurt?
From the video above its looking pretty fine tuned, and even though I was just playing through it again on my 64, I think I’ll probably have to tackle it on the Wii.
To stay in line with the Nintendo vein of announcements ‘Captain N: Game Master’ hits DVD for the first time ever today. The complete two seasons of the short lived series for $29.99 at Best Buy today… how can you beat that?
With these two purchases, Bullet Witch for the Xbox 360, several juicy XBLA titles, and several good games hitting the first week of March, this is going to be a very costly few weeks.
Tags: nintendo wii, ocarina of time, the legend of zelda, virtual console
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Thursday, February 22nd, 2007
Finally, some media coming out about this game.
Disaster: Day of Crisis was announced last E3 for the Wii and was kinda lost in the shuffle and not heard about for a while, probably do to the lack of media available to get hyped about. The only thing they showed at E3 was this minimalistic ‘first-look’ trailer, which didn’t really give us a first look at anything but some cool pre-rendered disaster footage.
That said however, a new screenshot has finally surfaced of this [in my opinion] under appreciated and under-hyped game.
Why am I so hyped for this game? I don’t expect the visuals to be ’stunning’ as Nintendo promised at E3, or anywhere close to their ‘first look’ trailer, but I expect it to make up for visuals and other areas with whats really important, innovative and unique gameplay.
Anyone remember Disaster Report for the PS2? It was an Agetec game that pretty much bombed yet went down as one of my all time favorite games in terms of gameplay innovation. At the time, and still today, there hasn’t really been anything like it. Much like Disaster: Day of Crisis it didn’t blow you away visually, although it wasn’t bad for its era, it made up for it with a unique concept, story line, and fun gameplay.
The premise between the two games seems to be basically the same, you’re trapped in a city that is being bombarded with Natural Disasters and you have to navigate the ever changing and dangerous environment to survive. Using quick reaction and wits to advance.
The sad thing is, I expect Disaster: Day of Crisis for the Wii to get pretty much the same reception that Disaster Report for the PS2 did. Under-rated. So whenever this game does touch down, currently set for a TBD release day, then I suggest all of you go check it out and give it some of your precious gaming time to see for yourself.
I haven’t played any hands on of the game, so it could totally blow, but I’m willing to take that chance in the hope of it being a diamond in the rough like Disaster Report was so many years ago. Right now, I’m imagining it being pretty damn cool. If its just Disaster Report with Wiimote motion movement control, I’m sold!
Tags: nintendo wii, ps2, screenshot
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Friday, January 26th, 2007
Punch. Punch. Kick!
Before the Wii came along, I was downloading every bit of Arcade goodies I could get my hands on from the Xbox Live Arcade, but post-Wii launch, it’s been getting little love from me due to the Virtual Console and the plethora of NES gaming memories.
However, I am happy to say that Xbox Live Arcade has succeeded to catch my eye once again, you vixen you!
According to Kotaku which is according to XboxWorld.nl, which I can’t read because I am not bi-lingual despite what doctors might say…. Double Dragon will be hitting down on XBLA in MARCH; for a mere 400 MS points. Not too shabby.
The best part; Online Co-op!
The 2nd best part? Enchanced Version!
Now I’ll admit I’ll probably play quite a bit on the old school pixelated goodness version, but its always nice to have the option to bump it up to a bit smoother graphics.
Original Graphics [click to enlarge]
Enhanced Graphics [click to enlarge]
Although with 1st party power houses like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Mario Kart 64 in their arsenal, Microsoft will have a hard time competing for my attention from the Virtual Console, especially once Nintendo rolls out original content for the VC similar to how MS does with the XBLA. Either way, Gamers win! Hooray!
Tags: nintendo wii, virtual console, xbla
Posted in xbox 360, xbox live arcade | Comments
I’ll admit that I never had Paper Mario for the N64 (2002), and never jumped on the Gamecube bandwagon, therefore missed out on Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004). Yet, once I saw this demo’d back at GDC with the awesome 2D to 3D flipping gameplay I was instantly hyped for this game.
