Category Archives: Video Games

October 21, 2012

Hype and the Wii U

By Joe

Coming to a living room near you (11/18/12).

A lot of money goes into video game marketing each year.  The amount of money becomes seemingly astronomical when combined with how much is spent on video game coverage.  I suppose it’s not as prevalent as sports coverage, but there’s a lot of websites and magazine dedicated to video games out there and all of them are trying to keep us, the consumer, interested in the product.

In general, they’re pretty good at it.  There have been lots of much hyped titles in my lifetime as a gamer.   These are the kinds of games that get everybody is talking about before they even come out.  I remember being excited about the prospect of a sidekick for Sonic the Hedgehog when first learning about the existence of Miles “Tails” Prower in Sonic 2.  Anytime there was a big commercial property making the jump to games people would get excited, such as with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even if these games usually turned out poor.

When I think back on these titles there are three that immediately come to mind as the biggest titles, the most hyped of the hyped:  Super Mario Bros 3, Final Fantasy VII, and Metal Gear Solid 2.

I can still remember the day I bought this game and how excited I was to finally have it!

Super Mario Bros. 3 is probably the most highly anticipated game of all-time.  It was insane.  Everyone couldn’t wait to see it.  And since this was before such video game coverage was as big as it is today, a lot of people didn’t see anything from the game until they actually played it.  Unless, that is, if you saw The Wizard which had a climax that was basically a commercial for the game.  On the school playground, my friends and I would talk about all the rumors we heard about the game, the biggest being that Mario would fly!  I don’t think any of us could have guessed it would be via a raccoon tail but when we found out we didn’t care to be bothered by confusion, we were just psyched to play it.

Final Fantasy VII was hyped for a different reason.  Even though the Playstation had been on the market for over a year, a lot of people still felt like we weren’t really experiencing all the Playstation could do until Final Fantasy VII came out.  Television ads bombarded us with commercials featuring mostly FMV sequences from the game that were like nothing we had ever seen from a video game.  It was also the follow-up to Final Fantasy VI (III in the US) which was a much beloved game by all who enjoyed it.  There was some controversy too since the franchise was moving from Nintendo to Sony which just made it seem more exciting.  When it was announced the a demo of the game would be release with Tobal No. 1 it basically guaranteed that title would move half a million units, at the very least.

Metal Gear Solid kind of snuck up on gamers in 1998.  The Metal Gear series was enjoyed by most of those who experienced it, but it wasn’t very popular.  When MGS came out it really blew people away with its presentation and innovative use of the Playstation console’s features.  Solid Snake was a man’s man that appealed to most gamers, and the experience is one of the most memorable of its era.  The sequel promised to deliver the same experience, but with more realism.  I remember speculating with friends upon reading about the sequel and how Snake could hide the bodies of his foes and such and wondering how far Konami would take it.  Would we have to mop up the blood?  Make sure they didn’t start to smell?  Like Final Fantasy VII, a demo was packaged with a lesser title before release (Zone of the Enders) which would help drive sales of the unknown game.  It was the unveil trailer at E3 though that really cemented this one as a must have when Hideo Kojima showed off a Hollywood style trailer featuring Snake jumping off the George Washington bridge.

I still get chills when I watch the opening to this game.

All three of these games were eagerly anticipated by the masses, and all three did something a lot of hyped titles fail to do:  they delivered.  Some may quibble with how well they did.  MGS2 is famous for its inclusion of the much maligned Raiden character, and while he was unloved by most, I’ve never heard anyone call it a bad game because of that.  Final Fantasy VII‘s toughest critics are from those who like Final Fantasy VI more, there’s no shame in being a runner-up to that title though.  Super Mario Bros. 3, on the other hand, is nothing but loved.  It’s one of the all-time greats and a seemingly flawless experience.

Nintendo will now try to stir up hype for its new system, the Wii U.  The hype machine started over a year ago when the console was first unveiled.  It’s basically a powered-up Wii with a tablet controller.  The system won’t be more powerful, or perhaps not even quite as powerful, as the current Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, but that will make it significantly stronger than the Wii.  The tablet controller is a curiosity, one that Nintendo is likely going to have to lead the way on in order to encourage other developers to do something unique with it.

The Wii was quite the hit when it first arrived in 2006.  People were really intrigued by the motion-based controls and were willing to overlook the lackluster horsepower (partly because the system was significantly cheaper than the others out there) and poor online features.  There was quite a bit of hype for it and so far I’m not getting the sense that people are nearly as excited about the Wii U.  The gaming crowd will support it, for the most part, but I don’t think it’s going to be the focus of a South Park episode.  I think it’s partly due to the tablet controller, the main selling point, and consumer confusion regarding it.  Just how much can we expect it to add to the gameplay experience? We’re all already playing touch based games on our phones and do we really need a touch screen embedded in a controller?  Is there anything this system is going to do that a PS3 and Vita can’t?

Must have device? Only time will tell.

In response to that last question, probably not.  However, a PS3 plus a Vita is a pretty heavy investment so few, if any, developers are actually going to develop software that really makes use of both in tandem(especially when considering how poorly the Vita has sold).  Wii U developers get the benefit of knowing their audience has this intriguing controller and will have to incorporate it into their games.  It’s just a matter of how creative they get.  So far, it sounds like many third-party developers are just reserving the tablet screen for menu interactions or maps, which is pretty lame.  The tablet is only good for a few hours, and because Nintendo is expecting a shortage of them, they won’t be sold individually for awhile which means only one tablet per household.  It’s likely most games won’t be designed to incorporate two for the time-being as a result.

Software wise, the system is lacking a killer app at launch.  Or at least, that’s how it appears.  Perhaps as the early reviews start coming in we’ll find there is a must have game in there, but for now there’s Mario.  New Super Mario Bros. Wii U is the big first-party title arriving at launch.  Expect more of the same from this familiar franchise.  The only tablet integration is in multi-player where the tablet player can manipulate the levels and cause trouble for those playing.  Interesting, but nothing that begs to be tried.  There is a new Pikmin on the way, which may be the kind of game that lets Nintendo show off, and there’s bound to be a Zelda and Metroid title somewhere down the road.

When it comes to the Wii U I am intrigued, but not hyped in the same way I was for the original Wii. Despite that, I still have a console reserved for launch.  I can’t not play; it’s a compulsion.  It’s Nintendo, and its track record is too strong to ignore.  Even though I’m not that excited, I’m assured of having a good time.  That said, it wouldn’t bother me if Nintendo did get me hyped for this thing.  Make the next month go by slowly!

1 Comment | posted in Video Games

September 19, 2012

Reactions to IGN’s Top 100 RPGs of All Time

By Joe

All time lists are tough to compile and ever tougher to get everyone to agree on.  It’s impossible.  Sometimes there is a consensus number 1, but getting there is often the tricky part.  What make the item listed at #48 better than #49?  Is there even a difference?

I like to make top 10 lists of various things I like.  It’s fun to do, but they’re never static.  Last year I listed my top 10 favorite albums and if I were to do it again this year it would look different.  Some albums will always be there for me, possibly until my end of days, but most of them are interchangeable.  It depends on what I’m most interested in at the time, be it a specific band or genre.  I find it’s more appropriate to just make a group of 10 or so favorites, like I’ve done with my greatest games feature.  It eliminates the subjectivity of assigning a numerical rank because a lot of the titles in the feature are hard to compare to one another.

And even though I have sympathy for anyone trying to compile a list of the greatest anything of all time, it’s not going to stop me from criticizing IGN for it’s recently completed Top 100 RPGs of All Time.  I’ve a pretty big fan of the RPG genre of video games, be they from the Far East or Western, PC or console, real-time or turn-based, it’s a very versatile and often rewarding genre of games.  IGNs list contains most of the classics and many modern titles as well.  They did stay away from Zelda, feeling that’s more of an adventure title, though they did include Secret of Mana.  It’s a fine line at times.  I’m not going to go thru all 100, just high-light the ones that jumped out at me for either positive or negative reasons.

#99 Lunar:  Eternal Blue – It’s hard to quibble with the 99th ranked title, but I’m going to.  Eternal Blue is the sequel to Silver Star Story and both were released on the Sega CD and then re-released on the Playstation.  SSS is ranked #42, and it’s definitely the superior title in the franchise, though even that might be too high.  Lunar games are turn-based that rely on charm and production design.  They work, for the most part, and SSS deserves to be on this list for setting a new standard in production values alone with its full motion video and voice acting.  Eternal Blue though was mostly retread and the charm didn’t work as well.  Not a bad game, but when you consider that Final Fantasy V, Secret of Evermore, or the original Breath of Fire didn’t even make this list, well that just doesn’t work for me.

#89 Fallout:  New Vegas – Really?  Ehh, I didn’t think much of this title.  It was buggy and felt more like an expansion to Fallout 3 than its own game.  It’s #89 though, so it’s kind of hard to get too bent out of shape over it.

#88 Final Fantasy IX – Did you know that FFIX is the 5th highest ranked game for the Playstation on gamerankings.com?  It’s a great throw-back title for the venerable series, and while it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it’s a lot of fun to experience.  It deserves better than #88!

If you’ve got 100 hours to kill and a love for tactical RPGs, then Front Mission 3 is for you!

#75 Front Mission 3 – I have no problem with this one being here.  I’ve actually never played it outside of a demo that came with another Square title during the PSX era.  I’ve always wanted to play it, but the 100 hour commitment supposedly required to finish it always scared me away.  It’s basically an RTS with mechs.  Sounds sweet!

#67 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance – I love the original Final Fantasy Tactics, but this one?  Eww.  Square felt for some reason it had to dumb down the game since it was on a Nintendo handheld and the end result was a game I couldn’t finish.  Tactics A2 for the DS was a better game, though I’m not sure it’s deserving of being on this list but they could have probably made room.

#66 Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time – I like the Mario & Luigi series.  It’s pretty fun and a nice off-beat kind of RPG, but Partners in Time is my least favorite.  I found it annoying switching between the babies and the regular Mario Bros. and the humor wasn’t as fun as the original.  It’s the lone rep from this series, and if IGN was only going to pick one I think they should have went with the first title for the Gameboy Advance.

#61 Chrono Cross – Poor Chrono Cross continues to get overlooked.

#58 Freedom Force – I was kind of surprised to see this one included.  It’s an action heavy RPG for the PC that is kind of like Diablo, without loot and with superheroes.  It’s a cool game, but one I found forgettable.  I never really thought of it as an RPG either; Warcraft III is arguable more of an RPG than this title.  If IGN wants to include it, I’m okay with it, but not this high.

#47 Xenogears – I love this game.  I think it should be higher, though I concede I love it more than most people do.  Even taking that into account, it should still be in the Top 30.

#41 Xenoblade Chronicles – I have this game, played it once, and have no opinion on it.  I’m just surprised it’s higher than Xenogears.  I guess I need to get back to playing it.

MMORPGs haven’t changed a whole lot since Ultima Online, but they definitely look better.

#33 Ultima Online – This is where IGN and I are going to have to agree or disagree.  The Ultima series is worthy of inclusion as it’s one of the more influential franchises in the genre, especially on the PC.  Online RPGs though, now more commonly known as MMORPGs, are just not my thing.  I consider that a separate genre.  There’s just little depth.  Developers took the whole looting aspect of RPGs and made an entire game out of it.  I just find them boring.  I like some narrative structure in my games, and it doesn’t help that most are just hack and slash games.  So year, I wouldn’t include many on this list, and if I did, they’d be on the other side of 50.

#21 Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars – I have no problems with this ranking.  It’s actually perfect, just outside the top 20.  Good job, IGN!

#20 EverQuest – See Ultima Online.  I suppose this title deserves inclusion for being the pioneer of the MMORP as we know it, and World of Warcraft should get a mention, but not in the top 20.  That’s an insult.

#16 Diablo – Really?  Number 16?!  Better than Ogre Battle, Xenogears, Skies of Arcadia, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, Baldur’s Gate etc?!  Diablo was a lot of fun when it came out, but it was so derivative.  Just go around hacking-up skeletons and collecting gold.  Rinse and repeat.  Diablo II should be on this list, and that should be the lone rep for this franchise…

#6 Diablo II …and it should not be this high!  It’s Diablo, but bigger and with additional character classes.  On no planet is this the sixth best RPG of all-time.

#14 Final Fantasy Tactics – Since it’s essentially Ogre Battle with a Final Fantasy coat of paint, one could argue it should not be ranked higher than the best Ogre Battle titles, but I don’t mind.  Great game and a solid ranking.

Over the years I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about Planescape: Torment, but I’ve yet to play it.

#13 Planescape:  Torment – I’ve never played this game, but always heard good things.  I really should track down a copy one day while I still have a computer with an OS that can play it.

#11 Final Fantasy VII – This has become one of the more controversial titles when any outlet compiles one of these lists.  I consider it my favorite Final Fantasy title, but the gap between this one and VI is almost non-existent.  It’s splitting hairs for me.  A lot of people have a hatred for this title because it was the point where a lot of people jumped on the RPG bandwagon.  I’m okay with IGN putting VI ahead of it, but this one should have still found its way into the top 10.

#7 The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim – Even though Skyrim is still a relatively young title I feel pretty comfortable saying it’s the best of its niche.  Bethesda’s titles have come to represent the western RPG in this modern time taking over the point and click style of the Bioware titles.  Even though my experience with Skyrim was fraught with horrible glitches and bugs (really, the game should not have been released for PS3 in the state it was in meaning I’ll never buy a Bethesda title at launch again until I know it’s safe to do so) the game itself was a true joy to experience.  I just envy those who had it on a suped-up PC or bought it long after the various patches fixed everything.

#4 Pokemon Red/Blue – I struggle with where to rank Pokemon on this list.  On hand, it’s insanely addicting and a clever concept.  On the other, it’s really simple and doesn’t require a great deal of skill to master.  I think it should be on this list and definitely top 50 and maybe top 25, but #4 is just too high.

I feel like some people are starting to forget just how awesome the Baldur’s Gate series was. It certainly wipes with the floor with Dragon Age.

#3 Baldur’s Gate II:  Shadows of Amn – An almost forgotten title, or so it feels like at times.  I think it’s because Bioware has become known more for Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect in recent years, but this is still their best game.  It’s a great tactical RPG that makes excellent use of the D&D license.  The only criticism I have of it is that it’s perhaps too faithful to the D&D license so there’s some tedium involved (time to rest so I can re-charge my spells!).  And with the game being as massive as it is, that tedium can become real time-consuming.

#2 Chrono Trigger – I knew what the top 2 would be, I just wasn’t certain of the order.  I think IGN mostly gets it right though.  Chrono Trigger was a breath of fresh air when it came out late in the life of the SNES, and it holds up really well today.  I’m on record as saying I actually prefer the sequel, Chrono Cross, but that’s splitting hairs.

#1 Final Fantasy VI – A pretty obvious and easy selection.  I think it’s debatable which game in the Final Fantasy main series is the best, but once you factor in all of the new concepts (mostly thematic in nature) introduced by Vi that became hallmarks of the genre for many games to come it becomes a much easier selection.  Final Fantasy VI gave gamers a grown-up story with a huge cast of characters and one of the most memorable villains in gaming history.  Because of that it’s become the definitive Japanese RPG and is not likely to ever be dethroned.

IGN ended up doing a pretty decent job with this list.  Yeah, the MMORPGs kind of irk me and are too well represented and the Diablo stuff makes my head hurt (I might come across as a Diablo hater, but really I’m not.  They’re good titles for what they are, but they’re far too simplistic in nature to rank amongst the genre’s elite) but for the most part the best titles are represented.  It’s impossible to get this kind of thing right but I had fun killing time going thru the list and I suppose that’s all it really intends to do.

1 Comment | posted in Video Games

August 25, 2012

New Super Mario Bros. 2

By Joe

New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012)

For awhile it seemed like Nintendo had adopted a one Mario title per console policy.  Back on the original Nintendo when Mario was first making a name for himself we were treated to several wonderful titles that lead into the launch of the Super Nintendo which gave us Super Mario World.  After that though, Mario stopped showing up as frequently in his own adventures.  Sure he’d pop up here and there to play some sports and race some go-karts, but he was held to one lone outing on the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and the Gamecube.  And it wasn’t like he was taking his talents to the handhelds, after Super Mario Land 2 he pretty much stopped showing up there as well.  The Gameboy Color and the Gameboy Advance didn’t even have a Super Mario Bros. game of their own, just ports of the old ones.

The Nintendo DS looked to be heading in the same direction when it launched alongside a port of Super Mario 64.  It was around that time that Nintendo had really fallen back in terms of market share, losing considerable ground to Sony in its native Japan and lagging behind both Sony and Microsoft in other parts of the world.  Nintendo needed a boost, so they turned to their old reliable mascot.  They decided to appeal to their older gamers through nostalgia and crafted a game that was as much about entertaining the gamer as it was about being a tribute to the original Super Mario Bros.  That game ended up being New Super Mario Bros. and when it arrived on the scene in 2006 for the DS gamers and critics alike were taken back to the good old days where Mario hopped and bopped his way through a level and found a flag pole at the end.  New Super Mario Bros. quickly became the best-selling title on the DS as the handheld took off.  The Nintendo Wii arrived later that year and really helped boost Nintendo’s popularity.  For that console, three traditional Mario games have been released to date which is quite a change in direction.  The Wii was given the Galaxy series as well as its own entry in the New Super Mario Bros. franchise.  The successor to the Wii, the Wii U, is expected to launch this fall with its own New Super Mario Bros. game and the Nintendo 3DS just received New Super Mario Bros. 2 this past Sunday.

For the Nintendo 3DS, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is the second dedicated Mario title following last fall’s Super Mario 3D Land.  3D Land was tasked with bringing Mario into stereoscopic 3D.  It retained a lot of the 2D Mario gameplay mechanics, but instead of Mario only being able to fall off 2 sides of a platform, he can fall off all 4!  Keeping the basic gameplay to something akin to the 2D titles kept gamer’s in their comfort zone while positioning the camera to acknowledge that this was indeed a fully realized world that Mario inhabited allowed for Nintendo to make better use of the 3D effect.  It worked quite well and 3D Land ended up being well-received.  It’s probably already the best game on the 3DS and it hasn’t been challenged all that seriously since its release.

Mario’s new power-up: Pimp Mario.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 has no such gimmicks to sell.  It exists as simply the next game in the franchise.  It doesn’t seem to care about the system’s 3D capabilities and the game actually looks awful with 3D enabled.  And if we needed a reminder that this game represented a piece of the Nintendo cash-cow there’s a new emphasis on coin-collecting this time around with the ultimate goal, or rather the challenge put forth by Nintendo, being to collect one million coins.  In previous titles, the act of coin-collecting was just an impulse and a way to “buy” additional lives for Mario.  It’s no secret that recent games have sort of made a mockery of this.  Even without making every effort to obtain every coin on-screen most gamers have had no trouble racking up hundreds of extra lives for Mario as the games have become progressively easier.

To better emphasize this approach Nintendo has given Mario a new power-up:  the gold flower.  This power-up functions like the regular fire flower power up only now Mario is gold and his fireballs turn enemies and brick blocks into coins.  The fireballs have more density to them as well and pass right through enemies to take out whatever is in their path.  It’s the lone new power-up and it doesn’t show up a whole lot in the regular game unless one seeks it out via the various Toad Houses.  It is featured prominently in the new Coin Rush mode that gives the player a randomized trio of levels to rush through and collect as many coins as possible.  This mode is the one that works in conjunction with Nintendo’s street pass feature and gamers can challenge one another to beat their high score just by walking passed each other with a street pass enabled 3DS in pocket.  The mode is okay, and one million coins is quite a challenge (most will have roughly 40,000 after beating the game, so you have your work cut out for you should you attempt the million mark), but it adds nothing to the gameplay.

The original NSMB was not a very ambitious title.  In fact, it seemed intentionally basic as it tried to harken back to the original SMB.  The levels were straight-forward and Mario’s only plentiful power-ups were the fire flower and star.  There were a couple of new ones, but they appeared sparingly and almost seemed like they were included just for fun.  As a kid, I can remember discussing with other kids how cool it be if Mario could get even bigger by consuming more mushrooms.  Nintendo must have heard those conversations as it introduced the mega mushroom which made Mario the size of the screen and blessed him with destructive powers on par with Godzilla.  To pair with this, Nintendo introduced the mini mushroom which shrunk Mario down to miniscule size and allowed him to walk on water and enter pipes too small for normal Mario.  There was also a turtle shell power-up that appeared in some stages though it was mostly a dud.  It gave Mario some protection in a ducking position and allowed him to slide into enemies.  It certainly wasn’t as imaginative as the super leaf.  The mini mushroom ended up being the best of the three as it opened up new gameplay possibilities the others really didn’t.  Some critics seemed to really love NSMB, and while I definitely had a ton of fun with it, I never once thought of it as being superior to Mario’s best.  I actually thought it might end up being a one and done kind of thing, but it made so much money for Nintendo that proved impossible.

I was hoping the sequels would be more ambitious, but the first sequel really didn’t add much.  NSMBWii added co-op play and a couple of new power-ups like the unwieldy penguin suit and the propeller suit.  It was a big game, and a fun one, but it seems Nintendo is only really interested in imitating the old games and not really pushing things.  Which brings me back to New Super Mario Bros. 2.

The Koopalings, or Koopa Kids, are back and they’ve even brought with them an old toy!

NSMB2 borrows a page from Super Mario 3D Land and resurrects an old favorite, this time the super leaf.  The leaf was present in 3D Land but in that game it bestowed Mario with a tanooki suit.  This time it’s returned to its old function which is to give Mario raccoon ears and a tail and allows him to fly, just as it did in Super Mario Bros. 3.  The mega mushroom and mini mushroom are here as well, but their presence is more like a cameo than anything as they show up quite sparingly.  Gameplay wise, it’s the same old thing as Mario goes from world to world, level to level, combating Bowser and trying to save the princess.  The Koopalings return and Mario will have to topple one at the end of each of the game’s five levels before taking on Bowser at the end of world six.  That’s not a typo.  There are only six worlds this time around when traditionally there’s always been eight.  There are secret worlds but having only six main ones is kind of a letdown.  The secret worlds are the Mushroom, Flower, and Star worlds.  The Mushroom and Flower worlds can be accessed by finding secret exits in one of the levels which lead to warp canons.  Instead of the canons firing Mario (or Luigi, don’t want to forget about him!) to the world it fires him through a special stage.  These stages are brief but remind me of Sonic the Hedgehog as Mario is forced to run full speed.  Mario has to time his jumps perfectly and bounce off of enemies to clear gaps.  Or he can use a super leaf and mostly fly over the whole thing.

These canon levels end up being some of the game’s most challenging, because the rest is a cake-walk.  Super Mario 3D Land was pretty easy and I had over a hundred extra lives when I beat it, but in this one I had over 400.  It’s just not a hard game.  At all.  The boss encounters are particularly pathetic.  There’s a castle and a fortress in each world.  In the fortress, Super Mario World’s Reznor returns as the boss there.  If you forgot, Reznor is actually a group of fire-breathing dinosaurs on a big wheel contraption.  In SMW, Mario would have to bop all four off their place on the wheel while the ground he stood on was destroyed.  Reznor gets a bit more inventive in this one as some fortresses feature dual wheels, but the floor is much slower to deteriorate making the encounters even easier than they were in SMW.  The boss fights with the Koopalings are at least more imaginative than they were in SMW, but again, they’re probably easier too.  None of them are particularly memorable and I certainly never died while taking them on.  The final encounter with Bowser can be counted on to up the difficulty though, right?  Ehh, not really.  It’s two parts, and the first part is just a new take on the original Bowser boss fight and exists merely as a nod to SMB.  The second part is where it’s supposed to get hard, but without spoiling anything, it’s not.  After beating the six words plus two secret ones, the Star World is opened.  I thought maybe the Star World would be like the Special World from SMB and feature the game’s biggest challenges but it really doesn’t.  The levels are shockingly basic though the final castle is noticeably more challenging than any other level.  At the end of that castle gamers will encounter Dry Bowser, a skeletal version of the terrible turtle, but the mechanics of the fight are exactly the same as they were before.

Remember these guys? They’re back too.

It’s been established that the game is exceptionally easy and not particularly long, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t any fun.  I’ve had a pretty good time steering Mario along his course to rescue the princess.  One thing the NSMB series may have over the likes of SMB3 is in its controls.  Mario handles like a dream which may be one reason why these games seem so much easier than the old ones.  It’s much easier to stop Mario from sliding off a platform or to time his jumps precisely.  He has the perfect amount of weight and very rarely did I die and found myself blaming the controls.  The star coins scattered through-out the levels present a fun challenge.  They’re often not cleverly hidden but they’re also not always in plain sight.  They’re definitely easier to obtain in this game than some of the past ones.  In other games there’s usually a handful that would kill me over and over as I tried to snag it but there wasn’t a single one in this game that I had trouble with.

At the end of the day, I’m left to ponder the question at what point do I expect something more?  I’ve always had fun playing these games in the New Super Mario Bros. franchise but I don’t get the sense that Nintendo takes them entirely serious.  It’s been six years and three titles, but at no point have any of these games approached the heights of Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World.  And it’s not that I expect them to, as those are two of the greatest games ever made, but it’s just I don’t feel like Nintendo is even trying to top them.  I bought NSMB2 last Sunday and have since invested 12 hours into it and have accomplished everything.  I beat every level and acquired every star coin.  I could just play it over and over until I get a million coins, but I think I’ll hate the game if I play it that much.  There’s supposedly going to be some downloadable content in the future, but I don’t know how I feel about that.  I feel Nintendo already short-changed us on the levels in the game, so paying for more doesn’t sit well with me.  I’ll reserve judgement though for a later date.  Ultimately, anyone who buys this game knows what they’re buying.  This franchise is if anything consistent and it will entertain you, just don’t expect it to do so for very long or to offer much challenge.

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August 19, 2012

Greatest Games: Chrono Cross

By Joe

Chrono Cross (1999)

I have been intentionally avoiding the topic of video games of late.  I felt like this blog was getting too video game oriented when it’s meant to capture more.  I think the break has been long enough and so I return to my Greatest Games feature with the latest addition, Squaresoft’s Playstation masterpiece:  Chrono Cross.

Chrono Cross was burdened by hype from the get-go.  One of the most fondly remembered games from the 16 bit era is Square’s Chrono Trigger, the time-traveling RPG that won over many gamers in 1995.  It came late in the Super Nintendo lifecycle and at a time when the RPG was starting to get a bit stale.  It changed things up though thru it’s then innovative battle system and time traveling dynamic which made the game feel extremely fresh.  Those who played it loved it, and those who found out about it much later felt like they really missed out driving the after-market prices of SNES game carts to unexpected heights.  Squaresoft would wisely capitalize on this by re-releasing Chrono Trigger for the Playstation with Final Fantasy IV as part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles compilation.  They would also develop and release a sequel in 1999 called Chrono Cross.

By the time Chrono Cross arrived the fans who had missed out on Chrono Trigger had caught on and expectations were high.  The game was well met by critics when first released, becoming one of only seven titles reviewed by Gamespot to receive a perfect score.  Other outlets were eager to praise the title and it was one of the best reviewed games of 1999 and is still the 8th best reviewed title for the Playstation behind games such as Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo 2 and ahead of genre-mate Final Fantasy VII.  Even with all of that praise though, it still feels like Chrono Cross gets overshadowed by the game it followed.  Chrono Trigger has been re-released numerous times for both home consoles and portables.  Chrono Cross, on the other hand, has never been re-released in the US and only recently was made available on the Playstation Network in Japan.  The game sold pretty well, but it didn’t move a real noteworthy amount of units (though most RPG’s don’t).  It feels like the game is still fighting for recognition, even when few are there to put it down.

Serge, the game’s primary protagonist.

Chrono Cross is my preferred game of the Chrono series.  That’s not a knock against Chrono Trigger, a truly wonderful and memorable game, but Cross is just a tiny bit better.  The scope of the game is enormous.  There are over 45 characters for the player to recruit and use and a select few have hidden special moves that can be used in conjunction with other characters.  The game encourages repeat playings as it’s impossible to recruit all of the game’s characters in one play-through.  The game’s plot does not take the player across millions of years but it does include parallel worlds.  In an interesting twist, the game’s main character is alive in one world but died as a small child in the other.  In sort of typical Japanese RPG plot-lines, nothing is what it seems and things do get a bit convoluted by the game’s end but it’s an engrossing and worthwhile story to experience.

The gameplay is similar to Chrono Trigger and other Japanese RPG’s, but it is different in several key areas.  Chrono Cross felt remarkably progressive when it first came out as the game did away with genre staples such as experience points and random encounters.  Instead of experience points, characters get progressively better after performing actions in battle up to a certain point.  There’s a cap placed on the player that can only be extended by defeating a boss character and gaining a “star.”  There’s also no magic points, or mana, and these stars serve as a fuel of sorts to summon creatures to aid in battle.  Magic and special abilities are all labeled as elements, and they are one-time use in battle.  If you want your character to cast Aqua Ball twice you simply equip the spell twice.  Each character has an element grid that grows with the character.  Characters have their own unique abilities at certain levels and are free to equip anything else.

A look at the game’s battle scenario. Not bad for a game that’s over 10 years old!

To go along with this element system is a color coded element field.  The field exists on every battle and is comprised of three parts.  There are six element colors that can affect the field and using any of the six adds it to the field and bumps one off.  For example, if three consecutive red elements are used between the player and enemy, then the whole field is red.  Each character has an innate elemental color associated with him or her which makes them more proficient with that color and weak to its opposite.  When the field is in that character’s favor, that character gets a boost in stats and all elements of that color are more potent.

Standard attacks use attack points.  At the onset of a turn, a character has seven stamina points to use.  Using any kind of element uses up seven while physical attacks are tiered and consume 1, 2, or 3 points.  The player can use all seven up on physical attacks or elements.  Elements can be used at any time, but if the player only has two stamina points remaining then he’ll end that turn with negative 5 stamina points which will likely impact the character’s next turn.  It becomes a management tool and sometimes the player will be tempted to go all out and exhaust his or her characters in an effort to deal a killing blow.  And since the element field is affected by everyone who uses elements it affects how the player uses all of the characters in the party (three total).

The battle system encourages tactical thinking, more so than most Final Fantasy games.  And because the roster of available characters is so large it gives the player lots of freedom to swap characters in and out of the main party.  Usually who’s in it will be determined by the environment as it’s good to have an opposite aligned character to deal out major damage, though going too heavy on the opposite element means your characters are more susceptible to the enemies as well.  These kinds of trade-offs are not foreign to gamers, but it works to great effect in Chrono Cross and keeps even the more mundane enemy encounters amusing.

If you’re a fan of the genre and never played this one then you’re really missing out.

As I mentioned earlier, the plot can get a bit murky but overall it’s pretty fun and will keep most gamers entertained.  The game pulls the old switcheroo midway through by having the main character change rather drastically which gives the game a new feel.  The art direction and visuals were quite stunning in 1999 and hold up surprisingly well today.  A lot of games from the Playstation era cannot say the same.  There’s many lush environments, especially early in the game, and there’s liberal use of FMV for the more spectacular moments.  The audio is also fantastic.  Sure the characters don’t talk and it’s a pretty text-heavy title, but the soundtrack is exceptional and one of the best of all time.  Above all, it’s just a fun game.  This is the Japanese RPG perfected and the genre’s popularity maybe well behind us at this point but it’s still fun to go back and relive the classics.  New games are great and all, but there’s nothing like firing up an old classic and if you’re going to play an older RPG, Chrono Cross is the one to reach for.

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June 23, 2012

The 3DS XL: Nintendo’s Imperfect Update

By Joe

Nintendo has an odd relationship when it comes to portable gaming devices.  The company has experienced immense success and great failure at the same time.  And even though the company rarely is ahead of the technological curve when it comes to its hardware, it still manages to dominate in sales.  The portable section of Nintendo’s portfolio is one the company can rely on to almost always turn a profit.  The only true failure was the Virtual Boy, a complete and total misfire.  The 3DS had a failed launch, but since a dramatic price cut and better software releases, the handheld has surged.  It may not have been profitable in 2011, but it almost certainly will be in 2012.

Nintendo’s approach to its main handheld units has been fairly consistent.  The original Game Boy was launched in 1989 and was Nintendo’s first true portable console.  The company had already made a name for itself in portable stand-alone games under the Game & Watch label, but the Game Boy operated like a home console and could switch out the software whenever the user wished.  The unit was fairly powerful for the time, though not on par with home console devices.  It had the same button layout as Nintendo’s home console, which made adapting games easy once accounting for the reduced tech.  Many companies tried to usurp the Game Boy as the market leader in portable gaming devices and all took the approach of releasing more powerful, color based systems.  Nintendo’s strategy of sacrificing power for better battery consumption proved correct as the Game Boy lasted for the entire duration of the 90’s while more powerful handhelds like the Game Gear and Lynx faded away (though the Game Gear was moderately successful in its own right, but sales for it amounted to about 1/10 of Game Boy’s).

In 1996 Nintendo introduced a new Game Boy to market, the Game Boy Pocket.  It was the same hardware, just shrunk down to a more portable style that required fewer batteries to operate.  This was the first major revision for the Game Boy, and the second would come in 1998 with the introduction of the long-awaited Game Boy Color.  The Game Boy Color did have the distinction of being slightly more powerful than the old hardware, but not by leaps and bounds.  Some games designed for it would not work on older Game Boys, making it arguably its own distinct handheld and not an actual revision.

The first revision to the Game Boy, the Game Boy Pocket, made the device more portable and more economical.

The Game Boy’s first true successor was the Game Boy Advance which was released in 2001.  While all previous Game Boys had a vertical format, the GBA had a horizontal one similar to the Game Gear.  It had a 32-bit processor but a lack of any 3D capabilities made it more comparable to a Super Nintendo than say a Playstation.  Aside from the enhanced tech capabilities, the only other major addition was the inclusion of two shoulder buttons.  Many fans were disappointed that Nintendo didn’t add two additional face buttons which would have made SNES to GBA ports near perfect.  Like the original Game Boy, the GBA would receive multiple revisions.  The first was the GBA SP, which made the GBA resemble an old Game Boy Pocket but with a hinge in the middle so it could be folded and stored away to protect the screen (and make it more portable).  The major addition to the SP though was the inclusion of a front-light, something gamers had been demanding for over a decade.  No additional buttons were added though, and the new design was less comfortable than the original but the inclusion of the light, rechargeable battery, and screen protection made it superior.  A third revision would follow in 2005, the GBA Micro.  The Micro removed the backwards compatibility of the SP with original Game Boy cartridges, but shrunk the whole thing into a tiny size that resembled a Famicom/NES controller.  The unit was also back-lit and provided a slightly better picture, though at a reduced size.   At the same time, a new GBA SP was released that had a back-lit screen instead of a front-lit, which was much more effective.  This was more of a running change than a true revision, but worth noting.

The Nintendo DS followed the GBA in 2005 and has been no stranger to revisions.  The original was bulky and unattractive, and a new model was released in 2006.  Dubbed the DS Lite, it was a more streamlined take on the console.  The DSi would follow the Lite and add better networking capabilities, an SD card slot, camera, and slightly larger screen.  The final revision to the DS came in the form of the DSi XL, just an over-sized DSi.

Which brings me to the 3DS.  When the 3DS was launched last year most gamers assumed a revision was inevitable.  I was a day one purchaser of the unit, and while I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit, there’s no denying there are some obvious short-comings that could be addressed with a future update.  The system is designed just like a DS, but Nintendo made some odd choices with the unit that do cause minor problems.  For one, the bottom screen is smaller than the top.  This isn’t necessarily an issue in and of itself, but there’s a raised border around the bottom screen that causes lines to form on the top screen when the unit is closed.  Mine hasn’t caused any permanent damage, but it is annoying to have to clean the top screen every time I use it.  The circle pad causes a similar issue on the top piece, but not on the screen thankfully.  And ever since the unit’s reveal, gamers have yearned for a second circle pad, which was addressed by Nintendo with the Circle Pad Pro attachment.  The attachment not only adds the desired second circle pad, but also adds two additional shoulder buttons to the unit putting it on par with home console controllers.  The attachment works, but is bulky as Hell and using the face buttons with it is some-what cumbersome.  The overall power of the unit, particularly the screen resolution, is not very impressive either.  Especially when compared with the more recently released Playstation Vita.

Most expected Nintendo to unveil a new 3DS at E3 this year.  Early reports out of China before the show seemed to confirm this, but come show-time nothing was seen.  In a questionable move, Nintendo chose to reveal the 3DS XL after E3 in an online developer conference.  The 3DS XL is the expected update to the 3DS, but is it the update gamers had been looking forward to?  In short:  No.

The 3DS XL is exactly what the name implies.  It’s an over-sized 3DS.  This isn’t a bad thing on its own.  While a larger 3DS is less portable, the original is pretty cramped and a larger one would work better for those who tend to play their 3DS in longer play sessions as opposed to quick bursts.  And even though it presumably requires more power to function when compared with the current model, the XL will reportedly have slightly better battery life (5-8 hours for 3DS games).

Congrats Nintendo! It only took you a few short months to render this attachment useless!

If the biggest issue gamers had with the 3DS were its size and battery life (a legitimate complaint), the XL would be well received.  And when it hits stores it very well may be.  For me, this update is fairly pointless.  The screen size has been enhanced, but the resolution remains the same.  The resolution on the current 3DS is underwhelming at best.  Games that look good on the unit do so in spite of the unit’s resolution.  A game like Resident Evil: Revelations is fairly impressive from a visual standpoint, but the low-res picture washes out the image and adds a blurry texture to everything.  Especially in the darker environments, I felt like I needed to wipe off the screen constantly even though there was nothing on it.  I played the game with the Circle Pad Pro, which as I mentioned, is a cumbersome add-on.  It does improve the gameplay though, but for some reason Nintendo did not incorporate it into the design of the XL.  The unit is bigger, one would think this would allow Nintendo to add the additional shoulder buttons, or at the very least, a second circle pad!  Nintendo chose not to, which not only seems foolish, but renders the Circle Pad Pro unusable with the XL.  A game like RE: Revelations will most likely play worse on the XL because of the controller configuration, and look worse because the low-res image is being blown-up beyond its intended size.  And perhaps just to add one last bit of insult to injury, the bottom screen is still smaller than the top and the raised border still exists so it’s likely the same screen line problem of the current 3DS will be prevalent here.

Obviously, I can’t pass judgement on a piece of hardware that isn’t even available yet.  It’s entirely possible that the 3DS XL is superior to the current 3DS based on the increased size and superior battery life enough to justify a purchase, or even an upgrade.  I’ll be surprised if that’s my opinion come August when the unit hits stores alongside New Super Mario Bros. 2 as it fails to address the real problems I personally have with the 3DS.  Plus if I were to upgrade it would render my Circle Pad Pro useless which is not something I am eager to do (but would have been willing to do if the new 3DS made it obsolete by incorporating its features into the design).  This just seems like a completely unnecessary update to the current hardware.

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June 9, 2012

What to Make of E3 2012?

By Joe

If you’re even remotely into video games then you know that every June the Electronic Entertainment Expo (better known as E3) takes place in LA and all of the major players in the video game world unveil to the public what they have in store for the masses.  Often times E3 is the first chance for gamers to get a look at the next big “thing” from the major developers, be that thing a new console or the return of a beloved franchise.  This year’s E3 promised to reveal more about Nintendo’s next machine, the Wii U, and the public figured to get its first look at the latest in long-running franchises like Halo and Super Mario Bros.  As for surprises, well it was entirely possible, though not likely, we’d get some info on the successors to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and maybe a new 3DS.  Now that E3 2012 is in the books, what did I think of it?  I’m glad you asked!

Microsoft/Sony

I’m lumping these two together for reasons that will be obvious once I’m done.  Both console publishers weren’t expected to unveil new hardware at E3 and instead would aim to boost their current market share.  Microsoft, predictably, threw a bunch of Kinect stuff at the attendees since that’s presently making them a boatload of money even if the “hardcore” gaming community couldn’t care less about it.  There was Halo 4 though, which was the game most Xbox fans were interested in.  As the first Halo not developed by Bungie, there is some uncertainty surrounding it but it seems like most were satisfied.  Beyond that it was mostly third party games that were spotlighted and some kind of fancy touch-screen junk.  Ho-hum.

Sony was expected to tout the Vita to PS3 connectivity in hopes of boosting the Vita’s severely lacking sales.  Sony’s presentation ended up looking like a business meeting at times and was a total snooze-fest.  They did talk up the connectivity of the Vita and PS3, but really didn’t get behind the Vita like I thought they would.  Like Microsoft, the emphasis was on third-party releases but Sony did flash some new exclusives such as The Last of Us and the latest from Heavy Rain developer, Quantic Dream; a new title similar to Heavy Rain called Beyond:  Two Souls.  I was surprised at how shitty 2012 looks for the Vita as the best titles coming to the handheld are PS3 ports like Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Guacamelee, making me feel less secure in my purchase.

Studio Ghibli is being used to help develop a game? You bet I want in on that!

If you can’t tell, I was pretty unimpressed with the offerings Sony and Microsoft made.  The game that excited me most on their machines was probably Ni No Kuni, the Level 5 and Studio Ghibli collaboration for the PS3 that’s already out in Japan.  I already knew enough about that title though, so it wasn’t like E3 was some big unveiling for it.  Plus it’s a JRPG which doesn’t attract much attention these days.  There was really nothing from Square-Enix, which surprised me, other than their produced revival of Tomb Raider which got a lot of people talking (IGN gave it the title of best game of E3), but I just can’t get excited about a Tomb Raider game.  Microsoft and Sony essentially punted on E3, and with next year’s E3 expected to showcase their new machines, I suppose it’s understandable.

Nintendo

Nintendo had the most to gain with E3 2012 so I expected the Big N to pull out the big guns.  After all, E3 marked the best opportunity for the company to sell the public on its latest console the Wii U, while also pumping up the money-printer known as the 3DS.

Before I get to the Wii U, let’s look at the 3DS.  Interestingly, around this time last year the handheld was floundering and Nintendo was already contemplating a price cut which it would eventually implement.  That price reduction, along with some better software, propelled the 3DS to the top of the sales charts.  Nintendo may be losing money on each unit sold right now, but it’s better than having them sit on the store shelves.  It was thought that Nintendo would show off a 3DS Lite, or as media reports before the show appeared to leak, a 3DS XL which would basically combine the existing hardware with the Circle Pad Pro attachment.  These reports proved erroneous, for now anyways, as Nintendo did not have a new 3DS to show off.  This probably has a lot to do with the current model both selling well and at a loss.  Why sink more R&D into it now?  Nintendo will likely wait for sales to slow down before unveiling a new SKU.

Ghost-busting, Luigi style.

As for the games, well the 3DS didn’t show off much new, and instead finally gave the public a glimpse into games it had already announced but had yet to really show off.  These games included both a new entry in the Paper Mario franchise and a sequel to the decade-old Luigi’s Mansion.  Both were on display at E3 this year and both pretty much delivered what I think most gamers were expecting.  Neither one appears to break the mold much, and Paper Mario:  Sticker Star has some weird sticker gimmick that I’m not sure I like, but gameplay-wise both titles appear solid.  Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon is perhaps slightly more interesting just because it’s a franchise Nintendo has yet to exploit.  The first game, released as a Gamecube launch title, was a solid enough title but one that felt like it needed a sequel to fully realize its potential.  It’s surprising a sequel has taken this long and hopefully it’s a more complete game this time out.

I hope you like coins…

The big, new, title for the 3DS announced just before E3 is New Super Mario Bros. 2.  New Super Mario Bros. is one of the DS’s all-time best sellers, while New Super Mario Bros. Wii is one of the all-time best sellers period, so it’s no surprise the game is returning in 2012.  NSMB2 looks to be more of the same.  Nintendo is bringing back the leaf power-up, much as it did with Super Mario 3D Land, though this time it’s function is identical to it’s original powers in Super Mario Bros. 3, complete with P Meter and all.  It’s also incorporating the Wii version’s simultaneous play, as two players can play as Mario and Luigi at the same time, which sounds like more fun than it looks.  This edition also places emphasis on coin collecting (one of the new power-ups, a gold fire flower, lets Mario turn pretty much everything into coins) with the goal being to collect a million over the course of the game.  It’s unclear if that’s some sort of requirement or just a challenge, but it’s not something that has me excited at all.  Coin collecting, and collecting things in general in platformers, is mundane.  I don’t mind a few hidden items, like the star coins, which are usually some-what challenging to get, but just grabbing coins is often an after-thought.  The games are so easy that the player doesn’t really have to go out of their way to get coins and yet will still end up with over 100 lives.  I’ve recently been playing a lot of the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World and I wish Nintendo would look to that title for inspiration.  The challenge in that game was finding numerous secret exits and extra levels which was far more gratifying than coin collecting.  NSMB2 does at least return the Koopalings, something I wish had been included in Super Mario 3D Land, so that’s a plus.

It also wasn’t enough to have just one new entry in the New Super Mario Bros. franchise as Nintendo also showed off New Super Mario Bros. U, the lead title for the new Wii U console.  It’s basically what you would expect, though Nintendo hopes to high-light the Wii U’s new controller.  By doing so, the Wii U game uses the Wii remotes for general play, but one person can use the new controller to add items to the levels, kind of like a Dungeon Master or something.  The game will have co-op play and will have a different set of levels than the 3DS game plus Yoshi and a new suit; the flying squirrel.

Mario’s new suit: The Flying Squirrel. At least it makes more sense than the raccoon tail.

That little segue brings me to the Wii U and why I really couldn’t care less at this point.  If you weren’t aware, the Wii U’s main selling point is this new controller.  It’s basically like a DS only with one screen and two analog sticks.  The touchscreen on it will be used differently for each game.  In ZombiU, it’s used to display little puzzles like key-code readers for doors and it’s designed to get the player to look away from the screen while hoards of zombies are descending upon the player to enhance the excitement.  In Batman: Arkham City, it just displays Batman’s gadgets and instead of selecting them with a touch of a button you use the touchscreen.  It’s also used to steer his remote bat-a-rang and control his de-encoder device.  A new title called Nintendo Land figures to show off other uses for the controller (the game is basically the Wii U’s version of Wii Sports, though marketed better by using Nintendo characters) but Nintendo hasn’t committed to it as a pack-in title, which would be a huge mistake, in my opinion.

If the uses for the controller do not wet your appetite, then I’m afraid there isn’t much going for the Wii U.  For me, it just doesn’t sound all that interesting.  It’s basically taking the DS experience to the home console.  And it’s being reported a single charge will only get you about 2 and a half hours of gameplay out of the controller which will make owning two a necessity for anyone looking to game for that length of time.  Also hurting it is the fact that some titles, like Arkham City and Mass Effect 3, will have been available for quite some time on other consoles by the time they’re released.  Do the additions to Arkham City make you want to buy it again?  I think for most the answer will be “no.”  And it’s also being reported that the Wii U may not even be as powerful as the 360 and PS3.  All of this tells me that Nintendo needs to get its big franchises onto this thing fast if it expects to move a bunch of units, because I don’t see any system sellers for it right now.

Wreck-It Ralph

I love this concept, hopefully it’s utilized well.

Have you heard about this one?  E3 isn’t known for movie reveals, but there’s also never been a movie like Wreck-It Ralph.  Best described as video game’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Wreck-It Ralph is an animated feature from Disney that’s like a love letter to gaming.  The main character (voiced by John C. Reilly), is the antagonist in a Donkey Kong-like game who is sick of being the bad guy.  The trailer features a visually amusing gag of Ralph sitting in a therapy session with some of gaming’s biggest villains including Bowser and M. Bison.  The CG-animated film is directed by Rich Moore who was the lead director on the first several seasons of Futurama which certainly bodes well for the film.  I love the concept, but honestly found the trailer underwhelming.  The jokes just weren’t very funny, but I’ll refrain from passing judgement until I actually see it.  The film is currently set for a November release.

All in all, I think E3 2012 was one of the least interesting E3’s in recent memory.  Perhaps if Nintendo had yet to unveil the Wii U it would have been more exciting, but we already saw this thing in action a year ago and this year it was all about the launch-window software, which really didn’t impress.  Nintendo also didn’t unveil any pricing, which has me concerned, as I’m sure the company doesn’t want to sell this thing at a loss like it currently is doing for the 3DS.  I’m expecting a bare-bones release, as in one controller and no pack-in games, for around $300.  Any higher and Nintendo is crazy.

And if Nintendo failed to seize the moment, Microsoft and Sony weren’t willing to steal the spotlight.  Neither company really unveiled anything new and preferred to rest on its laurels.  Sure this year’s E3 was the public’s first look at Halo 4 and The Last of Us, but I think we all have a reasonable expectation of what they’ll play like.  There were no new games shown that have me excited, and the most interesting for me was Beyond:  Two Souls but that one is still a long way off.  2012 started off with a bang, but the fall looks to be easier on the wallet, I’ll leave you to decide if that’s a good thing or not.

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May 26, 2012

The Hyperkin SupaBoy!

By Joe

The Hyperkin SupaBoy.

My interest in portable gaming has always exceeded the reality of how much time I spend with it.  From the very beginning, I’ve always been enamored with the concept of shrinking down a home console and taking it on the road.  I was positively thrilled the first time I saw a Gameboy cartridge and how it looked pretty much exactly like a miniature NES cart.  The Gameboy also had the same color scheme as the NES and boasted its own versions of Mario, Zelda, and Metroid.  However, while the physical game may have looked like a mini NES cart, the actual games were not on the same technological level.

I touched on this concept when talking about the new Playstation Vita.  The Vita has a cool cross-platform feature that allows gamers to share save files between Vita games and their PS3 counterpart.  It’s an expensive feature, but a cool one.  And while Vita games aren’t quite on the same technological level as PS3 ones, they’re fairly close and some less-demanding titles are nearly identical in looks and features.  This is pretty close to having the home console experience on the go.  Before the closest anyone had got to this was Sega when it released the Nomad in the mid 90’s.  The Nomad was a portable Genesis that could also be used like a home console.  It was pretty cool, but the system’s wretched battery life made it portable in concept only.  The thing basically went thru an entire package of batteries in one session.  Sure you could use an AC adapter as well, but sometimes a power outlet isn’t readily available when you’re on the go.

Apparently I’m not the only intrigued by the idea of being able to carry a console in my pocket as recently clone systems have gained in popularity.  For those unfamiliar, a clone system is a console created by a third party that mimics the original first party offering.  Since these companies that create these systems owe no allegiance to Nintendo or Sega, a clone system can be compatible with multiple systems.  One of the most popular ones is the Retron 3 which has a cartridge slot for NES, SNES, and Genesis games.  The quality of these machines is definitely not up to par with the originals, and often some software gives them issues, but for the most part they get the job done.  Lately, portable clone systems have started to show up in greater frequency which is what brings me to the subject of this post:  Hyperkin’s SupaBoy.

Super Metroid to go? Yes, please!

The SupaBoy is a portable Super Nintendo.  It is a true console for the commuting gamer.  Sure the technology is nearly 20 years old, but it’s a Super Nintendo, arguably the greatest video game console of all time!  It uses a standard SNES game cart and, as best I can tell, can play pretty much every game released for the SNES.  Now, that statement isn’t without some controversy.  When the SupaBoy was first released, several gamers took to youtube to review it and comment on what games worked and what didn’t.  The big culprits with any SNES clone system are Super Mario RPG, Star Fox, and Earthbound.  SMRPG and Star Fox cause problems because of the graphical technology needed to power the games (Star Fox, if you recall, famously made use of the Super FX chip) while Earthbound has a unique feature to prevent it from working on pirated consoles that causes the game to overload the screen with non-player characters and enemies, making it virtually unplayable.  The first batch of SupaBoys appeared to not work with these games, as well as others, though there was some confusion over Super Mario RPG and if it mattered where the game was manufactured.  Since Hyperkin released the second round, more videos have popped up of users getting these games to work.  I don’t at present have any of the games alleged to not work, so I cannot confirm anything.  Buyer beware.

Hyperkin wisely played to the nostalgic crowd when it designed the SupaBoy as it looks exactly like an oversized US SNES controller.  It has the same color scheme and the buttons and D-pad are in the same style.  Start and Select had to be moved but that hardly takes away from the look of the machine; it’s pretty cool.  Hyperkin also added two controller inputs to the front of the system so this bad boy can be hooked up to a TV with the included AV cable and used as a standard SNES.  The system is big, but feels good in the hands.  It’s made of hard plastic, and though it’s definitely not of a high quality in terms of feel, it’s better than expected.  On mine, the D-pad feels a little funky, it has more play on one side, but it works fine.  The buttons are very “clicky” which makes it kind of a noisy system to play.  There are games I won’t play on the train as they’d just be too noisy and would likely irritate the patron sitting beside me.  Because SNES game cartridges are fairly large, the SupaBoy has to be large to accommodate.  As a result, this isn’t the most portable system around as it’s not likely to fit in your pocket.  In a backpack sure, but it’s got nothing on the DS, for example.  And since the game carts are so large you’re probably not going to carry too many around, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Still the best TMNT game.

Enough of the specs, how does it play?  Quite well.  When plugged into a TV, it looks no different to me than my old SNES.  The picture quality is sharp, the audio is good, and I haven’t noticed any new glitches or slowdown.  On the go, it also looks and plays great.  The color palette on the system’s screen is perhaps slightly darker, but it’s just as clear as it is on a television.  It does take some getting used to, but after 10 minutes or so I found myself fully immersed in the gameplay experience.  So far I’ve only tried three titles on the system:  Super Mario World, Turtles in Time, and Super Metroid.  Of the three, I’ve spent the most time with Super Metroid as I work my way thru that classic title.  I’ve switched between playing with a controller and playing with just the SupaBoy and I don’t notice any change in how well I play the game.  The experience is fully realized when using the SupaBoy, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I suspect a fair majority of the hits I end up getting for this blog post will revolve around the hardware itself.  Specifically, the audio.  Take one look at the SupaBoy on amazon.com and you’ll notice several reviewers complaining about the audio.  On a lot of models there was a defect that caused a high pitch sound to come over the speakers.  There apparently was no fix and owners either returned their system in hopes of getting a better one or learned to deal with it.  When I purchased my SupaBoy I was told this had been fixed and the audio screw-up was isolated to the first batch of systems produced.  So far, this seems to be true as I haven’t had any issues.

Another common complaint with clone systems is that the pin connectors are inferior in some way.  This is a common complaint with another Hyperkin product, the Genesis portable clone the Gen Mobile, which became popular enough to even get Sega’s official branding.  On that system, many gamers have had problems removing cartridges because the pin connector is just too snug and the system ends up breaking.  The SupaBoy does provide a fairly snug fit, but it’s not too bad and I don’t feel like I’m doing any damage to the unit when I insert and remove games.  It would have been nice if Hyperkin could have included an eject button like the original console, but it seems fine.  Another concern some have is aimed at the battery and battery life.  The SupaBoy uses a rechargeable battery that comes with the system.  It’s removable too, so once it can’t hold a charge it can be replaced.  I’ve never gone longer than 2 hours with the SupaBoy and the battery indicator did not yet reach red status, indicating it would need to be re-charged soon.  Hyperkin says expect 2 and a half to 3 hours per charge, which isn’t great but is on par with current handhelds.

Not only is it a portable SNES, the SupaBoy is a fully functioning home console as well.

I purchased my SupaBoy from Game Swap USA, a Florida based retailer that sells on eBay.  My unit came with two clone controllers so I could easily play on my TV or invite a friend to play as well (haven’t tried that, but I assume it would be a bit weird sharing the tiny screen with one player holding the unit and the other playing via controller).  The system can use regular SNES attachments and can also use some other third-party devices like the Game Genie.  It does play Super Famicom games, which is pretty cool if there are any in your collection you would like to enjoy on the go.  Some PAL games work as well, but not all.

Now, it’s not all fun and games with clone systems, and unfortunately the SupaBoy is no different when it comes to that.  I found this out the hard way.  After pro-longed play the unit appears to be prone to over-heating which can cause freezing.  I had a game of Super Metroid freeze on me after I had been playing it for less than two hours.  When I turned the unit back on the next day, I found all of my save data had been erased.  Damn!  It gets worse.  I hadn’t re-charged the unit and started over my game.  After maybe a half hour the screen started to get buggy.  I hadn’t seen it do this before, but I knew I was probably running low on battery.  I immediately plugged the unit into a wall outlet and the screen corrected itself.  I turned the unit off and just for piece of mind inserted Super Mario World to make sure the unit was fine.  It wouldn’t boot up.  I figured it was due to the battery being run down so I tried it again an hour later and Super Mario World booted up fine, but with one problem:  no save data!  So, I lost my save game data that was around 20 years old.  I’ve read online some people have had this issue as well, and were able to avoid having their save data erased by reseting the unit before turning it off when it freezes.  I guess I’m going to have to be really careful and baby the Hell out of this system.

Hyperkin’s SupaBoy is not alone in the portable SNES gaming world.  Other companies have put out their own version of a portable SNES unit.  The SupaBoy appeared to get the most praise from the gaming community so it was the one I went with, but there are supporters for other devices out there such as the FC-16 Go by Yobo and the RetroDuo by Retro-Bit.  If you love classic games and think a portable Super Nintendo is something you would be interested in then I can safely recommend the SupaBoy, but do your homework first and don’t expect Nintendo-level quality.  It has its own strengths and weaknesses, but at the end of the day, it’s a freaking portable Super Nintendo, which says it all!

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April 30, 2012

Greatest Games: Devil May Cry

By Joe

Devil May Cry (2001)

Capcom has gone thru many identities throughout its existence.  Early on Capcom made its mark with the blue bomber, Mega Man, and his blend of run and gun platforming.  Mega Man had six games released on the original Nintendo, plus many more on the Gameboy, Super Nintendo, and so on with entries in both the main series and several spin-offs.  In the 90’s Capcom would establish itself as the leader in the fighting genre.  Championed by Street Fighter, Capcom’s games were the measuring stick for all 2D fighters.  The genre exploded, and like all things popular, it eventually became over-saturated.  Capcom needed a new identity as video games headed into the third dimension.  Mega Man was a 2D experience through and through, and no one knew if Street Fighter could make the jump, so it fell onto Capcom to create a new money-making franchise.  Enter Resident Evil and its focus on what would become survival horror.  Alone in the Dark was the first game to be called survival horror, but Resident Evil defined it.  It was hugely popular and it too would spawn many imitators, but Capcom had a new hit and in a new genre to boot.

A company that has always been linked to Capcom for me is Konami.  The two had a strong presence on the original NES with Konami’s most popular title probably being Contra.  Similar to Mega Man, it too was a run and gun platformer but with a much different focus.  Konami’s other big franchise was the Castlevania series, a side-scrolling action/adventure title that popularised the non-linear format of gameplay.  When systems like the Playstation and Nintendo 64 started showing up with their fancy new 3D graphics, both Konami and Capcom found themselves in the same boat when trying to bring their classics to the new hardware.  Both had some stumbles, but Konami experienced a most spectacular failure when it came to Castlevania.  Konami arguably released the best Castlevania it had ever produced and did so on the Playstation with Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night.  Even though it was on the Playstation, Konami kept the game rooted in the 2D perspective.  It garnered quite a bit of positive press, but it was mostly ignored at retail and Konami blamed that fact on the presentation.  Feeling pressured to bring Castlevania to 3D, Konami released Castlevania 64 in 1999 and it was not met well.  The press at the time seemed to think it was okay, but time has not been kind and the Castlevania diehards were not impressed.  It’s sequel later that year was not met well by critics or fans and many wondered if Castlevania could exist in 3D.

Devil May Cry went with a gothic approach for its style, which helped separate it from Onimusha and Resident Evil, but not Castlevania.

Leave it to Konami’s rival, Capcom, to get it right.  No, Capcom did not develop a Castlevania title for Konami but it might as well have done just that when it released Devil May Cry in 2001.  Devil May Cry (DMC) is one of Capcom’s greatest mistakes and best games they ever released.  It’s a mistake in that originally the game was supposed to be Resident Evil 4, but the development team would eventually realize they had something different on their hands.

When Devil May Cry came out, Resident Evil was still a bankable product.  It had also spawned a pseudo spin-off franchise in the form of Onimusha.  Onimusha had nothing to do with Resident Evil from a narrative perspective, but it was basically survival horror in feudal Japan.  It focused more on combat and was pretty successful in its own right.  Devil May Cry took that formula, and added something very familiar to gamers:  a jump button.

It seems like such a simple device, but jumping completely changed the Resident Evil/Onimusha formula.  DMC’s protagonist, Dante, could jump from ledge to ledge like Mega Man and attack from the air, leap over enemies, and soar to new heights Jill and Chris could never hope to reach.  Dante was also super-powered being a half-demon so it wasn’t like he was jumping two or three feet, he was leaping twelve or fifteen!  He could drop from any height without getting hurt, and all in all pretty much controlled like one would imagine Castlevania’s Alucard would.

Dante's demon blood lets him turn into a demonic creature giving him enhanced powers and special abilities.

DMC is an action heavy experience, and even though Dante is a half-demon, he still needs some weapons to get thru the hordes of vile machinations and weird creatures that stand in his way.  At the onset Dante is armed with a sword and a pair of revolvers, Ebony and Ivory.  The revolvers have unlimited ammo and can be fired in rapid fashion, but do little damage.  They’re used more as a means of linking damage from one enemy to the next until Dante gets close enough to hack ’em up with his blade.  Gamers can just mash the attack button and get by some of the early enemies, but more precise timing and maneuvers are needed to progress further.  Dante has a couple of moves including a rapid stabbing technique and slower hack and slash.  Arguably, the move he is known best for is the air juggle where the player upper cuts an enemy into the air with the sword and then fills them full of bullets as they hang suspended in the air.  Other weapons change things up some, including a lightning blade and a shotgun.  There’s also the ogre gauntlets that let Dante roll with just his fists.

Both the lightning blade and gauntlets can be powered up using soul orbs that are mined from fallen enemies.  The power-ups unlocked all make Dante’s devil form more powerful.  As a half-demon, Dante is able to activate his devil trigger and morph into a demonic form for a short period of time.  In said form, Dante moves faster and does more damage.  He also has special moves that let him fly and rain lightning down on his enemies or hurl massive fireballs.  The mode is activated by filling an onscreen meter, flashy kills and general good play cause the meter to fill faster.  Activating the devil trigger can quickly turn the tide of battle and is one move the player will often keep in reserve until the time is right.

As I said earlier, the game is really action heavy and is not afraid to pit the player against hordes of enemies.  DMC really popularized the recent trend in action games like God of War, Ninja Gaiden and even Arkham Asylum to have the hero fight off a crowd of foes.  The standard difficulty setting is a suitable challenge for most gamers, but the harder difficulty settings will test any gamer’s skill with a controller.  And even though the focus of the game is on action, the game does pause for some exploration elements and even  some platforming scenarios.  The game arguably shines brightest during one of its boss encounters which often present a good test for Dante.

Visually, the game was a stunner when it was released in 2001 and has aged pretty well.  The gothic aesthetic the developers went for suits the game’s mood and the boss characters are large and imaginative (though not as massive as future installments would get).  The story is just filler to give the game purpose, and that’s fine.

The new Dante featured in DmC. Fans have unkindly dubbed this "Emo Dante."

Devil May Cry was so obviously perfect an approach for Castlevania that Konami’s next game in the series was practically a clone.  And as I mentioned, lots of other action titles followed suit and tried to replicate what DMC had done.  The franchise was perhaps never more popular than when it debuted as it was considered a really fresh take on the action genre.  A sequel would follow in 2002 and was not met well.  Devil May Cry 3 mostly served as a make-up title, but by the time Devil May Cry 4 was released it felt like other titles had leapfrogged it.  Now Capcom is trying to rebrand the game as DmC and features a redesigned Dante.  Time will tell if this reboot is worthwhile, but for my money the original Devil May Cry is still the finest action title I’ve ever played.  When I first played it as a demo (bundled with the PS2 version of Resident Evil:  Code Veronica) it was like nothing I had played before.  It captivated me instantly and I have no idea how many times I played thru that 3 mission demo.  A gamer playing it for the first time today would not likely have the same experience, and they would be missing out.

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April 8, 2012

Catching Up With WWF: No Mercy

By Joe

WWF: No Mercy (2000)

It’s been awhile since my last post, 3 weeks to be exact.  It’s been a busy time and for me, and a busy time of year.  There were concerts to attend, personal relationships to pursue, Game of Thrones to catch up on, and WrestleMania!  Yes, even though I do not really consider myself an active wrestling fan I do get caught up once a year for WrestleMania as that’s traditionally when the company is at its best.  It also helps that the NFL season is over and there’s usually a lull in television programming all around (though this year, video games have been kicking my ass).  This year’s WrestleMania, like most of them, failed to live up to expectations.  I think I’m in the minority when I say that, but I really didn’t enjoy it.  I thought CM Punk and Chris Jericho put on a good show, and it’s always a nostalgic trip to see The Rock in action, but the rest of the card under-performed.  It certainly didn’t help things when one of the better matches, featuring perhaps the company’s best worker in Daniel Bryan, lasted a mere 10 seconds or so to kick off the show.  It’s one thing when an unscripted boxing match or shoot fight lasts seconds, but for a booked match like that (featuring one of the company’s major championships) to last only seconds is just cheap.  Especially when several less interesting matches receive more time, or when the show stops for terrible hip hop concerts.  Blah!

This isn’t about WrestleMania though, it’s about a little game called WWF:  No Mercy.  WrestleMania, for me, means a gathering of friends and a wrestling theme gathering pretty much requires a working Nintendo 64 and some wrestling action.  This year’s event featured WCW/nWo:  Revenge, No Mercy, and Virtual Pro-Wrestling 2.  For fans of wrestling games, the connection is obvious.  All three were developed by AKI Corporation who have become synonymous with wrestling games.  American audiences were first introduced to them in 1997 when WCW vs. nWo:  World Tour was released for the Nintendo 64 and was a major success.  The game laid the groundwork for the company’s many future games.

World Tour was fairly straight-forward in its game modes.  It was basically just one on one, two on two, or battle royal which put four wrestlers in the ring at the same time.  There were no over-the-top entrances and the single player mode just put the player up against a series of opponents culminating in a title match.  The roster was huge and included all of the main wrestlers from WCW at the time and even a bunch of wrestlers from Japan.  All of the wrestlers controlled the same, which is good because that’s what won fans over.

Stay away from this game. Far away.

AKI’s approach to gameplay for this title revolved around the grapple button.  The B button made wrestlers throw punches and kicks, but the A button caused them to tie-up by grabbing each other’s shoulders.  From there, the player who initiated the grapple could initiate a move with either the A or B button plus a direction on the D-Pad for a total of 10 possible moves.  Holding the grapple button caused the wrestler to use a strong grapple, opening up another 10 potential moves.  Most wrestlers had several repeat moves but the potential to really flesh out an arsenal was there.  And more over, the gameplay system worked.  Up to this point, most wrestling games tried too hard to emulate the ever popular fighting genre of video games.  This would peak with the WWF game In Your House for the Playstation, which was basically a straight-up fighting game complete with fireballs and everything.  It was absolutely atrocious and not at all what wrestling fans wanted.  Acclaim was the developer with the WWF license and essentially owned the wrestling video game world in America.  World Tour changed that, and for the better.

World Tour was followed by Revenge which was basically more of the same but with a little more of that American wrestling flair.  The graphics were better, the individual wrestlers had a bit more personality, and wrestling fans were genuinely happy.  Acclaim tried to counter with WWF: Warzone and its successor WWF:  Attitude.  Both games were successful for the time and generally well received, but just about any unbiased fan of wrestling knew AKI (with THQ) had the better game.  Acclaim was still going with a pseudo-fighting game approach.  Each move required a series of directional buttons followed by an action button.  They did introduce some good things, particularly running grapple attacks, signature moves, and the create-a-wrestler feature (though that had been available in Japanese games dating back to the Super Nintendo, as did others, but Acclaim popularized them with American audiences and AKI would soon adopt all).  Even so, WWF’s marketing arm must have noticed how well received the WCW games were and when their contract with Acclaim was up, and WCW’s with THQ, WWF was there to pounce.

This resulted in big switch of brands and developers.  Acclaim reached an agreement with ECW and would make a couple of games for them using their Attitude engine.  WCW would sign a lucrative deal with EA which lead to the ambitious, but lousy, WCW:  Mayhem.  THQ and WWF soon became a very profitable alliance and is the only one left today.  For the Playstation, THQ enlisted the support of Yukes which developed the Smackdown games and continues to do so.  AKI was left on the Nintendo 64 and was pretty much tasked with making their WCW games into WWF games.

The ladder match was a big addition for WWF: No Mercy.

Wrestlemania 2000 was the first game under this partnership, and a good one, but the follow-up is the one fans seem to remember the most fondly.  No Mercy arrived in November of 2000 and was an instant success.  The same gameplay that originated with World Tour was left mostly the same but with a few additions.  AKI had now finally adopted the running grapple maneuver, a simple addition but a welcomed one.  AKI also took a stab at new gimmick matches such as the steel cage match and the ladder match.  The announcer’s table was also available to smash opponents thru, and a new story-line mode added some spice to the single player action.  Tons of unlockables gave gamers incentive to keep playing to earn Smackdown Cash to purchase new create-a-wrestler attires, moves, weapons, and even additional superstars including Cactus Jack and Andre the Giant.  And it’s a good thing there was so much to do because No Mercy would be AKI’s last with THQ.

I’ve always felt this fact, plus nostalgia for WWF’s “Attitude Era,” has made fans remember No Mercy more fondly than they perhaps should.  It’s remembered so well that there is still a large section of fans that feel No Mercy is the best grappler ever, and certainly the best to feature the WWF (now WWE) branding.  That’s rather high praise for a game over 10 years old and a testament for how good the basic gameplay system is.

At the time No Mercy came out, it was the fourth game in four years to feature basically the same gameplay.  Other than a few small additions and a fresh coat of paint, this was still World Tour.  It’s a system that works extremely well to make the game playable even if it’s not entirely authentic.  How many wrestling matches take place in a similar manner where every move is initiated by a tie-up?  None I’ve seen.  If the gameplay is fun though, should gamers and wrestling fans care?

I have fired up No Mercy several times over the last couple of weeks.  My first reaction when I did was at the visuals and general presentation.  The presentation for this game was never its strong point and at this point in time it’s fairly ugly.  The graphics engine though is still passable.  It’s no secret this era of video games has aged rather poorly as far as looks go, but each wrestler is easily identifiable, though the height is kind of off.  There’s little or no difference between a monster like Kane and a little guy like Taka Michinoku.  It’s one of those things that took a while for wrestling developers to get right.

The game's story mode was a mixed bag, but it did give gamers incentive to keep playing.

The story mode shows a lot of age.  Developers were trying really hard at this point in time to create games that let players experience the television product for themselves.  Great emphasis was placed on making the story-lines feel random and yet authentic, but in the end it’s still just a series of matches with some distractions in between.  The game, for some reason, loves putting the player in handicap matches.  Handicap matches are no fun no matter what side you’re on.  If you’re part of a team of two going against one it’s just a squash.  If you’re the one taking on two then it becomes a frustrating game of trying to exploit the weaknesses within the game’s artificial intelligence (top rope moves work well here).  Gimmick matches and the Royal Rumble often play a role too, but unfortunately nothing is as fun as the standard one on one or triple threat.

In those matches where the gameplay is the focus, this one still holds up pretty well.  Fans used to current wrestling games will definitely notice the slower pace.  The wrestlers all have a slightly clunky feel to them.  When just striking and grappling, it’s fine, but they don’t run too well and lining up running attacks can be a chore.  It would be fine if the larger wrestlers handled this way and the cruiser-weights speedier, but that’s not the case.  The A.I. is at least competent and won’t let you get away with spamming wake-up attacks, for example, to gain an upper hand.  I’m definitely rusty, and most of my gaming was spent on Sony consoles, but my matches aren’t automatic wins for me which is actually a welcomed thing.

Admittedly, a big part of No Mercy's appeal today is the era from which it came.

There are a couple of other glaring negatives with this title.  One of which is the slowdown that takes place with four wrestlers in the ring.  In normal matches, it’s not too bad but gimmick matches can get clippy.  Collision detection is very spotty, but perhaps the worst is for the early adopters.  The first batch of games have a defect that THQ didn’t offer to correct aside from fixing future releases.  This defect causes the saved data to become corrupt and the game erases itself.  This includes unlocked items and created wrestlers.  Mine seemed fine for several years but last week I turned it on and found my unlocked items were gone.  It’s definitely frustrating, and when buying copies on eBay you’re forced to rely on the word of the seller because there’s no obvious way to tell a good copy from a bad one.

There are a lot of little things that drag this game down, but even so I found myself having a blast with it.  There’s still so much depth to this game and that couldn’t have been more apparent than when two of my buddies hooked up for a one on one match of old veterans.  They spent far more time with this title and other AKI ones when they first came out.  It took a few minutes for them to get their legs back under them, but before long the match was a series of reversals and set-ups that spanned about 15 minutes before a victor was decided.  It was fun to watch and a reminder of how well developed the basic gameplay is.

It may not be perfect, but get a group of friends together and No Mercy is still a damn good time.

AKI did not leave the wrestling world after THQ dropped them.  I don’t know why the two companies ended their relationship.  I assume it was a cost-cutting move on the part of THQ who basically handed over the WWF license to Yukes.  I’m guessing it was sales related as even though most fans preferred No Mercy to Smackdown 2, there were still far more Playstations out there than Nintendo 64s so it wouldn’t surprise me if Smackdown 2 was the better seller.  And Smackdown 2 was a good game in its own right, just entirely different in approach.  AKI would go on to use it’s engine to create the Def Jam wrestling game as well as several in the anime Ultimate Muscle universe.  I never played any of them, but I understand the same basic principles still apply with obvious changes to suit the subject matter.

WWF:  No Mercy is still a great grappler.  It’s really a shame AKI hasn’t been able to take another shot at developing a WWF game for American audiences.  Yukes has put out some excellent Smackdown themed games since, but it’s not surprising that there still exists a strong fan-base for No Mercy.  A fan-base that still considers it king.  While I don’t consider it the best one out there, I really can’t begrudge any who do and it’s still easily in the top 5, and for a genre as bloated as the wrestling one, that’s some pretty high praise.

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March 12, 2012

Getting Cloud Connected with MLB and the Vita

By Joe

MLB 12 The Show (PS3, Vita)

One of my main motivations for acquiring a Playstation Vita was the potential for connectivity between it and the Playstation 3.  It’s been the main focus of Sony’s advertising campaign to get consumers interested in their new handheld and while the launch titles did little to exploit this feature, it didn’t take long for Sony to release a game that did.

Enter MLB 12 The Show.  The game is the latest in Sony’s first-party, and much heralded, baseball title.  Released for both the PS3 and the Vita last week, it makes use of the Vita’s cloud feature in the most logical manner by letting the user take their franchise on the road.  Now when you finish a game on the PS3, you can upload the save file to Sony’s cloud and then download it onto the Vita.  The process is as simple as it sounds and it only takes a moment.  Once it’s been loaded onto the Vita, it’s just like any save file and can be saved down to the Vita’s memory card.  Then you can play it on the Vita while you’re out and about, and once done re-upload it to the cloud to download onto the PS3.  The only limitation is the Vita obviously needs an internet connection to make use of the cloud. I’m not sure if it works over the 3G network for those who opted for that  version of the Vita.

There are some limitations.  For one, there’s only one save available on the cloud per user.  In other words, you can’t upload both a franchise save and a Road to the Show save at the same time.  You can upload either one, but not at the same time.  The other limitation is that in-game saves can’t be uploaded to the cloud, which seems to contradict the ad campaign running on television at the moment.  It’s a little annoying when you’re in your living room but have to finish a game on the Vita before transferring to the PS3, but it’s not the end of the world.

The power of the PS3 in the palms of your hands! Mostly.

It helps that the two versions of The Show are pretty similar.  Visually, the PS3 version is superior.  It’s most noticeable in the textures as everything just has a nice coating to it.  There’s also some minor frame-rate drops on the Vita version during some animations, mostly batter walk-up ones for some reason.  It’s more of a presentation issue than anything.  The Vita is also limited slightly in the control department, though San Diego Studios tried to compensate for this by adding touch controls.  I haven’t used many of them, but also haven’t felt my gameplay experience hindered much by absence of the R2 and L2 buttons.  I do like the touch controls for pitching as riding the train can make precise pitch locations a little challenging.  If you wish, you can simply touch the screen where you want the pitcher to throw the ball, then use the buttons to deliver the pitch.

The game itself is pretty similar to past versions.  There’s some new controller configurations for both hitting and fielding that I personally have no use for.  I stick with meter pitching and zone batting, and it’s plenty hard enough as is.  Hitting is particularly challenging and takes a lot of practice, especially if you’re like me and haven’t played a baseball game in a couple of years.  I’ve only used franchise mode, exhibition, and practice.  I assume Road to the Show is pretty much unchanged.  Franchise mode has actually been simplified to a certain extent when it comes to ballpark upkeep, but roster management has become more complex.  The added complexity makes the game more authentic, but just be careful when using the “Auto” function when it comes to roster moves.  Sometimes it’s tempting to let the CPU auto-fill your Double A or Triple A lineup but sometimes it takes way too many liberties and makes changes to the MLB roster, which can be unwelcome.  I made the mistake of simming Spring Training in one year of my franchise and found my roster turned into a disaster by the AI management.

Uploading to the cloud (or downloading from it) is about as simple as this image makes it look.

I hear online still sucks, but I haven’t tried it myself since I’d just get thrashed.  Online being laggy and unplayable is unfortunately nothing new for this series.  It’s borderline criminal that they haven’t been able to fix it over the years, but I guess it’s on us at this point.  I mentioned in my last post that Sony also chose to knock 20 bucks off the price of the Vita version if bought alongside the PS3 one.  This makes sense since Sony wants people to experience the cross-platform play.  It still means it will set you back 80 bucks for the full MLB experience.

Is the novelty of being able to bring the console experience to the road worth the price?  Depends on how much you like baseball, I suppose.  I really like baseball, though even I have to admit this is probably a one-time thing for me.  It’s a cool thing to have, and the game runs well enough on the Vita to not diminish the experience much, but it’s still 20 bucks just to play your franchise or other single player mode on the go.  Though now that I think about, 20 bucks for a full-fledged portable baseball game isn’t really that bad.  I guess everything depends on your outlook!

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