This Week in Nintendo History: October 11th to October 17th

Welcome, once again, folks to our weekly look back at the events that have happened in Nintendo's history. It's a light week, but full of game releases. We've got yet another Final Fantasy (I thought the first was the final), paper thin Mario, courtrooms and Pokemon. Let's jump right in it and see what this week holds.

Many people consider this first game release to be one of the best games ever released. On October 11th, 1994 Final Fantasy VI was set loose on the world for the Super Nintendo. The game was known, in America, as Final Fantasy III because it was only the third game released in the country. The focus of the game's plot centered around a group of rebels attempting to overthrow an imperial dictatorship. The game featured the largest cast of playable characters up to that point (14) and an even greater customization ability than before. Final Fantasy VI took full advantage of the Super Nintendo's Mode 7 graphics chip to provide a fully rendered 3-D like overworld that allowed more depth than was seen in the other Final Fantasy games released for the system. Alongside Final Fantasy IV, this is considered one of the best games ever released in the franchise and has been re-released numerous times for a number of different systems.

October 11th, 2004 saw the release of one of the greatest RPGs, in my opinion. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was released on that day for the Game Cube. While it was the sequel to the Nintendo 64's Paper Mario it was actually the fourth game released in the Mario RPG franchise after Super Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The game centered around the abduction of Princess Peach by Grodius after she received a treasure map in the town of Rogueport. It is up to Mario to collect the seven crystal stars that can be used to open the titular Thousand Year Door. Bowser is attempting to collect these stars for himself in his attempt to take over the Mushroom Kingdom and is not trying to stop Mario directly. The game features the traditional turn-based battle system found in all the Mario RPG games and an active battle system where actions taken by the player could enhance the damage Mario and company could deal to opponents. The game has been very well received among both players and critics due to the series' quirkiness and user friendliness.

SSX On Tour hit the slopes on October 11th, 2005 for the Nintendo Game Cube. This was the fourth title released in the SSX series of snowboarding games. It featured the same trick based game play featured in the series before as well as the ability to do Monster tricks after the player filled their boost bar. For the first time, players were able to create their own characters which put the series' regulars more into the background in cameo appearances. Ultimately you were tasked with becoming the number one snowboarder by competing in both "official" events and "unofficial" shreds which would increase your hype. The Game Cube version of the game featured cameos by Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. The game was very well liked by critics who called it something they had never seen before in the series.

"Objection!" would become a very well known phrase in the video game world after the October 12th, 2005 release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for DS. This game was an enhanced remake of the 2001 Game Boy Advance version released in Japan and featured touch based control, microphone support and upgraded graphics. In the game you played as the aforementioned Phoenix Wright as he attempted to get to the truth behind the cases brought to him. You would go to crime scenes to gather evidence and talk to witnesses in an attempt to defend your clients. One of the unique features of the game was the alternating perspectives where you would see the court room scenes in the third person while investigation was done in a first person view. Phoenix Wright has seen two sequels starring the main character as well as two different spin-off series; Ace Attorney Investigations and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.

Download day 2008 came about on October 13th. The Virtual Console saw the release of Secret of Mana for the SNES and Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition for the Sega Genesis.

There were two WiiWare games released on that day as well. The first was Art Style: Cubello, which was one of the first original games released on Wii for the Art Style series. in the game you used the pointer to launch colored cubes at the playing field. By matching four cubes of the same color they would be removed from the playfield. Unlike other games that would only give you objects of the approriate color Art Style: Cubello would continue to give you unneeded blocks adding another layer of difficulty to the game.

Also released on that day was World of Goo. This original puzzle game featured goo balls that would be connected to create towers. The object of the game was to get a certain number of goo balls to the exit pipe by traversing a virtual minefield of spikes, bodies of water, gears and more. There were a number of different goo types that could be used in different levels that featured different properties. Some of the goo balls could only be used once while others could be removed numerous times and repositioned. The game has continued to be considered one of the best games released on the system and is featured in a number of different top 10 games lists on WiiWare.

Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver were released for the Game Boy Color in America on October 14th, 2000. These games were the second games released in the series and were set in the fictional Johto region. There were 100 new pokemon types created for this game giving players even more reason to collect 'em all. The game took place three years after the first games and tasked you with defeating the Elite Four pokemon trainers to become the best trainer in the region. Game play was presented in the typical top down perspective while battles were played out in the traditional turn based system. The Pokemon TV show featured new Pokemon and the characters travelling through the Johto region in an attempt to get players excited for the release of this game during the fall. It has been announced that they will be remade for the DS and the titles will be changed to HeartGold and SoulSilver.

It was VC day on October 15th, 2007 and on that day we saw the release of Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos for the NES, Metal Marines for the SNES, and Gate of Thunder for the Turbo-Grafix 16.

One year later on October 15th, 2008 Sam & Max set out on their first adventure for Wii with Sam & Max: Season One. The title is the retail release of their downloadable adventures for the PC and XBLA. The two anthropomorphic detectives set out to solve a number of crimes that included saving the President and traveling to the moon. The episodes were originally released on the PC and Xbox Live Arcade over a period of 6 months in 2007, but were packaged together to take advantage of the Wii's control scheme and user base in 2008. Since those games TellTale Games, the developer, has released two other point and click adventures on Wii; Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People and The Tales of Monkey Island.

Game & Watch saw yet another release on October 16th, 1991. This time is was Mario the Juggler. This was a re-release of the very first G&W game known as ball that took advantage of a wide screen and the popularity of the Mario character. You were simply tasked with keeping a number of objects, such as heart pieces and starmen, in the air by pressing the correct buttons at the appropriate time.

Wii saw two releases on October 16, 2007. The first was Victorious Boxers: Revolution developed by AQ Interactive and published by XSeed Games. You controlled your 3-D boxer with the analog stick from behind his back and were able to execute a number of offensive and defensive moves. For the first time in the Victorious Boxers franchise you had a heads up display that showed the amount of damage your boxer has taken. There were three very different control schemes available to you. The first had you swinging the controller like you were actually boxing, the second was by using a GameCube or Classic Controller, and the last was the most unique. You would use a point & click method that had you drawing patterns in the air while holding the A Button. The game received mixed reviews praising the anime art style, but criticizing the motion controls.

Also on that day Atari released Backyard Football for Wii. The 2008 version of this game featured Tom Brady on the cover as well as 14 other NFL players all represented as kids. The game is a bit more friendly for the younger audience than the Madden player and has a number of different game types as well as locations to play football, such as a parking lot or someone's backyard.

Our last entry of the week is Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for the GameCube. This tactical RPG was released on October 17th, 2005 and was the ninth game in the Fire Emblem series. The game featured 3-D cel shaded graphics and, for the first time, voice acting as well as the traditional action of the franchise. The main character, Ike, has joined a mercenary group and stumbles across what turns out to a Crimean princess and must then work against the forces of Daein and restore the Crimean throne. The game's cutscenes were done using full motion video by Production IG and were also a series first. Overall, the game was well praised, but was noted to be a bit frustrating as you tried to protect units from being killed.

There you have it, another week down in the history books. I apologize for it being a little later than usual, but I hoped you enjoyed it. As usual, if there is anything you know of coming up that you would like to see featured in the article let me know and head on over to the forums to discuss what we learned this week.