This Week in Nintendo History: October 25th to October 31st

Happy Halloween folks. It’s the last week of October and it’s filled with war. Well, there were two wars during this week that we’ll discuss. Pokemon makes a couple of appearances and you have to use the Force. Along with those mentions there are a couple different games that are released at the appropriate time around Halloween, so let’s jump in and see what’s happened this week in Nintendo history.

Perhaps you’ve heard of a little game known as Pokemon. It’s a pretty big franchise for Nintendo and it started back on the original Game Boy. Pokemon Red and Blue were the first games in the franchise and Pokemon Yellow set the precedent for having a remake that followed the two original titles. Pokemon Yellow was released on October 25th, 1999 and is the remake of Red and Blue and it differed from the originals in that the player always had Pikachu who would follow you on the overworld map. The same gym leaders and story were present in this version of the game.

“Use the Force!” On October 25th, 2005 Lego Star Wars: The Video Game was released for the Game Cube. This title, developed by Traveler’s Tales, followed the events of Episodes I, II, and III of the Star Wars Saga. The big hook of the game was that everything was made out of Lego blocks and the game was designed for a younger audience. All of the set pieces, environments and characters from the movie trilogy were present in the game. There were a large number of characters and secrets that could be unlocked. Each of the trilogy’s movies were split into six chapters that would be played through by the characters involved after which the level would be unlocked for free play by any character. This also allowed you to go back and obtain secret items previously inaccessible.

Gunstar Super Heroes was the sequel to the Sega Genesis hit Gunstar Heroes and was released for the Game Boy Advance on October 25th, 2005. The sequel took a surprisingly long amount of time to be released as the original game was released in 1993. Gunstar Super Heroes was developed by Treasure and featured game play that was similar to their previous titles such as Astro Boy: Omega Factor. To make fans of the franchise feel at home many of the locations and bosses were featured or were used to draw inspiration for the sequel. The biggest difference that this game featured was the lack of combinable weapons that were a very big part of the first game.

F-Zero is one of the most popular racing franchises in Nintendo’s history. On October 26th, 1998 F-Zero X, the second game in the franchise hit the track. This sequel had many of the same features, such as the racing modes, time trial and more. There were some big differences though. This game, due to the power of the Nintendo 64 was able to feature 30 different racers on the track at a time rather than the original four. There were also a lot of different modes. The GP race, time trials, practice and death match which would have racers trying to blow up the other drivers by ramming into their cars.

The sequel train continues and the next one is the sequel to many gamer’s favorite game of all-time. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was released on October 26th, 2000 for the Nintendo 64. This is one of the few times that a Nintendo console would see two Zelda games in the same generation. The game is a prequel to Ocarina of Time and was notable in that you would be required to replay the same three days over and over. The game also features a unique element in that Link would take on different appearances by donning a number of different masks in the game as well as requiring you to have the Expansion Pak for the console. Majora’s Mask is considered by many to be the most difficult game in the series and as such is either loved or hated by players. There are very few people that don’t fit into one of those categories.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent hit store shelves on October 26th, 2006 and is the fourth game in the Splinter Cell franchise. Shortly after the events of the previous game, Sam Fisher has to deal with the loss of his daughter to a drunk driver, but he must go undercover as a criminal to infiltrate a terrorist group. Being a double agent, Sam must balance his actions to maintain the loyalty of both groups, and depending on the events of the game, there are multiple endings that can be obtained. Double Agent was released on both the Wii and the GameCube and the reviews for the Wii version suffered due to the poor graphics and inaccurate motion controls.

Our first war took place on October 27th, 2005 with the release of Battalion Wars for the Nintendo GameCube. This game is part of Nintendo’s Wars franchise which also takes place on the handhelds with the Advance Wars titles. This console version mixes elements of third-person shooters and real time tactics games. You control a single unit at a time, but at any point you can switch units and move them around the battlefield where they would be most useful. The armies of the Western Frontier and the Tundran Territories have called for a cease fire, but the peace on the border of the demilitarized zone is very uneasy. The new leader of the Tundrans, Tsar Gorgi launches a secret attack on the Western Frontier and it’s up to use to bring peace back to the world through the might of your military.

October 27th, 2008 was download day on the Wii. The Virtual Console saw the release of Earthworm Jim for the Sega Genesis. The third episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive people, subtitled Baddest of the Bands and Art Style: Rotohex were both released for WiiWare.

Halloween is known for its scary atmosphere and vampires are a huge part of the appeal of the holiday. It’s only appropriate, then, that Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest was released near Halloween for the NES on October 29th, 2007. This was Virtual Console day and Samurai Ghost for the TG-16 and Magician Lord for the Neo Geo were released as well.

Also on October 29th, 2007 war broke out again between the Tundran’s and the Western Frontier in Battalion Wars 2 for the Wii. There were other factions involved in the fight this time as well; the Solar Empire, the Anglo Isles and the Iron Legion. The war didn’t happen only on land this time as naval battles were added to the game. It also featured a large number of play modes as well as online play as it was one of the first titles on Wii to take advantage of Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection.

One of the most controversial games to see release on Wii hit stores shelves on October 29th, 2007. On that day Manhunt 2 was released for the Wii. The game initially received an AO rating by the ESRB, which essentially means the game can’t be released because console manufacturer’s will not allow them to be sold and stores may balk at putting them on shelves. As a result the game’s developer, Rockstar North, made some changes that allowed the game to be re-rated as M for Mature. It was most well known for its stealth action and the gruesome deaths that many characters would endure.

Our second Pokemon release of the week happened on October 30th, 2006 with the release of Pokemon Ranger for the DS. This game, while being a Pokemon RPG, differed greatly from the main games in the franchise. In order to capture Pokemon you were required to use the DS stylus to circle to Pokemon a different number of times based on their strength. Pokemon Ranger also has some connectivity with Diamond and Pearl and would allow you to transfer the egg of one of the most rare Pokemon, Manaphy to your trainers in those titles. The game was received fairly well by critics, though they did mention that the title would cause some users to experience very heavy scratching of the DS touch screen.

That’s it for this week folks. It was a busy week with a lot of Pokemon and a lot of war. We made it through and survived to come back next week to find out what happens during the first week of November. If there is anything you know of coming up or have any comments on this article feel free to drop a comment or send me an email.

Nintendo Okie in the Morning 10/25/09

Well guys, I lied to you in the first episode when I said they would probably be around 5 minutes.  This episode clocks in at over double that.  I talk a little bit about what happened at the Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition and why technology sucks.  My daughter gets addicted to Frogger as well.  I also discuss a few of my thoughts on LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias as well as some of the details of New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Nintendo Okie in the Morning 10/25/09  Run Time 10:12

Games Mentioned, Chunkout 2600, New Super Mario Bros., Frogger, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan Available on WiiWare Soon

Pirates, giant sea mammals and demonic talking skulls invade the North American WiiWare™ network Monday, October 26 with the release of Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathan. The 3rd chapter of the five-part episodic series will be available for 1000 Wii Points ($10) on the Wii Shop Channel.

If you haven't yet check out our review of the game.  Fans of the Monkey Island franchise won't be disappointed. 

LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias Review

Howdy:    *The game’s awfully pretty.
                *The controls are as tight and intuitive as the first game
                *Toku is dressed like a Wookiee during the winter segments

See Ya’:  *The game’s still not very long

Back in May of 2008 Nintendo launched their downloadable service, WiiWare, and one of the games available at that launch was LostWinds. The game was heralded at the time for its use of motion control and beautiful art style. The game ended up being one of the best games at launch and is still considered one of the top titles on the service.

Fast forward to 2009 and the release of the sequel, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. This game takes place shortly after the events of the first game and center around a mystery involving Toku’s mom, Magdi and a village known as Summerfall. It’s perpetually winter there, and mysterious creatures are causing the residents to live in fear. Toku and Enril must unravel all of the mysteries and save the world, yet again.

At the end of LostWinds you had befriended the wind spirit, Enril, and along with that friendship came the ability to use a number of Enril’s powers. Toku wasn’t able to do much himself, but with the help of the wind could jump, freeze enemies in place and slam them against walls and float on the breeze. At the beginning of this game Toku has most of those powers still at his command and along the way will learn new ways to use those powers. They have completely different uses in summer compared to winter. For instance the vortex power which could cause an enemy to float in the air temporarily can now create snowballs that can be used to weigh down trip plates or throw against walls of ice to shatter them. They really combine these different powers to great use and the puzzles in this game take on a whole new level of interesting. They’re not terribly difficult, but they are quite fun to solve.

Some of the new elements that have been created for this game are the use of cold. Early in the game Toku is not properly dressed for the weather and because of that you have to manage his heat levels. If he gets too cold he’ll start to shiver and will take damage. You can warm Toku up by standing near a source of heat, in most cases a fire. Toku also has the ability, with the help of the spirit of season, change the world from Winter to Summer. These causes the world to take on a whole new look and if you thought the first LostWinds was beautiful, wait until you see the locations in this game during both seasons. Snowfall glints in the sunlit areas and breath escapes from Toku’s mouth when he’s cold. One of the coolest touches I saw was as Toku gets colder his face turns varying shades of blue. It’s not crucial to the gameplay, but it is a nice touch and gives you an easy visual idea of how cold he is without looking up to the cold meter.

The best addition to Winter of the Melodias has to be the map. There was an endless amount of wandering in the first game if you didn’t know exactly where you were going. Frontier added a world map that you can access with the push of a button and it makes it very easy to navigate the world. Areas that you need to visit next are marked in green and areas that you should probably try to visit for helpful items are marked with a question mark. There’s no chance you’re going to get lost in this game and it’s a good thing because the world feels much bigger the second time around.

The summertime portions of the game seem to have gotten a bit of a graphical upgrade as well. There appears to be more stuff going on in the background that extends further than the previous game. In one of the early portions when Toku is climbing up a mountain you see the rock monster, Magmok, traversing the background doing his best Spiderman impression. It’s just another of those touches that adds a bit more life to the game.

One of my favorite elements of the original was the music. It was just a soothing soundtrack that was relaxing to listen to at the end of a long day and Frontier has upped their game with the soundtrack to Winter of the Melodias. The same themes are still present that were in the original, but the addition of the winter portions of the game has given them the ability to add another part to the music and calm things down a bit more. You really get the sense that they were trying to make you feel the difference in temperature with the look and sounds of the game and it’s pulled off brilliantly.

If there is anything bad that can be said about the game it’s that the length is still a bit on the short side. I finished the game at about the three and half hour mark. While it’s not a bad length of time for a WiiWare title it really shows that if you’re making a game that uses graphics and level design to the extent that Frontier did the size limit really hinders the ability to add a large amount to the game. It’s a great experience for those three and a half hours, but I really wanted to keep playing and I hope we get another game on the system because it’s really turning out to be one of my favorite franchises.

The additions that were made to the game, the beautiful art style and the soothing music all combine for what is one of the best experiences on WiiWare since the original LostWinds. Collectables now make a difference as there are more of them and they are used to unlock additional content. Frontier scored big with LostWinds and it’s only too obvious that they’ve made a world they care a lot about. In reality, you should too. For 1,000 points Winter of the Melodias is a must own experience

Final Score: 5/5 Excellent

Review copy of the game provided by Frontier Developments.

Retro Redux: Mega Man

Howdy folks and welcome to yet another Retro Redux. This week we’re going to take a look back at a game that I only played for the first time a little over a year ago, Mega Man. The first installment in the series. I never played the Mega Man games when they originally came out. I don’t know why they were just never ones that I put into my system. It wasn’t until the release of Mega Man 9 when I really got interested in the Mega Man franchise and decided to try them out on the Virtual Console.

Designed by Keiji Infafune, Mega Man was released back in December of 1987 and set the tone for what the franchise would become. There would be some tweaks to the overall formula, but designs such as having a set number of stages all guarded by a robot master that would give you their power after you defeated them would be kept in every subsequent entry in the series. In this instance there were six robot masters that you needed to best; Ice Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Guts Man, Bomb Man and Cut Man. There was a pattern to the way they could be defeated and if you found out the correct order each boss would be much easier to defeat. Once you bested the six robot masters you were sent to the Wily Stages where you had even tougher guardians on each level, including a section where you had to beat each of the six robot masters in succession.

Mega Man was not the prettiest game to look at and there were a number of times where the action on the screen would slow to a crawl because there was so much going on at one time. I can remember playing Cut Man’s stage for the first time and seeing that opening section with the teal blue walls and thinking this game did not hold up very well over the years. Much of this was just from the game being a product of the early NES era and it was corrected very quickly with Mega Man 2 which looks vastly superior to the original.

Sound is where Mega Man really shines. The games score was composed by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, who was credited in the game as Yuukichan’s Papa, and Manami Matsumae. The original themes for this game are still remembered by many as some of the best in the series and there aren’t many games from that era that have soundtracks that are remembered as fondly as Mega Man.

If you were looking for a game that challenged your skills as gamer Mega Man is a good place to look. These games are famous for their difficulty and many games today are compared to the “Mega Man hard” level of difficulty. Some of the design elements of the game would be considered cheap by today’s standards and some would consider it bad game design. Things like enemies being placed on a ledge that is just barely big enough for Mega Man to fit on or enemies that could shoot in multiple directions hitting you when you’re over a pit of spikes. If you really wanted frustration, the moving platforms in Guts Man’s stage would drive you crazy. The infamous Yellow Devil, which could be defeated very easily if you wanted to cheat. If not, the pattern of his movement and attacks was really, really difficult to time and it took a lot of trial and error before you were able to beat him. There was even a scoring system that awarded you points, and it’s the only game in the main franchise to ever see a score attached to your progress. It was pretty much useless and was removed in Mega Man 2.

There were some issues when Capcom wanted to bring the game to America. Nintendo of America, at the time, had strict rules against any religious references in their games and this affected a number of games, including Mega Man. When the game was first released in America the Yellow Devil boss had his name changed to Rock Monster to avoid the devil reference. It’s known today by its proper name. Mega Man’s name also went through a change. In Japan the game is known as Rock Man and when you combine that with his sister’s name, Roll, you get a nice play on the term Rock ‘n Roll. There was an amplifier in the states known as Rockman and Nintendo, in order to avoid a lawsuit, told Capcom to change his name and Mega Man was born. Probably the most famous, or infamous depending on how you look at it, aspect of Mega Man’s release was the cover art for the box. The terrible art depicting a middle aged man wearing blue power armor and carrying a pistol did not give you any idea of what you’d expect in the game and is considered, by many, to be the worst box art of all-time.

What’s not considered on anyone’s worst of all-time list is the game itself. Though Mega Man 2 is considered a far superior game in a number of aspects Mega Man still ranks very highly on many peoples top NES games of all-time list. Because of this, the game has seen a number of ports, remake and re-releases throughout the years. The game saw release on Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld, and was ported to the PSP in the form of Mega Man Powered Up. That game was essentially a re-make featured enhanced, cuter graphics and new level design, but also had a mode that retained much of the original level design with the enhanced graphics. It was released on the Wii’s Virtual Console in preparation for 2008’s release of Mega Man 9, a game which would take the blue bomber back to his 8-bit roots.

Mega Man is remembered fondly by many people and after playing it last year I’m sorry to say I missed it all these years, but everyone should experience the game that was Mega Man. It will make you appreciate many of the games we have now and test your skills in ways you didn’t think possible.

Nintendo Okie in the Morning

Well, this is my first attempt at getting some audio coverage on the site.  You can expect these to pop up from time to time, at least once a week if not more.  They're just a bit of a chance for me to get some audio commentary on the site and begin to dip my toes into the world of podcasting.

This one runs about 5:35 and that's a bit longer than the average will probably be, but you never know.  It's basically just me rambling for a few minutes about what's going on in the world of games.  This first episode is just me introducing myself.  There's no music, or special editing.  I'm new to this.  [=^)

Anyway, I hope you like it.  Let me know what you think.

Nintendo Okie in the Morning - Episode 1 Run Time 5:35

Games Mentioned: Super Mario Bros., Little League Baseball, Duck Tales, Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart, Mario Party 8

Bit.Trip Beat Soundtrack Now Available!

As a huge fan of video game soundtracks, you should see the library on the hard drive, I'm super excited about this announcement.  Gaijin Games has made the soundtrack to Bit.Trip Beat available on CD Baby as of now. 

It should be available on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, and a slew of other music retail services on 10/27/09 as well!

If you haven't played the game you really should.  It takes a really old school look, based on Atari 2600 games, and combines it with new school rythm game action.  The follow up to that, Bit.Trip Core is also available, both on WiiWare.  They also have a third game in the series coming soon, Bit.Trip Void, which combines the music game genre with a bit of an old fashioned shooter.