They Call Me Geen

Nintendo’s second [third?] conference just ended. Tonight focused only on 3DS, which is fine with me. Nothing, that I can recall, was revealed at this conference, which is a bit strange, but they showed a nice bit of gameplay, and a few new things that weren’t shown before in those games. 

Anyway, here are some quick impressions from what I remember seeing… 

Castlevania - Looks like a lot of fun mechanically, even though it’s a bit bland graphically. Swinging with the whip and the overall pace of the game look great. 

Luigi’s Mansion 2 - This is one of my favorite games being displayed this year. The personality of the original looks intact and it just looks like they are really expanding the original game in the right places. I just hope that “3 mansions” doesn’t translate into “a game that over stays it welcome.” A few years ago I would’ve said, “Nah, it’s Nintendo, you can trust them!” but today I just get flashbacks of Spirit Tracks.

Epic Mickey - I can’t put my finger on why, exactly, but this looks like a lot of fun. I think I’ll be waiting for it to hit the $20 bin before I pick it up, though.

Paper Mario 3DS - This is up there with Luigi’s Mansion as my most anticipated game of E3. The diorama presentation is still extremely charming. I love that they ditched the traditional battle system and have gone in a completely new direction. Also interesting that the leveling system is, basically, the “find an item - you’ve leveled up!” mechanic that Zelda basically uses. 

New Super Mario Bros 2 - Still looks good. Still looks like Mario. Multiplayer Co-op through the entire game looks as frustrating as it did on Wii. 

Kingdom Hearts - It looks like the PS2 Kingdom Hearts. I’m glad people still really enjoy this series, but I’m done and this is not showing me anything to win me back. Well, nothing except Olivia Wade’s character from Tron being in it, but that’s only because I love Olivia Wade. 

Lego Batman 2 - zzz

Rabbid Crap - Rabbid crap. 

Heroes of Ruin - I want to like this, but that trailer looked incredibly dull.

And then there was other news - the top five downloads on eShop are all free downloads (Is that a good thing?), Pokemon Black & White 2 is coming (we remember)… and I’m sure other tidbits where mentioned, but I’ll be damned if I remember them right now. 

What wasn’t shown was a 3DS remodel, which is very disappointing. Hell, I’d even take a new color. But, if nothing else, this reinforced that there are some incredible games coming for 3DS, even if the conference as a whole seemed unnecessary. Why did they show any 3DS titles yesterday if they were just going to show them again today? Why not spend that time showing P-100 or the other Wii U games that are on display on the floor but didn’t get any time yesterday? Only thing I can figure, which I’m pretty confident is probably the fact, is that this show tonight was for us, the gamer. Retail buyers were not going to make their way to a second showing after spending an hour yesterday with Nintendo. Tonight was to show us gamers, “Here are these great looking games that we wanted to show you more of!” and for that I appreciate it. Would it have been nice to see Animal Crossing get a date or for Nintendo to reveal a completely new title? Yeah. But, they could have just shown what was shown yesterday and called it a day. I appreciate the extra effort on their part. 

My friend is working until 5pm but wanted to know what happened at Nintendo’s E3 event today. Here is my series of text messages that spammed his phone, now with added comments!

Here’s a quick run down of Nintendo E3. Keep in mind, tomorrow they are going to do a 3DS conference, so I’m sure (hopeful!) there will be more on 3DS at that time.

Wii U:

Pikmin 3 (Looks rad, although it just looks like more Pikmin)  

[Side note - More Pikmin isn’t a compliant. I thought it looked like fun, it just looked like what I would expect from “Pikmin 3.”]  

New Super Mario Bros U (Besides the awful title and the fact that this is the FOURTH “New” Super Mario Bros game, it still looks good, even if it looks like more traditional SMB - Funny how I’d clammer for years about wanting more “real’ Super Mario Bros and now I’m like, “Yeah, I’ll play it, but I’m not doing backflips.”  

[Side note to that, I really dug the presentation for New Super Mario Bros U and will most likely buy a Wii U and this at the same time.]

Wii Fit U - Zzzz

Ubisoft’s ZombieU - Actually looks pretty awesome.  

[I probably should have gone into more detail with that one, but I’ll let him figure it out.]

Shit, I’m drawing a blank on what else they showed… Oh!

New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS) - Looks good, I’ll buy it, but, again, too much of a good thing? I dunno.

Paper Mario 3DS - Looks incredible.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 (3DS) - Looks incredible. This and Paper Mario are the system sellers, I think.   

Back on Wii U, Lego City, I think it’s called, looked pretty awesome. I want to play it more than I want to admit.  

[I really do. ;_;]  

I think the only other thing that was shown was “Nintendoland,” which is a collection of Nintendo themed mini-games. It looked like it could be fun with a group, but, to quote my twitter,

“If Nintendo charges $50 for Nintendoland no one will be able to deny that they have the biggest balls in the industry, video games or not.”

Some other quick flashes of games included Tekken Tag Team 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, Mass Effect 3…

[He’s a big Mass Effect fan, or else I wouldn’t have even mentioned that one.]

 Happy about Tekken. They also showed a game called “Tank! Tank! Tank!” which has my eye - looks like a fast paced Battlezone with multiplayer.  

[Actually, Battlezone always had multiplayer, didn’t it? That was stupid of me to say.]  

The only other game that caught my eye wasn’t even at the show. On e3.nintendo.com they have a video for “P-100,” which is being developed by Platinum Games and is what the child of Pikmin or Katamari Damacy & Battletoads would look like.

I’ll stop spamming your text messages now.    

And, that’s pretty much my opinion on this conference is in a nutshell. I don’t think anyone was shocked or surprised by what was shown, but I think there is enough there that I’m sure I’m going to really enjoy.

I wrote up a professional looking article about tonight’s presentation, but that’s no fun. Here’s my bullet point rant that is too long for Twitter. 

Wii U Gamepad

• Analog sticks instead of 3DS style circle pads - Good! 
• Analog sticks click like every other system’s analog sticks - Good!
• NFC Reader/Writer, which sounds identical to Spyro Skylander’s “Magical Portal” to communicate with cards or figures, built into the gamepad - fascinating and horrifying! There are going to be so many figures for Pokemon and Smash Bros, I can feel it. 
• That fucking right analog stick is still above the face buttons. Maybe I’ll feel differently once I use it, but that looks incredibly awkward to me. 

Wii U Pro Controller

• Looks like a 360 pad - good…
• Expect the face buttons and right analog stick look like they are in each other’s spot! Again, awkward looking. 
• Glad it looks like it has a rechargeable battery and doesn’t need to be tethered to a Wii-Remote to function.

Social Network Crap

• Looks like Twitter, acts like Twitter, would probably rather use Twitter. Hopeful I’m wrong, it is cool, and people actually use it but, fuck, if I can’t get people to use “GroupMe,” which requires no set up on other’s part, I’ll be shocked if they decide to pluck away on an onscreen keyboard to communicate that they hate Bowser. 

Miiverse

• Love the idea of seeing what friends are playing when I turn on the system.
• Hope it doesn’t turn into the majority of my friends drawing penises for their comments (Hint: It will). 

I learned tonight that Game Freak developed the puzzle game Yoshi (also known as Mario & Yoshi). I didn’t particularly care for this when it came out as I remember it being really simplistic. Watching a YouTube video of it isn’t convincing me otherwise, either; but maybe there is a whole high tier level of play to Yoshi that I just have no clue about! Yoshi players from around the world gather, mocking the simple nature of Puyo Puyo, Panel de Pon, Tetris, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, and Magical Drop because the real puzzle versus action is between the shells, baby! 

“I got dinos to hatch!” you can hear echoing throughout the halls, “Your well is going to be busted up, son!” 

Applause is uncontrollable. Yoshi fanatics cheer as giant Yoshis are birthed and garbage blocks rain like catastrophic meteors between the dueling puzzle wells. The anticipation is thick in the air as the last two remaining Yoshi champions battle head to head, desperate to make the other one crumble under the pressure. 

Or, you know, maybe not. 

Special thanks to Ashley Davis’ No Marios Allowed! for bringing Snow Bros back to my attention! I remember it existing as a kid but never played it until now. Neat quarter muncher of a game. 

Love the classic character design of the princess (although I kind of hate the design of the two snow brothers, which is part of the reason I think I never played it as a kid! :-X)!

Although I’m tempted to use this for something in my #fyeahvideogamemusic 21 Day challenge, I want to keep most the entries to the original versions and not covers (except for any ask for covers, of course), but I thought this was too awesome. 

Plus, I love Little Nemo on the NES. 

I went to Orlando yesterday and my friend sprung Super Mario 3D Land on me in the car. 
Car ride up - Super Mario 3D Land. 
Hotel Room - Super Mario 3D Land. 
Car ride back - Super Mario 3D Land. 

So, yeah, I played it quite a bit. Most giant coins nabbed and made it to 8-3 before the 3DS whimpered and died. 

Some quick impressions - Overall, I like it a lot. The level designs are fun. They remind me quite a bit of Super Mario Galaxy 2’s levels with their focus on action and getting from start to finish rather than trying to find the missing whatsit behind a rock. The return of items is also fantastic and a lot of fun to use. They don’t feel overpowered and the cool item doesn’t come along very often. The game is also beautiful. I kind of wish it was on a console just so I could admire it more. 

That said, there are a few things I don’t like - 

• Not a big issue, but I hate the gyroscope in the 3DS. I want to smack whoever made the decision to include it in the hardware and another slap for whoever keeps putting it in games. The segments where you use the gyroscope were a shaky, nervous wreck while we were driving and I can only imagine how hard they must be to control in a subway or plane. 
• Kind of in the gray area of like and hate, but the game felt rather easy. I feel like I blew through these levels incredibly fast, but, on the flip side, it was never boring. Also, Finch speaks of a “Second Quest” that is hidden away that is more of a challenge, so that should be a hoot. 
• I hate the “3D” in Super Mario 3D Land. Over the last few months of using the 3DS, I increasingly hate the 3D effect to the point where I wish it didn’t even exist. In Super Mario 3D Land, there are quite a few parts where having the 3D off changes the way that the environment is displayed. An area may look like a flat surface in 2D but when you put the 3D on you can see segments that are raised. Besides having a, “Oh, hay, that there 3D sure do be something! That Nintendo so smart!” moment, I can’t see any reason that they couldn’t use shadows or enlarged patterns to simulate the illusion of depth in 2D. Thankfully, these situations don’t happen often, but I saw them enough that I was pretty annoyed by it. 

So, to sum this up, Super Mario 3D Land is good! I don’t think I’d recommend spending $40 on it (at least, not yet. Maybe I’ll feel different when I see how interesting second quest is), but it’s a lot of fun and worth a playthrough.

I love puzzle games. All sort of puzzle games, really, but especially well-based puzzle games such as Tetris or Panel de Pon - any game that has you working in a confined space with new pieces coming to you in some fashion. 

What always surprises me about puzzle games is how long they really take to sink their hooks into me. I always like them at first, finding enjoyment is not the issue, but really understanding the game and getting good at it is something that usually takes some time. 

I’ve seen this happen a few times over the years, so I’m pretty positive it’s not a fluke. What happens with me is I’ll be introduced to a puzzle game, play it for a bit, put it down for months or even years, and then come back to it again and suddenly realize I was always playing it wrong. 

The latest example of this is Magical Drop. 

I’ve always liked Magical Drop, but I found it a bit simple - didn’t really see much opportunity for making combos and, on some levels, didn’t fully understand it. Playing through the PSN release of Magical Drop 1, though, I feel more comfortable in it. There is a ton of opportunity to create combos, use special pieces efficiently, and really fuck up your opponent. 

Simple concept, deep mechanics. Simple to learn, hard to master. 

If I ever do go forward and dabble in some independent game development those are going to be my rules to follow. They are consistent rules that I always find in the games I cherish most and I think key elements in games that are as great 20 years after their release as they were on the day they came out. 

Which puzzle games are you a big fan of? Which titles would you get excited by someone else giving it a try? I’d love to try some new titles I haven’t heard of before or, if I have played them, having some discussion about them!