We need to talk. I’ve been a part of the Nintendo community for a long time now, and what used to be something to be proud of has me quite ashamed from time to time. The actions I see online are absolutely ridiculous and seem to get more out of hand every Nintendo Direct. Of course, not everyone acts the ways described below, but far, FAR too many do.
Make up your minds, please.
When Nintendo releases new games in the same franchise (Mario, Zelda, etc.) a lot of what I hear is whining for new ideas and new IPs. When Nintendo releases a new game or new IP (Federation Force, Codename: S.T.E.A.M., etc.) I’m also hearing a ton of complaints and hate. If you try a game and decide you don’t like it, that’s completely justified, but when Nintendo announces a game and it’s suddenly the apocalypse… not okay. Nintendo is completely aware you want a new Metroid game, I assure you.
No unreleased game deserves this much hate.
I’m a HUGE fan of the first two Paper Mario games, but couldn’t get into Sticker Star at all. While Color Splash looks more like Sticker Star than a traditional RPG, that doesn’t mean I’m going to attack the game. I’m going to do something revolutionary instead: I’m not going to buy the game. If reviews come out and the game happens to be incredible maybe I’ll change my mind, but there’s no reason whatsoever to throw punches at Nintendo for simply making a game I’m not interested in.
Nintendo is a business.
Why make Paper Mario: Color Splash when Sticker Star wasn’t as well received as the other games in the series? It sold well. Nintendo makes decisions that will first and foremost make them money. They try to please as many people as possible, but you’ll certainly never please everyone, and they know that. If Sticker Star hadn’t sold well either they would have taken a different approach for the next Paper Mario game or the franchise would cease to exist.
Enjoy your (extra) life!
So many people act like the decisions Nintendo makes will make or break their quality of life. Just take a deep breath and calm down. It’s completely possible to not be interested in any games Nintendo is releasing for months (possibly years) on end. Luckily they have such an amazing backlog of games that it should be easy to find something you’ll enjoy. So bust out that dusty N64 and 4 controllers, because Mario is always ready to party with you.
I wont stop being a part of the Nintendo community – it’s in my blood – but I sure hope the overall attitude changes soon.
Let’s face it, we’ve all thought that at one point or another. Usually it doesn’t go any further than wishful thinking, though. Sure, some of us might doodle concept art or gameplay ideas in a notebook, a few might even learn to program, but even for those with all of the skills there’s another, more tangible hurdle: the tools. Game development isn’t free and procuring a software development kit (SDK or devkit for short) is often a costly proposition. For those of you not familiar with the game development process, a devkit is a collection of specialized software and hardware used to make and test games. They’re quite expensive: the Wii’s devkit cost around $5000, which at the time was rather cheap compared to the XBox 360’s and PS3’s $20,000 price tag. Now, those of you who are used to making do with free software—like me—are probably thinking, “do I really need all of those fancy tools?”
No.
Homebrew is the process of making software for a system without the original development kit or system distributor’s blessing (more commonly known as a “license”). The term originated among beer aficionados for beer brewed by an individual instead of a commercial brewing house, but now is used in many hobbies—including video games—to refer to unofficial/amateur produced content. Homebrewering shouldn’t be confused with modding or ROM hacking: homebrewing is concerned with making new content for a system, while modding and ROM hacking only intend to change or manipulate an existing game (sometimes to the point where it’s arguably a different game made from the parts of the original).
Homebrew is the process of making software for a system without the original development kit…
What’s Homebrew Like?
Homebrew provides a surprisingly diverse selection of content. There’s homebrew for almost all Nintendo systems, though the type of content varies greatly from system to system. Older systems mostly focus on games, while newer ones–from about the Wii onward–have homebrew for everything from games to system utilities. Let’s take a quick look at some examples.
Games
Just as “all toasters toast toast [sic]” Nintendo homebrewers homebrew games…duh. Sadly, most of the homebrew games I found in my research are simple, forgettable diversions much like the flash games of the early days of the internet. It’s not that surprising, considering game development on any level is an intricate and time consumptive process. That isn’t to say that all homebrewers lack diligence and ambition. There are still many quality original titles. Notice that I said original titles; a large number of homebrew game projects are simply ports, usually of games whose creators have released the source code to the general public. In fact, the Wii alone has ports of P.C. classics such as Tyrian, Quake, and Jazz Jackrabbit.
I’m not going to try to enumerate every homebrew project released for a Nintendo system, but for the sake of being thorough, there are some that warrant mention. First up is Blade Buster,a Famicom shoot-em-upnotable for its screen filling boss sprites (on an 8-bit console mind you), an insane number of sprites on the screen at a time, and unique time-attack styled gameplay. Next for the Super Nintendo is N-Warp Daisakusen, a game that allows eight—yes, eight—players to compete in a free-for-all brawl. Lastly, I want to mention a puzzle game for the DS named Negative Space which has the player drawing paths to guide two opposite colored blobs to their respective goal flags. The catch? They can only travel through the other’s color, meaning every path you draw for one is an obstacle to the other.
This game is also available as a free download on Android.
Emulators
After games, the most common type of homebrew is emulators. I’m not exactly sure why when emulators are already so prolific on P.C. Maybe people make them because they like the challenge of getting an emulator to function on the constraints of a game console. Maybe it’s to prove that more fully featured emulation is possible on Nintendo systems. Maybe people just think it’s funny to play Playstation games on their Wii. Whatever the reason, most of Nintendo’s modern systems have a multitude of homebrewed emulators available on them.
I can’t be the only one who thinks this is hilarious.
Obviously, many of the homebrewed emulators available online for Nintendo consoles are for older Nintendo systems. As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, however, the homebrewed emulator scene isn’t exclusively concerned with Nintendo systems. On the just Wii alone there are emulators for Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive, Sega Saturn, Playstation 1, CalecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari Lynx, and many, many, many, many, many more. Also, there’s a Super Nintendo emulator that runs on the original 3DS (I knew it!).
Whatever the reason, most of Nintendo’s modern systems have a multitude of homebrewed emulators available on them.
Miscellaneous Software
Not all homebrew projects are game related. Some are just the sort of software you’d find on any computer: music players, web browsers, etc. One such program of note is an art program called Colors! Which was originally developed as homebrew for the DS but has since gotten an official release on multiple systems, including the 3DS eshop. Then there’s software that changes system behaviors. For example, the 3DS has an application that removes the cap on the number of play coins a player can receive in a day. More impressive is a Wii hack that let’s the user change the region of the console—y’know, to play region locked games.
Linux
Where there’s hardware, there’s Linux. Much like the speed of light or the certainty of death and taxes, it’s one of the constants of our universe. Seriously, any system that’s powerful enough to run Linux sooner or later will. There’s Linux for the GameCube, Linux on the 3DS, Linux for the Wii, a distro is in development for the N64, there’s a version for the DS; heck, even the GameBoy Advance has…Unix?
…Wait, what?
What?
Any system that’s powerful enough to run Linux sooner or later will.
Cool! Let me try!
For those of you who don’t know, I happen to be a programmer, so when I write an article that gives me the opportunity to talk about programming, I’m going to talk about programming. If you think programming is some kind of voodoo (which it isn’t: it’s sorcery), you may want to skip this part.
Still here? Great! Believe it or not, if you’re already comfortable with programming it’s almost as simple as picking the system you want to develop for and a few Google searches. While homebrewing isn’t exactly the go-to past-time among bored nerds, there are several online guides and communities dedicated to the craft: forums, YouTube videos, blogs, and wikis galore! Heck, there’s an entire freebook on WikiBooks about Super Nintendo programming.
Even though you’re not going to be using The Man’s toolkit, you can’t exactly make a game with just your imagination and wishful thinking (trust me, I’ve tried). You will need software to compile the code you write and, if you’re developing for one of Nintendo’s more recent systems, an API library to interface with the system (getting controller input and such). You’ll also want an emulator. Fortunately, all of these tools can be easily acquired on the internet for free.
There are several online guides and communities dedicated to the craft: forums, YouTube videos, blogs, and wikis galore!
As for the coding itself, it’s mostly the same as regular programming. For example, I—out of curiosity—browsed through a tutorial on GameBoy Advance homebrewing and was quite relieved (and just a little surprised) to find that the code was hardly distinguishable from any other program written in C. There are certainly nuances to keep in mind—like in the case of the GBA, some memory addresses are reserved for the screen’s RGB values, tracking whether buttons are pressed, and so on. You may also need to go without some modern conveniences (hope you like compiling your code from command-line!). But by-and-large, anyone who’s sufficiently experienced with C and/or C++ should be fine.
Unless you’re developing for an 8 or 16-bit system. In that case I hope you really like 65c816 Assembly!
We Haven’t Even Touched the Red Pill
Instead of starting on a proper summation, I’d like to cover my backside real quick and stress that despite this being the longest article I’ve written for Two Button Crew to date, I have only given the barest of overviews of the subject. I encourage you to look further into this, either as someone interested in finding new games to play or someone hoping to make such games. More over, there’s a lot I omitted for length, like how some retail games have been pulled from store shelves because of homebrewers.
Having said all that, it’s a shame homebrew isn’t more popular. I understand why, though: if someone’s going to go to all the trouble to make a game, why make it for a dead system? And if it’s for a modern system, why make a game that they can’t license and sell? But, hey, who knows? Many Nintendo fans have grown up and started making games of their own. As time goes on and more fans get old enough to take an interest in game development, maybe some of them will try to make a few for the systems they played on as kids. Wouldn’t that be something, a flood of new old games?
About the Author:
Glen is a lifelong Nintendo fan whose love of video games has inspired him to pursue a career in computer programming; so much so that he is now studying to get a masters in computer science. He doesn’t understand that the average person isn’t interested in programming and won’t shut up about how awesome it is.
When I introduced the Nintendo Experience, I said that it would include around 70 titles or so. I haven’t changed my mind as far as the number of games go, but Scott brought to my attention that if I were to keep my current pace, it would take me approximately 2 ½ forevers to finish, and that’s not counting any games that might be essential coming out between now and then. I figured it might be easier if I spent some of my blog posts to talk about the Nintendo Experience. I still plan on dedicating a few Crew Cuts to them, but I can cover several games per post, so I can actually someday finish this project.
The Nintendo Experience is a list of games that I believe sum up essential Nintendo adventures for any fan to play through.
It’s not a list of Nintendo’s “best games”, per se, but they showcase what makes Nintendo the best game company in the world. They don’t need to be first-party games, or even exclusive games, but they need to use the Nintendo hardware in a unique way if they’re not.
Case in point, the next game joining the Experience is Capcom’s Ōkami for Wii.
Ōkami was originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006 and was ported to the Wii in 2008. It’s a wonderful cell-shaded adventure that plays quite a bit like a Legend of Zelda game. But the gameplay isn’t the best part of the experience; that would go to the presentation. Graphically, the developers have re-created feudal Japan in the style of traditional Japanese paintings. The world is absolutely incredible, and you’ll find yourself running around fields and forests just taking in the prettiness of it all. The orchestral sound track matches the setting, and helps to transport the player into the world.
Next, the story is fantastic. Without giving very much away, you play as Amaterasu, a reincarnation of the sun god Shiranui. You set out on a quest to restore the nature of Nippon that has been thrown into ruin by the forces of evil by collecting different “Celestial Brush” techniques (more on that in a moment). The premise may sound odd, but believe me when I say that the story will suck you in and move you with every twist of the plot.
The thing that makes the Wii version of Ōkami unique and gives it a spot on the Nintendo Experience is the Celestial Brush. One of the key mechanics of the game entails the player stopping the action and using the Wiimote’s pointer to draw a shape on the screen to activate different powers. Need to cut a tree down that’s blocking your path? There’s a technique for that! Need a lily pad to help you walk on water? There’s a technique for that, too! Need a gust of wind to get rid of fowl-smelling air? You’re in luck! Just scrawl the shape where you need it and presto! Sometimes it takes a few tries to get the shape right, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be Bob-ing your enemies like a Ross.
If you like adventure games and haven’t played Ōkami yet, then pick up a copy and give it a shot. You won’t regret picking it up.
In honor of the recent release of Pokémon GO, another induction from the franchise into the Experience is Pokémon Red/Blue/Green along with their sequel, Yellow.
It’s hard to think of a world without Pokémon, and often times I forget where it all started. After these games were released, the TV show, trading card game, mangas, toys, and more were everywhere (just like GO is doing now).
Up to that point, RPGs usually had a pretty limited cast. You might be able to choose a few different combinations of characters for your party, but your choices were pretty limited. Then these games dropped and flipped the game on its head with 151 unique characters available to play as. As long as you could catch them, you could have whatever combination of six (or less) monsters you wanted. Sure the game was unbalanced, and sure, there were plenty of glitches, but the feeling you got when the professor gave you your first starter, or you traded a Pokémon with a friend, or got your first gym badge far outweighs all of the brokenness. If you haven’t played any of the games in the original trilogy, I highly suggest getting the port for your 3DS. It’s just $10! Give it a shot.
That’s it for the Nintendo Experience for now. Signing out!
As someone who has been a Nintendo fan since I was old enough to hold a controller, I have never seen the company attempting to juggle so many different projects at the same time.
With Nintendo dabbling in so many areas, is it only a matter of time until they start dropping the ball?
Let’s take a moment and examine everything that Nintendo has on their plate, so we can determine if they’ve bitten off more than they can chew:
It makes me anxious just thinking about all of the things that Nintendo management must deal with on a regular basis, and each and every one of those projects comes with their own set of challenges: public relations, marketing, quality assurance, customer service, and more.
Wisely, Nintendo is not embarking on all of these endeavors alone. With the help of other established companies like DeNA, VANS, and Universal Studios, Nintendo is only shouldering a partial load for some of these projects. Still…
The load adds up quickly.
How many different ways can Nintendo’s attention be split before their products begin to suffer?
We’ve already begun to see the affects of an unfocused Nintendo, I’m afraid. The publisher was banking on a hit success with the Wii U, but the console performed below expectations, causing Nintendo to focus on attaining cash flow through additional means. The key to this extra revenue? Intellectual Property (or IP). Nintendo has invested in their character for decades, and finally decided that the time to cash in… is now.
Nintendo’s famous stable of characters can now be seen in places previously untouched by the company: mobile games, figurine toys, and more.
Is this a bad thing? No. But does it mean that we will get fewer software releases? Inevitably, it must. You’ve felt it on the Wii U and 3DS for the past couple of years.
Can we fault Nintendo for outsourcing some of these projects, like with DeNA and VANS?
Perhaps.
The risk with partnerships is the very integrity of your brand.
There are more companies trying to turn a profit with Nintendo’s own IP now than ever before, and Nintendo has less control over them.
Remember when 5th Cell was given permission to add Mario characters to their Scribblenauts game? It was called Scribblenauts Unlimited, because you could modify whatever nouns you wanted with any adjectives you would like. Except for the Mario characters.
Angry sweater? Check. Loose goose? Check. Green Mario? No go.
Nintendo’s IP used to be sacred, but now it’s plastered on tie-dye, Hawaiian VANS apparel with abandon.
Nintendo can make money through video games, theme parks, apparel and frozen yogurt… but they shouldn’t have done it all at once, with plummeting hardware sales.
The NX should have been priority 1, it should have been unveiled at E3, because it should be on store shelves this Holiday.
I love every Nintendo controller, but some are easily better than others. Today we’ll take a look at my personal ranking of Nintendo’s controllers from best to worst, and the reasoning behind it. Remember, this list is entirely my opinion and yours could be completely different.
7. Wii U
The main problem I have with the Wii U gamepad is when a game gives me the option to use the Wii U Pro Controller, I use the Pro Controller every time. While the touch screen is insanely helpful for a map in Splatoon, or item management in The Legend of Zelda, the gamepad never had a very compelling reason to justify the second screen in my mind. I only ever used the off TV play a handful of times, because the resolution on the gamepad leaves much to be desired.
6. Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 controller was designed for people with 3 hands. I only ever knew of a few games that even used the D-Pad because it was located off to the side, but I loved the control stick and the Z-button as a trigger was amazing.
5. NES
Simple. Clean. Classic. It doesn’t get much easier than this. The fact that almost anyone can pick up an NES controller and play because of its simplicity is amazing. Truly a monumentous achievement when your original controller still holds up so well today. The only thing holding this one back is the square design. While it looks amazing, it can become uncomfortable to hold during extended play sessions.
4. Virtual Boy
Only used to its full potential a couple times, but easily the best part of the console. The L and R buttons located on the back is fantastic and the dual D-pad was great for added control. Created with a mirrored design meant that games that only used one D-pad let the players pick which one they wanted to use, so whether you were left or right handed you could pick what felt comfortable.
3. Wii
Not everyone loves motion control gaming, but the Wii did it right. The controller was designed to be similar to a TV remote for ease of use with all demographics. They nailed it. The main thing I didn’t like about it was the 1 and 2 buttons were far down on the controller, but they were usually used for menus and map anyhow. As an added bonus you can plug in the nunchuck attachment for added control-ability or turn the controller sideways and it essentially becomes an NES controller. Brilliant.
2. GameCube
ABXY? Check. L and R? Check. Dual analog? So close! The main thing holding this controller back in my mind is the tic-tac C-stick. There’s a very good reason it’s many peoples go to controller for Smash Bros. to this day. Very comfortable and great button placement. You could even update your default controller to the Wavebird for wireless gaming.
1. SNES
Nintendo took the NES controller and improved on it in every way. Rounded so it was more comfortable, added buttons for more functionality, but still incredibly simple and user friendly. It really doesn’t get any better than this.
That’s all of them, folks… for now! I can’t wait to see where the NX will end up on this list. Be sure to let me know how your list compares!
Scott and Simeon recently ranked all of Nintendo’s consoles! Check out Part 1 and Part 2 to see how they stack up!
Note From the Author: The game discussed in this article, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Duel Destinies, has been rated M for Mature (ages 17+) by the ESRB for the following: violence, blood, suggestive themes, and language. That said, this article focuses only on the game’s mechanics and should be appropriate for all audiences. Please use care and caution when deciding what games are right for you and your family.
I typically don’t play story-heavy games during the school year: they take a long time to beat and all of that pesky suspense and intrigue makes them hard to pull myself away from. So when summer rolled around earlier this year, I decided it was high time I got around to playing a game I’ve been meaning to tackle ever since it came out way back in 2013, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies.
After slogging through other plot-driven games in the past solely out of pride (I beat games, not the other way around), I figured that I—a busy adult with things to do—simply had grown out of those types of games. As such, I went in to Dual Destinies with fairly low expectations.
It didn’t take me long to remember one crucial piece of information: I like the Ace Attorney series…a lot. This game is no different. While not the strongest entry in the franchise (clumsy writing in places, too much hand-holding, and not nearly enough Trucy Wright), Dual Destinies still managed to impress me, especially where I least expected it: the game mechanics.
The game does have an annoying habit of spoon-feeding the player.
The Ace Attorney series is no stranger to introducing new gameplay mechanics and gimmicks, but until Dual Destinies, I honestly can’t think of a game in the franchise that took existing elements and trimmed the fat. Overall, the game has the best pacing and flow of the entire series, which is why I think it’s the perfect candidate for a case study on how to streamline gameplay mechanics. Court is now in session!
Dual Destinies managed to impress me, especially where I least expected it: the game mechanics.
Opening Statement: The Investigation Phase
Cases in the Ace Attorney franchise are generally split into two distinct parts: investigations and court sessions. For anyone not familiar with the franchise, defense attorneys in the Ace Attorney universe are two parts lawyer and one part private investigator. They question witnesses, search for clues, and sneak evidence out of crime scenes when the cops aren’t looking, all to prove their client’s innocence. This portion of the job is represented in gameplay with what’s known as the investigation phase and plays much like a traditional adventure game in the vein of the Monkey Island series or Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. These segments of the game are often the longest, and fittingly, most of the trimming the game does is in these portions.
Defense attorneys in the Ace Attorney universe are two parts lawyer and one part private investigator.
Exhibit A: The Search Command
Like many adventure games, players in Ace Attorney games must search the environment to find items they can use, in this case evidence to prove their client’s innocence. The examine command brings up a cursor that the player can then use to click on objects in the environment to investigate them. Now, not everything the player sees in an area is going to be evidence (Phoenix’s office plant, Mr. Charlie, for instance), and when clicked these objects, instead of advancing the plot, will just trigger some flavor text wherein the protagonist and his plucky sidekick humorously palaver on about the object in question (#TeamStepLadder).
A typical investigation from the first game.
Now, in games prior to Dual Destinies, every location was searchable, even if there wasn’t any evidence there (I’m looking at you Wright & CO. Law Offices). This meant players were expected to search every area. Just because a murder occurred in, say, a public park doesn’t mean the player won’t end up searching an abandoned doctors office for clues on the whereabouts of the true killer’s lost shoes.
In games prior to Dual Destinies, every location was searchable, even if there wasn’t any evidence there.
While conventional wisdom looks down on limiting what the player can do, sometimes it can improve the overall experience.The search cursor before and after examining an object.
Dual Destinies improves on this feature in several ways. First, the game limits use of the examine command strictly to crime scenes. This means that there’s only ever one searchable location for the player to worry about at a time, unlike previous games that let the player switch between searching multiple areas, each of which could change depending on event flags. More over, the game now has the courtesy to inform players when they’ve found everything they need, which too often wasn’t clear in previous titles. Lastly, Dual Destinies introduced the ever so subtle—but oh-so-useful—addition of having the cursor take the shape of a check mark if the object being highlighted by the player has already been investigated. Considering that many of the conversations triggered when clicking on something could be quite long, even with fast forwarding, this U.I. feature is something longtime fans can appreciate.
And to top it all of, despite the newly imposed restrictions there’s still plenty of that sweet, sweet flavor text.
Exhibit B: The Travel Menu
Locations in the Ace Attorney series are normally static, disconnected, one-screen “rooms” that the player travels between via selection from a menu. It’s about as utilitarian as it gets, and yet Dual Destinies still managed to smooth out the rough edges. See, for whatever reason, previous games in the franchise had a four option limit on the travel menu, meaning the player could only travel to four other locations from any given area. The way the developers got around this—quite frankly arbitrary—limit was to have each area have its own list of destinations. So, for example, if the player wanted to go from the detention center to the crime scene, they may have to travel to back to Wright’s Office, then to the front door of the building the body was found in, and then to the actual crime scene.
Of course, a sleek, afigimatiko-dynamic game like Dual Destinies isn’t about to put the player through all that for something as simple as getting from point A to point B! Enter the magic that is “scrolling”! With this space-aged technique, players now have the uncanny ability to pick any location from anywhere in the game simply by “scrolling” between options! (Restrictions may apply in accordance to plot demands.)
The Ace Attorney series is known for its inclusion of supernatural elements; scrolling was only a matter of time.
Exhibit C: The Notebook
Anyone who’s played an old-school adventure game can tell you that the worst thing that’s guaranteed to happen to the player at some point is getting stuck without any clear directions. This is why many modern games of all genres keep an objectives list or provide a character who the player can ask for advice at any time. Unfortunately, until Dual Destinies the Ace Attorney games fell into the old adventure game trap of not always giving the player clear directions on what to do next. To make matters worse, N.P.C.s had an annoying tendency to just up and disappear until the player triggered the right event flag. This led to the player constantly going back and forth after every event to see which N.P.C.s had returned to their post and who had new dialog options.
Oh right, I was investigating a murder! I should really get back to that…
Dual Destinies introduced an extra section to the court record (basically the player’s inventory screen) for notes—which in this case is more of a checklist than a place for the player to jot down information. Any time the player isn’t sure what to do next, they can just open the court record, hit the notes tab, and be on their way. Admittedly, Dual Destinies’ plot is structured in such a way that the player rarely needs extra input, especially once you factor in the previously listed enhancements, but the handful of times I did need it, I greatly appreciated the fact that I could just hit a few buttons and continue the game instead of wandering around in circles for ten minutes.
Any time the player isn’t sure what to do next, they can just open the court record, hit the notebook tab, and be on their way.
Closing Thoughts
What I hope to get across is how seemingly small changes eventually add up. Small U.I. improvements can help better communicate information to the player, which leads to less time spent on tasks that slow progression. Moreover, limiting when a player can perform certain actions—like investigating their environment—can keep them from getting side-tracked or lost. In Dual Destinies’ case, the end result is the first Ace Attorney game that didn’t have me at a complete loss for what to do next at any point. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, it’s not necessarily the best game in the series (my personal favorite is Apollo Justice), but I will say right here and now that it’s the best structured and paced, all because the developers weren’t afraid to make some compromises regarding many of the accepted, long-standing conventions of the series. I’ll miss you, dear glut of humorous flavor text, but I can’t deny the game’s pacing is better off without you.
About the author:
Glen is a lifelong Nintendo fan and has been an Ace Attorney enthusiast ever since he first played Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney back in 2008. His love of video games has inspired him to pursue a career in computer programming and is currently studying to get a masters in computer science. Despite his name and choice of professions, he is in no way related to Glen Elg.
Recently I got the opportunity to go to a Pokémon Go meet-up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and let me tell you: it was an absolute blast!
What started out as a Facebook event for a few friends quickly got shared by an astounding amount of people and turned into thousands. The creator of the event had intended it to be 25-30, but the end result was 5,300 going and 7,500 interested. I would easily estimate 6,000 people ended up attending, if not more.
If there are 4 Pokéstops in one area, they will come.
The corner pictured above was standing room only, and was quite a scene to behold. Teams wore clothing and glow-sticks to match their team color and every once in a while trainers would chant their team names.
The best way I can describe it was civilized mayhem. It was awesome.
Everyone was in on Pokémon Go that night. All the local news outlets were there, people made t-shirts and stickers to sell, even the local businesses (if they were smart) were getting in on the action with discounts for hungry or thirsty trainers. Both businesses and trainers were turning almost every Pokéstop into a lure. Everywhere you went Pokémon were popping up constantly. Luckily there are plenty of spots to refill all those Pokéballs you were bound to throw.
Lures galore!
The sense of community this game brought out in everyone was a really great thing to behold as well. If a rare Pokémon had spawned, someone would always yell it out so others could join in. I was lucky enough to do it once for a Dratini that had spawned by a bridge, and boy did they come running.
If you have a Pokémon Go meet-up near you I highly recommend you check it out. Plus, the more people playing in a given area, the more chance for a rare Pokémon to spawn! I’m more of an introverted person with people I don’t know, but I had a lot of fun talking to fellow trainers I had only just met. This night will easily be going into my (non-existent) gaming scrapbook.
The fighter breathed in slowly in the darkened locker room.
His eyes drew to the hallway down which the arena loomed.
He’d trained for this very moment for innumerable days.
He let his breath out slowly as he also dropped his gaze.
His past had come to haunt him; or rather, his father’s did.
It was in the old man’s shadow that up ‘til now he hid.
He rose from the wooden bench as he slammed the locker door.
His mind was clear and focused as he slowly crossed the floor.
His father was a great man; one of the best there’d ever been.
He’d proudly held the people’s flag for years and years on end.
The women and children’s love he kept, the men’s respect he’d earned.
But even a champion’s fire burns out; a lesson he finally learned.
And now his boy had come of age, his turn had come at last
To earn the title for himself, to honor his father’s past.
Any time he’d walk the street the people called his name.
They smiled as they recalled his dad and said “You’ll do the same!”
He heard them calling for him as he traveled down the hall.
His pace was slow and steady as cheers echoed off the walls.
But as he plodded down the corridor that led down to the ring,
The distance to his destination got further, so it seemed.
He started to jog faster ‘til he ran as if he fled.
The image of his father was burned into his head.
As he neared the final door that led to the battleground,
He’d realized he could no longer hear the cheering of the crowd.
He swung the door wide open and he stepped into the light.
Instead of the cheering fans expected he saw a very different sight.
The crowd was filled with anger, spitefulness, and scorn.
The faces that used to smile at him now a scowl wore.
The booing increased with every step as he approached the field.
He looked across at his opponent who rose up from his kneel.
The enemy wore full armor and a horned helmet on his head.
He lifted his oddly-shaped sword. “I’ve looked forward to this”, he said.
The warrior that stood before him was the one who’d succeeded his Pa.
The boy took his battle stance, he set his eyes and jaw.
“I’ll prove them wrong,” he determined, “Today’s my day to shine!”
The crowed fell deadly silent ‘til they heard the air horn whine.
The boy immediately charged the knight, his weapon flashed to life.
The knight was ready for the attack and deflected with his knife.
“Is that all you have?” The knight laughed. “I expected more from you.”
The knight lunged with his weapon aloft, the boy’s head which to hew.
The boy quickly dodged the strike with blindingly quick speed.
“One thing you didn’t count on: my Pa wasn’t quick like me!”
He continued to rush around the ring, too fast to keep track,
Until the knight took a well-aimed swing that knocked him on his back.
Light was all that he could see as he lay there on the floor.
The knight drew near and placed his blade upon the boy’s core.
He kneeled down next to him, and with a look of sadness in his eyes,
He said, “I’m… disappointed.” And then began to rise.
The air was still in the Colosseum and the knight just turned and walked.
The seats were slowly emptied. No one dared to talk.
The boy just lay there on the mat. He knew everybody’d left.
One word stuck in his heart, and like a foil it cleft.
BoxBoxBoy! is the sequel to the hit downloadable puzzle game BoxBoy! for the 3DS that expands on the original, quite literally, as this time around you use two sets of boxes instead of one. While no prior experience with the original is needed, it really helps as the mechanics you learn over the course of an entire game you learn in a few levels. You’ll still be hopping on and throwing boxes, along with hooking onto ledges and snaking your way through narrow paths, and it’s all still a lot of fun.
Hooked on a feeling.
The only new idea is creating two sets of boxes, but that’s okay as it completely changes the way you have to solve the puzzles and sometimes significantly ramps up the difficulty. There’s still plenty of switches, spikes, and lazers to deal with and it definitely had me stumped for a while on more than one occasion. There are usually a few levels in a row where you use the same mechanic in increasingly difficult puzzles, only to ditch it for a long while and come back to it when you’ve forgotten about it. Absolutely fantastic level design and it made feel dumb for not realizing the solution much soon than I had. There are bonus levels in which you replay chunks of levels you previously completed except this time with either the ninja or the bunny costume from the first game, but you have a lot less boxes at your disposal.
Two sets of boxes, twice the challenge.
The collectible crowns are back once again. If you’re not familiar, think hidden coins from Mario, except you have a limit of boxes you can create until it disappears. Being the OCD gamer I am, I had to get all of them, and a few were extremely difficult. It adds a lot to the way you approach levels and to the overall replay-ability.
BoxBoxBoy! really stacks up to the competition!
The more crowns you get, the more coins you get at the end of every level, which can be spent in the games shop. There you are able to purchase new costumes, short a quirky comics, and music from the game. All of the costumes you unlock from the original BoxBoy! transfer over too, which is a neat little addition.
There’s quite a lot of content for the price and is a great buy for the puzzle and platformer fan alike. While I recommend playing the original game first, this is a sequel that lives up to the original and shouldn’t be missed.
WARNING:The following blog post contains spoilers for Metroid: Other Mand Metroid Fusion.
It’s tough being a Metroid fan. After a promising start, the series goes on hiatus for nearly a decade. Then after a resurgence and several great additions to the franchise, Metroid: Other M comes out and sends everyone into a tizzy. Cue another hiatus, and then after years of waiting, Nintendo finally announces a new entry into the series…and everyone loses it all over again. I don’t particularly like controversies, they have an odd propensity to throw gentlemanly discourse out the window and reduce (presumably) otherwise intelligent individuals to their embarrassingly base, vitriolic nature. That said, there is an issue regarding Metroid: Other M that seems to have slipped through the cracks, and with the aesthetically controversial Metriod Prime: Federation Force releasing this August, I think now would be a good time to get it off my chest and discuss what I think Metroid: Other M‘s real flaw is.
People have criticized Other M for a variety of things: potentially sexist undertones, awkward non-analog controls, Samus’s emotionless voice acting, etc. I, however, either didn’t notice or didn’t mind most of the commonly cited issues when I first played the game. No, there was something else. Something I couldn’t ignore. Something that kept scratching at the back of my mind in the same annoying fashion a house cat lazily paws at its sleeping owner’s face. Something that is never brought up when discussing the game’s flaws. Something that kept running through my moderately attractive head every time I played the game: I’ve seen this before.
To put it bluntly, Metroid: Other M is a rehash of Metroid Fusion.
No seriously, there are just too many similarities. Oddly enough, despite all of the discussion the game has (shine) sparked, no one ever discusses the Goyagma in the room and mentions how suspiciously similar the two games are, even when they’re listing reasons they don’t think the game is good. The only time I’ve seen it brought up was a forum post made shortly after the game was released, and that was quickly dismissed by the site’s other members. So let’s switch to our scan visors and take a closer look.
The Setting
Both games are set shortly after the masterpiece that is Super Metroid. The similarities between settings are more than chronological, however.
In Fusion, the game starts with our girl Sammy escorting a team of xeno-biologists on a mission to survey the metroid home-world, SR-388. After mercilessly blasting a hornoad that could’ve made for a valuable specimen, the creature reveals itself to be an X-parasite in disguise. Samus is infected, hospitalized, and eventually saved by a vaccine made from a DNA sample from the now dead last metroid. Deciding not to question the medical team’s severe misuse of the term vaccine, Samus immediately gets back to work and heads out on her next mission: to investigate a distress signal coming from the BSL (Biological Space Laboratories) Research Station.
The BSL Research Station is a space station-based research facility designed with the study of alien lifeforms in mind. It is equipped with top-of-the-line containment facilities that recreate the environments of the creatures that live in them. Each of these areas are referred to as sectors, are numbered one through six, and recreate a different biome (SR-388, jungle, desert/volcanic, aquatic, ice, and nocturnal).
The B.S.L. Research Station serves as the setting of Metroid Fusion.
Other M opens with Samus in a Federation quarantine bay being attended to by Federation medics after her harrowing escape at the end of Super Metroid. After a dry internal monologue and debriefing, Samus is off on her own to…I don’t know, hunt bounties? Anyway, she picks up a “baby’s cry” distress signal and—being the mercenary bounty-hunter that she is—goes to assist with no promise of financial compensation what-so-ever.
Upon arriving at the source of the transmission, Samus finds herself at the Bottle Ship. The Bottle Ship is a space station-based research facility designed with the study of alien lifeforms in mind. It is equipped with top-of-the-line containment facilities that recreate the environments of the creatures that live in them. Each of these areas are referred to as sectors, are numbered one through three, and recreate a different biome (jungle, volcanic, and ice). Sound familiar?
The Bottle Ship serves as the setting of Metroid Fus–OTHER M! I was going to say Other M!
[They are] equipped with top-of-the-line containment facilities that recreate the environments of the creatures that live in them. Each of these areas are referred to as sectors, are numbered […], and recreate a different biome.
To top it all off, even the chamber from which the sectors are accessed are the same: a large room situated below the crew quarters and command center with color coordinated elevators.
The Antagonists
Both games also have similar antagonists. Anyone who’s played Fusion can tell you about the paranoia inducing terror that is SA-X. Heck, I still sometimes have nightmares about it. For readers who don’t know, SA-X is the X-Parasite’s mimicry of Samus: it has all of her powers, her knowledge, and—most of all—her suit. Throughout the game, it wanders the BSL, constantly attempting to sabotage Samus’s mission. It destroys machinery, doorways, it even tries to induce a meltdown in the station’s reactor. While the being makes a few onscreen appearances, it usually sticks to the shadows. Throughout the game, SA-X is a threat that seems to be around every corner, just out of sight.
Metroid Fusion is rated E? Man, when is Nintendo going to stop making kid’s games?!
Other M has a similar enemy: the Deleter. The Deleter is a mysterious entity that operates in the shadows. He/she/it constantly attempts to thwart Samus and her allies’ efforts to get to the bottom of what went down on the Bottle Ship by sabotaging equipment, jamming communications, and even systematically eliminating Adam Malkovich’s soldiers one-by-one. Trying to identify and stop the Deleter is one of the major plot elements of the game, much like stopping SA-X is in Fusion.
Surely, uncovering this criminal mastermind’s true identity will be the ultimate payoff!
But Other M doesn’t just have similar antagonists to Fusion, it even goes so far as to copy one of Fusion‘s most iconic bosses: Nightmare. Nightmare is a large, gravity-warping bio-weapon that gave Samus the gravity suit in Fusion. Its battle is one of the longest and most difficult in the game, and as to be expected the fight occurs near the end of the game. The boss returns in Other M, and just like in Fusion is fought near the end of the game. The only real difference is that Fusion bothers to build it up as a major threat, while Other M just shoe horns it into the game.
And then there’s Ridley…who’s in almost every game, so he isn’t worth mentioning. Moving on!
Adam Malkovich
Yet another of the similarities between Fusion and Other M is Adam and his role. In Fusion, Samus’s new ship comes with an on board A.I. that she nicknames Adam after a former commanding officer. Adam is Samus’s guide throughout the game, offering objectives and providing suit upgrades. Adam is eventually revealed to be an uploaded personality and is—in fact—the real (artificially simulated) Adam Malkovich. The real (not artificially-simulated) Adam appears in Other M. In that game he points out objectives to Samus and authorizes use of her various suit features, similar to in Fusion.
The two games also both depict him as potentially untrustworthy. Fusion shows that Adam, and the Federation at large, have a hidden agenda that they’re keeping a secret from Samus. This can also be said of Other M, though it is more ambiguously framed. Adam clearly knows more about the situation at hand than Samus, which is a major source of tension in the game’s story. Other M even goes so far as to depict Adam as a candidate for the true identity of the Deleter. All of this conspiracy mumbo-jumbo leads to my final point…
Surprise! It’s Full of Metroids!
Both game’s have a secret, hidden sector. It’s full of metroids. The Federation is cloning them. They want to use them as bio-weapons. The secret part of the space station is jettisoned into space. Samus fights an adult metroid.
Imagine this in 3D and then replace SA-X with Adam and you basically have what happens in Other M.
Despite what my very critical overview may suggest, I rather enjoyed Metroid: Other M. It certainly had a number of problems, but the end product still had tight controls, good gameplay, and great production values; overall an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, as a prequel to Fusion, it’s an abysmal mess that introduces many, many plot-holes. I’d go so far to say it serves as a cautionary tale of how not to do a prequel. All of the similarities make Samus’s reaction to the events of Fusion completely unbelievable. She acts like it’s her first time stumbling across a secret metroid cloning project, or dealing with an enigmatic saboteur, or fighting Nightmare! It’s almost as if Other M was an attempt to rewrite Fusion in hopes of removing the latter from the series continuity like a lab full of metroids from a space-station. But I’ll admit, that’s a bit of a stretch. It’s not like the Big N is some sort of large, secretive collective that would conspire to do something like repeatedly clone Metroids to further their own ends, right?
Glen is a lifelong Nintendo fan whose first foray into the Metroid Franchise was Metroid Fusion. His love of video games has inspired him to pursue a career in computer programming and is currently studying to get a masters in computer science. And yes, he really does sometimes have nightmares about SA-X.
Somewhere in Japan, Nintendo’s Research & Development staff members are pulling overtime and long nights to create Nintendo’s next console, codenamed NX. Soon we will have our first official details on the console and it will be off to the production lines. I predict that NX will bear some striking similarities to one of their past consoles, the Nintendo GameCube.
I think that Nintendo’s next console will be taking a leaf out of the GameCube’s book.
• • •
It is good to be a Nintendo fan. During E3 2016 we were treated to a monumental information and footage dump of a brand new Zelda game: Breath of the Wild. This new open world adventure is our first confirmed NX game.
NX just had its first game confirmed
Yet, as the excitement of E3 dies down in the weeks following the convention, Nintendo fans are still restless with excitement. Why? Because Nintendo didn’t show all of the cards in their hand like some of their competitors did at E3 this year. No, Nintendo is still playing things rather close to the chest as they gear up for a full-blown NX reveal event which should take place within a few months if indeed this new hardware will launch in March of 2017.
One question is burned into every Nintendo fan’s mind: what is NX?
That’s the question that causes our thumbs to navigate to fan-sites for news every morning. That’s the question that allows attention-starved trolls to mock up fake leaks of the console. I don’t put much stock in rumors that circulate outside of the few days before events, but that doesn’t stop me from coming up with my own theories.
I think that the NX will be a home console constructed with the same sensibilities that gave birth to the GameCube. I have some compelling arguments to present, but keep in mind that I know just as much about the NX as the next guy on the Internet: absolutely nothing.
Standard Controller
I’m willing to bet pretty heavily on this one. Why? Nintendo has been rebranding. Corporate rebrands are expensive (hit me up – I’m a graphic designer and I will charge you a lot of money). Reconstructing the image that a company projects of themselves is much like turning a gigantic ship; it takes a lot of time and effort to go in a new direction.
Nintendo just spent that time and effort on a corporate rebrand – they’re going red themed down to their Twitter Avatar, and they have a new slogan to go with it: There’s No Play Like It.
Nintendo’s new slogan, with which they will march into Holiday 2016 and into 2017
4 buttons: A, B, X, and sometimes Y.
No, wait – always Y.
These are the symbols that Nintendo has chosen to represent them for the next generation, and they will be on the NX controller.
We only know of one NX game and it’s Breath of the Wild, which is controlled by the standard buttons of the Wii U GamePad, and is also compatible with the Pro controller. Nintendo has stated that the game is the “same experience” on NX and therefore suggests that we will not be playing with a remote, a glass surface, or other non-traditional methods of input.
Buttons are all you need to control NX’s first confirmed game, Breath of the Wild
Keeping the cost low on the controller (by minimizing sensors) is also a lesson that Nintendo learned from the Wii U’s commercial failure. Any development dollars left over could be directly applied to the console’s internal specs, which will be needed in order to stay in the same league as Nintendo’s competition.
Not the Strongest Kid on the Block
Every time Nintendo is due for a new console, these rumors kick into gear: It’s going to be the most powerful console on the market! As much as I dislike to break it to you…
NX will not be a powerhouse 4K VR juggernaut.
Nintendo doesn’t have the experience in high-end computing that would be required to go head-to-head (or headset-to-headset) with the likes of Facebook’s Oculus or Sony’s PSVR. What Nintendo DOES have a great track record of doing is this: implementing affordable tech, optimizing its performance, and marketing it to all ages and audiences.
The Nintendo Gamecube did not outclass its contemporaries with impressive specs, but it was home to many creative innovations (within a set of limitations) that produced groundbreaking titles like Metroid Prime and Wind Waker, which were marvels for their time.
Different Media Format
Nintendo is not comfortable with doing things the same way. You won’t catch them copying themselves or others… very often. *cough*amiibo*cough*
Just like the GameCube featured its own unique media format, NX is likely to pivot away from those smooth Blu-Ray discs we’ve come to love on Wii U.
Rumor has it, NX will utilize cartridges.
Don’t think clunky N64 games – carts can be the size of an SD card these days.
Why move from a disc format? Well, solid state media (as opposed to spinning discs) would be quite beneficial for transporting the unit and, dare I suggest, all-around portability? The absence of moving parts is what enables portables to be taken on the go, and cartridges provide other benefits like being more durable, not getting scratches and smudges, etc.
It’s also important to remember that the amount of systems Nintendo has put out that featured discs is far outnumbered by the ones with cartridges… this would not be out of left field.
Emphasis on Portability
You know where this is going in regards to NX, but how does it relate back to the GameCube approach?
^ Did no one, ever
Yep – that. That strange lunchbox handle fixed to the back of the GameCube, meant to help you carry the console around. Sure, there was no gaming on-the-go associated with this feature, but we’ve come a long way since then.
Not only was the Gamecube physically constructed to be carried, but the console offered many different opportunities to link up and cross over with handled gaming – even more than the Wii and Wii U have done.
Now that Nintendo has moved their Portable and Console divisions under one roof, we should see a strong push in the arena of portability, mobility, and connectivity.
So, What is the NX?
I think it will be a home console that is not tethered to a TV screen. It may come with a miniature portable screen and stand; it may connect via Bluetooth or adapters to your smartphone or tablet for display purposes, or it might have a small, personal projector bulb.
Whatever NX is, it will certainly be unique.
Nintendo needs a game-changer. Nintendo needs to capture a new generation of children that are growing up on Minecraft and the App Store. It’s time for Nintendo to get back in the game!
Two Button Crew will be eagerly awaiting further details on Nintendo’s NX console, and we will continue to cover all things Nintendo on our Daily Show for Nintendo Fans.
