Hey Sugarfiends!
In my continuing attempt to digest the weekend launch of Nintendo’s Wii U, I’ve once again patched together a rough audio session with returning champion Shaun Hatton. We’re fumbling through Nintendo’s new online landscape, the Wii U gamepad, and which launch titles are stealing our attention this week.
So give it a listen below and hit us up in the comments with any questions you have that we didn’t manage to cover.
There’s a monument at Edwin’s farm, a simple stone statue meant to commemorate the short life of Duchess, the firey panda. My intent was to create a fire panda that could conceivably shoot fire and fly, but a misinterpretation of words saw Duchess come to life while also on fire, at which point she proceeded to burn her little hearts away and die. I suppose such mistakes are bound to happen when granting God-like powers to people like me.
Despite 5th Cell’s attempt to directly furnish players with as much quirky narrative potential as possible, the enduring charm remains the accidental stories waiting to be discovered as players push against the walls of the test chamber here.
I’d like to suggest that how far your imagination can test those limits against the necessary restraints that bind the game onto a disc will determine the long term value being offered, but that’s not entirely true. Scribblenauts Unlimited is more about testing how long players will persist in trying to do anything they are allowed to imagine, before surrendering to the demands of a game that necessitates more narrow actions than the seemingly open world of unbridled creation suggests.
Nintendo’s successor to the Wii has landed, aiming to maintain the dominance of the Wii while raising the processing power that cost the Wii plenty of third party titles – not that the system severely lacked unique third party offerings all its own, there were just very few of us who ever seemed to buy them.
As with anytime new hardware arrives, I’ll claim to have no proper idea of how one judges and measures a device that does more to lay the foundation for future developments versus turning the gaming industry on its ear overnight – of course I’ll fumble through an attempt all the same. I’m not so concerned about being on the right side of history with my opinions, but rather with getting you as much information as possible.
With that said, I hope you’ll read on for a closer look at the hardware and my initial attempts to field the most pressing questions for anyone considering taking the leap this year – and your questions are the most important ones, so please hit me up in the comments and I’ll work to answer any and all questions you have.
From the Acorn Plains to the Rocky-Candy Mines, the road to Princess Peach’s castle is littered with tiny details, signs of attention that haven’t graced the Mushroom Kingdom since the last time a 2D Super Mario Bros. game launched alongside a new Nintendo console – for those keeping score at home, I’m of course referring to Super Mario World, which released with the Super Nintendo back in 1990.
Nintendo still assigns numbers to the myriad of stages within each zone, but also includes subtitles for each, lending some insight into the hurdles Mario and company face, but more importantly, adding a bit more personality to the endeavor – from Porcupuffer Falls to Which-Way Labyrinth, with a stopover at Walking Piranha Plants!
The name game here is one very small example of an enthusiasm that has somehow been renewed despite Mario’s burden of supporting two consoles simultaneously. When you add up the layers of attention spread throughout this curious new world, it’s easy to suggest that the plump plumber is embarking on his most energetic 2D adventure since the 1990 classic that lends overdue inspiration here.
And yet, the greatest accomplishment may be that the game also showcases Nintendo’s new hardware with less gimmick and more of an invitation to play with company, while not inhibiting the option to play solo.
I find it particularly amusing that Ignition UTV saw fit to release a niche title like Magical Drop V the same week big-budget blockbuster Call of Duty: Black Ops II hit stores. But in some ways, it makes sense.
The Magical Drop series harkens back to an era when an adorable, saccharine puzzle game could happily coexist on a Neo Geo MVS cabinet alongside games with samurai warriors slashing swords in one-on-one duels, military grunts blasting everything in sight to smithereens, and brawny ballplayers swinging for the fences. And while it’s likely only a tiny slice of the total Black Ops-playing fanbase would ever consider playing Magical Drop V, I believe when it comes to the skill and dexterity needed to succeed, it is a game that is every bit as rigorous and demanding as a top-tier Black Ops session, if not more so!
It’s fair to say that gaming has taught us some rather strange lessons. Eating mushrooms allows us to grow, powerful critters can be caught and stored in balls, rubbing two differently colored plants together creates medicine on the fly – the list goes on and on to spiral around a few city blocks.
And considering all the ridiculous activities videogames enable, I have to find something better to say about Black Ops II, rather than simply stating that it has a ridiculous plot at the heart of its campaign – that would just be a silly and wasteful thing to say.
It would probably be fairer to say that the story of Black Ops II simply builds on the well-worn foundation of the franchise, which may feel plenty worn depending on how many of the numerous releases in the series you’ve soldiered through.
And yet to simply suggest this would be selling the game short.
Though it will likely come as no surprise to hear that Bowser has once again crashed the festivities of the Mushroom Kingdom, it’s not entirely his fault. Given that the Kingdom has a party for just about everything, the Koopa King would be hard pressed to show up when there wasn’t an event being held.
This time Bowser crashes the party during the annual Sticker Festival, where his attempt to seize power causes royal stickers to scatter across the Kingdom, setting Mario up nicely to do his hero thing – said thing being to visit deserts and snowy peaks in order to retrieve the stars and bring Bowser’s latest dictatorship to an end.
Naturally, the 2D paper aesthetic runs deep in this 3D landscape, from cardboard health bars to enemies that crumple when stomped – an ideal environment for Nintendo’s attempt to augment the series with layers of stickers that litter the landscape to provide players with the means to once again defeat Bowser’s minions.
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