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Lately I've been digging deep into the world of Super Mario, from the 1985 NES release and working my way towards Odyssey, leaving no Goomba unstomped. Many of these games I've played many times, but there are several I hadn't played before and I got to experience them for the first time. Currently I'm 15 games into my project and got to revisit the GameCube staple, Super Mario Sunshine. This game has always stuck out in the series to me, but I haven't quite been able to articulate why. Having so many Mario experiences in such a short time I feel has finally given me the perspective I've always lacked and may allow me to better discuss why I think Super Mario Sunshine feels so out of place as a Super Mario title.
Continue reading We Need To Talk About Super Mario Sunshine
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The Switch has been out for roughly 8 months as of this article. It's been selling at or above expectations each month. Software attach rates are incredibly high. In general, people seem quite enthusiastic about the system. I picked one up at launch hoping Zelda would tide me over while I waited patiently for much of the future software that has been promised. Zelda didn't strike me like I'd hoped it would. Arms and Splatoon 2 are for a different audience than myself, and while I had a bit of fun playing both with my son, they are not games I've returned to or have ever been interested in playing by myself. As a day one Wii U owner, I've played a significant amount of Mario Kart 8 already, so the deluxe version isn't quite what I want to justify owning the system.
With games like Fire Emblem, Shin Megami Tensei V, Kirby, Dragon Quest and others looming in the distance, I've never been worried that I'll regret my purchase in the long run. But after 8 months, I really do long for something to play that gets me excited to own a Switch. With that in mind, I have very high hopes for Super Mario Odyssey and how it will make me feel to be a Switch owner.
Continue reading Super Mario Odyssey
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I want to take a brief break from my usual blogs about my store to talk about Mighty No. 9 now that I've had several weeks to take it all in. If this is something you'd be interested in reading about please click the link below. If not then we can't be friends......
Continue reading Mighty No. 53......%
So last night I officially completed my 10th and final game from my Summer Gaming Challenge list
1. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
2. Vay (Sega CD)
3. Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
4. Wario Land (VB)
5. Battletoads/Double Dragon (SNES)
6. Panzer Dragoon (Sat)
7. Kung Fu (NES)
8. Gex (3DO)
9. Chrono Cross (PS)
10. FFXII (PS2)
11. Final Fantasy VIII (PS)*
It was great to get this many games crossed off my backlog, especially so many games that are well known and that I probably should have finished years ago.
My favorites were easily Vay and Sin & Punishment. Its hard to say which one I liked better since they are obviously so different its extremely hard to compare them. Vay was very simple and I just happened to be in the mood for simple while I was playing so that was very nice, but the parts I loved the most was the Working Designs humor spread throughout the game, and the major plot twist part way through. I liked the humor so much that I literally talked to every NPC in the game mulitple times to get every ounce of comedy I could squeeze out of them. Generally I dont spend a lot of time with NPC, but I felt compelled to this time around.
Sin & Punishment was just a non-stop actionfest. It looked fantastic, played flawlessly and was both fun and frantic at the same time. One of the best games I've played on the Wii and probably even on any current gen system.
The only really snoozers on the list for me were Super Mario Sunshine and Final Fantasy VIII.
The use of the jet pack nozzle on Mario took away all the platforming elements from the game almost entirely. The game had a very unique style, but felt borrowed from something else and not very "Mario" to me. The music, setting and characters all seemed very un-Mario.
FFVIII drove me nuts from the beginning. The Draw system seemed pointless, GF were not my cup of tea, levelling was pointless, the main characters was a douche from the get go and never got any better, the supporting characters were all very uninteresting. I didnt actually finish the game, but was saved at the last dungeon about 30 hours in. I feel I gave it more than a fair chance.
Both Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy XII surprised me.
I came in with very low expectations of FFXII. The story and characters kept me interested enough to keep plugging away with a battle and levelling system that I didnt particularily enjoy at the beginning. Luckily both grew on me over time and I'm glad I got to see how the story played out from start to end. Not a fantastic game, but decent.
Chrono Cross was similar. Slow start and akward battle/levelling. The story was kind of unusual, but not that intriguing at first. That changed drastically during the last several hours of the game. Not only did the story make much more sense and get a lot more interesting, but it made the plot from Chrono Trigger seem even more epic that it already was. It was pretty cool at first having so many different characters available for your party, but it became apparent fairly quickly that I'd never use 90% of them. Glad I stuck with this one to the end because the last few hours of plot were wonderful.
The rest of the list were solid entries into their respective genres. The blend of both series in Battletoads/Double Dragon was incredible. The pacing and boss fights in Panzer Dragoon were spot on. Kung Fu, while simple and short, had kind of a Super Mario Bros fun to its simplicity. Warioland was what you'd expect from a Wario platformer, it didnt blow me away, but it delivered what I thought it would. Gex was slightly less interesting than I thought it would be, but was average and worth keeping around for the novelty.
Definitely a fun way to clear a few games off my backlog and already have a few games in mind for next year!!
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Heading back to the trusty ole' NES again for this one!
Would it surprise you if I said this game for the NES was a platformer/shooter with a space theme? No you say. It does seem to be a common style of game on the system (see previous Blogs such as Xexyz or Journey to Silius). I assume that why this title often gets overlooked.
[img width=512 height=448]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/MetalStormgameplay.jpg[/img]
What people are missing out on by not playing this game is something pretty neat though. Wait for it................................upside down platforming. It might sound a little hokey at first, but its actually a ton of fun. At any time during the game you can switch from a gravity obeying mech warrior to an upside down robot with a gun.
Each stage has some form of rooftop so that you can always bounce back and forth as desired. Sometimes this is to collect powerups, other times for tactical strategy and others yet for the sheer enjoyment of it.
[img width=512 height=448]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/MetalStormboss.jpg[/img]
Most of the levels are designed pretty straightforward, but stages 4 and 6 really stand out to me. In level 4 you play the whole area, including boss, trapped in a box. The box moves around the screen at (mostly) stationary enemies. Some you can kill and some you cannot. This makes for some very interesting platforming even though your stuck in a box.
Level 6 gets even better yet. The level scrolls downward constantly while you trek to the right of the screen. I have a hard time describing how cool it is so I found a video to help me out.
To get to the stage 6 part just skip ahead to about 2:30:
Metal Storm probably gets lumped in with a lot of other games because of the style and theme which I think is unfair. It actually translates the Sci-Fi setting into a really cool and playable game play mechanic. Definitely check it out if you haven’t yet. It can be a little harder to track down than some other NES games, but if you can find it for under $15 you've got yourself a solid deal.
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