Random Thoughts on the Virtual Console

It should come as no surprise to regular readers that I am generally very positive about Nintendo games and services. Those who know me can attest to the fact that I am often a very outspoken advocate for the company and its products. However, Nintendo occasionally makes decisions that don’t immediately make me happy. The Virtual Console is one of those decisions.

Before I mislead anybody, this post is not meant to insult the service. Rather, I am writing this article to do just the opposite. It has taken me some time, but I recently have concluded that the Virtual Console is something that actually excites me about the Wii.

Now, I know most Nintendo fans took to the Virtual Console immediately, but I feel that I was in a slightly different position than most when the service was first announced. At the time, I was an avid video game collector. This aspect of the gaming hobby consumed most of my free time, not to mention my income. After years of dedication - and money spending - I had amassed quite the impressive collection. I had a good amount of the games I wanted to play, which is why the games on the Virtual Console not only were of disinterest to me, but were also somewhat of a threat.

It felt like my years of dedication were for naught. It used to mean a lot to me that my game library contained almost any game that a Nintendo fan would want to play. It bothered me that any Wii owner with an internet connection could simply download Kid Icarus, despite the fact that I had to spend years of searching - not to mention much more money - to find a copy of the classic in good condition.

This is why I did not get nearly as much satisfaction from the Virtual Console as most early adopters of the Wii did. While most of the gaming population sang Nintendo’s praises for re-releasing Super Mario Bros., I wondered why I should care when I already had three different ways of playing the game in my collection.

When other Nintendo fans excitedly rediscovered The Legend of Zelda, I decided not to spend my Wii Points on a game I already owned.

However, as my borderline obsessive need to expand my game collection faded, so too did my distaste for the Virtual Console. Now I truly appreciate the service for its many benefits.
The first of my positive experiences came when I decided to download Super Metroid. I had owned the game for years, but unfortunately the game’s internal battery had prematurely conked out. I had wanted to replay the game for some time, but I was not too fond of the idea of having to play through the game in one sitting to avoid issues with saving.

Thanks to the Virtual Console, I played through the game and was able to re-experience a classic. I began to realize that as my gaming library continues to age, many of the games with internal batteries would become little more than museum pieces. If it weren’t for services like the Virtual Console, some of gaming’s greatest hits may become very difficult for game players to properly experience.

This affirmation of the Virtual Console’s worthwhile nature opened my eyes to its other benefits. Even though most of the games offered in the service already have a place in my collection, it does not mean that they are readily available. There simply is not enough space around my entertainment center to house all of my consoles, let alone their tangle-prone wires, so most of the systems spend the majority of their time packed away.

And what happens if I have ten minutes to kill before heading out and want to play a quick game of Balloon Fight? Well, I could take out my NES, hook it up to the television, insert Balloon Fight, unsuccessfully attempt to start the game, and then remove and blow in the cartridge until it finally works, but by the time I finish all that, I’m already late. The obvious time and clutter saver is the Wii and its Virtual Console. As an added bonus, if I’m on a roll and my game lasts longer than scheduled, the Wii will remember my exact position if I’m forced to leave and come back later.

I know I am telling you readers things you already know, but consider this article an attempt to persuade those of you who may be as stubborn about this situation as I used to be. I have finally found the purpose in the Virtual Console - other than the very, very rare import title - and I know that I will be downloading games for years to come. Now if only the Wii had the memory to hold them all…

Nintendo's Weekly Virtual Console Update

It’s Monday, and every fan of classic Nintendo games knows what that means. That’s right; Nintendo once again updated their collection of downloadable Virtual Console games.

In recent updates, Nintendo has been stingy with their games, opting instead to focus on other developers’ material, such as Phantasy Star II and Harvest Moon. This week, however, Nintendo brings us one of their classics from the Nintendo 64.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, originally released at the tail end of the N64’s lifecycle, is one of Nintendo’s few side-scrolling platformers for home consoles since the advent of 3-dimensional gaming. Enthusiasts of early Kirby games are sure to appreciate Crystal Shards for its traditional platforming action. With the current Kirby project for the Wii seemingly in limbo, this downloadable iteration should help to comfort fans of the series.

Also re-released this week is Psychosis, a 2-D shooter from the TurboGrafx 16. Don’t worry; I haven’t heard of it either.

Smash Bros. Brawl Brings Out Them All

While most of the gaming community is still waiting to get their hands on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo fans in the Los Angeles area were given the opportunity to play the game in a tournament at the Orpheum Theatre Saturday.

The game, whose release date was recently delayed from February 10 until March 9, attracted a large number of fans to the tournament. Nearly 500 people gathered in line in hopes of being one of the 256 contestants in the competition.

“[I’m here because of] all the hype Brawl’s been getting,” said David Poblete, a resident of Carson, a suburb of Los Angeles. “I just want a chance to play it.”

Poblete, like many others in attendance, read about the tournament online and decided to take advantage of the local event. However, for some attendees, such as Nick Beebe from Visalia, this event was not so local.

“I’ve always wanted to play Brawl,” Beebe said. “We had some errands to run in L.A. and my dad said I could come.”

Beebe was one of a rather large group of people who decided to bring along their Gamecube controllers on the off-chance that they would be given the opportunity to choose their preferred control method.

“Hopefully they’ll let me use it because I think I’m going to be rubbish with the classic controller.”

Though the line contained some of the biggest Nintendo fans in Southern California, there was no disputing who the most dedicated of the fans were. James Montagna and Michael Herbster, two friends that headed the long line, said that they had been there since 2 am.
“We’re pretty hardcore Nintendo fans,” Montagna said. “We attend all Nintendo events and show our support.”

After more than 12 hours of waiting, Montagna and Herbster were the first two participants once the tournament got underway. They were, along with the other 254 contestants, placed into one of 16 brackets. Each bracket was divided so that there were eight one-on-one matches being played at a time.

The rules of the tournament were set up with a lack of differentiation. Every match in the tournament had to be played on the Battlefield level, and unfortunately for attendees like Beebe, the classic controller was the only control method available. Though these restrictions may have been a slight disappointment initially, the participants did not seem to mind much once they got the chance to watch their fellow Nintendo fans actually play the game.

While eight matches took place at one time, one match was projected on a big screen, which served as entertainment as each attendee waited for their chance to experience Brawl for themselves.

The experience of being with a large group of Nintendo fans, watching such a highly anticipated game, was comparable to being at a sporting event. The audience would applaud wildly at a great move, laugh together when something unpredictable happened and even occasionally start chants to cheer on their favored character.

One of the more exciting battles to watch was in the fourth round when Montagna and Herbster were given the opportunity to compete against each other. Montagna, as Kirby, and Herbster, as Zelda, had the audience highly interested as they showed off some cool tactics in their heated match. In the end, Herbster ended up beating his pal in a sudden death showoff, much to the excitement of the crowd.

Watching everybody get a chance to play the game would have been fun enough, but the real reason to show up at the event was to get your own hands on Brawl. After sitting through the first 14 brackets worth of matches, I finally had my chance to do just that.

Prior to my first match, I was not sure whether to use one of the veteran characters that I knew well enough to compete with, or to get a real preview of what the finished product was like and use a fighter that is new to the series. Luckily, the person I played against in the first round was not sure what to do in this case either, so we decided to both play as the newcomer Captain Olimar to even the playing field.

Olimar is a unique character in that he does all his fighting with Pikmin. He throws the plantlike creature at his opponent and even uses them to grab other players. It’s an odd play style that I was not able to fully understand by the end of the match. Luckily, I won in sudden death, so I continued on in the competition.

Unfortunately, my experience with the game did not extend past the second round as I lost in yet another sudden death encounter. However, after playing for a total of over eight minutes, and watching many hours of matches, I felt like I had acquired a feel for what the game is like.

One concern I had prior to the tournament is that the game’s new Final Smash attacks would hurt the competition and flow of the matches. Every so often, a Smash Ball will appear onscreen and will result in a mad dash for the item. Whoever collects the Smash Ball will be able to perform a character-specific special move.

It was feared that these Final Smashes would be an unfair, immediate kill for whoever grabs it, but that is not the case. It is very possible to avoid most of these attacks. For example, some of the more powerful Final Smashes must be performed within close proximity to an opponent, so fleeing is always an option. Overall, the Final Smashes felt very balanced, despite many people’s concerns, and after experiencing many of them, I feel that it’s safe to say that they are an excellent addition to the series.

If my experience with the game is anything to go by, March 9 is getting to be a very exciting day for Nintendo fans across America.

Nintendo fans lucky enough to be living in the San Francisco, Massachusetts or New York areas will be able to participate in one of three tournaments still scheduled before Brawl’s release. Here is the link for Nintendo’s press release.

http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=14627


View of The Orpheum's marquee from the street

James Montagna and Michael Herbster - Head of the line

Participants competing at the front of the theatre

Games Dated and Awarded at GDC

The annual Game Developers Conference (where the industry gathers to party and discuss the development of games…but mostly to party) is currently underway in San Francisco and, as usual, Nintendo has a presence at the event. With that presence comes some interesting news tidbits.

Nintendo announced yesterday that they have officially set release dates for the North American launch of two items. Wii Fit, the game/exercise program that is already making record sales in Japan, will be released May 19; just in time for players to start getting in shape for the summer.

Also announced was that WiiWare will be available beginning May 12. The service, which allows Wii owners to purchase and download original gaming content, is expected to provide competition to Sony’s Playstation Store and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade. Nintendo is supporting their service with two announced games so far: Dr. Mario and Pokemon Farm. The former is an update to their classic NES puzzler and the latter is a virtual training space for Pokemon fans to raise their favorite critters. Both games are expected to launch simultaneously with the service, or soon after.

Nintendo’s presence in the gaming market was also present during the Game Developers Choice Awards. The industry voted The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass as the best handheld game of the year. Nintendo was also honored with nominations for Super Mario Galaxy in the Best Game of the Year and Best Game Design categories.

Nintendo Awesomeness will be sure to be updated with any other news that may be announced during the rest of the conference.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Review

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Since the beginning stages of creating this blog, the plan was to have a review of Super Smash Bros. Brawl ready by this date. It seemed like the perfect fit to launch a website in honor of Nintendo by featuring the game that is looking to be a love-letter to Nintendo fans. Unfortunately, the last minute pushback of Brawl’s release date changed that plan.

While it’s gamer nature to lament the delay of such a high-profile game, I decided to make the best of a bad situation. Luckily, a kindly professor was there to lend a helping hand.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village is definitely a unique game. At its core, it is a collection of brainteasers. Anyone who has ever flipped through a book of riddles is sure to be familiar with the fare presented here. For instance, in one puzzle you are given the task of determining which one of four children is lying, based solely on one statement from each person. But while using deductive reasoning and wit to solve puzzles is a fun way to pass a few minutes every once in a while, Professor Layton has actually found a way to make these activities exciting in a way I never thought possible.

Obviously, the game’s story and presentation are a big part of Professor Layton’s appeal. The brainteasers are placed between a well developed mystery, which has the professor, and his apprentice Luke, attempting to explore an odd town to find clues to help find a hidden treasure. The old-fashioned detective story is kick started with an impressive animated movie, and more of these films are spread throughout the game, rewarding the player for their progression through the story.

Seeing the mystery through to the end is enticing enough, but there is more to Professor Layton’s allure than just the tale it tells. The game’s ending can be seen after completing a little more than half of the puzzles, but most players will be anxious to seek out every brainteaser that they can. This is because finding and solving puzzles feels more like working toward completing a collection than solving a problem.

One of the mini-games the player can partake in is a jigsaw puzzle that can only be completed by collecting every piece of the puzzle; pieces that are only awarded to the player by completing certain brainteasers. Other collectibles include mechanical pieces that can be used to rebuild a mystery item and furniture items that can be used to furnish the character’s room. These rewards had me anxiously talking to every character and searching every area of the village in the hopes of finding all the brainteasers. This lent Professor Layton an addicting quality that makes it feels a lot like the original Pokemon game (and considering there are 150 brainteasers hidden throughout the game, this comparison seems quite appropriate).

If there is anything negative to be said about Professor Layton and the Curious Village, it is that most people are going to have difficulty solving a good portion of the puzzles.
The developers did a fairly good job at solving this issue, however. Astute players will be able to find a limited number of hint coins hidden throughout the village. When you get stuck, you can always use this specialty currency to purchase hints. This is a much better alternative to simply using an online-walkthrough to solve the problems, but it still feels rather cheap at times, especially when you are forced to get help on four or five consecutive brainteasers.

Overall, Professor Layton is a surprisingly fun game that offers an experience that cannot be found anywhere else. It may not be a blockbuster like Smash Bros. Brawl, but it is certainly a rewarding game that will appeal to both casual and hardcore game players.

Score: 9/10