Time to Kill…

Well folks, its Metroid Prime Trilogy time!! I’ve been eagerly awaiting this. However, due to NAL being jerks (see: MPT releasing down-under in October in standard casing), I have made the decision to import from the good ol’ USA. Much like I did with Brawl, I have gone through PlayAsia. I can’t wait! Currently it says they are prepping the order, so I will have to wait several days no doubt.

So, how can I kill the time? I’m finding ways, replaying Phoenix Wright 1-3 and enjoying some puzzling puzzles in Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. Those games alone should keep me going another few days. Should they fail, I am also trying out C.O.R.E. But between you and me, C.O.R.E. so far has been nothing but rubbish. So bland and boring and unimaginative. So I dont’ know how much longer I’ll be able to sit through that. I finished the Conduit, it wasn’t too bad. Very open ending, and without a sequel it would be a failure of a story line in my opinion, what with the complete lack of closure and all.

However, I haven’t felt compelled to go back to it because I’m so far behind everyone online, and there is no option to play people at your skill level. So for the most part, playing online involves me getting in, then grenade raped while my opponent hops around and it gets quite tiresome eventually. Especially on bland levels with no customisable weapon sets. Come on, Conduit 2… prove me wrong.

Also. Keep an eye on WiiLoaded. Entering phase: reload………..

E309 – Nintedo Regains Respect

Firstly, I know this has been a bit slow. But you learn to deal, I have been writing up reports for E3 over at WiiLoaded in an attempt to get us some attention. Should be going pretty well actually. Anyway, back to E3.

I think by many, this will be known as Nintendo’s redemption for reasons I will get into. When Cammie first came out onto stage I think a lot of Nintendo fans felt their heart sink. She was part of the reason that last year’s conference sucked so very, very much. But this year things were a bit different, sure she was as boring and annoying as ever. But she announced Nintendo’s first new game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Basically this game is a follow up to the hit DS title, and seemingly intends to keep the same visual style. I already hear a lot of gamers rising up saying, “What?! A Wii game that has the visual quality of a DS game?!” and I’ll tell you now to calm down. The game will also feature four player (drop in and out) co-operative play for its side-scrolling action. Now I do believe this is the selling point, and from the demo it looked like a lot of fun. Due out around Christmas 2009 as well, so this was a very good start for Nintendo.

However, what followed was not as inspiring. Reggie came out and bleh, Wii Motion Plus and Wii Sports Resort were talked about (even though we heard all about them last year) and it seemingly made the conference drag on. A lot. But they also slipped in another new announcement, which was already being talked about several months ago. Wii Fit Plus is coming to the Wii, with new mini-games and improved exercise features.

They also gave spotlight for a few games that we already knew about, these included the Conduit, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles and Dead Space Extraction. Nothing too new from these games, Conduit looking like it’ll be as fun as ever. And the two rail-shooters looking like they could have been so much more than ever. Nintendo also gave some time to the DS, and officially announced Golden Sun DS (which exploded the RPG fanbase on the DS with unstorable amounts of awesome) and a release window for Mario & Luigi 3: Bowser’s Inside Story and Kingdom Hearts 352/2 Days. I was so surprised to hear a new Golden Sun was coming, I am a fan of the franchise but I didn’t think Nintendo seemed to concerned about following it up. Sounds like they made a fool of me, but they did so for most of this conference. And I was happy to see Kingdom Hearts on DS, it is looking like one of the most visually breath-taking DS games yet. Not surprising either, the ROM is 200mb in size as well.

After this Iwata came out, and introduced us to the newest Nintendo gimmick: the Wii Vitality Sensor. This is directed towards Nintendo’s casual audience. I assume it’ll be used with a future Wii Fit game (maybe Wii Fit Plus), but definitely something along that line. The device apparently reads your heart rate and various other messages being sent around your body. The only positive I can think of from this is a new horror point-and-click adventure game that could react to your heart rate. Imagine this, if you please, you are in Silent Hill (a town which is noted for reacting towards the person in it) and every time your heart reat increases, the game would trigger something that would scare you more. Forcing you to control your heart rate and push through. However this concept would rely heavily on gamers being scared, which isn’t likely.

Towards the end of the show Nintendo officially announced Super Mario Galaxy 2 as well, and it will apparently contain 90% new content. Which is an exciting prospect, apparently it is going to be similar to Super Mario 64 in terms of gameplay. Whether this means more landscape related environments (instead of tiny planets) or just more classic platformer gameplay is yet to be completely seen. It is slated for 2010 though and I am very excited about it. Note to self: Buy Super Mario Galaxy 1.

And last but not least, Nintendo closed with the biggest surprise yet, one that blew me off my feet and even as I tried to get back up it blew me up again. For the whole minute and fifty seconds of the teaser video I was exploding all over. Metroid: Other M is coming to the Nintendo Wii in 2010. It will not be like Metroid Prime 3, and nor will it be developed by Retro Studios. The reigns have been taken up Team Ninja (of Ninja Gaiden fame) who are now working together with Nintendo to create a game that will bridge Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. And it will seemingly be 3D side-scroller/3rd person action/1st person shooter all at once. I’m so very, very excited for this game.

Nintendo, you won my heart… again…

Bastards.

Two games I got that aren’t Galaxy.

So, its now two days til Galaxy is released and instead of going out and spewing $99AU to get a game after I’ve spent $300 in the last two weeks on Metroid Prime 3 + MUSE merchandise. So to fill the gap (which I doubt I’ll really notice) I have borrowed Final Fantasy XII from my friend as well as Resident Evil 3 – Nemesis from my other friend.

I’m looking forward to putting in some long hours on these two games. And I’ve restarted Fire Emblem 6 – Sword of Seals again. Because Roy is all man.

See you next mission.

3 days til Galaxy. 3 days til greatest game ever? And other stuff.

So the constant debate of “Best Game of All Time” now has a new contender, the newest Mario game nonetheless, Super Mario Galaxy. Now there are a lot of worthy games which could easily snag this title but there are some who are willing to give it to Galaxy. I personally haven’t played the game yet (It comes out in three days and I don’t feel like spending the little amount of cash I have left on it right away) but from what I’ve seen it definitely looks like an exceptional game, there is no doubting that.

However, anyone who can remember the magical feeling of first inserting Ocarina of Time into their Nintendo 64 might have something to say about this.

Now, I’m not one of these people because for me it was the magical feeling of first inserting Super Metroid into my Super Nintendo. But same difference.

One interesting thing I have noticed is that a few of the people claiming Galaxy is the best thing since sliced bread didn’t grow up in the golden days of gaming (ie. Nintendo vs. Sega days) and though I will not say “OMGTHISISWHYTHEYDON’TKNOW!” I will say it might be a contributing factor. Some of them have grown up with gaming being 3D which is why they could be forgiven for not seeing one reason why OoT is so good. And they could be forgiven for not seeing the magic that Super Metroid gave us when we played it for the first time.

These same people often say that Twilight Princess is better than Ocarina of Time, but most of us weathered games know this not to be true. It is merely a buffed up Ocarina clone with a couple of new elements. Where as we can see Galaxy is re-inventing Mario after the stuff-up of Sunshine (which I am writing a review for this weekend).

On another note, finishing Metroid Prime 3 on Veteran was easy… taking on the challenge of Hyper Mode seems a bit steeper, but once again like Echoes its because the enemies dish out for damage and have higher defence not because they actually feature improved A.I. So in that area Retro still has to do some improving but to say I’m getting frustrated with Hyper Mode is fair. Not because I suck at the game, because I have picked up the controls well and have them down now… just the fact that the enemies deal out so much damage and every enemy that can go into Hyper Mode will go into it just to make you use your own Hyper Mode to take them down them *BAM* you are down an Energy Tank (unless your as fast as I became in dealing with enemies in which you are probably down half a tank)

I am borrowing Final Fantasy XII and Metal Gear Solid 2 off of my fellow gamer friend this weekend so that’ll ensure my PS2 gets some game time whilst my grudge for my Wii continues.

Expect my Sunshine review by Sunday and a special review is being done for December 3rd. Until then, I’ll see you all next mission.

If you people were half as manly as Captain Falcon then you’d be as manly as I am.
Rofl.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review

So here we are at the end of an outstanding trilogy in an outstanding franchise (no… not Zelda). Hop in the Varia Suit and kick some more Space Pirate butt as Samus Aran steps up to the final stage in eliminating Phazon, destroying Metroid Prime (a.k.a Dark Samus) and bringing peace to the galaxy along the way. It’s going to be a bumpy ride, so please ensure that you are strapped in safely.

The game starts you off six months after the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and things seemed to be improving. Not until an old foe reappears in the form of Dark Samus and tricks the Space Pirates into an alliance against the Galactic Federation so she can take all the Phazon for herself while her silly pawns distract the GF and Samus Aran. What follows are twists and turns with new and old faces appearing here and there, more so new rather than old. We have new planets, new mission and a new style of suit to boot. It’s time for us to begin the final chapter that will end with a Samus vs. Dark Samus showdown. Let us begin.

Read the full review here.

M-Day.

Well, in roughly twelve hours I’ll have Metroid Prime 3 in my hands and it’ll be begging me to play it. And I’m not one to say “no” to the Wii’s best game now am I?

The game was out tonight, but I was unable to afford it due to my money not coming in til tomorrow morning… curses.

See you soon for a logbook of my progress.

The Casual Cancer

I’m sure you Nintendo fans have seen Nintendo America’s Super Mario Galaxy commercial, and need we point out that it is once again directed at the damned casual audience. Now having said that, there is no doubt that Mario can be aimed at the casual audience, because that is the plumber’s task… to bring in gamers of all ages. But why did they screw over Metroid Prime 3 with such a dodgy casual commercial? It really is becoming quite frustrating.

Just recently I learned that both Nintendogs and Brain Training may have sold more than Metroid. And quite frankly if that is true then that is disgusting. How can an awesome, mature, hardcore franchise like Metroid be outsold by pissy little 10 minute games that can only entertain people not hardcore enough to get into … oh… I dunno REAL GAMES! If you’re going to be a gamer, then be a god damned gamer. Don’t hide behind this casual gamer facade, it’s irritating.

So let it be said here, I am sick of casual gamers. To me, you’re either a real gamer or your not a gamer at all anymore… there is no middle-ground. Casual gamers are a cancer on our great gaming world, they are slowly eating away at it, killing it off. And we shouldn’t stand for it anymore.

Oh and keep your eyes out next year, I bet the Brawl commercial is directed at casual gamers to. And keep in mind that if it happens, I fucking called it.

Extinction, Brawl, and Galaxy. Oh, my! All with a side of Corruption

So, the blog delay wasn’t as late as I had thought. I managed to get some spare time so I decided I should write something for those who bothered to click the link in my sig on WiiLoaded, or have come here from the Melbourne Smash Bros. Portal.

Where to start. I went to the movies a couple of weeks ago to see Resident Evil: Extinction, this was one of my biggest mistakes. I’m now $9 poorer and have lost about 90 minutes from my life that I can never ever get back. So where to start, it rubbishes the Resident Evil story and was just plain terrible to watch. At first glance it felt like I was watching a pre-Transformers Michael Bay film… and those are downright terrible (see: Pearl Harbour, Armageddon, Texas Chainsaw remake and prequel. All terrible movies) but it is strange to be nothing but critical about the film. To be honest, it tried a few cool things such as introducing the infected Crows which led to a very cool shot as the sky lit up with flames. But this had an overwhelmingly bad consequence. Alice having god damn psychic powers. I mean, what the fuck people? I know she used them at the end of Apocalypse, but they still made no freakin’ sense. And it had one of the worst endings I’d seen for awhile, the movie ruined Albert Wesker, Ali Larter (from Heroes) tried her best as Claire Redfield, but it wasn’t her fault the script was like someone took a crap on a piece of paper and said “Durrr here is the script, Ali.”

Thinking about it makes me angry, so lets talk about something that makes me happy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So myself and the other Smashboarders have been analysing all the footage we could get from the EfA Expo last week. And as a result we now know a large chunk about the game. We also know that in the current form the game is in, it is nothing like Melee. Gimpyfish has made a comprehensive thread about his thoughts and discoveries whilst playing Brawl. This include the chance that we have lost Wavedash but also with the new possibilities that the Ink Drop will give us. Honestly, very exciting to see what new advanced techniques we can find in Brawl’s engine.

Characters are looking good, except Ike. Who looks like he has been shortchanged, hopefully they’ll reveal Marth soon so I’ll have a good FE character to main when the game comes out. Pikachu has recieved a few improvements with increased use of his dsmash and neutral b attacks, but unfortunately his usmash has been nerfed slightly. Peach had her dsmash nerfed (which seems like she’s worse, right? WRONG!) but instead her dash attack now hits twice and her fthrow can kill at even LOWER % of damage… and I thought it was bad in Melee. Fox seems to have suffered the most, without Wavedashing he loses his waveshine, his usmash has been nerfed as has his uair. Bowser seems to have improved, mostly due to the fact that everyone else has been slowed down. Donkey Kong and Yoshi seem to be more or less the same as they were in Melee. Mario apparently has better combo ability according to Gimpy, although his companion thinks they mightn’t be too hard to DI out of. Samus has lost her Missile Cancelling and maybe even Bomb Jumps, though HugS thinks they might just have different timing. Zamus wasn’t getting amazing feed back and definitely doesn’t feel like the new Sheik apparently. Diddy Kong is apparently comparable to the Melee version of Mario, so he’s average.

Yesterday Sakurai updated with the Stage Creator option, which comes with many supermassive pros and cons. Think of what the Smashboards guys will be able to do. We could see tournament exclusive levels that you will have to have in your tournament stage select maybe? Who knows. Of course, cons are the massive amounts of broken stages we’re gonna see. Thank God Sakurai has applied a limit to the stages much like the Tony Hawk designers did to the Skate Park Editor.

And of course we get to Galaxy, so its been leaked. Yay! I won’t say where… not my place. I haven’t played it, all I know is that others have and are loving it. Its getting stellar reviews and I can’t wait to get it into my Wii in a months time now (yay, a FAIR release date). For once it seems Reggie was telling the truth when he said it was a worthy sequel to Mario 64. Sunshine? What Sunshine? There was never a Mario Sunshine game *tries to forget*

Also, one final note: OMFG I GET MP3 NEXT WEEK! I’m so hyped, expect my review around the 15th of November. Which is when I’ll be seeing Muse, I aim to have it finished before then. Because after Muse I have to prepare for the awesomeness of Galaxy. OMG! Prime 3… it looks like my Wii is gonna implode from its pure uberness. Can’t wait.

And I’m spent.

See you next mission, sports fans.

Less Than A Month

So last night Nintendo Australia FINALLY released the Metroid Prime 3 Corruption Preview Channel, awesome. Another space waster for my Wii! Haha! But seriously, by this stage if you wanted Mp3 then there is a VERY high probability that you watched the videos when they were released on the NTSC Wii’s. So this begs the question: Why did they even bother? Honestly, it seems like a waste of space. My main motivation for actually having it is so that my Wii has an awesome MP3 image in its channel list for now. But once I buy MP3 on November 8th then you can bet for sure that the Preview channel will go bye-bye.

PAL gamers can now get Super Metroid via the Virtual Console, and if they haven’t already then you should either be getting your credit card ready or going to your local retailer to get Wii points. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

Expect my MP3 review to be uploaded by November 12th, as I have an exam on that day. What a shame MP3 comes out Nov. 8th. I like a challenge

See you next mission.
Peace and love.

Ridley: Brawlable? Or Not?

Okay, in light of recent Smash related news I’ve decided its time to do this. I was going to do a write up about Ridley long ago but never did get around to it.

So where to begin? Everyone who has played Metroid knows who Ridley is, he is the nemesis of Samus (the Bowser of the Metroid franchise one might say) and as a result there are many people who want him to be featured in Brawl as a playable character. I am one of said people, of course both sides to the argument have very legitimate reasoning. But when it all comes down to him being playable in the end, what side do you side with? Well, I hope to sway some of you to the Ridley side with more than just cookies. So, he is a big purple space dragon who commands the Space Pirate forces and is responsible for making Samus Aran who she is. Of course some say he is far too big to work in Brawl and would be a very awkward character to control.

Much earlier in Brawl’s development Sakurai posted a character poll for the Japanese to vote freely on what characters. And through this poll Sakurai had hoped to get an idea of the sort of characters that the Japanese public wanted in the game (sadly the English speaking world was not given the same option, however many of our ideas were submitted with the help of SamuraiPanda on Smashboards) and the final list had some names of interest in it. Sonic, Lucas and Ike were all on the list and guess what? They all have been confirmed for Brawl thus far
You may be wondering what relevance this holds. Well, Ridley was also in the list and he was, in fact, in the top 10 or so characters with multiple people requesting that he be included in the game’s line-up. This is one of the stronger arguments for his inclusion in the game, but by no means is it the only one. So, signs indicate that he is popular enough to appear.

Speaking of popularity, as of late Metroid’s popularity has really taken a step up thanks to the help of the Prime trilogy. And Ridley played a major part in two of these games, the two most popular ones at that. He was why Samus ended up on Tallon IV in Metroid Prime 1, and in Metroid Prime 3 he was featured in two boss fights.
But this isn’t Ridley’s only contribution to the Metroid games, he also features in bosses in almost all Metroid games. Which is only natural as he and Samus go way back. An online comic details some of Samus’ earliest day when she is just a young girl when Space Pirates attack her home village. The Pirates are lead by the mighty Ridley, everyone who lives in the village is killed, even Samus parents (her dad is killed by Pirates and her mum is killed by Ridley) so that means that IF Sakurai decides to give Metroid the rep it deserves then he’d want to add one more character to allow this.

Ridley’s only competition for Metroid rep are: Dark Samus (who would be so CLOSE to being a Samus clone), Bounty Hunters (its way to hard to pick just one to satisfy all fans, I say make them Assist Trophies and/or bosses in Subspace Emissary), and Space Pirates (who again, should only appear in Subspace Emissary in the Metroid section). Which leaves us with just Ridley, he is a whole step above the rest. Kraid and Mother Brain sadly do not have what it takes to become playable characters in Brawl.

The size debate, it is true that Ridley’s size fluctuates wildly a lot which has resulted in Ridley being significantly larger than Samus on many occasions. But at the same time a few appearences he hasn’t been much bigger (for example: Super Metroid and the intro clip for SSBM)

Bowser as he appears in Super Mario Sunshine, he is massive isn’t he? Yet he appears in SSBM and SSBB because he was worked down to a logical size.

The same could easily be done with Ridley, especially now that Charizard is in there. A dragon like design simliar to that of Ridley means that now both of them could easily be programmed into Brawl.

And last but not least, recent Dojo updates. Two Ridley relevant updates so far, one was Ridley’s actual theme music titled “Boss Fight: Ridley” which DOES not mean he will only be a boss fight. It could be titled that because the music is used in boss fights in the Metroid games when you clash. And the other Ridley update was “Norfair” as a selectable stage. Why is this Ridley relevant you ask? Well, any Metroid fan could tell you. Ridley’s area in the older Metroid games is Norfair, much like how Kraid’s is Brinstar and Mother Brain’s is Tourian.

In conclusion, its quite obvious that Ridley *should* be a playable character in SSBB. He may look awkward but Charizard is workable (proves that dragon like characters can be done) and Bowser has been successfully shrunk down (proves that large characters can be downsized and still work). He has a stage there, and a theme song as well which I can imagine being played during Story Mode and as a secondary tune on Norfair. And of course, he is the biggest villain and the one that appears the most throughout the entire Metroid franchise.

All that is really left to say is that having Sonic in Brawl is all good and well, but there is no way he should be in the game if Sakurai can’t even include one of the Metroid franchise’s most important characters (besides Samus Aran of course, and no. Zero Suit Samus doesn’t count)

Please oh please Sakurai, use your head and include Ridley. You’ve already done so much good work on Brawl, is it too much to ask for Ridley to be playable? You know he deserves it.