Topics

1

Video Game Chat / Interesting Nintendo Power moments

« on: May 27, 2009, 05:50:27 PM »

I always enjoy browsing through old issues of Nintendo Power before bed, just to pretend it was that time long ago...but sometimes you notice things that are written or are replied to...here are a few:

Volume 31: Someone is talking about a fantasy game system and at the end, "What game would come with the system you ask: Super Mario Galaxy, better known as Super Mario Bros. 24"
Comment: I think this guy should get a little credit.

Volume 73: Somebody sends in 10 made up "crime" games, "10. Super Bomberman 3: The World Trade Center"
Comment: I'm not gonna touch this one

Volume 92: Someone voices their concerns about the 64DD and the response, "Here at Nintendo we have seen the sad fates of many different video game add-ons and have learned our lesson.  We won't release the 64DD until there are several quality titles that take advantage of the unique functions"
Comment: .......................okay, that's just hilarious!

Any others notice any funny, ironic, or odd things?

2

Mario Chat / NCS Review

« on: March 29, 2009, 04:09:48 PM »

For those of you who are familiar with the Nintendo Comic System, I need no formal introduction, but for those of you who have not had a chance to read any (or many) of these comics, I'd like to voice my opinion on them and compare them to the cartoons that were on around the same time.

Now the cartoons don't stand up well on today's standards.  Don't get me wrong, I love them, but they lack certain qualities.  It seems like when they were made everyone was just obsessed with Mario so they made the objective Mario saves Princess routine.  Of course there were branchoffs, and lots of movie parodies, but the stories often contained poor humour and dialogue.  For an animated series at the time, it did its part...especially since Mario was apparently "the thing" back then.

However, I'd like to point out that I find that the comics stand up way better than the animated series in terms of humour, dialogue, and general story.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on 7 Mario-related comics and 1 Zelda-related.  My first thumbs up goes to the drawings.  The characters in the Mario series were depicted very nicely on these pages.  I also like to point out The King....yeah we don't see too much of him nowadays...or ever in games.  He was a good character though, and explains why Princess is called Princess and not just taking the title because it sounds good.  The dialogue and humour also stand tall, and the stories in these comics are huge branchoffs from the games, rather than the cartoons doing just what they would be doing in a game.

My favourite would have to be "The Kingdom Enquirer" where Toad becomes a reporter.  Mario is sent out on a secret mission by the King, and Toad decides to follow him to get the scoop.  Since Toad can't keep his mouth shut, Mario ditches him and Toad is ambushed by some Hammer Bros.  When he says he's a reporter, he is joined by more who are falling over themselves to tell their secrets.  The dialogue was witty, it had some scary moments, a variety of emotions, and (thank god) no pasta puns.

I also really enjoy the one about Mario's favourite magazine called Dirk Drain Head.  Mario and Luigi are asked to go get Princess's favourite magazine, but that involves a walk through World 5-1 (Super Mario Bros. 2 oriented) and Mario drives Luigi crazy by continuously talking about his magazine.

Another good thing about these comics is the mini-stories in between the larger stories.  For example, they have "Fry Guy High" which is a page from a yearbook with Fry Guys, who get in trouble for "Smokin' in the Boys Room" the field trip to the fireworks factory, and striking out the shyguys with their flameballs.  Then there's Bowser's high school yearbook which you get to see some clever pictures of his friends and victims and their signatures.  Another mini-story shows Mario driving a truck full of goods to Toad's House (a la Super Mario Bros. 3) while Toad is exhausted from having already stored Mario's junk.  My favourite would have to be where Mario is gambling with Luigi and Toad and trying to cheat, but at the end you see Toad wearing Mario's clothes.  (Ha ha ha)  There was even one about Mario's early years where it shows him with a moustache at age 4 and an interest for plumbing.

Whether it be the general story, a mini-story, or even some of the ads (like the one with Mario opening the chests at Toad's House and it shows future issues) these comics are front to back awesome.  They are way more humorous and story-oriented than the cartoons.  Wart even appears in one of the stories!  Yeah!  Wart!  It's been a while hasn't it.  He actually appeared in something.  How many of these issues they made is beyond me, but I saw a bunch of them on the TMK website.  Not sure if that's all of them, but they did have the subscription forms in the comics, asking if you'd like to send away for 12 issues.  So, who knows if they made an even 12 or not.  They also had fan mail in a lot of the comics, which was nice.

Anyway, I'd like to end this review by talking about an interesting series.  Game Boy.  I had the first 3 issues, and it is such an interesting story.  The storyline involves a man named Herman Smirch who gets possessed by Tatanga, and they emerge from the Game Boy to try and conquer places on Earth.  The storyline is dark and interesting.  There is definately character within them, and as the series goes on you see Herman turn from a scared man who wants to be left alone to a loyal follower of Tatanga.  I'd personally love to get more of this series.  And the only way to save the day is to get Mario out of that Game Boy.

In conclusion, if you ever see any comics, grab em.  They're rare (I'm assuming) and just awesome.

3

Video Game Chat / Mother 3

« on: March 22, 2009, 11:24:14 AM »

Mother 3...Shigesato Itoi...need I say more?

Of course I do!  For those of you who are familiar with the Mother series (aka the EarthBound series).  Now then, I've played a lot of super nintendo RPGs, and EarthBound surpassed them all by far.  I enjoyed it way more than Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 3.  Speaking of which, I haven't even finished FF3 yet, but I'm at the end.  EarthBound, however, had the lasting power on me and I've finished it time and time again.  But how does the sequel hold up what with not having the original characters in it?

Surprisingly well!  Usually it takes me a while to beat a game because I have such a busy life, but I pretty much sat down and played all the way through Mother 3 right to the end.  What a glorious game, and what a followup...I'm tempted to say it's better than EarthBound.  The storyline was AMAZING, the characters had brilliant personalities, and the game had the same humorous dialogue and interesting battles that I held dear in the last game.  Actually, the storyline blew me away completely.  It held together so brilliantly right until the end of the game.  The side stories were all done surprisingly well.

The only kicker was that unfortunately the game didn't come out in North America...I guess EarthBound's poor sales were to blame, but rather than catering to the minority, they didn't want to take the risk...I guess for money hungry reasons, but I'd love to see this game come out here.  Especially since they threw Lucas and New Pork City into brawl...kind of a tease in my opinion.  I'm sure anyone else who's played will agree.

4

Mario Chat / super mario sunshine rant

« on: March 21, 2009, 09:42:55 PM »

hi everybody, i'm new on the board and it looks cool so i thought i'd check it out.  just like to introduce myself...im matthew viser, 13 year old honour student (not to brag), and i live with my older brother, cuz my parents died when i was young.  he has taught me his old fashioned vintage ways, whether it be old music, movies, or video games.  i grew up with a definite appreciation of the mario series, especially the nes series.

I still remember super mario sunshine coming out, and the stuff my brother told me about it...about how it didn't come out right away because they wanted to understand the gamecube's capabilities a bit better, and even first time i played it, i liked it.  But after a clear view of it, my perception completely changed.  bottom line: love it or hate it, you cannot deny that it is probably the laziest mario game ever made (platform anyway).

First, the whole fludd thing is kind of off the wall.  The storyline is...different, and it's a matter of opinion I guess.  To me it wasn't interestingly different like they've done in the past, but aside, having a water gun was...different.  It was cool having powerups to go with them, but for the amount that I actually got to use the turbo and rocket nozel, I don't even think it was worth it.  No cool caps, suits, or powerups...just nozzels...way to go above and beyond!

My first real big complaint about the game is the level design.  There were no lava-filled tunnels, creepy caves, slippery ice levels, confusing forests, perplexing castles, or trips through the clouds.  Just a beach, a harbour, another beach, a park, another park, and well...everything's pretty similar.  And why so few levels?  At least Super Mario 64 had 15, but this one only has 7!  Maybe it's just me, but I think that maybe they'd try to outdo themselves with their next game.  And I hate how they pull the vacation card to cheat us out of distinctive levels.  Super Mario World was vacation based, and their level designs were just awesome!  But wait...what about how you get to these levels.  Well on the airstrip you fight a big piranha plant made of paint...then to get to level 1 you fight him again...you fight him in level 1 again!  to get to level 2!  AND to get to level 3!  Why do you have to fight the same generic boss 5 times???  Do you think that's enough?  I guess it's not saying much, because you fight that stupid piranha plant in the first level twice and the blooper in the second level twice.  Were they really that short on ideas?  And what's with the red coin collecting...I remember in 64 when you had to collect them once per level, and in secret areas...but in Sunshine...four???  Yeah!  Four times per level!  Is that really necessary?  Four times?  Wow!  And the blue coins to buy shines was a real kicker too...instead of secret areas and fun events, you just collect blue coins.  I guess they wanted to match 64's 120 stars, so they had to achieve that somehow.  Same with that shadow mario!  You have to catch him once per level.  I feel no originality here!  The secret levels were kinda boring too.  I did not find many of them very memorable.

The characters are kind of bland too.  Bowser Jr. just needs to die and never be in another game, because he's incredibly annoying...and not in a good way.  Bring back the koopa kids!  Please!  At least they had a personality.  The enemies are kind of bland too, and it seems funny that everyone in this game gets hurt from being sprayed with water.  Are they made of sugar?  It was nice seeing yoshi again too, but for the amount that you get to ride him, I'd say it's not even worth it unless you're hanging around the hub just messing around.  I also find an inconsistency in the challenge.  Beating Petey Piranha is a sinch...it even gives you an arrow where to hit him.  Is it not that obvious already?  But when you get to that chuckster part, it just becomes ridiculously hard...and it's not a fun challenge either.  I also find it kind of funny to beat Bowser at the end you...have...to...get ready for it...destroy his hot tub.  (sigh)

One redeeming factor about this game would have to be the cave parts of the game.  When your fludd gets stolen, the game really picks up.  Going through those obstacle caves with the tune of the original theme is some of the most platforming I've ever played.  Sadly, it's a short part of the game.  My last point...why isn't Luigi in the game?  I was shown all the turmoil about Luigi being in 64, and some people started making rumours about Sunshine, but I think they just gave up.

In conclusion, the game had a few redeeming factors, but it was lazy.  The levels were extremely uninventive, and there were far too few of them.  The objectives to get Shines were lacking in creativity, and collecting red and blue coins again and again is just a lazy challenge.  The characters were not the most likeable, and the premise of using a watergun was a little too crazy.  But it's okay to like this game.  I used to like it too, and I know lots of people do, and that's fine!  But you can't deny that it was a lazy game.

One last point...I love a good debate.  Thanks for your time!