Tag Archives: Wii U

Favorite Games I Played in 2015

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2015 was another good year for video games for me and I played a variety of them ranging from indie games (a rarity for myself) to big blockbuster hits and from JRPGS to an unique spin on the first person shooter genre.  Many of these games I’ll likely play again down the road but for now lets dive in!

Games I played in 2015

3DS: Link Between Worlds, Phoenix Wright-Dual Destinies, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Majora’s Mask

DS: Apollo Justice (started), Hotel Dusk: Room 212 (started) Fossil Fighters (gave up on)

PS2: Dragonquest 8

PS3: South Park: Stick of Truth

Wii U: Mario Maker, Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X

PC Games: Her Story, Undertale, Huniepop, Tales from the Borderlands, Wolf Among Us, Star Wars: KotOR

image from gamerevolution.com

Biggest Timesink: Dragonquest 8

So I bought this game on a whim at my local video game store shortly before my internship last summer.  With no internet in the residence building, my primary entertainment indoors was either Battlestar Galatica and Dragonquest 8.  The funny thing was that I was planning on playing multiple games but this game was so big and I had sank so much time on it (last check was well above 70 hours) that not only was it the only game I played, even King Trode scolded me for lollygagging.  But I can’t help it!  The minigames, the sidequests, and those damn Minimedals took up a lot of my time.  The game was fun (even if the voice acting was a bit hokey), challenging, and entertaining all around.

Favorite Indie Game: Undertale

At initial glance, Undertale appears to be another SNES-style RPG with the only thing going for it a unique combat system. However, this is definitely not the case as the game will make you question many standard video game tropes and what it means to be the protagonist of your story. These ideas were further enhanced for myself as I had just played Dragonquest VIII, a fairly typical RPG, which adhered strictly to these tropes. The characters were stellar, the music was top notch, and the story was a wild ride, definitely check it out.

Biggest Guilty Pleasure: Huniepop

Okay, just hear me out; I initially bought this game because I saw YouTube-star Markiplier enjoying the hell out of it. From what I saw, it was a crude, raunchy, dating-sim parody that you play for laughs. What I got was not only a, dare I say, strategic game where you have to plan your gifts and puzzle actions, but a tongue-in-cheek look at how video games clumsily handle women characters. Is the game’s humor and overall appeal satirical or intentional? You’ll be the judge of that. Who knows, I might even dedicate an article to this game on my blog but for now, let’s just let it be.

Best Moment: The Fart Battle in South Park: Stick of Truth

God this game.  Unsurprisingly, this game was so damn funny and I understand why people like it so much.  There were so many great moments but the one that I have to go for is the epic Fart Battle I had against Cartman.  When this happened, I was simultaneously laughing my ass off while pressing the button as fast as I could.  This went on for at least five minutes and in the end I couldn’t make it but god damn was that great.

Worst Line Delivery: The Character Nikki Ann-Marie in Huniepop

In Huniepop, you can date a variety of girls that fit the standard tropes in anime, video games, and so forth.  One of those girls, is the geeky introvert, Nikki Ann-Marie.  Rather than trying to pass her off as aloof but still have some sense of humor, kindness, and passion, Nikki’s voice actress instead portrays her as a character whose constantly bored.  It’s kind of annoying after awhile as Nikki has the potential to be as memorable as some of the other girls.  I think what really seals it for me though is Nikki’s reaction towards your gifts comes off as feign interest rather than genuine intrigue and that’s too bad.

Best Supporting Cast: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Ah KotOR, although I’ve had my fair share of amazing characters, especially in Undertale and Tales from the Borderlands, KotOR takes the cake.  You can’t help but love your ragtag team even if Carth is a wee bit of a nuisance with his “Carth wants to talk about something/no he actually doesn’t.”  What I like about my crew is that there’s always a situation for one of them even if I use some more than others.  Plus they got great chemistry!

Favorite Antagonist: Handsome Jack from Tales from the Borderlands

Flowey is evil because he has no soul, the Crooked Man does what he does to improve fable lives, and Dhoulmagus wants to resurrect the greatest evil of all time.  These are all noteworthy antagonists but the one to take the cake is Handsome Jack.  Although we see Handsome Jack prominently in Borderlands 2, the biggest change here is Rhys.  Now, Jack can directly interact with you and it’s awesome.  How far should you trust him?  He’s a smooth talker with bouts of rage and lots of charisma.  Jack dramatically affects Rhys’ storyline and makes him change for the better.  Jack is insane, conniving, and hilarious and I love every bit of it.

Surprise Hit: The Wolf Among Us (tWAU) and Her Story

So I bought tWAU on a Steam sale around March, 2015 as I always wanted to try out a TellTale game but without paying full price for a game. After checking a few reviews online, I thought this looked good and dove into it. Wow, that’s all I have to say about that. I kept coming back again and again to play this game. Many times, I would start and end each chapter in almost one sitting. TellTale really told an immersive story that made you think about your decisions. Bigby is a great protagonist whose personality can range from angry law enforcer to a “jerk with a heart of gold” depending on how you play him. This game was great and I’m sad there’s not a sequel to it yet.

Her Story is another game that took me by surprise. I actually played it fairly late in the year (December) after I first heard about it in the Video Game Awards. Going into the game, the only thing I knew about it was the tagline “A Video Game About a Woman Talking to the Police.” Mary actually played this game with me and she was my note taker. We went back and forth what to look up next and she would write down many different dates and search terms to help us organize the story in our head. If you want a good detective game with no hand-holding, go for this one!

image from craveonline.com

Favorite Game I played: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

In 2015, I sunk a lot of time into several games, especially when I was interning at Fossil Butte. Even after I turned off the TV, I still looked forward to playing these games again whether it was because of their comedic value (South Park), story (Wolf Among Us), characters (Undertale), or immersive gameplay (Splatoon+South Park). It’s quite hard to pick which is the overall favorite new game I played in 2015 cause a lot of the games were good for their own reasons. However, if I had to pick my favorite it would be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic just edging out the Legend of Zelda: A Link between Worlds.  Both of these games were great RPGs that gave you a large degree of choice in progressing the narrative.  But while a Link Between Worlds basically retold a Link to the Past, KotOR told a whole new story using the Star Wars background.  So many characters were good and I wish I got to know more about them like Canderous, HK-47, and Jolee.  The morality scale, the missions, and the planets were so well done.  It’s too bad I got spoiled for the game or else it would have ranked even higher in my love for it.  After playing this game, I really wanted to try out Mass Effect so that may be for another day but still, this game was amazing and definitely my favorite game I played in 2015.

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The Best Wii Games Nintendo Should Sell on the Virtual Console

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Nintendo made a great move in January by allowing Wii games to be downloaded on the Wii U’s Virtual Console. Now, games that are no longer in print or are hard to come by can easily, and cheaply, be accessed on the Virtual Console. But the selection is still small and as such, I thought I would weigh my opinion on the best Wii Games Nintendo should sell on their Virtual Console.  I’m only selecting games that I think would benefit the most on the Virtual Console.

Image from http://www.ign.com/games/new-play-control-pikmin-2/wii-14286473

Pikmin and Pikmin 2.

One of the more obvious choices, Pikmin and Pikmin 2 are great games that are meant to be played with the wiimote. After playing the Gamecube version and switching over to the Wii, I was happy at how everything was better managed and easier to control. However, the prices for these games on Amazon are pretty high even if they are used.

Selling both of these games on Virtual Console would not only allow for a greater audience to be exposed to these games, but it would also serve a tantalizing lower price for two gems. What’s more, Nintendo could sell them with a discount if bought together.

Image from http://www.ign.com/games/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess/wii-748589

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Though more ubiquitous than the Wii Pikmin games, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess would benefit with a Virtual Console option. This is a great year for them to release it with two official Zelda games coming out. Also, Nintendo is very good at releasing or updating older Zelda games to the modern audience. The amount of Zelda games you can get on Virtual Console is pretty high. What’s more, this game is almost ten years old so selling it online can open the door for new players.

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem:_Radiant_Dawn

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Going for $70 used on Amazon, Radiant Dawn is another perfect Wii game that would be good for the Virtual Console.  It’s just like Metroid Prime Trilogy, a good game that is quite expensive.  Again, this is also a good year for its release thanks to another Fire Emblem game coming out.  And who knows, maybe Nintendo will have a Gamecube emulator and release the Fire Emblem Gamecube game as well.

http://www.ign.com/games/no-more-heroes-2-desperate-struggle/wii-14288376

Third Party Games

The Wii may not have the Third Party strength compared to the PS3 and Xbox360 but there are still a host good games out there could be sold on the Virtual Console.  It’s not that far of a stretch as well considering Nintendo is selling Capcom and Konami games from the NES and SNES era.  This can include Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, Red Steel Series, and No More Heroes.  All these games were good Wii games that didn’t get that much press.  And what the hell, throw in Resident Evil 4 while we’re at it, that game is freaking awesome.

How about you?  What Wii games do you think the Virtual Console should have? Let me know in the comments!

Reaction to HORI Battle Pad for Wii U

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Unlike a lot of people, I decided to opt out of the Super Smash bundle as I thought it wasn’t really necessary to own another Gamecube remote when I already have four.  Instead, I decided to get the game and the Gamecube remote converter separately.  Unfortunately, despite my preorder, the Gamecube converter was already sold out and won’t be expected to ship to me until the middle of December.

Fortunately, before the release, I preordered  the HORI Battle Pad for Wii U (Mario Version) with Turbo.  Lots of title fluff for just a Gamecube controller that connects to your Wiimote.  That’s basically what it is too!  If you have more than four players who just have to have a Gamecube controller than these controllers can solve that for you.

Image from http://www.amazon.com/HORI-Battle-Mario-Version-Turbo-u/dp/B00ND0E5ZU

The fact that this is a wireless controller means you aren’t constrained to how close you have to be to the TV which is nice.

But the main thing I want to say is that it’s basically like a Gamecube controller with some exceptions.  For one thing, it lacks the reassuring weight that the normal controllers have and I assume that’s because the important stuff is on the Wiimote and the controller simply acts as a button receiver.  There’s also an extra Z-button on the left side of the controller.  The shoulder pads also lack the usual “pressing-down-until-it-clicks” method.  They’re just simple buttons which I find funny but I assume they’re designed like that so they could imitate the Wii U Pad.

The Turbo buttons are also strange but basically they’re similar to the NES Max.  While pressing the Turbo button you then press another button and it does that action for a certain amount of times per second.  I haven’t used them yet as I haven’t found them necessary so I can’t comment how well they work or not.

But let me just end my reaction here and say if you want to play Smash Bros on the Wii U and are looking for a good wireless controller then this will work great for you!  You’ll look over its slight peculiarities five minutes in and after that you will be smashing away while having a good time!  Have fun smashing!

Reaction to Nintendo Direct August 29th 2014

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If you haven’t heard yet, Nintendo is releasing new 3DS consoles.  You can read all about them HERE.

Ever since I got my Pokemon X/Y themed 3DSXL last year, I have been a big fan of the 3DS and its games.  Nintendo has been hitting all the right notes for its handheld console as opposed to the slowly improving Wii U.  Do they do it again here?

The “New 3DS” looks great in my opinion.  Slight improvements in the design make them shine including the colored X, Y, A, and B buttons.  The new buttons at the shoulder and the rearrangement of the volume control give them an additional bonus.  This is definitely a system that looks fun to play.

The added C-button concerns me though.  On the one hand, it’s great that Nintendo added it to the console as now we can play 3DS games, like Metal Gear Solid 3, without resorting to the 3DS pro pad.  However, the C-button looks unreliable as I can easily imagine my thumb slipping over it.  But I’ll reserve my judgment on that once people test how reliable it is.

The boosted battery life is a definite plus.  It was also one of the key reasons why I shirked the regular 3DS and went for the XL instead.  A longer battery life means the 3DS can become a more portable console.

The most controversial aspect surrounding the “New 3DS” is the boosted CPU power.  This, combined with the extra buttons, means that games like the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles rerelease are not compatible to older models.  Many people on the internet, including myself, are concerned about this.  What does this mean exactly?  How many new 3DS games will be required to play on the “New 3DS?”  Do I have to give up my old 3DS for these new ones?

I can’t speak for other gamers but I have grown attached to my 3DS console thanks to its Pokemon Theme and the places I have taken it.  It will be hard for me to give this console up.  The only two ways I will get a new console is if it’s a new console generation (which in this case, I think it’s not as it’s still relying on the 3DS brand name but then again so does the Wii U…) or if there is a new Pokemon game that requires the “New 3DS.”  Pokemon was the main reason why I bought my DS and later my 3DS in the first place.

It seems like Nintendo might finally have stumbled for its 3DS.  After a slow start, it has picked up speed and has become one of the best consoles currently out there.  Now with this new console coming out, people might not be so incline to buy it and instead stick to what they have.  However, Nintendo usually listens well to its fanbase so perhaps it might make some changes.  We’ll just wait and see…

On a more positive note, let’s talk about Xenoblade Chronicles!  When I first saw the trailer I had nooooo idea who this guy was and originally thought he was some Final Fantasy character.  After doing a little digging to learn what the hell Xenoblade Chronicles was, I was surprised to see it came out exclusively on the Wii and is lauded as one of the best Wii games of all time.  This surprised me as I never heard of it before (but then again, I’m more of a handheld guy).  Now, after reading reviews of it and seeing the gameplay in action, I want to try this game out!   It’s likely I won’t play it on the 3DS since it won’t come out for a while and I’ll probably not get the “New 3DS” so instead I’ll just play it on my Wii U.  That’s going to be on the backburner though for now as Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright comes out today!

Finally, Shulk looks like he’ll be an interesting fighter with his ability to change skills in-battle and his future sight…thingy…I’m kind of disappointed we got another swordsman but whatever.  He looks like a character for more advance players as you have to do a fair bit of prediction to beat your opponent.  His large sword also gives him a fairly large swinging range but no projectiles (as far as I can tell).

Final note: my friend brought this up as the “New 3DS” is similar to the expansion pack for the N64.  So you couldn’t play games like Majora’s Mask or Donkey Kong 64 on it.  But then again, not many games used this feature.  Perhaps a similar fate is in store for the “New 3DS?”