This Week in Nintendo History: January 17th to January 23rd
Hey guys, it’s Monday and that means it’s time, once again, to take a look back at the events that happened in Nintendo’s history during the last seven days. We’ve got a purchases, assassins, and virtual tours on tap this week so let’s hop right into it.
In case you didn’t know, Activision is a big company and every once in a while they get bigger by purchasing other, smaller developers. On January 20th, 2005 they expanded by purchasing Game Boy Advance developer Vicarious Visions. The company was known best before that for working on licensed properties for the Game Boy Color like Blues Clues and Rescue Heroes. Once they were under the Activision label they worked on Game Boy Advance titles like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and Spider Man 2: Enter Elektro for GBA. They are best known now for working on the Wii versions of the Guitar Hero franchise.
January 21st, 2008 saw the release of the fourth game in Nintendo’s popular turn based strategy franchise Advance Wars. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was developed by Intelligent Systems and released on the Nintendo DS and was intended to be a darker, more serious take on the franchise. Set in a post apocalyptic world there were 26 missions in the campaign to rebuild the world after a series of meteor strikes nearly destroys the planet. There are also 38 training missions that are unlocked as you complete objectives. Days of Ruin also features an extensive multiplayer mode where you can battle friends over local wireless connections or through Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection. Fans of the series were generally very happy with the new turn the series took and the game received very positive reviews across the board.
Fans of underwater life were given a treat on that same day when Endless Ocean was released for Wii. In the game players used the Wii Remote’s pointer to guide a diver through numerous underwater locals looking for various species of wildlife. While the game was generally an open form diving game that simulated real underwater life there were a number of objectives and missions a player could carry out while diving. They could guide customers down to look for a specific species of wildlife or explore underwater ruins. The game’s soundtrack was composed by Hayley Westenra, but also featured a custom soundtrack where you could load a song into the system and play it while you were diving. The game was fairly well received overall with some praising the laid back, relaxing aspect of the game while others found it boring. Friends could even dive together using Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection. A sequel has been planned and is expected to release in 2010.
January 21st, 2008 was also Virtual Console day in North America. On that day Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers for the SNES and The Adventures of Lolo 2 for the NES were released.
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 hit North America on January 22nd, 2007. This graphic adventure novel had you hold the DS like a book using the touch screen on the side of your dominant hand to move your character, write down clues and help to solve a mystery. The game uses an animation technique known as Rotoscoping to animate the characters in the game and everything in the environment looks similar to pencil and pen drawings. The unique look adds to the drama of the mystery surrounding main character Kyle Hyde’s partner and a mysterious group known as Nile. Using the features of the DS you would talk to patrons of the hotel, investigate the area and ultimately solve the case. A sequel has been announced for Japan, but there has been no word yet on if that title will make it to America.
Virtual Console day, once again, was January 22nd, 2007. This time classic gamers were now able to download Link’s classic Super Nintendo adventure, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
Our last game release of the week happened on January 22nd, 2008. That was the day that Suda-51’s unique Wii action title No More Heroes hit stores in America. After winning an internet auction for a “beam Katana”, which is essentially a light-saber, main character Travis Touchdown then does what every other person in his position would do; attempt to become the world’s greatest assassin. There are many revelations revealed during the game’s twisting plot, including bribery, family ties and more. The game used the Wii Remote to perform many of the more brutal in game actions and was most notorious for the way the beam katana was recharged after losing its power. No More Heroes received very positive reviews for its clever writing and humorous situations. It did not sell particularly well in Japan, faring a little better in America. No More Heroes has been announced for a PS3 and 360 release in February 2010 and a sequel for the Wii will be released in January of 2010.
Our last bit of news for the week sees DS owners able to use their portable systems to take a virtual tour of four of the parks that make up Walt Disney World; the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom. To take advantage of the features users would insert a DS cart that would bring up a GPS enabled map of the park. Different buttons allowed you to access information about rides, characters, and games, pointing out their locations with easy-to-read icons. You can also use it to track down other vital spots, like the nearest ATM, first aid station, or bathroom. This, along with the ability to access features at Seattle’s Safeco field are showing the DS is capable of more than just games.
So there you have it folks. Our latest look at the events that have made up Nintendo’s rich history. If you have anything you know of that is coming up and you’d like to see if featured in the article let us know. You can send me and email or you can leave it in the comments. If you’re feeling particularly frisky you can head on over to the forums and chat with us there. Until next week I’m history.
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