Nintendo Okie

Howdy Howdy everybody.  We’re here, once again, to take a look back at the game’s and events that have happened in the last week.  It was pretty sparse this week, but we’ve got yet another Game & Watch game, and a Pokemon release to talk about, in addition to the usual Virtual Console releases.  Let’s see what we’ve got this week.

Mario Bros. was one of the first games released by Nintendo in arcades and on the NES.  They also released a game titled Mario Bros. for the Game & Watch in a slightly different form on March 14^th, 1983.  It was a dual screened game that opened right to left rather than vertically and the brothers worked in the shipping department of a factory.  Mario is on the right screen and pulls pallets of items down and puts them on a conveyor belt.  Luigi then pulls them off when they get to the left screen and puts them on a delivery truck.  If any of the pallets fall on the floor the brothers get yelled at.  If three of them fall on the floor the game is over.  The game has been remade twice for Game and Watch Collections 3 & 4. 

Nintendo has been known for making unusual peripherals to accompany many of their games.  It’s been happening since the days of the NES and the GameCube was no exception.  Donkey Kong Jungle Beat was released for the system on March 14^th, 2005.  The game, a platformer, used a set of bongos that plugged into the system to control the titular ape.  One bongo moved DK left, one moved him right.  Hitting both together caused him to jump.  The controller even had a microphone that would recognize a clap and cause DK to clap in order to attack enemies, or repel some attacks.  The game play was broken up across a number of kingdoms that acted as the games worlds.  Each of these kingdoms had three levels that would culminate in a more challenging boss fight.  While traversing these levels you would collect bananas that would give you a ranking at the end and between levels there was a mini-game that you could play to collect more bananas to better your rank.  Donkey Kong Jungle Beat was very positively received with many people citing the unique control scheme as the strongest point of the game.  It was also re-released under Nintendo’s New Play Control label in 2009.

That day, March 14^th, 2005, saw the release of another uniquely controlled game with the release of Yoshi Touch & Go, for the Nintendo DS.  This game was a platformer where, rather than having direct control over the Yoshi’s you create platforms for them to move on while they move left and right automatically.  The game features many of the cast and characters from the Yoshi’s Island series of games and uses the same graphical style of that title.  There are three modes in the game, Score Attack, Marathon, and Multiplayer vs.  In addition to those three modes, there are two unlockable modes, Time Attack and Challenge.  The game takes advantage extensively of both the DS touch screen and the microphone.  Despite critical acclaim it was not as well received as previous Yoshi’s Island games, with many stating it lacked in depth gameplay and story. 

Virtual Console day came on March 16^th, 2009.  On that day Summer Games II was released for the Commodore 64. 

The first game in the Bit.Trip series, Bit.Trip Beat was released on March 16^th, 2009 for WiiWare.  This game was described, by a number of people, as Pong on steroids.  It uses rhythm and simple gameplay combined into a new unique experience.  In the game “bits” fly from the right side of the screen towards the left and players used the Wii Remote, held sideways to bounce the beats back to the right side of the screen.  There were occasionally some items that would change the gameplay style slightly.  It was the first in a series of six games that use simple visuals to convey a larger story, that of Commander Video, the game’s protagonist. 

Pokemon has made appearances on every Nintendo platform since the Game Boy Color.  March 17^th, 2003 saw the release of Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire for the Game Boy Advance.  These were the third generation of the Pokemon franchise and saw gameplay that fans of the series came to expect.  The game took place in the Hoenn region of the Pokemon world and starred a young child who recently arrived at LittleRoot Town.  As in traditional you had the ability to choose between three starter Pokemon, in this instance a Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip.  The biggest addition to the gameplay is the ability to take part in double battles where each trainer battles with more than one Pokemon at a time.  Also new were abilities, which allowed the Pokemon different traits that could be used during the game’s battles.  These games also featured some connectivity with Nintendo’s e-reader and allowed players to take part in battles that would reveal previously hidden Pokemon.  Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were both critical and commercial success for Nintendo having sold more than 13 million units combined. 

Virtual Console Day happened, once again, on March 17^th 2008.  That day saw the release of Spelunker for the NES and Super R-Type for the SNES. 

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 saw release for the Wii on March 18^th, 2008.  Unlike other games in the series the Wii version of the game used the systems pointer to control characters on screen.  Point at them and then pointing towards where you wanted them to go or to pass the ball.  This led to more tactical options than had previously been available.  There were a number of licensed and unlicensed leagues available in the game along with a large number of national soccer teams and some generic ones as well.  The Wii version of the game won numerous awards for best sports game and was nominated by some outlets as the best game of the system for 2008.  Many people considered it the most superior version of the game that year.

March 18^th, 2008 also saw the release of another sports game; Sega Superstars Tennis.  This game, like the Mario Tennis franchise, saw many of Sega’s most beloved characters, like Sonic the Hedgehog or Samba de Amigo, competing in singles and doubles matches on themed courts from many of Sega fans favorite video games.  In all there were 15 different franchises represented in the game.  In addition to the usual tournament mode players could also compete in exhibition matches and mini-games that included features, like hitting moving zombies from the House of the Dead franchise.  The game received mixed reviews, most citing the lack on online play for the Wii version considering other consoles had the ability to play the game online. 

March 19^th, 1980 happened to be the day that yours truly was born.  Many years later I would go on to create a website known as Nintendo Okie that some people visited on a regular basis.

Our last trip to the Virtual Console this week occurred on March 19^th, 2007 when Splatterhouse, originally for the Turbo-Grafix 16, Beyond Oasis for the Genesis and the original ExciteBike for the NES were released. 

Tetris has been released on nearly every platform that it could possibly be released on from the original GameBoy to cell phones and even calculators.  The DS had Tetris DS which was released on March 20^th, 2006.  Tetris has seen numerous gameplay variations over the years and this version of the game featured various themed version of the game based on many of Nintendo’s most famous franchises.  It also featured online play through the DS wireless capabilities for up to 10 players.  There were six main modes in the game; Standard, Mission, Push, Touch, Catch and Puzzle.  Many of these modes allowed you to use the D-pad for control or the touch screen and stylus.  This release of Tetris DS was very well received receiving numerous high ratings, many citing it as one of the best DS games to be released to date. 

Majesco has seen huge success recently with the Cooking Mama franchise.  While the series originated on the DS it has seen a few releases on Nintendo’s Wii console.  Cooking Mama: Cook Off was released for Wii on March 20^th, 2007.  This sequel to the DS game uses the Wii remote to simulate many of the actions you would perform in a kitchen.  Things like cutting meat, turning a grinder and chopping vegetables were translated into proper motions and the graphical fidelity was better than the DS could manage.  This game featured 55 recipes from different countries around the world and there was a mode where you could compete in a cooking competition against many of Mama’s friends to see who could prepare these friends’ native dishes the best.  It was the first time people could compete in a multiplayer version of Cooking Mama.  Cooking Mama: Cook Off received mixed reviews.  There were many people who stated the game wasn’t as intuitive or responsive as the DS versions of the game. 

WWII was a huge point in the world’s history.  There have been many games that explored nearly every aspect of that famous conflict.  On March 20^th, 2007 Wii owners were able to take to the skies in Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII.  This combat flight simulator had players take a position in Eagle Squadron as they fight in many of the most famous WWII aerial battles, including the Battle of Britain.  There were 46 different fighter aircraft available that each handled appropriately to its role and featured unique weapon load outs.  The game, despite being epic in feel, was criticized for sluggish controls and bland graphics. 

So there you have all of the North American releases and events that happened during the past week.  Before we leave, though, we can’t forget our friends from other areas of the world.  Here are the events that happened during the week in other countries. 

March 14th: 2008 – No More Heroes, Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (Europe)

March 15th: 2007 – Sonic and the Secret Rings (Japan)

March 16th: 2001 – Pokemon Puzzle League (Europe)

                     2006 – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Europe)

March 17th: 2005 – Donkey Konga 3 (Japan)

March 18th: 1993 – ActRaiser, Battle Clash (Europe)

                     2005 – Resident Evil 4 (Europe)

March 19th: 1994 – Super Metroid (Japan)

                     1998 – Aerofighters Assault (Japan)

March 20th: 2009 – MadWorld (Europe)

If you know of anything coming up that you’d like to see included in this feature please feel free to leave us comments, or send me an email.  You can also talk about anything you’ve read over in our forums.  We’ll be back again next week to take a look at the events that occurred in the upcoming week.  Until then, we’ll see ya’ later.