Nintendo Okie

E3 is over and that means we’re back to normal, or what passes for normal at Nintendo Okie.  We missed the Week in History last week, but we’re back to talk about all the games and events that make up this week in Nintendo’s history.  Just wait, this time next year we’ll be talking about the 3DS in this article.  We’re making history as we speak.

Bomberman has been one of the biggest franchises in Hudson’s history and he’s made an appearance on just about every platform imaginable.  Bomberman DS, released on June 21^st, 2005 was the first time he would appear on Nintendo’s most recent handheld system.  The hero received a bit of a makeover for this title with the game having a bit more of a chibi style look to it.  The single player campaign featured 10 different levels with 10 stages, a bonus stage and a boss stage.  Multi-player allowed people to hook up together wirelessly for classic Bomberman action.  The game took advantage of all of the DS’s features with both screens being used for the playfield, the microphone being used for some actions and even the touchscreen.  You could send the multiplayer portion of the game to a friend over the wireless connection so that they could play with you, even if they didn’t have a copy of the game. 

Another character who’s been everywhere is Mario.  He’s seen action in all kinds of different games.  One of the biggest arenas he’s been involved in is sports.  Mario Golf: Advance Tour was released in North America on June 22^nd, 2004 and was a sequel to the Game Boy Color game Mario Golf.  If featured an Overworld map that had four different golf “clubs” on it that you could travel to in order to compete in tournaments.  The game featured a multiplayer portion where players could play the game together on one system or link together to play the game on their own GBA and you could even share clubs with friends who hadn’t unlocked them yet.  The game was nearly universally praised with critics saying it was a great game of golf.  It came bundled with a wireless adapter in Japan for multiplayer play.

June 22^nd, 2009 was download day in North America.  On that day SimEarth: The Living Planet for the Turbo-Grafix 16 was released on the Virtual Console.  There were three WiiWare games released on that day as well; Drill Sergeant Mindstrong, Family Mini-Golf and Neves Plus.

Nintendo has had a lot of success in the turn based strategy genre with their Advance Wars series.  Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising for the GBA was released on June 23^rd, 2003 to large critical success.  The single player portion of this game differed from previous games in the series in that it was more open and less linear than the previous game.  It still featured the same turn based strategy elements when in battles though.  You command different types of units; foot troops, tanks or planes through missions and you receive a rank based on how well you perform.  There were new maps, Commanding Officers, and units added to this game to make it a different experience than its predecessors.  This game was released as a bundle with Advance Wars 1 in Japan because of the original game’s delay due to the September 11^th attacks. 

Mega Man has seen dozens of releases across a few different types of gameplay styles.  On June 23^rd, 2004 Capcom released the Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the GameCube.  This compilation game brought together the first 8 games in the Mega Man franchise; the first six from the NES, Mega Man 7 from the SNES and Mega Man 8 from the Playstation, together on one disc.  In addition to those games it also featured two games that were previously unreleased outside of Japan; Mega Man: the Power Battle and Mega Man 2: the Power Fighters.  The game was highly praised for bringing all of these titles together, but some people criticized the game for not being able to remap buttons and complained that the button layout was reversed from the games original releases. 

June 23^rd, 2008 was Download Day in North America.  On that day Burning Fight for the Neo Geo, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World for the Sega Master system were released on the Virtual Console.  Gyrostarr, from High Voltage Software was released on WiiWare.

Alone in the Dark was released for Wii on June 24^th, 2008.  This game brought TV and gaming together with its DVD style episodes.  Before each level you would get a recap of the previous level in a “Previously on Alone in the Dark” style montage.  The game starred Edward, a paranormal investigator, as he tried to discover why a number of people are mysteriously dying or being possessed by demonic forces.  There was some controversy associated with reviews of the game in Europe with publisher Atari accusing some outlets of reviewing the game based on pirated versions that weren’t indicative of the final version of the game.  They threatened these outlets with lawsuits and claimed the games weren’t reviewed according to their official product review standards and should be deleted immediately.  The game received mixed reviews, but has sold more than 1.2 million copies worldwide across all platforms released.

June 24^th, 2008 was also the date of Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift.  This was an isometric turn based tactics game developed by Square Enix and set in the Final Fantasy universe.  Players would take part in more than 300 turn based battles commanding numerous types of units and heroes.  Different characters could take on different “jobs” that would give them access to different abilities.  These were expanded from the previous game and when characters were experienced enough they could learn the abilities of two jobs at one time.  This game was also compatible with its GBA predecessor through a link if both games were inserted into the DS at the same time.  This would give players access to the Libra ability from the start, which wouldn’t normally be available until later in the game. 

Game & Watch has become a seemingly weekly announcement in this article and on June 25^th, 1986 Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. for the Game & Watch.  This was a stripped down version of the NES game featuring eight levels inhabited with enemies like Bullet Bills and Lakitu.  It also featured power ups like the 1-up Mushroom or Star Man.  The game featured eight levels that Mario must complete in order to rescue the Princess.

June 25^th, 2007 was Virtual Console Day in North America.  On that date Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting for the Super Nintendo, F-Zero GX for the N64 and China Warrior for the Sega Genesis were released. 

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards for the Nintendo 64 was released on June 26^th, 2000 and was one of the few games in the franchise not directed by Masahiro Sakurai.  Kirby is stargazing one day and is hit on the head by a small crystal.  He’s then hit again is knocked out.  When he comes to he’s confronted by a fairy who talks to him about the crystal.  She realizes that it’s been broken into pieces, 72 to be exact, and needs Kirby’s help to gather them all.  The villain of the game is Dark Matter who wants the crystal for his own evil purposes.  The duo must traverse through the game various worlds, rescuing its inhabitants such as Waddle Dee’s, Waddle Doo’s and even King Dedede who’ve become possessed, and stop the villain before it’s too late.  The gameplay is a combination of 2D and 3D elements.  All of the game’s action takes place in 2D with the environments and the characters actually being shown in 3D.  The game was fairly well received, with the biggest complaint being the games short length, and it sold well with more than 1.5 million units being sold worldwide.

Our last release of the week happened on June 26^th, 2003 when Wario World was released for the Nintendo GameCube.  This platformer, developed by Treasure was the sixth game in the series and kept many of the gameplay elements of the previous games intact.  Wario collects coins from fallen enemies that can be used to buy things like garlic to replenish health or even bring Wario back to life after dieing.  If Wario does not have any coins when he dies the game is over and you start from the last save point.  Rather than just having to get from one part of the level to another, Wario had to collect Red Diamonds in each level and much collect a certain amount before being able to go to the next level.  The game was originally shown at E3 2002 as a tech demo and again at E3 2003.  It was considered a commercial success despite receiving fairly mixed reviews critically.

So there you have the events that make up this week in Nintendo’s history.  As always, if you know of anything we’ve forgotten or you know is coming up and you’d like to see included in the article feel free to let us know.  Before we go though, here are the releases that make up the territories outside of North America.

June 20^th

1989 – 1943: The Battle of Midway (FAM, Japan)
2008- Personal Trainer: Cooking (DS, Europe)

June 21^st

1984 – Family BASIC (Fam, Japan)
1985 – Kung-Fu (Fam, Japan)
1993 – Battle Clash (Sfam, Japan)

June 22^nd

2001 – GBA (Europe)
                Kirby 64 (N64, Europe)
2007 – Mario Party 8 (Wii, Europe)

June 23^rd

1993 – Super Off Road (SNES, Europe)
1996 – N64, Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64 (N64, Japan)
2005 – Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS, Japan)
2007 – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS, Japan)

June 24^th

1994 – Adventure Island IV (Sfam, Japan)
1997 – Mario Kart 64 (N64, Europe)

June 26^th

2008 – Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii, Japan)