Last week brought us the excellent Pulseman and Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen as the first two imports of the fourth Hanabi Festival. This week brings us two more imports, and again, both of them are great!
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II is the second and, sadly, last StarTropics game. You once again play as Mike Jones, who once again has to save the planet from the alien invader Zoda. Like in the first game, there's a mix of two gameplay styles - You'll have to explore overworlds and fight enemies in dungeons. Zoda's Revenge fixes a bunch of issues from the first game, for example, in dungeons, you can now walk in all 8 directions instead of 4, and you don't have to stop in specific spots, you can go wherever you want! The downside to this is that there's also a few new issues - But all in all, if you liked the first game you'll like this one too. Read our review to find out more.
Bomberman '94 is, quite obviously, the sequel to Bomberman '93, which was a Virtual Console launch game! The gameplay is still the same as always - Go around levels in a story mode blowing up various enemies, or play battle mode with up to 4 friends. Although there's no huge changes, '94 improves on '93 in quite a few ways, making it one of the best classic Bomberman games there is, so if you want just one Bomberman game this is the recommended choice! Our review will tell you exactly what the improvements are.
WiiWare has two new games, although we don't think anyone was truly excited for either of them! 5 Spots Party is pretty much just a "spot the difference" game, you're presented with two pictures and have to find five differences between them. For just 500 Wii Points it's as cheap as it can possibly be, so if you like this kind of game then you'll probably enjoy this. We'll have a review up in the next few days to tell you if it's worth buying even if you're not a huge fan of spotting differences.
Karate Phants: Gloves of Glory is a one-on-one fighting game based on the German comic book and cartoon series "Die Ottifanten" (The Ottifants), which, as the name might imply, is about a bunch of elephant-like creatures. The problem with this is that almost nothing related to The Ottifants was ever released in any country other than Germany, so at 800 Wii Points it's gonna be a tough sell to anyone not from Germany! We'll see if it's worth your time even if you don't know the series in our review within the next few days.
DSiWare finally sees the release of the ninth and (so far) final Art Style game - Art Style: BOXLIFE. Like CODE, it manages to turn something normally boring into something fun - Who ever thought making boxes could be entertaining? The game's objective is to cut out shapes from paper and then fold them into box shapes - So you better be good at quick thinking! Our review will tell you why this is one box factory you'll actually want to work at!
Another good Hanabi Festival week! Which two games will next week bring us? One of them will be the 300th European VC game!
Comments 51
Can't wait to see the review for 5 Spots Party. Who's got that one?
Can't wait to start hearing feedback on Karate Phants. I can definitely wait to start hearing feedback on 5 Spots Party.
Not direct buys for me. Again no LiT . 5 Spots Party sounds interesting though. But I'll wait for the review.
Sweet, already got Super Bomberman on the megadrive. But I'm gonna get it again cos it'l be easier to organise a 4-player with the VC version.
I think the "Party" in the 5 Spots title is redundant. It's always a party when I'm spotting the difference. Party party party!
Great, now that Europe has BOXLIFE the US better get the last 2 Art Styles in the next couple weeks.
@Chicken Brutus - You and me too on the 5 Spot Party.
2 great games on VC and one potentially good game on DSiWare so I can look past the terrible WW day, especially considering the great releases in the past few weeks.
While I'm German I still couldn't be less interested in the Ottifants-game.
As part of my adopting a stronger reviewing profile, I've volunteered to take these on as my first WiiWare reviews Corbie. Wish me luck!
Good luck Sean. Here's to hope that you've picked a good set of games.
I predicted BOXLIFE...
But I also predicted LIT and Core. Others don't appeal to me.
Overall it seems like a good week, however. I might get Zoda's Revenge at some point, same with BOXLIFE when I get my DSi.
Yep as promised I downloaded Bomberman '94!! i liked the first one! but Japan got it all most 2 and half years ago. I'm hoping America gets Smash Brawl next week (Then Europe and America will be more or less equal again) Loving the VC...
The problem with this is that almost nothing related to The Ottifants was ever released in any country other than Germany, so at 800 Wii Points it's gonna be a tough sell to anyone not from Germany!
A good game is a good game. (Look at NES Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers!) I'm looking forward to hearing a review on this one, and possibly even a NA release.
Just downloaded Bomberman '94 - It seems MUCH more blocky that 93! My other TG games have a kind of blur/blend to the graphics which takes away the sharpness but BM '94 is very hard on the eyes!! - Is this maybe because it's an import or something?!
Great update Europeans!
I wonder if 5 Spot Party is good or not...
Excellent update for you Europeans.
Anyone tried Karate Phants yet?
Alright update. Startropics is nice, but I have a feeling Karate Phants is gonna be shovelware, and that feeling is even stronger with 5 Spots...
Great, now that Europe has BOXLIFE the US better get the last 2 Art Styles in the next couple weeks.
Keep in mind the US got ALL THREE WiiWare Art Style games before Europe AND Japan got their first one so we can spare being late to getting all DSiWare Art Styles.
Good update, who cares about wiiware, everyone at EU: enjoy your Hanabi!!
Looking forward to Karate Phants. Holds promise in my eyes.
Heres hoping for the first GOOD fighter for WW. I don't think we will see this in NA though. Overall, decent EU update.
I don't think the Karate Phats will be a tough sell as long as it's a decent fighter. They also have an advantage of being to only fighter on wiiware right now.
I hope you get MUSHA next week. It's awesome
doesn't seem like a bad week for eu
Pretty good weeks lately. I downloaded a new game every week.
I got Sim Earth...
and Ogre Battle last Friday...
and today StarTropics II is for me.
And next week My Life as a Darklord!!
And then Kirby's Dreamland 3.
And then Tales of Monkey Island (hopefully).
Good times indeed, the second half of this year really starts BIG.
I think i wait for a PC Release of Tales of Monkey Island. I want the Game in German with the great Dubbing from Part 3 and 4.
I read the manual for Karatephants (you can read the manuals without buying the games after all) and UGH... The game is controlled entirely with the Wiimote. However, it doesn't use it NES style, you hold it the regular way and use waggle for everything! Even moving your character uses waggle! This definitely needs a review before I'll touch it.
Not a good update overall IMHO. OK, Zoda's Revenge is great for those into that kind of game. Cave Story, Lit, Robocopalypse, Colorz, Bonsai etc...where are they all? They were promised before end of July. There's still time but I doubt they'll release all those games before end of July eh. MFC, Mario v DK MMA as well?
Bomberman '94 is good, but how many Bombermans can a gamer have?
Art Style saves the day for me.
Think I'll use my Ninty points to download Pokemon Puzzle LeagUe and Mario Super Picross from the VC
@ 11: Those are at least franchises known around the globe.
@ 29: "how many Bombermans can a gamer have?"? This is only the second downloadable Bomberman with a single player mode! Is that much at all?
@ 28. KDR_11k: Are you sure about the controls?
OK, so I look forward for a review of Karate Phants, before I decide, to buy it, or not.
Yeah, another Art Style game! I downloaded it immediately at midnight^^.
Nothing for me this week, Bomberman '94 looks good but I already have Bomberman Blast.
LiT and Bonsai Barber will be instant downloads when they arrive, just hope it is next week before I go on holiday.
KDR_11k is correct about the controls -- I couldn't believe it. I've spent many hours with Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, but that never gave me the wrist strain I was feeling after a single bout with Karate Phants and that's just the controls.
Look forward to my review some time this week-end!
opeter: It's what the manual says. There's no mention of any alternate control scheme. You can look yourself by selecting the game on the shop channel, clicking on more details and then the view manual button.
I mean, I'm kinda curious about it but I'm not sure wasting 8ā¬ on that curiosity is a good idea.
@ Nintendolife: Your review of "Bomberman '94" sadly doesn't tell exactly the improvements to '93.
Can someone make a short list or something like that?
I'm surprised I havn't downloaded Startropics II yet, we got those games awhile back I'm a little interested in Bomberman 94' but I never really played the Bomberman games at all.
@30 I have had 3 or 4 different ds titles of Bomberman in my time! I currently have '93, Blast and LandTouch2! Thus.....
Oh no... I really hope Karate Phants doesn't turn out the way I fear it might.
edit:
Wanna know what's bad? When someone describes a game as being worse than SPOGS Racing... Why am I bringing this up? Because that's how someone just described Karate Phants...
Surprised they didn't release the two Hudson games together but this is a pretty good update for you guys. This makes the 299th release doesn't it? Does anyone else think they'll ignore the 300th, or will they actually acknowlage it with a secret unannounced game? Not likely with Hanabai going on but you never know.
@ 27. RGVEDA: Do you mean the German WiiWare version will not be translated into German?
@ 40. Rapadash6: Next week we get VC game #300 and it can only be Detana TwinBee, Kirby's Dreamland 3 or MUSHA. Smash Table Tennis can't be #300 because it starts with 'S' and in a 2-game-week one of the 3 other games will push it down alphabetically to be #301.
I think we get Kirby's Dreamland 3 as EU's 300th VC game.
@KS8- Ouch, worse than SPOGS? Who wrote that?
OK, so i finally decided, to download Karate Phants.
So, here is a mini review:
Well, it took some time, to download to SD Card, and kdr_11 you were right, I finally found the "More Informations/Mehr Informationen (I'm using an german Wii configuration)" and did read the manual. I took some time (about 10 minutes), to understand how the movements/attack commands etc. work.
The controls work the next way:
The controls will be the one thing in this game, that some people will like, the others will dislike them (especially if you are the type of people, who don't have patience and think, that results must be shown in the next minute). Than this type of game is not for you.
As I already wrote, you need some time and practice, to understand, how the controls work. But once you get it, you can finish the first 5 stages in about 15-20 minutes, so that you can unlock the additional character - the SuperOttifant (he has a similar suit to a combination of Superman/Flash from the comic books).
And here we go to the biggest problem of the game: it is very easy to beat (especialy if you use the head rotating combo all the time) and not only that -> it has only five backgrounds (themes) and only 7 Ottifant characters (5 main and 2 additional can be unlocked) .
Every stage has to beaten twice (as the classic fighting games have), so that you can get to the next one. As soon as you unlock the SuperOttifant, you can play once again all the stages, sou you can unlock the MammutOttifant (the Ottifant with fur).
In the screenshot below you can see, that the red player (the left one) has already beaten the right (blue) player once - this is marked with a yellow circle at the top, where you see the fighters lifebar:
GRAPHICS:
The graphics are cute, very sharp for the Wii (there are no blurs and similar effects, that modern 3D games have, because these effects try to hide the bad gameplay) and nicely animated. I did also like, that every Ottifant has an indiviual starting move etc. There are some different moving animation for every Ottifant in the middle of the action aswell. So the graphics are really very likable.
SOUND/MUSIC:
Now for the sounds and music: the music is nice, all the five backgrounds have different thematical "scores", like the chinese pagoda has chinese-type of music, the russian Kremel background has something in russian style etc. Also, the Ottifants have some funny voices, like the puke sound, the russian Ottifant does tell some words if he makes a combo or a hit etc. So that part is also really nice. Nothing spectacular, yet very good for this type of game.
Since I do have Mortal Kombat Armageddon for Wii, I didn't expect many fighting combinations, yet somehow, it would be good to have some hints in the manual, how to combine the movement and attack motions (the true is, I still have to discover some combinations).
What I do like is the humor in the game. It's simply so cute.
It would be also nice, to have more backgrounds (if there are 7 characters, there could also be 7 themed backgrounds, that would be nice).
As I already wrote: if you use some of the combos, especially the A+B button pressed - wiimote rotating one), you can unlock the first unlockable character in about 10 minutes (the whole game can be finished in about 20-25 minutes). After you unlocked the 2 additional characters, there is no other challenge. So, it is very short in that meaning. I will try to fight my rounds against all the seven characters, to see if there is another character (maybe and 8th Ottifant) hidden somewhere. But I don't think so, that there will be.
Multiplayer option are only the local type play for two players on the same screen with two wiimotes.
About the replayability: well, it has some great moments and if you need to take a break, especially only for some minutes, than this game is good for some fun.
But don't think, this one has a deep structure of fighting like Street Fighter or similar categorized fighting games (the slogan for those goes like this: "easy to learn, hard to master").
It's a family friendly game after all.
So my score for this games is a 6/10.
Because of the controls and because of the shortness.
Fighting games aren't exactly "beaten", you're supposed to play them against other people. Pointing at the length of e.g. Water Warfare wouldn't make sense either.
Yeah, I know. But in other fighting games you get more characters to choose from (or even more to unlock) ... and there is more variety (more backgrounds).
Thats one of my problems with this Ottifant fighting game.
And right now, I have noone to play, so I did have to play against the AI.
Maybe my score was a bit harsh: 7/10.
Oh, so it's not as bad as I heard then? How do you find the controls? Do you find the controls to be poorly-mapped?
Yes and no. I mean, they are somehow not common like it other games. You need to get used to them.
@ SKTTR Post 41
At least no german dub! Look at the Xbox Live Release from Sam&Max Season 1. For the PC there is a german Dub and german Screentext. In the "German" Download Version you have only the english Dub
I think there will definetely be a german Dub and Screentext Version for the PC, but i donĀ“t think for WiiWare. There are, unfortunatelly, very much WiiWare Games in Germany with no translation. The 5 Spot Game from this Friday is only in english also
Does nobody knows the improvements of Bomberman '94 to Bomberman '93?
Download: Spot the Bomberman in the Tropics and it will kick the Phants in his Boxlife.
please 5 spot party be good
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