argus

Isn't the Wii the cheapest of the 3 home consoles? Over the past month, I've seen Wiis on sale for $179 including Wii Sports and New Super Mario Bros. The bundle with Wii Sports Resort is also a good deal. Why should Nintendo lower the price when they're already the most affordable system? With all of the new colors and bundles Nintendo did this year for the Wii and DSi, I think Nintendo is probably doing great.

"a strong educational focus"
LOL

We won't really know until we see video, but my guess is this: while controlling the "paddle", you have to collect certain objects, shoot certain objects, and dodge the rest. So it's a combination of a few gameplay elements from the series (beat/void/fate). Power-ups could give it features from the other two - I think that's what's happening in screenshot 6 (core).

Whatever it is, I'm psyched

It looks really good! I think the limitation of characters/backgrounds (assuming it's just what they showed in the video) is probably because they wanted to keep it small enough for DS download play to work. Anyway, it's a cheap game and it looks like it could be fun to have around if you have friends to play with.

Amazon has Wii Remote Plus for $38.99 right now, but Flingsmash w/ Wiimote Plus is $32. So by my calculations, this game costs -$6.99 for people who want a Wiimote Plus. It was even cheaper on Black Friday ($29.99)! I'm not sure how that should be figured into the review score, but maybe we should go easy on it, since it's basically a free game. Maybe we should just think of Flingsmash as a "coupon" for WM+, since buying the package with the game will save you money. It's perfect for people who want a second WM+ for Wii Sports Resort or whatever.

This was one of my favorite NES games as a kid. I think 8/10 is fair, because this game isn't perfect. You can't duck, and the jumping can be awkward. So, I prefer the controls and combat in Zelda II. But Faxanadu has some unique things to offer. With its gritty look (reminds me of Genesis and TG16) and scary areas, overall this game feels more "grown up" than Zelda II. If you're a fan of platformers, it's definitely worth 500 points.

@Scottie - I've played Cave Story on Wiiware, and Faxanadu is a much better game.

It was supposed to come out this month on Wiiware, and they are just now trying to deal with the size issue? How did they not plan for this in the first place? How embarrassing.

There is no way I would pay $20 for this on a retail disc. I'd rather skip it and buy 2-3 Wiiware games for that price.

Why are the "screen shots" 800x600 when the Wii is lower resolution than that? And why is the Youtube video 720p? It's misleading.

To the people questioning whether or not this kid is a "hero".... he's just a little kid. Most kids would be crying and screaming if they were in a dark, flipped over car. He's 7. After he used his DS as a flashlight to locate the cell phone, he helped his 5 year old brother get out of the car. Then he came back and helped his mom get out of the car. It sounds like this kid stayed calm and acted fast to help his family get out of the car. If his local community wants to call him a "hero", what's the big deal?

Yeah, this sounds just like the Metroid Prime Hunters controls. That game was great, but the controls hurt my hands. The controls in MPH feel smooth and give the player good aim, but it was totally awkward and uncomfortable. I really loved that game, so I kept playing - but even after months of playing, it still hurt my hands to play. Also, I always felt like my performance was hindered by the awkwardness... because I couldn't really tap the L button (while supporting the weight of the system with that hand) as fast I can usually mash a button in games.

@rjejr: you might want to check this out http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/retro/bce5/

I'm tired of the Mario universe, and I'm tired of paying $50 for games. So, this might be just right for me. And even though I'm approaching 30, there's something about a rocket-powered snowboard that really appeals to the kid in me. It looks rad!

There has to be some very smart compression going on here, and maybe some textures are being generated when the level starts up... so, I hope the load times aren't too bad. When the game is out, I'd be interested to read the developer's comments on how they pulled this off. Maybe a post mortem would be good.

I'll wait for some reviews to see how everything holds up. If the game is too easy, I'll pass. If there's some challenge and replay value, then I'll go for it.

Aren't we talking about a system that we know almost nothing about? We haven't heard about any games, we don't know the price, and we don't know what it looks like.

Want to buy: 8.8 percent
Interested in it, but currently don't want it: 55.8 percent
Don't want it: 35.3 percent

Those numbers are much more optimistic than I would have expected. I mean, 28.3% of the people polled are over the age of 50... not a big gaming demographic. Almost everyone else is interested!

It looks very slow and uninteresting. There aren't nearly enough enemies. It's a shame, because this game looks great in stills - but the gameplay looks dull. Pass.

"Cave Story might not have the visual flash of some WiiWare titles we've seen, but don't let that fool you."

Really? I haven't bought Cave Story yet, but based on Youtube videos and screenshots I've seen, I've thought it was one of the best looking games on Wiiware.

@Jeroen - Who said anything about Daniel Dae Kim? This guy doesn't look anything like him.

After reading the very positive review, I was expecting something like a 9/10. I guess the color confusion is really that bad and points were deducted for it? Anyway, it seems like a solid game and thanks for the informative review.

I just noticed that there's also a PC version, for $15. Wiiware is the better deal, so that's the way to go... but the PC version has a free demo, so I'll be checking that out first.

I tried out the original for the DS and didn't like it. It seems like a good concept at first, so I had high hopes for it. The gameplay just didn't work for me, though. Based on the reviews at Metacritic (score is 59/100), I'm not the only one who had issues with it. Hopefully the Wii one will be better and fix the problems that the DS one had.

I had this game back in 1991/1992, and reading this review really brought back some memories! I never got to try multiplayer, because I think this game was pretty obscure (at least, none of my friends had it). Deathmatch against bots was fun.

This looks pretty good... so why is it only 500 pts? That has me worried.

From the video, it looks like this game was put together reasonably well. I'm not really into holiday games, but they could do alright with this if it's 500 points.

The gameplay is pretty different for each one, so I hope people aren't giving up on the series just because they didn't like Beat. Core is my favorite. Anyway, they're a good deal at $6 each, and they don't require you to own every game to enjoy the series.

BIT.TRIP CORE is probably the best game I've played all year. Can't wait for VOID!

6 levels with 6 stage each with 6 puzzles each? Wow... I wasn't expecting that kind of length from this game. 216 puzzles sounds like a great deal, so I might have to get this.

Question: is it possible to skip puzzles, stages, or levels? I ask because it sounds like some of the puzzles can get frustrating. It would be nice to skip a particularly tough puzzle and then come back to it later.

I wanted to like this game - really. Unfortunately, the bad controls are game-breaking to me. It's a shame, because the same developer made Drawn to Life, which had perfect platforming controls.

Scribblenauts had so much potential. The idea is brilliant, and I'd like to see it executed properly someday. I would have liked d-pad character movement and stylus camera control. Or just better stylus control.

I have some other minor gripes which affect my opinion of the game, and I'm surprised other people haven't mentioned these. For example, why does a trampoline make a fire truck bounce across the room? Why does a trampoline sometimes shoot through the floor and out of the level? Why does a small fan move a tank?

Opinions will vary greatly for this game, due to its groundbreaking ideas and glaring flaws. I personally agree with the content of this review, but I think a 7/10 is too generous.

Ghostfire's other wiiware game, Helix, was awesome. I'll be keeping my eye on this one. Helix 2 with MotionPlus support would be even better.