the_shpydar

My love of Japanese-style insanity may force me to pick up Muscle March. At the very least, i can have it on my Wii Menu next to Sexy Poker to confuse and terrify people. =)

Can anyone reccommend a reliable UK-based shop to import from? This and a few other non-US releases are on my wanted list.

I need to get back to this game this weekend -- only have had a chance to put in an hour+ since i picked it up on release. Snowstorm's coming to NY and the northeast US, so perfect timing!

Even in my limited time withg the game so far, i'm amazed at how excellent the total package is. Excellent mention of Eternal Darkness in the review; i was getting the same sort of vibe here. And i will continue to maintain that the game should be immediately shown to any developers who whine about the "underpowered" graphical abilities of the Wii.

Side note -- Game Informer gave it a mediocre review, and reading the review i honestly thought that the reviewer must have been playing an entirely different game or an earlier build. Perhaps an interesting read for those who have played the game through, i think.

Great week, but nothing for me as the one game i'd probably get -- Blaster Master, of course -- i already have.

(Of course, that meant nothing in the past when considering a large portion of my VC d/Ls, so ... )

A fair review; i love the game and would probably bump it up a point, but it hasn't aged well. Though, to be fair, a lot of its problems were common at the time it was released when developers were still kinda getting the hang of 3D and analog controls. In '96, this game was amazing; i had friends who were Star Wars fans and not gamers who would make me play this just to watch it -- remember, this came out before the prequels, in one of the "quiet times" of Star Wars's pop culture presence.

I didn't read their review yet, but i believe Nintendo Power gave this a lowly 4/10. Yikes.

This is the first fairly positive review i've seen of the game so far; other reviews have destroyed it as a short, shoddy, boring (jump-scares notwithstanding) game with horrible control issues. But maybe i'll check this out on a rental; i do like that it's something of a different style of gameplay.

I picked the game up on Sunday about 10 minutes after GameStop opened and raced home to crack into it. Oh. My. Goodness. I knew i'd love this game no matter what, but yowza, is this game incredible. I've only begun to scratch the surface, but i'd already put it up alongside SMB3 and SMW as one of the best Mario games of all time, and it could surpass either or both; i'll see as my play time increases.

One thing not mentioned in the review regarding the music (didn't see if any comments mentioned this) -- the enemies bopping to the rythym! Hilarious and a very nice little touch.

Loving this game as much as the original. Good week for retro franchise revivals on WiiWare; the Frogger game is also quite good.

Video games ARE toys. Even the PS3 and 360 are toys. While the most common definition/use of the word is in association with children, "toy" itself means an amusement, a leisure-pastime. Just because they call themselves "multimedia devices" or "entertainment systems" doesn't change the fact that they're toys. Just because something is positioned at or maketed towards adults doesn't make it any less of a toy.

I only just heard about this game yesterday or the day before, but i'm totally looking forward to it. Still wondering on available control schemes, though; I hope there's a variety control types from motion-based to standard.

We can only hope he's referring to some type of Nintendo-Saturday Night Live team up to produce "Lasercats!: The Video Game" =)

Didn't get the email/code yet either, but i too waited a bit before selecting the reward. Hoepfully should be along soon!

Cool. Loved Frogger back in the day (as well as the sequel, ThreeDeep!).

But i do still have a bad taste in my mouth from the recent purported "Frogger 2" that appeared on XBLA -- easily one of the worst games ever made. I only played the free demo of that one, and i still want my money back

Insta-buy. I put so much time in to the original back in the day. And you couldn't even save the track designs!

... now waiting on a WiiWare update of Mach Rider ...

ZAMN, sweet. Perfect example of a game that, while i could continue to just emulate to play it, i will gladly purchase.

Golden Axe, despite my absolute love of the game, will be a pass. 900 points is too much, considering i already have the the actual Gen cart, the VC Gen version and the version on XBLA (i think it's the arcade version, i forget). Though if it was 500, i'd probably get it any way.

RYGAR! YES! Now i'm extra glad to be taking a half day from work today! The arcade version was one of my serious faves. I absolutely loved the NES game (just recently payed through it again, actually), which would/will also be a insta-download.

Wanna pick up Lost Winds too, but i may hold off since i still need to play through Nyx and just picked up Boy and His Blob this weekend (only had a chance to play a half hour so far, but i am loving it).

Great interview. I too am looking more and more forward to this game the more i read up on it. It interested me when i first heard about it, but now i'm really anticipating it!

Heh, given their track record in the past 5 years, i wouldn't mind if they did forget all about Ninty development.

As was said, the Rare of today is not the Rare of the past (quite literally, with many of the developers/staff who were on board in the "2nd party" days having left the fold).

Hmm, now i know what GI was referring to when they recently mentioned that they'd have a Wii-exclusive cover story this fall (in response to someone who asked why the cover stories are almost always PS3/360).

I hope the rumored/supposed storyline is true -- that Disney's pre-Mickey characters (particularly Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) that were pushed by the wayside when Mickey & Co took off in popularity show up to take over the Magic Kingdom/Disney Universe and generally ruin Mickey and friends.

Hmm. For just 500 points, I'll check this out if it comes to the US. Seems like a fun little game.

I've always been pleased with every Gameloft release i've bought and never understad the hate they get. That said, i'm looking forward to this, but will wait for a review to see if it's worth picking up since i already have the SNES originals.

This really wipes out the HBC? A lot of updates have supposedly done that, but haven't. If true though, i'll have to skip this update.

@diego_pmc: Yes, Sand Traps is very cool. I thought the same thing, with a little polish it could easily be a 500pt WiiWare title.

After reading the article, i am reminded yet again why Trent is awesome.

I particularly like his comparing what Ninty is doing with the "casual" games and audience as analogous to how gaming was in the arcade days, an excellent comparison that i'm always surprised hasn't come up more in the whole core/casual debate.

I'd expect the issue of getting it on VC (and/or XBLA) isn't as much bewteen MS and Ninty, but from Activision and/or the Bond license holders generally (MGM perhaps? Or whoever owns them now). The Bond license has notoriously been heavily monitored ever since the whole "Roger Moore and Sean Connery are BOTH Bond?" thing back in '83 with "Never Say Never Again".

Oy! Lucky EU. Hoping that either Rygar or Solomon's comes to the US soon, preferably both, as they're both insta-buys for me.

Oy, a lotta unfounded Gameloft hate. Oh no, they made a weak $5 title that people are enjoying for a larf or two. They must be horrible! Forget the fact the majority of their other titles are well-recieved...

... counting down the seconds until this is pulled from the App Store ...

This one shouldn't even require a lawsuit, just a letter/call from Ninty's legal dept to the effect of "Umm, guys ... seriously?"

Wow, good thing i just added a bunch of points! I was already going to grab Nyx, but SSW is pretty much an insta-download (despite already having the game in other forms). SSW bodes well for future VC releases, even if we just consider other SW games from LucasArts.

Oh, and i too will add in support for Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Awesome, hugely underrated/overlooked game.

@Thrilla: The screen on the model was replaced. I'm sure you can find the whole story somewhere, but the basics are that the Game Boy survived a bombing in the Gulf, and when a tech took a look at it and hooked it up to a power source, he noticed it still appeared to be working. He replaced the screen, powered it up and ta da! Indestructable Game Boy!

I wasn't really interested in this game, though i do love the stealth genre. Think i just had a bad taste after playing a bit of the recent 360 Tenchu game (annoyingly glitchy in even my limited time with it). But after this review, i think i'll pick it up (especially since i've seen it for cheap) and give it a whirl.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Gameboy Adventure is a great one, very reminicent of the Jumpman games.

I'm with Corbie, the game was a bit to easy for my tastes, and that kind of turned me off to it. For whatever reason, i never really liked the game originally, even if i did appreciate its oodles of style.

I haven't played it since not long after it originally came out though, and with the constant discussions of "greatest platformer ever?" over the years, i really should give it a whirl again (especially as Mario-style platformers are towards the top of my fave genre).

No VC release on the horizon? Guess it's SNES GX time ...

I hope they at least release black (or other color) wiimotes in the US. A black Wii would be nice, but i've no plans to replace my system, and in my 20+ years of owning Nintendo consoles, i've never had a single one fail -- the closest is an iffy power switch on my NES-flavored GBA SP. My February 1987-purchased NES still works as well as when it was new! Meanwhile, other companies consoles have required 2 (under warranty) replacements so far ... ahem, RROD, ahem ... =P

@18 XCWarrior:
Similar deal for me. We rented this back when there was nothing else at the store for the 64 that we hadn't played to death, thinking it would probably be stupid (i worked at the video store so rentals were free for me). Absolutlely LOVED this game. Very short, but that just made me play through it like 3 or 4 times in a row. And the music! That's what i remember most about the title (aside from it's zany "Japanese-ness") to this day. If it comes to VC, day one D/L for me. I was actually going to try to get a copy on eBay or something, but now i have to double check my N64 stuff to see if a still have a controller pak to save!

Wow, this game is hard. I'm among those who still can't get past the first stage! Granted, i've so far only played a little bit after D/L'ing on Tuesday night, and that was after a few Amstels. =) It's "good-hard" though, and for a gamer raised originally on the 2600 and arcades, exactly the type of "hardcore" game that scratches that old itch.

BTW, anyone else reminded of Vanguard by this? It's nothing like that game at all, just has the 4-direction shooting in common. And i loved that game. =)

Picked this up on release; fun game, with exceptional style in both the artistic sense as well as in the gameplay. But a bit glitchy at times, and honestly a little boring. Not necesarily in a bad way -- just kind of laid-back. I'd reccommend it if only to financially support "different" kinds of games, which are sadly lacking these days. If this gets support for a sequel, i can see it being truly excellent. SInce it's been seeing a price-drop, i'd definitely reccommend it for those looking for something out of the ordinary. Or just to freak out your wife/girlfriend/significant other by leaving the menu screen running for a while! =)

BTW, to those who are hating on the game, you do realize it's from Tim "Psychonauts" Schafer, right?

I'm with those who were pretty sure there was never a Wii version in the works (i'm betting maybe they had a team tryng to port a version but couldn't get it done). Probably was going to be picking this up for the 360 anyway, depending on how reviews look.

I always think this when i see a review from a supposedly "core gamer" site/publication (eg, IGN, etc) trashing some casual or family game. Clearly those titles are not made for "us", and of course there is a lot of crap/shovelware out there. But there are so many review sites/publications that immediately trash anything that's percieved as casual, or "kiddy" or whatever, regardless of the game's quality.

It's essentially the same as if a serious movie reviewer immediately trashed family or kids films for no other reason than they don't have explosions or nudity or violence or whatever. It evidences what is, essentially, a tremendously unprofessional approach to journalism.

Now we all know how to pester Bob Hoskins should we ever bump into him on the street! =D

To this day i still can't believe that movie exists. Makes "The Wizard" look like high art (granted, i do love that cheesy movie!)

Meh, not that atrocious, but nothing special. Graphics are not "this-gen", but i've never put too much weight towards graphics when considering a game. May be a good one for young players who love dragons.

Heh, of course arcade Space Harrier finally comes out in the US when i've run out of points. D'oh! Hey SEGA, can i maybe get it for free considering how many million quarters i dumped into the game back in the day? =D

@Sean Aaron #7
I know the first FF game was released normally (albeit a few years later) in NA. It was after the first game that the NA releases became all wonky (with NA's FF2 actually being FF4, etc)

What a shame. Understandable and expected though, given the original sales. I may also have to make this my first import game; i wonder if there's a fan-translated guide/walkthrough online anywhere, or maybe someone with such knowledge might get working on one? I absolutely loved and still play the first game pretty regularly (and i still need to finish Guadia Quest, lol!)

And for anyone who hasn't yet,. definitely check out Game Center CX (search on YouTube). Arino rules, and it's very cool to see not just the games being played (SMB2 and Ghosts n Goblins are particularly fun episodes), but things like his tour of various Hot Springs or the Northern tip of Japan looking for random game centers.

@Damo #30: I suppose that is true, depending on what type of gamer you ask. But even the DOA series (at least the proper fighting games in the series) is about more than the boob physics . I'm just surprised there seems to less discussion/interest in how Metroid may/will be "Ninja Gaiden-ized" and instead the focus all seems to be on the DOA "fan-service" influence that may seep in.

Why does it seem that each time Team Ninja is referred to on this site, it's with respect to the "Dead or Alive" games and not the "Ninja Gaiden" series? I find it odd. It makes it seem like people think that the super boob-physics is all they do.

@Muljo: YES! You are one of the rare ones who knows it. Kudos!

Almost any color would be preferable to another white controller for me.

As an aside, does anyone else besides me use a "naked" Wiimote (no jacket, no wrist strap)?

@Prosody #9: Thanks! The name is an old high school nickname borne from a track on They Might Be Giants' "Apollo 18" album, and has just kinda stuck the last 17 years. Wow, i feel old. =)

@Clint #18: i thought the exact same thing, but LLRHZBBQ was developed by EnjoyUp and published by Gammick. Possible that some of the same individuals might be involved. Don't know anything about Akaoni; their website link is just a front page with an 8-bit style character sprite and an email address link.

EDIT: typos, glorious typos!