2105 recap: Nintendo Wii

It's doesn't take a whole lot to be a Top 10 most played Wii game on my system. Lol

I didn't finish many Wii games this year but the quality more than makes up for it's quantity.

1. The Twillight Princess
2. Metroid Prime
3. Bully Scholarship Edition

The Twillight Princess is such a massive Zelda experience that I didn't expect to take that long to finish. I really should have started this game a few years ago as now I still have Skyward Sword to finish before the new Zelda on Wii U. That's a nice first world problem to have.

It's been years since I picked up the Metroid Prime Trilogy and yet here I am finishing just the first Metroid Prime. I hope I don't take this long to finish the other two Prime games left. Then again, it's going to be a while before we see the next console Metroid game anyways.

It dawned on me that all 3 of these games are enhanced ports of older games from two generations ago. This will change next year as I actively complete the remaining Wii games on my backlog.

Good Old Fashioned Fun

Satoru Iwata, the beloved CEO of Nintendo has sadly passed away last weekend. It's hard to understate the impact of his passing because he was such a public figure for Nintendo. Having possessed all the Nintendo systems released during Iwata's reign, I do feel the desire to talk about what makes them great, or even superior to their peers.

I loved how Nintendo games has no difficulty class. This may create a perception that the games are easy but personally, attaining 100% in any one of these games is probably harder than any platinum trophy I have earned. The lack of difficulty class puts everyone on the same page, how far you decide to take it is up to you. In some ways, Nintendo is teaching you to let go of your elitism and all just co-exist as one. There are no casual or hardcore gamers, just the love for the game. Playing games is not an entitlement, I can play anything I choose without someone making a funny comment.

I also loved how Nintendo games speaks to their audience in a way other games just don't. Most games treat you as a dumb ass who can't remember what you learn in the first 5 hours and are content to hold your hand all the way by spoon feeding you. Metroid and Zelda teaches you the basic tools and expect you to apply them throughout the game. When you get stuck in the game, there are no hints to help bail you out that will just magically appear. It can be frustrating at times but the feeling of finding your own way out is unlike anything. It also speaks of the level of confidence Nintendo have to deliver a game and expect gamers to "get it". Like a masterful filmmaker who doesn't do unnecessary frequent flashbacks because all the cues are there.

I didn't have many Nintendo systems when I was younger due to strict parenting. I did get a Gameboy but have always long for a Super NES during my childhood. While modern games strive to be cinematic and forget gameplay, Nintendo never loses sight of what's important. Some may find that old fashioned but sometimes we just need a little old fashion. Right, agent Coulson?

The Big White Elephant

With the next-gen consoles just days from release, I thought it would be nice to address some issues which only the biggest of geeks would be interested in -backward compatibility. Yes I know this topic has be discussed and dissected apart to the point where the conclusion is always remains the same; everyone wants backward compatibility but nobody ever really makes use of it.

The trend I am noticing these days is how backward compatibility also affects the second hand game market especially in the early days of the console launch. Try looking up second hand prices of Wii games and you will notice that most are fetching high prices. Not so much for PS3 games, in fact from what little I gathered most gamers are actually letting go of their PS3 games because they know the PS4 will not be able to play them anyway. So this creates an abundant supply of unwanted PS3 games on the second hand market as opposed to the Wii.

Now the Nintendo Wii U has not be generating brisk sales as its predecessor but the "hardcore" gamers that refused to support a non-HD console during last generation are among the early adopters. Naturally they would have missed out on the Wii software and thus, are now generating high demand for exclusive games such as Xenoblade, Metroid Prime Trilogy and even The Last Story. In fact I would say demand for Wii games are even higher than when the console was still active because of the rampart piracy of Wii games so Wii users weren't buying the software either during that time. Now getting the legitimate disc might be the only option to play them  upscaled on the new Nintendo Wii U console, assuming that the Wii U console have not been cracked open for piracy (I'm not too up to date on this matter). Therefore the demand for old Wii games are pretty high these days compared with the PS3 or even XBOX 360 games.

How about you, are you buying or selling old games these days?

Unforeseeable Headache

If there is one thing that connect me to my feminine side is my low tolerance for maps in video games. It's not that I don't like them but I hardly ever put them to good use, most of the time I prefer to rely on my good memory to guide me through the game world. It helps with the immersion of the game though certain games like Silent Hill make great use of the maps, automatically noting down the locked doors and riddles so you feel that the map is actually contributing to the game.

Last week after clearing a backlog of Dead Rising games, I decided to finally get started on Metroid Prime Trilogy. What I didn't expected was to suffer motion sickness from playing the game, the thought never occurred to me from the time I purchased the game until now. To come this far from my great hunt for the game and bragging about it on my blog, only to give up now because I couldn't stomach first-person shooter was a real shame. I started to think maybe I overdid it over the weekend and intend to slowly ease myself into the game from now hopefully overcoming this problem over time. The map system in Metroid is a big help usually 3D map are a nuisance for me but Metroid's map really help me to keep track of my bearings and avoid any unnecessary backtracking. After all I'm monitoring my minutes in the game so I really can't afford to wander around aimlessly without making any progress. I managed about 35 minutes today and really thought I just about reach my limit for the day. Only time will tell if I can endure more given enough exposure to first-person games but the likes of Goldeneye will certainly have to wait.

Zero Suits Me Just Fine

Even though I have the tendency to leave things unfinished when I play a game for the first time, I don't have the foresight to compile a to-do list for future re-plays. Looking at the list of unlockables for Fatal Frame IV, it's easy to see which one is the most appealing and yet still attainable within my limits as I prepared to play the game again. Of course I'm talking about Samus infamous zero suit for lead character Ruka which requires 200 photos to be captured from the Ghost List.

Luckily for me I'm quite a completist when it comes to the Ghost list and enjoys the hunt of getting those tricky shots of disappearing ghost. In my first play through I'm came about 50 shots short of 200 ghost capture, so it should be fairly easy to unlock this. However in the process of re-playing the game I realised that the easier shots are already on my ghost list so most that remains the fast-moving ghost that require you to be quick on your feet in addition to being quick on the shutter button. That zero suit is going to feel all the more rewarding when I do reach 200 captures and who knows maybe it might actually inspire me to finally start playing the Metroid trilogy.

From Spirits to Zombies

Nothing puts a good bargain to waste like not actually making use of it and it comes to games, i have certainly had my fair share of those. Though I have no intentions of letting any of my recent good bargains go to waste the fact that i have more than one does complicate the situation. High on the list to play would have to be Dead Rising and Muramasa as these third-party games do have a tendency of losing their retail price real fast so i better not leave them idle for long. Metroid Trilogy can actually wait because i doubt i would be able to find it again had i not picked it up that time and as much as i'm looking forward to Other M, it probably won't be a first day purchase for me.

Between Dead Rising and Muramasa, the choice is really simple as i would prefer to wait until i have a classic controller in hand before playing Muramasa. That leaves me with Dead Rising which does seems like the ideal choice as its campy horror is just the perfect antidote for the spookiness of Fatal Frame IV.

Easter Hunting

I was doing my own Easter hunting this last weekend only it wasn't Easter eggs i was hunting for but video games. I was with a friend combing over all the game stores in singapore, big or small in search for bargains and rare games. Though i did managed to amass a nice haul of games this time, i could have gone for broke and grab the rare copy of Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations which i have a feeling i will regret later. I didn't prepare a list or have anything particular in mind this time around so i really wasn't expecting much especially since i have another haul of games arriving later this month.

The Metroid Trilogy is undoubtedly the highlight i wasn't interested in this collector's edition a while back having failed to be impressed with metroid prime hunters but after my friend started gushing about how great the series is (bar hunter) and even showing me his copy of the CE, i just knew i had to have it. I found the only copy in HMV City Link but still wasn't prepared to shell out full bucks, having just got Dead Rising and Uncharted during Gamescore Wii promotion earlier that day. As it turns out, i managed to snagged the Metroid Trilogy at stock clearance price the next day where i would least expect to find it but i supposed it all makes sense as most wouldn't go there to buy games. Notice the Uncharted happens to be the original black label packaging? Another nice find at Gamescore as these 're-packaged' Greatest Hits are a collector's dream come true, original black labels at Greatest Hits price though i was actually planning to get Uncharted 2 but prices for those were still too expensive. Despite all this new stuff, i still have more coming my way later this month which you should keep your eyes peeled for.

Another Try

I usually have a very good instinct about what I like and what would make a game great almost to the point where my friends would make fun of me for purchasing games not based on reviews or scores. Though I'm not very fond of first-party games be it Nintendo's or Sony's, the Metroid series was a franchise I knew I would like despite not having played a single game. From the great level design that inspired Symphony of the Night (and ultimately all subsequent Castlevania games) to the John Woo film that never got made, this was a franchise for me. So when i finally had the opportunity to experience the Metroid series for the first time, i didn't hesitate to add Metroid Prime: Hunters to my collection.

Though Prime Hunters was by no means a poor DS game, it certainly didn't showcase the series' best strengths and made me wonder if I was wrong about the Metroid series. Part of the problem was I loathe playing first-person since my PC gaming days and having to perform platform leaps in first-person is an absolute nightmare if you have every played Prime Hunters. Now that the series going to be a third-person game thanks to Tecmo, i decide to give the original Prime series a try. A friend of mine played a big role in this, helping sell to me how great the Prime series is and also how desirable the Metroid Trilogy Collector's Edition is. It's now or never as the Trilogy is no longer being published, I wonder how much of a chance i have in scoring a brand new copy without having to pay an arm and leg at eBay?

Metal Geared

I didn't have a good experience with my first Metroid game being Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS so naturally when the Big N announced that they are re-packaging all three Metroid games onto one Wii disc, i was still sitting on the fence whether or not i should purchase it. Then i saw the promotion pictures of how the box art would look and i was sold, the game housed in a metal tin box with a cardboard jacket looks pretty tempting indeed. To top it off, Nintendo is sure to step up and deliver updated controls and visual to the first two NGC games, unlike the recent Resident Evil Archives. The only shame here is Retro Studios are no longer developing the series and the price is still a little too steep for three old games bundled into one. My only concern at the moment is this going to be the standard version for all copies of the game or it is limited like numerous collector's edition?