Time for another Avatar game. See previous reviews. This one also uses the new storyline, albeit abbreviated by removing the “Earthbender training camp” and “Southern Air Temple” chapters. Haru still shows up, in Omashu, but doesn’t join the party. As I expected of Halfbrick (having played their two DS entries) the gameplay is more puzzle-oriented with some RPG elements. Aang, Sokka, and Katara move as a group and you can cycle between them to use their abilities. They all learn new tricks as you go on, to overcome environmental obstacles and the occasional combat.
The spritework is lovely; clean and fluid, with plenty of colour variety. I dare say it’s the best looking of the bunch that I’ve played so far. There are fewer enemy types, both because of cut chapters and the chapters themselves are much shorter. I believe I’ve covered them all in these screenshots. I did notice Yu Yan archers, which do not appear in the other versions. Boss battles also play out differently, more strategic and hence more fun.
While the storyline is the same, it’s cut back significantly. They left in Bumi’s excellently lame joke and most of the important plot points, and there are still some civilians to converse with, but it’s pretty stripped back. It’s a concise way to tell the story and certainly a quicker game to play to experience that story, but missing two locations is unfortunate. However, it does uniquely have a large section set in the Omashu sewers.
I was surprised how similar it felt to the later DS games despite using more traditional controls. The puzzles are thoughtfully designed and can get challenging, especially the brutal chase sequences and final boss. There are also hidden health upgrades off the main path which aren’t too necessary outside said boss, but are a nice bonus to find.
Despite lacking voice acting, sidequests, and some locations, I might recommend this as the best way to play this story. It’s the most polished and fun game experience. I still think fans should seek out the console version though, for its more fleshed out story, and additional characters (and spirits!).
As part of a rewatch of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I’m playing video game associated with the show. Of course I had to wait until Book 1 was finished to start this one, and finish the game before Book 2. Yes, most versions of the first tie-in game bar the PC version share a unique plot. It’s a nice little sidestory, with some inconsistencies to be sure, but greatly enhances the value of the game for fans. Note that the PS2, GCN, and Xbox versions are mostly identical, and this Wii version is a port of that version with some motion controls added.
I would tell you to go back to my review of the DS one for a rundown of the new plot, but I’m always embarrassed by my old writing so I’ll tell you again now. The setup makes you think it’s a Mechanist situation where a gifted engineer is making machines for the Fire Nation against her will. You find out though that Lian, aka The Maker, has a grander plan to replace benders with analogous constructs and end the war by having a better army of robots. You also discover benders from every nation are in on the conspiracy. Tracking Lian takes Team Avatar (plus Haru, so that you can play as an Eathbender too) from the North Pole to several Earth Kingdom villages, Omashu, a hidden island with a lost history, and the Southern Air Temple before you confront Lian in her fortress in what has become a desolate wasteland due to her machinations.
Some parts feel familiar, taking cues from the show, but mostly it’s fresh and exciting to see new places and talk to people, even if they don’t have much interesting to say. Lian is a great character, and evocative of themes that are brought up later in Korra. Zuko has a scant few scenes: he captures Katara but is detained himself as a traitor, then has a few brief cameos. Really he could have been cut entirely without losing much; this game is about the new independent mechanised threat, and the Fire Nation just gets in your way in a few levels.
Zuko’s reintroduction in the first chapter seems to ignore his state at the end of Book 1, but at least the game then goes on to acknowledge his banished status. Lian’s plan to destroy the Avatar statues in the Southern Air Temple was, as far as I can recall, treated seriously in the DS game. The console version gives Aang a line to say that this wouldn’t actually do anything, but they should protect them anyway—salvaging that moment for me in terms of the order I played them. But Omashu is still regarded as the Earth Kingdom capital, remaining as a niggle for me. Nitpicks aside, the plot is fine for a video game, although chapter transitions can be a little narratively clunky.
Anyway let’s talk about the game. Each chapter has a pseudo-open world structure, with a hub town. You get quests, visit shops, then venture out along narrow paths to other hotspots, fighting groups of enemies in real time. There’s usually backtracking involved and fights are generally very easy once you have the full party, as long as you take the time to do sidequests and get the best set items. Yes, there is also phat loot. Combat gets more challenging and interesting on the few occasions the party is forcibly split. Unfortunately once you leave a chapter there is no returning. Doubly unfortunately, I think there might be a bug because after doing everything (so I thought) in Chapter 6 it was stuck on 98%, so I never unlocked the character gallery. Boo. According to the guide I occasionally used, it’s good to watch out for quest order, because due to bad design certain things become cut off even within a chapter. I never encountered this though.
I did however have problems with the game crashing, but that may just be due to a damaged disc. Either way, my play experience was occasionally fraught but despite this I had a better time than with the gruelling DS version. The sprite art there is more appealing than the wonky 3D models here, but I did like the lush environments here better. It’s also more quick and fun to play, and much more fully-featured. It does frequently make you stop to play a drawing minigame with the Wiimote to pull off environmental bending moves though.
Two more quick highlights of this game. The incidental dialogue heard just by standing around villagers adds both humour and world-building, which I appreciated. And as with all Avatar adapted material, I’m on the lookout for new animals, as the series is known for its fun hybrid animals. In fact this one was pretty lackluster for new hybrids but it does have some rarely-seen vanilla animals, with wolves and feral cats as enemies. A different kind of wolf with some perhaps armadillo traits is a common enemy, and the final chapter has a “deer” with some alpaca and rhino traits. Item names also reference minksnakes and whales. There’s also several spirits in the story: a forest guardian in the form of a horned bear who transforms into a man, a normal-looking badger mole who guards the lost history of the people of the hidden island, and a large owl connected with a sacred place next to the Air Temple. I liked seeing these spirits more than the animal offerings, although the game did also bring back many animals from the show as enemies, not to mention the variety of intriguing elemental machines.
Well I’ve gone on long enough. For now I’d say this is the best way to experience the new story that Flint Dille created for this project, but we’ll see how the GBA and PSP stack up later on. Keep an eye on the home page for my Avatar reviews if you’re interested.
Hyrule Warriors Hopefuls, part 3! Speculation about the Hyrule Warriors Legends DLC once again got me interested in fantasising and concepting possible characters for the game, even if they don’t fit in the revealed DLC structure. I had some fun ideas for characters, their weapons, how they would work… and maybe some rather phoned in ideas too. Oh well, bite me.
The Photographer (Link’s Awakening). Antique Picto Box -> Modern Picto Box -> Deluxe Picto Box (Light). The Picto Box emits bright flashes of light, and I guess it can fire laser beams maybe. Costume: to look like Wolf Link from Twilight Princess.
Tarin (Link’s Awakening). Odd Mushroom Bag -> Magic Mushroom Bag -> Glittering Mushroom Bag (Darkness). Tarin throws mushrooms that he’s collected, which can explode into clouds of spores. Costume: Link’s Uncle from Link to the Past.
Agahnim (Link to the Past). Wizard Staff -> Sage Staff -> Staff of the Gods (Darkness). It’s your basic dark magic stuff, but he can hit things with his staff too. Throw in some bolts of lightning for good measure. Costume: Nightmare from Link’s Awakening.
Fishman (Wind Waker). Lord Jabu-Jabu Saddle -> Ocean King Saddle -> Wind Fish Saddle (Water). The Fishman rides on the back of a massive aquatic deity, not unlike Link’s Great Fairy weapon. The whales obviously have big clearing attacks with their bodies, water, etc. Costume: classic River Zora.
Ezlo (Minish Cap). Mage’s Staff -> Picori Staff -> Light Force Staff (Lightning). Ezlo transforms into his cap form momentarily to peck at enemies, and to end his combos reverts to his Minish form and summons wind and lightning spells. Costume: to look like Vaati from Minish Cap.
Pinkle (Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland). Hand-me Down Tingle Tuner -> Fairy Tingle Tuner -> Kooloo-Limpah Tingle Tuner (Fire). Causes Tingle and his brothers to swoop down quickly, and also drop bombs. Costume: the Great Fairies from Wind Waker.
Alfonzo (Spirit Tracks). Engineer Wrench -> Royal Wrench -> Lokomo Wrench (Fire). Leave it to Alfonzo. He’ll smack enemies around with his wrench, and summon trains to steamroll groups of enemies. Costume: Gonzo from Wind Waker.
Anjean (Spirit Tracks). Rail Cart -> Golden Cart -> Spirit Cart (Light). Anjean tootles around in her little Lokomo cart thing, ramming enemies and shooting off light magic. Costume: Tetra from Wind Waker.
I wanted Jolene in but she’d just be treading on Tetra and Impa’s toes. Maybe as a costume for Nabooru or Impa. I also wanted Malo here, but I just can’t imagine him doing… anything!
See also: other concepts in part 1 and part 2, and my pixel art of the actual characters in the game here (third revision of that coming when they announce all the new DLC characters).
A birthday card made for the one and only @gaylegohell :)
It has already reached Burtie, so I’m not ruining the surprise by posting the pic here ;) Aaand I just wanted to show off a bit - I’m so happy about how it turned out! All the single-pixel stitches, that was fun! :D
As I’ve said, the Avatar Book 1 game tells an original story set after Book 1. To experience the story at the same time as I watched the show, I played this game; M. Night Shyamalan’s movie is an adaptation of Book 1. There’s two angles here: how this game adapts the movie adaptation, and how it follows Halfbrick’s previous effort, the Into the Inferno DS game.
I still have not seen the movie but I know a lot of details by reputation. From what I can tell, there are a few tweaks here to make it a more playable game that also coincidentally (or not) bring it closer to the show, the most prominent being that firebenders are able to create their own fire.
I kept being put off by the character designs, although they have their own consistency. Just because they’re different, they’re not necessarily bad. The Fire Nation army look is pretty cool and I do like Aang’s redesign even if he’s a very dour child now instead of a happy-go-lucky tween. But there’s still dissonance which can’t be helped.
The game frontloads some exposition that is not revealed til later in the show, which bogs it down a bit. But there’s also at least one new “event”, Zuko being trained by some kind of martial arts master called Jiu Jiao (not to be confused with Zhao or Jeong Jeong). That’s the kind of thing I look for, even if it’s simply a tutorial level for Zuko’s abilities.
Speaking of Zuko, he appears to be the primary protagonist, or if not it’s close. Levels alternate between him or his Blue Spirit guise and Aang. The focus on the game as being this dual story is welcome, with Zuko as a sympathetic character rather than a stock villain, just as the show portrays. However, there are a few downsides to the way the story is told, both due to alterations the movie made and cutbacks due to the scope of the game. But on the other hand, the added touches of humour in incidental dialogue are much appreciated.
Still, the game is competent enough as an abridged Book 1. But how is it as a game? Well, I had fun, although it is easy and brief. As I said, it very much builds on its immediate predecessor, the DS Into the Inferno game based on Book 3 of the show, but without the chibi style. As before, it’s entirely stylus-controlled except for the shoulder buttons to enter bending mode, but there’s a bit more of an emphasis on combat than puzzles.
It makes up for having only 2 playable characters with a sort of RPG progression system. You find chi orbs as a collectible or receive them for doing tasks, which can be spent on upgrading the characters’ skills. Don’t bother saving up though because they throw them at you, especially towards the end. There are also health and mana upgrades to find in the levels (there’s no backtracking, but the game actually contains more than you need to max them out). I felt invested in the characters because of this, and despite their abundance these collectibles were a better motivator than the lotus tiles in Inferno.
So it was a fairly breezy time, but I enjoyed the situations the game put me in, even if they were sometimes contrived in a game-y way. Maybe it helped to play along with episodes of the show. The enemies were mostly Fire Nation soldiers of various types, but there were also a kind of spider, as well as a memorable boss battle against Katara as Zuko! It is short but not bad by any means, and it’s the only way to play the Book 1 story on a handheld (if that’s appealing?).
EDIT: I have now watched the movie. So I can say that like the film’s comic adaptation, the game takes aspects or scenes of the movie and handles them better than the film itself did. And indeed tweaks the story in a slightly more show-like direction. Also Zhao in the film stabs Tui in the bag. In the game he hilariously punches the bag. That’s all I wanted to say.
I’ve started playing all the Avatar games. As I’ve said before, the first round released for Book 1 have an original story set after Book 1. The PC version is the one exception. It has 6 chapters based on episodes in the first season. The game itself is obviously cheaply made and not very good, but I want to talk more about its content because it’s not widely acknowledged. By documenting it more thoroughly I can perhaps save you from playing it but still bring it to light.
Apart from the show’s animated intro as an opening cutscene, you’re dumped straight into The Kyoshi Warriors, episode 1x04. The main gameplay is a simplistic Diablo-like clickathon; you’ve got 3D models, isometric view, painted backgrounds, and mouse-only controls. Each of the clicks has three skills which are unlocked through the plot: attacks on left, and on the right are the air scooter for mobility, an air shield, and a mist technique to hide from enemies. Other gameplay modes are inserted between small arenas of this type. In the first chapter we see the meditation minigame (click the distracting thoughts to keep Aang’s mind clear) and an Appa-based flying shoot-em-up.
We move on to 1x05, The King of Omashu. The game is fully voiced, with all the actors reprising their roles for the cutscenes, an abridged mix of slightly rejigged lines and new dialogue that gets the same points across as the show. The lunchbox key test has been replaced by fighting a bunch of hog monkeys, and the Flopsy test shows a new “chase” gameplay style which controls like the Appa stages but just avoiding obstacles. Then there’s a one-on-one battle with Bumi, which has the standard controls but feels different due to duelling single opponents with a range of skills. The difficulty is very forgiving; if you run out of health you instantly respawn and enemy are not reset. The other modes are bit less lenient but still easy.
The Scar of the World, as the manual calls it, is 1x7 The Winter Solstice part 1. After an Appa stage against a new kind of bird (”spine hawks”), you fight out-of-place canyon crawlers and later the also-new tiger bees/wasps. The new creatures are a great part of this game to me. The Avatar world has lots of interesting hybrid animals so seeing brand new ones for this game was really fun, such as the boar-coons in the Kyoshi stage. There’s a Heibai chase and another meditation here, but also a nice story moment that’s not in the show; meeting repentant Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers who regret their actions destroying the forest in the name of war and industry. The fight with Heibai requires the use of the dedicated Avatar State button on the interface, which is used only the once.
Part 2 of the Winter Solstice is the basis for chapter 4, The Crescent Isle. Just like the show there are scenes with Zuko and Iroh, mostly just repeating lines from the show. The Appa level that starts this chapter is not tacked-on like the others feel, as it recreates (poorly) the desperate flight through a Fire Navy bombardment. It was in this level I discovered the tactic of using the air scooter to skip right past all the bad guys to the next cutscene trigger instead of tediously fighting them; the game’s controls and hit detection are very unsatisfactory. Amusingly, the temple is stacked with Fire Sages, rather than there just being 5.
Chapter 5 is mainly based on 1x13, The Blue Spirit, although I was pleased to see it enriching its presentation with elements of 1x09 The Waterbending Scroll (pirates to fight, and the scroll teaches Aang a new move) and 1x15 Bato of the Water Tribe (Bato shows up for exposition). Sokka and Katara sometimes accompany you, throwing boomerangs and water whips, to help with fighting sections. But both they and the enemies often just wander around or lag behind, so it’s not very dynamic. The stealth section is very tedious but at least the new “croco beasts” in the swamp gave something to look at. The “scoot past all enemies” technique helped again to escape the Pohuai stronghold.
The final chapter adapts the last three episodes of Book 1. You fight some “frostbats” on Appa, then a duel with Pakku, infiltrating Zhao’s ship, a duel with the chain hammer guy, meditation in the spirit oasis (no Spirit World level unfortunately), and finally an epic beatdown as the ocean spirit (which in fact looks and plays pretty poorly, as does most of the game).
It’s too bad the game is not very fun, because it does have its commendable features. Being the only Book 1 adaptation (apart from the movie tie-in games) gives you the opportunity to play favourite moments from the show, and the few new plot elements and new creatures are worthwhile for fans. It also has some nicely drawn backgrounds, but just as many bland or muddy ones. It tries to vary the gameplay but each mode is pretty lousy. Finally, there is a section of the credits devoted to showcasing concept art for the project that could be of interest to fans. It’s baked into the credits movie so I’ve captured the video of it which you can watch here. So, now you don’t have to play this game. Unless you want to, of course.
A while ago I played the three DS games that were released for each book of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender (sometimes called Avatar the Legend of Aang). After collecting more games and DVDs of the show, I’m now embarking an a greater playthrough of games attached to the series, while rewatching it. As I did with Rayman I’m going to lay out the games and post links to my reviews here.
The first round of games produced for Book 1 had a new story taking place between Books 1 and 2, except for the PC version. The tie-in games for the movie however cover the events of Book 1.
There are countless other games, mostly for Flash, on Nickelodeon’s website, but none of them are very substantial and opening that can of worms is a slippery slope down a rabbit hole to some open floodgates.
DK as seen in Picross NP Vol. 8, courtesy of our new DKU Honourable Mentions Page, as provided for us through the efforts of forum member Milo with help from site-staffer Matt Cornah. Give ‘er a look, and such.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past companions, low-res pixel style!
Link to the Past is cool. But one thing I like about it is that it has at least four licensed adaptations to comics, each of which has its own additions and changes. The latest one, Akira Himekawa’s for the GBA port, even uses the design of Ganon’s Tower from Shotaro Ishinomori’s Nintendo Power comic (among several other visual references). I think that’s a nice touch. Anyway between the different adaptations, these are the characters that accompany Link on his quest, more or less.
Link (the pink-haired version from the game sprite)
Mitchell (fairy companion from Junko Taguchi’s manga published through Takarajima Comics. That’s how her name is spelled… I think they were going for Michelle maybe? Also I had to make up the colours.)
Roam (a rival character from Ishinomori’s comic who can transform into a bird-man in the Dark World)
Rahska/Rasuka (Link’s best friend and rival, and kung fu badass from Ataru Cagiva’s manga published through Enix)
Captain Arjuna/Leader (captain of the royal knights who accompanies Rahska and Link in Cagiva’s manga)
Ghanti (bandit with a mysterious past from Akira Himekawa’s manga published through Shogakukan)
The DKU, or Donkey Kong Universe, is a concept that was invented by some dorky teenagers to describe a shared universe created by Rare starting with Donkey Kong Country. Diddy Kong Racing introduced Banjo and Conker, who had their own games which had their own spinoffs. This is the basis of the website DKVine, where I am a forum member and occasional contributor.
Despite having a wide variety of games to cover, there are still a lot that almost were included the description of the DKU but couldn’t be covered, according to the Rools. The community still appreciates these and so I created a thread discussing these “Honourable Mentions”.
The staff liked it, and reached out to incorporate it into the main site. After much time and effort spent writing and gathering screenshots on my part, and on their end much technical jiggery-pokery and behind the scenes obstacles, the overall games list and first chunk of content has finally been published.
I’m quite happy with how it turned out, so if you’re interested in the sort of video game enthusiasm I trade in please check it out here. More updates will come as I write them.
X is a Japan-only game notable for two things. One is its impressive tech, rendering 3D vector-like graphics on the underpowered Game Boy. While there is still frequent slowdown, showing that it’s pushing the hardware almost past its limit, I still found it surprising… for the Game Boy. The primitive visuals do look very dated now, but that’s no reason to turn your nose up at the game.
Anyway the second thing is that this is Dylan Cuthbert and Argonaut’s first collaboration with Nintendo, which would evolve into the seminal Star Fox series. I was watching out for points of contact within the game, but beyond a few minor details, there’s not much in common. I’ll just headcanon it into the Metroid series somehow. (Adam Malkovich’s ship in Other M has the same name as the player’s tank in this game… there’s something there.)
X is like nothing I’ve played before. I think maybe that it takes many cues from Battlezone, the 1980 arcade game that pioneered 3D vector graphics with an open-world tank battling style. However much they were inspired by it, X evolves the concept with many fun gameplay innovations and level concepts. There’s different loadable weapons for different situations, the ability to launch your tank and become a low-altitude aerial fighter, warp tunnels with a flying minigame (the closest thing to Star Fox here), and many different enemy types.
In the space tank VIXIV, a big floating head briefs you before each mission. Being only in Japanese, a separate walkthrough helped, but the neat animations give you the gist. Your tank is then dumped in a huge world. The playing area is the same for each mission but they get a lot of mileage out of it by varying the objectives. You generally have to roam around, getting hints by docking with radar stations, trying to locate whatever it is you need to blow up or rescue. Your display has a number of dials and navigational tools to keep track of; fuel, ammo, and health, as well as a radar and minimap. The game is about keeping track of all these, managing your resources and time, and not getting distracted too much.
There’s a lot to take in, but once I got the hang of it I found it quite compelling. Escorting the truck convoy, or hunting alien cocoons before they hatch into evil butterflies, the final climactic showdown with the mothership. It’s amazing what they managed to wring out of the concept, although it helped to have savestates and a turbo button for the searching around phase. I did buy a copy of this in Japan, and was playing it that way until I nudged the cartridge during play and lost my progress. That is a fine way to play though; there’s a pretty fair continue system that rewards you for doing better in missions and there’s no Super Game Boy palettes.
It’s a shame they never localised this game, and there are no translation patches either, but it’s pretty playable anyway if you use a resource like this to help (the hardest part is fulfilling the specific requirements during the tutorial). It’s got that recognisable Nintendo touch from a time when that really meant something. Thumps up from me. Space tanks.
I can’t believe I missed what was staring me in the face. Even after translating many comics from the official German Nintendo magazine, Club Nintendo, I never thought to include Link’s appearances on the Fixed Timeline. True, I included the special OoT one which illustrates the game’s immediate backstory, but it doesn’t stop there.
The regular issues of the magazine always had a comic; most focused on Mario, naturally, but Link popped up from time to time. Tracking his movements is not easy though, as Mario seems to jump between living in the Mushroom Kingdom, an apartment in his native Brooklyn, or a house in the countryside near Brooklyn, and the lines can blur between these, especially when other video game characters get involved. We get either the magical realism of video game characters in a fictionalised version of our world, or a Mushroom Kingdom with frequent visitors or dimensional immigrants. But let’s deep dive on this.
Identifying the Link in question is simple. For the majority of the magazine’s run, 1991-1997, the last console game to be released in the series was Link to the Past. The cameo appearances in the comic reflect that with a design clearly based on how that Link was portrayed in official artwork. In 1998, there were two regular issue comics and a special edition comic directly based on Ocarina of Time (these were previously already on the timeline). In 1999 and 2000 the magazine’s comic was rebooted as N-Gang, and designs from OoT and Majora’s Mask formed the basis of cameo appearances.
Link first appears at Mario’s Christmas party in the 6th bimonthly issue of 1992 (1992-6). The previous comic featured Mario’ Brooklyn apartment, but the house in this one resembles one seen in the 1991 run, which is likely in the Mushroom Kingdom based on designs and events in the previous comics. However, there is ambiguity so it could also be considered to be in the countryside near New York. Link does not show up again until 1995-6, in Wario’s Christmas Tale, about Wario taking on the Scrooge role in a story based on “A Christmas Carol”. This story is stated to take place in “the video game world”, which I identify with a Mushroom Kingdom setting but with additional residents from other game worlds (which is not unprecedented). In this story he is a spirit who appears to Wario; however, so is Toad who Wario has certainly met. Perhaps his conscience or transcendent spirits are taking forms familiar to him? Either way, although I do not believe this to be Link it is evidence that he coexists with Wario in this setting.
In 1996-2 and 1996-3 Mariozilla has Mario made gigantic by Kamek’s magic. He and Princess Toadstool live in suburbia here, and he makes his way easily to New York. He visits Dr. Light who works there, and Link (the same one from LttP) is seen consulting a map with him. It’s not explained what they were doing. He may just be visiting, but The Night of Horror in 1996-5 and 1997-5 shows Link living in a Brooklyn apartment building along with Mario, Kirby, Toadstool, Wario, Donkey Kong, and Diddy. Complicating this is a story published between the two parts of The Night of Horror, Ruckus in the Cosmos from 1997-2. Luigi in this comic states that they are going to Earth from space, but an island looking very similar to Yoshi’s Island is seen. An explanation for this is that the Mushroom World is a parallel Earth from a separate dimension (much like in the SMB movie), which occupies the same point in space but in a different timeline. This story therefore takes place in the Mushroom World/video game world. Anyway, Link is there at the end, along with other characters who previously were living in Brooklyn.
All that to say that it seems the Link from LttP, along with other Nintendo (and non-Nintendo) characters, at least visited the Mushroom Kingdom for the holidays, or may have lived there for a time. Later he (and others) moved to our world, and lived in New York for a time. He then briefly returned to Mushroom World to celebrate with Mario and Luigi on finding a giant Nintendo 64-shaped spaceship, or perhaps had moved back. His only significant adventure in this time was fighting the monsters in his Brooklyn apartment with Mario and Kirby in The Night of Horror. I am pleased that his appearances in these comics correspond to some of his game appearances; the Mushroom Kingdom in SMRPG and (arguably) a fictionalised version of our Earth in DKC2, as you can already see on this Fixed Timeline. He travels elsewhere though, as I argue by his unused appearance in Golden Sun 2; we don’t know whether that’s before or after this, but I like to think that he did return to Hyrule in the end; in fact, a character in A Link Between Worlds is hinted to be him.
After this we have the three OoT comics I mentioned. Two are unquestionably canon; the third a bit odd and meta but acceptable. The Hero of Time is now the “current” Link for the remaining years of the magazine. When the Mario-centric comic was replaced by N-Gang, which features a group of teens in Germany who use fantastical technology to bring video game characters to life, we get a few instances of OoT and MM elements being brought to the real world. My take is that these characters and their consciousnesses do experience this; for them it’s a real event that happens, no matter their digital origins.
Unfortunately an additional factor in the first Zelda-related story, Freeze Frame in 1999-6, is that the events are part of a dream sequence. Adult Link appears in another Christmas party, but although such things are plausible in the comic, it’s shown to be a dream. However, the following Christmas in 2000-6’s The Witch Laughs at Midnight, a similar party is shown without that conceit. Adult Link celebrates Christmas with Mario and Kirby, as well as Banjo, Samus, and others. Jumping back though, the Ocarina of Time itself and (adult) Epona are summoned in 2000-4’s Gods of Olympus. The transformation masks from Majora’s Mask then show up in 2000-5’s Halloween Trouble Mix (for simplicity I say in the timeline that the masks are summoned by the N-Gang but I don’t think there is actually an explanation for their presence in the story). None of these are very consequential, but they happened so they’re in the timeline.
TL;DR: Link from LttP travels to Earth and the Mushroom Kingdom, which we already knew. He hangs out with Mario and friends and fights some monsters. The Hero of Time is summoned by German teens to celebrate Christmas. They also summon Epona to get them out of trouble and use the Goron, Zora, and Deku transformation masks to get into trouble.
Incidentally, to find out more about these official comics which were originally available in German, check out my handy spreadsheet. Many of them have been translated into English by fans of weird stuff. And as always check the zelda timeline tag to see the past and future of this project.
Ni no Kuni was marketed as a Studio Ghibli product, and that’s certainly what got me interested. The artistry and subtle worldbuilding in their movies has always enthralled me, and this was notable as their first* video game collaboration. (After Miyazaki was reportedly very disappointed with early PC adaptations of Nausicaä, there have been no Ghibli-related games aside from Ghibli-adjacent Lupin and Future Boy Conan adaptations, and some of their designers freelancing on various projects.)
The game delivers on that premise, partially. The almost painterly look of the overworld and the character designs are unmistakably Ghibli-like. It also boasts a Joe Hisaishi score, which is suitably grand but not broad enough; you hear the same tunes so many times that they will leave you gritting your teeth by the end.
This is a fairly typical JRPG. It can be slow and grindy at times, but it captures a sense of adventure and scale and the sidequests feel worthwhile. Each monster you fight can be captured, like Pokeymans, which means most of them have the same scale. I was hoping for more with visual appeal but only a few of the monster designs really grabbed me so I had a few of the default ones all the way through. They also evolve which resets their level to 1. This can feel unfair but it just encourages you to swap around so it’s not a bad thing.
Ni no Kuni was a DS game first, with a physical book to refer to, drawing runes on the touch screen, and turn-based battles. The PS3 version has extra plot and some revamped stuff (and more importantly, was actually localised), but loses some of the “point” of the original by making spells merely selectable in a menu and including the book in a clumsy digital viewer. The battle system is now more freeform, roaming around with skill cooldowns and AI-controlled partners. Unfortunately the AI is pretty shocking, with limited customisability, and again hampered by clumsy menus. I also found that simply mashing the attack button would get me through most battles. They just didn’t feel exciting for the most part.
So the game has a lot of flawed systems, but I generally felt positive after play sessions. I took the game at its pace, taking my time to explore, and enjoying the writing and surprisingly good English dub. Drippy steals the show with his Welshisms and loveable accent, of course. The plot is built on cliches but I still liked meeting new characters and seeing it unfold; besides, I guessed wrong on the twist so there were surprises!
The game can feel disjointed, pulled in different directions: the result of a movie studio helping with a game, and the game being reworked for a different platform and market. Cutscenes are sometimes animated but mostly rendered, and dialogue occasionally is voiced before dropping back to text. It can feel that the strongest aspect of the game is its fantastical world, but as you backtrack more the novelty fades and it becomes more video game-y. There’s a Ghibli-like experience in here, but stretched out and paced very differently. Once again I’m criticising but I’m fighting it because I really did enjoy the game on the whole (but I feel like I’m talking myself out of it!). The fact is, you can’t just enjoy this as a Ghibli fan, you have to be prepared to get through a whole JRPG in the process, and all that entails. Also the final boss is cheap and the credits underwhelming… I suppose it’s the journey that’s important, not the destination.
It’s another Lego game. I’ll try to be quick! The handheld version of this game has some fun additions compared to the console one, most of which I’ve experienced before playing Lego The Hobbit on 3DS: level-specific tasks, more smaller levels, character-specific super moves. All these make for snappy play that doesn’t drag. I liked controlling the giant characters like Metalbeard or Emmett’s mech; compared to console, they more effectively portray a fun rampage of destruction. You also get to control the motorbike on the highway chase, and there are even a couple of vehicle-based levels set in Middle Zealand.
However, overall I think this is a weaker version of the game. The in-game graphics don’t go as far to representing the all-Lego world of the movie, and it’s missing the all-important newly recorded character dialogue that occurs during gameplay in the console version. It’s a fun game and a good instalment in the Lego series, but capturing the feel of the movie was a great strength of the console game and this doesn’t do that as effectively. But it’s not one or the other; the two complement each other. After all, everything is cool when you’re part of a team. (Sorry.)
After playing this game, how could I not draw its loveable cast of characters? Those moments when you see them all together in a scene is heartwarming, knowing what they’ve been through together. I guess a lot of RPGs can say that, but how many RPGs have a Welsh fairy as a main character, eh? Tidy, en’t it?
Oliver, Mr. Drippy, Esther, Swaine, Marcassin, Pea
