Please refer to my previous Avatar game review, because this one is by the same developer and in the same genre. It has some improvements, though: now you can sleep to regain health in towns, and item managament and menus are much better. The camera is now fixed to one position, eliminating the frustrating rotation necessary before. Your party is now two characters, with contrivances to split up the party where necessary and later the ability to freely switch (this makes battles less hectic and feels balanced, as most battles are now easier). The chi system has been overhauled, and now refills outside battle, and attacks can also be used in the field to reveal items and secrets, as well as jumping to traverse areas. So a lot of my complaints have been addressed, and the result is a much more polished and enjoyable game. Plus, you can travel back to previously visited areas outside the chapter structure. And best of all, this game has Toph! Woo!
All of these things make the game better. Unfortunately, this one simply follows the story of Book 2 Earth, rather than forging a new path with an original story. In my mind, this largely eliminates the need for it to exist at all. RPGs especially live and die by their story, and while it’s a better game it’s less necessary to play as an Avatar fan as it’s just Book 2, which we could just watch. True, it does change things around, adding some details and completely reworking the ending so that it finishes on the drill with a happy ending (at least in the DS version…?). But that’s not enough, not really. I guess there’s always the appeal of exploring these areas we’ve seen yourself, and interacting with the characters in this new direct way.
It really is a lot better than the first one, but the fundamentals are the same. I haven’t played any other version either so I can’t compare, but the greater interactivity and detail in the previous console iteration would suggest that this game’s big-screen version is probably worthwhile looking into. I have heard that the 360 version is notorious for easy achievemnets, with the full 1000 points being obtainable in the first half hour of game play. I really should play the GBA versions some day. So busy with games… Well, I’ve outlined the basic tradeoff: no new story but better gameplay than the first one. Much more forgiving too, it’s not a trial to struggle through it this time. So, eh? Eh.
AKA Lego Harry 2 Handheld. As before, there were two variations, and now I’ve played both. This one, as a more modern game for more modern systems, is closer to the console one albeit scaled back. By that I mean it’s more 3D than isometric, and although a bit more fluid structurally is less out there than Lego Harry 1 Handheld compared to the console version.
In the process, you lose a lot of things that made the first handheld one unique. Gone are the touch screen gimmicks and the fixed perspective, the slightly RPG-ish elements and the more rigid platforming. Now more than before it’s kind of a lite version of the big screen one, rather than having more distinguishing characteristics. Having said that, it still differs enough to be its own game and worth playing apart from the big version, especially for fans.
You also find that the controls are less suited for the touch screen the more it tries to mimic its console cousin. Another annoying factor is the duelling. It seems to tack on duels all the time, and I’d sigh whenever one came up. I was happy to skip the extra in-app purchase for more duelling.
What else can I say? It’s a Lego game like other Lego games. Handheld versions miss the point of accessible co-op play as usual, being strictly solo. Lots of unlockables and junk. Swapping between spells is always annoying. Also the loading times were super long and it seemed a little less stable and more clunky than other Lego iOS ports. And the game is in landscape but the prerendered cutscenes play in portrait, so that they’re at 90˚ to your view and tiny. It’s a stupid bug that is amazingly in the game still. Overall though not bad, I mean I finished it so it was ok. Yeah, ok, alright?
Here’s another one I played to completion a while after finishing it. My reason for leaving this off was because I’d almost only played it in co-op with my bro (hi bro!), so when we’d finished it and I’d moved away I just didn’t play it solo. But to wash out the taste of Jungle Beat, I started a new file and got to 100% completion (but not Mirror Mode or Time Attack… bugger that).
It was really great, although a few differences I’d noticed from co-op to solo was that I was accumulating a lot more coins (because I bought less lives to use in levels) and that it was much harder, especially the secret levels. I had to buy powerups, which we hadn’t done before. It’s a hard game, man! But so lovingly made. (Not enough love if you ask some people, at least love for DKC—some fans are big purists). This time I was able to take it slower, really take in the music and the backgrounds. The game looks great and sounds great, despite the over-reliance on DKC1 remixes and mediocrity of most new tracks. There’s also too many rocket barrel levels that are too unforgiving.
Fortunately the follow-up, Tropical Freeze, seems to be addressing every single major complaint people had. Yes even that one. David Wise is back now to bring us awesome music, level environments are even more imaginative and lively, water levels and more Kongs are back with the gameplay variations they bring. A few tweaks have been made to make things more forgiving, despite the levels seeming to be no less difficult. Also, it has new antagonists that have a lot more character than the Tikis: alright, they’re not the Kremlings but they are superior to Tikis in the same ways the Kremlings would be, so although I love them in this case nostalgia has to give way.
Well, I talked about TF a lot there. Anyways DKCR is pretty damn awesome, along with the new Raymans 2D platformers are going strong right now. Sure it falls short in a few ways but it’s very polished and just fun to play, and well executed on its aims. Let’s keep this short and cut it off here. Play DKCR, it’s on 3DS now which is supposedly an even better version (despite some slight graphical compromises). Bring some patience for the harder levels though.
This is a very interesting game, for several reasons. One, the cartridge contains two distinct versions of the game, depending on what system you’re playing on, the monochrome version and the full-color version, but the differences go deeper than simply the presence of colour. The minigames are different, level layouts and environment sprites also differ, item locations and progression is changed. However, contrary to expectations, the GBC version is not strictly better: certain aspects, such as animations, are better in the monochrome version. I also preferred the always-on UI, but it lacks 8-directional slingshot aiming.
I should explain. This is a kind of isometric platformer adventure, with Conker roaming Willow Woods and its surrounds, fighting various creatures and pushing boxes around in puzzles, finding his way through large mazelike environments in search of the birthday presents from his party, which was ruined by an evil member of the anthropomorphic acorn race that populates his home countryside. Got it? Good.
This is the other interesting aspect: this game is a time capsule, representing the original plans for the Conker franchise before it got darker and edgier in Bad Fur Day. As I’ve explained before, the N64 iteration was in development to properly introduce the squirrel from Diddy Kong Racing, but had many ideas pilfered by the Dream/Banjo team, at which point Chris Seavor reworked the game majorly to distinguish it. Pocket Tales was meant to be a handheld accompaniment to the console Twelve Tales, as was done with many franchises and still is. However, in this case the main event that PT was supporting didn’t eventuate. A very curious circumstance.
Beta footage and screenshots of Twelve Tales/Conker’s Quest/whatever show that it was to be very similar: acorn people, the shorter chipmunk version of Berri (who was a playable character), persistent slingshot. These elements now live on solely in this watered-down version of the Thing That Didn’t Happen. (Did it happen though? Are unreleased games canon? Sure, why not, except where they disagree with actual canon).
As it is, and I played through both versions simultaneously, we have a slightly clunky action adventure game. Progression is a bit confusing: you can always ask the Forest Guardian where to go but I often couldn’t find him because I got lost. And in the hub too! I was using Nintendo Power’s maps to help me out, though. You find presents for doing the odd task or just exploring. The environments are a little samey but memorising the layouts is essential to getting them all. Enemies are annoying, it’s often hard to defeat them. Some of them respawn but health pickups don’t, so unusually health management is a prospect that extends over the entire game in long form. In a way every single health acorn is like a Heart Container or somesuch. There’s no upgrades really except items for helping you reach new areas.
So combat was not the best, but I liked breaking the game up with little block-pushing puzzles. The minigames were also not great, although one mimics Rare’s earlier game Cobra Triangle, which is also replicated in DKC3 GBA, an interesting tidbit from their history. Bosses were pretty good, and Evil Acorn (yes that’s his name) was always stringing you on with taunts. There’s also the mysterious Honker the skunk, Conker’s nasty rival to contend with you at various points (mostly minigame-based).
Unfortunately there’s not a lot to distinguish this game, but it’s a bit memetic on DKVine because it’s so obscure. It’s pretty much irrelevant to Conker’s Bad Fur Day but interesting to compare with what could have been, and going from this to BFD all the more underscores its subversive tone. It is a bit of a pain to play though honestly, and just generally clunky and vague. The characters who distinguish themselves are cool but mostly they’re just acorns with not much going on. The level concepts are cool though, from a tropical island chain to a medieval castle.
The Game Boy format doesn’t really do the game justice, as a result of Rare’s typical tendency to try to outdo the limitations of the platform. Sometimes this results in fantastic games, while this one is let down by those limitations. Still, a Rare fan should at least give this a try, and heck I’ll say it, you have no right to fully enjoy Bad Fur Day if you haven’t experienced Conker’s humble origins. I can’t really point out one version as better than the other, so play around with both and pick your favourite (although I had a heck of a time emulating both separately… oops, I gave it away didn’t I?). Oh and there’s a character called the Forest Wong. How can you go wrong with the Wong?
Alright, here we go. I borrowed this game along with Jungle Beat from a friend, because they were two games with a strongly negative reception in their respective fansbases, yet admittedly had their positive aspects. I was curious, almost curious enough to spend money to buy them myself. Having played them now, I’m quite glad I didn’t.
Not to get ahead of myself, but this one had the wider bad blood of the two. Its instant derailing of Samus’ character after almost 25 years is held as its greatest crime. I’ll add my own crimes to the list during this review, but between it and Jungle Beat, I preferred this one, the latter two thirds of the game were more fun. Inferior to previous 2D Metroid and the Primes in my opinion, but it had things going for it. Let’s get the crap out of the way first though.
Anywhere on the Internet you can find the criticisms of this game, especially the story-related elements. However, we can’t ignore the gameplay shortcomings: Enemies take way too long to deal with early on, the charge is so slow and they take so many hits. Action is broken up frustratingly with unnecessary shifts in control: slow-walking from a zoomed-in perspective or looking aimlessly around in first person. In the moment too, switching from the uncomfortable sideways-Wiimote to pointing for missiles is clunky, so much that I barely bothered with it. Finishing moves were poorly explained so I had trouble pulling them off, and half the time they didn’t “finish” them anyway.
Enemy designs were ugly and overcomplicated, and their names were just hideously unpronounceable. I guess it made them seem more alien? The environment concepts were interesting but they, along with the setting and premise, were shamelessly ripped off from Fusion. Music is basically nonexistant, and the ambience I either ignored or was drowned out by sound effects so aurally there was really nothing there.
The premise is poorly executed and the symbolic posturing is so, so hamfisted. It cannot be overtstated how poor the writing here is, and the monotone voice acting does not help matters. There are several main players who are not characterised at all, then killed off with little fanfare or consequence. The major plot points of the first half trail off to nothing more than implication, and while environmental and implied storytelling is a strength of the Metroid series, contrasting it to the extremely in-your-face storytelling applied elsehwere leaves a lot of impact to fall flat.
Samus’ boobs are too big and her suit has heels. Heels, people. Her eternal monologuing inspires dread. And not Metroid Dread, hopefully. I wouldn’t normally use phrases like ludo-narrative dissonance but, uh, Other M has got it. I wanted to watch the cutscenes but at the same time I didn’t want to. And the whole thing ends on an anti-climax.
On the other hand, uh, running around feels good. Whew, I’m all ragey from that. Should have started with the good stuff. Well, it looks pretty. The map’s pretty good and the part of the game where you go around hunting items was fun enough for me to get 100%. Must be because there’s no talking, no plot, no forced sections. The abilities you get make you feel powerful, although by the end you could say overpowered, possibly because the enemies don’t really ramp enough I guess? I like the implementation of the speed boost and stuff with the level design. I also liked some of the environmental concepts with holograms, but there wasn’t enough of it.
Basically I’d agree that it’s a big misstep in the series. I chalk it up to the interpretation of Samus, the ludicrous excuses they put up for the gameplay constraints (the authorisation system gets too much hate probably, but it’s partially justified), and the one that surprised me was the almost complete ignoring of the Prime games. This is a very Japanese product, and you get the feeling that the arrogant and possessive Sakamoto didn’t care for what those Westerners did with his baby. So he made this? Really, this? I blame him for a lot of problems with the game, mainly because I like a figurehead to point the blame at, like Miyamoto. In some ways it competently evokes an extension of the 2D games into a pseudo-3D setting (it’s 2.5D really, maybe 2.75D at best), but in others it’s going against that. So I don’t know what its goals are.
I’ve seen the game for $10 and if you’re able to ignore very large aspects of a game to focus on the good parts, it’s worth it for that. The fighting is different to any Metroid before it, but the exploration feels pretty Metroidy. And the concept of telling a more in-depth story is interesting, but executed very poorly. My wife couldn’t bear to be in the same room as the game because of the talky parts. But it pretty much ruined the series for a few years, and the follow-up has to be good. That’s why some people wanted Retro to have another go (shut up, Tropical Freeze is gonna be awesome!). I like being up on all the happenings and lore and gameplay of all my favourite series, so I needed to play this. You don’t have to. Thumbs downnot ironically
Supper Mario Broth brings Luigi’s adventures in the Waffle Kingdom from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door to life in comic form! Join Luigi and his friends on an adventure that’s got giant snakes, supercharged kart racing, theatrical intrigue, loads of pastry, and much, much more.
Super Luigi and the Marvelous Compass updates weekly with new pages.
I guess this amounts to fanfic, which I’m not really into, but this comic is super well-done, with great fanservice and scenarios that fit right into the Mario world. Plus it’s just building off the backbone of an existing story anyway, namely Luigi’s tall tales in Paper Mario 2, and adding tons of detail. The art is really unique and interesting and the author is very thoughtful and dedicated. Read the comic and give him some feedback!
Haha! Surprise, suckers! Who loves Donkey Kong? Who’s excited for Tropical Freeze in a few weeks? Me, that’s who! In honour of said game, I’ve retranslated this weirdo little comic, one of the few to prominently feature the Kongs. It starts with a similar premise of unnatural cold, but quickly veers off the deep end with a trip to Washington and then to outer space. Add this to the list of Kong space-travels, along with Jungle Climber, Barrel Blast, and… sigh, Jungle Beat. Also the whole moon-punching thing from Returns.
Anyways, this comic is a good one, and I’ve tried to do it justice. There’s a metric barrel-load of text squeezed into those little bubbles, but I couldn’t bear to cut any. I tried to spice it up where I could, while staying as true as I could to the original. For instance, there’s a few very deep German cultural references, which I’ve kept intact and tried to explain with annotations.
So enjoy this comic, and let it get you in the mood for Tropical Freeze! We even have Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky tagging along here, just like in the game! Unlike the game, however, Kiddy Kong is also here. We still love you Kiddy!
Special mention to Twilight Vestige, who ages ago translated this comic for the DKvine forums. I thought it deserved a high-quality scanlation though, no offence Twi! She just got the drop on me by a few years. And thanks for the likes!
Since Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is coming out soon, here’s a translated panel from Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24, a German Club Nintendo comic from 1996, that seems very appropriate.
Spoilers: I’m translating this whole comic myself right now. It’ll be ready very soon, for the DKCTF launch. Also, drop me a line SMB if you want to collaborate on a comic. Even if you just want to provide some scans, and I’ll do all the work. :)
Haha, more platformers. Up front: I didn’t like this game. Rare for this blog, but this is one I couldn’t bear to spend money on, but when I saw a friend had it I was eager to borrow it. In the Donkey Kong fandom this game is quite maligned, and I had to find out for myself whether it was truly a stain on DKC’s legacy or a genuinely fun game that in hindsight had a misguided direction. Spoiler: stain.
Now, to be fair, the game as originally intended involved exclusive use of the bongos, a unique control scheme that could have made for a fun experience, I’ll grant. But aside from fundamental design issues, the NPC release hugely nerfed mechanics and changed things around, for the worse I feel. It’s the only NPC game that made significant changes to content, but the changes suck. The clap is much weaker, and directional, and its functionality has been split between two inputs. A new health system replaces the purely beat/point-driven scoring system, again splitting the focus and diluting the point. I guess the addition of barrel cannons is fine, because it’s purely cosmetic, replacing some weird plants or something. DK coins were added, or something that looks a bit like them, bringing with them an utterly unnecessary limited lives mechanic that is both irritating in modern games and tacked on in this case where it wasn’t before.
Using a more traditional platformer control scheme just makes you long for responsive gameplay to go with it, but the physics remain from the much less direct bongo control method. The combo system is innovative and interesting, but perhaps I just couldn’t master it because I just found it more frustrating than not, when I had a few actions built up but the game’s floatiness and unresponsiveness caused it to fall flat.
The most grating thing about Jungle Beat to DK fans is its very intentional disregard of past elements of the series. An infamous interview at the time described the other Kongs and characters as “not fresh”, stripping it back to simply the characters DK and “the banana”. At the time irrational internet Rare hate was at its height, so DK fans were extra defensive and critical of the perceived direction that NCL was taking with the series that had seen such classics. So not only were many mechanics thrown out the window, DK’s personality was brutalised, leaving him with seemingly only selfish motivations, and anything we liked about the series history was either thrown out or replaced with a thinly-veiled expy (the new animal buddies are shameless ripoffs of existing buddies).
Fortunately this hateful attitude, for whatever reason, was eventually overturned with Retro’s excellent Donkey Kong Country Returns and upcoming Tropical Freeze. So we can look back on Jungle Beat now without depression for the future. But when I did, I found a lackluster game. Perhaps the comparison was unfair on Jungle Beat, but I simply didn’t have fun playing it. The boss fights were either repetitive or unfair QTEs, DK’s presentation was unlikeable, and when I found I couldn’t play all the levels in the NPC version without getting perfect runs of all previous ones, which was a real kick in the nards.
Of course, I should calm down. There were actually good points. The environments were often interesting and varied. I feel like the mechanics could have been fun with more patience, practice, and in their original form. The narrative was nonexistent but piecing one together yourself can be interesting with the new enemies and characters. Oh the sound was pretty awful. Oops, good stuff: um, some good set pieces, and the beating stuff up thing was involving in a visceral way.
I also don’t care for score attack mechanics, especially not when the simple act of gameplay seems a chore to me. The game’s built around getting a multiplier (satisfying when you can build one up), and getting as many bananas and hits before you land on the ground. You do maneuvers and stuff to stay up or bouncing around. The most fun parts were when you could pull off a good string in a part of the level designed around it. But mess it up and you have to start the set of three levels again. The health/lives mechanic also undermines this score run structure.
Is it any wonder we were worried about DK’s future when we see his face in this game, showing off, grinning hideously as he violently crushes a bizarre series of wildlife? No context, no familiarity to latch onto… The implied narrative was too vague to tie together this series of unconnected environments, entered through a basic menu. DK smacks a few dudes and then beats his chest, and it’s over. And what do we have left? A number. Too small. Do it again. Well, no, I won’t.
I’m glad I played this though, so I can plausibly refute any claim that it was in any way a good idea. Afterwards I watched a speedrun, and that actually was kind of cool. Mastery of the mechanics and optimal paths makes it smoother to watch, but I’d never get there playing myself. The clean break in the franchise also leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Games such as Jungle Climber and even Returns later incorporated some basic minor elements from this game, such as sounds, poses, or Returns’ post-boss beatings. Incoporating other things such as the characters here into later games would also help rehabilitate its image to me, and I would welcome that, but the basic fact is I didn’t enjoy playing it. I can’t recommend the NPC version due to its changes, and shelling out for the original, with bongos, would at this point be a pricey proposition. In fact, my advice would be to watch the speedruns of user piepusher11 on Youtube, to get the experience of how the game is meant to be played (he does exploit one or two glitches to skip bits, though). It was an interesting experiment in game design, but offensive to DK fandom and to my perspective not much fun to play.
Also too many names were untranslated from the Japanese. I hate that.
More platformers. You can tell what I like, huh? This one was a revisit, to get to 100% after finishing a long time ago. This is actually one of the few games my wife bought while the Wii was still hers, before I adopted it. A cute and sweet little game with some deceptively tricky puzzle platforming.
This is a reboot of the old NES game, or perhaps a straight sequel, who knows. It has similar mechanics (feed an amorphous alien jellybeans to transform it so you can get around and beat enemies), and remixes some music, I think—the original is pretty bad so I haven’t exposed myself too much to it. There’s a sequel for Game Boy, but after that Majesco’s ongoing troubles stymied two attempts to bring it back on GBA and DS (there’s screenshots of the DS beta, it looks weird).
Finally they managed to succeed, with the beloved studio WayForward handling development on the Wii. I love the direction they took, giving it a lovely painterly art style, reminiscent of a Ghibli film or Rayman Origins, with super cute character designs. Unfortunately unlike those two things, the attempt to create a naturalistic, cohesive world falls down with the overly functional level design. Lots of straight lines, which admittedly suits some environments like the factory but not others like the forest or caves.
So you can appreciate the absorbing gameplay or the enticing visuals separately, but it doesn’t quite add up. That’s ok though, there’s plenty to love. Failure isn’t punished too bad so the devious puzzles can be attempted many times (as is sometimes necessary) without frustration. They’ve really made the boy and blob appealing characters, with the boy’s vocalisatioins and quite low mobility contrasting with the blob’s silent high energy. Best of all for demonstrating the relationship is the otherwise superfluous “hug button”, scrapped mechanic perhaps, but now just triggers an unbearably adorable animation.
There’s a big variety of possible forms for the blob, and the levels do a good job of giving you different ones and making you use them in various ways. Hunting for the hidden treasure can especially tax your grip on the mechanics of each form. These are also rewarding, as they give you mini challenge levels that often focus on one form’s capabilities. Finishing these then lets you view concept art, which is neat.
Despite its cute look, the game really does get hard if you want to do everything. Just getting through the later levels will also take many attempts. But it is satisfying to do. The most frustrating bits are the boss battles, which can get long and will force you to start over if you make one mistake, as the boy is totally fragile. It’s interesting to have a realistic little boy who can’t jump far and is hurt easily rely so much on the blob. Really reinforces the relationship of the characters.
Since the blob can do so many things, some of the mechanics and physics events are a little janky. I find this factor a little endearing, thinking of the developers as a small team just putting love into the game and overlooking a few things like this. The concept art adds to this feeling, giving you a look behind the scenes. I guess I have a soft spot for WayForward, although I’ve only played a few of their games.
Anyway this was one of the gems on the Wii, that console that apparently had nothing worthwhile on it. There’s not even any badly-implemented motion control, just old-school gameplay with a modern look and feel. It feels indie, and there’s plenty to do and a very engaging dynamic. I’m very happy with how it went. “Over here!” Oh boy, you’re so cute!
I bought this one for the wife, because she wanted to try a platformer that was maybe a little easier/more lenient, with a female protagonist. Turns out she still didn’t really like it, she’s just not suited to the genre. Actually getting it was an ordeal, the first copy we picked up was a cheap fake that didn’t work. The manual was a poorly-produced piece of work that seemed to reproduce a review of the game, and the card was misshapen. We had to drive back down just to return it.
I was very interested in the game, for one of the reasons I find Paper Mario fascinating—it’s a collecting point for some of the obscure Mario series elements that the bland main series ignores, especially enemies from Yoshi’s Island (my favourite Mario game by far). Its existence adds a lot to the Mario universe, not least of which is Peach’s capabilities. Exhibited here are mainly her umbrella combat skills (shown in SMRPG and Smash) and emotional control (she can turn them on and off at will). Plus Toad (yes, The Toad…probably) is playable in minigames and that guy needs some spotlight.
Anyways it’s done by TOSE, who are a little hit and miss but this one seems to follow in some ways their Starfy series I think, which is supposed to be good (from what I’ve heard). There’s a big bunch of unlockables and collectibles which I love. Although I still had lots of game to go by the time I bought everything in the shop, and accumulated way too many coins.
So this is like an action platformer, with levels that tend to branch occasionally. I found this frustrating as I wasn’t sure which way was the right way, got a little lost and often missed sections. You have a generous health bar, and an MP gauge that drains (quickly) with your emotion powers. These can be extended, and refilled easily enough. Said powers are used to pass obstacles and find hidden areas and stuff.
It is a fairly easy game (for me) but the controls do have some complexity, and as I said the levels can be confounding. Some of those “change the mechanics up with a vehicle” sections are tedious, too. All up though I had a great time here, running around, hitting Goombas with an umbrella, upgrading my powers, clearing out levels. The boss fights are good and the mishmash of different Mario games (mostly World and Yoshi’s Island, I think) was gratifying.
I’m currently playing the Superstar Saga RPG by AlphaDream and it has a similar feel, and even a graphical resemblance which makes me wonder about the development. I love the style by the way, and I’ve seen a few fangames that transplant a similar look into platformers that manage to utterly shame Miyamoto and co. Similarly, I’ll always dislike Peach being damseled when she kicks so much ass in this game.
It’s perhaps not for everyone but the Yoshi’s Island comparison I brought up earlier extends to the gameplay too, with the exploration, variety of mechanics, and environmental interaction that are fundamental to that game’s play. I’d feel ok to place this spiritually in the Yoshi lineage, in fact. As such I have high esteem for it, and being associated with such a great lifts it up, while being different enough to not suffer overly in comparison. Sure it’s a little simpler and the execution more flawed, but I had fun here and so will any fan of the flipside of the Mario universe. Oh and Perry=Mallow, think about it. I posted about this earlier. Look it up.
After Fairground Nonsense, I still felt the comics itch, so I decided to forge ahead with one I wasn’t too interested in while I was up for it. So here we have Wave Race Raiders, one of the few Club Nintendo comics not covered by Mario Wiki, because Mario is not involved. As in the Donkey Kong comics, this one features just the one franchise and is set in that world. It’s an interesting case because, seriously, Wave Race. I guess it was the only thing going in mid 1997? But it’s not exactly a character driven series.
Anyways, this comic posits that the four playables in Wave Race 64 are in some kind of crime-fighting jet ski club together. It can’t decide whether they’re called Wave Racers or Wave Raiders, so I think the title is a good de facto team name. They have to save the duaghter of their fictional town’s mayor. Our heroes are not named at all, though (except Ayumi), so I’ll tell you here that Ayumi Stewart is an American, the young black-haired guy is Japanese Ryota Hayami, the older black-haired guy with the prominent chin is a Canadian called Miles Jeter, and the fat guy is the American Dave Mariner.
The comic is ultimately a little anticlimactic, but it’s amusing to think that just like Captain Falcon, when the characters in the jet ski game aren’t racing they’re fighting for justice off the coast of their hometown. That’s not exactly what Falcon does but yeah. The comic is also much less silly and funny than the usual, although there’s a few humourous touches. I like that they felt able to change up the genre and the franchise every now and then. I’d also like to imagine there’s a small diehard community of Wave Race superfans who will be overjoyed by this comic.
By the way, the original German uses the phrase “Water Bike” to describe our Raiders’ vehicle of choice. I assume they were trying to avoid saying “jet ski” because that phrase is actually trademarked by Kawasaki but has become the de facto standard name for that type of craft, much like Band-Aid or Zamboni. However, Kawasaki actually sponsored the game and so it was probably fine. I went with “jet ski” anyway in the spirit of the game.
Another Mario-centric comic from the good people at Club Nintendo Germany. I don’t think this is quite as good as some others we’ve seen but it’s straightforward and amusing enough. I mean, Mario gets pooed on by a bird and Luigi gets peed on by a pack of dogs. Juvenile but there you go.
Same process as last time so nothing new to report. I’m just ticking them off the list. Actually there’s only a few left to go! Of the non-N-gang CN regular comics, the ones that haven’t been translated to English are the Halloween special, Wave Race, some reprints, Mario’s Picross, and Terranigma (which is a sample of the Special Edition comic). Some others were done kinda amateurishly and deserve redoing, frankly. As a reminder, you can see a list of said comics and details at this handy Google Docs spreadsheet I compiled (hopefully that link works).
So here’s a little comic about Mario going to a fair and being sold a demonic Game Boy Camera. How they thought this would sell them I don’t know… This is actually a good one for Mario haters, as he gets punished something severe in this comic.
As Origins (and many other Rayman games before it) did, Legends had an accompanying handheld game release. And like other Rayman handheld games, it shared elements of the two most recent console outings. I expected a mainly Legends-based auto-runner to follow Jungle Run, but in fact most of the environments and enemies were pulled from Origins in Fiesta Run, although updated to the Legends style with more shading and 3D-stylings. The Barbara-type characters were also not present.
Thankfully though it does improve on Jungle Run’s formula in many ways. A large scrollable vague map replaces the simple menus. There are Invaded variants of every level that add challenge and twists on the familiarity of the level you just completed. There’s more selectable characters and a unified reward system. There’s even a kind of goal to the whole game. I feel like the levels were more interesting too. (Also I figured out some fun ways to exploit some mechanics to, for example, float horizontally indefintely.)
This game was handled by a proper Ubisoft team, rather than farmed out to a tiny studio, and it shows. Production values are higher, and it’s more stable and slick. Unfortunately they also decided to add in scummy microtransaction BS, although it can be safely ignored for the most part (in fact the purchasable powerups don’t even help, I suspect).
I was hooked quickly and smashed through it. The tuned mechanics made it very easy to pick up and hard to put down. A high point of the iOS game stable, of last year anyway.
Haha! Surprise, suckers! Who loves Donkey Kong? Who’s excited for Tropical Freeze in a few weeks? Me, that’s who! In honour of said game, I’ve retranslated this weirdo little comic, one of the few to prominently feature the Kongs. It starts with a similar premise of unnatural cold, but quickly veers off the deep end with a trip to Washington and then to outer space. Add this to the list of Kong space-travels, along with Jungle Climber, Barrel Blast, and… sigh, Jungle Beat. Also the whole moon-punching thing from Returns.
