Nintendo ID: EarthbounderBR
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• 19Jun 13

  Animal Crossing: New Leaf Impressions

  Eight days have passed since I accidentally became the mayor of a small cozy town inhabited by wacky animal villagers, and even though such timespan might not be that long when the game in question has the potential to last for over one year, one week has already been more than enough for me to conclude that New Leaf is everything that City Folk should have been. Where the Wii installment of the franchise lacked in new features, New Leaf is absolutely bursting with them. Hence, New Leaf becomes the first considerable update Animal Crossing has received since 2005's Wild World, and though the wait was long, it was more than worth it, as fans of the series can now own the definitive version of Nintendo's life simulator and carry it around with them in their pockets, which is just perfect for the clock-based gameplay the game charmingly features.

  

  The key features introduced are simple to describe: a tropical island where it's always summer, and the ability to be the town's mayor. However, not only do they go fantastically well with Animal Crossing's relaxing demeanor, but they also provide a whole lot of extra value for a series that is already known for having games that last very long. The ability to be a mayor heavily increases the possibilities for customizing one's town; where before there was the ability to plant tress, flowers and lay down patterns on the ground, now it is possible to have a certain degree of power in choosing the town's layout, and accept villager's suggestions for public works and make them materialize through heavy investment. While there are some annoying limitations to the public works system, such as not being able to place them too close to rivers or rocks; the powers of a mayor turn the town into your own personal canvas, where a lot of creativity can be used to make it a very visually pleasing place to live.

  The island is somehow complementary to the construction options. Now, more than ever, money is extremely necessary in Animal Crossing, because aside from a bigger-than-ever mansion that can be expanded multiple times, players will also have to put their money down for the constructions around town to actually happen. Thankfully, the island is packed to the brim with valuable beetles and sharks that be sold for a great price in order to make the game's money-hungry economy spin. In addition to the valuable bugs and fish that can be caught, the island also features a horde of simple but addictive mini-games that vary from fishing challenges to memory match games that can be played either solo or online with random players from around the world in order to collect medals that be used in the island's shop.

  

  In spite of the fact that the island can be somehow taken advantage of in order to make loads of money really fast, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is - more than ever - a day-to-day experience, and the game reinforces that by featuring a never-seen-before amount of unlockable shops, public works, and features; and making projects that have been fully funded only appear on the following day. While some might be naturally annoyed by the restrictions of having to wait a certain amount of days until important aspects of the game show up, it is all part of the series' charm, and that is precisely Animal Crossing's core strength: being a self-sustaining game, a software that renovates itself upon the arrival of each morning, making players feel as if they are about to play a completely new software on every passing day.

  For those who are drawn to the concept of waking up everyday only to check which trees have matured, which flowers have produced hybrids, how great-looking the town is after the construction of your latest project; or maybe simply to hear what new silly things the neighbors will come up with, and anticipate the moment where they will finally find that one rare bug that keeps eluding them, then New Leaf is an absolute must-buy, because never has Animal Crossing been so great.

  • Posted Jun 19, 2013 2:13 pm GMT
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• 16Jun 13

  Missing in Action

  In the aftermath of every single E3, a bittersweet feeling inevitably hangs in the air. After all, while some announcements make us burst with excitement for what is to come, certain absences leave us either disappointed or simply wondering where in the world a few franchises are. No other company produces this reaction as much as Nintendo, for the company has a very impressive amount of properties to deal with, and no economically reasonable amount of development studios could possibly handle it all properly. The result is that a core group of high-selling hardware-moving franchises are released periodically, while - on the other hand - an even bigger array equally beloved characters and games are naturally either waiting in line be developed, or exist - unbeknownst to us in a not-yet-presentable state, as projects that will soon be revealed to the world.

  

  Although the Wii U iteration of The Legend of Zelda was undoubtedly the biggest no-show, not only was its absence expected, but Zelda fans can comfortably rest assured that the game exists in some form. Therefore, that fact makes Samus Aran receive the unfortunate title of most unfortunate absence. Metroid Other M - her latest adventure - is about to reach its three-year anniversary and, if an extra spice of drama is needed, it can be argued by those who did not enjoy Other M - a very polarizing software - that the hunter's last greatest affair dates back all the way to 2007. While Mario and Link's outings for the two current-gen Nintendo platforms are either already out there or imminent, Metroid has yet to be discussed for any of the systems.

  Still, Samus is by far not the most serious case of a character that is nowhere to be seen. Both Fox McCloud and Captain Falcon are far more rusty. Star Fox fans got a little bone thrown their way in 2011 when a remake of the franchise's best game (Star Fox 64) was released for the 3DS, but an original game of the series has not shown up since 2006, and if the struggling grounds on which Star Fox was back then are considered, then its seven-year disappearance can be seen as either quite worrisome, or as a needed break for a property that was having a hard time finding its identity. F-Zero, on the contrary, found its very peak on 2003's Sega-developed F-Zero GX, but ever since then, all we received was an average handheld for then long-gone Game Boy Advance. Opposite to popular opinion, Miyamoto has already stepped up to express his dislike towards the way F-Zero GX was done, even if it still holds as one of the finest racing games ever. Yet, it is impossible not to wonder if the game is not the yet-to-be-revealed title to be born out of Nintendo and Sega's recently announced partnership.

  

  For those who like to dig even further back in time, and have hope on the extremely unlikely, Wave Race could be put among the franchises that were missing. Differently from the aforementioned ones, though, the aquatic racing series is not exactly frequently discussed among fans, and it is not the subject of many questions when Iwata, Reggie or Miyamoto are being interviewed. Differently from Kirby, though; the pink puffball is not among fans' most universally hyped franchises, as some feel its lack of difficulty makes its games rather little engaging. However, after starring on last generation's Epic Yarn, one of the Wii's most beautiful and beloved titles, there is a certain degree of anticipation in finding out what is the next step for the character. That question, however, will remain unanswered for a while as Kirby was another no-show. One thing is for sure, though; with the announcement of Yoshi Yarn, it becomes more probable that Kirby will not retain its art direction, as it seems that the yarn experiment will move between franchises, instead of being exclusive.

  Whatever disappointment is created by the no-show of these and many other franchises is not hopeless. On the contrary, it will likely serve as some sort of fuel for many upcoming E3, because some of those characters are absolute locks to eventually show up during the course of rest of the generation. It is not like our long-awaited re-encounter with them will not occur, it has simply been delayed.

  

  • Posted Jun 16, 2013 8:51 am GMT
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• 12Jun 13

  Playing it Safe

  Nintendo's E3 showing this year was definitely different, and the reason behind it is not restricted to the fact they decided not to do a conference. Known as a company that knows how to keep its secrets, on an age where information leaks are commonplace, the biggest Nintendo Direct up to this day was marked by - among other things - the fact that there were barely any surprises. On the months leading up to E3, prominent people inside the company stepped forward to assure gamers that a new Mario platformer, the latest installment of the Mario Kart series, and the first showing of the upcoming Super Smash Bros would all be there. And in the end, that was precisely what Nintendo had to show. With the exception of Donkey Kong: Tropical freeze, Nintendo's show delivered precisely what was expected. The lack of a surprise factor becomes clear in the perception that the addition of a new character to the Smash Bros roster - the amazing Mega Man - was the most shocking moment of the event; and although the absence of the unexpected does remove some of the impact, the overall assessment is that Nintendo put on a good, not excellent, show.

  It is hard to tell precisely what pushed the company into showing its cards so early, but it likely had something to do with the pressure that the Wii U's commercial woes created within the Kyoto headquarters. Whatever the reason was, it looks like that during the next one year and a half, the Wii U will receive a solid flow of nice games. Mario Kart 8 is a solid rival to Pikmin 3 when it comes to being the system's biggest visual achievement of the early part of its life-cycle, especially if the game is able to hold a similar graphical quality when other players join in for some local multiplayer fun, which has historically been the series' core element. In addition, its twisted tracks will allow designers to pull off some absolutely outrageous and fun courses, whereas its great online component will add a thick layer of value to a game that will likely become the definitive Mario Kart experience and a display of the Wii U's apparently very well set-up online component.

  

  Meanwhile, Super Mario 3D World understandably received mixed reactions. Obviously, much more was expected from Mario's first 3D high-definition adventure, especially after Nintendo did with Super Mario Galaxy. Instead, what we got was another look into the Super Mario 3D Land elements: a game that was the perfect translation of Mario's linear 2D gameplay into a 3D realm. Due to its linearity and stage design, the game will naturally draw comparisons to Mario Galaxy - a battle that it will most likely lose - but it will undoubtedly be a fun game, and the cooperative gameplay will certainly add some fun, and a whole lot of madness to it. Nintendo's wisest move would be moving away from the linear gameplay for a while and go back to something it has not explored with Mario since 2002's Super Mario Sunshine. Not only would it universally delight its fans, which desperately miss some wide-open exploration after the stellar wacky linearity of the Galaxy games, but it would also avoid any comparisons to a duo of games that are ridiculously hard to match. Still, Super Mario 3D World much like - New Super Mario Bros. U - is bound to prove all doubters awfully wrong.

  Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze somehow suffers from the same duality that strikes the newest Mario game. Even if it ends up only being a slight improvement over its predecessor, which was arguably the finest 2D platformer on a generation that saw a fantastic come back of the genre, it will already be an unforgettable title on the Nintendo lore. However, the game comes with a dash of disappointment, because it was thought that Retro Studios was hard at work on either Metroid, which needs some help after Other M, or something entirely different. Still the game will be a great companion to Super Mario 3D World, and it is a clear component of Nintendo's end-of-the-year strategy to release games from their famous franchises in easy-to-play form (one sidescroller, and one 3D representation of that gameplay style) in order to move some Wii U units to the audience that made Mario and Donkey Kong so commercially successful on the last generation.

  

  He fourth highlight of the event, and probably the most awaited game of the whole presentation was Super Smash Bros. Though Namco is involved with the project, the game seems to offer very few changes over Brawl - which is a great thing, although it is very early to confirm that. In the midst of a reveal that was known, the big highlight winded up being the entry of Mega Man, a character that was already heavily speculated for the series' most recent installment and that finally joins the fray; and the ridiculously hilarious introduction of the Wii Fit Trainer as a fighter. The biggest surprise, though, is certainly the fact that the game is coming out next year for both the 3DS and the Nintendo Wii U, at least until a delay is announced. Featuring the same characters, but different stages, it is unknown how and if the games will somehow connect, but until more information is disclosed, the daily insanity of checking the game's site for updates can be enjoyed once more.

  

  Other than the big four, a big number of other titles were shown that will make Nintendo fans be very busy with their systems for the next couple of years. The 3DS seems to finally picking up some steam with Mario and Luigi Dream Team, Yoshi's New Island, A Link Between Worlds, and Pokémon X/Y all hitting the system in the upcoming months. Meanwhile Wii U players will delight themselves with the over-the-top mixture of Vewtiful Joe and Pikmin that is The Wonderful 101; the successor to the fantastic Xenoblade, generally accepted to be the finest JRPG in recent years; Pikmin 3 and its gorgeous visuals; and strong third-party multiplatform games: Batman: Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed IV and Watch Dogs.

  The overall impression that this Nintendo E3 leaves is that the company is still lacking in exclusive third-party support, something that Microsoft and Sony will have from the starting point of their new systems. However, while the first party software unquestionably lacks in game-changing concepts or new material, the little tweaks here and there, and the regularly high quality that Nintendo holds as a standard will make all of their software must-play titles. Although Nintendo's systems have been suffering accusations of having little to no software, it feels like the gaming schedule of anyone that owns both a Wii U and a 3DS will be pretty busy from here onward.

  

  • Posted Jun 12, 2013 5:34 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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