WarioWare Inc.: Mega Party Game$

The Short

Pros
- 200 microgames playable in both single and multiplayer
- Eight multiplayer modes of a wide variety that focus on the microgames
- Minigames and modes are fun, especially with a group of friends
- WarioWare charm shines through
- Can play on a GBA with a link cable, though I have no idea why

Cons
- All the minigames are exactly the same ones in the GBA Warioware: Mega Microgames
- As such, the graphical quality looks like a GBA game
- While there are some really good multiplayer modes, a few are genuine duds
- Not as many wild unlockables as in the GBA versions of the game
- No real story mode for single player; mostly just playing through the minigames back to back

Send a cat to space. 

The Long

I guess I should have expect it. After all, the premise for WarioWare: Epic Microgames on the GBA was that Wario wanted to wring as much money out of people as possible by developing quick, easy games that ripped off other games. As such, I suppose this Gamecube iteration, WarioWare: Mega Party Games follows the ideology well: it's a complete rehash of the GBA game, just in multiplayer form. As such, I don't know if I should be mad at Nintendo for releasing what is essentially a cash grab, or praise them for making reality match the fiction set in the Wario universe.

I'm really overthinking this.

WarioWare: Mega Party Games is just that: a bunch of party games. However, unlike games like Mario Party where it's 75% awful board game and 25% fun minigames, Mega Party Games gets the balance right. It's streamlined, fast, and all the games are unlocked from the get go. 

It's just too bad there's really no original single player content here to speak of. 

Playing space minigame Othello. Yeah, why not. 

Mega Party Games has no "story" to speak of. That's right, they even got rid of the phoned in versions they made for Mega Microgames and Twisted. If you are the kind of person who is buying this game to play single player: you probably shouldn't, unless there is no way at all to get your hands on something that plays GBA games. The single player is a very stripped down version of the GBA original (again, with all the same microgames as the original) and as such lacks a lot of the charm and hooks that made the original so endearing. While, yes, the games are still a lot of fun single player, it's very obvious it was phoned-in for this installment.

Mega Party Games is meant to be played multiplayer, and as such that is where the most fun will be had. 

An impossible level of coordination. 

Mega Party Games has eight themed multiplayer modes with two little throwaway bonuses (jumprope and paper airplane race). Each of these modes ranges from "mediocre" to "great," and in order to unlock them all you have to play through each at least once. There's even one that's cooperative, oddly enough, where one person plays and the others shine lights so they can see what's going on. But the rest are full on competitive. 

I have to give them props for variety. One is space othello, where in order to capture a square you have to play a required number of minigames correctly (as one would guess, corners require long chains). Another is simply random microgame assignment with lives, where sometimes all four go at once. A Mario Party esque one in terms of random winning is an e-card one (based on the failed GBA e-reader), where one mess up can send you from first to last. It's a solid assortment.

Some are fantastic. Our house favorite is the balloon one, which is a variation of hot potato. One player is put through a microgame while the others pound the A button to fill a balloon. Once you beat the microgame the next player cycles through, and whomever the balloon pops on loses. It's fast and frantic with a good mix of random and strategy, so it works. 

Then you have the weird ones, or just plain bad. Mona's requires someone to play a minigame while doing something "weird" (such as covering one eye, holding their breath, etc) in real life, and after accomplishing the game the rest of the players "clap" to vote on how well they did. The microgames actually do nothing when it comes to scoring, so it's really just an example of what happens when you run out of ideas. 

Clap away, puppets! 

I will say this: the frantic pace of WarioWare makes for some excellent multiplayer. While I wish it had more options in terms of difficulty and speed, the game does scale based on performance, meaning better players will have harder challenges as things progress. Most modes last around five minutes, enhancing the whole "let's go one again!" mentality that party games are supposed to evoke. With a group of friends (intoxicated or otherwise), Mega Party Games can be a chaotic hoot. 

But I've been avoiding the elephant in the room: the microgames themselves. And how they are exactly the same 200 from the GBA game released just before this one.

They go so far as to show it being played on a GBA on your TV. Shameless, much?

I kid you not: there are maybe a dozen original microgames in this collection, and all those are the four-player specific ones. The rest of the microgames are cut-and-paste identical to the GBA release Mega Microgames. So much so that you can even plug a GBA in through the GBA+Gamecube connector and play them on your Game Boy instead, at the same graphical fidelity. Are you even trying, Nintendo?

To be fair, all the original microgames are fantastic, but as someone who played the first game to death I was genuinely disappointed to not see an original game in the bunch. Not to mention that since I had played the first game and none of my friends had, it made for a rather dramatic unfair advantage. If the idea behind the microgames is they are just a few seconds long and incredibly easy to create, why the heck did Nintendo not make a few more specific to this game?

Dance!

It gets even worse: not only are they the same games, they are the same graphical resolution as well, meaning they look pretty mediocre on the Gamecube. I thought the minigames were funny and had decent graphical quality on my tiny GBA screen, but blown up big-style on my TV I could absolutely see the GBA fuzziness. It's like they didn't even try.

The sounds are all directly ripped from the GBA version, with only a few originals in the mix. They're all just as memorable and catchy as before, but the digitized voices which were passable on the GBA because of the inferior hardware still sound like they are coming off a cartridge when we all know they're on one of those Gamecube minidiscs. For shame, Nintendo. For shame.

This game made sense on the GBA, because the GBA looks like that. On the Gamecube...not so much. 

Despite me not wanting to say this, I still like Mega Party Games, if only because the WarioWare formula works so well for a frantic multiplayer experience. This game is an absolutely shameless cash grab (and at least Nintendo seemed to know it, as they released it at budget price of $30 back when it first came out) and undeniably lazy, but despite that I still had a lot of fun with it. If you are getting it because you want more single player WarioWare: don't. This is not a single player game, even though it touts such on the back of the box. But if you want a frantic multiplayer experience and are sick of the obnoxious Mario Party games, WarioWare is an excellent alternative. 

Just don't think too much about how Nintendo survives of selling you the same games over and over and over until the end of time. Three out of five stars.

The eReader: Truly ahead of its time.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

The Short

Pros
- Hilarious, cheesy, well-written story
- Absolutely outrageous and over the top characters
- Playing both detective and attorney can be a blast
- Great music and art
- Sticks with you long after you beat the game
- Cases are fun and have some great twists (despite the last one being weak)
- Being able to yell "HOLD IT!" or "OBJECTION!" into the DS mic is freaking hilarious
- iOS and Wii ports are both solid

Cons
- Short, with only five cases
- Relies a heavy amont on its own designed "logic," which can lead to issues
- Detective portions can be guesswork to find a certain object before the game lets you progress
- Graphically looks like the GBA port it is, with the touchscreen relatively useless
- Final fifth case feels tacked on (because it was)

The start of a thousand memes. 

The Long

I love the fact that Phoenix Wright exists, because it means that somewhere over in Japan somebody came into work at Capcom HQ and was like, "You know what the industry is missing? LAWYER GAMES."

And from that absolutely brilliant idea was birthed the Phoenix Wright franchise. First released in Japan on the GBA, it was ported (someone lazily) over to the new Nintendo DS for American audiences. And, yes, I was being serious before: this is a game where you play a lawyer. A defense attorney, to be completely accurate. And you do exactly what you think: defend people in court. Yep.

Which makes it all the more amazing at how incredible Phoenix Wright is. 

Brilliant burn there, Mr. Wright.

I won't lie: the majority of your enjoyment from Phoenix Wright is going to be from its absurd story (or stories might be more accurate). You play as Phoenix Wright, rookie defense attorney who is just starting off his career. As such he's insecure, makes awful jokes, and gets a bit overconfident at times. Luckily he has helpful tutors to guide him, but quickly the training wheels are taken off and he's thrown into the big world of defensive lawyering all by himself. 

That's where you come in. 

As the player, you will be participating in one of two activities: either going around collecting evidence (visiting witnesses, searching for clues, etc.) or getting into court to present those clues. The game is structured such that you cannot miss anything necessary during detectiving: it's pretty much a straight shot as you tick off check boxes to get to the end. Pretty basic. 

This game makes being a lawyer look more intense than doing back flips on a BMX bike off the side of the Grand Canyon while drinking Monster Energy. 

Back to the story: you have five cases to deal with (though four were the only ones included on the GBA games, and thus they flow together well while the fifth is a bit tacked on) and you have to prove your person innocent or die trying! Luckily Phoenix only gets people who actually are innocent, so there's no moral conundrum here. Where the game really shines, however, is its absurd characters. 

From crazy afro-lady photographers to blue-haired rich scumbags, sleeping crazy hermits or insane old ladies, Phoenix Wright has it all. It even has an evil attorney named Manfred Von Karma. Seriously, they couldn't ham this up any more if they tried. 

The silliness really shines, however, because of the balance. Many of these cases are serious (murders, digging up into the main character's pasts to reveal some genuinely dark secrets, and more) but the game keeps everything so over the top that the melodrama plays nicely with the exaggerated absurdity. To not mince any more words: the game is downright charming, well written, and knows exactly how serious to take itself (read: not at all). The jokes are spot on and the cases are genuinely interesting, which is all you really need.

Suck it, Edgeworth. 

The gameplay, unfortunately, doesn't really deliver as much as one might hope. As stated before you have two main things to do in Ace Attorney: search for evidence, then use the evidence in a court scene. Of these two, the former is by far the most aggravating. Searching a static image for small object is about as fun as looking for a needle in a haystack, especially since often you aren't even sure if you are looking in the right location. The game gates you from continuing until you fulfill certain (unknown) objectives, meaning it is very easy to get stuck and frustrated. When you do find clues it's usually really rewarding, as it's often accompanied by a silly bit of dialogue. But playing Sherlock is very slow, frustrating, and you rarely feel like you actually accomplished a goal. It's more like you luckily stumbled on the right place to tell the game that you are allowed to continue now.

Courtroom drama plays much better. You are charged with listening to both the information given as well as witness testimony. I dunno if they made these people swear on a Bible or whatever, but they lie constantly, and its your job to unravel it all and force them to spill the beans. You do this by tearing apart their statements chunk by chunk, pushing when necessary and using evidence to expose the lies. It works about 80% of the time, with the other 20% where the game falls to "adventure game logic," meaning next to no logic at all. It's the whole "throw the pie at the yeti" trap from King's Quest V: some leaps of logic simply don't make sense. After a while you can start to think the way the game wants you, but even then I would get stuck on some stupid cross examinations later in the game. 

But I will say: when you totally destroy a known liar's testimony using your wits and evidence (usually resulting in the person actually breaking down in defeat), that soul-crush is delicious.

You get five mistakes a trial, then you have to start all over. 

Graphically, Ace Attorney looks like a GBA game. The top screen does pretty much everything, with the bottom being reserved for menu choices or...tap to advance text. The game also looks a bit low-res (especially on high-res iPhone, which this game has been ported to) even on the DS screen. However, the bright colors and absurd art stylings do more than make up for the technical shortcomings. 

The music is also excellent. Even though there's only a handful of tracks, they are just as suspenseful and over-the-top as one would expect from a game about super-lawyers. You'll find yourself humming these tunes long after the game is over.

Ya screwed up. 

Despite having some rather glaring gameplay issues, I absolutely love Phoenix Wright. If you treat it more like an interactive visual novel instead of a game (and use a guide for the dull "play detective" parts), the story here is an absolute riot and absolutely worth diving in for. While Phoenix Wright might not be the most inspired game in terms of mechanics, the idea of making a lawyer game is undoubtably inspired. It's a hoot, genuinely emotional, and necessary playing if you own a DS or an iOS device (or a Wii, since I guess its out on that too). 

While the sequels do tend to fare a little better, this first game is still my favorite. Four out of five stars. 

Nice hair.

Kirby Gourmet Race Music Video!

My wife and I made a music video! Enjoy!

Nathan vs Perler Beads Part 5: Final Fantasy IV, Earthbound, & Bonus

So in my Squaresoft post I mentioned I didn't do Final Fantasy IV. Well, I was feeling pretty bad about that, so I decided to remedy it by making A WHOLE BUNCH OF 'EM.

...but I didn't do any step by steps of the actual in-game heroes. Sorry. So instead, let's see my work on the enemy I was going to have them fight...

Whatever could it be?

Yeah, I really should actually document this stuff...

It's VampGirl! This is seriously one of my most favorite enemy sprites from FFIV. 

For a size estimate (if the cart doesn't cut it), it's about as big as Sigma, who was about as big as my forearm. 

So now it's time to kick butt and take names...

I figured the final party would be appropriate. 

Cecil was the most annoying because he's mostly a muted yellow/white color, of which there is only one bead color (cream). So we compensated by using a mix of yellows and grays. I still think it worked out! Kain was also annoying, but he also turned out a lot better than I'd expected. 

YOU KNOW WHOSE FAT?!

I love the Fat Chocobo. 

The whole group before we stuck 'em to the wall. 

...and after we stuck 'em to the wall. 

All the rest of them are hangin' out next to the Fat Chocobo. I gotta say, I LOVE Cid. I wanna make another one and put 'em up at work. Probably because I kind of look like him (glances at profile picture...)

The whole brigade. We put them over the bedroom door because...I have no idea. 

Next, a few bonus ones. Earthbound!

I kind of want to make every NPC from the game. I just love the style from the Mother games. 

And we put them over the piano because...it's...piano related. Not really.

But it gives me something awesome to look at whist I pound out a bad rendition of Loss of Me. 

A few other misc ones coming off the misc truck...

Wario's Woods is my wife's favorite puzzle game. Besides maybe Plants vs Zombies. 

I am so bad at Wario's Woods it isn't even funny, so my wife made all of these. Because she's absurdly good at Wario's Woods.

We put 'em next to Dr. Mario and the Mario RPG cupboard under the stairs. 

I think it still needs something, but we'll see.

Lastly, we did a bunch of misc NES ones that we weren't sure where to put 'em or what to do, but I wanted to make. So in no particular order, let's play "guess what NES game these are from!"

I put this on in the bathroom sitting on the lightswitch. 

And...

This one should be pretty easy to guess. 

And.....

I figured next to the shower was appropriate. 

And lastly, my wife made a ton of Minnish Cap cats because...she likes cats.

She also made that Companion Cube you see through our coffee table. 

And that's it from this batch! And I just realized I haven't made any Kirby sprites yet. SO NOW GUESS WHAT IM DOING TONIGHT?!

Nathan vs Perler Beads Part 4: The Megamans

It's been a while, viewers, but it's gonna be worth it. Here has been my biggest project to date. Rather then talk a lot, I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. MEGA MAN!

It started out simple enough, just robots from my favorite Mega Man game: #2. 

Then I remembered that Mega Man 1 and 3 are pretty awesome to, so we tossed 'em up as well. 

I couldn't live without Skull Man, so I did Mega Man 4. And gave Rock/Mega Man and ally. 

Then I was like, "Aw, screw it, let's just do the NES ones." But there was room left...

...so I changed "all NES" to "all 8-bit Mega Man robot masters."

All the robot masters from Mega Man 1,2,3,4,5,6,9,and 10, with Dr. Wily as a bonus. 

And, yes, the placement of Plug Man is intentional.

After I finished with every robot master ever I felt kind of like I was missing doing Mega Man related stuff. Luckily, Capcom discovered the SNES and re-vitalized the series...

X, geared up and ready to blast. 

But he needed a buddy...

Always do the outline and easy colors first. 

And the finished product.  MMX cart for scale. 

But there was no point in having them look all awesome without an enemy to kill, so I began work on my biggest project yet. Well, aside from the Metroid. 

This dude is as long as my forearm. 

Filling in colors...

That's a lotta red. 

Three and a half hours later...

I put MMX away, so Sigma's next to Dynowarz (another "great classic") for scale. 

And, finally, them up on the wall.

The love seat just got a lot...lovelier? PUNS. 

That's it from the Mega Man batch. Three months of work and I don't want to think of how many beads (easily in the tens of thousands, if not hundred thousand). What else do I got for ya? Well...tune in next time for some misc. stuff we've been making, followed shortly after by my next big project...POKEMON. See you then!

Adventure Island

Video Review

Written Review

The Short

Pros
- Fun, challenging 2D sidescroller from Hudsonsoft
- "Mister Higgens" is pretty much the best name for a hero ever
- Hefty number of levels, powerups, and enemies
- "Hunger" mechanic is new and nifty
- Graphics are colorful and the music is catchy

Cons
- Three lives, no continues (except through a really obscure method)
- Extremely difficult
- No backtracking at all
- Severely outclassed by its sequels

As long as there's no Gilligan, I'll be fine. 

The Long

Adventure Island is an island brimming with...well...adventure. I guess. Made by Hudsonsoft, who are probably most famous for the Bomberman series of games, Adventure Island is a traditional 2D platformer with an island theme and punishing difficulty. Considering 2D platformers are pretty much dime-a-dozen on the NES, does Adventure Island rise to the top in terms of quality?

Well, it merited two sequels, both of which are vastly superior to the original, but on it's own Adventure Island isn't all that bad. It's just super hard. 

That's not ominous at all. 

Adventure Island follows Master Higgens, who literally has the best name of anybody from a game ever, as he journeys to save his girlfriend, Tina. You don't hear any of this story until after you beat the game, however, so it's pretty much unimportant. What you do need to know is this: Master Higgens is HUNGRY. 

Yeah, that little bar on the top of the screenshots? That isn't health. Higgens dies in one hit to any enemy, so don't let the little blocks fool you. That's his hunger. As you burn through the game (burn as in burning calories!) you'll stumble across all sorts of food that sort of...materialize in thin air. Grabbing them keeps Higgens fat and energized, where if you run out of food, you die. Food only stays on the screen for a second, though, so you've gotta be quick.

That's a lotta bats. 

"Being quick" is actually a key element to this game: running is absolutely necessary. In most games running will increase your horizontal jump distance (as is expected), but Adventure Island mixes it up by also having it increase your vertical jump. Because of this, many jumps (and almost all the bosses) require you to have a running start before leaping or else you won't reach. However, paired with one-hit enemy deaths, you're essentially running a Super Meat Boy style gauntlet: running everywhere is necessary to get food and achieve jumps, but just one tiny screw-up and you are back to the beginning.

Oh yeah, that reminds me: you only have three lives and no continues. Ok, there is a continue system, but it's remarkably obscure. At the end of level one you can find a secret Hudsonsoft Bee in an item. Get that, and when you press a certain button combination upon death you can continue. Didn't get the bee? Well, don't bother holding the weird buttons, as you are permanently banned from continuing. Die just three times (remember, one hit kills!) and you are back to the title screen and the first level of the game. Punishing might be an understatement.

Are you the adventure?

This is where Adventure Island becomes a bit painful to me. I enjoy the controls, the levels, and overall the game itself. But knowing I only have three chances before it's total game over is extremely stressful. Not to mention many of the enemies are placed in a way that require trial and error, but failing is such a massive setback it can make the game more frustrating than fun. 

Still, the game looks pretty good, especially for a sort-of-early NES release. Higgens is a bit flat looking and the game has lots of solid colors rather than actually doing any pixel art, but it all comes together in a decent style that's tropical and bright to look at. It's no Castlevania or anything, but it's charming.

The music is also catchy, if not particularly memorable, though they do re-use tracks quite frequently.

There's only a handful of powersups, but the niftiest one is the skateboard. 

As it stands, Adventure Island is a decent if punishing game that is completely outclassed by its sequels. Adventure Island II and III added animals you can ride on, backtracking through levels, and a less brutal difficulty curve. While Adventure Island is still an enjoyable experience for those who love to bang their heads against walls over and over until finally achieving victory, those turned off by the whole "NES Hard" stigma should probably look elsewhere for their 2D platforming action games.

But hey, no worries, because there's a boatload of them. 

Three out of five stars. 

Master Higgens says: "All the cool kids wear helmets on their adventures!"