revamp needed

carlos here. no we didn't forget this page. im going to revamp this whole page and hopefully make it better soon. stay tune for details

Best Captains in Gaming

Jon here.

In honor of Marvel’s latest comic-book-to-movie cash-in, it’s my Best Captains in Gaming list!

Captain Olimar

Although Olimar has no crew, he pilots his own ship (The Dolphin). He also commands legions of walking carrot creatures that he plucks from the ground. In his second adventure, he does get one crew member under his command – his faithful lieutenant Louie.

Douglas Jay “Captain” Falcon

He seems to have the honorary title of “Captian”, but it could actually be a former rank in the Internova Police Force. Alternatively, the F-Zero GP Legend anime establishes that “Captain Falcon” is the title given to the top racer in the world. Perhaps one day we’ll get an entry in the series that retcons it all together and gives us a better idea of who Falcon really is.

Captain Rainbow

Nintendo loves their captains, but not enough to bring them all to North Amercia. Captain Rainbow’s titular Wii game was probably deemed too absurd to bring to the US and Canada. Captain Rainbow stands out because he’s a burned-out TV superhero on a quest to regain his former popularity. Not exactly an obvious plot for an action-adventure game, so it gets points for novelty.

Captain Commando

Capcom’s former mascot (although it does look like they’ll be killing off another) used to only appear on the backs of NES games until he got his own side-scrolling beat-em-up game in the 16-bit era. He led a four-man team, the “Commando Squad” against villains threatening to conquer the earth. He also appeared in Marvel vs Capcom 1 and 2.

Captain America

Although I have not played a game starring the Nazi fighting Marvel superhuman in almost 2 decades, my nostalgia of Captain American and the Avengers for the Genesis compelled me to up him on the list. The Cap teamed up with Iron Man, Hawkeye and Vision in this side-scrolling beat-em-up, and it probably does not hold up very well. But it holds a very special place in my childhood and is one of the reasons (along with many other games of its ilk) that I love co-op gaming.

The Shinning Example of Trials HD

Jon here.

So I played Trials HD last night for the first time. I guess the best way to describe it is Excite Bike meets Sonic the Hedgehog in HD with some really fun physics. Like Sonic, the levels operate on a 2D plane (although in fully polygonal environments) and feature lots of obstacles, ramps, hills, boulders, flips, falling platforms, etc… Like Excite Bike, the object is to get to the finish line with the best time possible.

There are no lives, there are no continues. You keep trying and crashing until you get to the end. Completing levels with better times and fewer crashes yields better medals and unlockable features.

What impresses me the most about Trials is the very clever levels designs with such limited scope. The 2D tracks are much more fun than they would be in an open 3D environment. Keeping the game on a 2D plane allow players to focus on the basics of the gameplay and the developer to come up with some twisted and, frankly, almost unfair designs. All the levels take place inside a dangerously irresponsibly maintained warehouse and use a lot of the same assets in different ways. The only controls are lean forward, lean back, accelerate and break as well as a “bailout” button that tosses the ragdoll rider in some often hilarious directions. Despite the limitations, the game is a whole lot of fun and very rewarding when you beat a hard level.It’s also funny to see the rider crash and smash his head and neck against various obstacles.

Games and gaming as a hobby could benefit from minimizing the scope like Trials HD and other indie-type games do. Instead of expanding horizons and making games with more freedom, expansive worlds, full customization, and NPC’s with lives of their own, let’s get back to making games with compelling gameplay. That’s not to say there’s not room in with world for epic, 50-hour gaming extravaganzas, but the ratio of fun, creative games like trials to online FPS’s is far to imbalanced. If the choice is between 5 or 6 games like Trials HD and no new Call of Duty or a new Call of Duty and only 1 or two games like Trials HD, I’ll take the former. Every time.

I'm Not Jumping Ship, I'm Buying a Life Raft

Jon here.

I’m not really sure what to write about in this Tuesday blog post. I thought about writing about the slow start and lackluster 3rd party support of the 3DS, but I’m sure it will turn around and I don’t want to be eating my words a year down the line. In fact, most of the hot-topics surrounding Nintendo over the past couple of months are beaten to death. Don’t get me wrong, the Big N still has some serious issues to resolve around it’s struggling hardware and lack of 1st and 3rd party software, but I’d rather talk about something more positive.

But there’s just not a whole lot going on in the world of gaming post-E3, so I’ll talk about something more personal.

I’ve always been a multi-console owner since the end of the 16-bit era. I had an N64 and a PS1. I had a Gamecube and a PS2. However, almost five years into this generation, I find myself owning only a Wii. I do get to play games for other consoles that my friends own, but the always steady stream of quality and interesting games on the Wii and DS kept my wallet in check, preventing me from purchasing another system. I always intended to get a PS3 though. But now that the Wii’s life is coming to an abrupt end (much to my chagrin), I think this holiday will be the right time (financially speaking) to take the plunge.

Side note: I would have been satisfied with the Wii being my only home console with generation if the software had kept coming. But that seems to not be the case.

Barring any massive surprises from Nintendo over the next few months, I’ve begun making my list of PS3 games to purchase. I’ll probably start with some older games and build a library on the cheap, but I am really looking forward to The Last Guardian, Bioshock Infinite, Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3.

Also on my list:

• Uncharted, Uncharted 2
• Little Big Planet, LBP 2
• Bioshock, Bioshock 2
• Resistance, Resistance 2
• Dead Space, Dead Space 2
• Lost Planet 2
• Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3
• Portal 2
• Valkyria Chronicles
• Resident Evil 5
• Batman: Arkham Asylum

So, I’m throwing this question out to the MyIGN users: what other PS3 games would you suggest I get to build a library? Disclaimer: I’m not into sports or racing simulators. Suggestions about downloadable games would also be very welcome.

Putting the Sorting Hat on Nintendo Characters

After seeing the latest Harry Potter flick, I thought it would be fun to see what Nintendo characters would fit into what house in Hogwarts.

Gryffindor
Characteristics: brave, daring, nerve, chivalry
Notable Members: Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Harry Potter

Link – the most obvious choice for Gryffindor, his body houses the Triforce of Courage
Mario – always willing to charge into danger when someone is in trouble, especially if that someone is Princess Peach
Captain Falcon – bounty hunting at 3000mph takes balls
Fox McLeod – he leads an elite squad of 4 star fighters against platoons of enemy star ships

Ravenclaw
Characteristics: intelligence, wit, knowledge
Notable Members: Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood

Princess Zelda – always a few steps ahead of Link, her wisdom is just as essential for the salvation of Hyrule as Link’s courage
Professor E. Gadd – the brilliant inventor of the Poltergust 3000 and general crackpot
Captain Olimar – while Pikmin may be predisposed to following whoever harvests them, Olimar cleverly employs their specific skills to solve complex puzzles
Peppy Hare – mentor to Fox McLeod and calming anchor of team Star Fox

Slytherin
Characteristics: skill, ambition, cunning, resourcefulness
Notable Members: Tom Riddle, Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy

Samus – the galaxy’s most proficient killer often works with the Federation, but is not above taking a dirty job… for the right price
Kirby – highly skilled at both stealing powers and causing trouble, although the most trouble he gets into is stealing a cake or two
Pit – adept with the blade and bow, Pit can dispatch the vast armies of the underworld; but his playful and childish attitude can sometimes be a detriment to his success
Falco Lombari – the ace pilot of team Star Fox can hold his own against any fighter in the galaxy, but is also a little resentful of Fox’s leadership; he seems like he’s always one mission-gone-bad away from striking out on his own

Hufflepuff
Characteristics: hard work, patience, loyalty, fair play
Notable Members: Cedric Diggory, Nymphadora Lupin (Tonks)

Luigi – the perpetual coward, Luigi still fearfully follows Mario on his adventures and never fails to help his brother out of a jam
Donkey Kong – not particularly brave or smart or cunning, DK falls into the Hufflepuff house more by default; but his hardworking attitude make him fit in just fine
Princess Peach – she does not have any particular skills (unless a floating umbrella counts) but she always tries her best
Slippy Toad – in need of a helping hand 90% of the time, Slippy is the weak link of the Star Fox team; he gives it his all and follows Fox to the end of the galaxy, and occasionally comes through


Who else would be a good character to sort into a Hogwarts House? Not just a Nintendo character, but any classic game icon. Where would Mega Man or Protoman or Simon Belmont fit?

Fondest 16-bit Memories

Jon here.

I’m still on my 16-bit kick and therefore spending quite a bit of time with my SNES and very temperamental Genesis. I’m perpetually stunned with how well the SNES hardware and cartridges hold up when you follow the single most important rule of retro gaming: never blow in the cartridges.

I’ll just throw this anecdotal evidence out there for you consideration. I blew in NES cartridges. The games would all freeze, the spring in the loader broke and the input port for the AC adapter loosened to the point that any contact with the cord caused the system to lose power. I blew in Genesis cartridges. The games would freeze and the internal batteries went caput, eliminating their ability to save progress; and both the AC and RF input on the hardware loosened to the point that any contact with the cords caused the system to lose power/video signal. I never blew in SNES cartridges. Works like a dream.

For the record, I never blew in N64 cartridges and it works fine as well. My biggest issue with the hardware was always the fragile analogue sticks.

But I didn’t want to blog today about the superiority of the SNES hardware compared to its contemporaries and even modern hardware (as far as durability). I wanted to share some of my best memories with 16-bit systems.

Two of my favorites revolve around the same game: Spiderman Separation Anxiety. For anyone unaware, it’s a side-scrolling beat ‘em up that best played cooperatively - one player plays as Spiderman, the other as Venom. It was the first game I ever bought with my own money and I can still remember going into the Game Trader store just before they closed to throw down my hard-earned birthday and lawn mowing money for the brand-new, $60 Genesis cartridge. My second cherished memory with the game was obtained much later in the Genesis life cycle when my brother and I finally beat the game. The game ruthless end runs you through a gauntlet of bosses without relief and less than a plethora of extra lives. Our sense of accomplishment was immense.

One of my other favorite memories comes from a much more obscure game: Genghis Khan II Clan of the Grey Wolf. It’s a strategy game from Koei where players choose a starting 13th century nation, build armies, groom successors, invade nations in a grand attempt to take over Europe, Asia and North Africa. I spend so many hours of my childhood scheming, allying, molding economies and waging war against computer-controlled historic figures. And when all the countries on the world map finally turned the uniform color of my home country, it was a feeling of triumph that has only been duplicated or surpassed by a handful of games.

One of those games that surpassed the triumph of Genghis Khan is Super Mario World. Beating a Mario game doesn’t induce a ton of pride, but getting through all of the Star Road levels takes game. And it rewards you with giving all the levels a trippy new paint job, which is a ton better than a screen that says “good job”. Hundreds of Marios died, but that was nothing a quick side trip to the Forest of Illusion couldn’t fix. Trudging through that torture chamber and coming through victorious is the greatest memory I have playing a 16-bit game.

Oh, and "fighting" that fish boss in Earthworm Jim. Classic.

How about you? What’s your best memory of a SNES or Genesis game?

Genesis v SNES

Jon here.

I took a bit of a break from blogging since the only thing on my mind was Operation Rainfall and Nintendo’s lack of interest in bringing core software to their fans. But I’m trying not to beat that dead horse. I’ve sent my Xenoblade letter to Reggie and plan to send one of The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower according to the schedule that Operation Rainfall came up with. And I’m comfortable ending that sentence with a preposition.

Carlos and I are planning on doing an all-SNES podcast next week. I was a Genesis kid, but not really by choice. My dad bought my brother and me a Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog on New Years Day when I was in the third grade. I loved that Genesis and spent countless hours with the Sonic games, Streets of Rage games, Vectorman, X-Men Clone Wars, Spiderman Separation Anxiety, Earthworm Jim, NBA Jam, The Lion King, Aladdin, and Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Grey Wolf (look it up). What a fantastic system for side-scrolling beat-em-up games.

That’s not to say that I didn’t also like the SNES. On the playground, I kept in ranks as a Sega acolyte; but I always loved going over to my friend’s house and playing Super Mario World and other SNES classics. But I wasn’t back in the Nintendo camp until the N64. Looking back, I get a lot more replay value out of the SNES games. I play Mario World and Contra 3 on a weekly basis. Final Fantasy II and III (IV and VI) are two of my favorite RPG’s and two of my most prized possessions in my collection.

It’s a shame that there was such division between the Genesis and SNES fans. It was a fun rivalry, but if you only owned one system then you only got to experience half of the awesome software produced during the golden age of gaming. Both systems had their share of great platformers and mascots. The Genesis had phenomenal beat-em-ups. The SNES was the go-to system for RPG’s. Recognizable third-party franchises like Castlevania and Mega Man and the stunning first-party graphics of Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox probably put the SNES over the top – but just barely.

So, if you were compelled to choose one system, which one would it be and why?

Carlos and I will decide what day we’ll do a podcast on and probably do a live broadcast again. I’m going to ask Ryan if he’ll join us for this one since he’s pretty well-versed in SNES games as well. We’ll adopt the formula we used for the NES podcast and go through the life span of the SNES year-by-year.

A Flicker of Hope

Jon here.

Nintendo fans have endured a lot over that past 3 generations. Long software droughts ailed the N64. The Gamecube was ruthlessly ridiculed as a toy and for “kiddy” software. The Wii’s lower horsepower compared to its contemporary systems caused it to get half-assed ports of multiplatform games, if any at all. But the Nintendo faithful are a resilient bunch, firmly believing that Nintendo’s first party software will deliver in unique and satisfying ways that other software does not. The latest test of the Nintendo fan’s resolve comes not from waning third party support or internet trolls or lackluster software. It’s the lack of software. This latest test comes from Nintendo’s refusal to localize games confirmed or out in other territories.

But Nintendo’s fans are rallying, refusing to take this latest blow from a company whose games we’ve spent countless hours playing and anticipating. The support around Operation Rainfall is incredibly uplifting. The ability of the fans to come together around a common cause is restoring my faith that we’ll be able to play games like Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story and Pandora’s tower. I’ve never been more proud to be a Nintendo fan or a gamer. This is a once-in-a-generation movement. So follow the blogs, comment on the Nintendo facebook updates, write the letters and emails. I have. We can change things.

So now it’s your move, Nintendo. Operation Rainfall cannot be ignored for long. Your philosophy for your next home console is one that is inclusive to both casual gamers and core gamers – the party games alongside the deep single player experience. This last holiday for the Wii will set the groundwork for the Wii U. Your strategy begins now.

Fuck NoA

Jon here.

I’ve got some thoughts on Ocarina of Time on the site which you can read by following the link here. Here’s the short version: it’s not the best Zelda game ever, but it’s one of the most important games ever. Speaking of the site, I apologize for its appearance again. We’re still working on a concept and the method for executing the concept. It’s functional, but not very attractive.

We also could use some more contributors, specifically some that would be able to consistently churn out some reviews for the PS3 and XBOX 360. If any aspiring writers and multi-platform owners are interested in participating in getting a gaming site off the ground, one that’s being built from scratch, then shoot me an email at jon@gamersunanimous.com.

But today I really wanted to talk about (again) the lack of games coming to the Nintendo Wii. This has been an open wound for me ever since E3 and I apologize for going on about it yet again. But if I can’t vent on the internet, but rage will consume me. I was still holding out hope that core games like The Last Story, Pandora’s Tower and Xenoblade Chronicles would come to North America, but now it’s looking less and less likely that it will happen. Here are some details:

Xenoblade Chronicles did get announced from Europe with English and Japanese voiceovers and subtitles in a variety of languages. Nintendo of Europe did have a presence that this year’s E3, but were not allowed to show Xenoblade Chronicles because NoA didn’t want them show games that NoA isn’t planning to sell. To make things worse, a special classic controller will also be available for the game. That’s awesome for you guys in Europe, it really is. But for us Wii owners in NA, it’s salt in the wound.

And this wouldn’t be the first time NoA decided what we should and should not play. Early in the Wii’s life cycle, an adventure game called Disaster: Day of Crisis came out to mixed reviews in Japan and Europe. NoA decided that the game was not of high enough quality to release. No big deal, there was plenty of other software around.

Again, another game with drew a fair amount of attention was released in Japan and Europe, but not NA. Another Code was the sequel to the well-regarded DS adventure game Trace Memory. It was a bigger disappointment than not getting Disaster: Day of Crisis to not get this game since these type of adventure games only come a few times in a generation. The pure adventure game is a genre that’s all but dead – but that’s a topic for another time.

Perhaps the most egregious omission from NoA’s release schedule was Fatal Frame 4. The game reviewed fairly, mostly due to a strange control scheme. But gamers in NA wanted to play this game. Demand among the Nintendo faithful seemed high for Tecmo’s latest installment in their horror franchise. The ball was in NoA’s court to publish it in NA, but again they thought that we’d be better off not playing it.

How about this, NoA? Let us decided what games we want to play with our wallets. They put up this façade that they have our best interests in mind when not localizing what they deem is low-quality software. Have some faith in your fucking products and some faith that your fan base will buy them. That’s what it really comes down to: they don’t think the sales will be high enough to justify the release. They could be right, but we’ll never know for sure. And in the meantime, those of us who would buy Wii software have very little to buy for rest of the year. That money will be going to your competitors, NoA.

This latest development with Xenoblade is making me seriously consider having my Wii hacked to be multiregional.

So what I really need is for someone to talk me off the ledge here. I’m not about to stop playing Nintendo games altogether, but I can’t help be feel cheated out of some good gaming experiences. I’m also getting the feeling that before the Wii U comes out, I’ll be cheated out of a few more. My optimism for seeing Xenoblade, The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower before the end of the year is fading fast and I can’t seem to find any reason to believe it will come back.

Podcasts

Jon here.

I’ve been hitting Ocarina of Time on the 3Ds as much as possible when I’m not at work. It’s fun to look back on it with a more refined sensibility than I had 13 years ago. The game is still awesome – much faster paced than more recent Zelda games. Especially as Young Link, the dungeons are smaller and discovering the next area to explore takes far less time, even compared to Majora’s Mask. The 3D looks great, but I have it shut off most of the time to save battery life. I’ll have some more in-depth thoughts later this week, but so far, I’m really digging it.

Today, I wanted to talk mostly about some of the different podcasts that I’ve been listening to for a while now. Here at IGN, there are some great podcasts. Some of the editors have a tendency to talk over one another more than others, but they have a good track record of delivering quality content and have a good time doing it.

The only other current gaming podcast I listen to is the weekly GoNintendo podcast. It’s my go-to podcast for a roundup of the week’s Nintendo news. They also have an official Pokemon for each show that coincides with the number show they are on (the 1st show – Bulbasaur, etc…). It’s a clever idea and I wish I thought of it first. They don’t really incorporate it into the show much, other than reading the Wikipedia entry for the Pokemon. After recapping the week’s news, they move onto what each of the podscast crew has been playing, and that’s usually when I stop listening. The podcast host, Raw Meat Cowboy (Kevin Cassidy) brings a lot of energy to the show, but does not get much backup. It’s a good show for Nintendo fans. I also download an old episode of Idle Thumbs every once in a while, which is a great show featuring some guys that work in the gaming industry. Unfortunately, they aren’t making any new podcasts. They discussed a lot of current (at the time of recording) topics, so it’s often a little dated. But it’s a fun show to listen to nevertheless.

I keep up with a couple of movie podcasts worth recommending as well. The weekly /filmcast (pronounced “slash filmcast”) is a good show that sometimes run a little long. The three main podcast members also play video games, so sometimes a crossover occurs in their discussion. They always review a new release (in theaters) movie and dissect the week’s film news. But they begin by talking about what they’ve been watching, and sometimes go on for a long time. It’s not unusual for them to go on for 30 or 45 minutes before getting into the actual show. They usually have interesting things to say about their feature review, so it’s worth listening to. The weekly Filmspotting podcast is one for more ardent film lovers. They also pick a current film to review, but often wax intellectual about films that are not… let’s say mainstream. It’s a great show, but definitely not for everyone. The Scene Unscene podcast is similar to the Idle Thumbs podcast – great, but not they’re not recording anymore.

There’s a lot of sports podcasts out there, but I’m partial to the BS Report with Bill Simmons. He talks about different sport with guests, whatever sport is hot at the moment. He’s a little irregular with updates, so it’s good to supplement it with other shows. Baseball Today is a good baseball podcast that records 4 or 5 times a week. I’m a Red Sox fan, so I also download the Officially Unofficial Red Sox podcast, the Original Red Sox podcast and the Boston Globe Red Sox podcast. Since all but the later only update once every few weeks, subscribing to all of them is a requirement for all Sox fans.

I’m starting to branch out and listen to different types of podcasts. I tried listening to the Mysterious Universe. They talk about a lot of supernatural and extraterrestrial and unexplained phenomenon, but they’re a little to fixated on conspiracy theories for me. I just downloaded but have not yet listened to StarTalk, which bridges the intersection between pop culture and pop science, covering subjects like space travel, extraterrestrial life, the Big Bang, the future of Earth and the environment, and other breaking news from around the universe. Or at least that’s what the description says. It’s hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has been on the Daily Show representing Science Now numerous times. I’ll keep everyone posted.

Looking Back on Link's Awakening

The original Legend of Zelda brought an epic adventure of exploration and discovery out of the imagination of the father of modern gaming onto television screens. In Link’s Awakening, Nintendo faced the challenge of bringing such as deep experience onto their handheld system. They succeeded in creating a memorable Zelda adventure so much so that they decided to make the game twice, the second time in color. The later version, Link’s Awakening DX for the GBC is now available for download on the Nintendo 3DS.

Even on such limited hardware, Link’s Awakening delivers an authentic Zelda experience: on open world to discover (provided you find the proper tools), eight dungeons to conquer, an arsenal of tool and weapons to utilize, and secret caves to delve into.

After navigating a vicious storm, Link awakens (see what they did there) in the home of the inhabitants of an island where he washed ashore. His ship is lost, and the only way to escape is to awaken the Wind Fish – the supposed guardian of the island. To revive the Wind Fish, Link must gather the eight instruments to awaken him, hidden in eight different dungeons. The narrative is pretty straightforward, but the direct approach is probably best for working with the constraints of the GBC.

Link has a good variety of weapons and tools to solve clever puzzles and defeat powerful bosses. He has his standard sword and shield, as well as bombs, a feather to jump, Pegasus Boots to dash, and some optional weapons like the mostly harmless shovel and powerful bow. All of Link’s weapons can be obtained before going to the sixth dungeon, and the final dungeons make clever use of all of Link’s acquired skills. Link finds his trusty Hookshot in one of the dungeons, one of my personal favorite weapons and one that became a mainstay in Link’s arsenal.

Link’s tools allow him to access new places on the map and further explore familiar places. There aren’t many heart pieces to find, most of them are rewards for defeating dungeon bosses. But it’s fun to walk around the island, finding all the little nooks and crannies and what lies within.

Link’s Awakening is a memorable handheld adventure, with a particularly memorable trade game and song: The Ballad of the Wind Fish. It’s a must-play for any serious gamer, and now it’s easier to play than ever. On the 3DS, the backlight makes it easier to play, and having it stored in the internal memory makes is easy to play anywhere.

A Week with the eShop

I’m in love with the 3DS eShop. And all it took was Link’s Awakening and Super Mario Land. The former satisfies my need for an epic adventure on a small scale. The later gives me a quick pick-up-and-play game for a few levels. It’s been a long time since I played Link’s Awakening and it’s amazing how deep an experience it is and how creative the level designs and puzzles are within the limited hardware of the GBC. Mario Land isn’t bad either. It’s obviously not as impressive as its console counterparts, but Nintendo was able to successfully translate the Mario formula within some very limited constraints. It’s a shame that it remains unchanged.




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Nintendo did give Excite Bike a 3D makeover. It’s the exact same NES game from over two decades ago in widescreen and with the 3D depth the 3DS offers. It’s another good game for a quick pick-up-and-play and it’s available for the low low price of: absolutely free. I don’t think that Nintendo has quite come up with a winning price structure for their other Virtual Console games. Four bucks for Mario Land is a little silly. One or two dollars makes a lot more sense, but it’s still only four bucks. It’s not that bad unless you compare it to some games on the iPhone that are only a dollar or even free that have a lot more to offer than a relic like Mario Land.

The robust offering of DSiWare games gives the 3DS a good backlog of games to browse through. Nintendo beefed up with browser, offering more ways to search for games and a much better interface. Since I never bought a DSi, I’ve never been able to download any of the software. I decided to start with some of the games from WayForward, who are quickly becoming one of my favorite developers. I picked up Mighty Flip Champs, Mighty Milky Way and Shantae: Risky’s Revenge.




From the incredible praise Shantae received when it came out, you’d think it was the second coming of Jesus – only this time he has a flamethrower and fights werewolves. Don’t get me wrong, Shantae is a solid action/platformer with a lot going for it. It’s a game with enough depth for a retail release. The puzzles are rewarding and the 2D sprites look great. But the map lacks details and is almost useless. Furthermore, the environments use a lot of the same assets. When you’re in a forest, don’t expect a large variety of trees. Most of that is due to the size limit of the games rather than a lack of creativity on WayForward’s part.

File size limitation is a subject for a later date, but I think it favors smaller independent developers.

Mighty Flip Champs is also another worthy download for the fans of puzzle/platformers. Of the three DSiWare games that I downloaded, I like Mighty Milky Way the best. It’s a basic “get from point A to point B” puzzle game that makes good use of enemy placement and gravity to offer a good challenge to fans of the genre.

I also took pictures of my wife in her bikini for Photo Dojo. She had no idea what I was doing at first, but go a huge kick out of recording her voice clips and watching herself beat up… herself. It’s a really fun application/game and it’s only two bucks, making it one of the best values available on the eShop.

Last but not least, I grabbed the Pokedex application and was really surprised by how detailed it is. It gives the level a Pokemon evolves and when it learns different moves, as well as a wealth of other information. It’s a shame that the only way to fill out the ‘dex is to connect wirelessly to other 3DS owners with the application downloaded as well, but it is what it is. It’d be cool if Nintendo had some WiFi or in-store download events to get more Pokemon in the Pokedex.

All in all, I’m having a lot of fun with the eShop. I’m looking forward to downloading more GB and GBC games as well as checking out more of what DSiWare has to offer. I hope Nintendo decides to put some GBA games on the eStore since I won’t be able to pop a great GBA games in unless I decide to carry my DS Lite everywhere along with my 3DS. But there’s not much point to carrying my DS Lite anymore. With the eShop and some great retail software on the way this month, the 3DS will be taking up a lot of my time for the next couple of months. It’s awesome to have so many games in my pocket without having to switch out cartridges.

E3's Winner

So this post will be almost entirely dedicated to my obligatory pick of who “won” E3. And I’m not going to say “gamers won E3” because that’s a lame way of not picking sides.

A couple of days ago, Iwata told David Ewalt of Forbes that the Wii and Wii U will coexist for a little while before the newer hardware takes solo control of the reins. That’s nice of him to say, but I think well all know from Nintendo’s press conference that they already no longer support their current home console. Skyward Sword and a new Kirby game (while awesome) are not nearly enough to make the Wii’s last holiday a vivacious one.

Microsoft had an impressive showing of core software – all the usual suspects showed up: Call of Duty, Madden (and the rest of the EA crew) and that douchey Kudo Tsunoda guy. He just rubs me the wrong way. They also had a healthy showing of exclusives (some from last year) in Gears of War, Forza and Mass Effect. But their big emphasis was on Kinect and try to push core software for it. Choosing lines of dialogue by speaking in Mass Effect seems lame, but using voice commands to give advancement orders to your allies is fucking awesome. Ghost Recon was also a mixed bag of Kinect “controls”. The gun smith gesture and voice commands blew my mind, but my excitement deflated a little when I saw how much the controls lagged in actual gameplay. Kinect seems awesome for the customization of weapons, but not for the use thereof. And why the fuck did Microsoft bring Sesame Street and Disneyland to E3? Super lame. Overall, a solid show with a few down notes.

Sony did exactly what they needed to do and addressed the PSN right off the bat. Their statements were both humble and reassuring. They also had a solid showing with core exclusive games. Uncharted and Resistance look great, as does their new TV/PS3 monitor. Although, it is a little strange that Tretton said it could display either HD or 3D. I’m wondering if that means it won’t display both at the same time. No matter. That’s easy choice anyway. The NGP also looks cool with a modestly outrageous price (oh yes, I just coupled those two words together). Another solid show from Sony.

But I can’t pick against Nintendo for best in show, despite my outrage at the lack of Wii software. Several quality first-party games will his this year, including Mario Kart, Kid Icarus, Star Fox and (the surprise of the show) Luigi’s Mansion. Fingers crossed that we’ll be stomping goombas in tanooki suits later this year too. The Wii U looks both innovate and traditional and may finally strike a balance for the casual crowd and core gamers. Nintendo fans are sure to be pleased as well. The Zelda HD tech demo look spectacular, and although it is not a confirmation of software, I’m looking forward to Link’s first HD adventure with great anticipation. In addition to high-end HD graphics, the Wii U’s tablet controller opens up the possibility for great creativity. Nintendo did not confirm any first party software, but showed several solid third-party games for their new hardware.

But how awesome would it have been if just before the end of their conference, Reggie came out and said, “But we haven’t forgotten about the Wii,” and then proceeded to show Kirby, The Last Story, Xenoblade, Pandora’s Tower and one or two other core games. And then confirmed those for this year. It would have been the perfect way to cap off a great show, the best of E3.

Wanted at E3: Microsoft

With E3 quickly approaching, we all have some ideas about what will be there and expectations about what the Big 3 will bring. But we also have our pipe dreams: our best-case scenarios about what will show up at the event. Over the next three weeks, we at GU will post what we’d most like to see out of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft at gaming’s highest-profile expo.

I usually only post on Tuesday and Friday, but I wanted to get this list up before E3 actually started.

In about 12 hours, Microsoft will kick off the E3 festivities with their press conference. Last year, they had a solid lineup of software and debuted their re-branded motion/camera controller. This year, the usual of suspects of Call of Duty and the like are sure to make a big splash at their conference. However, Microsoft will need to show off some of their exclusive software to stay memorable throughout the expo.

Exclusives

It would be great to see more of a couple of Microsoft’s 2010 exclusives that did not make it to release this past year. I don’t expect Kojima to briefly give an on-stage high-five and exit or Metal Gear Solid Rising to show up at all this time at Microsoft’s show.

Gears of Wars 3’s four-player co-op has me super stoked for the game and chomping at the bit to see more. More of Mircosoft’s own first-party Forza Motorsport would be most welcome as well. It will be interesting to see how it stacks up to Sony’s own first-party racing simulator. I’d like to see some new original software from Rare, maybe an action/platformer like the old-school Banjo-Kazooie.

Kinect

The major hits on Kinect have been casual-friendly sports and dance titles. These games are a nice distraction for core games, but it’d be awesome if a MechWarrior/Steel Battalion style game used Kinect’s gesture-based controls. Combating mechs online, controlling them with hand motions a la Minority Report would be mind blowing.

June Begins

Jon here.

Started up yet another run through of Heart Gold for this month’s installment of Gotta Train ‘em All. You can check out my full written thoughts on the previous team on the site: here. We also spent about 15 minutes breaking them all down on our last Nintendshow podcast, which you can listen to here.

We’re still working on a solution that will help the vocals sound less… cavernous... and hopefully we’ll have that worked out by the end of the month for our next show. As far as getting the site off of the basic template we’re using… I’m not sure how long that is going to take. It’s (at the very least) functional the way we have it now, but our goal is to have a more attractive, intuitive layout by the end of the summer. For now, we’ll tough it out. You can also download the show on itunes if you wanna completely avoid the blight of the internet that is GamersUnanimous.com for now. I exaggerate. It’s not the ugliest website ever, but I’m not happy with it.

I wanted to start the next team early because of the deluge of quality software on Nintendo systems this month. By the middle of the month, I won’t have much time to spend on Pokemon. Wes and I are using Abra, Machop, Ghastly, Geodude, Krabby and Skarmory this time around, which is a nice mix of monsters I use frequently (Abra), ones I have not used in a long time (Ghastly, Geodude, Krabby) and ones that I have never used (Machop, Skarmory).

I may be able to convince Wes or Carlos to review a game or two on the 360 and/or PS3 at some point this month, but (aside from review a few movies) I’m not stepping outside my Nintendo bubble at any point in June, possibly not even until The Last Guardian comes out. I’ll definitely be reviewing Ocarina of Time and RE: Mercenaries on the 3DS and (if I have the cash), I’ll be picking up Mystery Case Files (for the wife and me) and Wii Play Motion. The Wiimote+ alone makes it a worthwhile buy, since I’ll need it for Skyward Sword.

Kind of a boring post today, but it’s gonna be the first really exciting month for Nintendo fans in what seems like a long time.

Wanted at E3: Sony

What We Want at E3: Sony

Posted by Jon
May 31, 2011

With E3 quickly approaching, we all have some ideas about what will be there and expectations about what the Big 3 will bring. But we also have our pipe dreams: our best-case scenarios about what will show up at the event. Over the next three weeks, we at GU will post what we’d most like to see out of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft at gaming’s highest-profile expo.

This week: Sony

In what has been a really solid year of software for Sony so far, our attention is focused on their hardware now: both new and current. That's not to say we don't want more software for the PS3, because Sony has a few properties in particular we're dying to play. But we would like to respectfully ask Sony to not bring out the not-McLovin kid from Role Models to try to convince us to play our PSP's. That ship sailed years ago. Time to give up the fight, Sony.

Handheld Thingy

Sony is almost sure to try to steal some of Nintendo’s thunder by showing off their NGP. We expect them to give a new name, but they called their camera interface the Eye Toy, their motion controller the Move and their video game console the Play Station. Next Generation Portable seems as viable a name as any.

We also hope that they’ll tell us when it will be available and for how much. Rumor was that Sony might push the release to 2012, but with the 3DS slow out of the gate and Nintendo gearing up for home console release next year, Sony may try to push their new handheld in time for the holiday rush. However, we kind of doubt that they’ll talk price at length. Since it is likely to be quite costly, the price structure may end up as an afterthought after a lot of hardware and software hype.

DLC for NGP

We’d love to see Sony bring Patapon to the NGP as well as some more Fat Princess. Both we be fantastic downloadable games, as would a new online multiplayer Wipeout. Being able to transfer PSN games between your PS3 and NGP would be awesome as well.

The PSN Problem

Sony needs to assuage any fear of using PSN during their press conference and they need to do so by say what they are doing specifically to prevent any incident again. We expect them to say that the PSN is now more secure than ever, but they need to do so with gusto. They have to dare hackers to try it again. Showing confidence in their network will install confidence in their users.

AAA First-Party

Finally, we want to see more of The Last Guardian. It would be awesome if the much-anticipated Team Ico project were playable at the show. We also want a solid 2011 release date for the HD conversions of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. We’d love the chance to play these two classics in HD by the end of the year.

FF9 v Dragon Quest

I’ve never been a Dragon Quest fan. I played the original Dragon Warrior on the NES and liked it a lot – even going so far as drawing maps of my own made up worlds and naming my own types of swords and armor and imagining myself playing through my own game. But I never had a chance to play any sequels (in the main series) until Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2 and the remakes DQ’s on the DS. Now, I find the formula archaic: the relentless random battles, the constant grinding for experience and gold, etc…

I hear that DQIX changes the formula for the better, but I have not yet brought myself to play it. I’ve been burned by this series so many times that it’s hard for me to believe that it has really changed. Like that abusive ex, you know? I dunno, maybe I should give it one more chance…

GamePro put up an article on their site, which you can find here.

Comparing Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy IX based on graphic style alone bypasses the fundamental differences between the two, both in gameplay style and storytelling philosophy. Sure, both feature RPG battle systems with a blend of Medieval and Renaissance (with a dash of Victorian) architecture, fashion and color palate. But that’s like saying the White House and the Taj Mahal are similar because they are both big, white buildings. Art style and graphics in games are merely the coat of paint.

The battle system in FFIX (while not as nuanced as in FFX) has a lot of depth, not merely focusing on elemental magic alignments, but also a pick-you-ability system, character specific abilities and skills and boss battles that require more strategy than just a beat down. DQ has maintained a very traditional battle system that borders on bland for decades. The battles are almost an afterthought as you run to the next town/castle.

And you run to the next castle so that someone can tell you through tedious exposition the next town/castle you should go to or next cave to explore so that you can hear more tedious exposition. FFIX’s method of storytelling evolves much more organically and viscerally from the gameplay. The characters are more interesting and have more depth. Each have their own arc to complete and their own motivation for embarking on their quests.

To be fair to the GamePro article, they pointed out some narrative similarities. But to me personally, the two have far more differences than parallels.

Also as a disclaimer, FFIX is my favorite in the series and I can get very defensive over it. I think it perfectly embodies everything that was awesome in the 16-bit FF’s while modernizing the graphics and interface. I love that the characters are not fully customizable and that the games does not allow you to access all of them all of the time. It gives you a party and a quest and forces you to make the best of who you have – like the 3 branching stories in FFVI.

Anyway, I could do a whole blog post on the awesomeness of Final Fantasy IX, but that’s for another time. I really wish I liked Dragon Quest. The fans of the series get a ton of enjoyment out of those games and I feel like I’m missing out.

Lifted Up and Bogged Down

After wrapping up Majora’s Mask last night, I immediately popped in Twilight Princess. Majora’s Mask was on the top of my Top 5 Zelda games for the whole of a half hour. In Twilight Princess, Nintendo refined the Zelda formula they’ve used since way back on the SNES into a pitch-perfect adventure game. The “get 3 things from dungeons then get 5 more things” method never felt more organic than in Twilight Princess, fluidly evolving from the narrative rather than being an epic fetch quest. The story feels much more rooted because of the rich backstory, not only revealed in the game but also established in previous Zelda titles.

The world of Hyrule has a much bigger scope than in any Zelda game to date and is so much more expansive than ever before. Sure, the capabilities of the system the games are on factors a great deal into this, but it feels really good to ride around a huge Hyrule on Epona with tons of little nooks and crannies to explore. That’s the most impressive thing about the scope: the little side caves and holes and cliffs to find those elusive heart pieces and rupees. Hours upon hours can be spent just looking around this version of Hyrule and discovering everything it has to offer.

I’m not saying that Twilight Princess is more important than Ocarina of time, nor as creative and deep as Majora’s Mask. I’m saying that it knits together all of the best elements of Zelda games seamlessly into an incredibly polished experience. It may sometimes feel like you’ve played it before – because you have. But it feels so good to play.

Trudging along in Pokemon Heart Gold is getting more difficult each run through. Wes and I committed ourselves to using one team every month until we’ve used all 250 of the original Pokemon. After 6 or 7 months in, the game is getting old. It feel more like a chore even with fresh monsters. I’ve probably spent more time in Pokemon between Gold and White versions in the past 6 months than I’ve spent with any Pokemon game in the last six yeas. It wears thin after a while.

There aren’t many games that manage to keep the fun intact after playing for dozens and dozens of hours. I could play a couple of run throughs of Contra 3 every day as well as Super Mario World. Maybe it’s just nostalgia that makes those games fun every time I play them. They’re games that when I pick them up, I feel compelled to play till the end. They’re both especially fun, and probably even better, in co-op mode. Gears of War is another one that I don’t mind restarting and blasting through over and over.

It’s rare that modern games have this sort of longevity of replayability. Leave and comment and let me know what games you could play over and over without it getting old.

Ridiculous Listing

Yesterday GamePro made a list of their Top 15 3DS games. I’ll start by saying that their website looks infinitely better than mine and they’re much more consistent with putting up quality content. With that in mind, there are currently 23 3DS games available at retail (according to Nintendo’s website). Come on guys, why not just make a list of the 8 shitty DS games? Or wait until there’s a larger sample size. It won’t take long.

The 3DS games continue to trickle out 2 or 3 a month since launch. Some people (mostly game journalist who don’t actually have to pay for games) complain about the lack of games. But the games will come, and there’s a surprising amount of fighting games. DOA, Street Fighter and Blaz Blue will all soon grace Nintendo’s latest handheld. I can’t even name 3 fighting games on the DS off the top of my head.

I think it’s easy to forget how few DS games were coming out for the first several months. It’s almost the same exact situation. However, the DS did hit the ground running with Nintendogs and Advance Wars and never looked back. Maybe Ocarina of Time and Resident Evil will get the 3DS rolling. We’ll see. But can we make a rule to wait until there are 30 or 40 3DS games out before we start picking the best?

Speaking for the DS, if you were to make a list of the best games on the system, I think you’d have to make a top 50. My collection always hovers around 40 games, but I could easily name 20 or 30 more that I wouldn’t mind owning. It has such a fantastic variety of games spanning across almost every genre. Except fighting.

I wanted to make an amendment to some of my slider-controller ideas for Project Café. If the controller slide open to reveal a touch screen (like some cell phones), it would be tough to utilize both the face buttons/analogue sticks as well as a lower touch screen – as I said in a previous post. However, if the controller slid open and could then be turned around 180 degrees to make the touch screen on top, they using both interfaces could be done. Of course, that introduces new challenges. By turning the controller around, the touch screen would have to re-orient so that the image is not upside down. Easy enough. Furthermore, the right analogue stick would then be on the left and vice versa. The face buttons would also be on the opposite sides.

I still like the idea of a slider controller, but every solution for an obstacle seems to just introduce more obstacles. I had a few crude sketches for what such a controller could look like, but nothing worthy of posting. If anyone want to put forth the effort of making some concept art for a slider controller, please do. I’d love to see if it matches what I see in my head.

Controller Idea

The design of Project Café’s controller perplexes me. Although Nintendo has not officially revealed what the controller will look like or how it will function, they have all but admitted that we’ve on the right track with a tablet-like design. A 6-inch touch screen makes it nearly impossible to imagine a manageable controller. So, I got to thinking about how a slider design might function, like some cell phones: the body slides open revealing a keyboard – or in this case the touch screen.

The advantages to such a design are obvious: the screen can remain hidden making the controller smaller when games are not using it. However, when games make heavy use of the screen, this type of design will, in effect, double the size of the controller. Furthermore, trying to use both the face buttons and analogue sticks simultaneously with the touch screen will be very difficult. There are certainly ups and downs to a slider design, and ultimately it may be a poor design for games using a lot of buttons, but it’s fun to speculate.

A 6-inch touch screen and traditional face buttons on a single controller seems impossible to execute, but let’s not forget that wireless controllers were garbage before the Wave Bird. Nintendo finds ways to make this crazy stuff work.

I, for one, am hoping for a holiday 2012 release for Project Café. It’d be nice to give the Wii one last spring and summer, and I still have my fingers crossed for some quality software for the Wii this holiday. Plus, it would give the 3DS a year+ to plant its roots without competing against 1st party hardware. It still needs some quality software (which is coming) and some room to breathe. Let’s not forget that in May 2005, the DS got such classics as Puyo Pop and Madagascar. Yup, 2 games.

Top 5 (unannounced) 3DS Games I Want

1. Castlevania – another sidescroller, please
2. Advance Wars
3. Final Fantasy VI – give it the FFIV DS treatment
4. Platformer from WayForward – probably inevitable
5. Mario sidescroller

A lot of 2-D games on my list, but that’s what I like out of my handheld games.

I’ve been loaning out a lot of games lately. Ryan has Goldeneye (Wii), Tatsunoko vs Capcom and Little King’s Story; and James borrowed P.N. 03. I really should come up with a system to keep track of who has what, because Carlos still has my DS Phat and Dementium the Ward. Wes takes copies of my games routinely, but he returns them quickly. What about you guys? What’s your policy when loaning games to friends? It makes me a little nervous because sometimes it’s months before I get them back.

Hard Mode

Hard mode in Contra 3 is fucking unfair. Ryan and I always fire up the SNES after recording a podcast, which you can find here. Stealthy little plug, huh? It’s our semi-weekly movie podcast and in this episode, we review Thor.

We’re thinking of reviewing The Greatest Movie Ever Sold next, but Bridesmaids could possibly pull an upset. It’s nice to see Judd Apatow making movies again. Although Funny People disappointed, he’s almost singly responsible for taking mainstream comedies out of the clutches of Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. While he was gone, we got the cinematic masterpieces that are Couple’s Retreat, Little Fockers and The Dilemma.

Playing Contra 3 on hard makes Normal seems so much easier. Easy mode should not exist in any game. Easy mode is the game making fun of you. Remember how after dying over and over in DMC3 the game unlocked Easy mode? No thanks and fuck you. I’ll skip pussy mode every time.

Carlos and I did manage to make it through Contra 4 on hard mode a couple of times. It’s always a pretty awesome accomplishment to beat a game on the hardest difficulty level. Most of the time, you don’t get a goddamn thing for beating a game on hard except bragging rights.

Top 5 Games Hardest Hard-Mode Games

Devil May Cry 3
Ninja Gaiden (XBOX)
Contra 3
Little King’s Story
Resident Evil 4

Any amendments you want to make to the list? Leave a comment :)

Sometimes I wonder why RPG’s and platformers don’t have harder difficulty settings. I guess it would be tough to make an RPG harder since most powerful enemies can be overcome with some grinding. But a few more and faster moving goombas and koopas could ramp up the difficulty in any Mario game. Fewer power ups could make both of the New Super Mario Bros games tougher. That’s not to say the platformers feel unbalanced or simplistic, but an optional hard mode would be kind of cool.

A Core Principle

Rocket Slime helped break up the misery of work. The worst thing about working electronics retail is the knowledge that I have a college degree that turned out to be pretty useless.

Over the past year and a half since Carlos and I started Gamers Unanimous, we posted a bunch of reviews on the blogspot and site. Most of them are pretty short, more fitting for a magazine. One ideal that’s always been gospel to us is that reviews should never be tagged with an arbitrary number reflecting the writer’s judgment of it. We believe this for a few reasons.

The 1-10 grading scale for games has been around for a long time, and as time has gone on, the standard for an “average” game has been lost (if it had ever been known at all). The middle ground of the “OK” game gets smaller and smaller as games get bigger in scope. On a 1-10 scale, a 5 should be an average game – and a majority of games should be average (because that’s the definition of average). However, if a game slips below a 7, many gamers consider the writer’s opinion on it to be low and therefore not worth buying.

The 1-10 scale lacks congruity between games, which is to say, one game can be given a lower score but be a better game. This phenomenon occurs most often with sequels – the later is better (and that is written in the review) but receives a lower score. The 1-10 scale limits comparison among a library of games.

Furthermore, some negative (in the eyes of the writer) elements of a game may subtract from the total score, but those elements may not bother all gamers. The subjective nature of passing judgment could repel a potential audience. For example, the writer may not like random battles and doc the game’s total score for an abundance of them. Some readers may not mind or even like random battles but not buy the game due to a lower total score.

A game receiving a lower score than expected can cause disappointment or even outrage among the gaming community. The preconceived notions that gamers have about the quality of a game or a franchise sometimes rise too high for the game to live up to. But sometimes gamers can overlook the shortcomings and give a game a chance. It’s more difficult for gamers to overlook a disappointing score.

The worst result of a 1-10 scale (or a facsimile thereof) is that it bottom-lines a team’s months or years of work. I’d like to think more of a community that I consider myself a part of, but the truth is that many of us just look a the final score and the breakdown for each category. Taking time to read the reviews gives greater insight into reasoning behind the score. Since the 1-10 scale, or whatever system for rating games, is not going away any time soon, we should all take some time to read more often.

Of course, if you took time to read my obscure blog, I’m probably preaching to the choir. But I would like to pose this question - Which is more broken: the scoring system or they way we (gamers) interpret the scores? The answer is probably both. I choose to lay the blame on someone other than myself.

Now for some savage hypocrisy.

Top 5 Reasons 1-10 Scales Suck

1.“Average” no longer exists
2.Little congruity between games on the same rating scale
3.Subjective elements detract from total score
4.preconceived notions causes disappointment in lower scores
5.Years of hard work is erased by a 6.5

May 2011

Jon here.

I'm working on a schedule that will allow me to update the blog more often and with greater regularity. Look for updates on Tuesday and Friday. I'm off to a horrific start as it stands now since today is of course Wednesday. A momentary lapse that will be addressed.

A few notable games are coming out in May, such as Brink and LA Noire. I'll try to talk Carlos into picking up Brink, since he is much more into shooters than I am. I may pick up BlazBlue Continuum Shift II for the 3DS, which looks to continue the solid lineup of fighting games on the system. It's kind of funny that I probably cannot name 3 fighting games on the DS, but here we are a little over a month into the 3DS's lifespan and we've already gotten Street Fighter, Dead or Alive and BlazBlue. It's a brave new world. I just hope we don't lose out on the Phoenix Wrights and Trauma Centers and Professor Laytons that made the DS such a fantastic system.

To hold me over until BlazBlue, Wes and I have started another round of Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver for our Gotta Train 'em All segment. We decided to go with a few monsters we've used before and one newcomer: Magby, Elekid, Smoochum, Totodile, Larvitar and Sunkern. I'm inside the Ilex forest right now. One thing I love about Gold/Silver is the quick pace at which the game moves: the first three badges can be obtained within four hours.

Look for regular updates on the team as May moves ahead. So far all I have to say about them is that Sunkern is not that bad. We'll see how long a Grass type can be useful.

I've also been playing a lot of Majora's Mask, and you can check out my retrospective on it here. I've been thinking a lot about a remake of it since Ocarina of Time's remake releases on the 3DS in a couple months. So, here's my Top 5 Necessities for a Majora's Mask Remake:

1. 1080p - a high resolution remake of the darkest Zelda game ever is a must.

2. touch panel mask selection - Project Cafe's touch screen would make swapping masks infinitely easier that assigning them to item buttons.

3. iron boots - the ocean temple is a bitch, but some boots to hold Link in place would help.

4. time-proofing - i know it's a basic mechanic of the game for Link to lose all his arrows, bomb, etc... but being able to obtain a quiver or bomb bag that retains their contents even when time is reset would be awesome. they should not be easy to get, though. maybe if they were sold for 500 rupees in the Curiosity Shop or something...

5. debit card - Link saves and saves and saves, and the money stays in the bank no matter how much time is reset. a debit card that allowed him to access the thousands of rupees that would never otherwise be spent would make buying much needed items a whole lot easier.

The Rumor Mill Keeps on Churning

I imagine that the inside of Miyamoto's mind is a lot like the first level in Psychonauts.

So the latest batch of rumors at IGN puts the Wii 2 coming out possibly THIS YEAR around $400. While the price is discouraging, it would be easier to accept if Nintendo had not already launched hardware this year already. I'm very publicly hoping for a November 2012 launch, but 2011 would coincide with the Nintendo-established 5-year console cycle. It also seems like it would trample all over holiday 3DS software sales. Wouldn't it make sense to give the DS successor a holiday season all to itself to firmly plant it's foot in the portable market?

And give the Wii and Skyward Sword one last gasp for fuck's sake. It's unfair what happened to the Cube (although totally justifiable). A new Pikmin that actually makes it onto the Wii would be nice as well. We've been waiting almost 5 years for it. There's still Dragon Quest X, Pandora's Tower, The Last Story and Xenoblade that I'm still hoping to play before I buy a new console. Ok, maybe not Dragon Quest.

From a business perspective, it does not make much sense. Although, Microsoft will testify to the importance of getting your new hardware out first.

And Megaman Legends 3! Holy shit, I figured that this one was on the verge of going the way of Inafune. But it seems like this one will give gamers an instant download when the eshop goes live in a few weeks. Cannot wait.

Rumors Galore

The past 72 hours have left me in a frenzy. My frothing demand for confirmation of the whirlwind of rumors around Nintendo's next console increases. All of the (rumored) features around the Wii 2 seem too awesome to be true. The hype train for Project Cafe is rolling and Nintendo's silence only adds fans the flames of anticipation. E3 Cannot come soon enough.

I decided not to pick up The Conduit 2 for personal reasons. The lack of software on the Nintendo front is pretty glaring in April and May, but there's an opportunity here for some catchup on the WiiWare front. Expect a lot of new and rumor talk on the April Nintenshow and some WiiWare blindspots covered in May.

Hopefully I can get Carlos to post some PS3 reviews to fill the gaps.

I finished capturing all 153 Pokemon in the new 'dex and immediately began transferring some freshly hatched monsters from the original 250 'dex. Within the next few days, I'll have over 400 monsters and then take a break for a few weeks before moving on to the Diamond/Pearl Pokemon. Ruby/Sapphire will have to wait for a while.

Needing a Distraction

As I sat and watch my beloved Red Sox get their asses continually kicked in Opening Week, I browsed through the theatrical release list for April 2011. It is a cold desolate place.

Happily, Ryan and I should have some fodder for the Nickel Film podcast in the Florida Film Festival, which starts next week. We have not decided which movies we will see, but I'm sure we'll come up with a few that will be worth our and your time.

We'll probably close out the month with an all-anime podcast that Ryan and James are ready for. I'm not versed in any particular anime, so I'll brush up on some and probably just play host rather than host/contributor this time around. I'm actually looking forward to how that one works out. If all goes well, I may try to talk those two into doing a monthly anime show of their own.

Apparently it is now Winter in Pokemon Black and White, which strikes me as odd. Maybe Nintendo mixed up the cartridge shipments and reverse the Northern and Southern Hemisphere crates. Then again, our versions are in English...

I have not gone back to my White version since the seasons turned over. I'm preparing a large transfer of the original 250 that will fill up a big chunk of the Pokedex. Following that transfer, I'll work on the Diamond/Pearl 'dex. I'll hold off on the Ruby/Sapphire for a few months to see if they announce a 3DS remake that will be compatible with Black/White. This seemingly insurmountable task will carry me through April, but in May I'll be looking for new content.

Don't count on a Conduit 2 review. I still may change my mind, but I'm leaning toward holding off due to some unforeseen medical expenses.

Suckerpunch

I'm not quite sure what the big fuss is about over Suckerpunch. Some critics lament the movie's emphasis on style over substance as the death of cinema.

Cinema must be some sort of zombie art form, because every couple of years someone proclaims its death but it keeps on chugging. Suckerpunch neither removes the hear nor destroys the brain.

Movies like Suckerpunch are the spice of life. Without the fluff, the substance of films like The King's Speech and The Social Network is under appreciated. Water quenches best when one is thirsty.

I'm not going to say that movies like Transformers or Green Lantern or Smurfs add to the appreciation of better films. These cash in on the nostalgia of sheep afraid of the unfamiliar. Suckerpunch provides original content and therefore is a step up from the usual summer garbage.

I'll take Suckerpunch over Pirates 4 any day.

Style over substance can be a welcome distraction from the weightier films. Relax. Have fun. Cinema is fine.

Hardware and Software

I picked up my shiny new Aqua Blue 3DS this afternoon and spent the evening wearing down the battery. When I first opened the box, I knew right away that a 3DS Lite is not far off.

The system is a bit box and the proportions of the "lid" vs the "base" are a little off. The body could definitely be a bit more slick. I love the telescoping stylus, but the placement is strange. The Start and Select buttons are also in a strange position underneath the touch screen. It's way too easy to mistake the Power button for the Start button in the middle of a game and loose all your data. I love the home button and the menu/channel system.

One of my favorite things is the note pad. I love the idea of taking notes in games by exiting really quick and going right back to it. The Mii channel has the some facial features as the Wii version, but the camera creation of a Mii never seems to work very well. I was very impressed with the AR cards and I'm looking forward to diving int those more.

I picked up Steel Diver and Pilotwings Resort and I'll post more thoughts on those tomorrow.

Thoughts on a More Coagulated Team

Victini hit a rough spot after the 5th gym, when it seemed like everywhere I walked it was raining. I pulled out Krokorok again, taught him Bulldoze and rode him out through the cave filled with Electric types. Outside, there's another town and a person who uses Heart Scales to teach moves - a staple of the series. Vicitini learned Searing Shot via Heart Scale - Sp Atk Fire move with 100 damage and 100 accuracy. Brilliant.

Zoroark is shaping up to be a fine Pokemon - kind of the antithesis of one of my all time favorites: Umbreon. Oh, and that Lucky Egg item is a must-use. It's grinding made easy.

I was beginning to doubt Zebstrika, but romp in the rain and Discharge restored my faith in the little guy. Even though his Attack is pulling away from his Sp Atk, he's still very capable with both.

Vanillite evolved and learned Ice Beam, so far so good with this delicious monster. Ducklett evolved into Swanna as well, but I put him away in favor of a fortunate trade that I stumbled across.

So some kid in Japan really wanted a Darumaka, but I guess couldn't seem to catch one (or wanted on with an English name). So he was willing to trade his lv 1 Axew for a female Darumaka. Done and done. Now at lv 38, my new Dragon type is kicking a lot of ass while I explore around using Surf. There's a lot of ground to cover that is not necessary to complete that game, which I like a lot. The more exploration the better.

Moving Right Along

I've neglected posting as much as I thought I would, but I've been caught up in other projects.

I've been putting together makeshift teams to work my way through the 2nd and 3rd gyms, as well as catching everyone I can along the way. I want to catch Pokemon with neutral natures, which proves difficult. Needless to say, I do a lot of saving and resetting.

My Pignite and Throh did the job against the 2nd gym, which is comprised of Normal types. In the forest ahead, I completed my collection of monkeys and did some training with Pansear, Pignite, Pidove and Woobat because the 3rd gym leader uses Bugs. Pidove finally evolved at lv 21, and Woobat evolved via friendship. Pansear learned Flame Burst at lv 22 - a very useful Sp Atk Fire move. But I put all the monkeys away when I found out they evolve by using a stone on then. I'll come back to them when I decide at what level to make them grow. It may end up being sooner rather than later, since their stats are nothing to write home about.

The foursome of aforementioned Pokemon were more than capable of taking out the 3rd leader. Although, after much deliberation, I think I will abandon my Pignite for the event Pokemon, Victini - a much more capable Fire/Psychic type. I'll see how he develops and make a final choice later.

For now, I'm trudging through the desert, looking for Pokemon to add to my collection and preparing for my next gym bout. The dex it starting to come together, so I'm starting to see who evolves into what and how many steps they have.

I think I'll stick with my Electric zebra for a while, as well as Victini. I want to pick up Zarou after this next gym if possible, and I hear there's a Dragon type somewhere in the game. I must have. Other than those four, I'm still seeking a capable Water Pokemon as well as a final member, but I don't expect to have a final team until close to the end of the game.

Full review on the site after the weekend.

Black and White

So far so good with the fifth generation of Pokemon. I decided to start with Tepig, who is turning out to be a capable Fire type. I almost restarted the game when I received on with a Bold nature, which lowers Attack and raises Defense. But since I had already downloaded the Mystery Gift to obtain the event Pokemon, I think I'll tough it out. Even with a Bold nature, his second form's standout stats are his Attack and Sp Atk, but everything else is quite well-rounded. He learned Flame Charge, which is a good physical Fire move that raises Speed.

I'm catching everyone I can with a neutral nature so that I can get accurate accounts of how their stats develop. I'm making an exception for Pansage, a Grass type that some dude gave me before the first gym. Since the first gym is whatever type I'm weak to, I assume that this gift Pokemon is whatever type that completes the rock-paper-scissors loop. Pansage has a Lonely nature, which raises Attack and lowers Defense. He was very useful against the gym leader.

I also did some training with Blitzle, an Electric type Zebra. She has good Attack, Sp Atk and Speed, and learned Shock Wave, a familiar move.

I'll post more thoughts tomorrow on some other trainees as well as the second gym.

GDC 2011

Nintendo is not known for making big splashes at GDC, but with the looming launch of the 3DS, I think we all knew that they'd have a few things to say.

May will the the month for all of the online content to hit the 3DS, including the eStore, which is what I'm most excited for. I love the idea of downloading handheld classics available to me anywhere without a cart. The Netflix streaming impressed me as well, and I'm anxious to see the quality of the streaming. I could see myself streaming Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs while at work, resting my DS on the computer. Let the slacking begin.

I'm a little disappointed that we did not get a release date for Kid Icarus, but they did throw a little old-school love our way with a June release for the remake of Ocarina of Time. I've been playing through a lot of the older Zelda games (and you can find some thoughts on those on the site) which makes me even more excited to play the one that is most highly acclaimed. I have not played it in almost 5 years.

I was super shocked that they announced a Mario game for the 3DS at GDC. I'm not surprised that there is one, and I have my fingers crossed for a November release. It just seems like Nintendo holds onto those announcements until 3DS, whereat I'm sure we'll hear more details.

They hype train is rolling.

Month of the DS

The DS is going out with a bang in March 2011. First Radiant Historia proved to be radiant indeed to close out a slow February. Next, Pokemon gets an all-new installment without Zubat and the acclaimed Okami gets a sequel. That's one hell of a big 3 to send the dual-screened handheld that could into the sunset.

I'll be taking the review for Pokemon while Wes tackles Okamiden. I'll also try to squeeze in some reviews for Pilotwings and Street Fighter for the 3DS before the month ends.

Also look forward to a new Jon and Carlos show mid-month, the Nintenshow at the end of the month and 4 Nickel Film podcasts starting the second week of March. Lots of great stuff to talk about on all fronts.

But we'll start the great content today with a review of Unknown and a DVD quickie. Later tonight, check out a look back on Wind Waker and a new itouch review from Wes.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 5 - Wrap-up

I'll just go over the last Gym and Elite 4 super quick:

Ampharos and Gyarados (with Avalanche and Ice Fang) took out Clair with minor issues.

Ampharos and Arcanine make quick work of Will.
Arcanine humiliated Koga.
Heracross beat down Bruno.
Karen was a team effort, and also the easiest of the bunch - except for Gengar. I sent Tauros out thinking that Ghost moves don't effect him and his Zen Headbutt could take out Gengar because of the type alignment advantage and because of Gengar's low Defense. However, Gengar is quick and he know Focus Blast, which finished off Tauros in one hit. That was the first and only time I used Tauros.

I figured that I could use Steelix against Lance, powering up his Attack and Defense with Curse and letting Rock Throw do the rest (since Dragonite is also a Flying type). However, his first Dragonite knew Fire Blast. After defeating it with Gyarados, I threw a revived Steelix back out against Aerodactyl then employed the Curse strategy. It carried Steelix through the rest of the battle.

When breaking down the stats, I'll bold the highest of each particular stat on the team. I'll also italicize the lowest particular stat on the team. For example, Ampharos as the highest Sp Atk out of all team members, but the lowest Attack. So his Sp Atk is bold and his Attack is italicized.

At lv 50, here's the breakdown:

Arcanine (Quirky in nature: neutral)
HP 153
Attack 128
Defense 94
Sp Atk 126
Sp Def 94
Speed 118

Steelix (Hardy: neutral)
HP 149
Attack 102
Defense 217 (wow)
Sp Atk 65
Sp Def 83
Speed 51 (wow...)

Gyarados (Lax: +Defense, -Sp Def)
HP 171
Attack 144
Defense 116
Sp Atk 79
Sp Def 106
Speed 100

Heracross (Hardy: neutral)
HP 149
Attack 138
Defense 99
Sp Atk 55
Sp Def 115
Speed 106

Tauros (Docile: neutral)
HP 148
Attack 112
Defense 116
Sp Atk 56
Sp Def 80
Speed 132

Ampharos (Modest: +Sp Atk, -Attack)
HP 167
Attack 77
Defense 83
Sp Atk 134
Sp Def 102
Speed 72

So Arcanine did not have any particular stat that was the highest on the team, but also did not have any stat that was the lowest. Gyarados, on the other hand, had 2 stats that were the highest and none that were the lowest.

It's tough to pick an MVP out of these two, but I'd have to go with Arcanine for his all-round versatility.

Storytelling

I have a full review for Radiant Historia up on the site, so check it out. I'll also get back to wrapping up Gotta Train 'em All tomorrow. There's already a full wrap-up on the site, but I'll get into more specifics about lv 50 stats here.

I've never given much credibility to games as a platform for compelling storytelling. Games are primarily an interactive art between a problem and the player. Imagine my surprise when the multiple timeline narratives and complexities in interacting with both impressed me in Radiant Historia. I'm not saying that we're at Inception levels of handling parallel narratives, but it's definitely a cut above most of the shlock that gamers endure. Some have even been enamored with modern games' stories. Ugh.

The problem with writing compelling stories in games is that the players transfer themselves into the characters of the game, which is completely natural because the players execute the actions of the character. For all intents and purposes, they are the characters. So there's a disconnect when a character in a game says or does anything uncharacteristic of the player.

Not to mention that all video game writers need serious lessons in writing dialogue and subtlety. I'm looking at you, Square-Enix. Most characters in games are either melodramatic to the worst degrees of after-school specials, or unbelievably emotionally constipated.

Anyway, I'll get off my soap box until I can prove that I'm better.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 5 - Gym 7

Everyone is moving along quite well. I did not spend any time in Mt. Mortar just yet. I'll do some cave diving before I boot out the Elite 4.

Team Rocket is a bit more a hassle without a strong Psychic type. Although Tauros did learn Zen Headbutt at lv 31(ish), Koffings have a solid Defense and Tauros's Attack stat is starting to lag. I cannot blame him, he's a simple 1-form. That said, he's stats are still solid, just not up to Gyarados and Heracross levels. Steelix's Rock Throw would be much more useful against the Zubats and Golbats if it were more accurate.

With all that in mind, calling Team Rocket more of a hassle this time is like saying that opening doors is more of a hassle than automatic ones.

Gyarados picked up Ice Fang at lv 32. Awesome.

Bryce was easy pickings for Arcanine and Ampharos.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 5 - Gym 5 & 6

My biggest concern on the way to Olivine was Onix. He was at lv 20 and I decided to evolve him then because all his stats (other than Defense) were severely lacking. Evolving him gave his a nice boost across the board, but he has yet to learn a powerhouse move with good accuracy. I taught him Iron Tail after beating Jasmine, but I'm getting way ahead of myself there. By the time I worked my way up to the top of the lighthouse, he was caught up with everyone at lv 25.

The only pokemon that was not at lv 25 was Flaffy, but this was on purpose. She was the only monster I used while surfing (taught Surf to Gyarados) to Cianwood against wild pokemon (usually Tentacools) and trainers. By the time I reached Cianwood, she had evolved into Ampharos (lv 30) and learned Thunderpunch. After swimming around the Whirl Islands and picking off the rest of the trainers, she was a lv 36 powerhouse.

Heracross has not yet learned much because most of the move he would have learned, he inherited from breeding. With Aerial Ace, Chuck's Gym was no sweat for him by himself.

I did not have a pokemon who could Fly, so I had to catch a Farfetch'd to do so.

Arcanine made quick work of Jasmine with absolutely no issues.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 5 - Gym 4

Thank God for Gyarados. At lv 20, all his stats, but especially his Attack and Sp Atk took a huge jump and he learned Bite. Congratulations, you are now useful.

There's a schoolboy trainer (that is to say, a pokemon trainer that attends some sort of elementary academic institution, not someone who trains schoolboys) right before the Sudowoodo that gives you his phone number. When I arrived in Ecruteak, he called saying he had something for me. It turned out to be a Fire Stone, which I used on Growlithe immediately. At lv 20, he already knew Flame Wheel, Flame Thrower and Bite, so any other moves he needs, I'll teach him via TM's. As an Aracanine, he'll pick up Extreme Speed later. His stats all grew by 14 or 16 points.

With Gyarados and Aracanine in tow, Morty and his juniors did not put up much of a fight.

More details on stats tomorrow.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 5 - Gym 2 + 3

Magicarp is a drag. Not because is he completely useless in battle (this I expected) but because he takes so much experience to level up - doubly so because I have to switch him in and out.

Mareep continued her winning streak on the way to Union Cave against some fishermen. She evolved into Flaffy at lv 15. In Union Cave, Heracross's Brick Break (which he learned through breeding) made hikers a cakewalk.

There was no easy solution for Team Rocket in the well. Onix's Rock Throw make quick work of Zubats, but elbow grease was needed to fell the Koffings within.

Growlithe made quick work of Bugsy and his junior trainers, and even earned some experience for Magicarp along the way.

Whitney in Goldenrod was a cinch for Heracross.

I will stick up for Magicarp a little, he does have good Speed and Defense. But his other stats are horrid and he does not learn anything except Tackle at lv 15. Bring on Gyarados. I'm ready.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 5 - Gym 1

I finally got started on our next team for the month. It consists of Magikarp, Growlithe, Mareep, Onix, Tauros and Heracross. All but a couple have neutral natures. I usually breed 5 of each species and take my pick of the litter, but against those odds, I some did not achieve a neutral nature.

What drives a man to be neutral? Is he born with neutrality in his heart?

Growlithe carried the heaviest load in the early going, through the bug trainers and Bellsprout Tower. He came with Flamethrower as a result of breeding, but learned Ember pretty quickly (lv 6). Starting with Magicarp and swapping in Growlithe made earning Magicarp a few extra levels simple. He and Onix will be the thoughest to train, until they evolve.

Through Falkner's gym, all is well. Mareep picked up up Thundershock at lv 10 and her stats are lagging behind just a touch. But I have 100% faith in Ampharos. Onix's impenetrable defense made him useful against Falkner. He picked up Rock Throw at lv 9, which also made him useful.

I grinded a bit with Heracross and Tauros, and they are growing well. He learned Rage and Horn Attack at levels 5 and 8, and both his an Heracross's Attack is growing very well. They'll end up being the brawlers of the group.

If I don't make it, tell my wife I said hello.

February 2011

I sat down to hammer out a schedule for features, reviews and podcasts for the month, only to realize that The Conduit 2 is actually coming out in April. I'm positive it was slated for February at some point, but I guess I missed the delay. Imagine my surprise. de Blob is coming out for the Wii this month, but I think I'll save my money for some 3DS games. Sorry, THQ. Radiant Historia is coming out on the same day as de Blob 2 (February 22), so I'll be reviewing that one instead.

I was incredibly please to see that Kirby's Epic yarn sold almost 1.4 million in 2010, and I have no doubt that is has reached that number by now. Retro's Donkey Kong Country Returns sold an incredibly impressing 4.2 million. I'm blown away by both numbers, especially DKC. I'm pretty sure Nintendo has only released the sales numbers for first-party games in 2010 because Goldeneye is nowhere to be found on their Top 10. I'm 90% sure that it beat out Kirby.

On the movie side of the site, this month I'm putting together a pretty extensive feature on Hong Kong film director Wong Kar Wai (or Kar Wai Wong, whichever order of nomenclature you prefer). I'll be watching (and in some cases, re-watching) all of his movies and writing reviews for all of them, followed by a feature about him as a director at the end of the month.

Technical Difficulties

I have a couple of features now that are ready for posting on the site, but for the last 3 days, I've been getting "Internal Server Errors." Three days is long enough to tolerate it, so I've now emailed technical support. Hopefully they fix it by tonight.

Wes is on his way over to record another Nintendshow before we leave for work. If all goes will with tech support, that'll be on the site tonight. Even if they drag their feet on this one, the show will at least by on itunes.

Picked up Oracle of Ages last night. I has not aged quite as well as Minish Cap, but that's forgivable because of the limitations of the GBC. Still, it's a great game and I'm having a really fun time with it. I'm amazed by the amount of depth in both Ages and Minish Cap in such tiny worlds. It seems like the DS Zelda games (while great) lack the same sense of exploration and discovery that makes me love Zelda games. That's probably due to the transportation methods in each. The game is all about just getting to the next dungeon or town.

Wouldn't it be awesome if a Zelda game hid items and weapons in the open world map rather than in dungeons? That would force players to check out all the nooks and crannies because they would not be able to beat certain dungeons without hidden weapons. I love exploring all the little caves and holes and canyons in Zelda games, especially Twilight Princess, but I'd love even more bigger rewards than just rupees or heart pieces.

After a Couple of Weeks Off

I needed a breather for a while. I didn't think it would at all be an issue a year ago, but writing about games I love to play takes its toll. Sometimes I get bogged down and start to think of my favorite hobby as a chore rather than a pastime. But, I'm recharged and ready for more.

I didn't not finish all posts about the Ash Ketchum team, but I did make it all the way to the end and beat Red. They team worked out very well. I have a few reservations about recommending all six members, but I'll map out all my thoughts more coherently in a full write up in a couple of days. In the meantime, I'll just say that all are worth a shot, but Butterfree and Pidgeot are not worth taking up to high levels.

Wes is still plugging along through the Johto Gyms, because he's a motherfucking slacker. I have the next team ready to go, and we'll announce who is in on the next Nintenshow in a couple of days.

Carlos and I are trying to work out when our next show will be, but it'll be at the end of the month or in the first couple of days of January.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 4 - Gym 8

I've slacked off a little making posts. I'm actually done with all of the Kanto as well as Johto Gyms. Wes has not even started with this team, but he swears he'll be ready to talk about them in the podcast.

To try to give Wes some time to catch up, I tried doing some exploring around the Lake of Rage, but did not find much.

Pidgetto finally evolved into Pidgeot at lv 36. All his stats shot up by 15 points (approximately) and he finally learned Wing Attack at lv 38, his first move (aside from Fly) that does more than 40 damage.

Without much to do at the Lake of Rage, I set off to take out Team Rocket at Goldenrod. It was a simple type alignment game. I got a glimpse of my rival's final team, which is no different from any other run through.

Butterfree tried to learn Captivate at lv 38. Pass. I did let her learn Bug Buzz at lv 40, which is her best move.

Claire was moderately difficult, but not too bad. Charizard's Dragon Claw and Venasuar's Razor Leaf did the job just fine. After trudging through the Dragon's Den, I taught Dragon Pulse to Charizard.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 4 - Gym 7

After getting Strength on Route 42, I decided to backtrack again and do some cave diving back in Union Cave and Dark Cave. I found some backdoor entrances to the Ruins of Alph but nothing else too interesting. In dark cave, I found a few items, but nothing awesome and not many trainers.

There were a few trainers in Mt. Mortar as well as a few items; there are a lot of places in Mt. Mortar where I can use Waterfall and Rock Climb, so I’ll have to come back later.

During my spelunking, Ivysaur evolved into Venusaur at lv 32. He got big stat boosts across the board – about 15 points. Wartortle learned Aqua Tail at lv 32.

It was the Butterfree and Charmeleon show all up to the Lake of Rage. I was planning on catching the Red Gyarados to add to my collection, but Raichu took him out in one Thundershock. Oh well, I can’t complain if my team is too awesome.

After meeting up with Lance, it was time to confront Team Rocket.

Butterfree tried to learn Safeguard at lv 34. Pass. No other notable moves or evolution during my bout with Team Rocket.

However, Charmeleon evolved into Charizard in Byrce’s Gym at lv 36. He immediately learned Wing Attack. All his stats grew by about 15 points, except for his Sp Atk, which grew by 20. Wartortle learned Skull Bash at lv 36, then evolved into Blastoise. All of his stats grew by 15-18 points each.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 4 Gyms 5 & 6

I wanted to give Wes a little bit of time to catch up, so I took my team on a detour, backtracking around Johto with Wartortle’s new Surf skill. My backtracking eventually led me back to Union Cave, where I encountered several Ace Trainers with skilled Pokemon at the same levels as mine (25/26). Most of my team members held up very well against them, except for Pidgeotto who has yet to find his niche. He did learn Featherdance at lv 27.

Charmeleon learned Fire Fang at lv 28; Butterfree learned Silver Wind also at lv 28 and Tail Wind at lv 30.

After grinding Pikachu to lv 30, I spent some time in the Pokeathelon Dome earning points to buy a Thunderstone. It only took 5 or 6 rounds in the Speed and Jump circuits to earn the points necessary. All of Raichu’s stats took a big jump, except for his Speed, which only increased by 7 points. His Sp Atk and Sp Def grew by 24 points, his Atk by 21 points and his Def and HP by 15 points. His stat growth is now much more encouraging as a Raichu, gaining 2 or 3 points in every stat almost every level; but most importantly, his Speed, Atk and Sp Atk are always growing by 2 or 3 points. His Sp Def is also very impressive.

I did quite a bit of grinding with Raichu on Route 40 and 41, but before that, I played type alignments on Routes 38 and 39 as well as in the Olivine Lighthouse.

I let Pidgeotto do most of the leg work in Chuck’s Gym, partly in hopes that he would pick up a stronger move like Wing Attack within. No such luck. He did try to learn agility, but I declined. His Featherdance/Roost combo made the enemies weak enough and Pidgeotto durable enough to give Gust enough rounds to eliminate the enemies. Chuck’s Poliwrath had a better combo in Hypnonsis/Focus Punch. Raichu had to finish the job. Immediately afterwards, I taught Fly to Pidgeotto.

Jasmine was no sweat for Charmeleon. Flamethrower easily dispatched of both Magnemites and Steelix.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 4 - Gym 4

Pidgeotto learned Twister at lv 22; Butterfree learned Whirlwind at lv 22, and Psybeam at lv 24; and Pikachu would have learned Thunderbolt at lv 26, had she not inherited the move from her parents.

The 3 starters did not learn any significant moves before the next Gym battle. Routes 35, 36 and 37 as well as the National Park did not give the Ask Ketchum team any grave challenges. They all continue to grow at a rapid pace and their stats are developing nicely.

The only complaints I have so far is that Pikachu’s stats only grow by about 1 point every level, except for his Speed, which often grows by 2 points, sometimes 3. His Atk and Sp Atk scarcely grow by 2 points, sometimes they do not grow at all. If not for his good move set and plenty of opportunities to exploit weaknesses to Electric types, he would be a disappointment. But Thunderbolt makes up of this. Pidgeotto’s stats are also lagging behind everyone else’s and he does not have the move set to make up for it. Hopefully his third form will pick up the slack. Furthermore, I know better moves on are the way. He’ll just have to tough it out till then.

Neither my rival in the Burned-Out Tower nor Morty were too tough. My team is several levels higher than my rivals at this point, so his Ghastly, Zubat, Magnemite and Bayleaf are no match. Morty’s Gengar did give me trouble though. I coasted through the entire Gym with Butterfree’s Confusion and Psybeam as well at Wartortle’s Bite; But Gengar’s Shadow Ball and high stats took out both of those two in a couple of hits, leaving the rest of the team to scrap their way past Gengar and his two remaining Haunters. Thankfully, they are a scrappy bunch and were up to the task.

Gotta Train 'Em All Part 4 - Gym 3

I held off from teaching U Turn to Butterfree for now because his Atk stat is unimpressive.

My rival’s Ghastly, Zubat, and Bayleaf were easily dispatched by my Butterfree, Pikachu and Charmeleon.

No issues to report in the Ilex Forrest, Route 34 or in Goldenrod City. Smooth sailing through calm seas with no particular standout performances.

Ivysaur learned Razor Leaf at lv 20, and Pikachu learned Double Team at lv 18, then Slam at lv 21.

I was not able to play type alignments against Whitney’s Normal-type Pokemon, but my power packed team muscled their way through her, Ivysaur was crucial against her Miltank, since it has very low Sp Def. His inherited Petal Dance knocked her out in a single hit.