Nintendo: How low is their self-esteem?

I feel like Nintendo has really lowered their standards to an almost disappointing level. Last year, Nintendo claimed that they didn’t wanted any indie games in their e-shop, and that they only wanted titles released by their company in the store. Well, when they realized the WiiU was making as much money as the Gamecube when it was released (which is not much), they panicked. Now, it seems that Nintendo is letting almost anyone sell their games in the WiiU e-shop.

Usually, I’d have no problem with this. It’s awesome for indie gamers to get their titles out on a system created by the greatest gaming company known to man, more power to them! The issue I have is that some of these games just aren’t worthy. For example, there’s a title called BLOK DROP U, which is a puzzle game where you have to remove grey blocks in order to get a red block to a platform. It’s a simpel concept for a simple game, and it’s an alright time waster.

I’ve seen tons of these games before on flash game sites and in app stores, and they’re usually a decent way to spend time if you’re bored, but here’s the thing. They’re usually free to play. These type of games don’t have enough depth or content to be able to put a price tag on them. For a game like BLOK DROP U, if I HAD to pay, I’d pay a quarter, if at all. If it actually had color and nice, smooth transitions, I’d pay a buck. The Nintendo e-shop is selling this game for $1.99. 2 bucks for a game that looks and feels like it was made by a couple of kids who got their hands on an app program.

BLOK DROP U isn’t the only game that’s over priced, there are other games that are a pretty penny for a not so pretty game. There are tons of games you’ll find in their indie section that look like you could play them on your iphone or ipad for free or a buck, and some of these games are going for $4,$5, even $10-$15 bucks.

So before you buy a game on the e-shop, read reviews. Watch the demo videos they put up (if they have any), and most of all, check to see if you can get a free version of a similar game on your phone or tablet first before you spend $15 bucks on the game just to play it on your WiiU.

 

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

I adore Kirby. I’ve always loved Kirby games, and it’s by far one of the most successful series of platform games in the gaming industry. Though as much as I loved Kirby as a kid, there was one Kirby game that I had never played. Funny enough, this game title is one of the most beloved Kirby games of all time. In fact, my boyfriend Mark was so shocked that I hadn’t played before, he made me review it for you guys. (Which I have no problems with! It’s a Kirby game after all, it can’t be bad.) So this week, I’ll be telling you guys about my first time playing Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. 

To give those who have never played any sort of Kirby game a little background, Kirby is a lovable pink ball that floats around and sucks up enemies to copy their abilities. Usually he uses these abilities to beat baddies and bosses to beat the game. It’s an extremely simple concept, but that’s one of the reasons that Kirby is so popular. The controls are never complex, the stages are never overly difficult, and every level is always colorful and pleasing to see. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards was released on the Nintendo 64 in North America June 26, 2000, and was later released as downloadable content for the Wii in 2008. The game was developed by HAL Laboratory, the same team that developed games such as Earthbound, SimCity, and Pokemon Snap.

  

So let’s start at the beginning of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. On a planet inhabited by fairies, a dark power called Dark Matter invades and begins to consume the planet. Before it was too late, a little fairy named Ribbon flew to where the planets sacred crystal was held, took it in her arms and began to fly through space with the treasure to protect it. Dark Matter chases her down, and ends up shattering the crystal into pieces that scatter throughout the galaxy. Ribbon then falls and lands on Kirby’s home planet, where she realizes that she only had one of the crystal shards on hand. Kirby, being the little hero he is, volunteers to help Ribbon recover the crystal shards and defeat Dark Matter to save her home planet. The story is very cute, and although the plot is predictable, what more could you expect from a Kirby game? The whole point of every Kirby game is to find the bad guys and save the day. 

  

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is a 2.5D platform game, meaning while the graphics are 3D, you can only side scroll. You have one button to jump (keep pressing it to float around), a button to suck in enemies, and a button to eject powers out of Kirby so that you may get a new ability. There’s something about this Kirby game that makes it very unique, and it makes me wonder why HAL Laboratory didn’t put this in any Kirby games released after Crystal Shards. Usually Kirby is only able to have one ability as a time, while in The Crystal Shards if you have an ability, eject it from yourself and then throw the power-up at a different enemy, those power-ups will combine, making tons of possible powers for the players to experience.  I loved this about the game, since there we’re power-ups that you could combine that either made you a human firework, or turned you into a fridge so you can throw food at your enemies while picking up the food afterwards to heal. As for the rest of the game, it’s very straight forward. Get from start to finish, while trying to find the 3 crystal shards hidden in each level. The bosses are easy, but not so easy that you don’t have to put effort into the fight. The game is either loved or hated for how simple the game play actually is, but for a lot of people it’s a nostalgia bomb ready to go off as they play and remember playing as a kid. In fact, with how simple the game actually is to play, it’s extremely family friendly in that you don’t have to be younger or older to be good at it. Anyone can play without much frustration.

   

Another thing that I enjoyed about the game is the fact that there’s a mini-game mode where you can play with multiple players. There are 3 mini-games in total, and none of the games have more than 2 controls to memorize, making it easy to understand for those who don’t game very much or are younger. There are different characters to play from, and if you and another player want to play the same person, the game just turns one of the players a different color so that the two can tell the difference. Although the games are short and there are just a few of them available to play, they’re definitely worth checking out.

Overall, I enjoyed the game and I wish I had it when I was a kid. I feel like this is a great game for younger kids to play if they’re just starting to learn how to game, while it’s enjoyable to revisit if you’re an older gamer. This is a game I’d also show my parents and have them try out as well, since the controls aren’t hard to figure out and it’s easy to navigate through a game that only lets you move left and right. Looking back at Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, it makes me appreciate how far Kirby games have come and just how much they’ve grown. I still wish they’d bring back the option to fuse your abilities together especially with todays graphics and technology, but I guess that gives players more of a reason to revisit this old gem of a game. 

By the way, I’m giving away some prizes on our Facebook page! 
Got something to ask me? Wanna show me something? Want to send a game request?
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The Dance Dance Revolution Series

To be honest, this week I was going to review a completely different game. The reason I chose Dance Dance Revolution (or DDR for short) is because I’ve been trying to lose weight and gain some leg muscle, so I found myself playing DDR everyday. It then occurred to me that DDR is classified as a retro game, since it’s 10 year anniversary was in 2008, and because the game is originally for PS2, which is a now retired system. 

One of the many dance pads out there for players to use.

DDR was introduced in Japan by the game companies Konami (known for making Castlevania, Frogger, and Contra) in 1998, and was later introduced to North America and Europe in 1999. Dance Dance Revolution was actually called Dancing Stage for a short amount of time in Europe. The game became so popular that you can actually find DDR arcade machines in many different countries, and in popular gaming spots like Gameworks and Dave & Busters in the US. There are also DDR tournaments, where your DDR skills could get you a trophy and prize money. The reason that Dance Dance Revolution jumped to popularity was because at the time the idea was original, giving you a good workout while dancing to some awesome music. (Don’t like using your body to play? No problem! The game allows you to use a normal controller to play the game as well.) Konami’s music division, Bemani, also helped develop the game by creating original music with some of Konami’s in-house artists, while still making room for licensed music from different genres. 

Konami has released tons of different DDR game titles and editions, but while there’s so many different games to choose from, Konami made everyone’s life a little easier by doing one simple thing: keeping the menu layouts the same. From the oldest to the newest DDR games, the DDR menu keeps its simple layout for players. The controls and difficulties stay close to the same as well (although some DDR games don’t have beginner mode), making it easy for players to navigate through the different DDR games. For my review, I’m going to be using the menu from Dance Dance Revolution MAX 2 for my explanations, since it was my first DDR game! (I apologize for blurry photos, I don’t have the right gear to record gameplay yet so I have to use my phone. Bear with me!)

            

So let’s break down the menu a bit. We’ll start with the games Game Mode. In Game Mode, you first choose how you want to play: single player, with a friend on versus, or with two pads (I’ve seen people play double mode before, that nonsense is hard and I applaud anyone that can do it). Since I’m playing alone, I went with single player. Once that’s done, you then choose your difficulty: beginner (the mode name speaks for itself), light (for players who are better than beginner mode but aren’t quite ready for harder modes), standard (for more advanced players), or heavy (pro level dancing). Since the dance pad can slip around sometimes from all of the movement of dancing, I tend to play on light mode when I’m at home so I don’t twist my ankle while trying to keep up with the song I’m playing and where my dance pad is sliding off to. In the arcade versions of DDR,  the dance pads are large and metal, with bars behind you so you have something to hold onto while your legs go crazy. It’s much easier to play on the arcade versions of DDR than the home versions. 

     

So now we’re ready to pick a song, and there’s many different songs and genres to pick from! There are songs ranging from disco to techno, and some slow songs for you to cool down to when you’re warming up or starting to get too tired from playing so much. “Hold up, I’m not exactly sure how to play, or what’s going on on my screen.” The controls are actually quite simple: when playing with the dance pad, you place your foot on the correct arrows when they reach the top of your screen. There will be times where you’ll have to step on two arrows at the same time, so keep an eye out for that! The arrows that are green and have a trail following behind them are arrows that you keep your foot on. For example, if a long green up arrow is coming up, you step on the up arrow at the right time and hold your foot there until the green note is gone. So one foot could be holding a note while the other is still stepping on the other 3 arrows. (For you beginners that are freaking out over this, don’t worry! These notes are easier to deal with on the light and beginner modes of the game, so you won’t be expected to do anything crazy). At the bottom of your screen, you have the points that you’re earning with each step displayed for you, while at the top you have a green bar that shows you how well you’re doing. When the bar is green, you’re doing just fine. If it’s small and red, you need to start doing better or else you’re about to lose. If the bar is full and colorful, you’re on a roll and doing fantastic! 

After you’ve passed the song you’re playing, you get graded! I got a D, because taking pictures and playing DDR at the same time is really hard. If you get a new high score on a song, your grade is then displayed next to the songs title on the song select screen for everyone to see! If you’re not happy with your grade, practice and aim for a better grade! That pretty much covers Game Mode, so let’s take a quick look at what else DDR has to offer.

            

Workout Mode: In this mode, you get to make a workout plan for yourself! After entering your current weight and the weight you want to become, the game then brings you to song select, and after a song is played the game will tell you how many carbs you burned off and how long you’ve been playing. I’ll be using this mode for my workouts, since the game will save your progress and show you how much you’ve lost!

Lesson Mode: This is what mode I’d recommend to all brand new DDR players. The game will take you through a step-by-step lesson plan on how to play the game, and how to improve your dancing skills so you can increase what difficulty you play on!

Training Mode: Having trouble with a song? Maybe you’re having trouble with a just a certain part of a song? Training Mode allows you to pick a song and practice through different segments of it so you can finally get through the song with no trouble! 

Edit Mode: In this mode, you can take a song that you like and edit it! Add in your own notes, so that you have a beatmap that you can call your own! (I’d suggest using the normal controller for this part, it takes awhile to get your song just as you’d like it, and using your feet for the job will just make it take much longer).

Options, Records & Information: These are to use for your convenience, so at any time you can edit your games settings, check your highscores, and look up any information about the game you may need. A lot of the stuff in Information is legal rights and such, so you may click it once or never. It doesn’t effect your game at all.

Overall, the Dance Dance revolution games are for people of all ages. The game helps improve rhythmic timing and stamina all while having fun dancing around. As for weight loss, players have reported losing 10-50 pounds by playing DDR. One woman lost 95 pounds just by playing DDR everyday as a workout. There are so many different versions of Dance Dance Revolution (including a Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario version), so you always have plenty of uplifting and upbeat songs to dance to. The games are cheap and easy to find on sites like Amazon or Ebay, and the pads aren’t pricey either. If you’re looking for a great way to let loose, have fun with friends and family, or to get a good workout, then I recommend you look into buying games from the Dance Dance Revolution series.

By the way, I’m giving away some prizes on our Facebook page!
Got something to ask me? Wanna show me something? Want to send a game request?
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Giveaway time!

Do you want to win a free Gameboy Color, Gameboy/Gameboy Color game, and a Pikachu figure form the 1990’s?
OF COURSE YOU FLIPPIN’ DO.
We did it! We finally hit 1,000 views on systemshuffle.com! As a thank you to everyone for the constant support, I’m doing a giveaway!

On October 19th, 2013, I’ll be randomly drawing a winner who will receive these prizes: A turquoise Gameboy Color, A Pikachu figure from the 1990’s, and a mystery Gameboy/Gameboy Color game! 
Click here to learn how to enter!

 

Diddy Kong Racing

As some of you may not know, I work for a different gaming page called Gamer Logic when I’m not working on my reviews for System Shuffle. I post content throughout the week, talk to gamers like you guys about different ways that gaming affects their life, and share different nerd culture things I find online. One of my topics on Gamer Logic was about remixed video game music, and one of the tracks that I came across was a remix for a song from Diddy Kong Racing. When I was listening to it, I discovered that Mark (who was in the room with me) had never played Diddy Kong Racing. I couldn’t allow that!

I never owned Diddy Kong Racing prior to starting my collection. I actually played it once as a kid when i went to my Dads Bosses Christmas party. I was in grade school, so it was up to the older boys at the party to babysit me. They mentioned that they were upstairs playing Nintendo 64, and even though my dad mentioned that I had a N64 for myself, they still weren’t too thrilled to have me tagging along. Once we started playing, I was pretty good! I wasn’t great, but I wasn’t awful either, and the boys actually had fun teaching me how to play and different tricks to play better. I didn’t play it again until high school, where I got my N64 back.

Diddy Kong Racing is a racing game for Nintendo 64 that was released in 1997 and developed by Rareware. 800,000 copies were pre-ordered 2 weeks before Christmas the year it was released, making it into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the fastest selling game at the time. The game was released in what I’d like to call the “age of racing games” where games like Mario Kart 64, Crash Team Racing, and Lego Racers were released, making racing titles more commonly seen on store shelves and home TV screens. A remake of the game was released for Nintendo DS in 2007, and a new Diddy kong Racing game is rumored for release on the Wii U later this year.

When you start up the game, you’re automatically brought to the character select menu. To play with other people, make sure to just plug in the extra controllers and press A on the newly added controllers to enter them into the game. Rareware did something clever with their characters for this game. You may see that there are characters here that look oddly familiar to other characters from other Rareware games that weren’t released yet at the time, such as Conker the Squirrel (lower left corner), Banjo the Bear (upper right corner), or a Croc from Donkey Kong (upper left corner). These characters were put in so when these characters games were eventually released, the players would recognize them from Diddy Kong Racing. (Too bad Conker ended up being a drunk and a jerk in his rated mature N64 game, I mean who on earth let him drive?)

If you’re playing 1 player, after you choose your character you’ll be sent to a screen that allows you to choose from two different options: Adventure or Tracks. In Adventure, you’re put into a small overworld with doors spread throughout the area. In each door, there are more doors that require a certain amount of balloons to enter. When you enter a door, you’re put into a race that you must win 1st place in order to win an additional balloon. (The game gives you a free door to go into right away, so you have a way to earn a balloon right away.) After all the doors in an area are completed, you will go into a large door that enters you into a trophy race. Note: There’s a rock in the overworld that is blank but is in the shape of a giant head. This head belongs to the bad guy of Diddy Kong Racing, Wizpig. Wizpig has gone world to world, challenging people to races that would cost them their lives if they lost. Once you complete the trophy race in an area, a section of the face will be revealed. It’s your job to complete all the areas and trophy races to complete the faces image.

The tracks option is a lot more simple. You’re given a few different races tracks to start with, unlocking more tracks as you win races. In these races, you have different vehicles to choose from: Hovercraft (faster on water), car (typical road travel), and a plane (fair speed in air, but harder to get power-ups that lay on the ground). After trying all ways of travel in certain races, I’ve noticed that all of the vehicles are balanced, and it all comes down to how you want to play. There will be races that you may not have all three vehicles to choose from, and some even make you use just one vehicle. Now I know that I mentioned power-ups, but all of these power ups are just like your typical power-ups from any other racing game. There are colored balloons throughout the races track, each having a different item when you hit it. Hit the same colored balloon twice and you gain a more powerful version of that power-up. Hit a different colored balloon, and you’ll lose your previous item and gain the new one. CAREFUL, if you’re upgrading items and suddenly you hit a different colored balloon, you will completely lose your upgraded item. The items available to you are speed boosts, rockets, shields, and oil spills to make your opponents wipe out. 

Overall, this is a fantastic game to play in your spare time. The reason this game was as popular as it was when it was released is because of its versatility. The ability to choose from 3 different vehicles in a race made the game more fun, and gave the player different ways to play different race tracks. It’s also one of the only racing games of its time that had an overworld and a sense of adventure rather than just repeatedly entering and winning races. I remember just flying around the overworld and being entertained for an hour or two. The controls in the game are simple, allowing the player to be in full control with only 3 buttons: acceleration, brakes, and a button to use your item. The game is extremely player friendly, and no character has any sort of advantage over the others, making the game balanced. I highly recommend this game to anyone who hasn’t tried it, no matter your age. I’m hoping that the Wii U remake gives the game justice, but that’ll be a review for the future!

Got something to ask me? Wanna show me something? Want to send a game request?
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Tip of the day: Garage Sales!

I know the title doesn’t scream “gaming”, but what if I told you it secretly does? Spring is in the air, the holiday season is officially over (up north we had snow until 2 weeks ago, thank god that’s over) and you know what that means? Garage sales. “But Em, I’m a grown man in his 20’s-30’s why would I show up at some old ladies garage sale?” Well I’ll show you why:

This is the NES/SNES section of my collection. See those few games with white tags and orange tags? Those are games I bought from stores. I have a little few in there that were donated to me by Mike from Gamer Logic, and the rest of them? The rest of the 4/5 of all of those games? Garage sales. Yes, even those boxed games with manuals are from a garage sale (my old chem teachers to be exact). When Spring comes around, kids are getting rid of games they got for Christmas that they don’t want, systems, controllers that need the littlest bit of cleaning. Parents (especially Moms) have their kids off at college or kids that are moved out. What do those kids leave behind? Game Gears, handhelds, DDR pads, Gamecube and PS2 games, and so on. I went to a garage sale last year that was closing, and they looked like they had nothing at all good to sell UNTIL I came across a grocery bag with a STACK of Nintendo Powers. I got them all for a DOLLAR. Also in that stack were game GUIDES for Banjo Kazooie, Super Mario Kart, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and others. I also got an Xbox with a DDR pad, 5 controllers, and a stack of games for 40$ at another garage sale.

So I don’t care if you’re a college dude that thinks he’s too cool to stop at some old ladies garage sale, this is the best collectors advice I can honestly give. So when you’re driving and you see a garage sale sign, go out of your way to stop there because you may be going home with some new games.

Bomberman Fantasy Race

Bomberman Fantasy Race was released for Sony’s Playstation on August 6, 1998 in Japan, July 2000 in Europe, and March 31, 1999 in North America. The game was developed by GraphicResearch Inc. while Atlus released the game in North America, while Bomberman Fantasy Race was released by Virgin Interactive in Europe. The game is a spin-off of the Bomberman Series, and I personally haven’t met many people who have actually heard of this game. Around the late 90’s, the Mario Kart series had been getting a lot of fame and praise which made Nintendo’s competitors start popping out racing games like crazy. Series that had nothing to do with cars in the first place suddenly had a racing game with their name on it such as the Jak series, the Crash Bandicoot series, Lego Racers, and the Bomberman series.

Bomberman Fantasy Race was honestly one of my favorite games a kid, so you can imagine my excitement when I got a hold of this forgotten racer. I never got very far in the game as a child since I didn’t really know what I was doing, which honestly worried me when I picked it back up as an adult. Usually games that I could never beat as a kid ended up being disasters  when I played them years later (take the Rugrats games for example, oh god). So I was hoping that my naive childhood self hadn’t tricked me into thinking this game was good when it may not actually be all that great.

 

When you start up the game, before you even get to the start menu, the game brings you to a screen where you can either load your data or make a new file. I decided to go with a fresh start for the sake of the review, where then the game let me pick a character to permanently play as and a name to create using 5 letters. I went with the main character Bomberman himself, entered my name, and started my fresh file. Now, if you wait at the start screen and don’t press any buttons, the game will bring you to the only tutorial in the game. You have to figure out the rest of the controls yourself, or go to the options and configure your buttons to be the way that’s the most comfortable for you to play with. I found this a little confusing, especially when I started my first race and didn’t really have any idea as to what I was doing. Nearly every button has a use too, so take a race to figure out what the controls are or read up on it in the manual.

Here you have our main screen that consists of several different options, such as:

• 1 Player: Unlocking Stages and earning money for your character by yourself in races.
• VS Mode: The multiplayer mode of the game that you can play with family or friends in.
• Options: Typically settings for the game.
• Time Attack: Practice on different tracks and race against your own shadow while trying to beat your own timed laps. Great for practice!
• Stable: Buy different Louie’s and Tirra’s here to race with!
• Bank: Keep your money safe and sound here while you save up for your favorite race track, Tirra or Louie!

 

Louie’s and Tirra’s are what you ride to the finish line in Bomberman Fantasy Race! That’s right, instead of cars, the player uses one of two different animals to make their way to victory. The game starts you off with one of each species, making you save money you earn from races to buy the rest that are available. Louie’s are rabbit type creatures that are very light and easy to jump around with, while Tirra’s are faster but harder to control when it comes to turns and jumps. Each have great traits that make them equally good to pick from, so go with your gut and pick the right creature for your racer!

 

Starting up 1 player mode brought me to the screens above, where I chose which creature I wanted to ride, and was given the option to spend money on some items I can start with in the race. I could save my money and use random items available for me to grab throughout the races coarse, or start with the advantage of having two pre-bought items.  It’s not exactly clear what each item does, but they are guaranteed to help you in some way, so experiment with them!

 

Next is stage select. This stage select is different than other racing games I’ve seen, that’s for sure. Each course costs a certain amount of money to unlock. You use money you’ve won from other courses to do so, and the more expensive the course is to unlock the more winnings you’ll get for placing first. The harder the courses get, the more difficult they are to read. For example, it may be hard to tell when a sharp turn is coming up, or what parts have a jump pad you can use to speed ahead everyone else. Practice makes perfect on these courses, so don’t be afraid to run through them a few times to perfect them! Once you’ve gotten first place on a stage, a star will show up on where the stage is on the map letting you know you’ve completed it. You can still replay the stage, it’s just a friendly reminder that you came out on top. The stages are Bomber Coast Lake, Oyna Mountain, Bakuzan Ski Course, Star Express, Waca Isl Beach Side, and Bomber Circuit. The game gives you Bomber Circuit for free, giving you the opportunity to earn money right away.

 

Unfortunately, since I don’t have a camera to record the race itself and taking pictures while playing is extremely hard, I couldn’t give any photos of the race itself. Even so, there are still things to say about the race. One, the computers DON’T CHEAT! They’re at a decent level where they’re challenging to beat, but it’s not impossible to do so! Because the game is a Bomberman game, bombs are involved. Even if you don’t pick up any items off the track itself, you always have bombs on hand to use. You can throw them at your enemies to slow them down, or you can get the timing just right and drop a bomb directly in front of you, giving yourself a small speed boost! You also use the D-Pad to move in this game, not the analog stick, so make sure to take breaks between races or else you’ll end up like me and get a hand cramp. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s not too uncomfortable to play with. If you get in first place in a race, you’re given a bonus round to yourself after the race is done. In the bonus round, you do a single lap around the course and collect as many coins as you can. The amount of coins you grab are the amount you keep, and you also get a time bonus that gives you more coins the faster you complete the bonus round.

Overall, Bomberman Fantasy Race has yet to disappoint me. This game has a very simple goal of becoming the best racer around, while unlocking different stages and creatures to ride. It gives a great feeling of accomplishment and is for players of all ages. The game does lag a slight bit at times, but I really believe it’s from the game pushing what the Playstation could do and what’s capable of. If you have $10 to spare and want to try out a great racer for a rainy day, or get this as a gift for a younger family member, you can order Bomberman Fantasy Race on Amazon, or download it in the PS3’s online store.

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