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.

 

Little Inferno

Recently for Christmas, I got my hands on a Wii U and fell in love with it. I’ve ordered Game & Wario, Sonic: Lost World, and even Just Dance (you know, for some exercise.) I was extremely pleased to find out that the Wii U also has a Nintendo e-shop to purchase games that you can immediately download to your system and play. A lot of the downloadable games are small indie games, or old retro arcade games that come at a cheap price, and one strange game caught my eye. Little Inferno.

For a while, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend $10 on a game that I didn’t know much about. I watched every trailer Nintendo handed to me, but all they showed me was that it’s a game about burning toys in a fireplace to keep warm in a world that seems to be slowly freezing over. Now don’t get me wrong, I like burning things with matches (safely) as much as the next guy, but I wouldn’t spend $10 to do it on my TV with fake fire. It wasn’t until I saw the YouTube channel Steam Train try it out themselves that I decided to actually watch some game play of Little Inferno.  They started the game, and as soon as they got a “letter” from one of the characters, I paused the video, got on my Wii U, and bought the game.

“Whoa, wait, what did the letter say that got you to get up and buy the game so quickly? Didn’t you want to know more about the game?” Well, yes. I did want to know more, hence why I bought it. In fact, I’ll even show you the part of the letter that got me off my computer and onto my Wii U. The letter started with the sender introducing herself as the creator of a new fireplace-like toy called “Little Inferno”, and that she hopes that you enjoy your new toy! (Mind you, Little Inferno isn’t a freaking toy. It’s just a fireplace.) The woman calls herself Miss Nancy, and explains that Little Inferno has no time limit, no points, no stress, just good ol’ fun where nothing can go wrong. All you have to do is simply buy toys from her catalog to burn and enjoy yourself. She then ends the letter with the page that sold me the game:

What. Was. That. What did that mean, there is something weird about this game, there is no way in hell I’m buying the whole “nothing can go wrong” idea, there is something strange that’s going to happen, and I’m going to find out what. You don’t add a crazy character into a game who sells fire to children and tell me that nothing can go wrong. Turns out, I was right. Little Inferno portrayed itself in both the beginning of the game AND in the Nintendo e-shop to be a silly game about setting toys on fire. Nowhere in the world would you ever get the idea that this game not only breaks your heart but also sends an amazing message to the players in the end. I was completely blind sided by this game, and it’s why I applauded it as soon as the credits started rolling. The message is about how you can escape depression and how you can be whatever you want to be, no matter how cold the world may seem, and that’s a message worth sharing in my opinion.

If you have a Wii U, go get your credit card or a $10 Nintendo e-shop card right now and get this game. It’s extremely re-playable, takes about 3-4 hours to beat, and while it really gets you invested in what’s going on in the world of Little Inferno, it’s also has really funny moments. I don’t regret buying this game in the slightest, and you know what, I’m going to go play it again right now.

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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!

 

Animal Crossing

There have been 4 different Animal Crossing titles released throughout the years, the most recent being Animal Crossing: New Leaf that was just released on June 9th, 2013 for the 3DS. Go back a bit further and you’ll find Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii, Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS, and the game that we’re reviewing today; Animal Crossing for Gamecube. The game was published and developed by Nintendo and released in 2001, around the same time as the Gamecube itself. In fact, did you know that Animal Crossing was originally released in Japan on the N64? By the time the game was translated to english, the Gamecube was released, and Nintendo decided to release Animal Crossing for Gamecube in America to show off the new game and system. The game also came with a new memory card with enough memory to make an Animal Crossing file for those who had the system but nothing to save their data on yet.

“So, what do I do in this game? How do I win?” Animal Crossing is an open-ended game, meaning that there’s really no way to beat it nor does it ever end. Think of it as a “second life outside your own” type of game, where the game runs on real time, making everyday a new day. Because the game is in real time, there are also holidays that give you special items or hold events and game for you to play. You move into town with no place to live, so the local general store owner (Tom Nook) offers to put you on a loan program and give you a house so you have someplace to live while paying it off as you play. “How do I pay off my loan?” Well, the currency in the game are called “bells”. You earn bells by selling furniture, fish, bugs, fossils, or doing favors for your animal neighbors. Your neighbors are all animals, while you’re the only human in the game. Favors include running house to house picking up items they may have borrowed from each other, or finding a certain bug or fish for the neighbor to enjoy. After you’ve collected enough bells to pay off your first loan (yes, first), you then have the option to increase the size of your house… for a cost. And so, the bells needed for each new size increase and get more and more expensive, but you can end up with a lot of space to make your own personalized home with hundreds of furniture to collect and choose from.

Let’s go a little more into neighbors. What kind of neighbors can you get? Are they all the same? Will I always have the same people in my town? You can have chickens, alligators, cows, dogs, cats, sheep, hawks, wolves, frogs, and other types of animals as your neighbors! Each neighbor has their own catchphrase, name, gender, and personality! There are the cranky, lazy, snooty, normal, and peppy types to meet and greet in Animal Crossing! Don’t like a certain neighbor? Don’t worry, if you visit a friends town or wait until some time has gone by, there’s a chance you can start the game and find a letter from said neighbor letting you know that they’ve moved away and won’t ever forget you. The sad part of this is that if there’s a neighbor you love, there’s a chance they can leave as well, and without any warning.

Here’s a little list of things you can do in game:

• Donate to the Museum! When you catch a bug, fish, find a fossil or a painting, bring it to Blathers, the owl who runs the museum! Bringing your creatures here won’t get you any bells, but all the museum asks for is one of each type of bug/fish/fossil/painting, so once they have it in their gallery you can sell duplicates from that point forward! I love donating, so when my friends come to my town, they can go through my gallery and see everything I’ve worked hard to collect.
• Design clothes! The Able Sisters run a little tailor in town that allows you to make your own patterns to use on your clothes, as wallpaper or flooring, wear as a hat or umbrella, and share with your town! Your friends and even neighbors can then use your pattern and wear it around for themselves!
• Look for campers! Time to time, there will be a stranger camping in your town in a tent (or igloo if it’s winter). You can then play games with these characters to get furniture or bells!
• Fish or catch bugs! Collect them for bells or donate them to the museum!
• Go shopping! Shop around Tom Nooks for furniture, paper, clothes, or tools!
• Write letters to your neighbors! The towns people LOVE letters, and will sometimes send you gifts if you write to them!
• Run errands for your neighbors to earn bells, paper, clothes, or furniture!

Overall, I grew up with this game. I adore every bit of it, and I have a lot of memories behind it as well, but if I had to choose between the classic Animal Crossing and the newer versions, I’d have to go with Animal Crossings newest release. Nintendo did a great job at listening to the fans about what they wanted added to the next Animal Crossing games, and in doing so they made every version of Animal Crossing an improvement of the last. If you compared the original Animal Crossing to its sequels, it would actually look like there’s not as much to do. Nonetheless, I would recommend this game to anybody. Any age, any gender, anyone who wants a joyful escape from reality for a little bit. The games have aged extremely well, and I still find myself going on my Gamecube to stop by and say hello to the neighbors I’ve grown up with and love oh so dearly. 

Got something to ask me? Wanna show me something? Want to send a  game request?
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Short Review: Cooking Mama

I’m sorry for lack of photos, my phone (that I use for taking pictures) just had an update and now won’t take pictures. I’m trying to fix it.
Also, if you’re wondering why this weeks review is shorter, take a look here. 

Cooking Mama is a game developed by Office Create  and  published by Taito, 505 Games, and Majesco Entertainment. It was released worldwide for the DS in 2006, and became a very popular DS game title. Since its release, Cooking Mama has had many sequels for the DS, Wii, and soon to be 3DS, although her squeals have different themes such as babysitting, crafts, and so on.

There’s a very good reason I picked Cooking Mama as this weekend review. I have a beef with this game (no pun intended), because Mama seems all fine and friendly until you try and go for 100% completion. Before I get into that though, lets go over the gameplay. The game is pretty simple; you choose from a variety of recipes to use, you follow Mama’s directions through mini games that last no longer than 30-40 seconds, you get rated on each task, and once the recipe is complete Mama grades you with either a bronze, silver, or gold metal. You can only get gold if you complete every task perfectly. Usually, I’d have no problem with this! A little challenge has never hurt anybody! On recipes that are only 3-4 steps long, taking the time to practice a bit doesn’t take very long and allows you to get a perfect score in a matter of a few tries. On the other hand, there are some mini-game steps that has instructions so vague that you can’t possibly know what to to do without lots of  trial and error. There’s a practice mode for each recipe that allows you to go and practice the one step you’re stuck on, which also helps you with gaining a perfect score when you go to complete the full recipe. The frustrating part is when you get further into the game the recipes get longer (9-10 steps and even more when you combine recipes), so when your score is perfect until the very end and you mess up even a little bit, you have to do everything all over again or else you’ll be staring at a silver rating until you go for %100 again. It gets old really fast, and can lead to some large amounts of frustration.

Overall, this game can either be a relaxing game that you play in the car, while camping, or in your free time to just chill out for a bit or it could be the perfectionists absolute nightmare. Don’t let the cute art of the game fool you into thinking that you’re safe from rage. Fair warning though, this game is a lot like watching the food channel; Don’t play this game when hungry unless you have food available to you or you can actually cook or else you’ll be torturing yourself with the thought of food. I learned that the hard way.

Got something to ask me? Wanna show me something? Want to send a  game request?
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Sonic Adventure 3 Rumors: How & With Who?

So I was reading on IGN, GoNintendo and other forums when I stumbled across a recent rumor. Apparently, people are predicting a new Sonic Adventure game for the Wii, Wii U and/or 3DS by the end of the year. The first two Sonic Adventure games were successful but I just don’t see how they can come up with a new story line continuing off of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, since they already kinda did so by making Shadow the Hedgehog and we all know how that went. Terribly. Then comes the question on what on earth they’re going to do with the Chao Garden since both Sonic Adventure games had them. What more could they add? I’d love to see new gardens, animals, evolution’s and such for the Chaos, but I hope they don’t go too  outside of how the Chaos already are I also read that they want to go back to what the first Sonic Adventure game did, by giving you different Sonic characters to play with their own story lines  I would adore this, but it seems like all the newer Sonic characters don’t have nearly enough depth to have their own stories, since they barley have stories in games they star in. It’d be nice for Sega to bring back older characters like Bean & Mighty since those characters have been so packed up and hidden away for so long most of you may have no idea who I’m talking about. Then it makes me wonder how they’d fit all of this on a 3DS without ruining the game itself. I mean, the first Sonic Adventure games were large with variety that they set a pretty high bar for the 3rd game. How could it compete on a smaller device when it should be a huge release? 

Then again, every site I’ve gone to about the rumors just leads me onto another site that heard of the rumors, and links me to where they found out about it. It’s just a giant circle of rumors that I can’t seem to find a stable answer to. I’d be so happy to see a a great new Sonic Adventure game out, but what do you guys think? What would you guys want in the new Sonic Adventure 3 if it’s released?