Publisher: AKSYS Games

Genre: Fighting

Wii Points: 500

Rating: Recommended

What’s interesting about River City Ransom, is that the same people who brought us Bit Trip Beat for WiiWare, also brought us this game!  They are different in a lot of ways, one game is a Pong remake and the other is one of the oldest beat’em up titles ever.  But both games share the common theme in that it’s best played with a friend.

There are strangely some RPG elements to River City Ransom.  This will especially be evident when you go into towns and buy food (or some other strange item…).  For example, if you go into a seafod restaurant, after you buy salmon, it will immediately give you + points in a certain areas relating to strength and the ability to evade.  You can even store some items and use it during the battle, just like in Final fantasy.

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Publisher: Nintendo

Genre: Platformer

Wii Points: 500

Rating: Fair

Well since I can’t afford to buy a new game sadly ::sniff::, I have decided to review something that was released a while ago on Virtual Console.  I’m going to talk about Kid Icarus, one of the hardest games ever made.  Kid Icarus is also one of the most ignored franchises from Nintendo.  There has been only one sequel to date, despite its cult following, and no one even remembers the forgotten sequel released on the Game Boy long ago.  This in a way makes sense, as Nintendo has been gravitating towards making easier games, and I suppose if there was new Kid Icarus, fans would want it to remain true to the insane difficulty that is the original.

Difficult is an understatement for this game.  The first level will take a couple of tries, but it’s not impossible.  Once you get past the initial part of the game where you go up until an exit is reached, the next level becomes insanely hard, mainly because of the evil eggplant wizards.  You reach this maze of sorts in the second level, and in some parts of the area are wizards that can turn you into an eggplant as soon as you get hit by their projectile.  Once Kid Icarus, or Pit as he is known, is an eggplant, he has to backtrack a long way to the recovery area, a daunting task considering there is no option other than to jump when being an eggplant.   It is completely frustrating.

Kid Icarus almost reminds me of Mega Man in a way, since Mega Man has been long reknowned for its own incredible difficulty.  But there is nothing in Mega Man that is as remotely frustrating as being turned into an eggplant.  Curse you eggplant wizards!

The graphics look okay for a Nintendo game.  This was released early in the cycle of the NES, so any shortcomings in how the game looks are somewhat forgivable.  You can tell where and what everything is, and even though the backgrounds are mostly a bland, simple color, what you see on the screen gets the job done well enough.  In fact, the plain black background in the first level almost gives the game a creepier feel, making it more enjoyable.

For the most part, the controls were okay, although there were times when Pit felt more slippery to manuever than I would have liked.  Timing your jumps in certain areas is extremely crucial in this game, and it’s frustrating to be off by the slightest of margins and have to start the level over again, but then again this was released in the 1980s, so maybe the controls can be forgiven for a title that is so old.

The music and sound effects sound like a typical early NES title as well, although some of the music is admittedly catchy.  The sound made when shooting an arrow at the enemy is satisfying enough.  Out of all that I have heard, the track to the first level is probably the best one.  In fact, now that I’m thinking of this, it has become stuck in my head.

This isn’t a perfect game by any means, but it’s worth a try if you are curious about Kid Icarus and have never tried it before.  Those who have played the game in the past and were overwhelmed by the difficult nature, Kid Icarus hasn’t gotten any easier.  But you could do worse for 500 points.

Publisher: Sega

Genre: Adventure

Wii Points: 500

Rating : Not Recommended

Owww my eyes!!  Okay I know I made a big deal about the greatness of Mega Man 9 even with the bad graphics, but this version of Sonic looks just plain awful.  I grew up with a Nintendo, not with a Sega Master System.  So maybe I’m being slightly harsh.  But I cannot stand looking at this game, especially after playing the vastly superior 16 bit Genesis versions of Sonic.

First of all, you know how in every 16 bit version of Sonic, it starts off in some colorful green area?  This one starts off in some underground lava zone.  Tradition is being broken here!  The level designs aren’t that exciting.  It feels like the enemies are far and few between.  I can’t imagine anyone having trouble getting through the levels, although I did have trouble with some of the bosses.

There isn’t too much to say abut the controls here.  Sonic runs and then he jumps to attack.  Disappointing is the fact that the spin dash isn’t in this version, yet it is in the Genesis one.

The sound is even worse than the graphics.  Sonic 2 for Genesis was filled with fun catchy music that stays in anyone’s mind for the rest of their life, especially in Emerald Hill Zone.  Sonic 2 for the Sega Master System is filled with trash.  You won’t remember a thing about the music in this game other than it becomes repetitive in a bad way.  Another reason why an 8 bit game like Mega Man or Mario works is because of the great music and overall quality of the level designs.  It’s not the fact that the original Mega Man or Mario were in 8 bit that made them great, it was the fact that they put a lot of effort into the overall quality of the presentation.  Sonic 2 feels like a lazy cash in on the success of the Genesis version.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Master System version is only for the most hardcore Sonic fans out there, or for extremely bored people who have played every good Sonic game that exists and are in desperate need of something to kill time with.  Everyone who is into games has played the Genesis versions of Sonic, so I don’t know if I can recommend that instead, since we’ve all tried them.  There must be something better you can spend your 500 points on.

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre: Sports

Wii Points:1000

Rating : Fair

Are you ready to play some Hot Shots Golf err…I mean Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64?  Camelot, the developer of this title, was also the original developer of the first Hot Shots Golf, the other cutesy golf series that lives on the Playstation consoles.  So if you’ve played Hot Shots Golf like I have, you’ll notice that the gameplay mechanics are exactly the same.  I really do mean they are exactly the same, from the way you swing the club, to the putting mechanics, to the close up shots of the player after the hole is done.  But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Mario Golf uses the 3 click system, which should be simple enough for anyone to figure out.  To put spin on the ball, you hold down on the analog stick while the shot meter is going on.  It sounds almost too simple compared to today’s golf games such as the Tiger Woods series, but adults will still be able to enjoy this, as it is still golf and feels like golf despite the simple mechanic by today’s standards.  The part on the upper right portion of the screen where the wind direction should be showing is there, but instead of an arrow, they use the ghost that is found in most Mario games.  This does make sense as it is a Mario game, but it can be confusing to figure out which way the ghost is actually pointing.

The music is nothing special.  In fact, you’ll hear the same music on every course pretty much.  But if you are a fan of golf, I don’t believe this will stop you from enjoying this game, as the focus will be on the type of shots you need to pull off.  There are Mario sound effects sprinkled in the appropriate places and that should keep most Mario fans who are on the fence about liking a golf game happy.

I never owned a Nintendo 64, so I can’t say for certain how bad these graphics are.  But when I was playing this game, I got the feeling that more effort could have been put into making the course look nicer, especially the trees.  Everything is bright and colorful, but the textures seem awful to be honest.  Golf is a really visual game, when I play golf in real life, I take the time the enjoy the beauty of what I’m doing.  What might have helped is if they had taken the Paper Mario route and done these characters and the course in that fashion, instead of forcing something the Nintendo 64 can’t handle.

Regardless though, I love golf and Mario games as well.  Unlocking the characters and courses is a fun and rewarding experience in this game, and I was able to overlook the poor graphics eventually.  I also am an avid fan of the Hot Shots Golf series, so it was easy for me to get into this one.  Mario Golf does have its flaws, but they are forgivable.  Judging from that review my friend did of Fun! Fun! Mini Golf for WiiWare, you’d be better off spending your money right here.

Are these two destined for love after their round?

Publisher: SquareEnix

Genre: RPG

Wii Points: 800

Rating: Recommended

Here is one of the most overlooked RPGs in history.  Released for the SNES during Square’s golden years of making RPG games, Secret of Mana is a wonderfully charming, yet extremely engaging game that will take you on a journey that will be remembered for the rest of your life.  Maybe the underlying story isn’t the deepest it could be, but the overall presentation of that storyline makes gives an epic feeling that can only be matched in its time by the SNES Final Fantasy series.  What makes Secret of Mana different than most Square titles is its battle system, which is a mix between Zelda and Final Fantasy.

The main hero starts off as a young kid hanging out with some friends on a random log above a waterfall.  Somehow he falls off the log and finds this magical sword stuck on some rock.  So he grabs it, which somehow releases all these monsters into the area.  The town blames the kid for the new monsters appearing and that’s when you are set forth on your journey to make things right.

First of all, the soundtrack is AMAZING.  Some of the music will make you want to go into a certain town just to hear that theme song.  Check out one of the town themes Color of the Summer Sky on YouTube to see what I mean.  Every song from Secret of Mana is just extremely creative and memorable. Read the rest of this entry »