For the record, I totally side with Tycho’s stance on the matter (I probably sided with him before he even said it in the comic): game reviews with numerical values are pretty much meaningless when it comes to classic titles.
So to summarize this post: this game is fucking Lode Runner. Any fans of the Lode Runner games (ones that own a Wii, anyway) should grab it up immediately, and for shame on you for not noticing its availability on the Virtual Console sooner.
For everyone that hasn’t played before, for whom the self-evident sentiment above is meaningless: Battle Lode Runner is a game worth playing. It has dinosaurs, robots, gold… uh, Chinese guys… The object of the game is to collect all the gold in the level and escape before the enemy du jour makes physical contact with you (game heroes are such xenophobes). The only means you have of protecting yourself (beyond running away like some kind of coward) is to dig a hole in the ground. If an enemy falls in the hole, they’re temporarily incapacitated, giving you a chance to dance on his stupid head. That pretty much describes it! Go get ’em! The puzzles quickly get downright insidious, so you’d better get the game mechanics down fast.
I used to play a great Mac version back when I worked at a daycare center (I watched kids sometimes too! Honest!), so I was thrilled at the opportunity to grab up a nice classic version on the Wii.
The NES version is okay, but the Turbo-Grafx 16 edition is better-polished and includes more robust multiplayer modes for only a dollar more. IGN’s review (I was curious) says you should get it because it was the first VC title not previously available in the United States, but that’s stupid; you should play it because Lode Runner is a great game that deserves more than the relative obscurity it has fallen prey to, and Battle Lode Runner is a solid entry in the series.
Maybe I’m a little masochistic, but I regularly check up on the latest IGN happenings. Despite so much of their content being the hollow “every game is awesome” rhetoric inherent in all large-scale game review sites, they do provide extensive coverage on just about every game out there (except for Doki Doki Majo Shinpan; head over to DS Fanboy for up-to-the-minute news on that gem ^_^). Anyway, IGN was conducting an interview with Alain Tascan from EA Montreal regarding the upcoming (and very awesome-looking) Boogie, when the conversation turned to the state of the industry (as it often does)…
IGN: Are you surprised by how well Nintendo has managed to turn things around?
Alain Tascan: I think that Nintendo has always been focused on creating software and they certainly set a standard which the industry then follows. But now I think it’s possible for most homes to have more than one videogames console. You have an Xbox 360 or PS3 for the high definition experience and you have a Wii for fun.
Can I just say… bullshit? Why in the world would Nintendo risk cannibalizing sales of their own wildly successful DS games? And even more importantly, their own wildly successful DS hardware? Can anyone remember the last time Nintendo made even a single game for someone else’s hardware? Donkey Kong‘s licensing by Coleco and various other companies in the early 80’s is all that comes to mind. And would anyone spend $29 on a cellphone game? iPod video-based games force us to only part with a single Mr. Lincoln. No matter how insanely great the iPhone’s gonna be, a gaming platform it ain’t. Oh yeah, and a touchscreen D-pad would blow chunks.
I don’t normally try and convey terribly strong convictions one way or another when it comes to rumors (I’m actually waiting on a computer purchase based on what I’ve read on various Apple rumor sites), but yeah, I’ll just go ahead and say it. Bullshit.
Beyond that… not a lot new to report. The text blurbs tout the game as “bring[ing] the construction and creativity inherent to LEGO into a new, safe and fun virtual experience”. I’m all for an MMOG that strives to be kid-friendly, and I’ve got an awful hankerin’ for building an entire universe of LEGO, so Q4 2008 couldn’t feel further away right now. Both NetDevil’s portal and the official site are equally devoid of content, but at least the latter has the ubiquitous mailing list submission form. We’ll see if they actually make use of it.
I’ll send them suggestions and the like when solicited, but since there doesn’t seem to yet be any such avenue of communication: PLEASE RELEASE THIS GAME ON THE MAC OR YOUR ONLINE-CAPABLE NINTENDO CONSOLE OF CHOICE.
All caught up now? Good. The paid version, cleverly re-titled “N+” (looks like a cryptic ESRB rating to me), will be revamped with “some pretty cool new features and graphics, and will retain the gameplay you know and love”. Whatever that means. I was heavily addicted to this game when Paul dropped me a link oh so many months ago (he’s a lot better than I am though; lousy friggin’ seeking missiles), so this gets the official Mario Is Pumped Seal Of Approval. Here’s hoping Ned (the game’s robust level editor) makes it through the conversion process.
Right off the bat, the first post reveals a flurry of composers from Gaming Past contributing to the project; even if you don’t recognize the names, you probably know a lot of the games. But really, we should all know names like Koji Kondo and Kenji Yamamoto. Crazy speculation: does Yoko Shimomura’s presence indicate Kingdom Hearts characters, or Tomoko Sasaki’s the inclusion of the eponymous androgynous NiGHTS star? Please let Motoi Sakuraba herald the appearance of Issac and co. from Golden Sun!
Konami has signed a deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to bring their entire back catalog of video game tunes to all major online music stores. This is awesome! Of course everyone will shout out their usual squeals of “Ooh, Castlevania on my iPod!” and “OMG METAL GEAR SOLID”, but I’ll take my Legend of The Mystical Ninja any day over those other chump games. Ooh, and Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble In Wackyland had some fine tunes as well.
Which Konami songs would you buy up at $0.99 a pop? That’s right, I’m soliciting comments! Like some kind of blog comment whore. Here’s a list of the games they’ve made over the years. I’d certainly enjoy the occasional ORION.78 (AMeuro-MIX) when shuffling through my library. Your turn.
Well this just makes my ability to play Mario Kart 64 upside-down seem small and insignificant in comparison. This guy can beat the first level of Super Mario Bros. without looking at the screen! He even gets a mushroom! Granted, he takes the weak man’s shortcut (though he gets bonus points for getting all the coins), but I don’t think I’d be able to pull off something like this. Click on to the TV In Japan blog to take a look-see, and be shamed once again by our so-called friends across the Pacific. Of course you know, Japan, this means war.
Paul Kimmelman made a short guest-bloggin’ over at Freakonomics, mostly to pose a question that a lot of people I know are asking: why can you still not find a Wii after five months and five days? Even though I did finally obtain the system (after waiting outside a Best Buy in the rain one Sunday morning with my girlfriend), it amazes me that you still can’t run down to your local game shop and pick up a Wii on a whim (whiim? Nah, whim). While Nintendo probably can share some of the blame he tries to lay upon it (such as insufficient planning regarding manufacturing), I thought one of the later comments made a lot of sense: no one’s ever sold this many consoles in such a short period of time. There is hope, though, as Nintendo has recently stated that it’s gonna ramp up production shortly. Hopefully we’ll soon get past siutations like “Toys R Us will have three Wiis on the shelf Sunday morning, camp out in front a week early to get one”.
Super Paper Mario is quite possibly my favorite game to come out for the Wii so far. Yes, I am indeed comparing it to Twilight Princess, and the Zelda game pales (pales, I say!!) in comparison. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game from the Big N that so perfectly captures the fun and joy of 2D platforming (New Super Mario Bros. didn’t even come close), while at the same time bringing in a fascinating new game mechanic (flipping into the Z-axis) and pulling it off so well. It certainly doesn’t hurt that they combine it with a great story and excellent writing; I can’t remember having laughed so hard at game dialogue in a long time (besides the unintentionally funny stuff… JOSEEEEEEPH!!!). And as a big fan of the 8-bit scene, I can’t help but appreciate it when Mario turns into a giant NES pixellated version of himself, or when he gains a tiny NES Mario posse to assist him (though they end up having the opposite intended effect: instead of them protecting me from enemies, I try to protect them from harm, but they really don’t make it easy; they seem to be designed to fall off ledges and bump into Goombas). If there’s one thing I could change, I’d allow the non-Mario party members to use the flip technique. I hate not being able to stay in Peach form for any extended period of time.
Oh, second thing: they really dropped the ball by removing a dash button. What kind of 2D Mario platforming game doesn’t have a dash button? The answer is the Super Paper Mario kind.
That’s about all the naysaying I’ve got about the game. Here’s a part I thought was God-damned awesome:
Of course, I’m the biggest Zelda II: The Adventure of Link fan on the planet (I checked), so I may be a little biased. Still, awesome beyond belief.
I’m fairly certain that anyone reading this blog is already intimately familiar with the game, and probably bought it before I did (lousy GameStop with their only having enough copies to satisfy pre-orders… at least Best Buy came through for me this time), but I cannot stress enough that this is a game that all Wii gamers need to own and play. So I’ll stress it some more! This game rocks the Wiizzy.
And now for some puns. The flipping mechanic adds a whole new dimension to gameplay. It really does provide a certain sense of depth that 2D games often lack. Okay I’m done.
So to summarize this post: this game is fucking Lode Runner. Any fans of the Lode Runner games (ones that own a Wii, anyway) should grab it up immediately, and for shame on you for not noticing its availability on the Virtual Console sooner.
…when it comes to the two companies that make some of my favorite products to idly pass the time by, I have to at least note their existence. 
Everyone and their dog was dancing around like they had to pee 
