The Great Playthrough - Game 28: Metroid AND Game 29: Super Mario Galaxy

Yes, once again today you are getting value for money with a double-game blog post. It's a double-dose of Nintendo goodness, contrasting the old with the new...

Metroid
Released on: NES
Played on: 3DS Virtual Console (Ambassador Game)
Release date: 1986

So let's start with the old.

Metroid.

As I've banged on about in these columns before, I'm a big Nintendo fanboy. Couple that with the fact that I got this as one of my 3DS Ambassador Games, which meant I didn't really give it a fair play at the time, since I got 20 games at (almost) the same time, so didn't have time to try them all, and I was excited to try this.

Picture, if you will, a balloon. A Helium balloon. That represents me. The helium inside? That's the excitement I had to play the game. Now imagine this tiny pin represents reality. As the pin touches the balloon, the helium slowly seeps out and the balloon falls, dejectedly, to the floor.

If you didn't follow my frankly bizarre metaphor, here it is in simple terms.

I was really disappointed with Metroid.

This was especially gutting as I did, in my teens, own and thoroughly enjoy Super Metroid on the SNES, so I was hoping that this would be the same experience. But while it shares various traits with that game, I didn't warm to this at all.

There are a few problems - some of which would have been technical limitations from back in the day, and some of which are just, well, design flaws.

Firstly, the levels are rather sparse. Now, I didn't initially take this as a bad thing, because I am fully aware the point of Metroid games is to explore the setting, not to be in a fire-fight every 2 minutes. But the problem with this original game is simply that because all of the areas look very alike (occasionally undergoing a palete change), I found quite quickly that I was bored of walking around the same areas over and over again.

The game's also quite hard, although not as bad as a lot of the retro games I've played on this blog, but the frustrating thing is that whenever you die you start from the beginning. Granted things you've picked up (like the morph ball) stay with you, but still. For a game that encourages exploration, to go back to the beginning when you die and have to fight your way through the same enemies is (for me, at least) just irritating. And yes, I know that this is a partly due to me being so used to modern games where you have save points all over the place and instant respawns etc etc, but still, this blog is supposed to be honest, and that is one of the things that kept putting me off.

And yes, I know that I've only played the beginning, and maybe these flaws get fixed over time, but I'm not going to spend my time playing through a boring game in the hope it gets better. That's like people who tell you to watch a TV series because it gets really good from mid-way through season 3, but you have to watch from the beginning to understand it all..

My final criticism is not the fault of the game designers at all. But because I'm playing this on my 3DS's small screen, and it was originally designed to be played on a big TV (OK, maybe not THAT big, since it was released in 1986 and most people had TVs the size of a hardback book at the time, but you take my point), it's just not designed for portable handheld play. It's too small.

So all in all, Metroid was a real disappointment for me. I played it for 15 minutes, and I was happy to stop..

Rating: 3/10
Time played: 15 minutes
Would I play it again? Unlikely.

Super Mario Galaxy
Released on: Nintendo Wii
Played on: Nintendo Wii
Release date: 2007

Now I know what you're all thinking..

"Oh no. It's Brawny reviewing another Mario game. He's going to insist it's amazing and praise it to the heavens just because he's a Nintendo fanboy."

Well, I have pre-empted this reaction, and prepared my mature, adult response as follows.

*Takes deep breath*

*Blows raspberry*

Are we clear?

OK - here's my even more mature, adult response. I am a Nintendo fanboy, yes, and I make no apology for that. However, that doesn't mean I'm just going to love the game unequivocally, does it?

No, it doesn't.. As hard as it may be for me to be critical of a Mario game, Super Mario Galaxy does have it's problems, and sadly for this blog, a lot of these problems occur in the first hour of gameplay.

For years I was distrustful of 3D Mario games. I put off playing Mario 64 for years because I didn't like the idea of it, only eventually playing it when I got the DS remake, and Super Mario Sunshine is a stupid brave attempt to f*ck up evolve the gameplay...  (I may be being too harsh on Super Mario Sunshine, I haven't played it for ages - we'll see how I feel when I get to that playthrough). Super Mario Galaxy, on the other hand, I warmed to on my first playthrough, and was therefore looking forward to revisiting it.

And sadly? I was slightly disappointed. Unfairly so, in fact, because I know that this game is full of brilliant and innovative levels, and I know that before you can get into the more complicated ideas, new players have to learn and understand the mechanics of the game but the opening is very... how can I put this?

It's very .... meh.

(Note - In the Braunton Dictionary, "Meh" translates as "That noise you make when something is disappointingly average.")

The problems start at the beginning, with the cut scenes. Seriously, who needs backstory with a Mario game? Peach is Kidnapped. That's all you need to know. Three words. In fact, for Mario Galaxy it should have simply stated "Peach is Kidnapped... IN SPACE!". In fact, they could have hired the announcer from the Muppet Show to announce "PEACH. IN. SPAAACEEEE!" And then, the game just starts.

But anyway, once you've spent about ten minutes in cut-scenes and pointless tutorials, you finally get to visit your first galaxy.

And it's very pedestrian.

Again, I know that the opening of the game is designed to teach newcomers, and as I've played both this game and it's sequel to death, then maybe I'm just spoilt and too used to it, but...

Well, let's put it this way. I can play Super Mario Bros World 1-1 and I enjoy it immensely. I love the design of Green Hill Zone in Sonic 1, and it entertains me every time I play. So why does the first level in Galaxy have to be so dull?

"But Brawny," I hear you say, "It's a modern game. The player needs time to learn the controls etc."

OK, that's definitely an argument. But it's still possible to do teach the player how to play the game ina  fun and interesting way - take the opening of Batman: Arkham City for example - that's a modern tutorial level which is also gripping at the same time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that we should have started Super Mario Galaxy with Mario handcuffed and walked through a corridor of guards and prisoners (That'd be an entirely different game - Super Mario Vigilante maybe?) I just want a first level that's gripping and fun. Is that too much to ask?

In this game, sadly, yes. Apparently it is.

It gets better. The 2nd and 3rd missions in the first galaxy get a little more exciting, although still rather bland, and then from the second galaxy, enjoyment begins to occur more frequently.

But in my first hour, that's as far as I got. Obviously there's a lot that is good about the game (the music is great, graphics are very pretty, controls are exceedingly intuitive), and I know from prior experience that the game has some wonderful sections. Sadly though, the slow start meant that more of this hour of gameplay ended up being full of frustration rather than enjoyment. It's still fun, but it could have been better.

Rating: 7.5/10
Time played: 1 hour
Would I play it again?: Yes - but probably not from the beginning.

As for what I play next time? That's a surprise. Why not tune in and find out?

The Great Playthrough: Game 25 - Warioware, inc. and Game 26 - Tetris Party Live

Once again, today is a double-dose of gaming goodness - A veritable harem of Handheld gaming if you will...

Warioware, Inc: Mega Microgame$!
Released on: Game Boy Advance
Played on: 3DS (Another Ambassador Game)
Release date: 2003

Tetris Party Live
Released on: DS (via the DSi Ware store)
Played on: 3DS
Release date: 2010

So it happened that the two next games on my list are a pair of handheld games, so I thought I'd embrace that and combine them into this one uber-blog.

"But Brawny, why are you reviewing these games together? Have you just got lazy and decided to write two reviews in one post?" I hear you all asking...

(Incidentally, I should really get these voices out of my head once in a while...)

There are a few reasons to review these together. The first is that yes, I am a little lazy, and I figured that since I happened to have played both of these before I started writing then it would make sense to write them together, and secondly I think that they are a good pair of games to contrast - as handheld games they are designed for short bursts of play - so how will they hold up for a full hours gametime?

So - let's focus on WarioWare first. This is the first game in the WarioWare series - a series seemingly designed to be played by those people with an attention span shorter than the legs of a dwarf who got squashed one day when he was sat on by an elephant. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, let me explain. WarioWare is a series of micro-games that last 5-10 seconds each, most of which you can win by simply simply pressing the A button at the suitable moment. Later iterations replaced buttons with the use of the touchscreen (WarioWare: Touched! on the DS), tilting the console (WarioWare: Twisted! on GBA) or waggling a wiimote in a selection of wierd and frankly often slightly rude gestures on WarioWare: Smooth Moves on Wii.

My description of the game may sound like I am being derogratory, but I don't mean to be at all. In fact, it's enormous fun and a brilliant idea, but I'm not sure whether it'll hold up to a full hour's worth of gameplay - let's find out!

I powered up the 3DS and started playing through the stages from the beginning - I had already unlocked them all from previous playthroughs, so I played them in the correct order, and you know what? It's still as much fun as I remember...

.... for about 10 minutes. Then the repetition starts to kick in.

There are still plenty of moments of awesome in WarioWare (The references to 8-bit classic Nintendo games in particular are an absolute treat), but after ten minutes of play I felt like I wanted to do something else. So I did. I stopped playing for an hour or so and then picked it back up for another go - which again, lasted approximately ten minutes. The problem here is the opposite to Half-Life 2 - whereas that game didn't suit my playthrough rules because the first half-hour didn't really feel like you'd started the game, WarioWare doesn't suit the playthrough rules because it's great for a short time, but I would never spend an hour on it.

Moving on to Tetris Party Live (which, incidentally was only the second game I ever bought from any kind of digital distribution service and downloaded to a console (I still prefer games to have a box - I'm an old fogey in that way)), and I was a little bit worried that I would have the same problems as WarioWare here. But I'd forgotten, of course, that it is Tetris. This game has been released (in various versions) on just about every console you could possibly think of, and no-one knows why guiding seven different blocks into lines is as addictive as something incredibly addictive (I tried to come up with a funny comparison there - but I failed miserably. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.)

I split my time with Tetris Party Live, playing a non-Endless game of Marathon (which stops at 150 lines), a quick snatch of online 2-player, a couple of rounds of Computer Battle and then a couple of Endless Marathon attempts, one of which smashed my current top score! And trying all of those other modes reminded me that endless marathon is the simplest and purest version of Tetris - The other variations all have their downsides - as follows:

Non-Endless Marathon - I find it frustrating when you reach 150 lines and it just stops - I prefer to carry on until I die..

Online 2-Player: This is incredibly frustrating, firstly because - as this version of the game is 2 years old and no longer available from the Nintendo E-Shop, the only opponent I could find was a Japanese player who was RIDICULOUSLY good at the game.

Computer Battle: The design of the battle game is OK, but for some reason, it just doesn't have the addictive qualities that the original does for me - the competitive element doesn't add anything. Also, the AI is not very variable - consequentially I am a level 2.5 player - I can continuously beat level 2 computer, and I continuously lose to the level 3 computer.

But the important thing is, that once I had gone back to Endless Marathon play, I played over my hour without getting even slightly bored - and that's due to the addictive nature of the game (and the high score chasing).

So all in all, these two games showcase the two options for handheld games. Tetris is the more traditional of the two, a game that you can play for 5 minutes or an hour, and it is just as rewarding, and WarioWare - which is much more along the lines of all the games available for iPhone, Android and other mobile phones - the kind of game that is fun for a few minutes, but you wouldn't play much more than that...

Nintendo should to do a WarioWare for smartphones - they'd make a fortune...

Ratings: 6.5/10 (WarioWare), 8/10 (Tetris Party Live)
Time Played: 25 minutes (WarioWare), 1 Hour 10 Minutes (Tetris Party Live)
Will I play them again?: Yes to both - WarioWare in short bursts and Tetris for slightly longer playtimes.

Next time - I wonder what genre we'll be visiting? Oh it's another 16-Bit 2D platformer - The Lion King on Megadrive! See you then!

The Great Playthrough: Game 18 - Zelda: Four Swords (Anniversary Edition)

Two blogs in three days? Get me and my productivity!

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (Anniversary Edition)
Released on: GBA (Anniversary Edition released on 3DS)
Played on: 3DS
Released in: 2003 (Anniversary Edition released 2011)

Aah Zelda. You and I have a chequered relationship.

(Before I go any further, I'm referring to Zelda the game series, not Zelda the princess. I have never had a chequered relationship (or indeed, a relationship of any kind) with any video-game princess. Clear?)

Regardless of my previous feelings though, I felt strangely positive about trying out Zelda: Four Swords - as it shares a lot of DNA with A Link to the Past (partially, one suspects, due to the fact it was released on a cartridge with the GBA port of Link to the Past, as seen in the boxart above), and that was one of the few Zelda games I spent a lot of time with as a youngster.

(Incidentally, how old am I, using the word youngster? Quick, order me a zimmer frame!)

Sadly, though, I was disappointed. For the second game in a row in this blog, I am playing a game of a genre I don't normally enjoy. The last one (Speedball 2, for those of you with a short memory) was sports games, and this is RPGs.

I may have mentioned this before, but I don't like games that give me too much choice. I'm a fan of linearity in games - I like it to be obvious what I'm doing and where I'm going, and Zelda traditionally doesn't do that. Don't get me wrong, Zelda games can be a lot of fun (and I have at least two more to play at some point in this playthrough, so hopefully some of them will entertain me more), and Four Swords has it's moments. But it seems really badly designed as a handheld game. I know it comes from an era where handheld games were something you played for an hour, rather than 5 minutes, but even so, the fact that the game has no save option until the end of an area means that, if you are like me, then when you get stuck at a certain point in the level, you are loath to turn it off and try again later, because you know that you'll have to play all the way through that level again to get to the point where you were stuck.

And yes, I am aware that the previous paragraph makes me sound like I have the attention span of a gnat, but in my own defence... is that a squirrel?

*Rushes away from the computer and spends five minutes being distracted by things that are outside, until Neety points out that I was mid-way through a blog, and that I should finish it.*

Anywhere, where was I? Oh yes - Zelda: Four Swords.

I think that it is a well-made game. The graphics are cute and very well drawn, and as is traditional, the Zelda music is absolutely superb. And I know that as a Nintendo Fanboy (I am, I don't deny it), I should absolutely love Zelda games. But it's just not the game type for me.

Yes I will always play Zelda games - but I seriously doubt I shall ever complete one. And part of this circles back to my earlier paragraph. The fact that the games are non-linear and open-world (to a certain extent), and they often don't give us easy signposts as to what needs to be done next - in fact, Four Swords is one of the more linear Zelda games that I have played - and therefore, if you haven't played it for a couple of weeks, then (if you're like me) you load up the saved game, wander around the game world for 20 minutes and then realise that you have absolutely no memory of what the hell it was you were trying to do.

I know this blog post has wandered into a discussion about my lack of interest in RPGs, rather than a comprehensive discussion of my playthrough of Four Swords, so I'll bring it back full circle. Four Swords was originally designed as a multiplayer experience, so the single-player experience will always be a little bit of a letdown, but even so, while the feel, graphics and entertainment values are high, I ran into puzzles I couldn't solve, or situations I couldn't get out of, and I just became overwhelmed with frustration.

Rating: 6/10
Time Played: 45 mins
Would I play it again?: I may do. It's not high on my list though.

So it's good, but not great. And I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but I can't wait to get back to a platformer - which coincidentally, is what I'm playing next time - it's Sonic Generations on the Xbox 360!

The Great Playthrough: Game 12 - Balloon Fight AND Game 13 - Excitebike

That's right folks, this is a special read one, get one free edition of this blog! Today I review not one, but two games! And the reason I've slotted them together into one entry? There's a few similarities...

Balloon Fight
Originally released on: NES
Played on: Nintendo 3DS
Release date: 1986 (NES Version)


Excitebike
Originally released on: NES
Played on: Nintendo 3DS (3D Classics version)
Release date: 1984 (3D Classics version released 2011)


"So what are these similarities that you are mentioning, oh wonderful Brawny?" is the question that I know you're all asking, (possibly without the "wonderful Brawny" on the end, but nobody's perfect!) Well, you can see that I played both of these on the 3DS, and they were both NES games when originally released, so they have that in common, and they're both, in essence, much more suited to be handheld games than console games.

"Why do you say that, Brawny?" I hear you ask...

(Cups ear and waits patiently, until the voices in my head persuade me that someone has responded so that I can continue on... (Hang on.... haven't I done that joke on my blog before?? - Wastes a significant time reading through old blogs...comes to the conclusion that it's not in any of my blogs from the last two years, and carries on.))

The reason is that neither of them are particularly suited for long term play. And, for the first time in this playthrough, I encountered games that I didn't play for the full hour each, not necessarily because I disliked the games (although one was significantly worse than the other), but because they become very repetitive after a few goes and I ended up doing something else before coming back to them.

Let's look at them one at a time shall we? First, Balloon Fight. Now you may remember that way back in Game 1's blog, I mentioned that one of the games on the cartridge was a pretty poor version of Joust, the infamous arcade game. Well, as much as Nintendo spend lots of time and money on developing original ideas, Balloon Fight is a complete rip-off (I was forced to cross that word out as one of Nintendo's lawyers jumped through my window and threatened me with a lawsuit, and I'm not going up against them!) homage to Joust. But it plays well, and doesn't suffer from the horrendous graphics issues that the Midway Arcade Hits version did, and consequentially it's an extremely playable game.

Basically, you fly around, popping the balloons that the enemies use to fly around, and if both of your balloons get popped then you die. And that's pretty much it. It may sound simple, and it is - but it's quite a lot of fun. Sadly, unlike Ice Climbers, the game doesn't allow you to choose levels to start on, so you play the same screens over and over again. And again. And again. And again...

*Brawny gets trapped in a recursive loop and dies. At the moment of death he manages to send a message to his previous self to skip this sentence and continue in the new paragraph below.*

So anyway, the other saving grace of Balloon Fight is that it also includes Balloon Trip - where you still control the balloon fighter but through a maze of electricity while collecting balloons. Which makes a nice change...

(Incidentally, I am very grateful for spell-checker at this point, as I keep trying to spell balloon as either baloon or ballon. I'm an idiot.)

Onto Excitebike now, and the fact that I'm a motorcyclist should mean I love this game, right? No. If I hadn't got this game for free when the eShop launched, then I wouldn't own it, and I wouldn't be missing out. It's just so... well.... so...

You know how after you've started doing something that's supposed to be entertaining and after a few minutes, you're actively considering stopping it to go and do the washing up because it might be more interesting? Well that's my Excitebike experience in a nutshell.

The controls are reasonably responsive, but collision detection is erratic. I'm sure there's a trick to playing it so that you get better, but I couldn't find it, and ultimately I couldn't be bothered any more. The 3D effect that has been added to the 3D classics version is about as pointless as you would imagine, and also, it's the only game I can think of that I've played (which isn't a music/rhythm action game) where having the sound on is essential. Why? Because there's no visual signal when the race starts, just an audio one...

So actually, although I lumped these two games together, there is some significant variance between them. While Balloon fight was fun, and I was quite happy to go back to time and time again for a few minutes at a time, Excitebike was just dull.

Balloon Fight
Rating: 6/10                          
Time Played: Eventually, about 45 minutes (spread over 6 or 7 plays)
Would I play it again? If I have a few minutes to kill and my 3DS in hand - possibly.


Excitebike
Rating: 3/10
Time Played: About 20 minutes. In three attempts.
Would I play it again? No. I'm considering deleting it, and I never delete anything! (Hence my proliferation of hard drives, backups, and data in general)


Next time, we return to a main console, and to a game I've only ever played on a PC, so it'll be interesting to see how it controls.. it's Lemmings II: The Tribes on SNES!

The Great Playthrough: Game 11 - New Super Mario Bros

And from one Mario-starring game from this console generation (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) to another (Well, if you class the DS as the current console generation - granted it has been supplanted by the 3DS, but you can still go and buy them in a regular shop, so thats close enough to being current to me) - it's time for New Super Mario Bros on the DS.

New Super Mario Bros
Originally released on: Nintendo DS
Played on: Nintendo 3DS
Release date: 2006

This game was, when it was announced, one of my most eagerly awaited games of all time. Super Mario World is one of my favourite games ever, and there had been no proper Mario 2D platformer released since then (and no, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island doesn't count because that's a Yoshi game with different mechanics and gameplay). I was so excited about this game that I actually bought it as an import because it came out in the US almost 2 months before it's release date here, and I couldn't wait.

As I may have mentioned several times on this blog (and by 'may have' I mean, I have mentioned it lots already, but I'm trying not to make you realise this), I am a big fan of 2D platformers and while I've already sung the praises of Sonic 2, Mario games are generally just as much fun. And they're pleasantly different. I maintain that the primary reason that there have been no genre-defining 2D platformers since the inception of Sonic and Mario, is because they both managed to define the two extremes of the genre - Sonic is the speedy platformer, whereas Mario embraces the more cautious, precise areas of platforming - and I like them both equally, depending on my mood.

And when I got New Super Mario Bros? Well my excitement was deserved, for a while, and then I remember finding it a little repetitive. I mean, it was still great, it's still Mario, it just felt like I'd played it all before. So I wondered what my response would be when I started it up nowadays.

You know what? It's a lot of fun. Granted, it is missing a little of the innovation that populated the earlier mario platformers, but I can forgive that. It almost feels like it was a dry run to see if the average person would pick up and play a 2D mario platformer in this day and age (and as an experiment, that was a huge success, as the game had sold over 18,000,000 copies worldwide as of March 2009).

So what is wrong with it? Well firstly, in a change for the games I've played so far on this giant playthrough,  it's bloody easy. I remember completing it in no time at all when I first got the game and even on this playthrough I managed to get through to the end of World 3 in one hour. The replay value is slightly annoying as the only reason to replay through the game is to gain the Star Coins, (of which there are 3 in each level), which don't really gain you anything and, most annoyingly, if you are re-playing through, you can still only save at designated save points, which are only when you complete a castle or unlock a fence by spending star coins! Once you've unlocked all the fences it becomes very tedious having to complete castles all the time to save because you managed to gain an extra 2 star coins and you don't want to waste them.

Also, there's no Yoshi, and some of the new power-ups are pretty rubbish. The Mega Mushroom is fun carnage, but means you tend to have to go back through the level again to locate the star coins, the Mini Mushroom is a good idea but it puts you in a very vulnerable position, and the Blue Shell suit is only useful if you particularly enjoy speeding across the screen in an out-of-control fashion, before falling down a bottomless pit because you couldn't stop yourself in time.

I'm not criticising this game too much, as it is a lot of fun, and it is partially responsible for the current resurgence in 2D platformers, and hopefully some of the mario innovativeness (is that a word? I think it is now, for the purposes of this blog anyway) will return in the future. But for now, I rate New Super Mario Bros as a solid and fun game which, while not up to the standards of the original mario platformers, is still an entertaining and fun way to spend a couple of hours - and maybe, if you'd never played a mario 2D platformer before, you'd find this game to be more astounding than I do.

Rating: 8/10
Time played: Pretty much exactly one hour
Would I play it again? Yeah - it'll stay in my 3DS case, and get played every so often.


Next time? We're sticking with handheld gaming and my downloaded ambassador games - it's Balloon Fight...

Nintendo at E3

Now I'm an avid gamer. I always have been, and Nintendo has long been my console manufacturer of choice. (That is not to say that I dislike others, Neety and I own 15 in total, ranging from an XBOX 360 right back to an original Game Boy and the SNES. I even own a Sega Saturn, oh yes I do.) Therefore, instead of just catching up on the write up of their E3 conference, as I did with Microsoft and Sony, I thought that I'd watch Nintendo's live.

And before you ask, hell yes it was worth it.

Starting a few minutes late, we were taken on a ride through Nintendo's plans for the next year and beyond by the head honchos, most notably Miyamoto, Iwata-San and Reggie.

They began by addressing the fact that it is the 25th anniversary of the Zelda series. Which doesn't excite me massively. I own a few of them, and I appreciate they are good games, but they've never really been my cup of tea. Still, the announcement of releases for Skyward Sword on Wii and Links Awakening and 4 Swords on the eShop is good news.

And then.... we are teased with a little discussion of the new console, before we are left hanging on with that information, and Reggie comes to discuss the 3DS with us.

Just before we go any further, I would like to throw my hat into the endless mobius strip of discussion that the internet has been providing with regards to the 3DS. There seems to be a lot of discussion about whether it has had "healthy" launch sales, or if it is a disaster. Some people are defending it saying that in the launch window it has sold more than the original DS has - which sounds about right, but I can't be bothered to go and check those facts. My reaction to it is as follows: I love the 3DS and can't wait to get one, even if the games out so far are not must-have's just yet.

And speaking of the must-have's, Reggie ran us through five games in that category which will be released this year:

STARFOX 64 3D - There's not much I can say about this. I owned Starwing on SNES (sadly I don't own it any more, due to an incident with a bottle of Coke and my bedroom floor when I was 13 years old. No I'm not bitter about it, I just DON'T WISH TO DISCUSS IT ANY FURTHER!) which I loved, and have never played the N64 version, of which this is a port. Looks fun though.

KID ICARUS: UPRISING - This has been shown around since E3 last year, and consequentially, while it does look like a lot of fun (even if it seems to suffer from massively over-acting voice actors), I've seen a lot of screenshots and videos, and this didn't offer much new.

MARIOKART 3DS - After watching this trailer? My response was "HELL YEAH." It's Mariokart. In 3D. With underwater courses and customisable Karts. Oh, and hang gliders. I'm in!

SUPER MARIO 3D - A seeming cross between Super Mario 64, Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros? I'm all over that shit. Plus, the raccoon suit returns! (Sorry, the Tanooki suit). Very, very hyped about this.

And the big surprise? Luigi's Mansion 2. On 3DS. At the point this was mentioned, my ever wonderful Neety (who, as I type this, is writing her own E3 blog for femme gamer) squealed in excitement as she is a huge fan of the original. I enjoyed the original a lot too, so this is good news for all concerned.

And then a trailer montage of forthcoming 3DS games - Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D (YAYY!), Mario & Sonic at the 2012 Olympics (No interest for me whatsoever. Seriously, why have they not made the Mario V Sonic platformer we all want to see?), Ace Combat 3D (Planes. Flying. Looks pretty dull), Tetris (Brilliant but predictable), Cave Story 3D (Ah, Cave Story, allegedly an absolutely brilliant platformer. I found it incredibly dull) Resident Evil: Revelations (More Resi-action!), Driver: Renegade (Who keeps buying these games?), Pac-Man and Galaga (Looks colourful - no other insights on that one), Tekken 3D (Looks fun, but isn't the 3DS getting over-run with beat-em-ups? Street Fighter IV, DOA, Blazblue and now this?) and Metal Gear Solid 3. (No excitement here. Move along)

And then the moment we've been waiting for. The NEW CONSOLE!!! And it's called.....

WiiU.

Er... OK. I get why they wanted to keep the Wii branding, it is the most successful console in years... but still? That's the best they've got? I'd have preferred Wii2 to that! Never mind... I guess it means Sony's Playstation Vita will now not be the stupidest named console at this years E3!

Besides, it's not the name that matters is it? It's what it does. And apparently, the WiiU does... well... everything. It has a controller that looks like an iPad with buttons. Go ahead, click here and find out. I'll wait. (I would have embedded the picture in this blog, but Blogger made it too big and wouldn't let me amend the size and I can't be bothered to fight it right now.)

And then we were shown a video of how this allows a huge number of possibilities. Using it as an inventory screen for a game (as the pic above demonstrates), playing the game on the controllers screen while the TV is in use for something else, using the touchscreen as a controller in itself, utilising motion controls also, video chat, surf the net ... it seems to do everything.

And then, we get some talk from developers saying how much they love it and how great it'll be (of course they say that, it's a Nintendo video at the Nintendo conference!) and then a montage of games to show that WiiU is for everyone. And by everyone, what Nintendo means is "It's for everyone, but all the games we're showing are designed to win over the hardcore gamer, as they're the ones who have abandoned us and they're the only people who watch E3 things anyway."

So in short, it seems great, and I'm sure I shall buy one, and I think it has the smell of success around it. Why do I think that? Well I was texting my friend MiniNomi and I pointed out - "E3. New Nintendo Console. Wierd controller. Rubbish Name. It's like it's 2005 all over again...."

Who knows, if it worked for the Wii, then I'm sure it'll work for the WiiU. (Although the name is still rubbish.)