This is a blog mostly centered on upcoming video games that I am interested in and it may evolve over time to feature my other interests as well, such as animé, manga, or movies. I typically enjoy RPGs, FPS, and some puzzle solving games. I am a connoisseur of many different games, but I update this blog rather infrequently, so please be aware. I try to post roughly once per month or more often, as time permits. The information I provide is accurate with cited sources.
Hey everyone! How have you been? Did you all have a great New Year's celebration? I'm back with some insight into some of the games I'm looking forward to seeing in this upcoming season. So, let's get started with a favorite series of mine, the Mario and Luigi RPGs!
On January 22, 2016 Nintendo will release Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam, for the Nintendo 3DS. The game is the fifth title in the Mario and Luigi series.
The story of Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam cross-over of the universes of the Mario and Luigi series and Paper Mario series, which results in presumably hilarious conversations and interactions between the two dimensional characters and the three dimensional ones.
The Mario and Luigi RPG series is well-known for its whimsical and witty nature. The dialogue in particular can be a rip-roaring laugh for veterans and newcomers alike.
Not too much is known at this time regarding the premise of the story, however a trailer for the North American release has been made (Shown below). I'm a tad bit disappointed that Paper Luigi does not make an appearance (in teasers, trailers, or otherwise) which leads me to believe that his inclusion was left out.
I eagerly await this game in the franchise and look forward to playing it soon.
A brand-new Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS oriented Nintendo Direct presentation will be streamed from the official website on Tuesday, April 8th, 2014 at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (3:00 p.m. Pacific Time). It will be available 23:00 UK time.
In addition to this important update, I have posted my personal top twelve desired fighters list for the new Super Smash Bros. IV game.
(Please note: Recovery moves HAVE to be kept in mind when picking characters. B+↑ not only has to fit the character, do some damage, and propel them upwards, but it's best if it is thought of as something from the character's universe.)
Viewtiful Joe (Nintendo Gamecube, Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2, Wii, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom) - Henshin A Go-Go Baby!!!
Krystal (Nintendo Gamecube, Star Fox Adventures, Star Fox Assault, etc.) - My only stipulation is that she keep her staff for combat. Other than that, Nintendo could use the more modern costumes/outfits that she's worn in the Star Fox series and I wouldn't mind.
Geno (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario RPG)
Lucina (Nintendo 3DS, Fire Emblem: Awakening) - More strong, independent female fighters are desperately needed in the series and I for one, think Lucina would fit the bill nicely.
Gaius (Fire Emblem: Awakening) Gaius was a thief in Fire Emblem: Awakening with a sweet tooth like no other. He's got a great personality and I for one, would really like to have him playable as a character. At the very least, he should be an assist trophy.
Owain (Fire Emblem: Awakening) I really liked this character. When I was reading his speeches about his legendary sword hand, I got really pumped up and I wanted to make sure he joined my team in the game. Unfortunately, that never came to pass as no matter how many times I tried, he'd always die in the end. Still an awesome wielder of the "legendary" blade Mystletainn.
Magnus (Kid Icarus: Uprising) - He's got a big sword, he's pretty much a mercenary with a mouth (No, not like Deadpool), but I figure this recommendation will most certainly satisfy those Cloud (Final Fantasy) fanboys.
Amazon Pandora (Kid Icarus: Uprising) - She's a stunningly gorgeous fighter, and she's got *drumroll* A SWORD!!!
Mii Avatar - Would be sort of neat to see yourself in Smash Bros. I'm a bit concerned over some of the Miis created though (a lot of those created have inappropriate faces and you can download quite a few of them online) but if the movesets are customize-able, that would only further my desire for a Mii character option. I could visualize a B+↑ move being somehow related to Pilotwings: Resort in some manner, most likely a jetpack or something.
Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles) - Although I've never been given the opportunity to play Xenoblade Chronicles, this blonde haired, blue eyed hero has a pretty killer looking sword. I happen to really like swords. I also like RPGs. BAM! He's made my list.
Fawful (Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga): He was a brilliantly hilarious villain and I would constantly taunt people saying "I have...FURY!"
Prince Fluff (Wii, Kirby’s Epic Yarn) - It would be nice to have a yarn looking character in Super Smash Bros. because you get to pummel string. Plus, it might get people more used to the idea of Yarn Yoshi coming out soon.
Honorable mentions:
Hades (Kid Icarus: Uprising) - He's a fun villain character because of the dialogue in the game. However, due to his standing (being a deity of sorts and his gargantuan size) he does not make my list. Palutena in Super Smash Bros. Brawl was part of Pit's Final Smash, Palutena's Army where he calls to the goddess Palutena for her army of Centurions. She was a large image in the background. If Sakurai intends to keep that attack the same for this new game, it would set precedent for her not to appear AND for Hades to be larger than life. I suppose he could be shrunk to the same height as the other fighters (like how Olimar from Pikmin was heightened to be relatively average to that of the other fighters but even so, it's way beyond what Ridley sized shrinking would be). In hindsight though, Palutena was normal sized in-game when you fought against her with the parasitic Chaos Kin so it's not too difficult to imagine a similar situation...
Zoroark and/or Mewtwo (Pokemon) - With Lucario and Pikachu returning, these two fighters would be a nice fit (I'm still dreaming of a Lucario vs. Mewtwo battle). With Zoroark in particular, it's a new pseudo-legendary Pokemon and would have the ability to look like other player characters. That could add an element of surprise. Maybe utilize their movesets perhaps?
Groose (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) - He was a jerk in the beginning, but ends up a pretty solid hero in the end of the game, but as to his moveset I wouldn't have a clue as to what his B+↑ would be, so he makes my honorable mention list.
Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic The Hedgehog 3) - He's got SPIKES on his huge knuckles. If he's not a "brawler" I don't know what is. Just don't put in the new version of him in Smash Bros. that makes him look like a buffed out Hulk or Crunch Bandicoot. I would love to glide with him (because his dreadlocks help him do so in previous games) and it would be interesting to see if some sort of digging move could be incorporated into his skill set because he's a treasure hunter.
Isaac (Golden Sun) - He was an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and if Little Mac went from that to a playable character, I don't see why Isaac can't make the cut either. Once, again, this is another character from a game & franchise I've never played before, but I would be more than happy to welcome him to the roster.
For those of you that missed the live coverage of Nintendo's E3 Direct, here is the video:
I'm really fired up for the new Smash Bros. title for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Especially since the announcement of Megaman as a playable character. His inclusion is a more than welcome addition to the Smash Bros. family.
It would seem that even the nameless "Villager" (now the mayor in the latest Nintendo 3DS iteration of the franchise) from Animal Crossing is getting the "star treatment" as well. If you notice his moveset, it is loosely based around the tools that one can utilize in the Animal Crossing series to make improvements to the town. I like how in the intro video, the character speeds off the moment he gets the invitation to join the fray, almost as if he's petrified that he's been selected. Yet, we see him not long afterwards with a smug look on his face after capturing Mario with his net. Also worth mentioning, with regard to his use of the net, is that it reminded me of Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, in that the character Spike, from Ape Escape, also utilizes a net in a similar fashion to knock out opponents.
The Animal Crossing series has been a phenomenal success ever since its debut title in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube (U.S. release). Since then, two additional titles have been made, Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS handheld, and Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Nintendo Wii.
The game itself is a sort of life simulator with anthropomorphic animal critters as interactive neighbors. The original title was quaint and you start off on a train to some unknown destination. You meet a cool cat named Rover who decides to strike up a short conversation with you. (At this point, the player does not know what his or her avatar looks like as they player gets a first person view of everything in the cabin.) By answering certain questions the player's appearance is then determined. Unfortunately, sometimes to the dismay of the player...regardless, the train arrives in town and the player then meets Tom Nook, a tanuki or raccoon dog. He shows you some of the available houses and after the player chooses one to his or her liking, Tom Nook promptly asks for payment for the cramped living space. Ironically, the player can't pay the full amount initially and Tom Nook decides that to remedy the situation, he'll have to give the player a temporary job at his store. After completing all of the mundane tasks, Tom Nook decides that the player is no longer required to work for him and that they can pay him at their own discretion.
Now, at this point, most people might think to completely disregard their debt and do as they see fit. However the house is, as I've stated before, very cramped. Thus, if the player wants to expand their home, they must complete payments by selling fruit, fish, fossils, et cetera to Tom Nook for bells (the currency used in town). This is essentially the premise of the game. However, because of its lax nature, the player has quite a lot of freedom. Players can develop strong bonds with their animal friends and collect a wide assortment of items and furniture. There's a museum, police station (with a lost-and-found which can be used to claim multiple items without repercussions), and a vast ocean to fish. There are insects and seashells to collect as well. Once the player expands their house to maximum capacity and pays off all of their debt, Tom Nook congratulates the player and erects a statue of them in gold. (In later versions, the mayor allows the player to have a flagpole next to their home and create a personalized flag).
The game has quite a lot for a player to do. I would most definitely argue that this game is a casual experience and can be picked up and played at any time. In recent installments to the series, a multi-player aspect has been introduced, albeit with a requirement that each player own their own individual copies of the game and their own respective devices.
As an avid gamer (and one that just so happens to own all three titles), I have to say that, thus far, my favorite has to be the original simply because it was such a uniquely revolutionary experience. Even the advertisements for the game were enticing. The cozy atmosphere and relaxing music only add to the depth of the whole virtual world.
On a separate note, I feel that the crown jewel of the franchise is the ability to make pixelated patterns at the Able Sisters workshop. You can use these custom-made patterns to make shirts, billboards (in the original game), and umbrellas. The level of customization allows anyone to become an artist and there are multiple palettes to choose from. One can compare the system to a color-by-number canvas. There are even websites dedicated to converting pictures of just about anything one desires, into pixelated forms that can be manually transferred into the game by following a numerical setup. Some really talented people make elegant murals from multiple patterns and sell each "piece" for a profit (in bells). My only qualm is that in nearly every iteration, the palettes are changed or (in some cases) removed, so one may not be able to make an exact replica of a pattern that they had in a previous version. Colors my be too bright, dark, or nonexistent. I would like to see a much more unified and standardized palette set.
Now, Nintendo has recently unveiled a fourth title for the Nintendo 3DS which I can not wait to purchase. Seeing as how I only have one multiplayer game in my possession (Dead or Alive: Dimensions), and that being one that so few gamers in my area and network of friends possess, it is all the more reason for me to save up for this game, especially knowing of my previously favorable experiences with Animal Crossing.
I'm hoping that Nintendo will take full advantage of the Nintendo 3DS's capabilities. Namely, I would like to see the gyroscope used for, say, shooting down presents from balloons or perhaps the ability to take pictures of your friends and incorporate them as portraits or the ability to take in-game screenshots that can be saved to the SD card like in Animal Crossing: City Folk. Also, the Mii Mask would be a welcome return in my opinion. Ideally, I would like the option to trade patterns and/or store them to the SD card as well. The added space would be great considering that in Animal Crossing: City Folk, there was a glitch with the Able Sister's shop storage for patterns where the first page may be deleted randomly. There was an article about the incident in a Game Informer magazine if I'm not mistaken.
Another slight problem is trading items. Having to drop and pick up items is sort of irritating considering that another perhaps more obnoxious player could pick up the item and run off with it. It would be nice and convenient to have some sort of trading mechanic where players can designate what items go to which players. This isn't necessarily a problem considering that most items can be ordered via Tom Nook's catalog so long as the player had obtained the item previously, but it DOES become a problem when the item (or items) in question is/are rather valuable (in terms of bell cost).
There is no definitive name for the new Animal Crossing game as of yet. Nonetheless, one should note that there will be a multitude of changes to the traditional roles of the characters in the game. Most notably, Tortimer, the prominent mayor of all of the games up until this point, will no longer be the mayor in this iteration. In fact, the players themselves take on this role. Whether or not the tortoise will make an appearance is uncertain. In addition, it appears that Tom Nook now runs a real estate agency (according to Koji Takahashi, the Design Leader). Apparently, as mayor, the player can add certain public accommodations such as benches or street lamps. There is a brand new character to aid the player as well with their duties. A clumsy female canine secretary named Hisho. (As as side note, she's nicknamed "Shizu" by Mr. Takahashi). I suspect that he calls her that because she has the appearance of a Shih Tzu.)
I find this addition to be quite practical seeing as how Pelly was the daytime secretary of Tortimer in Animal Crossing: Wild World and Animal Crossing: City Folk.
Another change, albeit perhaps a less shocking one, is the inclusion of the ability to alter the appearance of both shirts, pants, and shoes that the player wears. Coupled with this modification, the player avatars are much taller now, which leads me to believe that the development team is attempting to appeal to a much broader audience seeing as how even older, veteran gamers enjoy this game as well.
I'm curious to learn how to make my own furniture seeing as how it was also mentioned that this is a possibility as well. The option to change the aesthetic appearance of already existing pieces is nice, but I worry that the feature may not be a fully-fledged furniture creator.
Also, being able to create model homes that can be swapped via StreetPass seems to be somewhat interesting as far as player connectivity is concerned.
I'm overjoyed that there is a train station in this installment as well as a shopping mall. I wonder if Phineas the sea lion will make a return appearance seeing as how he was in the city near a boutique giving away balloons and pinwheels in Animal Crossing: City Folk.
There was an article featured in Nintendo Power magazine (Vol. 270 August 2011) by Chris Slate. Unfortunately, it wasn't as informative as I had hoped. There was no mention of Hisho whatsoever. In addition, the information that was provided was minuscule at best which is odd considering that they could've at least made some inferences based upon the teaser trailer from E3.
From what I saw in the June 2011 E3 trailer, (approximately 25 seconds into the video) there appears to be a wooden frame beehive (there were flowers placed all around the structure and it looks similar to real-life Langstroth beehives).
When this game will finally arrive on store shelves remains a mystery.
E3 2011 Trailer -- Property of Nintendo
Video is property of The1UPNetwork.
References:
Slate, Chris. "Animal Crossing*: Get Ready to Move into a Whole New Neighborhood." Nintendo Power Aug. 2011: 59.Print
Hello!!! How're you? Welcome to "The Informed Gamer" blog. I'm a highly competitive, single, male gamer and I'm currently a full-time university student. Here I intend to discuss upcoming video games, movies, and (to a slightly lesser extent) books. I will most likely discuss the recently announced games for the consoles and devices that I myself already own. Thus, a majority of my posts will be covering Nintendo related game software. Below is a list of all of the titles I currently own (as of December 23, 2011) for the seventh generation of consoles/handhelds.
Non-Digital Nintendo Wii Games (In alphabetical order):
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII
Call of Duty: Black Ops (Traded in for Store Credit)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition (Traded in for Store Credit)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
Excite Truck
Mario Kart Wii (Traded in for Store Credit)
No More Heroes
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
Pokémon Battle Revolution (Traded in for Store Credit)
Red Steel (Traded in for Store Credit)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Traded in for Store Credit)
Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Wii Sports
Wii Sports Resort
Nintendo DS Games:
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes A Day!
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
Chrono Trigger
Clubhouse Games
Custom Robo Arena
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Drawn to Life
Kingdom Hearts: 365/2days
Kirby: Squeak Squad
Lost In Blue 2
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Mario Kart DS
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Metroid Prime: Hunters
New Super Mario Bros.
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
Nintendo DS Browser
Nintendogs: Daschund & Friends
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
Pokémon: Black Version
Pokémon: Diamond Version
Pokémon: SoulSilver Version
Scribblenauts: Write Anything. Solve Everything
Sonic Classic Collection
Sprung: A Game Where Everyone Scores
Tetris DS
Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land
Warioware D.I.Y
Non-Digital Nintendo 3DS Games(In alphabetical order):
Dead or Alive: Dimensions
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
I've been playing games ever since I was about nine years old. I can't quite remember exactly what my first video game experience was, but I know that it was between either The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (also known as the Super NES). I've never actually had the opportunity to play the The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but I plan on purchasing the title via the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console service at some point. I owned the console myself (as well as a SEGA Genesis), and I was very happy with both of them, but I didn't play very often. However, for my ninth birthday, I received a Game Boy Color with a copy of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe and I've been hooked on gaming ever since that day.
By telling you a bit about my own experience regarding video games, I hope to establish some sort of credibility and basis for my thoughts. I like both Nintendo and SEGA as well as all of the other companies involved in the industry. Bottom line, I like gaming...period. I don't really wish to be labeled as a "fanboy" (an overt enthusiast of a particular system or company) because most of the games I own come from Nintendo but, I will try to maintain some sense of neutrality in my posts, if possible.
Regardless, the most incredible aspect of video games is that most of the more elaborate ones (namely role playing games) have truly compelling stories. Essentially, video games are a lot like books. They just allow you to act as the protagonist as the story unfolds. (At least that's my own perspective of them). Some of the decisions one makes are beneficial, while other have disastrous results. A person can learn quite a bit through play. Many games are surprisingly educational even though they are not intended to be categorized as such.
It pretty much goes without say that if a gamer likes video games, they probably like books and/or movies too. That's why I wish to cover a multitude of new media so as to keep you, my readers, up-to-date and well informed about potentially interesting forms of entertainment. I plan to offer my thoughts and opinions on these titles and encourage you to do the same. I may also incorporate additional information from the news and other sources with reviews of them as well. I will have to warn you though, that I can be a tad bit cynical at times and you should use your own discretion with regard to accepting my thoughts on the matter or disregarding them completely. I may throw in a joke or two, but I'll try to keep them "PG-13".
In addition, it may be possible that I will shift my focus on this blog as it grows and "evolves" (so to speak) and as such, it may become vastly different from what it once was. I hope that those of you reading this will continue to check up on this site from time to time and offer feedback whenever possible. I reserve the right to edit, change, and/or modify any my posts (with or without notice) as I deem fit and appropriate at any given time. I heartily encourage constructive criticism and positive feedback.
