Wonderful Wednesdays: Democracy 3 First Impressions (aka "Something something bubbles")

A review copy of Democracy 3 has been generously provided by Evolve PR.  The fact I got this for free does not, and never will influence what I say about the game or games below.

Welcome to Wonderful Wednesdays!  As promised last week, here are my first impressions of Democracy 3!

First off, you have an eerily accurate representation of various state governments, and you pick one, you set up the conditions for your win or loss along with the political affiliations, and then you’re thrust straight from the frying pan into the fire (I just started with the default conditions for my first game for what that is worth).  

First you’re greeted by a humorous line or two about the bad things politicians do in the loading screens (the loading screens are absolutely perfectly themed to the game, you guys), and then you get a lot of information about the state of the union to start off with. (The state of the union was pretty bad, with tons of crime problems and problems with the air quality.)

Then, after you’ve sufficiently gotten all the information you need, you are put into the main interface of Democracy 3. There are lots and lots of bubbles, so I was glad I had the tutorial enabled for this first playthrough; however, even then the tutorial barely covered the intricacies of this game.

Now, the idea of political capital to change things like subsidies, et al. is a great idea, but it just feels weird to play Democracy 3 with this and have barely any explanation in the in-game tutorial as to what to do.

Now there is one thing that I’d like to offer to Cliff Harris, the man behind Democracy 3, as a bit of constructive criticism here.  There are way, way too many nested menus, dialogue boxes, and the like, none of which actually tell me what I can do to fix (insert problem here).

By this I mean I was trying to fix the problem of pollution, but I kept clicking on things that took me to even more menus and I never felt like I was getting much of anywhere even then to curb that problem sufficiently.  Same with, of all the possible things, military spending.  It took me several in-game turns to curb military spending, and by then I was in deep debt trouble because I took so long to curb military spending. As a result, I intentionally kept some wildly unpopular policies with the rich guys in place so that my game would end early with an “assassination”.

However, on the whole, I think that this game is absolutely fantastic, and a truly eye-opening experience for me, because now I know way more about the intricacies of political dealings than I ever really wanted to know.  I think, if the price was right and with a few minor tweaks, like maybe a few more tool tips to explain what each new policy did in terms of effect and popularity with various groups without having to implement them (even if you CAN cancel for free), that this could be used for civics classes in high schools all over the country, and maybe even all over the world.

Democracy 3 is available now on GOG.com, Steam, and Cliff Harris’s own website, positech.co.uk for $24.99 or your regional equivalent.  The “Social Engineering” DLC expansion is another $4.99 or your regional equivalent on top of that, so if you like the idea of fixing problems using the populace then I say go for it.

Mario Mondays: The Top 5 Reasons to Be Excited About Nintendo in the First Half of 2014

Welcome back to Mario Mondays!  Today I’m going to be as positive about the future of Nintendo as I possibly can be and give my top 5 reasons to be excited about Nintendo for the first half of 2014.

5) Nintendo’s first real forays into free-to-play gaming.  Free-to-play games have had a real stigma with regard to how exploitative their business models have been (*cough* EA *cough*), but I am not really surprised that Nintendo has started offering free-to-play titles. What Nintendo is surprising people with, however, is the game Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball, coming out in April.  It’s essentially one of the biggest surprises ever in that you actually can haggle down the price that you would normally pay through interesting means.  Plus, I had heard about this (because it’s been out in Japan for awhile) and I didn’t think Nintendo was going to offer it here.  Shows what I know, I guess.

4) Nintendo in ‘Panic Mode’ actually brings great games to the party.  There are so many great games coming that I am going to be really interested in playing that I don’t think I have any time (or the money really) for any of it.  Maybe we’ll actually get the Game Center CX games localized properly by Nintendo and have them over here in proper form with the Japanese audio, finally.  Same with the Famicom and Super Famicom Fire Emblem games.

3) The 3DS is still going super strong.  With games like Steel Diver Sub Wars (which is out now), the aforementioned Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball, Mario Golf World Tour, Kirby Triple Deluxe, Pokemon Battle Trozei, Yoshi’s New Island, the new Professor Layton game, Inazuma Eleven (which is FINALLY out Stateside), and more, the 3DS is becoming more and more and more of a great value.  And that’s not including all of the great games that are already out for it like Fire Emblem Awakening, Pokemon X & Y, and Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and that’s just scratching the surface.

2) Nintendo’s first-party retail Wii U titles.  There are still going to be slight gaps, especially the month of March, which seems to have very few games announced for that month, and the Nintendo Downloads may or may not be kinda sparse during March.  Who knows.  However, with the sheer strength of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (out this Friday and probably just difficult enough to get gamers who wish to tackle it through the month of March no problem), Mario Kart 8, and what’s coming out later this year, including the new Smash Bros., it’s going to be a great time to be a Nintendo gamer, no question.

1) NES Remix 2.  The first NES Remix on the Wii U was wonderful fun (the episode of Game Center CX that focused on the first NES Remix was proof positive of that), but there were several games I frankly don’t want to see or play ever again after playing the challenges here. Namely, Clu Clu Land and Ice Climber.  Thankfully, this time there are way better challenges, way better games to work with, and depending on how the challenges work, some dark horses that will become hidden masterpieces of the latter NES library.  If this game does well, I think we’ll get SNES Remix next.

Flashback Friday: Hyperkin: What's Coming and My Thoughts On What's Next

Today, I want to talk a bit about the retro gaming company, Hyperkin.  Yeah Hyperkin has their hands in modern console accessories to a degree, but their main focus is on retro gaming.  Whether that is old console gaming controllers and accessories, or amazingly cool retro systems like the Supaboy and the RetroN5, they have their hands in a lot of different pies.

So, why am I talking about Hyperkin today?  Well, I want to talk about Hyperkin today because they have come out with some incredible new stuff that will be coming out in the coming months.  They are putting out (no joke) a Pixel Art Controller that looks like a pixellated Super Nintendo controller that plugs into your PC or Mac to play emulated titles (and games that require a halfway good D-pad...) for a mere $20 later this month that Hyperkin has been pushing in the Walmart Get On The Shelf campaign, which is basically Walmart's version of Steam Greenlight, except with even more chaff that must be separated from the wheat.

In addition, the RetroN5 that plays NES, Famicom, Super Nintendo, Super Famicom, Sega Genesis, Sega MegaDrive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance (whew!) cartridges over HDMI with some really cool new additional extras that were only the domain of emulators before this, and it's coming out for $99.99, with a tentative release date (at least according to Amazon.com) of October 31st.  If that's the case... I think I know how I'll be spending MY Halloween week.

So, after all of this craziness, what's next?  Nobody knows, really, but I want to give the guys at Hyperkin 8 suggestions of what they can do in the retro gaming space that will blow everybody's minds.

1) A universal lightgun that works with a ton of different systems (including PC for emulation purposes) and a ton of different games that works REGARDLESS of what kind of TV or other display you have.  Number 1, it's about time.  Number 2, this could be the way we all get to experience great light gun games like Area 51 and Duck Hunt all over again.

2) A retro console that emulates the N64.  Lots of people want this (especially if you look on Hyperkin's Facebook page), and if Hyperkin gets a license to do this from Nintendo, that could make things very interesting going forward for retro games consoles.

3) A retro console that does the impossible: Brings the Sega CD, the Sega Saturn, the Sega Dreamcast, the Playstation 1, the Turbo CD system, the PC Engine CD (the Japanese equivalent of the Turbo CD), and the Amiga CD32 together in one 90s-tastic CD console.  I'd certainly want to get one of these, as my space is really limited anymore.

4) A Dreamcast VGA adapter that doesn't cost the moon.  Please.  Especially for those (like myself) who are way late to the Dreamcast party.

5) A retro gaming-centric monitor.  It could be combined with not only the RetroN 5, but also the universal lightgun peripheral I mentioned above.  Has potential, certainly.

6) Another huge opportunity in the retro gaming space is to have Hyperkin create flash cartridges like the Everdrives of the world that can put the legally grey ROMs into products like the RetroN5 and have people be able to play them on their TV.  This is much, much more questionable, but if anyone can get those retro console games wrested from the vaults and available for purchase individually or in groups, it's Hyperkin.

7) More portable retro consoles.  I hope Hyperkin eventually gets the Sega license to do a portable Sega Genesis.  You can't possibly do worse than At:Games or even the venerable Sega Nomad...

8) Maybe even retro portable consoles get refabs and rereleases like the Game Boy, the Lynx, the Game Gear, etc.

EDIT: I said in my introductory post that some Flashback Fridays posts would be edited.  This is one of those posts.  There have been some new developments, up to and including a RetroN5 delay, as well as some new Nintendo 64 controllers from their Cirka brand, AND brand-spanking-new Genesis “RageStrong” controllers from Hyperkin themselves!  Of course, I am going to be taking a look at these things eventually.

Wrapping Up Nintendo: The Reboot Edition #1: Super Hype Expectations... And They Delivered!!

Welcome to Wrapping Up Nintendo: The Reboot Edition!  This was a feature on my other blog that I want to bring back, but before today I didn’t get the chance to because Nintendo hasn’t trotted out a Nintendo Direct in 2014 whatsoever until now.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy.  Today’s long-awaited Nintendo Direct was worldwide in scope, and it brought a fair few surprises with it!

I’ll be talking about games that were featured in the North American Direct, but I will mention a few of the neat little bonuses in other regions too.

First they started with a bang. New trailer, and it’s Smash Bros.  It was immediately obvious it was Little Mac from the Punch-Out games, and Little Mac “punches in” to the Smash roster for the new Smash game. Sadly it’s still coming out just in 2014, but I really, really like what they did with his moveset and his little KO meter straight out of Super Punch-Out!

Then they started in on the Nintendo 3DS titles. First up they finally firmed up Mario Golf World Tour’s release date (May 2nd), AND they have created an RPG-like mode called Castle Club as has been the case with the handheld Mario Golf titles in the past!

Next they also firmed up Kirby Triple Deluxe’s release date (May 2nd also), and they showed just a little bit more, including new mechanics for the various copy abilities, collectibles, and 3DS-specific Streetpass features, including a friendly Waddle Dee in the background that gives you better items if you’ve Streetpassed someone who owns the game!

Next is Yoshi’s New Island.  It looks really, really good and it looks eerily like the original Yoshi’s Island, except for the Mega Egg Dozers and Metal Egg Dozers.  Now here is where North America deviates slightly from UK/Europe: There was no Yoshi’s New Island 3DS XL bundle announced for North America at the time this posts as far as I am aware.  But I’ll be honest, even as a gigantic Yoshi fan, it looks seriously lackluster and somewhat Photoshopped, so I’ll let you lot in Europe keep that bundle there.

Next up was some 3DS eShop games. First up, a brand new Steel Diver that uses an FPS-like perspective, Steel Diver Sub Wars.  It has a free version with less submarines and missions and a paid version that is the full version, and is out now.

Next in eShop land was Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball, which is the first real major Nintendo foray into “free-to-play” games and while I’ve known about this because of NWR and Daan Koopman for quite some time now, I am almost absurdly happy that this quirky game is coming Stateside.

Finally in eShop land was Pokemon Battle Trozei, which is (finally) a sequel to the very well-received and really underrated Pokemon Trozei on DS.  That’s coming out March 20th.

Next they tossed it over to NoA and they first discussed Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (and the companion Emmy Altava, whise last adventure is Azran Legacy), which is coming out February 28th.

Next they talked about what little third-party support they have. First is Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for NA in early 2015.  Too bad the 3DS’s Circle Pad is frankly awful for that sort of game.

Next is the final Guild.01 game (FINALLY), Weapon Shop de Omasse, coming out February 20th.

Next up is one game series I’ve been curious about for forever and five days, Inazuma Eleven.  Inazuma Eleven is FINALLY coming to these shores today!  Rumor has it it’s $20 so please buy this.

Next they talked about the Indie Game Showcase which they’ll talk more about on their YouTube show Nintendo Minute, and a whole slew of indie games on 3DS and Wii U.

Finally is Child of Light.  It’s a puzzle platformer, a genre I totally suck at.  Plus it’s from Ubisoft, they of the “we don’t believe in Nintendo so we’re killing Rayman and Watch Dogs” variety, so that’s two strikes agains them. It’s coming out in a month or two but I really don’t care.

Then they turned the presentation back over to Iwata, where they showed the latest trailer for Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, out February 21st.  It essentially confirmed that that scary octopus from Donkey Kong Country Returns makes a comeback, and that was really about it.  Thankfully in this case they didn’t spoil anything majorly important.

Next they followed up on NES Remix (which is a GREAT game with utterly horrendous game selections like Ice Climber and Clu Clu Land) with a brand-new volume of NES Remix, NES Remix 2, out April 25th (cannot come soon enough Nintendo).  It includes a Nintendo World Championships-esque mode (awesome), Super Luigi Brothers (a Luigi version of the original Super Mario Bros. that plays like a manga, going from right to left), and quite possibly the best possible game selection (and a vast improvement over the original title).  The great thing about this is it’s coming out in April and I cannot possibly be more excited about it!!

Also, slight deviation once again, this time between NA/Europe and Japan.  You see, in Japan apparently they like their games on physical media, and they are getting (no joke) a physical release of both the first NES Remix AND the new NES Remix 2 (there called Famicom Remix 1 + 2).  I hope Nintendo sees fit to release something similar Stateside, and maybe they’ll include the Game Center CX episode(s) with official subtitles, who knows.

The game selection for NES Remix 2 are as follows:

• Ice Hockey
• Wario’s Woods
• Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link
• Super Mario Bros. 2
• Dr. Mario
• Kirby’s Adventure
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Kid Icarus
• Punch-Out!!
• Metroid
• NES Open Tournament Golf
• Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (also known in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2)

Seriously, how can that possibly be any better?! Well except for Ice Hockey and Zelda 2 and maybe Wario’s Woods, although if Wario’s Woods is anything like Wrecking Crew from the first game, it’ll come out as being a hidden gem of sorts.

Next, GBA games (FINALLY) on Wii U Virtual Console starting in April. The games they detailed in the NA/Europe Directs were Metroid Fusion, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga (YES!!!), Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (YES YES YES!!!), and more.

Again Japan deviates from this ever so slightly.  

In Japan they’re getting a much more locked-down release schedule.  On April 3rd they’re getting:

• Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
• WarioWare Mega Micro Games
• Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (not nearly as good as Kirby’s Adventure / Kirby’s Nightmare in Dream Land IMHO)
• Golden Sun (I am SO jealous)
• F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (a GBA launch title I specifically remember playing)
• Advance Wars 1 + 2 (which was exclusive to Japan, maybe they’ll actually break from tradition slightly and give us Americans that package dealie.  I certainly would buy it as I adore Advance Wars, and Fire Emblem for that matter)

And then on April 30th, they’re getting:

• Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Mario Tennis Power Tour
• Wario Land 4
• Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (the superior Kirby GBA game IMO)
• Metroid Fusion

I have a sneaking suspicion that there are going to be some really fun Nintendo Channel Game Center CX challenge segments for Kacho Arino in that April timeframe.

Next is Mario Kart 8, and they showed a trailer with 8 characters that you would not expect: Bowser’s Koopalings are in fact confirmed to be playable!  Which is great if you like playing as a villain, I personally might try playing as them once or twice.  Certainly can’t be any worse than Mario Kart 7’s woefully bad controls on the 3DS that you cannot even so much as rebind. Launches on May 30th.

Next is some info on what is known as “X”, the new title from Monolith Soft, makers of Xenoblade Chronicles.  Now we have a real name, and a glimpse of the (admittedly cool looking) battle system.  The real name is Xenoblade 2, and it is coming later this year.

Finally is the most insane game of them all: Bayonetta 2.  Holy crap this looks crazy, and I definitely will pick this up. I’m a huge fan of quirky games and if given an opportunity to buy a quirky game I will definitely do so.  I haven’t regretted a single quirky game I have bought (even paying the piper to import Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! for DS).

This concludes the North American coverage, but I still have a few things I want to mention.  First, in the Japanese Direct, there was a Monster Hunter 4 3DS XL announced to be coming out with Monster Hunter 4 in Japan.  Also in the Japanese Direct, apparently there’s something cool with the Game Center CX 3 game for 3DS that is on the eShop now.  And in Europe, there is one game that I am absolutely jealous we don’t have here: Nintendo Pocket Football Club (of course here we’d have to call it Nintendo Pocket Soccer Club or something).  This game looks insanely cool (almost like Nintendo’s answer to Sensible Soccer and that ilk), and if Inazuma Eleven actually does well in North America, we might actually get this here.

This concludes the presentation, for realsies.  Also, Nintendo, please schedule your next Nintendo Direct a touch earlier than 5:00 PM Eastern Time for us Americans.  I’d love to not have to spend several hours factchecking and then putting it up after Midnight. Thanks in advance.

Wonderful Wednesdays: "The Agony of Defeat" Or How Game Center CX Could Work In America

Today’s Wonderful Wednesdays is going to be a last-minute substitute topic about a gaming related topic that’s only marginally related to GOG.com.  You see, I got Democracy 3 last weekend as a result of a sale that they had and I wanted to put up my first impressions today but I had to push it back a week.

Welcome to Wonderful Wednesdays!  Today’s topic is going to be a slight diversion from the GOG.com topic, even though the topic has covered and will cover games that are available for sale on GOG.com.  However, I wanted to open with a quote, which is where I got that “the agony of defeat” that you see in the title up there:

"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport!
The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat!
The human drama of athletic competition.
This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!"

Yes folks, for those Americans of a certain age, I just quoted the entirety of the original ABC Wide World of Sports monologue, which is apropos for today’s topic.

The topic is a Japanese television show I have been quite taken with recently called Game Center CX.  The show stars Shinya Arino, a middle-aged Japanese comedian with the comedy team Yoiko (a two-man comedic team much like some of our best comedic teams in the US like Abbott & Costello and Laurel & Hardy).  He plays the Kacho, or Chief (Executive), of a fictitious Japanese company called Game Center CX (obviously, the title of the show).  His job?  To play old video games to completion in order to see their endings, or to fulfill some crazy challenge like a 24-hour live broadcast of playing nothing but Lemmings for the Super Nintendo.

In the earlier seasons of the show, his title was actually affected whenever he did really poorly (and Arino is quite terrible at playing most video games), but thankfully in more recent seasons this has been done away with.

But why am I talking about Game Center CX (known as Retro Game Master in all regions beside Japan)?  Because this show is wonderful, but also because a few of the games that have been played on the show are on GOG.com, of course!  Chief among them being Another World, known as Out of This World in America and Outer World in Japan.  

I am also discussing the show because for English speakers such as myself, this show is normally quite inaccessible because it is in Japanese, and official versions of the show in English (such as the Retro Game Master: The Game Center CX Collection DVD set from Discotek Media) do indeed need to be supported.

And we Americans have, as a general rule, been extremely lousy at supporting official Game Center CX merchandise.  First there was Retro Game Challenge from XSeed Games, which was the first of the official Game Center CX games.  It was a GameStop exclusive if I recall right, and any retailer exclusive that doesn’t sell out is deemed to be a “failure” and therefore if that was the case (and XSeed really didn’t market this game well, if at all), we basically got screwed out of future Game Center CX games being in English for this one reason alone.  And to make matters worse, when Game Center CX became Retro Game Master on Kotaku a couple of years ago, the show was really not marketed well at all.  Not to mention there was also a horrendous Iron Chef-esque dub that basically didn’t fit the style and tone of Game Center CX whatsoever (whereas the subdued dry wit of the narrator in the Japanese version is actually more agreeable to me).

So essentially, if Game Center CX is not marketed properly and is given frankly really terrible treatment in the US and other global markets, it is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to get Game Center CX to be a viable commodity anywhere outside of Japan. I’m really grateful to Fuji Television for creating a video featuring the Kacho in an official English sub on their own page because this shows that subs are probably a good way to go unless they figure out how to get a subdued, dry sort of wit to do a proper, official English dub, which I think isn’t going to happen and we Americans will just have to suck it up and deal with fansubs of the show that help make this fabulous, wonderful show accessible to those of us who do not speak any Japanese but would still like to watch a middle-aged Japanese man play video games reasonably poorly (some games he is remarkably good at, including puzzle games).

And in closing, I have a message for the Kacho.  I guess one of his staffers who can read English can give this to him in a format that he can understand, but because he doesn’t speak or read English very well if at all (same with me and Japanese), I’m just going to put this in in my own native language and hope that Kacho Arino gets the basic gist of what I am about to say.

Arino Kacho,

Hello there!  I learned about your wonderful show, Game Center CX, just this last December, after your NES Remix episode.  I had in fact been quite excited to play NES Remix after last December’s Nintendo Direct, and it is just as fun (and occasionally frustrating) as your Game Center CX episode made it seem.

After finding that episode to be indeed quite fun, even without knowing all that much Japanese, I decided to look into other episodes of the show, and I came upon your show through fan-made subtitles for Game Center CX.  I have come to very much appreciate the subdued, dry wit of the narrator, so much so that when I discovered the English dub, I was immediately put off of the dub.  But then again I am not a fan of even dubbed anime, so if Game Center CX is to thrive here in the US, I can propose a solution: If you can get an English narrator that can match the subdued tone and the dry wit of the original commentary, while still having you and your assistants’ dialogue subtitled, then I think it would be wonderful to be able to view this series, in English, whether on a television network, a streaming service, iTunes, or on a DVD set.  

Regarding the arcade trips (or tamage), I think that while the Japanese have gotten sort of jaded about the arcade scene in Japan, I am absolutely fascinated by those game centers in Japan, and alot of people who have seen your show in the West feel the same way.  I sincerely hope that those arcade trip segments can in fact be included somehow in future releases of Game Center CX over here as sort of a tourism feature for prospective travelers to your country, but I understand why that would be if you don’t.

I’ll try to keep this brief, so in closing I really cannot wait to see you tackle more difficult video games.  I am cheering you on from America!

Sincerely,

BJ Wanlund

The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat!
The human drama of athletic competition.
This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!

Mario Mondays: The Ultimate Wii U Virtual Console Wishlist Post for 2014

Welcome to Mario Mondays, where I discuss all things Nintendo!

A disclaimer before I start: Yes I am a Nintendo fanatic. Have been since the early 90s. That doesn’t preclude me from calling them on the carpet if things start to hit the fan, however.

Last week I discussed the Virtual Console and said I’d post a wishlist post for the Virtual Console later.  This is that post.

So, without any further ado or delay, here is my personal Wii U Virtual Console Wishlist for all announced and/or upcoming systems.  Note that this will also include the Wii Virtual Console platforms that haven’t made the jump to the Wii U yet, which I am putting underneath the Announced Systems list.  BTW, I know zip about the more obscure platforms like the Master System so I am not qualified to speak on them.

Announced Systems (including Wii VC platforms yet to make the leap to Wii U with the Wii VC releases generally being first):

NES / Famicom
The best of the best in terms of support on the Wii VC and the Wii U eShop, even from Nintendo themselves, but there are areas that could reasonably be improved, and that is where I come in.

Wii VC releases:

• Adventures of Lolo / Adventures of Lolo 2 / Adventures of Lolo 3: One of the most unsung video game franchises in Nintendo's NES library by far. Both Lolo and Lolo 2 saw Wii Virtual Console release, so if nothing has gone screwy with the way Nintendo gets titles on the Virtual Console, both of the first two games are essentially a lock for the Wii U VC, but Lolo 3 was not, so that would be a genuine surprise to see Lolo 3 on the Wii U eShop.
• Bases Loaded: This was a third party Wii VC game, but I have no idea how this particular one was licensed for the Wii VC and/or whether or not Bases Loaded will be coming onto the Wii U VC, and whether its sequels will follow, but this would be a wonderful series to have on the Wii U.
• Blades of Steel: Another third-party Wii VC title, but since it’s Konami, and Konami tends to have a pretty good relationship with the Virtual Console, I think this one’s essentially a lock for the Wii U.
• Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse: The first two NES Castlevania games are already on the Wii U eShop (and even Super Castlevania IV has made the leap to the Wii U eShop), so Castlevania 3 is pretty much going to come onto the Wii U eShop.  It’s a matter of when in this case, and not if.
• Final Fantasy: I’m practically out on a limb here on this one, but the original Final Fantasy was actually on the Wii U VC, and it was a late addition if I recall right.  Also, no joke, it was supposed to be Square’s last game until the game came out and it sold like hotcakes.
• Mega Man 5: (insert obligatory Sequelitis “MEGA MAN! MEGA MAN!” joke here) This is the last NES Mega Man game to not see release on the Wii U eShop from the Wii VC.  Mega Man 1 - 4 are already on the Wii U eShop, so it’s up to Capcom to save the day here.
• Metroid: BOTH sequels to this game that can be put onto the Virtual Console at the moment (Metroid II: Return of Samus on Game Boy and Super Metroid on SNES) are both on the Wii U eShop, so this one is practically a lock.
• NES Open Tournament Golf: By far and away the superior NES golf experience from Nintendo themselves, I’d be really surprised if this one didn’t hit the Wii U eShop at some point.
• The Ninja Gaiden trilogy: These games are among the hardest games on the NES, and I’d be real interested in playing them, because I never got the chance.
• River City Ransom: Because it’s River City Ransom. Nuff said.
• Super C: Because it’s in the Contra series.  Again, nuff said.
• Super Dodge Ball: Again, this needs no explanation.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: This is one of the few “long shots” of games that were already on the Wii VC.  I hope Nintendo does figure out the licensing mess here, but I have exactly zero faith they’ll do it if Turtles in Time on the SNES isn’t included in the deal.

New To Wii U Releases:

• Kai No Bouken (or Quest of Ki). Anyone who has delved into the rabbit hole that is Game Center CX for any length of time knows Quest of Ki.  It is one of the most famous games that Arino has challenged on the show that never made it to the West.  It’s a followup to the infamous Namco game Tower of Druaga, except it’s a prequel to Tower of Druaga.  It’s also one of the most develish NES games and if NES Remix were to offer DLC of games that were made by third parties, I’d be real impressed to see this one crop up in the bonuses.  Plus it’d be a wonderful “Import Release” title, and there were criminally too few of those on the Wii VC.
• Contra.  Yes, Contra.  For some weird reason, we never got the original NES Contra on the Wii VC and I want to be able to play a good solid game of Contra.  Maybe once NES Wii U VC options from the Wii VC dry up we’ll get this one, but it is downright criminal that we haven’t gotten this one yet.

SNES / Super Famicom:
The SNES had some real gaming gems, and it’d be a shame to not get more great new SNES games like EarthBound, right Nintendo?

Wii VC releases:

• Final Fantasy II / IV: We Westerners knew this as Final Fantasy II, but it’s actually most well-known to the Japanese as Final Fantasy IV because they got two Final Fantasy games on the Famicom that we Westerners never got on the NES.
• Final Fantasy III / VI: Yet again we Westerners got a game that was a different name in Japan, but this time we also got #6 instead of #5.  Thankfully with the release of Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation a few years after the release of this game we got to jump on the same numbering scheme as the Japanese.  Which invited confusion galore, but that is a topic for another day.
• Harvest Moon: The original SNES classic farming sim that started it all and touched off a worldwide phenomenon, even tho the original SNES version was released way late in the SNES’s lifespan.
• Kirby’s Avalanche: Yet another branded Puyo Puyo game that came out well before Puyo Puyo was a well-known gaming brand in the West like Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, which I’ll discuss below.  Puzzle games are always in style so this one is one I’d like to see.
• SimCity: Now before you say “Oh, but that was EA, that’s never going to see release on the Wii U eShop”, let me stop you a sec here. This SimCity, specifically the SNES version, while it was created by Maxis (now a division of EA), Nintendo themselves published it.  So this is another “I’d love to see this one on the eShop” game.
• Super Mario Kart: Sooner rather than later, please. I much, much, much prefer the original SMK to just about any Mario Kart game that has come out since.
• Super Star Wars / Super Empire Strikes Back / Super Return of the Jedi: Surprisingly enough, these Super Star Wars games DID see release on the Wii VC!  This is back when LucasArts actually cared about rereleasing its back catalog before they went belly up, so this is a real long shot, but I would like to see it.

New to Wii U releases:

• Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, & 3. Even though this one was already on the Wii VC, these games are actually no longer on the Wii VC and I’d love to see these games triumphantly return to the Wii U, especially in lieu of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze coming out next month.

N64 (Wii VC platform, however it is also in the queue to be on the Wii U’s Virtual Console as of January 2013)
The N64 saw the least amount of Virtual Console titles on the Wii VC of any of Nintendo’s console platforms (only a scant 21 titles from Nintendo’s vast N64 library), so there’ll be a longer list on the New to Wii U releases list rather than on the Wii U VC releases list.

Wii VC releases (all fairly self-explanatory):

• 1080 Snowboarding
• Cruisin’ USA
• Mario Kart 64
• Mario Party 2
• Mario Tennis
• Super Smash Bros.
• Yoshi’s Story (So happy!)
• Zelda: Majora’s Mask
• Zelda: Ocarina of Time

New to Wii U releases:

• Mario Party 1 / Mario Party 3.  Mario Party 1 is the least likely of this bunch to be rereleased, however the hard plastic of the control stick on the N64 was horribly rough on people’s hands, whereas the current crop of Nintendo control sticks, even on the Wii U GamePad, are not nearly as rough on the thumbs and/or hands.  Also, it was a crying shame that the Wii VC totally petered out before Mario Party 3 got a chance to shine.
• Goldeneye 007.  Yeah yeah I know I *could* try the Wii version that Activision put out, but they didn’t put in the effort to allow the original (and far superior) N64 version to be unlockable.
• Banjo Kazooie / Banjo Tooie.  Yeah, yeah, I know I could go out, buy a 360, and then download & play these games that way, but I’d rather play these games on a Nintendo platform.
• Jet Force Gemini. One of the forgotten Rareware N64 titles, but it really looked cool for its time and I would love it if Nintendo and Rare / Microsoft Game Studios would settle their differences and get these games out for people to play again.
• Donkey Kong 64.  Another great Rareware N64 title, this one is the most obvious omission from the Wii VC (other than Mario Party 1 and Goldeneye that is) and if Nintendo were to sort out the licensing and hardware emulation issues, I would buy and play this day one.

Genesis / Mega Drive (Wii VC platform, it’s not in the queue for Wii U eShop yet but it should be):
Sega’s answer to the Super Nintendo was wildly successful.  So much so, in fact, that Sega tried to milk it for all it was worth, and… eventually gave up the hardware ghost as a result in 2001 and became a third party publisher and a shell of its former self.  But hey, Sega fans and Wii U owners ought to be able to relive the glory days, eh?

Wii VC releases (all self explanatory):

• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• Ecco the Dolphin
• Ecco The Tides of Time
• Golden Axe / Golden Axe II / Golden Axe III
• Gunstar Heroes
• Kid Chameleon (this one’s fairly difficult)
• Sonic & Knuckles
• Sonic 3D Blast
• Sonic Spinball
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• Streets of Rage / Streets of Rage 2 / Streets of Rage 3
• The Revenge of Shinobi (hopefully with the licensed characters intact this time)
• Toejam and Earl
• Toejam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron

New to Wii U releases:

• Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. This one’s been seen on ratings board listings for quite some time and is grossly overdue for a rerelease to get the price down on the original Genesis cartridge.
• Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse. This one was remade, but I am not a fan of the way they remade this in 3D, and would have far rather seen a wider release of the Genesis / Mega Drive version on places like the Virtual Console versus the PSN store as an exclusive preorder bonus, which was pretty bad given the remake's multiplatform release.
• World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.  Please can someone give us this game too along with the original Castle of Illusion?
• Quackshot Starring Donald Duck. Yet another “Disney Game” on Genesis, but I’d dearly love to see more people playing this game.  It’s obscenely hard but that’s par for the course for older games such as these.
• Mega Man: The Wily Wars. This one is one that most people probably glossed over because not every Genesis owner in the US had the Sega Channel (which this was exclusive to).  It’s an enhanced Genesis remake of Mega Man 1-3 from the NES, with an exclusive “Wily Tower” section where you fought pieces of the Genesis Machine (get it?  Because it was on the Sega Genesis?).  Capcom has been really good about rereleasing many of the other Mega Man games, but this one has so far gotten extremely short shrift, only seeing release on a portable Sega Genesis clone that many are saying isn’t that good.

Game Boy Advance (in the queue for the Wii U VC as of January 2013):
The GBA is a tough nut to crack.  I’d love to see a lot of games personally, but Nintendo has been eerily quiet on the topic of GBA Virtual Console rereleases since this time last year pretty much.  Maybe we’ll see the fruits of their labor soon, who knows.

• Droopy’s Tennis Open.  This one may be a huge surprise to most of you, but I was (and still am) a HUGE fan of Tex Avery (the animation director) and his most famous MGM creation, Droopy Dog. This game, sadly, never saw release here.  But it did in Europe, and I think it even hit Japan, but like a few of the games on this list, it skipped over North America for whatever reason.
• Kuru Kuru Kururin. Again, this one hit Japan AND Europe but we North America gamers got screwed and didn’t get this fabulous game.  Thank heavens the GBA was region free, otherwise this game (and its sequel Kururin Paradise) would never have made it here.
• The Mega Man Battle Network games.  These games I glossed over big time, and I actually sort of regret that.  Maybe now we’ll get them to be rereleased in some fashion?
• The Mega Man Zero games.  These games are almost HARDER than the original NES games from what I hear.  I believe these games were collected in a DS or 3DS game but I still think it’d be interesting to see these games on the eShop regardless.
• The Castlevania games.  Yes, this series has seen some dumb rebooting of recent, but I think Metroidvania isn’t that bad.  And I especially would want to see Castlevania games from a time before Lords of Shadow totally threw all the series continuity out with the bathwater, so these games would be essential.
• Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.  These games are ones that I glossed over, and much to my consternation I want to go back and finally play them after I got hopelessly addicted to Fire Emblem Awakening.  Here’s hoping Nintendo won’t run scared from Fire Emblem releases Stateside again.

Nintendo DS (in the queue for the Wii U Virtual Console as of January 2014):
Ahh, the DS.  The newest Nintendo handheld console on this list, and one that is sure to be controversial.  Not one to shy away from the controversial opinions, here is my DS Virtual Console wishlist (that doesn’t include Brain Age):

• Chrono Trigger DS. Yes, this could technically come onto the Wii U eShop as the SNES verson, I think this one would work better with the DS version but maybe that’s just me.
• Retro Game Challenge (also known as Game Center CX: Arino no Chosenjou). This one sort of flew under the radar for many DS gamers like myself.  I regret this oversight majorly because of the fact that there have been two more Game Center CX games in Japan and we haven’t gotten them here, and probably won’t unless a miracle happens. Also XSeed should not be in charge of handling any future releases IMO (just you wait, they’ll probably give exclusive distribution rights to GameStop again), so let’s just let Namco Bandai distribute them here in the US and maybe we’ll get a better marketing plan and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get translations of the second DS game and the new-in-Japan 3DS game.
• Tetris DS. Okay, this one might be a licensing nightmare given the name but I would personally love to see this one come to the Wii U eShop.  Especially if they can figure out how to emulate DS games on 3DS as well, as this one would be PERFECT for on-the-go play with StreetPass and the like.
• Yoshi’s Island DS. This one is almost a lock for the eShop if the hype for Yoshi’s New Island is any indication.  I’d be interested in seeing how this release got handled, though.
• Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon. This one I skipped over, quite regrettably, and I’d love for this game and its Mystery of the Emblem sequel that STILL hasn’t seen release Stateside to be available.  I’d even prefer seeing it in a special collection of Fire Emblem 8- & 16-bit games that are officially localized for 3DS and Wii U, but I would dearly love to play the Fire Emblem series from the very first game in English finally.
• Clubhouse Games. Nintendo kinda broke this game apart for DSiWare rerelease but I’d rather see the full-blown original.
• Electroplankton. Another Nintendo break-apart effort that I’d rather see the full-blown original of.  It’d certainly make the DS game card way less of a rarity.
• Glory of Heracles. This one almost EVERYBODY glossed over, and it is extremely regrettable that Nintendo didn’t market this one better because it was actually a full-blown SERIES in Japan that we’ll never get to see in full now.

TurboGraphx-16 (Wii VC platform; some games have already released in Japan as PC Engine games so it is a matter of time before they come Stateside):
NEC and Hudson Soft’s answer to the SNES and Genesis was… actually an 8-bit console that was touted as a 16-bit console.  But it did bridge the gap slightly to the 16-bit era, and it did way better in Japan than it did in the West, so there’s that.

Wii VC releases:

• Akamajou Dracula X: Chi No Rondo. This one was technically considered an import game on the Wii VC but this game is so great that it will probably come to the Wii U eShop eventually.
• The Bonk games. Obviously.
• The shmup games that were released on Wii VC. Again, it’s kinda obvious.
• Galaga 90. Again, pretty obvious.

New to Wii U releases:

• Cyber Core.  This one was strangely never released on the Wii VC but it really should see a further release as it’s really a neat concept for a shmup.

Commodore 64 (Wii VC platform, not in the queue yet but it really should be):
The Commodore 64.  At times a computer with unfathomable power, and at others a powerful-for-its-time gaming machine.  Its specs were unmatched for many IBM-PCs at that time, and it displayed in color when a very select few did at that time.  Also it was quite poorly supported on the Wii VC, so if they were to do it again on the Wii U eShop, they would have to ramp up their support considerably.  DISCLAIMER: I don’t know very many good C64 games, very sorry.  If I’ve missed a good one, please feel free to post it in the comments.

Wii VC releases:

• California Games. Great googly moogly, I would love to see this one continue to see release.
• Summer Games II. Why not Summer Games I?  Oh well, I’ll ask for its predecessor and a few more Epyx games below.
• The Last Ninja / The Last Ninja II. This one is almost a lock for the Wii U eShop if the C64 comes into play.

New to Wii U releases:

• Summer Games I.  Again, why this one hasn’t gotten rereleased (but the sequel did) boggles my mind.
• Winter Games.  This one is one of my all-time favorites, and I’d dearly love to see this game, and The Games: Winter Edition (its followup) on the Wii U eShop.
• Impossible Mission 1 & 2. “ANOTHER VISITOR, STAY AWHILE. STAAAAAAAY FOREVER!” That opening monologue from the first game has implanted itself in my mind, and I want to see more people play the original (and NOT the DS remake).

Neo Geo (Wii VC platform, not in the queue yet but it’s a real shame it is not):
Ah, the Neo-Geo. SNK’s powerhouse “arcade-in-your-home” gaming console that cost a FORTUNE when it first came out, and it still costs quite a lot of money for an actual console.  For that reason, this one is essential if you’re going to bring VC platforms over to the Wii U for accessibility to the masses.

Wii VC releases (self explanatory):

• The Fatal Fury series.
• The Metal Slug series.
• The King of Fighters series.
• The Samurai Shodown series.
• Baseball Stars 2.
• King of the Monsters.
• Magician Lord.

New to Wii U releases:

• Garou: Mark of the Wolves.  Shameful that this one didn’t make it onto the Wii VC, especially when Neo Geo releases practically propped up the Wii VC all by themselves in the latter years of the Wii’s lifecycle, even into the early days of the Wii U's lifecycle.
• Strikers 1945 Plus.  Another shameful omission, as the Strikers 1945 games are some of my all time favourite vertical shoot-em-up games.
• SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom. Even though it took SNK Playmore several years to live up to its commitment for the Capcom vs. SNK games, this game NEEDS a wider release than it has frankly gotten.

Virtual Console Arcade (Wii VC platform):
One of the most shamefully under-supported console platforms of the entire Virtual Console (with even less support than even the N64 got), the VC Arcade, if done totally right, is a GOLDMINE of retro gaming.  Yeah we have MAME, but frankly, not giving the option to support what are essentially arcade game ROMS is inexcusable.

Wii VC releases:

• the SEGA arcade releases.  There really, really, really wasn’t that much here, sadly.

New to Wii U releases (only scratching the surface here):

• Donkey Kong.  The fact that the arcade version of Donkey Kong (with the pie factory level intact) has not really seen ANY sort of rerelease given its immense popularity, even today (especially with the King of Kong documentary), is absolutely, unequivocally criminal and Nintendo should very rightly be ashamed of themselves for not giving this game (or any of its OWN arcade releases for that matter) any sort of Virtual Console Arcade love.
• Zoo Keeper (Taito).  And by Zoo Keeper I do not mean the Bejeweled clone.  Oh no, this was a Taito arcade machine that sometimes rewarded players who would recklessly go for points instead of completing game objectives.
• Area 51 (Midway).  One of the premiere lightgun games (and my personal favorite), it’s downright criminal we haven’t seen a rerelease of any kind of this great lightgun game (and yet we got Target: Terror which is a similar relic of its time).

Ideal Systems for the Wii U Virtual Console (i.e. unannounced VC platforms and my wildest speculation):

 

GameCube:

The GameCube is one of those systems that didn’t do terribly well sales-wise, but it had a wealth of fabulous Nintendo games that to a large degree still influences Nintendo’s direction, even now.

• Mario Superstar Baseball.  FAR superior to the Mario Super Sluggers game that hit Wii, I think this one is criminally underrated and something we should have more people playing.
• Super Smash Bros. Melee.  Nuff said.
• Skies of Arcadia Legends.  This one might be a surprise to a lot of you that I am including it on this list, but I think this game is criminally underrated and it’s equally criminal that it hasn’t seen another release, even a rerelease, since this game dropped on GameCube.
• Mario Party 4 - 7. Almost a lock if GameCube were to come to the Wii U eShop, as Mario Party is obscenely popular in North America.  Only question I have is how the GameCube microphone (which was a control method of sorts for the latter MP Cube games) would factor into the Wii U VC versions.
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.  It’s Fire Emblem.  Why not?

Wii:

This one is no surprise to anyone.  The Wii U is indeed backwards compatible with the Wii, but I think this could be a wonderful step to get some of those uber-expensive Wii games to come down in price a tad.

• Donkey Kong Country Returns.  Even though there’s a 3DS remake (that apparently did almost everything right), I think this would be a real interesting anachronism for seasoned DKC players, especially after Tropical Freeze drops in a few weeks.
• Excite Truck.  Here’s hoping it’ll restore the custom-soundtracks-on-the-SD-card feature.  This IS Nintendo we’re talking about however, so probably not.
• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.  Maybe this will see release too, who knows.
• Fortune Street.  This one has sadly not seen much excitement around it, so maybe we’ll see it eventually on the Wii U eShop.
• Kirby’s Dream Collection: Special Edition.  This one was criminally overlooked because of how poorly the Super Mario All-Stars rerelease on Wii was received, so maybe we’ll see this one yet.
• Kirby’s Epic Yarn.  One of the most-maligned Kirby games ever, this game looks really fun, and the Good Feel guys are coming up with a Yarn Yoshi game that we haven’t seen or heard much about since its initial reveal last year.
• Kirby’s Return to Dream Land. Obviously.
• Mario Kart Wii. Not that it’ll ever happen, given Mario Kart 8 is coming real soon, but hey, why not.
• Mario Party 8 & 9. Again Mario Party is as popular as ever, and these games (at least MP8 as I haven’t played 9 yet) were quite fun.
• Metroid Prime Trilogy.  One of the games that has become quite a collector’s item, I would dearly love to see Metroid Prime Trilogy be playable by a fair few more gamers.
• Sin and Punishment: Star Successor.  A fine followup to the original N64 import classic that actually saw worldwide release for once, this one is going to be on everyone’s “I want to see this on Wii U eShop list eventually.
• Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2.  This one is probably going to get an HD remake / rerelease a la Wind Waker HD, but I think these two games have lots of innovation and enough gameplay to last a long, long time for people who like taking their time with games.
• Xenoblade Chronicles.  The only “Operation Rainfall” game that Nintendo published themselves overseas, this is the one that Nintendo pretty much shot themselves in the foot with, and thankfully Monolith Soft is coming up with a follow up, called just “X” for the time being, but making this a GameStop exclusive pretty much doomed its chances of having any kind of American success, as any retailer exclusive does.

Dreamcast:

Sega’s last gasp in the hardware business, and boy did they ever go out with a bang.  Some of the greatest games came out for this platform, and Sega is still getting requests for much of its output from this particular console to port to HD systems and PC.  So for me, it’s a no-brainer to try and get Sega’s Dreamcast on board to buy Dreamcast games from Sega officially.

• Chu Chu Rocket. This game is a GBA launch-window title, and I distinctly remember buying the GBA version from Circuit City (may it RIP) and this game has been a favorite of mine ever since.  But strangely, the Dreamcast version (that is far superior IMO) hasn’t seen any sort of rerelease since Sega stuffed it onto GBA’s only-two-face-buttons platform.
• Shenmue and Shenmue II.  Even if Nintendo were to trot out its vast warchest to get Shenmue to be exclusive to Nintendo, I would be totally remiss to not at least request these games’s original Dreamcast versions (the sequel of which never saw official release over here on the Dreamcast. Thanks Peter Moore! Not.).
• Skies of Arcadia.  I requested Legends (the GameCube rerelease) above, but hey, never too many options to request Skies of Arcadia, am I right?
• Street Fighter III: Third Strike.  One of the Dreamcast’s signature fighting games, and the poster child for 3rd Strike for years to come, I would love to see the DC version (which was really close to the arcade original IIRC) come out on the Wii U.
• Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.  Unfortunately the original MVC and MVC2 aren’t available for many modern consoles, so I’d dearly love to see those games in more places.
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.  The Dreamcast-exclusive (til recently with the HD version) fighting game is absurdly tough, but I think it’d be wonderful to see this game get more release love.

Amiga:

Commodore’s followup to the wildly successful C64 did… mildly well but it actually pretty much bankrupted Commodore because they really didn’t know how to market the darn thing, and it showed.  But it had some fabulous gaming software, and it might behoove Nintendo to be talking with Cloanto, makers of Amiga Forever, if they are to work on getting Amiga games to work on Wii U.  Also if I missed any good ones please feel free to enlighten me.

• Worms & Worms 2. This needs no further explanation.
• The Cinemaware titles.  Again, no further explanation necessary.
• Superfrog.  While the HD version apparently did a lot right, it also got a fair few things wrong, so having an official rerelease of the original Amiga version of Superfrog would be really cool for Team17 fans to play with.

Flashback Friday - Review: Rise of the Triad (2013)

NOTE: Review copy very generously provided by my friends at Evolve PR. This has not changed, nor will it ever change what I think of this or any other game.

Well, the new Rise of the Triad from Apogee Software (yes, THAT Apogee Software) and Interceptor Entertainment is the kind of game I have been waiting a very long time for: A return to the glorious first person shooter (or FPS for short) days of maze-like designs, the mouse & keyboard are a control option as well as the default on PCs, and very well-designed, but extremely difficult progression.  This is my kind of game by far.

I used to play games like Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Quake III: Arena, and Unreal Tournament till the cows came home, so this is a glorious, glorious return to form for me.  Turns out I suck at the genre now. Hard.  But I haven't played games like this in a very long time, since the first Unreal Tournament and Quake III, as it turns out.  The fact that these people made a twitch-based FPS game like this on the PC, designed in the old-school style, is a major selling point.

Another selling point is its story, which hasn't changed all that much since the original Rise of the Triad in 1995, except now that the titular Triad is essentially a terrorist organization along the lines of Al Qaeda.

In Rise of the Triad 2013, you are a member of an elite force called HUNT, which stands for the High-Rish United Nations Taskforce, that has been sent to perform reconnaissance on San Nicolas Island, about a rogue organization known only as The Triad.  As you go through the game, you discover some nasty secrets within San Nicolas Island because they are so nice as to blow up the boat you used as your entry to San Nicolas Island, so ya might as well figure out what they're up to, right?

The story of the game is wonderful, but man, this game is unbelievably hard.  That is not meant as a complaint, but as a compliment.  I got lost quite a lot as I tried to make my way through this game in order to bring you this review, so I finally decided it was probably time to quit just long enough to write up this review and get me some sleep.

So while I tried to get some ludicrous multiplayer going on, I couldn't find any games. However, this provided the perfect opportunity to test out some of the... more bizarre weapons.  I didn't get to try any of the magical weapons, but I did get to try out Dog Mode (yes, Dog Mode.  It's just as ludicrous as it sounds) and the various strange explosive weapons.  Once people get this game and go online, this game is going to get crazy ludicrous, so I hope to see at least some of you lunatics online!

PROS:

• DRM-free from Apogee's own store as well as from GOG.com
• Only $14.99 for all that glorious goodness
• You can actually play this game OFFLINE!  Like, if you have junky internet, you can play this game totally offline if you want because the game is TOTALLY DRM-FREE!
• The Internet infrastructure doesn't use Steamworks!  Hooray!
• The multiplayer works across all portions of the PC world, so Steam players, GOG players, and everyone in between can all play each other.  This. Is. So. Cool.
• A crazy amount of advanced options before you even start up the game
• Plus you get great options once you get in-game, including TotalBiscuit's favorite option, the FOV slider!
• The controller option is just that: An option for people that are more comfortable with a controller.  They did not design the game with a controller in mind, and it shows.

CONS:

• The game sometimes moves TOO fast, and 120 frames per second is much too quick at really chaotic moments in-game, even for yours truly. 
• The console is a interesting piece of work, and I am intrigued enough to continue playing with it.
• Multiplayer was sparse, but this was the night before release that I tried to hop on and there are some things you have to do to get it to go sometimes.

VERDICT: I give Rise of the Triad (2013) a 9.5 out of 10.  There is absolutely nothing quite like an old-school FPS to get your heart racing and your blood pumping, so I am thrilled that this game is finally out for people to play.  If you want to play a great old school style FPS game on a PC, this is the game for you.

Wonderful Wednesdays: Intro

Welcome to Wonderful Wednesdays!  This is actually going to be a semi-revamp of my GOG/Steam thing if you remember that.

So instead of just listing the releases every week now, I’ll throw six recommendations (three for GOG, three for Steam) out and they might not be within that week’s releases.  One less than $10, one less than $20, and one that looks really cool regardless of price.

So, here is an example of what a normal week will look like:

Steam

Less than $10 - Awesomenauts

Take an 80s-awesome Saturday morning cartoon like I used to grow up with, add a copious amount of side scrolling action and a dash of a League of Legends-style MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game, and stir vigorously, you have the Awesomenauts.  With all sorts of new ‘Nauts (read: new characters) and even a Kickstarted expansion, I need to get back into playing this, because I have not played this game in FOREVER.  Thankfully once winter really finally wraps up I’ll be playing some Awesomenauts once again.

Less than $20 - Rogue Legacy

I’m really on a side-scrolling platformer style kick recently.  And like Arino the Kacho from Game Center CX (yes that is going to be an upcoming topic), I really stink at that kind of game.  While Rogue Legacy is not a game that I tend to enjoy playing, but I am just using it as an example, and next week will bring us a new game.

Looks really cool regardless of price - Blood Bowl: Legendary and/or Chaos Editions

The digital videogame equivalent(s) of the Games Workshop miniatures game Blood Bowl created by Cyanide Studios, where the Chaos Edition is the “ultimate” edition of the current Blood Bowl digital version.  Basically it is a near-exact replication of the actual miniatures game, along with all the kinds of dice rolls that tend to make miniatures gamers and RPG gamers scream in anguish.  The Legendary Edition (which has a few less races) is $20, while the Chaos Edition is $30 with a discount if you own a prior Blood Bowl game on Steam.

GOG

Less than $10 - Flight of the Amazon Queen (Free)

I first tried FOTAQ while I was fooling around with ScummVM a few years ago but it was a tiny bit obtuse so I haven’t gone back to it.  However, I am going to recommend it for the sole reason that it is free.  Yeah.

Less than $20 - RollerCoaster Tycoon series ($6-$20)

The RollerCoaster Tycoon series of management sims is one of those game series that you have to have in your library at one point or the other.  The first one (which isn’t branded) is $5.99, the second one (which WAS branded with Six Flags at the time of its release IIRC) is $9.99, and the third & final RollerCoaster Tycoon title as of right now is $19.99.

Looks really cool regardless of price - SiN Gold ($9.99)

I actually remember playing this game's demo.  Man, this game was unbelievably cool-looking for that time.  And for someone like me who wasn’t about to buy Half-Life because of the jump-scare element that first person shooters seem to have carried over for whatever reason, this game was the other good game you wanted from this time.  SiN was just recently released on GOG.com, so go pick it up!

Mario Mondays: Trouble In Mario Land

Welcome to Mario Mondays, where I discuss all things Nintendo!

A disclaimer before I start: Yes I am a Nintendo fanatic.  Have been since the early 90s.  That doesn’t preclude me from calling them on the carpet if things start to hit the fan, however.

Yeah, everyone knows that the Wii U is NOT selling all that well.  Whether it’s the GamePad, or the fact that third parties have all but abandoned the Wii U, or whatever, the fact remains that the Wii U is not exactly selling units.

So, what has Nintendo decided to do about it?  Well, Iwata and all the senior staff and even I think the board are all taking huge pay cuts as penance for the Wii U practically squandering its one-year lead on the Xbox One and the Playstation 4.

And that was all Iwata did.  He then moves on to proclaim something that I think shocked everyone, myself included: Nintendo DS on the Virtual Console… ON WII U.  I think that was Iwata giving a nice poke in the eye to everyone who was suggesting that Nintendo give up on trying to sell the Wii U with the Wii U GamePad and instead doubling down on the Wii U.  

Someone on NintendoLife basically said “Nintendo is listening to its fans and giving them the exact opposite [i.e. the fans ask for GameCube on the Virtual Console, Nintendo essentially thinks they mean the DS]”.  I (unsurprisingly) disagree heartily with that sentiment.  My thing is, they announced DS support on Virtual Console.  Whatever that means is not relevant, as that information came out during Nintendo’s most recent meeting with their (unsurprisingly hostile) investors and Nintendo really, really has to keep their investors happy right about now, because by all accounts Wii U is really not selling well, and thankfully 3DS sales continue on apace.

Now, that does NOT excuse Nintendo from fulfilling a promise that they made last year about this time.  The promise was that Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance games were on their way to the Virtual Console.  I’ll put in my wishlist on what games I personally would like to see on the Virtual Console from each system announced so far in a separate post next week.

And this also does not excuse Nintendo from continuing to do what they do best and surprise and delight their fans and customers, and to finally make 2014 the Year of Universal User Accounts.  (Or the Year of Yoshi, whatever makes a better marketing slogan.)

So, will Nintendo finally do something right?  We’ll see.  Right now though, I’m playing some games, guys!  See you guys next time!

Welcome to BJ's Gaming Blog! aka What To Expect

Hi everyone!  I sincerely hope you got my instructions last weekend about what was going to be happening!

Anyways, here’s at least partially what to expect.  

To start, today and all Mondays are going to be solely Nintendo-focused under Mario Mondays, and all Wednesdays are going to be solely focused on GOG.com, one of if not the best game stores out there for PC users, under Wonderful Wednesdays.  Fridays will be Flashback Fridays, where I put up some older posts with some updates as well as a significant retro gaming bent.  

If (big if) I have to cover a Nintendo Direct, those will fall under either Tuesdays or Thursdays (whichever is closer to when said Nintendo Direct actually happens).  They haven’t exactly announced one recently, so the first Nintendo Direct of 2014 is going to be quite the event.

Also, there may be some other posts about other gaming-related subjects, and if so, those will be on Tuesdays or Thursdays under the topic of “General Gaming".  Those will be extremely sporadic and I won’t do that every single week, however I do at least have a topic to start that off with, so there’s that.