My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (30-26)

Click here for the introduction!

30. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube)

Super Smash Bros. Melee blew my mind when I first played it that Christmas morning on my shiny new GameCube in 2001. Melee is one of those sequels that took the foundation of the first game and simply exploded it in a big bang effect, expanding and elaborating on the original a dozen times over while still retaining a distinctive sense of identity. I simply got lost in the various modes, new characters, trophies, and the ever-deepening series of unlockables within the game. Melee has a lot of stuff in it, but not so much stuff that it feels overwhelming, and every new avenue, from trophies to the new Adventure Mode, has worth. It keeps the original’s unique target-smashing stages and features a similar Classic Mode, but the added Adventure Mode, All-Star Mode, Event Matches, plus more all help to create a satisfying single-player experience. Of course, what cemented this one in my heart was just how long I continued to play it after release because of its multiplayer, a fairly unique situation in my video game history. Many summers in high school were spent hanging around with my friends, which often entailed swimming in my friend’s pool followed by hours upon hours of four-player smashes. Melee is one of the few multiplayer games that I didn’t tire of after a few sessions of play, and it seemed like no matter who I played it with, I had a blast. It was an evolution of the original that set the standard that the rest of the series is still following today, and it’s the Smash that is most special to me.

29. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)

It’s very difficult for me to pick a favorite Metroidvania game, and therefore favorite Castlevania game overall, because I love them all for different reasons (except for maybe Portrait of Ruin), but Dawn of Sorrow…Dawn of Sorrow is so frickin’ beautiful. It picks up right where Aria of Sorrow left off, building upon and refining everything about that already refined game, including the return of the Tactical Soul system, and features a massive castle that rivals Symphony of the Night’s in terms of its marvelous design, details, and copious secrets upon secrets. Just when you think you’ve seen or done it all, there’s more, and if you think you’ve finally seen it all, you’re wrong. Being the first Castlevania game on the DS, its visuals are gorgeous, featuring beautiful environments, huge sprites, and colossally gruesome bosses, its musical score is among my favorites in Castlevania history, and it is simply all-around probably the best-designed game in the series. The only things wrong with Dawn of Sorrow are its unfortunately mediocre anime character artwork (the beautifully elegant artwork of Ayami Kojima was sorely missed) and its weak narrative and villains. Aria of Sorrow’s narrative was pretty wacky too, but it’s interesting at least and has an important purpose in the grand scheme of the Castlevania mythos, but Dawn of Sorrow, as much as it pains me to say it, is unfortunately just sort of an unnecessary continuation of that story, and it just feels like they had to come up with something to justify this otherwise beautifully-designed game. The narrative isn’t terrible and it doesn’t greatly detract from the experience, but let’s just say as the final story chronologically in the series, it could have been better. When the rest of the experience is so phenomenal though, I’m willing to turn the other way. Its narrative and official artwork aside, Dawn of Sorrow is the pinnacle of the Metroidvania series.

28. GoldenEye 007 (N64)

GoldenEye is one of those games that I completely dissected as kid. It was more than a game; it was a world. I spent hours playing and replaying every mission and each session brought new discoveries. I would obsess over details like the ventilation shafts in the Facility level and how they all connected, I would create my own meta-games in my head and my own fantasy storylines for each mission. I settled into each level, exploring every room, examining every toilet and desk; these levels were more than just linear corridors, they were fully-designed environments to explore and uncover. I longed to finally unlock the coveted hidden Aztec and Egyptian levels, which I sadly never did. I used to dream about this game. Then there was the multiplayer, where countless hours were spent with friends playing hide and seek in the Complex, laying proximity mine traps in the Caves, and having duels in the Temple. It’s amusing to me that one of my strongest nostalgic attachments, one of my most cherished and memorable video game experiences, is a licensed James Bond game based on a film I wouldn’t first watch until years after finally putting the game down, but so it is.

27. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)

After drooling over screenshots of it in Nintendo Power prior to release, I finally got Kirby 64 in my hands in late June of 2000, and it is another game that is fondly synonymous with summer for me. I still remember the pure joy this game brought me as I began it and how amazing it was to me back then to finally have a Kirby game with 3D visuals. Not only was Kirby 64 one of the first “2.5D” platformers to my knowledge, but its clean, colorful art has aged remarkably well and the game stands as one of the best-looking N64 games in the modern era. When it comes to platformers, Kirby 64 is another game that hits just about all the right notes for me. Though they largely follow familiar video game tropes such as the good ol’ desert and beach, the worlds of The Crystal Shards execute these themes with a lot of imagination and detail, and although there aren’t a whole lot of them, every single level in the game is unique and nothing feels copy and pasted. The ice world is particularly memorable for its pseudo-futuristic and industrial themes, as well as for the fact that it seems to hide a suspicious backstory. What also makes Kirby 64 still stand out among all of its brethren is its fantastic power-combining system. For the first and basically last time so far, Kirby can combine copy abilities. For example, combine Cutter and Burning to make a giant fire sword, Burning and Bomb to turn into fireworks, or Ice and Spark to morph into an adorable Kirby refrigerator that barfs up snacks! It’s a brilliant spin on the familiar Kirby formula and it’s a ton of fun to experiment and play around with each combination. The game gets a ton of mileage out of only a handful of base abilities and you’ll find yourself making surprising discoveries even late in the game. The simple narrative is also excellently implemented throughout, providing both great motivation and a great sense of progression. Rounding out the whole delightful package is my favorite Kirby soundtrack, which is a stand-out even by the series’ very high standards. The music in Kirby 64 contains a wide variety of styles, including some very atmospheric and emotional tracks, including the true final boss theme, which is one of my favorite final boss themes in any game.

26. Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy)

Another of my three earliest gaming memories and crucial formative games (along with Sonic the Hedgehog and one more upcoming game) is Kirby’s Dream Land, the very first Kirby game. I’m fairly certain that this was my first Game Boy game and I remember walking around Toys “R” Us with my Mom when the game’s strange boxart caught my eye. There are two elements that I chiefly admire about Kirby’s Dream Land: simplicity and surrealism. I love the simplistic nature of the mechanics and platforming; this was a world where Kirby could not copy the abilities of his enemies yet, he could only inhale and exhale, and there’s something about this pure, uncluttered design that I find appealing. The game can also be finished in about 40 minutes (not counting the special “Extra Game”) and I love this too; it’s a breezy, charming little adventure. I also love how surreal and strange Kirby’s Dream Land is and it raised so many questions for me when I was a little kid: why am I fighting a sentient tree that’s attacking me with apples? Why am I now fighting a sentient blimp with a lemon? What exactly is Kirby anyway? And what is “Dream Land”? Is the whole game a world of dreams or a figment of some child’s imagination?? Why is the main villain a big penguin with a hammer wearing a Santa Claus suit??? This game ignited my imagination as a child, and it and Kirby’s Dream Land 2 feel like they are a part of me.

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It's the final countdown! #25-21 is next!

My Top 115 Favorite Video Games (110-106)

Click here for the introduction!

110. Shantae (Game Boy Color)

Compared to its smoother-playing sequels, the original Shantae is a little wonky, but it’s nonetheless an imaginative platforming adventure that is still probably the most unique game in the series. Released late in the handheld’s life, it’s probably one of the prettiest Game Boy Color games out there and is packed with big colorful sprites and charming animations. Structurally, the game is sort of like a cross between Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Zelda, and Metroid, but Shantae definitely has its own original flare that makes it stand apart. The world and storyline is wacky, involving genies and pirates and roaming zombie caravans, and the whole experience has a distinct sense of humor about everything. I also adore the game’s unique and detailed belly-dancing mechanic and Shantae’s transformation abilities. The original Shantae GBC cartridge is notoriously rare and expensive, but the same experience can be purchased for a mere $5 on the 3DS eShop.

109. Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (DSi)

Risky’s Revenge carries over a lot of what made the original Shantae special and, in a quantifiable sense, improves on that game in just about every way. The combat and platforming mechanics are much more satisfying, Shantae’s dancing has been streamlined (though a bit of the charm has been lost in the process), the world is more enjoyable to explore, the music has been kicked up about ten or twenty notches as Jake Kaufman truly begins to hit his stride, the quirky writing is even stronger (this is actually one of the funniest games I’ve ever played), and the spritework is even more fantastic. The one big drawback of Risky’s Revenge is that its adventure feels a bit cut short and in order to get the full story, you’ll need to play Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse. Still, even though I still find a lot to love in the original Shantae, Risky’s Revenge is much more playable and currently my favorite in this charming and creative series. While it was originally released as a downloadable title on the Nintendo DSi, Risky’s Revenge has since been ported to a bunch of other places, including 3DS, PC, and even smartphones.

108. Gone Home (PC)

I only just played Gone Home last year but it was a strangely nostalgic and personal experience with all of its references to the 90s and a shy, artistic, relatable protagonist with a large imagination and aspirations of being a writer. It also combined a fantastic central voice performance and intelligent environmental design to tell a gripping and human story that hooked me from beginning to end.

107. Super Smash Bros. (N64)

The original Super Smash Bros. was a bizarre and exciting game when it released in 1999. There was even something inherently exciting about the colorful, hand-drawn boxart that immediately captivated me, even though I barely knew who Samus Aran or Fox McCloud were at the time. I did recognize Mario, Kirby, and Pikachu though and I fell in love with this surreal mishmash of Nintendoverses almost as soon as I started playing. It was a blast playing with friends of course, but I also have fond memories of rushing home from school to smash targets with Donkey Kong by myself. The original Smash also has something that the newer games in the series largely lack: atmosphere. From the strangely toned-down main menu music to the meta narrative of a child playing with their toys to the eerie music that plays after defeating the final boss, there’s just something special about this game that I feel was lost as the series went on to become the flashy monstrosity that it is today.

106. Unravel (PC)

While a clever and charming puzzle-platformer on its own merits, what makes Unravel particularly special to me is how much I relate to it. As I wrote here, it feels uncannily like the game was made specifically for me between the beautiful, nearly photorealistic appreciation of nature’s small wonders, the theme of a small creature exploring our gigantic world, and even the fact that yarn has a special nostalgic quality for me because my Nana loved to knit. Heck, the dang thing even released on my birthday. While Unravel’s narrative impact admittedly could have been stronger, it’s still an experience that spoke to my heart and enchanted me thoroughly.

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Join me next time for #105-101! Hope to see you then!

My Favorite Summer Games

It’s a hot, sunny day in the middle of July right now and an air conditioner is blaring in my right ear. It’s summer. I have many fond memories tied to the summer season and unsurprisingly, many of these memories involve video games. There are several video games that are intrinsically tied with summer for me and always will be, mostly because it was during summer that I played them, but also for reasons involving the content and nature of the games themselves. What initially gave me the inspiration for this post was the recent release of Splatoon. Nintendo’s kid-squid simulator is a perfect summer game that I think was ingeniously released right at the beginning of the season. Splatoon is a game about a bunch of sea creatures splatting each other with ink-filled super-soakers by day and having rad, neon-lit dance parties by night. Sounds like summer to me.

I’ve also played a few other games this summer thus far that also seem well-suited to this time of year: the Uncharted series is filled with action and adventure and is inspired by summer blockbusters, while The Secret of Monkey Island is a pirate-themed adventure through a fantastical version of the Caribbean. All of these games fit in nicely with my long history of summertime video game experiences, several of which I’d like to talk about right now. These games aren’t all necessarily among my favorite games ever (though most of them are), but these are all games that embody summer to me and it’s on these hot, air-conditioned midsummer days that I reflect on them fondly.

Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast)

Sonic was a huge part of my childhood (I played the games, read the comics, watched the shows, and turned my living room into Marble Zone one time) and I was enamored with the original Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast. It’s not shocking then that I was awaiting Sonic Adventure 2 with bated breath, and I very clearly remember finally picking it up at the start of summer vacation in June of 2001, when it was released in North America. I remember reading the back of the case and eagerly pouring through the manual, carefully studying all of the character profiles in anticipation of the game (as anyone from my generation and before it can probably relate to, this “manual ritual” was mandatory back then). I specifically remember thinking something like “this is gonna be good” in an excited, awed sort of way. I put so many hours into Sonic Adventure 2 that summer, and spent so much time just replaying the levels over and over again just for fun, even the much-maligned treasure-hunting stages (hell, especially the treasure-hunting stages, which I loved exploring). Sonic Adventure 2 hasn’t aged as gracefully as I would have liked, but my fond, happy memories of playing it that summer are eternal.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)

Exactly one year prior to my Sonic Adventure 2 summer, I was perhaps even more giddy for the arrival of Kirby’s long-awaited 3D outing on the Nintendo 64. This list isn’t intended to be ranked or anything, but Kirby 64 embodies summer for me perhaps more than any other game on this list. While this has much to do with the time in which I played it, Kirby 64 gave me such an amount of perfect bliss and excitement back then. It’s the kind of whimsical, imaginative platformer that I purposefully played slowly, taking in every unique level and sight and sound. I remember playing Kirby on the Fourth of July and thinking about playing Kirby while swimming in a friend’s pool. I remember fighting the whale boss at a friend’s house and searching tirelessly for the last crystal shard I needed. It’s a game that in my mind followed me all through that summer vacation, and remains not only one of my favorite games of all time, but one of my favorite summer gaming memories.

JRPGs: Final Fantasy VII (PS1), Lunar Legend (GBA), and Chrono Cross (PS1)

In one way or another, Japanese RPGs have always seemed to be largely associated with summer for me (and spring actually, but maybe that’s for another time). Whether it was watching my older brother play the Final Fantasy games long ago, or flirting with Final Fantasy VII when one of my childhood best friends came over one summer day, or of course, my own experiences playing them, JRPGs with all their adventure and beautiful, mysterious worlds and stories and spiky-blue-haired characters have often been summer games for me. Three JRPGs in particular stand out in my mind as cherished summer experiences.

Final Fantasy VII

I already mentioned playing it a bit with a friend one summer, but it wasn’t until years after that I sat down one summer to really get into Final Fantasy VII myself. This was years after the game’s prime and I already knew a fair bit about it, but it still intoxicated me with its now famous brilliant opening sequence, its unforgettable world that blended machinery and magic brought to life by detailed pre-rendered backgrounds and a poignant soundtrack, and its winding and intriguing narrative. All of this makes for a game brimming with an atmosphere that I can still feel. For me, much of my experience with FFVII is wound up in summertime. I fondly remembering visiting Cosmo Canyon for the first time and hearing that music start up, a moment that perfectly embodies that kind of wonder and adventure and freedom that the summer months brought when I was younger.  

Lunar Legend

For a couple of summers in a row when I was in high school, I worked at an auto-insurance agency for a few hours three days a week. I was actually working there the summer I started playing Final Fantasy VII and I was also working there the summer I picked up Lunar Legend for the Game Boy Advance on a friend’s recommendation. I vividly remember working at Curley Insurance in the morning, being home by noon and eating a delicious roast beef sandwich for lunch, and spending the rest of the day and evening playing Lunar Legend. Lunar Legend isn’t my favorite RPG ever (and I’ve since heard it’s one of the weaker versions of the original Lunar), but it’s a colorful, magical journey and just classic JRPG goodness.

Chrono Cross

The final JRPG I want to talk about is probably the most summer-y of them all for me, and easily one of my absolute fondest summertime video game experiences. I was in my second year of college at the time and decided to replay Chrono Trigger on a whim (it’s always a good time for Chrono Trigger). I played it for a good chunk of my second semester and ended up completing it right at the start of summer, when I suddenly realized that I’d never played its often overlooked sequel, Chrono Cross. I remembered watching my brother play some of it years ago, and decided to borrow it from him and give it a go myself finally, because hey whatta ya know, it was summer vacation. Chrono Cross is one of those games that I not only associate with summer because that’s when I played it (I specifically remember trotting through an underground river in one of the game’s many enchanting locales, with my screened windows open on a pleasantly warm summer night), but because the game’s content itself is very summer-y. The experience opens in a pristine fishing village and the first real “dungeon” is a beach. You explore a bunch of islands while sailing on a small boat, and your main character trots around in shorts and a bandana (and, for the record, also has blue hair). The game’s world is brought to life through beautiful hand-painted backgrounds and everything is just so colorful and rich with detail and natural beauty. The mesmerizing soundtrack is the entrancing garnish here that ties all this together, and getting lost in the depths of this enigmatic and beautifully melancholic adventure is one of my most cherished summer gaming experiences.

BioShock (PC)

Like many in my culture, when I think of summer, I think of beaches and the ocean. Perhaps less common is how I think of a decaying art deco city at the bottom of the ocean, crawling with deranged and deformed people scavenging its leaky corridors and hulking diving suits escorting little girls with gigantic syringes that feed on the aforementioned mutated peoples’ corpses. It’s summer! Actually, it’s BioShock, a groundbreaking title that I first began one summer years ago. I recall going to the beach one day, and that night, still sandy and sunburned, exploring the haunting halls of the city of Rapture. The game’s deep ocean setting and immersive adventure captivated me that summer and I still associate BioShock with the season today. Perhaps it is no accident then that I am currently playing through BioShock Infinite for the first time.

Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube)

I’d be making a huge omission if I failed to mention this one. I don’t remember if it was just one summer in particular or several in a row, but back in high school my friends and I would hang out and go swimming in my friend’s pool what feels like almost every day and afterwards we’d smash and smash for hours. I have many memories of those times and many in-jokes arose, such as “NO!” and “BOP!”. Unless you are one of the four of us, you have no idea what those mean, but that’s fine; what’s important is that summer nights are all about Super Smash Bros. Melee and a duel taking place at the Fountain of Dreams as Marth, Link, Captain Falcon, and Sheik fiercely duke it out to that kickass Gourmet Race remix.

PC Games

Doom 3

This is a bit of a weird entry, but I have a lot of memories with playing and watching other people play PC games during the summer. See, I grew up playing games on consoles and handhelds and PC games have mostly throughout my life been a kind of special, exotic commodity, something I’d mostly tangentially experience through friends, but not something I got to experience myself often (listen to my podcast for more details on my PC gaming history). It just happens that a lot of those memories with PC games come from the summer months. I played the aforementioned BioShock on PC actually, but I also began one of my most beloved titles, Half-Life 2, during late summer (though Half-Life 2 is also very much tied to fall and my first semester of college). Then there are cases of memories where I was often bored at the time, such as watching my friend play the Command & Conquer games and Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast during the summer to no end (hi, Dan), but that I strangely look back on fondly now. I also played a good chunk of Doom 3 on PC with that same friend one summer. I’m sure there are other memories lost to time (here’s another one: playing around with emulators way back when during the summer), but those are a few that I have with PC games.

Pikmin 3 (Wii U)

This is a more recent memory; last summer actually. I also wrote a review of Pikmin 3 as well as a spoiler-heavy follow-up post about its finale that hopefully sum up a lot of what makes the game so special to me, so give those a look for more details. I wrote another piece about playing the original Pikmin and at least starting Pikmin 2 one summer, but Pikmin 3 is the one I really associate with summertime. See, it was late summer and I was on the verge of leaving a crappy job I had been doing for three years. I knew I only had a few weeks left there, so coming home at night to immerse myself in Pikmin 3 somehow felt all the sweeter. Pikmin 3 seemed like a game perfectly tailored for cool, late summer nights. Its lush, nature-rich setting and picturesque environments suited the season well, and when out and about during the day, even when on my break at work, I would stare at plants and small patches of flowers and vegetation and imagine little Pikmin running around and try to think of how different environments could be a level in the game. I mention it in the review, but this spark of imagination I got from Pikmin 3 is often a trait many of my favorite video games share.

Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube)

Even though Super Mario Sunshine actually released at the very tail end of summer in North America and a good chunk of my initial experience with the game came in early fall, I still remember sinking my teeth into it the last week or so of my summer vacation that year. Surfing around on bloopers, collecting coins, hovering about with my water pump jetpack…good times. Do I really need to explain this one? It’s Super Mario Sunshine; everything about the game embodies summer and it’s also one of my favorite games of all time. It was a requirement that I put this one on the list, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have fantastic memories playing it late summer.

Game Boy Games

The best Mario game you've never played

When I say “Game Boy games”, I’m mainly thinking about classic, original Game Boy games, but this category also extends to the Game Boy Advance and even the DS. I just have loads and loads of awesome memories playing Game Boy/handheld games during summer. In fact, when I was really young, my Game Boy was my game machine of choice and I’d even say most of my early gaming probably took place there. I brought Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins with me everywhere, but also when I went to Cape Cod several summers in a row. I remember playing Wario Land II on a boat trip around a Maine harbor and playing Game Boy Advance games like The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and Astro Boy: Omega Factor (an underrated gem) at my grandfather’s house in Maine (to be honest, I'm not exactly sure if these three were all during the summer, but I think they all were). Waking up early one summer to play Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and finally finishing it one summer night. So many car trips and family trips over the years, of swapping carts with friends and trying random Game Boy games I’d never heard of and can’t possibly recall the names of. I also can’t neglect to give a shout-out to the Sega Game Gear, and my fond memories of playing Sonic games on it. Then there was another more recent (though still years gone now) car trip to Maine involving the original New Super Mario Bros. (yes, for all the shade I throw at that series, I do have some nostalgic memories tied with it…some) and many more memories of many more games. I could write another whole post about Game Boy memories specifically, and maybe I will, but plenty of those memories are tied with summer.

Other Miscellaneous Games and Rented Games

I’m running out of room here, but I wanted to call out a few more specific games and also all the random games I’ve rented during the summer. Summer months have always been a dry spell when it comes to game releases, and when I was younger and hadn’t built up a backlog three miles long, I would often rent games during the summer, either with friend or on my own. A few of these have become fond memories of mine, such as the summer I rented and played through the game based on the original Spider-Man movie (probably on GameCube). I later bought the Spider-Man 2 movie tie-in game and played that during the summer (also on GameCube), maybe that same summer actually, and both of these were to my recollection a surprisingly solid good time, Spider-Man 2 especially. I also have good memories of renting and soon after buying the original Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, and also of sneaking around in its sequel, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, both on GameCube once again and during the summer from what I remember. I think I also played Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for PS2, twice in a row (the second time being the Subsistence version), during the summer, so apparently stealth games that may or may not involve sneaking through jungles are a summer thing for me as well (and the Uncharted series adds to this tradition somewhat actually).

There are still many more games I have great memories of playing during the summer, so let’s name a few more notables here. Think of this as the “honorable mentions” list: Kingdom Hearts II (PS2), Watch Dogs (PC), Mario Kart 8 (Wii U), Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii), Paper Mario (N64), The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GameCube), and still more games and memories, not even including great memories of replaying old favorites during the summer months.

Summer is a special time. It’s something that has been conditioned in me to be associated with good times throughout my life thanks to its status as a break from school and its focus on fun activities, both outdoors and indoors and of course for me with plenty of video games. These are some of my favorite summer gaming memories. What are some of yours?

Nintendo E3 2015 Predictions

It’s that time of year again and so I’d thought I’d make some E3 predictions on the Nintendo side of things. Nintendo had a fantastic showing last year, with some great reveals, fun events, and just an overall incredibly positive atmosphere throughout the week mainly thanks to the excellent Treehouse steaming event. I’m glad that Nintendo recognized that they had something great last year and have decided to pretty much do the same gig again this year, which is fine by me. After fumbling for a few years, it seems the quirky company has found their unique E3 sweet spot. This year could be another great for them, or it could just be solid; what made last year great was all the surprises and just the overall presentation of the thing. I have no doubt the presentation will be on point again this year, but so far I’m a little iffy on whether they’ll have as exciting a show, with their lineup being composed of a lot of games we already know a lot about, an already confirmed absence of “Zelda U” (which could change, but I’m inclined to think not, as much as it saddens me), and no Smash Bros. to fall back on this year. Still, I’m hoping they have a few mystery projects in store.

First off, the obvious: Mario Maker, Yoshi’s Woolly World, and Xenoblade Chronicles X will all be present and demoed (and hopefully will get release dates, and in Xenoblade X's case, finally get a western release date), with a big focus on Mario Maker since 2015 marks the 30^th anniversary of the original Super Mario Bros. (they’ve already announced that Mario Maker is going to be the Best Buy demo title this year). Super Smash Bros. DLC will also be discussed, with a  release date for Lucas, perhaps they’ll surprise us by announcing that Lucas is available the very same day (they’ve already said he’s coming in June, so why not?). Some more DLC details will likely be talked about, perhaps a hint at another character, maybe the return of Wolf to tie in with Star Fox later this year, and also some talk about how the Smash Ballot is going. I’m also predicting that Mother 3 will finally be announced for a western eShop release to go along with Lucas, maybe for release also in June, maybe later in the year. The new Wii U Star Fox game will finally get its proper big reveal and be demoed extensively by the Treehouse, likely with Shigeru Miyamoto in tow, passionately talking about his game with Bill Trinen by his side as always. Speaking of Miyamoto, it’s possible we’ll some more of his “Project Guard” and “Project Giant Robot” games in more mature forms, and maybe with proper titles.

Star Fox is gonna be big this year

Next, the surprises: Most of the stuff above is expected, and most of it is games we’ve either already seen extensively or at least know about already, so I’m hoping Nintendo has some nice surprises in store for us. Here’s what I predict. First off, a new Metroid for Wii U from Retro Studios. We know that Retro has been working on something since the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze back in February of 2014. As much as I wouldn’t mind a follow-up to the sublime platforming masterpiece that is Tropical Freeze, I doubt they’re doing another DKC game. Maybe they’re working a new IP or something else, but it’s clear that people want a new Metroid from Retro, and I think Nintendo and Retro are both well aware of it. Given how much Nintendo has been catering to its fans lately, I think there’s a good chance that it’s happening. We’ll probably only get a teaser trailer and the game probably won’t be out until 2016 at the earliest, but we’re long overdue for a Metroid game, and even more overdue for a good Metroid game.

Hopefully the actual boxart won't be this terrible

My second prediction is either less likely or more likely, I can’t decide which. Miyamoto has already hinted that they’re planning a big Mario game for Nintendo’s next home console. We also know that EAD Tokyo, the group responsible for all of the 3D Mario platformers since the original Super Mario Galaxy has been working on a new Mario game, though they won’t say for which platform. This mystery Mario could very well be for Nintendo’s next home console (which would explain why they won’t say which platform it’s on), but I’m also still not completely ruling out another 3D Mario on Wii U. With the 30^th anniversary and all, I think now would be a good time to announce something like that. Maybe it would simply be “3D World 2”, but I’m predicting it will be something close to the Galaxy style, something that fans have also been asking for. There is definitely evidence that would make something like this less likely. Perhaps they want to focus on Mario Maker for one, and not distract from it. Or perhaps EAD Tokyo, assuming they are the ones developing it, want to put all of their energy and focus into this big Mario game for Nintendo's next console (which is something I'm not against). Some also say that Nintendo is not going to go back to a style more in line with Galaxy or dare I say, Super Mario 64 or Sunshine, and looking at the progression of the 3D games in the series and also hearing statements from the core people currently involved in the 3D Mario games, they’re probably right. I personally really want to see the next huge evolution in the series or at least something completely new (which in my eyes hasn't really happened since the first Galaxy, though arguments could be made that the 3D Land/World style was an evolution of sorts), but I wouldn't be completely opposed to another 3D outing on Wii U before then, and if that other Wii U outing is that revolutionary title, than that'd be pretty great too. I just have a feeling…something else Mario, something rather big, is going to show up this year.

Maybe...

I'm hoping there are some more surprises that I can't predict as well, even if it's just a teaser here or a small tech demo there; that kind of stuff is part of what made last year such a great E3 for Nintendo and I hope we see some more stuff like Miyamoto's "project" games, the cryptic Star Fox "reveal", and even the Zelda teaser; some stuff to get me excited in addition to the more substantial game trailers and demos.

One last prediction that probably won’t happen: So Eiji Aonuma has already confirmed that “Zelda U” won’t be making an appearance at this year’s E3. Aonuma and the Zelda team could change their minds and give us a short trailer or something, but I’m not counting on it. However, perhaps the Zelda series won’t be entirely absent. Given the game’s very positive reception, both critically and fan-wise, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got another 3DS game in the same style as A Link Between Worlds; the “Majora’s Mask” to A Link Between Worlds, if you will. It probably wouldn’t take too long to develop either, if it reused that game’s assets. Maybe we’ll get that reveal at E3 this year; after all, I’m unaware of any huge new 3DS games on the horizon, besides that new Fire Emblem game coming at some point. Obviously, this is a wild guess, and I’m not in any way expecting it, especially on the heels of Majora’s Mask 3D’s release. I’m thinking that Zelda will probably just take a break for the rest of the year, which is honestly fine by me. The Zelda series has gotten a lot of love recently and in order to avoid oversaturation, I’m fine with Link and Zelda (and Tingle) taking a break for a little bit. …Although I won’t lie: the void left by “Zelda U’s” absence at this year’s show is probably going to be felt, at least by me.

I wouldn't mind another dose of top-down Zelda goodness on 3DS

So there you go! Agree? Disagree? Have some E3 predictions of your own (Nintendo or otherwise)? Let me know!

I'm not sure what picture to put here, so just enjoy this photo of Iwata, Reggie, and Miyamoto hanging out with Donkey Kong

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U…duh) Review

This review is going to a bit more informal than usual; originally I wasn’t even going to call this a review, but more just a “thoughts and impressions” kind of thing. I’m not going to explain or cover everything in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U in detail and am going to assume the reader (i.e. you) already has some knowledge of the game and the game’s content in this case. Above all else, this is mainly just about the aspects of the game that particularly stood out to me. With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on the newest Smash experience.

My experience with Super Smash Bros. dates back to the original game on Nintendo 64, which I fondly remember playing after school when it first released and also with friends many other times. It was such a surprising and novel game back then, and even though at the time I had never played a Metroid game and certainly had no idea who the hell Captain Falcon was, I had a blast nonetheless playing as Kirby and Samus Aran, unlocking everything, and doing all those “Break the Targets” and “Board the Platforms” levels. Later on Super Smash Bros. Melee cranked the series up to 11 and established the mold that the franchise would take the form of from then on. Super Smash Bros. Brawl built on what Melee established, not quite being another huge leap forward, but simply cramming more into what Melee had while also adding several new elements. Now, with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, it’s pretty much that same game again, except stuffed with more characters, more stages, more music, new modes and uber-polished gameplay that merges Brawl’s casual party game approach with Melee’s more technical skill-based approach. The result is…well, Super Smash Bros., now with the Duck Hunt Dog and Mega Man. That is to say, it’s one part polished, unorthodox fighting game crammed with stuff that is best enjoyed with friends and one part Nintendo museum. I think for me at least, however, the novelty of this series has worn off. I was excited about the game when gameplay was first shown off and loved every second of those character reveal trailers and all the speculation that went along with the game’s pre-release hype, but as the game’s launch got closer and closer, I found myself a bit apathetic. I was going to pick it up day one, but wasn’t necessarily overly excited for it and honestly sort of got sick of hearing about it after a while. Personally, I get much more excited for a new Metroid or Zelda game than for a big crossover that aims to make me nostalgic for those experiences. There’s just not much mystery when it comes to Smash anymore, especially thanks to the wonder (and the bane) that is the leaky internet. But I digress. While Smash Wii U has certainly had less of an impact on me than any of its predecessors, it’s still certainly a well-made game with a lot that I admire about it and a lot that I am fond of (and not so fond of) within it.

Multiplayer is still one of the most important aspects of Smash Bros. and thanks to the inclusion of up to eight-player battles, the game is now more a party pleaser than ever before. Online works better than in Brawl (honestly, this is mainly going by the word on the street since I barely used Brawl’s online, but I’m aware that most unanimously agree that it was shit), but unfortunately every single mode barring For Glory 1v1 was met with varying degrees of lag when I tried it all out, some of it hilariously unplayable and some of it manageable but still far from ideal. Unfortunately, if just one person has a bad connection, it ruins it for everyone. Luckily, 1v1 works mostly great and I’ve been able to get in a hundred matches here, mostly getting my ass kicked, but also winning a passable amount and having some fun encounters with strangers I will likely never encounter again. Although I should mention that, weirdly, my most recent 1v1 session was met with lag in almost every match I played; I don’t think this was on my end since I have a wired connection, but it’d also be a weird coincidence. But luckily and most importantly, online with friends in my experience works flawlessly as of this writing. I play with two friends and we all have good connections and I can recall maybe one instance of brief stuttering but otherwise every match has run as smoothly as if we were in the same room (it should be noted that every match we’ve played has been a stock battle with all items turned off). It’s great to be able to jump into a match with friends and not have to always gather together (because who wants to see their friend’s stupid faces, amiright? I kid, I kid).

Chaos!

As for everything else in Smash U…sigh…ok, I’m not going to go over it all in detail, but mainly just point out the stuff I notably like and dislike, because there’s a lot of stuff here. First off, and this should go without saying, the character roster is massive and it is spectacular. Besides being able to have a sparring match between Mario, Sonic, Mega Man and PAC-MAN, all the newcomers are excellent additions to the roster and each is as unique as the last. Villager and Wii Fit Trainer are hilarious and creative inclusions, and others like Little Mac, Bowser Jr.+ the Koopalings, Palutena, and Rosalina and Luma are all great additions that make sense. Having a little known character like Shulk will hopefully increase exposure to the hard-to-find Wii gem Xenoblade Chronicles (which is getting a port to the New 3DS later this year, although I’d still recommend playing that game on a big screen, which suits the game’s epic scope more) and Duck Hunt is the craziest, funnest surprise character the series has seen yet. As for the stages, I generally like all the new ones, which are vibrant, detailed and meticulously crafted fighting arenas. There do seem to be too many overly gimmicky stages, however, and an option to simply turn off hazards like the Yellow Devil of Mega Man fame on the Wily Castle stage would have been ideal (the option to choose a flat final destination variant of each stage is a nice, if imperfect, compromise though). Disappointingly, there are less brand new stages here than in Brawl and more returning stages than ever before. I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with this (it’s not only about always having more) if it weren’t for my other problems with the stage selection. This is my personal taste, but some of the choices for returning stages here are…eh. I would have gladly seen creative and memorable stages like the Wind Waker Pirate Ship from Brawl (which would have made perfect sense, since The Wind Waker HD just came out on Wii U a little over a year ago) return instead of the bland Mario Circuit stage from Brawl (which feels out of place next to its shiny new replacement one from Mario Kart 8), two nearly identical Animal Crossing stages, and that Kid Icarus level from Brawl that nobody likes. There’s more stages than ever before, but the selection feels smaller than in Brawl somehow, thanks to the prevalence of returning stages but also because there’s a lot of “sameiness” in the stage selection (two Skyworld stages, two Animal Crossing ones with a near-identical aesthetic, two Mario Kart ones, two lava Metroid stages, two Wuhu Island-based ones, etc.). However, I do love the variety that stages such as Gaur Plain from Xenoblade Chronicles and the Duck Hunt arena add to the selection. Ultimately, I feel that Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is a culprit here, as I would have loved to have gotten some of that version’s new stages in HD and also some of its returning ones.

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I passed on the 3DS version and wish it never existed (I did spend a good chunk of time with the 3DS version’s demo though). All it seems to have done is rob the Wii U version of content and I hate having this newest Smash’s content split between two versions. It makes Smash Wii U feel less comprehensive due to its general lack of Nintendo’s handheld history, and I like Nintendo’s handheld history, I like it a lot in fact…but I don’t want to have to buy a watered-down version with an inferior control system to celebrate it. This is a selfish choice and I recognize that many who don’t own a Wii U appreciate the handheld version and I can understand its portability appeal, but for me personally, I’d rather Smash Bros. stay as a single home console release.

Characters!

The next main point for me to hit on is the game’s soundtrack, which is a massive 400+ plus songs, with a great number returning from previous Smash titles, but also with a wealth of new remixes, new original songs, and “new” unremixed songs that weren’t in past Smash games as well. Similar to stages, there seems to be less new music remixes here than there were in Brawl, but with nearly 150 new remixes and plenty of other great music it’s harder to complain here than with the stage selection. Still, it does seem like a lot of content in this game has been reused from past titles, which makes this newest Smash Bros. inherently feel a little less new than past titles, and less like its own game and more like a huge expansion on what came before. That said, I love the overall comprehensive nature of the soundtrack and have had a blast just listening to the in-game sound test and editing my music favorites list and fiddling with the My Music feature, which lets players set how often songs play on every stage (all of which is very, very appreciated). Several of the new remixes rock: some of my favorites include the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time “Gerudo Valley” remix and Spirit Tracks “Full Steam Ahead” remix, the “Duck Hunt Medley”, every single Mega Man remix, and just about everything Yoko Shimomura, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Yuzo Koshiro worked on. Other remixes are not so much my cup of sleepytime herbal tea with a touch of milk and sugar. I admire artists being creative here but I think a bit too many liberties were taken with some songs, and in some cases wish the original track was included instead (luckily, in many cases both a remix and the original track are included, which I appreciate). Truth be told, even if I can appreciate a good remix, I almost always prefer original songs to their remixes and this couldn’t be more true in cases such as the “Try, Try Again” remix from Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, which isn’t necessarily bad, just much inferior to the original in my opinion (Shimomura’s only blemish here, and for my money probably ever, so we’ll let it slide). When it comes to song selection in an individual series, there seems to be a lack of variety in many cases, with an overwhelming focus on endlessly remixing the most iconic themes from each game. It makes sense to remix the most recognizable theme from a series for Smash Bros., but as someone who is very intimate with the likes of Zelda and Kirby, it pains me to know of all the other fantastic tracks that are being ignored in favor of yet another Legend of Zelda “Main Theme” cover or “Green Greens” remix (as good as these remixes often are). But nowhere is this more apparent or annoying than in the tiring seven remixes of the freakin’ Donkey Kong Country “Jungle Hijinx” theme that’s we’ve all heard one zillion trillion times before. This wouldn’t be so offensive to me if these three hundred versions of the same damn song didn’t take the place of the countless other possible inclusions or remixes from the varied and fantastic soundtracks of the Donkey Kong Country games (sure, we get a couple of other songs, but most are just taken from Brawl and even then there are not a lot). Three of these “Hijinx” remixes are from past Smash games, so those can be excused, but the other four being included at the expense of something new cannot be. Most face-palm worthy for me personally is the fact that two songs were chosen from the sublime masterpiece that is the Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze soundtrack and one of them is the goddamn “Jungle Hijinx” remix again, which only appears as basically an Easter Egg in like three bonus levels in Tropical Freeze. This…just makes me cry; like, it literally hurts me inside. All right, all right, I’ll stop being overdramatically whiny. There’s tons of awesome music here and I also haven’t mentioned how many smaller and lesser known games are represented in the soundtrack, many with new remixes, which is really cool and will hopefully make some people curious about these underappreciated titles.

                I’ll try to run down my thoughts on the rest of the main modes really quickly. Master Orders and Crazy Orders are excellent new additions, great for a quick play session and both with their perks and I hope they stick around for the inevitable sequel. Event Match mode is back and still a blast, with even more events than in the previous games and a new grid-like progression system which I approve of. Then there are the 140 varied “Challenges” to tackle for various rewards, which can be an addicting task, at least until you reach the later, super difficult tasks, most of which I don’t even care to attempt. Stadium mode is back with all the Multi-Man Smash stuff and Home Run Contest, both of which are a nice distraction as always. There’s also a new Target Blast mode in Stadium that can actually be kind of fun if you give it a chance, but it’s no replacement for the “Break the Targets” mini-game in the past Smash titles, especially in the original Smash and Melee, where every character had their own individual target level which took advantage of each fighter’s unique skillset. But with an ever-increasing character roster, I can understand why they stopped doing this in Brawl (which just had five target levels used by all of the fighters) and in Smash Wii U. I’ve perhaps spent the most of my time with Smash U in the Vault portion of the game: perusing trophies, setting up my own special matches in the versus mode using CPUs and saving replays and screenshots in the Vault (Samus vs. her Dark Samus color alt., an epic battle between Mario and Bowser, a nostalgia-fueled throwdown between a bunch of NES veterans, etc.), listening to the game’s extensive soundtrack, and sampling all of the “masterpieces”: brief, timed samplings of many of the classic games that the fighters come from (even if I’ve personally played most of these titles already, I enjoy the inclusion of these demos and think their existence makes a lot of sense). Finally, there’s the new board game mode, Smash Tour, which is inoffensive to me but a party mode in what can already be a riotously fun party game depending on how you play it feels a little redundant and unnecessary.

Menus!

There are two more things that I want to give particular attention to. The first is the game’s Classic mode, of all things, which hasn’t seen much change since the N64 original until now and honestly that’s how something called “Classic” should stay in this case. To be blunt, I’m not a fan of Classic mode in this game, which has seen a massive overall. It’s frustrating and it’s just kind of dull. I don’t like having to bother to slowly move my character’s trophy between matches to choose my next fight; this is just tedious and doesn’t add anything to the experience for me. I hate how there is such a focus on five to eight-fighter battles as well. For starters, this limits the amount of stages one is going to see; oh yeah, I forgot to mention that playing in matches with above four fighters cuts the stage selection down to about a third of what it normally is, with the selection becoming more limited the more fighters there are, which is quite unfortunate…but thanks to a patch being released as I write this, more stages are apparently being unlocked for eight-player Smash, which is excellent news! Besides this, while eight-player battles can be fun with a group of intelligent human players, playing against random CPUs with items cranked up and Pokémon flying everywhere is just a mess and I almost never had any fun in these situations. But above all, I don’t like the difficulty system in Classic mode for the same reason I didn’t like it in Kid Icarus: Uprising (Smash U director Masahiro Sakurai’s previous game, which pioneered the same difficulty system). If you haven’t played either game, basically there is a difficulty scale (in Smash U’s case, literally a scale) that goes from 0.0 to 9.0, with the ability to set the difficulty to 0.1, 0.2, and so on. You bet more gold for the higher difficulties but get better rewards for completing matches. It’s a novel concept and I like the idea of risking a bunch of gold for better rewards and then losing those rewards if I fall in battle. What I don’t like is how if I get knocked out of a match, in addition to losing some of the rewards I’ve acquired, the difficulty level gets knocked down five points, so if I was trying to complete the game on the highest difficulty of 9.0, if I lose once, the game automatically bumps me down to 8.5 and then to 8.0 if I lose again and so on. What makes me not want to even bother going for the rewards one receives on the higher difficulties is that the final boss comes with a ridiculously unfair difficulty spike and like a gajillion forms that one needs to learn the patterns of in order to get anywhere. But a player only encounters certain forms on certain difficulty levels, so continued failure means I have very little time to learn how to beat these phases. Basically, I don’t stand a good chance at understanding how to properly defeat these foes unless I replay Classic over and over on the highest difficulties, wasting time and gold. And as I said, Classic is boring, so doing that is boring as well. I prefer the old Classic (preferably Melee’s variant): straight and to the point, just fight after fight (and not a bunch of chaotic six to eight-fighter bouts), with a few mini-games and twists thrown into the mix and a battle against a fantasy incarnation of your twisted child creator’s hand (and perhaps its demented twin as well) at the end.

The other thing I wanted to give specific attention to is the lack of a story or adventure mode here. I’m well aware of why Sakurai chose not to include a story mode this time around (and in my opinion, his reasoning is...flawed, to say the least), but I loved the Adventure Mode in Melee and always hoped that it would evolve in future games. I generally enjoyed The Subspace Emissary in Brawl but it was ultimately forgettable thanks to an onslaught of mostly generic enemies instead of recognizable Nintendo ones and likewise a bunch of mostly generic locations instead of ones from Nintendo games. This is a crossover game, a game all about fan-service, and I don’t want to fight generic puppet monsters in a bland forest; I want to fight Stalfos’ in the Lost Woods. The cutscenes were cool though. But anyway, I don’t necessarily need another giant adventure like The Subspace Emissary (although something akin to it, just not so generic, could be grand), but just something like Melee’s Adventure Mode is great and nicely breaks up the single-player aspect of the game as well as adds a lot to the Smash experience in my opinion, so much so that Smash Wii U feels inherently lacking and incomplete without some kind of adventure mode, despite having probably more stuff to do than in any Smash game prior.

MEGA MAN!

For the inevitable Smash 5 (whether Sakurai directs it or not, and I certainly wouldn’t fault him if he chooses not to), I hope Classic mode returns to form and an adventure mode of some kind returns. Besides new characters, new stages, and new music there’s not much I can think of that they can do with this series. It’s pretty much another Mario Kart at this point: Nintendo’s big money-maker that always delivers a fun, polished experience, but doesn’t really evolve or change all that much from game to game. I forgot to talk about the character customization in the game and the Stage Builder by the way. In short, character customization is a neat addition that is fun to play around with, but I’m not sure how practical it all is since its usage online is limited and without a copy of the 3DS version, I don’t know of a way to bring my customized characters to friends’ games. I do like the way this game handles the customizable Mii Fighters, but they too are limited in the same ways as I just mentioned. As for the Stage Builder, it’s nice that it’s there and the ability to freely draw landforms with the GamePad is neat, but the user interface here is incredibly cumbersome, the options are extremely limited, and ultimately this feature is still far, far from being all that it could be (also, similar to my complaints with The Subspace Emissary, I’d rather have Nintendo game-themed items and backgrounds than generic ones, please).

At the end of the day though, despite my nitpicks and complaints, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is a colossal undertaking of a project, and Masahiro Sakurai and his team deserve a great wealth of respect and applause for bringing this beast together in such an elegant way. It’s a finely-polished, finely-tuned experience crammed with content and is a worthy celebration of the many games that inspired it. It’s hard to believe what a juggernaut the Smash series has evolved into since its N64 roots (although I do still find great appeal in the quiet, weird atmosphere of the N64 original). Something I love about Smash Bros. is just getting lost in Sakurai’s maze of menus, remembering fond experiences with so many wonderful video games, and learning about characters and games I’ve never had any experience with or rekindling fond memories for certain games or series that I’ve lost touch with. I’m now more interested than ever in playing a Fire Emblem game (Fire Emblem Awakening in particular) thanks to Robin and Lucina both being boss and all the sweet music from the FE series present in the game (again, particularly from Awakening), and the fantastic Mother music remixes as well as the EarthBound masterpiece demo make me realize how much I really need to get on that whole “finally playing through EarthBound” thing. I haven’t played a Pokémon game in over ten years, but reading about all of these weird creatures I never caught from later games (post the original Sapphire Version, the last one I played, not counting starting LeafGreen and barely getting anywhere in it) and listening to all the great music from the series makes me question whether it’s time to dive back in. I know I’m being manipulated here; I know this is one of the major points of Smash Bros.: just one big, fun advertisement for Nintendo’s games. I’m fully aware, but given the amount of polish and care and charm in this game, I’m ok with it for now. It’s really all the details that make this game such a treat. Just about every animation, every voice clip, and every stage background is lovingly detailed and full of personality, not to mention painstakingly true to the source material. Easter Eggs like the Kid Icarus “Palutena’s Guidance” conversations are just an added treasure hidden among the layers upon layers of Smash. Memorable situations like an eight-player choreographed aerobics session with a bunch of Wii Fit Trainers I engaged in with friends at a party and communication via a Princess Peach duel high above Skyloft with another human being I randomly encountered online demonstrates the power of the experience that this game’s developers worked so tirelessly to deliver. And deliver they did: although Smash will perhaps never be as hype-inducing or as novel as it once was for me, it’s still a special and worthy experience.