Happy 25th Birthday Mario!
Still making us having fun after 25 years! Thank you Nintendo! Thank you Shigeru Miyamoto!
Gaming Rants
I don’t write about Video Games for some time now, but the latest news from E3 kinda triggered this post. So, with no further a do, my rants 😀
Nintendo 3DS
As usual, Nintendo invest more into their portables than the home consoles and this is obvious because the portable consoles have always saved Nintendo from being defeated by the competition. From what I’ve seen so far, the 3DS seems impressive.
The 3D screen is a huge sales factor, but the true value of this console it’s in the kick it delivers. The demos shown on E3 make me think that the 3DS graphics engine is way more powerful than a GameCube and a PSP and until Sony releases the PSP 2, which they should have announced on E3 instead of milking the fail that is the PSP Go, the 3DS will sucker-punch the competition out of the map.
Third party support has never been so strong for a portable that is yet to be released, but still, I can see the 3DS being plagued by ports of old games, like it happened to the PSP when it was launched.
It’s been rumored a few changes to the DS Ware shop, which I hope they do because compared to other console marketplaces it sucks. Another rumor is that the 3DS will feature even more social and network capabilities, which is always good. I really hope they include a faster and more friendly version of their Opera browser and deliver a working Internet experience and not just a gimmick like we have on the DSI.
The future will tell, but I’m betting that this will probably be the best portable Nintendo has ever made. Don’t screw this one up Nintendo!!
What I’ve been Playing
As a BIG Mario fan, of course I bought the new Super Mario Galaxy 2. At first it may look as “more of the same” but Nintendo really managed to improve the game mechanics by including new power-ups and 2.5D levels.
Sometimes it feels you’re playing New Super Mario Bros Wii but suddenly the entire level transforms and you’re back to the full Super Mario Galaxy 3D experience . The basics are still the same and there are common elements between the games, but the new stuff is really fun and has a big addiction level, not to mention that this time you have Yoshi 😀
What amazes me (in a mixed way) is that Nintendo continues to provide tutorials and in-game help for new players. Super Mario Galaxy 2 even comes with a DVD explaining how to play the game as well as the Superguide that plays some stages for you (if you want) when you die more than 10 times in a level… I understand that this is way to get more inexperienced gamers to buy and play the game, but isn’t it part of the fun to find out how to finish a stage???
Old school baby… those were the times 😉
Besides SMG2, I went back to finish Metroid Prime 3 Corruption. Sadly, I remembered that I didn’t finished Prime and Prime 2 Echoes… although I have the games for the Gamecube, I managed to get my hands on a Metroid Trilogy copy and I’m going back to the start!
The Metroid Prime Trilogy games are still 3 of the best games ever made for Nintendo consoles, and the collector’s edition for the Wii allows you to play the 2 first games as the 3rd one, with the wii mote pointing at the screen, and believe me, it’s a all new experience to play Prime and Echoes that way.
And that’s all… there’s not much time to play games nowadays but I’ll have more time next month when I’m on vacations 😀
Happy 20th Anniversary Gameboy!
20 years ago, in Japan, Nintendo released what it would be the world’s most famous portable console ever: the Gameboy.
Today any cell phone can do 1000000 times more a GB could do at the time, but I’m yet to find a cell phone that amuses me as much as the Gameboy did.
The original Gameboy was my first console and even today it’s my favorite portable system. Playing with the first Gameboy, 20th years ago (well, not 20 because it was only launched on Europe in the 1990) was an exciting experience. It was like playing in a portable NES, since Nintendo ported almost all the major successes of the NES to the GB. It had a screen the size of a sticker, gray and green, but playing Super Mario Land was huge. The sound was lousy compared with today’s standards, the screen was sometimes blury, but it had multiplayer games, a camera add on and a printer that printed the photos on stickers. It sold like hot cakes and the evolution of the system was what made Nintendo what it is today, and it saved the company when the home systems like the SNES and the Gamecube were selling poorly.
The Gameboy was replaced by the Nintendo DS, taking down the name that made the thrills of many gamers but even today it’s still remebered and recognized by the world. I hope one day Nintendo will release another Gameboy console, a new system that takes the DS to a next evolutionary step, a console that will be as innovative as the Gameboy was 20 years ago.
Happy Birthday Gameboy!