Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_Karl on March 15, 2009, 08:21:16 PM
(http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/media/621/1/16914.jpg) Oh God, look at that beard!
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_Lindy on March 15, 2009, 08:58:26 PM
Why the heck would they have any video game hardware hands-on event OUTSIDE? It boggles the mind. It's like getting married on a beach...it's one of those ideas that sounds good on paper, but in the real world courts disaster.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: TJ Spyke on March 15, 2009, 09:21:55 PM
What is that comment on Wii hardware? I have never had any problems with mine, and the percentage of people who do are minuscule.
Although I am a staunch defender of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, it is not the best game of 2004 IMO. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was great (**** you Game Informer, you do NOT give a game a score based on what you think readers will think. You give it a score based on what YOU think). Pikmin 2 was also a great game.
Metroid: Zero Mission was the definition of perfect re-make, even the end-game bonus content (which brought us Zero Suit Samus) was nice.
2004 was pretty bleak for the DS (even the first half of 2005 was), so Super Mario 64 DS won by default. Although it looked nicer than the original N64 version, it was a pain in the ass to play with a d-pad or stylus control. I liked the mini-games though.
2004 was also pretty bleak for Nintendo, wasn't this the year that they actually halted production of GameCube's for awhile because low sales had caused them to have warehouses full of unsold systems?
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: MegaByte on March 15, 2009, 09:27:43 PM
What is that comment on Wii hardware? I have never had any problems with mine, and the percentage of people who do are minuscule.
A good portion of the staff have had theirs repaired. Perhaps the early adopter crowd skews the percentage, but it's not been "miniscule" in my experience. Also, the whole dual-layer failure seemed to have affected a lot of people as Nintendo had a special section on their site just for handling that. We're not talking RROD levels of failure, but no other console's been that faulty.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: TheYoungerPlumber on March 15, 2009, 09:41:25 PM
Oh man, i must have missed that first photo of MegaByte's above when poking around for pics. I would have picked that one instead for the launch event photo in the article.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: TJ Spyke on March 15, 2009, 10:59:17 PM
My launch Wii still works perfectly fine. Same thing with my copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Maybe others are having problems, but every electronic device has some failure rate (although it does suck if you are one of the few people suffering from the failures).
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: TheYoungerPlumber on March 15, 2009, 11:40:01 PM
Yeah, so far I haven't had problems with my launch Wii, and I haven't taken terribly good care of it. But I haven't charged anything with my Wii USB ports, which I've heard often causes overheating problems.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Djunknown on March 15, 2009, 11:45:46 PM
Quote
2004 was also pretty bleak for Nintendo, wasn't this the year that they actually halted production of GameCube's for awhile because low sales had caused them to have warehouses full of unsold systems?
As Mr.Kaluszka implied, by this time, the gaming press,'analysts', 3rd parties, rival fanboys pulled down their pants and took a proverbial diarrhea dump on Nintendo. It was coming from all directions.
I remember patiently waiting for Crystal Chronicles on that wintery day. The gamestop near me just got their shipment in, and booted it up, GBA in hand when I got home. I played solo because I coudn't anyone to play with... :-\ But I still had a blast dungeon crawling, and the random skits.
When I picked up MGS:The Twin Snakes, I was shocked at the game's length. Even going at a snail's pace, I beat the game in 2 weeks. But still, it was a fun romp at Shadow Moses Island. My favorite boss fight was Vulcan Raven, there was something satisfying by beating the brute by laying land mines that never got old.
Zelda:Four Swords adventures was an interesting spin off. I loved the LttP/4 swords style along with the clever use of GBA-Connectivity. By this time, even Nintendo knew it was useless to push this as a selling feature, but they went out with a bang wit this title.
Oh, Mega Man Anniversary collection. Or as I like to call it, the game of the summer. The most frustrating moment was trying to beat Yellow Devil in MM1. There was no select trick, so it had to be done the old fashioned way. When I finally did beat it, it was smooth sailing from there. Though the Wily levels in MM2 took me for a loop, since it ramped up the difficulty in comparison to the robot masters.
I didn't pick of Tales of Symphonia until early fall, but when I got it, it was the only game I wanted to play. I neglected papers and homework, oh I don't want to think about it. I was kind of glad when I beat it, as I could function normally again.
Quote
2004 was pretty bleak for the DS (even the first half of 2005 was), so Super Mario 64 DS won by default.
The DS had a quick turn around from the initial announcement around the end of Janurary, to launch in late November. It was slim pickings. Remember Ping Pals? The Ubisoft dating sim? Yeah...
When I was working a holiday job at a retailer of Games/Music/Movies, basketball player Rip Hamiliton from the Detroit Pistons showed up at my shift! This was the year they won the championship, so the metro area was abuzz with Pistons fever. Anyway he comes in, in his warmups, and his championship ring so big, it was dare I say, bling-blingin? Anyway, he asks me if they had a Nintendo DS, and once I got the bass back in my voice told him we were sold out. He kept walking around the store, while my store manager looked around to make sure he wasn't bothered. Also during this time, there was still demand for PS2/Xbox systems, whereas our store had to stop ordering 'Cubes because they weren't selling...
2004 saw big exclusives for each respective system: Halo 2, GTA:San Andreas, and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Whereas the Halo 2 and GTA sold millions in a few short weeks, MP 2 barely cracked the 6 figure mark. If the price cut of '03 was the writing on the wall, MP 2's sales figures was the pink slip. Gamers, 3rd parties quit (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorialArt.cfm?artid=544) on the 'Cube.
Granted, the arrival of Reggie and Twilight Princess were a breath of fresh air, we wouldn't see the fruit of the new Nintendo until later.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on March 16, 2009, 12:59:46 AM
My launch Wii still works perfectly fine. Same thing with my copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Maybe others are having problems, but every electronic device has some failure rate (although it does suck if you are one of the few people suffering from the failures).
My GameCube rolled down the interstate at high speed (I bought it from a friend in this condition) and it still worked. I'm sure you've seen the video of the guys hooking it to the back of their truck, dragging it along, and having it still work. I'm pretty sure no Wii would ever withstand that. Nintendo hardware in the past had been a testament of quality, but two things happened this generation: 1. they had a quick ramp up of hardware manufacturing in China. 2. they chose to go for style over durability (e.g. also see DS Lite hinge issue)
But I haven't charged anything with my Wii USB ports, which I've heard often causes overheating problems.
Mine had overheating problems simply by running WC24. I know of several cases of this with launch Wiis.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_Lindy on March 16, 2009, 03:24:18 AM
My DS Lite had the hinge issue, but Nintendo fixed it for free. However, they made sure to tell me: "NORMALLY WE DON'T DO THIS, BUT WE'LL MAKE AN EXCEPTION HERE..." It's like shut up and fix my DS Lite, you dripping-in-money douchebags.
/rant
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: oohhboy on March 16, 2009, 04:18:31 AM
Tales was the GOTY for me. Echos was more of a good thing, but being a sequel automatically puts it on the back foot. Tales was the RPG on the GC. Paper Mario was good really good, but between the two, Tales edges out slightly with the far more interesting combat. Mario did have a much tighter, richer world. It was a tough year to pick GOTYs.
I didn't buy in to the DS until almost 2 years after launch. It just didn't have anything that compelled me to go get it until Advanced Wars DS came out. There are a lot parallels right now with the Wii. However a lot of personal things have stopped me from investing. On top of that heap is Wiimotion plus.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on March 16, 2009, 11:10:50 AM
Tales of Symphonia is a sequel, too. I think Echoes is the more innovative sequel, and it is overall my favorite Metroid Prime, despite a few minor issues.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Dasmos on March 16, 2009, 11:24:41 AM
NWR gets the game of the year wrong again, it's actually Pikmin 2. I don't know how improving on an already highly-impressive game like Pikmin in amost every way doesn't get GOTY. Instead it gets beaten by a de-evolved Metroid Prime.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: ShyGuy on March 16, 2009, 12:01:33 PM
"MY NAME IS REGGIE..."
That was the start of the turn-around right there. Some people didn't believe, and 2005 was still a lean year, but it was at that point Nintendo turned itself around.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_pap64 on March 16, 2009, 12:12:49 PM
Those complaining that they had their Wiis repaired... Be thankful the Wii is not a 360.
My first gen Wii still works fine despite... - Having an SD card stuck inside the disc drive - Being invaded by a colony of ANTS - Falling on the floor - Surviving long, long hours of gameplay
Note that my Wii came from the US. S_B got it for me, so it traveled overseas too.
Going back to 2004, I thought it was a great year overall. E3 was very, very epic, especially with the Twilight Princess reveal. Unlike some gamers I thought the DS was awesome and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. All the games looked really, really great, especially Wario Ware Touched and Metroid Prime Hunters.
I got my DS Phat on November 2004 at Wal-Mart and even if Mario 64 wasn't the most amazing game ever the touch screen games were great. Even writing on the title screen and messing around with it was surprisingly fun. "Feel the Magic" was great as well, it was basically the Raving Rabbids of the DS.
2004 was also the year I met Smash_Brother for the first time in real life, and one of the games we first played was "Four Swords Adventures". Despite the requirements I thought it was a solid multiplayer adventure. One of my all time favorite memories is when me and S_B dumped Tingle boiling lava and taping it. I also became kamikaze Link and died the most during the Ganon battle.
I never played "Crystal Chronicles".
We also got "Mario Power Tennis" on the GC, and while I thought it was brimming with charm, humor and great graphics it didn't captivate me as greatly as the original. I hope to give it another try on the Wii.
So yeah, it was a really solid year, don't know why people bash it.
Oh yeah, it was also Reggie's debut :) .
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Halbred on March 16, 2009, 02:45:28 PM
My launch-day Wii works find, too (first in line, biznatches!), aside from the Smash Bros. loading thing, which Nintendo fixed for free. I replaced my DS Phat the second the DS Lite came out, though, and I will similarly replace my DS Lite the day the DSi hits the shelves.
I am a consumer whore.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: S-U-P-E-R on March 16, 2009, 03:53:56 PM
My launch Wii still works like new
because I never play it
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Kairon on March 16, 2009, 04:35:51 PM
What's this? No mention of Sprung for the DS?
...PHAIL!!!
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_pap64 on March 16, 2009, 06:09:07 PM
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Stratos on March 16, 2009, 07:04:18 PM
I missed a good number of games this year. No Prime 2, no Zero Mission, No Tales, No Paper Mario. I got Pikmin 2, Warrio Within, Need For Speed Underground 2, Crystal Chronicles and Four Swords. I also passed sadly on Twin Snakes until the beginning of 2007.
I passed on a DS Phat all together due to the lack of solid games released yet.
This was also the start of a big change for me because by the end of 2004 I knew I would be going off to college next year after a long hiatus post-high school graduation. Since I knew this was coming I had begun to save more money and spend less on games. I think it also signaled my eventual drift away from gaming and game news sites, though that wouldn't be realized for another year until I was actually at school.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_pap64 on March 16, 2009, 07:22:14 PM
For some weird reason Pikmin 2 failed to truly captivate me. It should have because its by far the best game in the whole series. There's no time limit (though you still have to be at the ship before night falls), the collection of items is both quirky and fun, the addition of Louie makes for some compelling strategies and just about every aspect has been polished greatly. Yet despite all of this I could never go beyond the first world. It just... To be honest, I just don't know why I stopped playing. And every time I tried playing from the beginning I would give up and lose interest.
Its one of the bigger mysteries I've faced in my gaming life.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Stratos on March 16, 2009, 07:24:37 PM
For some weird reason Pikmin 2 failed to truly captivate me. It should have because its by far the best game in the whole series. There's no time limit (though you still have to be at the ship before night falls), the collection of items is both quirky and fun, the addition of Louie makes for some compelling strategies and just about every aspect has been polished greatly. Yet despite all of this I could never go beyond the first world. It just... To be honest, I just don't know why I stopped playing. And every time I tried playing from the beginning I would give up and lose interest.
Its one of the bigger mysteries I've faced in my gaming life.
That is strange. I know I lost interest after getting out of debt, but that is truly an anomaly. Is the first level all that un-compelling?
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Halbred on March 16, 2009, 07:30:27 PM
I'm typing up my review for Wii Pikmin today. I love it (except for the time limit), and I hope to also review Wii Pikmin 2.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on March 16, 2009, 07:37:51 PM
It's not a time limit, per se.
It's a measure of player's weakness.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_pap64 on March 16, 2009, 08:05:50 PM
For some weird reason Pikmin 2 failed to truly captivate me. It should have because its by far the best game in the whole series. There's no time limit (though you still have to be at the ship before night falls), the collection of items is both quirky and fun, the addition of Louie makes for some compelling strategies and just about every aspect has been polished greatly. Yet despite all of this I could never go beyond the first world. It just... To be honest, I just don't know why I stopped playing. And every time I tried playing from the beginning I would give up and lose interest.
Its one of the bigger mysteries I've faced in my gaming life.
That is strange. I know I lost interest after getting out of debt, but that is truly an anomaly. Is the first level all that un-compelling?
I just don't know. I know that after getting a handful of treasure I just stopped caring, even though part of my mind thinks this is a great game.
I am willing to try the NPC version and this will be my last try. I think I'll just play it by myself because the first few times I tried playing with a guide and I think that's what kept me from pushing forward. But even then, one time I played without anything and it still didn't captivate me.
Once again, the Wii remake is the last try.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Djunknown on March 16, 2009, 10:33:44 PM
Quote
What's this? No mention of Sprung for the DS?
Quote
It was slim pickings. Remember Ping Pals? The Ubisoft dating sim? Yeah...
Bolding mine. You might want to try reading people's long winded posts once in a while... ;)
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: IceCold on March 16, 2009, 11:25:27 PM
Pi,min 2 was GOTY by far. It took Pikmin to a whole new level and is the true definition of what a sequel should be. Metroid Prime 2 was great but it was more of the same, and not as magical as the first entry.
For some weird reason Pikmin 2 failed to truly captivate me. It should have because its by far the best game in the whole series.
You make it seem like there are more than two games in the series ;)
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Berto2K on March 17, 2009, 03:33:34 AM
Ah E3 2004. My first E3. It was awesome to be able to go hands-on with the DS. I remember I had the entire booth on video and most of the demos as well. It was up and lasted through E3, but then we dumped a server it was on and now its gone forever. I remember proclaiming to my friends that the DS would beat out the PSP but no one believed me.
Was my first time meeting some of the PGC crew as well I think.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Rize on March 17, 2009, 12:05:31 PM
For some weird reason Pikmin 2 failed to truly captivate me. It should have because its by far the best game in the whole series.
Same thing happened to me. I loved the first one to death, but somehow the second game just didn't grab me. Maybe I'll try it again some time. I've played the first one through twice.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: NWR_DrewMG on March 17, 2009, 12:09:51 PM
Pikmin 2 was one of the few Gamecube games that I 100%ed more than once. I love, LOVE that game.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Stratos on March 17, 2009, 03:47:48 PM
For some weird reason Pikmin 2 failed to truly captivate me. It should have because its by far the best game in the whole series. There's no time limit (though you still have to be at the ship before night falls), the collection of items is both quirky and fun, the addition of Louie makes for some compelling strategies and just about every aspect has been polished greatly. Yet despite all of this I could never go beyond the first world. It just... To be honest, I just don't know why I stopped playing. And every time I tried playing from the beginning I would give up and lose interest.
Its one of the bigger mysteries I've faced in my gaming life.
That is strange. I know I lost interest after getting out of debt, but that is truly an anomaly. Is the first level all that un-compelling?
I just don't know. I know that after getting a handful of treasure I just stopped caring, even though part of my mind thinks this is a great game.
I am willing to try the NPC version and this will be my last try. I think I'll just play it by myself because the first few times I tried playing with a guide and I think that's what kept me from pushing forward. But even then, one time I played without anything and it still didn't captivate me.
For some weird reason Pikmin 2 failed to truly captivate me. It should have because its by far the best game in the whole series.
Same thing happened to me. I loved the first one to death, but somehow the second game just didn't grab me. Maybe I'll try it again some time. I've played the first one through twice.
Sounds like it would be an interesting game to sound off on in RetroActive. I may nominate it once we have a release date in the West for the NPC version.
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Mop it up on March 17, 2009, 07:33:03 PM
Call me shallow, but the reason I didn’t get Mario Power Tennis when it was first released is because it doesn’t have my two favourite characters, Toad and Birdo. However, since now I own just about all of the other Mario games out there then I figured I might as well get it. The Wii re-release was just good timing.
To this day I cannot fathom why I bought Mega Man Anniversary Collection, I just don’t know what thought process of mine would lead to that purchase. At the time I owned 3 of the 8 games, so I guess I bought it because it was cheaper than the originals. Unfortunately the conversion was terrible; certain colours were either too bright or too dim, the sound quality was worse, some sound effects were changed… How could they butcher the originals like this? Mega Man deserves better! Even worse is that the GameCube version was missing some of the features of the PS2 version such as the music remixes, and the switching of the “A” and “B” buttons. I was so dissatisfied I sold this off and bought the remaining NES games I was missing. I still don’t have 7 and 8 but 7 is “meh” and 8 is kind of bad. This pitiful collection definitely helped solidify my insistence on originals.
However, it's a shame that Mega Man Mania for the Game Boy Advance never materialized. I'd have been able to handle a collection like this that was set to colour the originals.
Metroid Prime 2 was a worthy sequel. Although it is really more of a continuation than a true sequel, that was perfectly fine by me. Metroid Prime left me wanting more, not because it is short (it isn’t) but because it’s so good I didn’t want it to end. Metroid Prime 2 refined elements of the first game, such as the scan visor allowing you to target any piece of an object instead of a symbol on it. The light and dark elements, despite being an age-old parallel, still work quite well, though sometimes waiting around in the light bubbles got kind of boring. I guess this was supposed to encourage you to venture out while weakened or else be bored? The combat felt more streamlined and action-packed, probably because they expected people to be skilled at the game from playing the first.
I wasn’t really a fan of Paper Mario on N64; it was alright but it didn’t seem like anything special. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is better, but still has some of the same problems. The fighting system is still a bit too simple, it deals with such low numbers for HP, and every attack does a fixed damage percentage. There are some welcome additions to it, such as the partner having their own HP and more variety to the action commands, though the random events caused by the audience are pretty annoying. Like the first game, the writing just isn't very clever; it's like the game is winking at you the whole time, like "Hey, that's funny, right? Did you see that? That's a good one!" There's also way too much dialogue, everyone chatters on endlessly despite having so little to say.
The more I played it, the more it just seemed... "meh". I think I may know why that is though... it's because it is the fourth Mario RPG I've played. Especially since it is the direct sequel to one of them, it recycles many of the same items, badges, enemies, and concepts from its predecessor. Although the battle system has been improved, I'm not sure which of the two Paper Mario games I like better. I'm inclined to think I'd choose the first Paper Mario simply because I played it first (and it is also an N64 game).
Metroid Zero Mission was a good remake, it made the original Metroid a lot easier to navigate especially with the map, that was welcome. The original just tosses you into the game with no direction and no real clues as to what you need to do. It’s pretty short though since it was an NES game, but there’s not much which could have been done about that without making it a different game altogether. I also like how it includes the original Metroid so that you can compare the games.
The best part of Tales of Symphonia was the battles. I’m not all that into RPGs because turn-based battles are pretty boring, so they have to try something a little less traditional to entice me. The more action-oriented battle system kind of reminded me of Smash Brothers in the way that the controls were set up, and with how the movement was mostly two-dimensional. Although most battles weren’t really difficult, what made you always try to play at your best was the grade you earned from performing well. The story was pretty clichéd and conventional, though the random skits which popped up every now and then were a nice touch.
Let’s see, what else… I don’t own Pikmin 2 but I might get the Wii re-release. It seems to be popular opinion that the sequel is better so I might skip the first Pikmin. However, if I like Pikmin 2 and decide to get the first game later, it may have some problem that was fixed in the sequel that would bother me to no end. I don’t like playing games in reverse order.
I also own Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 but I’ve never played much of it. By this time the series has gotten pretty stale due to this being the sixth game and all. It needed Mario in it.
A few months ago is when I first played Super Mario 64 DS. It was at this moment I realized how awesome an analogue stick is, and just how much the absence of one made this game more difficult to control. However, this game has been made easier over the original so the wonky controls rarely presented a problem. The variety of having four characters to choose from was a neat addition, but the few new courses seemed uninspired and the extra star in each world felt tacked-on. Despite the texture touch-up I find the original game to have the better graphics due to them being a lot more smooth.
I had some praise for Reggie but this post is already getting ridiculous as the largest one I've ever written up. If this were GameFAQs I'd expect somebody to respond with "wall of text'd" or "tl:dr"...
Title: Re: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004
Post by: Kairon on March 21, 2009, 04:52:20 PM
