Topic: Ten Years of Reviews

[NWR_Neal]

We've been reviewing games for 10 years. Crazy, right?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/26784

On June 10, 2001, Planet GameCube/Nintendo World Report founder Billy Berghammer posted the site's first-ever review. Billy gave the Game Boy Advance launch title Super Mario Advance a 7.5, setting in place the scoring system that remains largely the same today.

The scoring system's biggest revision was actually quite recently, as we shed section scores with the launch of NWR 2.0 last summer. Still, longtime readers likely remember the scored sections of Gameplay, Sound, Graphics, Control, and everyone's favorite made-up word, Lastability.

To complete this mini-celebration of our reviews, check out this list of the games we gave 10s:

• Mario Kart: Super Circuit by Mike Orlando on 9/18/2001
  
• Advance Wars by Zosha Arushan on 9/19/2001
• Bumper GBX by Max Lake on 12/2/2001
• Super Mario Sunshine by Jonathan Metts on 7/28/2002
• Metroid Prime by Rick Powers on 11/18/2002
• Monster Cable GAMELINK 300 GC by Mike Hrusecky on 11/20/2002
• Metroid Prime by David Trammell on 11/26/2002
• Zelda no Densetsu: Kaze no Takuto by Jonathan Metts on 12/20/2002
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past + Four Swords by Desmond Gaban on 1/20/2003
• X-Arcade Solo by Billy Berghammer on 2/6/2003
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker by Rick Powers on 3/24/2003
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker by Billy Berghammer on 3/24/2003
• Super Smash Bros. Melee by Taylor Hill on 5/9/2003
• Soul Calibur II by Rick Powers on 9/3/2003
• F-Zero GX by Daniel Bloodworth on 9/4/2003
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time by Mike Sklens on 12/8/2003
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap by Jeff Shirley on 1/17/2005
• Resident Evil 4 by Jonathan Metts on 1/18/2005
• Resident Evil 4 by Steven Rodriguez on 1/26/2005
• Mario Kart DS by Mike Sklens on 11/19/2005
• Mario Tennis: Power Tour by Stan Ferguson on 12/12/2005
• Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 4 by Ty Shughart on 1/26/2006
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Jonathan Metts on 11/18/2006
• Elite Beat Agents by Karl Castaneda on 11/22/2006
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Aaron Kaluszka on 1/11/2007
• Super Mario Galaxy by Aaron Kaluszka on 11/12/2007
• Okami by Nick DiMola on 8/20/2008
• World of Goo by Nick DiMola on 10/17/2008
• Punch-Out!! by Neal Ronaghan on 5/21/2009
• Metroid Prime Trilogy by Nick DiMola on 8/24/2009
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii by Pedro Hernandez on 11/23/2009
• Mega Man 10 by Zachary Miller on 5/2/2010
• Kirby's Epic Yarn by Neal Ronaghan on 10/15/2010

And, for those who are interested, here is some fun data to extrapolate from this information.

• Every new Zelda adventure on a home console reviewed has received a 10. Let's see if Skyward Sword breaks the trend this fall...
• Jonny Metts gave four games a 10, the highest out of every staffer. However, considering he wrote reviews consistently from 2001 to 2009, there is no surprise.
• Nearly every game given a 10 was a Nintendo game, except for Resident Evil 4 (Capcom), Mega Man 10 (Capcom), World of Goo (2D Boy), Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! 4 (Tomy), and Soul Calibur II (Namco).
• Site founder Billy Berghammer's last review was his 10/10 Wind Waker review. A hell of a way to go out, I must say.
• Metroid Prime received three 10s (if you count Metroid Prime Trilogy). The only person to review Metroid Prime lower than that was series zealot Jonny Metts, who gave it a 9.5.
• There were eight 10s in 2003, the most ever. Oddly enough, nearly half of those were for Zelda games. The year following that, no 10s were awarded.
  

[ShyGuy]

Haha Mario Tennis Power Tour.

What about the low scoring reviews?

[NWR_insanolord]

I hated Mario Tennis Power Tour, despite absolutely loving both Mario Golf Advance Tour and Mario Tennis for Game Boy Color.

[Crimm]

Mario Tennis' 10 got us featured in an article on another site later that year...

[UltimatePartyBear]

Three of those reviews aren't even for games.  I was shocked, SHOCKED, that a Monster Cable product was so well reviewed, but then I saw that it actually won high marks as a disciplinary whip, and, well, I have to admit that Monster Cable makes pretty good whips.

[yoshi1001]

What about the low scoring reviews?

Just look up the games reviewed by James.
 
Actually, looking at the list:
 
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review?letter=&sort=-Score&region=All&system=All&subsystem=All&status=All&type=All
 
Looks like Jeff Shirley got most of the bad ones.

[NWR_pap64]

Awesome I got one of the perfect ten reviews!

[UncleBob]

Mario Tennis' 10 got us featured in an article on another site later that year...

Took awhile to dig it up...
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/five-worst-gaming.php

[NWR_pap64]

So, what was exactly wrong with Mario Power Tennis Tour? I never played that game.

[Ceric]

Honestly don't like something awful.  Though I wouldn't give Mario Tennis a 10, now the Virtual  Boy one that's another story.

Metts did give Sunshine a 10 and I enjoyed that game so much more then Mario 64 so at the time I probably do around the same.

[Mop it up]

Mario Tennis' 10 got us featured in an article on another site later that year...

Took awhile to dig it up...
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/five-worst-gaming.php

That is kind of funny, though to be fair, you can make those kinds of claims about any opinion. It feels more like satire than actually pointing out bad journalism.