A couple more games from 2003 I like:
Mario Golf Toadstool Tour is a solid golf game, despite that the swing system is exactly the same as NES Open Tournament Golf for the, uh, NES. It's kind of disappointing to see such little progress after so long, especially since the putting system isn't very good because it offers so little information. The only real problem I have with this game is that it doesn't make much use of the Mario franchise; characters don't have special abilities, and only two of the six courses have Mario elements, such as springy mushrooms, warp pipes, and even a few baddies. Those last two courses are definitely the best, while the other courses would still feel right at home in a Tiger Woods golf game. This game is largely just golf with Mario characters, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an enjoyable game which anyone can get into.
Mario Kart Double Dash!!... I both love and hate that title. It has two exclamation points in it which is awesome, but the game has broken the trend of including the system's name in the title. We have Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart Advance, Mario Kart Arcade, Mario Kart DS, and of course Mario Kart Wii. So why isn't it titled Mario Kart Cubed, or something equally nonsensical?
It's refreshing that they actually tried something different with this game, it makes it still worth playing even with a newer version out. Really, the double kart feature doesn't change the game all that much, certainly not enough to deserve the hate it receives from some Mario Kart fans. The character-specific items add some variety and personality to the game, though they aren’t balanced. Bowser gets a huge shell which travels along the track and can plow through several racers, while Yoshi has a homing egg that's basically the same as a red shell. Characters with powerful special items will receive them less often than characters with weaker specials, but still... if a special takes you from 8th to 1st you're only going to need it once. The ability to rob others is something which should have stayed in Mario Kart Wii, though it’s too bad that feature exists only in co-op. Best of all though, is that I don't have to decide whether I want to use Toad or Birdo, because I can use them both!
The graphics in this game aren't up to the standards of the average GameCube game, or even other Mario games for that matter. I don't know why Nintendo neglects the graphics of Mario Kart games but it's a trend with all of them, not just this one. The sad thing here is that the graphics are actually a little better than Mario Kart Wii despite being released four years earlier on a lesser system. The character models are blocky, lack animated fingers, and have that unnatural shiny effect which I'm really starting to hate. When you consider the fact that the one thing which will always be in the center of the screen is the characters you're using, you'd think more attention would have been paid to them. Still, although the characters may not be modeled very well they are at least animated nicely.
My only real problem with the game though is that characters with a similar body frame share the same animations, like Yoshi and Birdo for example. Birdo isn't a pink-coloured clone of Yoshi, he really should have his own animations to make him more unique. It's just so painfully obvious to have Birdo use items by spitting them out of his mouth, especially when his special item is an egg... but no, someone's too lazy to program some animations for him so they use Yoshi's animation set instead. Lame.
I recently purchased Wario World and am currently playing trough it. The game might be simple but it is quite enthralling, and the stages are pretty varied with the small pure platforming segments tucked away under the ground panels. I suppose that structure is a bit like Mario Sunshine, but there’s nothing wrong with going with what works. You can’t really go wrong with a game featuring a greedy fat man out to collect treasure, although it’s kind of strange how he can eat coins to collect them… The biggest complaint I’ve heard about this game is that it is extremely short, so it may leave me wanting more. We’ll see.
Since many of us have posted memories, comments, thoughts and even mini reviews of games celebrated in this retrospective maybe to cap off the celebration on the 10th year you can select the best posts, the ones that truly captures what it means to be both a Nintendo fan and a NWR/PGC member?
My good man, you've just given me an idea.
The only reason Pap64 is requesting such a feature is because he is so long-winded and knows that some of his comments are sure to show up there.
Here’s a nice comment to add to such a feature:
“Eternal Darkness is the best game I’ve never played.” –Mop_it_up
Topic: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2003 (Read 11217 times)
