Topic: The Nintendo Wall of Glory

[King of Twitch]

That's racist

[ThePerm]

i'll take some Kool-aid. I want Red, or Purple.

[Ian Sane]

Do we really want to put the NPC titles in a wall of glory?  They're either a shameless attempt to get us to buy something we already own or they're a blatant example of focusing on the new market at the expense of the old fanbase who owned Gamecubes.  They were released during a HUGE Wii game drought and thus were recycled content trying to make up for a lack a new content, instead of complimenting new content.  They're a black mark on Nintendo's legacy and belong on a wall of shame.  Ditto with NPC Animal Crossing which Nintendo "forgot" to advertise as such.  And Metroid Prime Trilogy and Wii Fit Plus make Metroid Prime 3 and Wii Fit redundant so there's no point in including both.

Putting every title Nintendo was released for the Wii dimishes any credibility or prestige in a "wall of glory".  If you truly want to praise something you have to be selective.  This is just a celebration of mediocrity.  By putting Wii Music next to Super Mario Galaxy you cheapen the merits of Nintendo's truly great work.  Might as well put Urban Champion on a wall of glory for the NES along with Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. 3.

What I get from that wall though is how Nintendo has really improved their release schedule as of late.  There's a lot to look forward to.  If the Wii had decent third party support it would be a very exceptional lineup.  It's pretty much the opposite of the infamous Wii Music focused E3.  Did our bitching work?

[BlackNMild2k1]

I think you, like many, have once again missed the point.

It's not about every individual piece of the puzzle, it's about the overall picture that the puzzle makes. And Nintendo's puzzle doesn't stink from piles of crap poured on more crap with a few diamonds lost in the filth. The overall puzzle is one of quality gaming, where if you find a type of game that suits you, chances are, you will be satisfied with your purchase.

[D_Average]

I think you, like many, have once again missed the point.

It's not about every individual piece of the puzzle, it's about the overall picture that the puzzle makes. And Nintendo's puzzle doesn't stink from piles of crap poured on more crap with a few diamonds lost in the filth. The overall puzzle is one of quality gaming, where if you find a type of game that suits you, chances are, you will be satisfied with your purchase.

That makes sense, but the wall of "glory" title is a bit misleading, as one might think all the bricks in the wall are as glorious as the first time we popped in Mario 64.  I definitely agree w/ Ian's sentiment.  The NPC titles seemed half-a##ed as the controls were not as precise as they could have been.  Even the precursor to them, Mario Sluggers was a complete and utter fail in terms of controls.  And to top it all off, it was all we were getting.  And where was Mario Sunshine?  I guarantee they considering releasing a wii mote like peripheral to go with that game at the time.  It definitely should have been a NPC title.

If we didn't have so many dang walls already, it'd be interesting to see a "Wii Wall of Glory" made up of all the great Wii titles thus far, no matter who the party was.

[UncleBob]

I think you, like many, have once again missed the point.

It's not about every individual piece of the puzzle, it's about the overall picture that the puzzle makes. And Nintendo's puzzle doesn't stink from piles of crap poured on more crap with a few diamonds lost in the filth. The overall puzzle is one of quality gaming, where if you find a type of game that suits you, chances are, you will be satisfied with your purchase.

What he said.  Just because a few bricks in the Great Wall of China have cracks in them, it doesn't mean the wall isn't great!

[Ymeegod]

NPC games were budgetted price though so I guess you can't hold it against them because there's more "new" users for them to sell to who either didn't own an GC or just skipped them.  If they tried full price then yeah that would have been foul but at $30 it isn't a big deal IMO.

[UncleBob]

Yeah, the budget price did help.  I mean, it's a lot better than taking a PS1 game, making some changes, then releasing it at full price and wondering why it didn't sell.

[Mop it up]

I bought two of the three New Play Control! titles and am considering buying the third. Does that make me a part of the problem?

[UncleBob]

I bought all three (four, if you count MP:T) of them.  After owning each of them on the GCN.

But, hell, I bought Personal Trainer: Walking.  Twice.  WTF do I know?

[Mop it up]

I don't own the GameCube ones, so maybe it isn't a problem then. The one I don't have yet is Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, but I haven't heard good things, so I might go for the GameCube version instead.

I have the three Metroid Prime games which is why I didn't buy the trilogy.

[UncleBob]

Oh, get DK:JB for the 'Cube.  It was the only one of the NPC titles I was disappointed with.  The 'Cube Version (if you have/get Bongos, of course) is AWESOME.

[Mop it up]

I don't have the bongo controller, but Donkey Konga is another game I'm interested in, so I may track one down. They seem fairly cheap on eBay, though the shipping costs can get ridiculous. I'm guessing the bongo controller is required for the game... it'd be kind of pointless otherwise I s'pose.

[UncleBob]

You *can* use the standard GCN controller... but, bleh.
http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=35115
$1.99 at GameStop (if they've got 'em near ya).

[Mop it up]

Hm, there is a store somewhat close which has the bongo controller, Donkey Konga, and Jungle Beat. That's actually tempting... but all the snow outside will probably prevent me from going anywhere for a while.

[UncleBob]

That is *exactly* why you should go.  Then, you can use the snow as an excuse to sit at home all day and play video games.

I got both Donkey Kongas at full retail when they came out (each with Bongos... in fact, some how I ended up with 5 sets of Bongos...)  They're fun-ish, but A.) I suck at rhythm games, B.) You hear more slapping on the Bongos than you do the music from the TV and C.) Man, the song selection can be pretty rough.  B-I-N-G-O!  *shudder*.  My wife loved them.  I've really considered getting the Japanese ones...

[KDR_11k]

I paid 14€ for Jungle Beat and a set of bongos (new) some time ago. The only NPC game I got is Pikmin 2 because I heard it's much better than the first and the pointer controls add a lot to it.

[Chozo Ghost]

Can you use the bongos with the NPC version?

Does any third parties make the bongos, or are they still available cheaply anywhere?

[Peachylala]

Can you use the bongos with the NPC version?

Does any third parties make the bongos, or are they still available cheaply anywhere?

1) No.
2) I have never seen any third party bongos made, last gen or now. I don't know if the bongos themselves would be cheap... they are somewhat considered to be a collector's item since only three games (counting America only) made use of them.

But yes, Jungle Beat is awesome with the Bongos... makes my hands hurt though.

[Mop it up]

Check UncleBob's post up a few posts up, GameStop sells them for $2 if they have some. You can check and see if a store near you has any.

[UncleBob]

Actually - There was third party Bongos!

Pelican made both brown and black versions of the bonogs... http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-GameCube-Donkey-Konga-Bongo-Drums/dp/B00067GK7O

Personally, I never used them, so I can't commit on the quality of them.

And, for what it's worth, there is a fourth US title that uses the Bongos... sorta.

Odama.  The game was originally supposed to support the bongos and was switched over to the mic at some point.  Now, I don't know if this was left in by accident or on purpose, but during the game, if you have a set of bongos connected, you can clap (or tap the sides of the Bongos) and it will release troops.  Now, this isn't just some kind of alternative control scheme - because, during the game, before you could launch a new Odama (pinball), normally, you can't release troops.  However, with the Bongo method, you can!  It's all very weird.

[Mop it up]

Might it be possible that it has something to do with the input of the microphone is similar to the input of whatever noise recognition the bongo controller has?

[Stratos]

Except the mic plugged into the memory card slot and the bongos were hooked to the controller ports so there had to be purposeful programming to gather data from both input slots.

[UncleBob]

And you can't release more troops with the microphone - that took a button press.  And you can't release more troops with a button press when waiting to launch a new Odama - only with the Bongos...

[BranDonk Kong]

The "noise recognition" part of the Bongo controller = a microphone.