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"...
Topic: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004 (Read 11565 times)
