nintendo

2011: A Year Nintendo and it’s Fans Would Prefer to Forget

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As Microsoft, Sony, and to an extent, Apple, went on their merry way in 2011 with their gaming ventures, it seemed like Nintendo sputtered all the way through. As a lifelong Nintendo fanboy and a Nintendo-only console owner up until this generation, it’s tough seeing what Nintendo has done (and not done) in 2011. If you’re a Nintendo-only household and you’re as hardcore into gaming as I am, I feel your pain.

Let’s look at Nintendo’s fronts, discussed what went wrong and their outlook going into 2012.

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Fire Emblem Love Post of Turn-Based Strategic Bliss

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To even the most diehard Nintendo fans, the name Fire Emblem means nothing to them outside of Marth, Roy and Ike, who all appeared in various versions of Super Smash Bros. They may not be household names like Mario or Link, but little do they know that those three guys come from one of Nintendo’s oldest and longest-running franchises, which dates back to 1990. Most people also don’t know that the Fire Emblem series of games are awesome. I don’t think I could do my love for this franchise justice in a blog post, but I’m going to try anyway.

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Early Impressions of Donkey Kong Country Returns

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 The Donkey Kong Country series used to be a staple of Christmas cheer in my household. I received all three Donkey Kong Country games from Santa on the years they came out. Though I have extra-fond memories of the first one, all three games were pretty good. However, ever since Donkey Kong 64 in the late 90s, DK hasn’t really starred in his own platformer. Instead, he’s spent over a decade starring in spin-off titles and making regular guest appearances in games like Mario Party.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a welcome return to form. Besides being a return to Christmas tradition for me, this game goes back to the series 2D platforming roots. As of writing, I’ve just beaten world 2, but I wanted to share a few thoughts on what I’ve experienced so far.

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Nintendo Going To Great Lengths To Fix Metroid: Other M Saves

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Not too long ago, it was discovered that Metroid: Other M had a game-breaking glitch. If you got the Ice Beam and killed the spiked enemy behind you instead of proceeding through the door in front of you, the door wouldn’t open, which would make it impossible for you to proceed any further.

Nintendo has a fix for this. Just don’t expect it to be that convenient.

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Advance Wars: If Only Real War Was This Fun

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A lot of people tend to gloss over the fact that Nintendo does more than just Mario, Zelda and Metroid. If you look far enough into their catalogue, you’ll find a number of different games and franchises that span almost every genre. Some of these games maintain cult followings and steady sales, such as Fire Emblem and Kirby, while others fall by the wayside with only a few people caring that it likely won’t come back (unfortunately, I’m looking at you, Elite Beat Agents).

Though Advance Wars made its North American debut in the early 2000s, the series originated in the late 80s in Japan. Why did it take so long to make it to North America? I don’t know. But I can tell you that when it did, it blew my mind.
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Game Music I Love: Mega Man 2

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In Japan, Megaman is known as Rockman. He wasn’t named after rocks you would find on the ground. He was named after rock music. Other characters in the series have rock music inspired names, such as Roll (get it? Rock and Roll?), Bass and his sidekick dog, Treble.

At the time, the developers of Megaman 2 wanted to make a rocking soudtrack. Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t around in the early 1980s to put the sounds of real instruments. Instead, they composed one of the most rocking video game soundtracks ever using 8-bit sounds. As a youngster, I had no idea that was the creative vision behind the music. I just thought it was awesome.
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The Legend Begins

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I vaguely remember the first time I ever played the Legend of Zelda. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t old enough to go to school and I couldn’t read at the time. All I remember is getting the sword and running around the world, killing monsters. I was told that I was supposed to save a princess, but I had no idea how. I aimlessly wandered around the world and killed things, which at the time, was probably enough of a gameplay experience to satisfy my tastes.

It would take a few more years before I actually understood how to play a Zelda game, when I first got my hands on A Link to the Past. It would take a few years after that for me to finally “get it”, when Ocarina of Time left an impact on my gaming life that I still feel today.

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Tennis in Hell: The Virtual Boy is 15 Years Old

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Long before the August 14th, 1995 release of the Virtual Boy, I was excited to get my hands on one. Up until this point, Nintendo had never let me down. I had read all the preview coverage about the system and even entered a contest from a local newspaper that was giving one away. If that didn’t pan out, I was going to buy the Virtual Boy the moment I had saved up enough money for it.

Last week was the Virtual Boy’s 15th anniversary and I still don’t own one. I’ve had opportunities in recent memory to pick up up after the fact, but I’ve passed on it every time. Even if I did pick one up, it would be more for the humour in it than anything. The fall of the Virtual Boy is well documented, so instead of looking at the big picture, I wanted to talk about my personal experiences with one of the worst video game platforms of all-time.

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How Rambo Ruined My Childhood*

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*The post title may be exaggerating, a bit.

Rambo on the original Nintendo is a game I fondly remember for all the wrong reasons. Back when I was no more than 8 years old, I rented this at my local video store. It was the worst video game I’ve ever rented.

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Some Love for Air Fortress

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To most people, Air Fortress is a game they’ve never heard of. According to the Wikipedia page for the game (so the validity of this fact is questionable), only 385 copies of the game came out in the US. In any case, this is not a game anyone will mention, ever. This is a shame to me, because I think it’s a pretty awesome 8-bit action game. The game also has a strong sentimental value with me, but first, let me explain what the game was about if you’ve never heard of it. I’ve included a video below as well to further explain.

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