Paper Mario: Sticker Star

So, I don't know about you, but I'm REALLY excited about Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS.  The N64 and Gamecube titles in the Paper Mario series are two of my all-time favorite games.  The humor, gameplay, and music in these games is just phenomenal.  The humor in particular deserves a special mention.  I'll never forget the time Kammy Koopa (AKA the Mushroom Kingdom's resident stalker) told Bowser about her latest "Mario sighting" in Rogueport, only to have Bowser reply, "Am I Mario's baby-sitter?  I don't care what he's doing!  Are you going to call me every time that guy blows his nose, or what?"  I nearly died laughing after reading this line, and the dialogue in The Thousand-Year Door stayed just as humorous throughout.

And while I haven't seen the dialogue in Sticker Star yet (for obvious reasons), I'm confident it will be just as funny.  The gameplay looks to be just as sharp as previous installments, with a return to the turn-based battle system of the original Paper Mario games.  And as the title suggests, stickers will play a major role in the game and hopefully provide some...crafty puzzles.

Mario: Sports Star, Super Star, and now Sticker Star...what about Rock Star?

If that's not enough to get you excited, according to the Paper Mario wikia (http://papermario.wikia.com/wiki/Paper_Mario:_Sticker_Star), one of Mario's partners might be a Chain Chomp!  After being on the receiving end of Tutankoopa's Chain Chomp's bite in the original Paper Mario, I'm seriously looking forward to having C-Dawg fight for me.  It will be interesting to see how Mario teams up with him in the first place.  Does Mario infiltrate a heavily guarded fortress and set poor Chompy free from his abusive Koopa captors?  Or does the Chompstar* challenge Mario to a duel--a duel which Mario must win to secure the hungry hombre's partnership?

According to The Guardian, Chain Chomps were inspired by a traumatic experience Shigeru Miyamoto had with a dog tethered to a post (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/sep/13/games-gameculture).  But that still doesn't answer the question of what inspired Miyamoto to create Thwomps.  A traumatic experience with falling pet rocks perhaps?

We'll have to wait until the holiday season this year (an exact date has yet to be pinned down) for the answers to these questions and many more.  In the meantime, tell me how YOU feel about the Chain Chomp joining Mario's traveling circus, as well as anything else you'd like to discuss about the latest addition to the beloved Paper Mario franchise.

*Chompstar, not Chompster--it's more in line with the star motif

-Chain Chomp picture obtained from this link: <http://wii.wikia.com/wiki/Chain_Chomp>.

Hotel Dusk Review

So, I know that Hotel Dusk: Room 215 was developed by a game company called Cing, but it was published by Nintendo and released on the DS, so I think it deserves a mention on a Nintendo-themed blog.  And besides that, it's one of the most entertaining games I've played in a long time.

Hotel Dusk is about an ex-cop-turned salesman named Kyle Hyde who is looking for his former partner in the NYPD, a man named Brian Bradley.  Bradley betrayed the NYPD to a crime syndicate called Nile, leading Kyle to shoot him.  Bradley survived, however, and has been missing ever since.  Before he can find Bradley, though, Kyle has to make a delivery to Hotel Dusk, an inn packed to the brim with secrets.  How the hotel and Bradley's disappearance are connected is up to you to find out.

The name's Hyde...Kyle Hyde.

In case you couldn't tell by that paragraph, Hotel Dusk's story is very compelling and the main reason why I like this game so much.  A game doesn't always need an amazing story to be fun (rescuing Princess Peach for the eight millionth time would get old fast if the Mario games didn't have amazing gameplay, snappy dialogue, and catchy music), but games which combine stellar gameplay with a great story tend to make the largest impact (Majora's Mask, I'm looking at you).

For me, a large part of this game's enjoyment factor stems from Kyle's interactions with the other characters.  At first glance, Kyle seems like the stereotypically blunt ex-cop, but his conversations with a little girl named Melissa, for example, reveal his softer side.  One of the puzzles literally requires Kyle to help Melissa put her jigsaw puzzle together.  Some players may feel these puzzles are tacked on, but I enjoyed them because they furthered the character development.  One of Hotel Dusk's greatest strengths, then, is making activities which would be mundane in other games (e.g. connecting dots, rubbing a pen with chalk, etc.) fun.  If you're skeptical, don't worry--I was too.  But every one of these activities--no matter how seemingly insignificant or mundane--drives the plot forward.  And best of all, when you solve the puzzles, you feel smart.  And who doesn't like feeling smart?

Look!  Kyle's smiling!  You better take a picture because it won't last long.  ;)

Even I, though, will admit that some players may be disappointed with Hotel Dusk because it's a very text-heavy game.  The plot tends to drive the gameplay, rather than the other way around.  Personally, I had no problem with this, as I love to read and write when I'm not playing video games.  But some gamers may be bored with reading text box after text box, especially since there's no easy way to skip the dialogue.  But even if there was a way to skip the dialogue, you'd be missing out on the game's most important feature: its story.  This is one game that excels because of its story--strip that away and you're left with a point-and-click adventure much like any other.  In other words, you will love Hotel Dusk only if you enjoy character-driven stories.

So, if you like a good yarn like me, pick up this game NOW.  I bought it for only 20 clams on Amazon.  I honestly wasn't expecting much from this game, but Kyle's adventure stole a good 15-20 hours out of my life, and I couldn't be happier.  Fortunately for me, this game has a sequel too called Last Window: The Secret of Cape West.  I'm off to go play that game right about...now.

*First picture from this link: <http://kylehydedoingthings.tumblr.com/>

*Second picture from this link: <http://kylehydedoingthings.tumblr.com/post/11495638998/kyle-hyde-appreciates-a-meal>

*Third picture from this link: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Dusk:_Room_215>

Nintendo Crossword Puzzle!

So, I thought it would be fun to have a Nintendo-themed crossword puzzle.  With the help of armoredpenguin.com, I created the crossword puzzle you see below.  Comment if you solve it.  Enjoy!

Crossword Puzzle Nintendo 1 Enjoy!

Spotlight on Fierce Deity Link

So, I'm one of those rare (*cough* nonexistent) people whose favorite Zelda game is Majora's Mask.  I love the minigames (tell me you didn't love the beaver brothers minigame, and I'll call you a liar); I love the music (I'm listening to the "Song of Healing" right now); and I love the atmosphere (how many other games let you focus on reuniting two lovebirds when the moon's about to crash into the world?)  But I think many people would agree with me when I say that Fierce Deity Link was the most unexpected surprise in the game.  I know a lot of people were disappointed that you don't get to play as Adult Link in this game, but if you ask me, Fierce Deity Link more than makes up for it.  I mean, he has a helix sword which shoots out disks of energy!  How many characters do you know of that can do that?

And then there's the mystery of his origins: who and what is the spirit contained within the mask, and where did he come from?  Based on the "Deity" part in his name, he's obviously no mere mortal.  I've heard some people argue that the Fierce Deity is Majora himself, and Link is selling his soul to Majora just as the Skull Kid did when he donned Majora's mask.  But since Majora is the one to give Link the mask, how can he be in two places at once?  Then again, I imagine that such difficult things like bilocation would come naturally to deities.  And besides that, what was Majora's motive for giving Link the mask in the first place?  What if Majora gave Link the mask thinking that its dark powers would destroy Link?

With so much awesomeness to his name, why the heck isn't Fierce Deity Link a playable character in Super Smash Bros.?  Is it because the people at Nintendo are secretly afraid he'd be so powerful that he'd annihilate the other characters?  If so, I can't say as I blame them; the bosses in Majora's Mask are a pushover when you're Fierce Deity Link.

Even if the peeps at Nintendo don't include him a playable character in Super Smash Bros., I still think he deserves another game--one that could elaborate on his origins.  But since it's difficult to make a game starring a god, it would be interesting if the Fierce Deity started out as a mere mortal and then became a god, kind of like how Kefka became a god in Final Fantasy VI.  In other words, the game would have a similar structure to the other Zelda games, but it would be even darker than either Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess--arguably the darkest games in the Zelda series (and my two favorites).  Twilight Princess-style hallucinations would blur the line between good and evil as the Fierce Deity descends into madness and replicate that unique sense of atmosphere found in Zelda's two darkest chapters.

So, where do you think Fierce Deity originated from?  Do you think he was always a god, or did he become one like Kefka?  And most importantly, is the Fierce Deity good or evil or somewhere in between?  We may never know the answers to these questions, but with the possibility of a 3DS remake of Majora's Mask (go Operation Moonfall!), interest in the Fierce Deity and Majora's Mask in general might be revived enough for Nintendo to consider elaborating on this tantalizing possibilities.

Spotlight on Boo

So, as I was typing out the title for this entry, I realized how ironic it is.  As anyone who’s ever played a Mario game knows, Boo is a very shy critter who always covers his eyes with his stubby little hands every time Mario or Luigi turns around to confront him.  And with those sharp fangs, Boo could be a vampire ghost, making the “spotlight” thing that much more unlikely. 

Anyways, though, I decided to kick this blog off with Boo because I feel he (or she, depending on which game you’re playing) is slowly gaining the notoriety he deserves.  With prominent appearances in games like Paper Mario, Luigi’s Mansion, and Super Mario Galaxy, not to mention his role as a playable character in Mario Tennis Open and Mario Party 5-8, Boo is becoming well…aBOOndant.  But I don’t understand why he wasn’t playable in Mario Party 9.  True, he does don his crown as King Boo, but I’d much rather play as him than take him down.  Whenever I was playing as Boo in Mario Party 6 and my friends started booing me, I would just smile and say, “Yep, that’s my name—don’t you forget it!”  Funny how an insult can turn into a compliment when your name is Boo, isn’t it?