Amiibo Game Ideas!

Amiibo's are proving very popular with Nintendo fans! However, the only game to fully utilise them at the moment is Smash Bros. I know they can be used in basic ways in other games such as Mario Kart 8 and Hyrule Warriors but they don't really take advantage of them. So I've been thinking of some other cool ways that Amiibo's could be used in other games to make them even more fun!!

Mario Maker:
Maybe this idea would be more suited to a more general game maker from Nintendo, but the idea of placing the chosen character anywhere in the level, either as an enemy, an npc or a player character could be a lot of fun! Imagine for example, you want to play as MegaMan in the game, so first you'd place the start icon then hold megaman up to the gamepad, and voila, megaman is now your playable character! Say he was supposed to fight Dark Pit at the end, you'd take the dark pit figure and scan it in as a Boss and there you have it! Players could finally make the proper Mario & Sonic game they have always dreamed of!

This could make for some really unique settings and a game reminiscent of the mash up of characters that was the Subspace Emissary in Brawl! But one that was entirely user created!

Each Amiibo character could also come with their own set of objects and items for the level editor, based on their own series. Or provide alternate themes such as a Donkey Kong Country inspired one or Metroid themed one for Samus!

They should just rename it Nintendo Maker! It would be amazing!! :D


Mario Kart 8:
I know this would take a lot of work on Nintendo's part, but as they already have many non-Mario characters, I think it would be great if, instead of just giving your mii a new outfit, you could actually play as whatever Amiibo character you wanted and get them added to the proper character roster! Imagine playing as Sonic in Mario Kart! I thought Link was strange enough!

Kirby:
Does kirby need a new ability? Scan in the Amiibo character you want to turn into and Kirby will eat it and gain their ability! This shouldn't be too hard as he can already eat everyone in Smash Bros anyway! Could be used to solve puzzles too, need a fire ability? Scan in Samus! Need to go extra fast to get somewhere? Scan in Sonic!

Starfox:
Need some backup, call in an Amiibo to fly alongside you and help you shoot down Andross's army! Each Arwing could be designed based on the character you scanned in. Imagine Link flying round in an Epona styled Arwing (They already did it with a motorbike in Mario Kart!)! Or Donkey Kong flying past in a barrel, shooting banana skins out into space!

Nintendo Sports Games:
I'm not so much a fan of sports games in general, but I do enjoy some Mario Golf or Tennis occasionally, I even enjoyed Mario Strikers although i'm not a fan of football at all! Instead of "Mario" Golf etc, they could make a general "Nintendo" sports series and allow you to play as your favourite characters!

Animal Crossing:
Want your favourite Nintendo character to move into your town and kick out that annoying Sheep for good? Talk to Tom Nook and ask him to kick out a villager and replace them with an Amiibo! Have you always wanted to live next to Gannondorf? Of course not, but now you can anyway! You could save their house layouts onto the Amiibo and bring them round to a friends house so they too can share a neighborhood with the Dark Lord!

Let me know what you guys think! And if you have any game ideas you want to share, feel free. I'd love to hear them!

My Amiibo's so far!

Thanks for reading.

Game Freak's 25th Anniversary! A look at their Non-Pokemon games!

Most of you probably know Game Freak as the creators of the Pokemon franchise, with over 200 million games sold, it's one of the most successful gaming franchises of all time. What most people probably don't know is the other games that Game Freak have made not related to Pokemon. Let's have a look at some of those now! I'll also take a look at some of the people who made this all possible! I'll try to provide links to articles about the games!

Founded on April 26th 1989 (I actually begun writing this back in April...) , Game Freak's first game was a game for the Famicom called Quinty. But the story of Game Freak goes back even further than that...

The first idea of "Game Freak" came from a video game magazine created in the early 80's by the founder, Satoshi Tajiri. He was a huge fan of Space Invaders and decided to make his own game magazine, as there wasn't any other publications around at the time. The magazine was made by hand and distributed among friends. Over time it went from being a hand written magazine made with a photocopier, to one with proper printing and graphics, it ended up being quite popular and one issue even sold over 10,000 copies! From this magazine he got into making games through the help of some of his contributors, they decided to create a company simply for the reason that a lot of the games back then weren't very good!

Satoshi Tajiri has said openly that some of his creativity and obsessive nature in designing his games comes from his aspergers syndrome. In an interview with Time magazine back in 1999 he stated that he sleeps for 12 hours then stays awake for 24 because he feels he can be more creative working those hours!

Ken Sugimori, another name you might recognise as the Pokemon Artist, joined the company and worked as an artist on most of the games. Apparently, he joined the magazine after finding it in a Doujin (Fan books) shop!

1989
So, the first game that Satoshi and his friends made in their new "Game Freak" company was a NES game called Quinty, or Mendels Palace in the US. It was an action puzzle game. I have not had the chance to play it but from what I've read online it seems like a fun little game. The main idea is to push the opponents off a board by running across tiles or cards on the floor.

The creation of Pokemon took six years, during this time, Satoshi also worked on some other games, some for Nintendo such as Mario & Wario and the Yoshi game for NES and GameBoy. As well as some for other companies, such as Pulse Man for the Sega Mega Drive. The next game they made though, was a Super Famicom Game called Jerry Boy. Jerry referring to the name of the main character, it was re-titled in the US as Smart Ball. A sequel was planned but unfortunately never released.

A lot of these early games also have manga adaptations created by Ken Sugimori! As well as one project he worked on called Valkyrie no Bōken Gaiden: Futari no Megami, which is actually an early visual novel type game for windows, made not with Gamefreak, but with Namco... He went on to personally design all of the original 150 pokemon! Theres a cool Ken Sugimori art book avaliable for anyone who's intrested in his work.

1991
Now onto some of the Nintendo titles they produced while working on Pokemon. First is a NES and Gameboy game simply titled, Yoshi. The game is a very basic puzzle game where the aim is to move mario around a small screen to match up enemies and objects that fall from the sky. If you like up an egg (match the bottm half with the top half) a Yoshi will hatch from it. It's a very basic puzzle game and to be honest, it gets dull fast. Even so, this was a big step for Game Freak and Nintendo working together.

1992
Magical Tariruuto-Kun was their first forray into developing for a company outside of Nintendo, this was a traditional platformer for the Sega Megadrive. A game I have had the chance to play, I don't think its an amazing game buts its fun for a while!

1993
After Yoshi, another, much better puzzle game starring Mario was also released, Mario & Wario is a Japan only SFC (Super Famicom) game which used the SNES Mouse to control Mario around a stage. For some reason, Mario has a bucket on his head so you have to use the mouse cursor to remove obstacles and guide Mario on his way through many challenging levels in order ot reach the goal. It's a fun game and makes great use of the mouse peripheral. The game was actually referenced in the original Red and Blue (Green in Japan) Pokemon games, when the player interacts with the TV in his house at the start, it says "A game with MARIO wearing a bucket on his head!" The bucket on Mario's head can also be seen as a treasure in Kirby's Fun Pak / Super Star and as a trophy in Smash Bros Melee!

1994
Their next Non-Nintendo outing was in the form of a futuristic 2D Action Platformer called Pulse Man. It was only available in Japan, however, it had a re-release on the Wii virtual console in all regions so now anyone can play it! There's many references to Pulseman within the Pokemon games, including Pokemon that are based on Pulseman's design such as Pawniard and Bisharp, as well as the move Volt Tackle being a reference to Pulsemans signature move in the game.

After their short time with Sega, they went back to Nintendo and worked on a Puzzle game for the SFC called Nontan no Issho: Kuru Kuru Puzzle. The game looks quite similar to Panel De Pon or Tetris Attack. There was also a Gameboy version in production at the same time.

1996-1997
There were two more games that Gamefreak Developed whilst working on the original Pokemon games, they are BUSHI Seiryūden Futari no Yūsya, an RPG for the Super Famicom. And Bazaar de Gosāru no Game de Gosāru , a platformer for the PC Engine. All I can find out about this game is that it has a monkey in it?? Probably the two least well known of all their games.

1998
After these early games, development coninued on Pokemon Red and Blue (Green) until they were completed. It didn't all go smoothly though, at some point, they were about to go bankrupt and an internal company at Nintendo, Creatures inc. partially bought them out. After the success of Pokemon, Nintendo hired Game Freak to help with their Gameboy Camera project. The Gameboy camera is more than just a digital camera for the gameboy, it also inclused some really fun games, a video editor and a music maker! really advanced for its time despite running on very old and basic hardware! Gamefreak did an amazing job with it!

1999
Strangely, their next game was a PS1 only game, Click Medic, with very little about it online and a Japan only release. It was a medical simulation game kind of like trauma center and actually looks pretty fun with colourful graphics and characters!

2005
After this, Gamefreak became too busy with the success of Pokemon, they contiuned to work on the franchise all the way up until Pokemon Emerald, After this and before Diamond & Pearl, they took some time out to create an experimental game for the GBA. This game was Drill Dozer. A very unique game about drilling. The cart came with a built in rumble feature which made it feel like an actual hand held drill as you were playing. The game is fast and fun and definitely has that classic Gamefreak graphic style, even though it was a huge departure from their normal games.

2013
After that, they went back to coninuing the Pokemon series for DS this time, it wasn't until 2013 that they decided to take another chance at releasing something completely different. This time it was a strange music rhythm game for the 3DS eShop called Harmoknight.

2014
Before they jumped back into Pokemon, there was one more game, released only in Japan, called SolitiBa which is a horse racing game. Yet another interesting departure for the company... This year they also released Solibata on IOS and Android, marking their first step into the mobile market.

This brings us up to date, with Game Freak just having released Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, is it time for them to take another break and come up with a new original idea? Or would you prefer them to continue making Pokemon games?

Thanks for reading!

If there's anything I've missed out or got wrong, please let me know and i'll correct it!

Five SNES Hidden Gems

Five unique games you probably haven't heard of, but definitely should play!

PLOK

The game involves you playing as Plok on a quest to find his stolen flag, and then ridding the world of fleas. (for some reason?!) At one point PLOK also dreams of his Grandfather also going on a journey for a magical amulet, this part of the game plays out in black and white which is really cool and unique!

PLOK is a typical platformer with some quite unique ideas and some amazing graphics and music! You can throw your arms and legs at the enemies to defeat them as well as getting many optional weapons and power ups from hidden presents within the levels. There power ups can range from  weapons such as a shotgun or a firemans hose, to vehicles such as helicopters and motorbikes! The game also has loads of secrets and awesome boss fights!

Prehaps recently it has gained some popularity thanks to the creator beginning to make a new comic series starring the series' hero PLOK. You can read it HERE

• Stunt Race FX

 Created with the same FX chip that was used in Starwing which I mentioned in my last post, The game looks and plays great if you can get past the shoddy frame rate! The game has a really fun style to it with lots of character, the cars even have eyes and personalities! The levels are all really colourful and inventive and the bonus levels provide a nice change of pace from the normal races.

• Super Aleste

 Part of the Aleste series, this game is also known as Space Megaforce! Which I think sounds much cooler! It's a great vertical scrolling shoot em up, something the Snes doesn't have many of... It plays just as you would expect, with many different shot types and some interesting environments to fly though. Most importantly though, it has loads of intense boss fights and an incredible soundtrack!

• Tetris Attack / Panel De Pon

 Not the Tetris everyone will be thinking of. This is a totally different game, it might take a while to get used to if you've only played standard tetris. The blocks are all on the playing field from the start and the player has to rearrange them in order to line them up and make them disappear. The blocks continuously emerge from the bottom of the screen, pushing the exiting blocks further up. The higher the difficulty level, the faster these blocks appear. Its a really addictive puzzle game and well worth playing! The European release included famous Nintendo characters and music from many Mario and Yoshi games, whereas the Japanese version features all new characters and environments. Some poeple might know the panel de pon music and characters from the recent Smash Bros games.

• Illusion Of Time

 I think I will forever regard this game as the best I have ever played, perhaps not the best gameplay, not the best story, but for me, something just clicked. The characters came to life, the game completely involved me in the deep intricate plot, embarking on the journey with Will and Kara through the world in the age of exploration felt real. All the characters in the game had a real connection to what was happening and felt like they really beloinged in the world and played their part in creating a deep experience.

The gameplay is just as strong as the story, It's right up there with the 16-bit giants such as Secret of Mana and Link To The Past. The levelling system made each area have purpose and gave you a reason to track down each and every enemy. The boss fights provided a good challenge and the music helped create an engrossing atmosphere all the way through. Not a single moment in this game feels wasted or drawn out, the story continues at a good pace all the way through and the ending leaves you shocked and gives you something to think about long after the game is over. An absolutely essential game for the Snes and one I can not recommend enough!

Thanks for reading!

Starfox Series Review!

With the recent reveal of Starfox for WiiU I thought it would make a good time to look back on the series and share my thoughts on each entry (I will be using the UK names not the US ones so sorry for any confusion!), starting with...

Starwing

Made using the power of the Super FX chip (which has a really intesting history behind it!), Starwing was one of the first true 3D games of any video game console. Compared to something simmilar at the time such as Space Harrier it was a huge leap forward in game design and technology! It looks quite rough now, but back then it was mindblowing. The gameplay on the other hand, still shines just as strongly as the graphics once did!

Super fluid (In the 60HZ version at least) controls make for a great arcade like experience, with abilities such as upgradable your lasers and wings to doing stunts such as the famous "BARREL ROLL" slow down and speed up your ship for a certain period of time and fly with your Arwing entirely sideways, it's a joy to play and feels like you're always progressing... Until you get "WING DAMAGE!"

The levels were designed with these intuitive controls in mind with the inclusion of tight spaces to navigate and even a tutorial level with obstacles and challenges such as flying through close rings to practise the controls helped make this game more than just a simple flying game. Another usique inclusion is the fact that your team mates can be seen flying through the stage, and at certain times they will requre your help to defeat certain enemies or to save them from being destroyed! The team all have personalities too which helps add to the atmosphere! Who can forget the whining of Slippy Toad or the fighting spirit of Falco Lombardi?!

The game is also unique in the way it tackes level progression and difficulty levels. By using a map with three distinct routes to take to the final destination. Each one has completely unique levels to play through which makes for fantastic replayability! There are also hidden secret areas such as the famous "Out of this dimension" area, which is accessed somewhere in the meteor field.

 There was actually a sequel in production, and it was fully completed, but pulled from distrubution so that customers would focus more on the 3D capabilites of the N64. A ROM of the entire game can be found online and played via an emulator!

Starwing was one of the games I would always play after school, I never managed to get very far though it wasn't until much later that I finally defeated Andross and saved the Lylat System! Talking of the Lylat system...

Lylat Wars

This is how a sequel should be done! Taking everything that was good about the original and simply making it better! The graphics, the story, the gameplay, levels, everything about this game was amazing. It was also the first game to take advantage of the rumble pack which actually came with the game in a special big box editoon.

 

Lylat Wars has a very cinematic feel to it with action packed levels with huge set pieces and varying missions. This game does away with the choice of three separate maps to follow, instead, the player chooses which level comes next by completing a certain mission within the stage. This makes the game even more replayable than the first, having to hunt out all the objectives in a stage to find a way to a new location was a lot of fun and very challening too!

 

There's a reason why, for many people, this is still considered to be the best in the franchise.

Starfox Adventures

A very big departure from the previous games in the series, Adventures wasn't even a Starfox game until late into development. In fact, the game had been almost finished as an N64 game called Dinosaur Planet, until Nintendo stepped in and suggested that Rare include Star Fox and re-make the game for the new GameCube console (Much like how Starfox 2 was cancelled in favour of the N64). The change in direction was met with mixed results...

I however, loved it! Taking the best parts of Starfox and mixing it with the Zelda formula made for a fantastic game in my oppinion. It retained Rare's quirky game design and ability to create amazing 3D adventure worlds. The graphics were once again mind blowing. (and still are) The characters are fun and memorable, and the newcomer Krystal became a permanent member of the Starfox team! Even prince Tricky made several appearences since!

The game mostly takes place on the planet Sauria (At the time known only as Dinsaur Planet), with you as Fox McCloud exploring the land and trying to piece it back together.

The planet had been blasted out into space and became a threat to the Lylat System after a war broke out between the Dinosaurs and an invading force lead by the evil General Scales.

Through his journey he is also trying to save Krystal who has been inprisoned in a placed called the Krazoa Palace, which is apparently the place all the spirits need to be returned to if the dinaosaurs want a chance of stopping General Scales and piecing the planet back together! Of course, it turns out that Andros was the one to blame for the planet cracking open, and once again the Starfox team destroy him, with the help of Falco who flies in to help out... Although he wasn't even in the game until the final battle!

The arwing is used to fly between parts of the broken up planet, and serve as a reminder that this is infact a starfox game!

It also deserves some attention for being Rare's last console game for Nintendo before beight bought my Microsoft... RIP.

Starfox Assault

Taking the game somewhat back to basics, Assault was developed externally by Namco, as part of their new Triforce colaboration, there were plans for an arcade version as well though sadly, that never happened.

The game seemed to be going through development hell for a long time with several delays and to be honest, absolutely terrible early footage.

When the game finally came out though, all fears could be put to rest. It was another epic game with a style simmilat to Lylat Wars.

As well as the standard flying stages, Assault also had on foot and land master stages too. As well as some levels which combined all three. This made for a very varied experience, I find all three gameplay styles fun, although some complains can be made towards the odd controls on the ground sections. The graphics are once again, amazing. Though not quite up to Adventures levels of amazing.

This game really does feel like playing a movie, with much improved cinematics and a completely orchestral soundtrack with remixes of previous starfox music as well as some amazing original tracks. As well as some of the best boss fights and staged in the series history! One part of the game that always stays in my mind is standing on the wing of an Arwing and shooting down aliens on a snowy planet, then landing and running around the planet on foot!

All this adds up to one of my personal favourite Starfox games and a fantastic addition to the GameCubes library!

Starfox Command

I really don't have much to say about command, it didn't grip me like the previous games did. I couldnt get used to the much slower pace of the game and constant talk from all the characters. The game has more of a strategic feel with you positioning the great fox on a map and occasianally entering battles which all take place in large open arenas, simmilar to the "All range mode" sections in Lylat wars and Assault.

Apparently it does have an interesting story and deep gameplay but I couldn't get into it.

Long story short... I dont like it.

Starfox 64 3D

The latest game in the series is a remake of the fan favourite, Starfox 64. Not much has changed apart from the obvious inclusion of better graphics, and good use of 3D! There are some new gyro controls but I much prefer to stick with the stick.. pun intended. ;)

All in all a great game, but not the next step forward for the starfox series.
...

Looking forward to seeing what direction they choose to take the series next!

A small glipse into the future of the Starfox series!

Thanks for reading!

5 reasons why Super Mario Land is my favourite Mario Game!

That's right, my favourite Mario game is not the first, not the amazingly inventive Galaxy, not the sun drenched tropical paradise that is Sunshine, not even the ground breaking 64... Super Mario Land is perhaps the most simple of all the games in the series, and that's partly why I love it so much!

These are the 5 reasons why I LOVE Super Mario Land!

5:
Speed

Not just how fast the game is, but also how quickly it can be completed! I am still practising to try and attempt the world record speedrun! according to what I could find on google and youtube, the current best time is 12:45... time to get practising again! Its perfect for handheld play, a great way to pass the time! I've been playing the game on and off since the gameboy was the only hand held worth playing (Sorry GameGear!) and I never get bored of it! Theres plenty of replay value too because when you finish it, the game begins again in "Hard Mode" with many more enemies and harder levels!

4:
Simplicity

No map, no level select, no story, nothing to get in the way. pure gameplay and fun. The way these kinds of games should be! Too often with the newer Mario games do I get annoyed at finishing a level, only to be greeted with a transition to the map screen, then making me walk slowly to the next point on the map, then look at another transitional screen, then a title of the level then finally I get to play, that is, unless I need to do a mini game to get many many unessecary extra lives...! For these kinds of games, where there are no branching paths or secrets to find on the map, please let there be an option to just go from level to level! This is what annoys me most about the new Sonic games as well!

3:
Variety

This is nothing like any other Mario games out there, instead of bowser, you're fighting an evil space alien called Tatanga. The fireballs bounce all around, the Koopa's shells explode when you jump on them.. Mario pilots an aeroplane (the Sky Pop) and submarine (Marine Pop) , Mario travels around the globe from the Pyramids to Ancient China, Easter Island and beyond... As this was only the second proper mario game, there wasn't really anything for them to go by, much like how Zelda II is a strange depatrure from the first, so too is Mario Land.

 

2:
Music...

1:
Gameplay!

Pixel perfect controls with no lag and super precise jumping mechanics! maybe the second game is smoother but the smaller sprite size in this one definitely makes it more enjoyable to play, for me at least. B to run, A to jump. No double jumps, no wall jump, no backflips just classic run and jump gameplay! Thats all you need to know!

Thanks for reading,

Go play Mario Laaaaand! :D

Its also avaliable on VC for those of you that don't own a Gameboy!