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In September 2001, I was
one of the lucky people
selected to go to The
Nintendo Show in London.
I was allowed to have an
exclusive hands-on with
the Nintendo GameCube
and Pokemon Mini. What
follows are my edited
impressions from the
show.
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Obviously, playing the
GameCube was the
highlight of my trip. As
soon as you pick up its
controller, you realise
how much Nintendo have
thought through the
design of this console.
It doesn't feel new, it
doesn't feel strange; it
feels natural, the
perfect (and final?)
evolution of the
standard controller. The
trademark A-button is at
the centre of this new
controller, surrounded
as it is by the novel
kidney buttons. Coming
straight off the
Nintendo 64 controller,
the new colours of the A
and B buttons can get
confusing when you
receive on-screen
prompts, but otherwise
the setup is fantastic.
You'll never be asking
"which one's square?" on
this controller.
The C-stick isn't
totally comfortable - it
obviously hasn't been
designed to be used in
the same way as the
Control Stick, but even
launch game Luigi's
Mansion makes extensive
use of it. There's a
similar problem with the
Select-replacement
Z-button, which is
located in front of the
R shoulder button. It
obviously hasn't been
designed as a regular
action button, yet many
of the games seem to use
it as one. The Control
Stick itself is
fantastic - more
comfortable and durable
than the Nintendo 64's,
though I felt as though
it had an unsmooth
reaction from low to
high pressure.
The controller itself is
tiny, and while it seems
small in pictures, you
have to have your hands
on it to understand just
how this smaller form
factor does wonders for
its Dual Shock template.
Even smaller
(comparatively) is the
console itself - while
it looks chunky and
square in photos, it's
small enough to get away
with it.
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The Pokemon Mini is a
new console from
Nintendo aimed directly
at small children. It's
incredibly small and
takes cartridges which
are possibly dangerously
small for kids. The
games are better
described as mini-games
that output low-res LCD
graphics, and are played
with tiny buttons and
d-pad. I can see
Nintendo's train of
thought - kids = simple,
but I don't see it
paying off when things
are this simple. Kids
need colour and vibrant
images, and they won't
find that here.
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One word: amazing! HAL
have taken the original
Smash Bros. template and
super-charged it. Truly
next-gen; the characters
look like CG renders,
and the levels are
dynamic to the point of
distraction. The Donkey
Kong level, for
instance, takes place on
a raging river with logs
hurdling over the side
of a waterfall. The
controls aren't as easy
to pick up as you'd
imagine, but once you
adapt to the slightly
altered control scheme
you'll see that all the
old moves are still
there, with some new
ones, too. Link's up+B,
for instance, has been
upgraded, and there's a
clever new pair of
characters called the
Ice Climbers, who you
control as a single
entity.
You can now collect
trophies to increase
longevity, and when I
was flicking through the
ones included in the
demo version I came
across a 3D model of
Marin! The new
single-player mode is
pretty cool too. It's
called Adventure mode,
and its a kind of
platform game where you
use your attacks, and
each level is based on a
character's game.
Mario's level is set in
the Mushroom Kingdom
where there are Koopas
and Goombas. The Zelda
level is beneath a well,
fighting ReDeads, and
the Metroid level is a
race to escape after you
defeat Samus.
If you though that the
first Wave Race was
realistic, you haven't
seen anything yet. This
new version has one of
the most realistic water
physics engines in the
world, meaning that even
waves generated from
other racers affects
your craft. In some
levels you can see right
through the water to the
sea bed, complete with
gorgeous coral reef. The
one minor complaint I
had with the game is
that you had to take
your finger off the
accelerator to change
the view. Everything
else served to pull you
right into the
experience; the force
feedback, the amazing
graphics, the intense
races, the rain on the
camera, hell, even the
menus! At one point I
started a race and by
the end a storm had
brewed and I was
enthralled. Along with
Rogue Leader and Smash
Bros, this game will do
great things for
GameCube on release.
This game started
development as Dinosaur
Planet, a Nintendo 64
game, and for a while,
it was graphically quite
obvious. Shigsy joked
about turning it into a
Star Fox game, and after
than fateful interview
Dinosaur Planet was lost
forever and Star Fox
Adventures emerged on
GameCube. It feels like
during transition, Rare
decided to conctrate on
the game's asthetics,
while leaving the
gameplay firmly in the
last generation. The
camera is okay, but the
combat is terrible. The
targeting is a "focus"
system which loosely
locks you onto a target.
Its far too erratic and
weak to be of any use.
The overworld of the
game is really
claustrophobic -
everything feels like a
series of rooms rather
than an overworld. I cut
my time with the
Adventure demo short to
play the Flight demo,
which was meant to be a
classic Star Fox level.
While it bore some
semblence to the
previous Star Fox games,
"classic" it wasn't.
Overall, dissapointing.
As much as I enjoy
action/horror games with
puzzle elements, they
must meet a couple of
requirements before I
like them. First, they
must have action, and
second, the puzzles must
actually require
thought. Unfortunetly,
Eternal Darkness is
sluggish and boring. The
combat is reduced to
stabbing and stabbing
and stabbing until
things start dieing
dieing dieing, and as
there's little chance of
being hit back, you
start to wish you could
turn the knife on
yourself.
It seems almost criminal
to think that, along
with NBA Courtside,
Rogue Leader received
the least space of all
the GameCube games. 2
whole machines. Not only
was it the most
gorgeous, polished games
there, it also drew in
the biggest crowds
(possibly thanks to this
bottle-necking
procedure). There were a
load of missions open,
and I went for the
Bespin one. Silly of me,
because that happened to
be the the hardest and I
looked a tit infront of
heckling journalists
when I couldn't finish
it. The other two
missions were the Hoth
and Death Star classics.
The attention to detail
was stunning - the
shadows of the X-Wing
warped across the walls
of the Death Star
trenches. AAA.
Oh dear. Poor Luigi. His
brother has been lost in
a haunted mansion, and
its been left to Luigi
to rescue him.
Unfortunetly, the game
seemed awkward and
repetative - it was a
case of flailing around
a room and hoovering it
all until a ghost
appeared. When one did,
shine your torch on him
and then hoover him.
Rinse, lather, repeat.
Boring.
At first, this game
didn't interest me
because I hadn't played
sports games in years. I
remembered that it was
an NBA game the
convinced me to make the
leap from Mega Drive to
Saturn, and gave it a
go. They've done a
cracking job of this
game - apart from the
realisim of players and
courts, the game was as
fluid as in real life
thanks to the use of
C-Stick to pass in your
chosen direction.
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Mario Kart 64 is
undoubtedly the greatest
game in the series for a
variety of reasons, but
my main reason is the
rally-esque nature of
the handling, and the
way you need to master
power sliding to do
well. They seem to have
reverted to the handling
in Super Mario Kart with
this incarnation, and
its a change I just
can't deal with. The
tracks look like flat
versions of their N64
brethren, and the items
are the same, so its
just a shame the
handling is so
different. The battle
mode is great, though,
because you don't know
where everyone is.
The decision to remake
Super Mario Bros. 2 for
GBA was not a wise one.
Easily the worst in the
series, it would have
been wiser to use Super
Mario Bros. 3, or World.
Nintendo are rectifying
their mistakes though,
and they're porting
World for Advance 2. It
isn't getting any kind
of make-over, despite
the GBA's stronger
graphical ability than
the SNES, and the
multiplayer component is
the same Mario Bros.
from the last Advance
title. Poor. While Super
Mario World is one of
the best platformers of
all time, this happens
to be one of the laziest
ports. Don't support
this.
The Wario Land series
was made to replace
Mario on the Game Boy so
they could experiment
with new features that
wouldn't fit Mario. The
series got very engaging
and clever - with one
installment shielding
you from damage. In this
game, you can get hurt
but you also need to use
enemy skills, so there's
an interesting balance
to be found. When you
finish a level, you have
to run to the start of
the level before a timer
goes off so you can face
the bad guy. The worlds
look vibrant and lively,
but I can see the game
getting a bit repetitive
after a short while.
Pilot is basically a
reinterpretation of the
flight section in the
N64's Diddy Kong Racing.
Apart from the fact the
flights take place on a
flat Mode 7 track, the
mechanics are recreated
superbly. The mid-air
boosts and weapons are
all back, while rival AI
puts up stiff
competition through the
lengthy races. The
biggest innovation comes
in the form of the tilt
cart, which betters
analogue control in this
situation.
I soon lost my temper
with this game. I didn't
know what the point of
it was, and it
controlled really
sluggishly. It was also
a "one touch and you're
dead" kind of game, and
I've never got on with
those. The graphics did
a good job of stretching
the GBA, but some
backgrounds were a
little glitchy.
As with all RPGs, you
need a bit of time to
sit down and play them
properly. Even in this
sweaty, rushed
atmosphere, I could see
the game was promising.
The battles were solid,
especially graphically,
and the overworld map
was huge. When you
entered a battle, you
had the chance to use an
item, run or fight.
Then, if you chose to
fight you could attack
or use magic. The first
battles were easy and
soon over, but I can see
the game serving some
epic conflicts in later
levels.
Iridon is a shooter like
Star Fox. It tries to
fake 3D, but I left when
it became apparent that
it was impossible to
judge distance, a flaw
that punished me with
many an unneeded
collision.
Personally, I couldn't
see much "advanced"
about this game. It same
as any other Gradius
game, only you ship
moves really sluggishly
and your bullets are
about 1 pixel big.
Backtrak is one of the
first FPS games for the
GBA, but with a low
framerate, unresponsive
controls and short draw
distance, maybe it'll be
one of the last.
This isn't how you make
a good game. Leave the
Streets of Rage
theatrics to Sega and no
one will have to suffer
controls as sluggish as
these. Simplistic, yet
somehow unwieldy.
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In all honesty, I didn't
spend as much time with
this game as I would
have liked. As far as I
could tell, this game
does for Pokemon Gold
and Silver what Yellow
does to Blue and Red.
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Paper Mario started life
as the long-awaited
sequel to the amazing
Super Mario RPG.
Unfortunately, the game
ended up as something
rather different; the
graphics lose their
appeal after some time,
and the combat is for
children. The little
storyline I saw was
incredibly simple.
In the Pokemon section
of the show, there was a
set of five Pikachu N64
consoles set up in a
circle, all playing
Stadium 2. It's pretty
much the same as the
first, plus 100 monsters
from Gold/Silver. After
a couple of moves, I put
my dual-coloured Pokemon
controller down and
headed, quickly, for the
door.
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