Pokémon – Page 11

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – May 2015

Um… preamble… I don’t know.

I recently paid to renew my webhosting. Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to any more. But I can’t let go. I just… I would be throwing away everything since 2006. You know, I kind of wish I actually could get a do-over and go back to 2006, with one very key piece of information.

Uh, but anyway, video games!

~ Game Over ~

Super Mario 64 (N64) – This has been my go-to Favourite Video Game for over a decade now, and to be completely honest, it’s getting harder and harder to sit through on each replay. Because it’s clunky and old. If there were a remake (with analog controls) I’m sure it’d be fine.

Jazzpunk (PC) – It’s a fairly short little comedy game. Not a lot of “game” to be had, with the exception of a bunch of cheap little mini-games peppered throughout. Mostly you just wander about and enjoy puns and sight gags. Good, but not $15 good.

Heart Beaten (3DS) – Essentially bargain bin Wario Ware, with very few games. It was fun while it lasted, though. And cheap!

Ultimate NES Remix (3DS) – Done and dusted. It’s a really great premise, but a little lopsided in the favour of Mario (to nobody’s surprise). Probably would’ve been even more fun if I hadn’t opted to get rainbow stars on every challenge. I’d love a Game Boy or SNES Remix to follow.

Continue reading Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – May 2015

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – April 2015

We’re going to mix things up a little this month. I’ve decided that the Game Over section should get first billing, and then have a rundown of what I’m currently playing. I think that putting the focus on my “accomplishments” for the month is a little more interesting. And when I say more interesting, I mean that for myself when I look back on these, not for you reading it right now.

Originally the idea of this feature was to keep track of what I was playing and encourage me to leave fewer games sitting half-done. That hasn’t been the case at all, as you’ll see if you look back at how many Now Playing entries just vanished and never showed up in Game Over. I still just start games on a whim and let them wither and die when something new comes along.

~ Game Over ~

Shadow of the Colossus HD (PS3) – If you’d told me that I could like SotC even more than I already did, I’d have said it wasn’t possible. But then I played it in 3D and here we are. Possibly the best (only?) reason to own a 3D-enabled TV.

BOXBOY! (3DS) – A brilliant little puzzle-platformer by HAL Laboratory. Not surprising, since everything they do is wonderful. The gameplay is incredibly thoughtful and satisfying, and you can dress up the main character, Qbby, as a rapper or a bunny or even a girl. Hooray!

Life is Strange: Episode 2 – Out of Time (PC) – I really liked Episode 1, and Ep.2 might have been even better. I don’t much care for hot button social commentary in my video games, but I think the “Internet Bullying/Slut-Shaming is Bad” theme was handled fairly well. I find myself caring about what happens to these characters, so… Good work, Dontnod. Keep it up. Continue reading Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – April 2015

Forever Rumblin’

A couple months ago, Nintendo rolled out their first freemium Pokémon game for 3DS, Pokémon Shuffle. I’m told that it’s the average mobile F2P match-em-up, but with Squirtles and Lucarios instead of candy beans or whatever. I played the crap out of it, in fact I continue to play a little bit each day, and I still haven’t spent a single cent on it. It helps that it is fairly regularly updated with new content and competitions.

Last week, the second free-to-play Pokémon spinoff came out: Pokémon Rumble World. Like the previous games in the Rumble series, it’s a fairly shallow action game that has you punch your way through scores of toy Pokémon and hoping to maybe take some home with you at the end of each stage. It’s good, simple fun, and World is the best incarnation of it yet.

For starters, it’s not the “keep giving us money and we’ll let you play more than five rounds a day” kind of F2P model. No, it’s more like you get the game for free, and then you can give up some bucks to unlock more content within it. And that content is all either permanent upgrades or new stages, too. Also, there’s a hard limit on how much money you can spend on the game (about $35), so it’s more like you’re buying a full game bit-by-bit instead of paying it all up front.

This is a pretty great model. Especially since the premium currency (pokédiamonds) are easy enough to come by for free in-game. There are daily challenges that reward skilled players with pretty decent payouts of pokédiamonds, streetpass milestones that award bunches of pokédiamonds, and if you streetpass people or have 3DS friends that are playing the game, their Miis can pop in and sometimes give you a diamond.

So there are two way you can play: take it slow and unlock everything for free, or pony up and have all of the game’s content delivered to you as soon as possible. Not too shabby. If you hit the spending limit, the game even gives you 20 free pokédiamonds every day to fritter away on the usual silly freemium things, like reviving if you’re defeated in a stage, or being able to play a stage again without waiting for the time limit to expire.

The only thing I really don’t like about Rumble World is that adding a specific monster to your stable requires a massive amount of luck. For one, simply getting a defeated Pokémon to join you is random, nothing you can really do about it. Not every Pokémon assigned to a stage appears every time you play that stage, which complicates things further. Worst of all, each world is divided into several areas, each with a pre-set Pokémon loadout, and you get to play one stage per visit to a world, and even then it’s picked randomly.

Certain Pokémon seem to only appear in the “FEVER!” version of each stage, which, as far as I can tell, comes about totally randomly. Like everything else. Needless to say, there are a lot of RNGs working against you if you’re trying to catch ’em all. It’s very much a “hope for the best” kind of situation.

On the upside, it’s still pretty fun to just carve your way through the stages, bopping Pokémon left and right. The way that the game mechanics and pokémon moves and strength levels work, it gives you lots of opportunities to play as monsters that otherwise amount to useless data. For example, I’ve been playing as a really strong Durant lately, and Durant is a Pokémon that has gotten exactly zero respect from me previous to this game. I use it because it’s quick, strong, and has a really efficient Bite attack. Contrast with Golbat, a Pokémon I normally love, but whose Acrobatics attack is really unwieldy in Rumble World, making it difficult to use effectively.

Certainly, Pokémon Rumble World is not a deep game, but it’s a decent way to kill some time now and then. And who doesn’t love the adorable little toy versions of Pokémon? So yeah, I’d recommend it. Besides, it’s free. What do you have to lose?

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – March 2015

Yeesh, it’s April already. Funny to think that as of today, I’ll have been a homeowner for exactly three years.

Fooled you! It’s actually May 1st that I took possession of my house.

That… that was terrible. Let’s just get onto the video game stuff.

~ Now Playing ~

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS) – As much as I love Smash Bros, I have to say that if I were restricted to one single game for the rest of my days, it’d be a MonHun game. Preferably this one.

Majora’s Mask 3D (3DS) – If I had to choose only one Zelda to play forever? It’d be Wind Waker, but Majora is a very close second.

Continue reading Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – March 2015

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – February 2015

February, February… I don’t really have any preamble for February. It certainly was a month.

I bought a New 3DS. That’s a thing that happened.

~ Now Playing ~

Super Smash Bros 4 (3DS/WiiU) – Duh. For the first time, I think I’ve actually spent more time this month playing the Wii U version. Sounds wacky, but Smash is really great on 3DS.

Hyrule Warriors (WiiU) – Thanks to the new DLC pack, this is back in the regular rotation.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS) – The cycle begins anew, and I couldn’t be happier.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP) – My brother had to re-purchase this for his Vita, and started from the beginning. Helping him work back up to a decent rank was a nice warm-up for MH4.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (3DS) – One of my favourite Zeldas, but with better graphics and a few of the wrinkles ironed out. Terrific.

Lufia: the Legend Returns (GBC) – I didn’t like it at first, then it got better, and now it’s just feeling like a slog. Starting to remember why I don’t play many RPGs any more.

Senran Kagura Burst (3DS) – The shallowest, most action-heavy title on my 3DS. Great for when you just want to kick a bunch of butt without any thought or effort. Also I’m not terribly opposed to all the jiggly bits. The exploding clothes are a bit much, though.

Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatake! Ouendan 2 (DS) – Music is what brought me out of my post-separation slump. This is what put the wheels in motion. Mostly I just played “Bambina” and “Countdown” over and over.

Rock Band 2 (360) – Rocked out a little bit. Why did I bother adding this?

Pokémon Shuffle (3DS) – Freemium match-em-up. Now with Squirtles and Kangaskhans!

~ Game Over ~

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (3DS) – Like the movie it’s based on, it’s surprisingly not a massive pile of garbage. Not great, but enjoyable. Much better than Magic Pockets’ last TMNT game, anyway.

Elite Beat Agents (DS) – Eventually I was Ouendan’d out, and moved into something a little more North American. Played obsessively for a week until I was able to be “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” on Sweatin’ difficulty. These games are so fun, I would really love to see another sequel…

Resident Evil HD Remaster (360) – Still a good one. Just a few tweaks away from being my ideal RE experience. Like, get rid of the crimson heads and busywork “puzzles” and it’s golden.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up – January 2015

January is a time for playing a ton of cheap digital games that I bought with my Xmas Fun Bucks. So hold onto your butts, this is going to be another long one.

~ Now Playing ~

Saints Row IV (PC) – This is my new favourite open-world game. It’s like Volition looked at Crackdown and said “You know what we should do? That. But let’s turn it up to eleven.” Well played, Volition. I’m currently sitting at 79% completion.

Woah Dave! (3DS) – Hearkening back to the arcade days, Woah Dave! is a simple game where you bounce around, chucking stuff at aliens. Also, you collect pennies. How quaint. Unusually addictive.

1001 Spikes (3DS) – Absolutely brutal “torture platformer” that’s still a lot of fun. I’m not really into games that make you play a level 50 times until you get it perfectly, but this one is scratching an itch that I didn’t know I had. I’ve cleared the first three “worlds” so far.

Dragon Quest II (iOS) – Finished the first one last month, so I plonked down a couple bucks for number two. Got up to recruiting the Price of Cannock.

Alphadia Genesis (WiiU) – Retro JRPG by Natsume. Bought this entirely on whim and a craving for, well, a retro JRPG. So far, it’s pretty shabby and not at all noteworthy.

Citizens of Earth (3DS) – It looked too much like Earthbound to pass up. It’s pretty good, but not anywhere near as endearing as Earthbound. I’ll never reminisce about playing this.

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (3DS) – Started playing some of the post-game content, but I’m feeling pretty apathetic about it. I think maybe I’m over Pokémon?

Lufia: The Legend Returns (GBC) – Apparently RPGs are a thing for me this month. It’s called Lufia, but it’s not like the Lufias that came before it. It’s got random dungeons and a weird but enjoyable 9-character battle system. I like it, but it’s a little grindy. Not even halfway through.

Super Smash Bros for 3DS/Wii U (3DS/WiiU) – I just keep on keepin’ on.

Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball (3DS) – Freemium Nintendo game where you can haggle over the price of the in-game purchases. I only bought the first mini-game, but it’s been pretty fun and sort of addictive. I don’t know if I’ll keep putting money into it though.

Assassin’s Creed II (360) – Plugged a couple of hours into this while waiting for something better to download. Probably won’t go back. It’s not bad, but I really don’t understand how it go so popular.

After Burner II (Arcade) – People seem to go ga-ga about these Sega 3D Classics, and this one looked really cool. I played it once until I died and didn’t think about it again until I wrote this blurb.

~ Game Over ~

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (WiiU) – The super-secret final bonus level… she’s too hard! But I beat every other stage and got all the stamps, so let’s say I won.

Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) – It was really hard, but also a whole lot of fun. And it’s got a really great super-secret final bonus level. Also really tough, but beatable! I scored 101%, but didn’t bother getting all the puzzle pieces or trying to complete the time trials or Mirror Mode.

Fairune (3DS) – Do you like old-school action RPGs? Do you like getting no direction on what to do, and having to push every rock and burn every tree on the map? Well then, Fairune might just be the game for you. I liked it well enough.

Ikachan (3DS) – A very short game about a little squid who has to save his urchin friends from the inevitable collapse of their cove. Took about an hour to beat, but was thoroughly enjoyable because it’s more or less the proof-of-concept for Cave Story.

Master Reboot (WiiU) – While it is plagued by shoddy craftsmanship from beginning to end, I think that it was interesting and engaging enough to be considered good. The final stage was a bit irritating, but otherwise, I’m glad that I played it.

Shovel Knight (3DS) – My favourite game of 2014. So much did I like it, that I bought a second, more portable copy. Yes, yes, I’m bad at money. W/E.

Crystal Monsters (DSi) – Cheap DSiWare Pokémon ripoff. It’s pretty bland, but I can take a picture with the camera and paste it on my monsters’ faces. So there’s that.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB) – Every time I replay this, I forget that Wario’s castle is harder than every other level combined.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate demo (3DS) – Normally I don’t do write-ups for demos because that’s stupid, but I spent a stupid amount of time playing this. It’s Monster Hunter. What can I say?

Kirby Triple Deluxe (3DS) – Replayed this because I needed something cheerful.

Gunman Clive 2 (3DS) – Short but oh-so-sweet. Surpasses the original in every way, and has one of my favourite final bosses in recent memory.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: December 2014

Merry MegaMas, everyone!

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~ Now Playing ~

Super Smash Bros for Wii U (WiiU) – Words about Smash Brothers.

Hyrule Warriors (WiiU) – Forever. It’s going to last forever.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (WiiU) – Delightful. Though sometimes needlessly cruel.

Always Sometimes Monsters (PC) – Slow going on this one. I’ve played through two and a half days, and it seems like there isn’t always something to do? Maybe I need to talk to more people. Unless it gets more interesting, I might have to shelve this one. It’s a shame, because it seemed really neat at first.

Super Smash Bros for 3DS (3DS) – I told you last month, it’s considered beaten, but I’m not done with it yet. Had to hunt down all of those trophies! …and then just play more.

Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) – Decided to go back to this for a bit because it’s wonderful and worth beating. We’ll see if I can make it though, as it gets incredibly difficult. Working on World 7 at the moment.

Alien: Isolation (360) – More of this happened, but very little progress was made. Stuck partway through chapter ten, I think?

A Kappa’s Trail (DSi) – A game I got for free through Club Nintendo. It’s one of those rare games that’s played entirely with the touch screen, but is also really good.

Sacred Citadel (PC) – I was intent on just burning my way to the end of this one, but then the difficulty spiked on Act 4 and I don’t really wanna grind levels…

Lucadian Chronicles (WiiU) – A card battle game. Free, so I gave it a shot. Passed the first chapter, don’t know if I’ll ever go back.

Saints Row IV (PC) – Here we go, down the rabbit hole again…

~ Game Over ~

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (3DS) – Nuzlocke victory!!

Mega Man Legends (PS1) – One of my favourite Playstation games. Some of the best 3D visuals on the machine, if nothing else (there is plenty of else).

Evoland (PC) – It’s a cute little indie game wherein you actually collect the game mechanics, graphics, etc as you go. Eventually it loses is way and ends up being about twice as long as it needs to be. Still, at 3-4 hours long, it’s not a dealbreaker.

Dragon Quest (iOS) – It’s Dragon Quest. There’s not a lot to say about it.

The Letter (WiiU) – Not the worst dollar I’ve spent, but I’m a little disappointed that Nintendo is apparently letting just anything onto the eShop. Whatever happened to quality control?

Dead Bits (PC) – It’s kind of crappy. But I only paid sixteen cents for it, so I can’t really complain.

~ Re-Runs ~

Mega Man 4 (NES) – Still my favourite Mega Man.

Mega Man IV (GB) – A wonderful game through and through, with the single glaring exception of Crystal Man’s stage. It is, in a word, poop.

Mega Man II (GB) – Yup, still embarrassingly easy. Terrible soundtrack.

Mega Man 5 (NES) – Almost as easy. The Protoman and Wily Castles have some challenging levels, and Charge Man is the only boss that isn’t a complete pushover.

Mega Man 3 (NES) – Great until Doc Robot shows up. Then it becomes almost unbearably hard.

Mega Man III (GB) – The exact opposite of MMII GB. So, very difficult and perfect music (or at least as close to perfect as the Game Boy is going to get).

Super Mario Advance (GBA) – Intended to play through every stage, but I accidentally warped past World 6. Didn’t even know that there was a warp in 5-3, because I always use the 4-2 warp.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: November 2014

Another month down, another month saturated with Smash Bros. Two flavours of Smash Bros this time, even! And also some other things. Mostly Zelda. Why do I even own any non-Nintendo machines?

~ Now Playing ~

Super Smash Bros for Wii U (WiiU) – Thank you, Nintendo.

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (3DS) – Having completed the Generation VII Pokédex in Pokémon Y, I decided to eschew my normal Pokémon tendencies and do a nuzlocke run. It was going really well until my Voltorb died and now I don’t know if I have the will to go on. Poor Vince, he was so young…

Hyrule Warriors (WiiU) – I’d be done this if it weren’t for the massive DLC packs that keep coming out. They add weeks and weeks to the game’s already-pretty-long lifespan. And I haven’t even finished the original Adventure Mode yet!

Wii Fit U (WiiU) – I really shouldn’t bother writing this in, but I’ve been using it a lot lately! Enough that I’ve even gotten passably good at that waiter game that I used to hate with a firey passion. Still, every time I turn it on, I get a sad from remembering that I lost my Fit Meter long ago.

Always Sometimes Monsters (PC) – I don’t even know where to start with this one. It’s a 2D RPG in a modern setting, where you’ve got to wrangle up a bunch of money to pay your rent. There’s more than that, but I feel like going into it would ruin it. It’s a bit slow, but it seems like a good way to spend a few Saturday mornings.

Alien: Isolation (360) – It’s too scary to type anything about it!

Super Mario Advance (GBA) – This was the only GBA game I owned for quite a while, so I played the ever-loving crap out of it. That also gave me great deal of nostalgia for it. I’d love for it to be HD-ified, because it’s my favourite version of Mario 2, but the colours look so faded and it doesn’t fit quite right in GBA resolution.

~ Game Over ~

Super Smash Bros for 3DS (3DS) – I’m not ceasing to play it, but I’ve cleared all the challenges, so I’m calling it beaten.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) – Probably should have lumped this one and Majora under “Re-runs” because I burned through them both fairly quickly, but I think the “Game Over” category has a little more clout. Or something. I really like Twilight Princess. This is the fifth time I’ve beaten it. To 100% (less the Poes because F the Poes).

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64) – I always start writing this feature near the beginning of the month, and initially I’d written a blurb about how I’d like a 3DS remake of this game to happen. Guess what was announced literally that afternoon. Still played the N64 version because I had just dropped $10 on the Virtual Console version. You’re welcome.

Picross e5 (3DS) – Yup it’s another Picross game. And I played it.

Spirits (PC) – Kind of like Lemmings, but less cartoony and more artsy. Also your spirits can’t do nearly as many things as lemmings, and any action effectively kills them. I played through all the levels, but I just don’t care about it enough to bother with perfect clears. I wish that would stop being a thing.

Mighty Gunvolt (3DS) – A cute little 8-bit freebie they gave away with Azure Striker Gunvolt (which I still haven’t played). Four stages and a final boss of very base-level Mega Man-style action. Not totally fulfilling, but a good way to kill twenty minutes.

The Love Letter (PC) – An adorable browser game that I wrote about a week ago.

~ Re-Runs ~

Mega Man X2 (SNES) – I usually play through Mega Man X once or twice a year, but I only go through X2 every few years and almost never touch X3. It’s really too bad, because X2 is pretty good. I just don’t know the optimal way through the game, so it seems like I end up revisiting stages to collect power-ups more than I should have to.

Comics that aren’t mine

I’ve been playing Pokémon Alpha Sapphire here and there between Zeldas and Smash Brothers, though this time I’m doing it a little differently. I’m playing Nuzlocke-style, which means that I can only capture the first monster I see in any given area, and that any of my pokémon that faint are considered dead and set free.

The challenge gives the game a little extra oomph, as it means you have a finite number of Pokémon to work with, and you don’t get to choose them. Good on this Nuzlocke fellow for coming up with an interesting way to keep the game fresh.

Also, he wrote and drew many comics about his own poke-adventures! They’re mostly about going through the poke-motions with the altered rules, but there are plenty of laugh-out-loud jokes in there. The art is pretty shabby to begin with, but it’s clearly because Nuzlocke is rushing these out the door and not putting much effort into them. They do start to look much better later on.

The only thing that I don’t like? The comic was abandoned only a few episodes into the White series. Things that end mid-story make me sad. But what can you do? Point of this post: Nuzlocke’s Pokémon: Hard-Mode comics were very much enjoyed by me, and they could be enjoyed by you too. Check ’em out.

There are other comics on his site there, but I haven’t read them yet. Investigate at your own risk.

Creepier than the average uncle

I suppose I probably should clarify a stance or something, but I’ve been trying to avoid any GamerGate-related talk on here because the only thing that’s good for is bringing people down, and I want my blog to be a more positive place. If I’m going to type anything depressing, it’ll be personal woes, not about people being horrible to other people.

For the record, I don’t think that social politics should be part of video games, so I don’t want to get involved. But I do believe that video games should be enjoyable for everyone. Men, women, everyone in-between. They’re not for an exclusive club of socially-challenged nerds. All my life I’ve been waiting for the stigma against gamers to go away, waiting for the day when I could play my 3DS on the bus and not have to feel like I’m being judged. GamerGate is just making it worse. It has nothing to do with journalistic integrity and everything to do with hatemongering. So yeah, I want GamerGate and all their stupid crap to go away.

But that’s just sort of a preamble for what I really want to write about today, because I honestly can’t say much about it: The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo. It’s a text adventure, which might immediately disinterest a few, but keep in mind that it’s short and you can probably reach the final ending within about 20 minutes.

The game starts out all cute and nostalgic, but quickly gets creepy and uncomfortable. It’s probably the most enjoyable Twine game I’ve played, which isn’t playing much, since I’ve only played like three. There are a handful of endings to earn, and the game does a very nice job of hinting towards ones you haven’t yet found. It also provides a very nice option to restart at the point in the game where your decisions start to matter, cutting out all the setup on replays.

I’d like to say more about it, but I don’t really want to spoil anything. The one thing I do want to mention is that if you make certain choices, the game does go down a very GamerGate-relevant path. Yeah, it gets a wee bit preachy, but it doesn’t detract from the overall experience.

I absolutely recommend checking out UWWFN long enough to find your way to the real ending. A good way to kill half an hour, if nothing else. And it’s a browser game, so you’ve got no good excuse not to. Just make sure you do it on a real computer and not your phone or tablet, because the audio component is pretty important.

Oh, and if you’re a big fraidy-cat like me, maybe play in the afternoon. It gets pretty spooky.