MIDI Week Singles: "Player Screen" - Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (NES)

"Player Screen" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1991)

Composer: Paul Webb

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Sculpted Software, Bits Studio

Despite how much time I sunk into Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on the NES, it was one of those games that I was never able to beat.  This is in part because of the difficulty factor, but also because it was one of those games that had to be completed in a single sitting.  One of the great things about this game was that there was an inventory system that allowed you to have anybody hold nearly any object you gave them, regardless if it was a weapon or a saddle.  At one point, you are supposed to talk to Maid Marian's handmaiden which causes you to hand over your servant Duncan.  But if you just didn't talk to her, then you could keep Duncan for the rest of the game, which was important because you could have him hold meat (health items) in his hands and well as stock him up with other health items that you could not fit into Robin's own inventory.

"Player Screen" which is the unofficial title of the track since there was no official soundtrack released, is the music that would play while you are performing inventory management with the various characters in your merry band.  Whenever this song crops up, I immediately think of placing these giant legs of meat in both of Duncan's hands being while stuffing his pockets with more meat, apples, and loaves of bread.  I mentally laugh at the absurdity of this, but the music itself I think is quite good and is underrated considering how well the game did not do.

Poor pack mule Duncan.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Getting Stronger Every Day



P.S.  If you happened to enjoy this tune, we covered a few more of Paul Webb's music from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves four years ago in a Game Scores post over on our old site.

First Impressions: Part III: Nintendo Switch Games

Disclaimer:  This is Part III of my First Impressions review of the Nintendo Switch, which I know has already been out 178 days and there are plenty of reviews that were out weeks before the system was even released to the greater public.  But those people are not us, so here we are.  Part I of this First Impressions Series covered the menus and semi-overall organization of information on the Switch, while Part II covered 66% of the controller options.  The final article here will look at the games currently available, those coming out and why I personally am not a great metric for Nintendo Switch games.

The first game that I wanted to pick up after getting the Switch was Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, while common belief would have led you to believe that I would have jumped at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but since the Switch was meant to be a joint console for Conklederp and myself, it did not make a lot of sense to me to purchase a single player game, regardless of how much Conklederp likes to watch me play video games.  The next obvious choice was not, in fact, 1-2-Switch (Which I still submit could have cut the cost down to $9.99 had they used Mii's instead of actors and increased sales and cut on the potential cringe factor), but MK8D for a number of reasons.  The first, being already mentioned that I thought a multiplayer game would be a better choice so that Conklederp and I could play together (or against each other, depending on which mode we wanted to play).  The second reason somewhat piggybacks on the first, in that four person Mario Kart would be a blast as it does not have to be the aggressive shitstorm that 150cc and 200cc racing can lead to.  The third reason is that I just really wanted to play a new (new for us since we never had a Wii U) Mario Kart game after having a blast with Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS.  And honestly, we have all had a lot of fun with MK8D, even if, to date at least, the most we have had playing at one time was three when my sister and her family were in town and her husband (let's call him Gary) and daughter (we're calling her Flan) and I played a randomized circuit; there is a picture that doesn't so much show us having fun as it does show us focusing intently on out respective karts.

The next game we picked up was Snipperclips: Cut it out, together!, which was a digital download.  Conklederp and I played the demo, figuring that the visual aesthetic, emphasis on communication and teamwork, and the low intensity of the game would appeal to Conklederp's typical style of game play.  About a week after playing through the demo, we purchased the full game and have had a great time.  At the time, we only had the initial Joy-Cons that came with the Switch, but now that we have the neon red/blue Joy-Cons, we can play up to four players, which I feel will have its own set of challenges.  I am also very interested to see how the game will be different, if at all with four players instead of the optimal two.  I also tried playing it as a single player game, which is possible, but it takes away a lot from the game and it got boring pretty quickly.

The last game we picked up, Little Inferno, again was a digital download, but as I have already given a fairly semi-comprehensive review of the game, "Game EXP: Little Inferno (NS)," I will not go into too many repetitive details.  Basically, I liked the look of the game, the music that played during the trailer, and the sense of humor projected in the trailer.  It was only while playing did I discover that the game could be played as a multiplayer game, which is how Conklederp and I went through it in just about two days.

We have also downloaded a number of the free demos. . .okay, we have downloaded every available demo, mainly during the two days it took MK8D to be shipped from Amazon (Best Buy was out of MK8D when we first bought the Switch).  Probably the best demo was the one for Master Blaster Zero, which is a remake of the original Blaster Master, but since I already have the original on the 3DS, I do not know if I would also pick this one up too.  Conklederp and I also had some fun in reconfirming by lack of beats with the Just Dance 2017 by swinging my arms in a very uncoordinated manner to Silentó's - "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)."  This last weekend we downloaded the Pokkén Tournament DX and ARMS Global Testpunch, which will most likely not result in purchases although the demos did serve their purpose.

As for the games that are currently out for the Switch, I know that I personally fall within the minority when I say that Splatoon 2 does not really interest me.  If I wanted to play a co-op arena shooter, which I do not often, I will go to Team Fortress 2 for a couple of matches before I uninstall the game (again).  Likewise, ARMS, does not interest me, but if a Punch-Out! game were to come out for the Switch, I might be more interested; thanks again to the demo for reaffirming this.  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is very much going to be acquired if it happens to not be gifted by the end of March.  An indie digital game that is currently out that looks pretty great is Bulb Boy, which is a point-and-click game with some kind of Tim Burton-esque meets Lovecraftian flare.  Upcoming games that I am very much interested in is the Resident Evil Revelations Collection, and believe it or not, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, both to be released by the end of the year.  I am also hoping that Steep will see it's eventual release as confirmed by a Ubisoft employee because Mount Wario can only scratch this particular itch so much.  And speaking of itches caused by MK8D, the two F-Zero inspired stages are hopefully hints that a new F-Zero title is coming to the Switch.

That being said, there are a fair amount of third party games that have my interest such as the aforementioned Bulb Boy, but also including Axiom Verge, Kamiko, I Am Setsuna (although published by Square Enix), Perception, RiME, Yooka-Laylee, and Battle Chasers: Nightwar.

Overall though, I'm semi-lukewarm about a few of the more AAA titles coming out soon (or already out), like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Sonic Mania, and Super Mario Odyssey, although I do seem to be warming up to SMO, but not so much that the $59.99.  Oh, and Fire Emblem Warriors, but I have not had much interest in the "Warriors" style of gameplay.  And then there is Metroid Prime 4, which I feel that I should be excited for but after not finding a lot of interest after hours spent in Metroid Prime on the Gamecube, my excitement for another first person Metroid title is kind of meh; Metroid: Samus Returns on the other hand, I am excited for. Then there is the question of when Nintendo is going to open up a Virtual Console store for the Switch, which I anticipate will be around the time that their Nintendo Switch Online program goes live sometime in early 2018.

Yes, I know that I have left off games as this is not an all encompassing list of both games that I have interest in and ones that I do not.  These are just the games that came to mind while composing this article.  So right now, I have enough to keep me preoccupied, especially with my backlog of Steam games, so I am not really hurting for more Switch content, although more will be better when it becomes available.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Listen to Your Own Light

First Impressions: Part II: Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons

Disclaimer (Sort of?):  Welcome to Part II of my First Impressions of the Nintendo Switch.  Part I ended up covering the menus and organizational systems utilized for the Switch, which you can read over here.  So let's move onto the next section which (similar to Part I) which has turned out to be longer than I had anticipated, so rather than have the article run long winded, I am just going to cover the controllers today.

Let me start this Part II off by saying that so far, I love the Switch.  Like nearly any technology, there are also some issues, many of which I already covered, but for the most part both Conklederp and I are very happy with our purchase.

So let us now talk about semi-specific aspects.

The Joy-Cons

When I first saw the size of the controllers, which are only about 4.2 inches (that's 10.6 cm for you imperials out there) long and my palm is just about four inches wide, so that worry luckily did not come to fruition.  However, since the Joy-Cons can be rotated to be used as an SNES style controller, I was also worried about hand cramps because again, I do not have small hands or short fingers.  To date, I am happy to announce that I have yet to have hand cramps, even after playing Mario Kart 8 for upwards of an hour.  Even with less than an inch between the joystick and the buttons, I have not had my thumbs collide or bump into each other.  Coupled with the wedge of plastic that supports the LZ and RZ buttons (under the L and R buttons) which I use and a hand-hold support, the Joy-Con is quite comfortable.

Confession time.  The first day we got the Switch, when putting on the strap, I put it on backwards and began to panic that I had accidentally damaged the Joy-Con as I could not for the life of me I could not slide off the strap which seemingly had locked into place.  After a fair amount of internet browsing that included using a paper clip (which was not necessary), I found out that by flicking down the small grey tab that is under the "Lock" on the strap and with more force than I was comfortable applying to a brand new $300 piece of gaming hardware, I was able to slide off the strap from the Joy-Con.  Day one disaster averted!

As for the Joy-Con Comfort Grip, I really like the size and feel.  The weight is maybe just a little bit lighter than the wired 360 controller, and is lighter than the Steam controller, but overall I cannot really complain.  My only hang up with this set up, is that there is no traditional directional pad.  Yes, buttons on the left Joy-Con are set up to be used like a directional pad, but it just does not have the same feel that I am looking for.  I would equate it to the directional pad on the PS1 and PS2 controller, which I was never too happy to have to use.  Presently I have not had a game that has required the use of the directional buttons in lieu of the joystick.

Now let us move on to the accelerometer and gyroscope functions of the Joy-Con.  Of the games that we currently have, only Mario Kart 8: Deluxe and Little Inferno utilize this type of functionality that replaces the need for an IR bar that was part of the Wii.  In MK8, I do not use the Joy-Con like a steering wheel, although I have a few times to give it a try.  I did not like it.  As I did not notice any feed back, especially when doing power slides, it just was not as engaging as I would have wanted it to be.  I also found that using the joystick was more precise and allowed for tighter turns than using the Joy-Con as a steering wheel fashion.  In Little Inferno however, the Joy-Con is used more like the Wiimote and I did experience some connectivity issues where I had to re-calibrate the controller more frequently than I would have liked.  Now this could have been a combination of both Conklederp and I playing at the same time, or maybe the battery was not fully charged, or maybe the angle was somehow off, or I was ever so slightly too far away from the Switch.  I cannot fully say why, but there were definite and frustrating connectivity issues, but not consistent between different times we played.  And this morning I gave ARMS a try since they are having a limited free play weekend, and the controls and connectivity seemed to be spot on, but as I only went through the tutorial and then proceeded to loose (and I lost exceedingly well mind you) to two online matches, I feel that is all I can really say about the Joy-Cons and ARMS.

Speaking of connectivity (but not really, I am just horrible with transitions), as someone who has never had much interest in wireless controllers out of fear of the batteries dying mid game, I have been very happy with the battery life in the Joy-Cons.  I was initially planning on picking up a wired Joy-Con Charging Grip because of this very fear, but did not as we were already spending $80 for the second set of Joy-Cons, and to date I have not found that the Joy-Cons are running out of battery power like I had anticipated.

The last section for today would normally cover the Switch Pro Controller, which I have heard nothing but good things about, but Conklederp and I agreed to opt for a second set of Joy-Cons instead so that we could have four player co-op with applicable games like MK8, and Snipperclips.  Maybe sometime in the future we will acquire a Pro Controller, and then have the possibility of five controllers I guess, but until the time comes when monetary denominations become as plentiful as the amount of solar radiation emanating off of that giant blinding spherical death ball in the ether, we will have to be happy with the one to four controllers that work pretty damn well for the most part.

And since there was no Pro Controller to yammer on about, I would like to lastly add that the screen shot button on the left Joy-Con (as well as the aforementioned Pro Controller), is a brilliant addition.  The only criticism I have is that I wish that you could save the pictures to the micro SD card (not included) rather than have to post them to Facebook or Twitter in order to access them at your future leisure.  Unless I have missed something completely obvious, which is a very real possibility.

So now it looks like this First Impressions series will stretch on into next week, because why not?  I have nowhere else to be.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Plagues and Famine and Pestilence Always Seem to Get Me Down

MIDI Week Singles: "GBA Bowser Castle 1" - Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

"GBA Bowser Castle 1" from Mario Kart 7 on the Nintendo 3DS (2011).

Composer: Koji Kondo

Arranged By: Kenichi Nishimaki, Masanobu Matsunaga, Minako Hamano; Kenta Nagata, Satomi Terui

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 1, & Retro Studios

Well, if ever there was going to be some minor confusion about information regarding a song (besides previously featured Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), this would be a great place for it all.  

The song featured this week is the music from Bowser Castle 1 from Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS which was written and arranged by Kenta Nagata, and Satomi Terui.  However, this track is a re-arrangement of the music that was used for Bowser's Castle in Mario Kart Super Circuit that was released in 2001, with music written and arranged by Kenichi Nishimaki, Masanobu Matsunaga, and Minako Hamano, which also did not receive a soundtrack release.  (And after a bit of sleuthing, I was unable to uncover who among the credited composers wrote and arranged which songs, hence everyone being lumped into the composed and arranged category).  However, the music for these two tracks was an remixed version of "Koopa's Theme" from Super Mario 64, which was originally written by Koji Kondo; if you listen to "Koopa's Theme" sped up about 1.5 times, you can hear it a little more clearly; I might have been able to pick up on this reference if I had actually played beyond the first level in Super Mario 64.  So do I credit the original composer, or do I credit the person who re-arranged the original song into something that sounds at least 47% different?  

Hence the somewhat confusing nature of crediting the correct composer for today's song.

I decided to use this song because I am currently replaying this one stage over and over in (hopeful) preparation for the Nintendo World Championship qualifying events, one of which is being held outside of Seattle, WA next month.  The other reason I wanted to use this song is because aside from the first six to eight seconds of the song, I could not really tell you what the music actually sounded like as I am apparently too focused in on the direction of track, the location of the Thwomps, the timing between the fireballs, and the angle of the power slide to notice anything other than there being background noise in the form of music.

So today's choice was partly for myself, but also because it is a pretty good heavy metal style remix of an already heavy chugging song.  Now if I can only nail that stupid wall jump cheat/exploit that apparently everyone is using (which I still think is a bullshittery move).

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Why Be Such A Monster?

First Impressions: Part I: Nintendo Switch Menus

Disclaimer: So this post turned out to be a lot more of me complaining about menus than anything else to do with the system, so we are going to turn this First Impressions into a multi-part series that (may or may not) will conclude on Friday with an actual attempt to talk about the functionality of the system, how it plays, how the controllers work, and the available games that Conklederp and I actually have an interest in playing.  But for the meantime, here is an article to bore your cankles off where I talk about menus on the Nintendo Switch.

So Conklederp and I have had the Nintendo Switch for just under a month and I figure after playing three games (not all to completeness mind you) and a handful of demos, I now feel somewhat qualified to talk a bit about what I like, what I do not, and where I think improvements can be made.

I should also preface (reiterate for the handful of people who frequent us) this article with the fact that the most recent menus for Nintendo products I have experience with are the Wii and the 3DS.  I do not know what the Wii U menu interface looks like first hand (aside from stills and Youtube videos), but the opening menu I have no real problem with.  The one thing I do wish is that, like the 3DS menu, I could create folders, especially once I really start downloading smaller digital only games.  So rather than having a single line of games that I would need to scroll through, having designated folders, say one for downloaded games, and one for demos would help to keep things a little more clean and less semi-all over the place.

The next thing I would be happy to have changed, is the location of the Mii Maker, which on the 3DS has its own icon, which I have placed in a folder with a lot of the other game system icons like the eShop, Activity Log, Camera, Swapdoodle, and Flipnote Studio 3D.  Right now, the Mii maker is embedded in the System Settings and is the ninth item listed after Support/Heath & Safety, Airplane Mode, Screen Brightness, Screen Lock, Parental Controls, Internet (and then you can see the rest).  I feel that the Mii maker should really be front and center having its own round icon on the front screen.  Where it is right now, I feel is not very intuitive.

My second to last issue is not so much with the Nintendo News option, but how it is organized; there should be no surprise there.  What I would really love, is that if each News post/article had a date at the bottom so that I could know how recent a post was made.  Yes, the "What's New on Nintendo eShop" posts have a date, but that is integrated into the thumbnail, so I am not actually going to count that, but I do very much appreciate the effort.  Additionally, why are the Nintendo eShop updates out of chronological order?  Why is the order 8/04, 7/14, then 7/28?  That does not make a lick of sense, unless the posts are ordered by how popular they are or how frequently they are clicked across all connected Switch units.

I should also note that the only channels that I am currently subscribed to are the Nintendo News, and the Blaster Master Zero Channel (apparently because I downloaded the demo), so my News is not inundated with a lot of randomness from every game out there. 

Sorry for the rhubarb quality, unable to take screenshots of eShop.

My last complaint is with the layout for the eShop.  Again, maybe it is because I am just so used to the layout of the eShop for the 3DS, but I just like it a lot better than what is there for the Switch.  Maybe it is because a lot of the available games are organized by folders.  By the way, I love to organize by folders.  I do like that I have the option to sort by price, but I would also like to sort by date released; or maybe "Recent Releases" already is and I am just so out of the loop that I am unable to tell.

What I think a lot of this boils down to, is that I am nearly five or six years into the 3DS and I have become so accustomed to being able to organize my digital games in a manner that I really like and am able to further customize if I wish, that not having that option in a more recent product takes me back a bit.  I like being able to customize how my interface looks.  I like being able to sort things in a way that I feel is intuitive, although I do recognize that it may not be so for everyone else out there.

So let us close things down then and I will be back on Friday to talk more about the actual Switch system and (maybe) not so much about things that probably do not interest people as much as they interest me.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Started To Find My Way

Game EXP: Little Inferno (NS)

Little Inferno is a game that I apparently knew about as it was sitting dormant in my Steam library for I am not sure how long, but it did not officially/technically peak my brain's interest until recently when I purchased it for the Nintendo Switch.  What really cemented the decision to purchase the game was re-watching the trailer that is on Nintendo's eShop.  The combination of the hilarity of a game based around burning objects (the artistic design of said objects was equally important) and the overly dramatic music that played during the second half of the trailer dwarfed all of the accolades mentioned at the beginning of the trailer.

The beginning of the catalog with a limited amount of purchacables.

So Little Inferno is a point and click game developed by The Tomorrow Corporation where you purchase objects using in-game currency and burn them in a fireplace.  Those burnt objects produce slightly more money than what you paid for said object, and then you go back and do it all over again.  You are able to buy subsequent items in the catalog only after you buy the item before it and you are unable to buy the next catalog with new items until you have bought all of the items in your current catalog.  As is the case with the real world, there are shipping times (ranging from five seconds to five minutes) from when you order a product to when it arrives, but those can be ignored by using "Tomorrow Stamps" which are earned by killing spiders, completing combos and you know, burning stuff.

So that is the basic premise of the game.  You buy stuff, you burn stuff, you get money from burnt stuff, you buy more stuff.  Repeat.

Except there is a story, which I admit caught me a little off guard and was more emotionally impactful than a game about burning objects in a fireplace is probably supposed to have.  But I am going to leave it at that because, you know, spoilers.

Now, when I first started this game, I was using the Switch out of docked mode, thinking that I would use the Joy-Cons to move around the finger I saw in the trailer, but it turned out that when the Switch is not docked, the game operates only via the touch screen, which I had no problem with.  But, when the game is docked, you have to use the Joy-Cons as you would the motion controls on the Wii, but that since there is no infrared bar, the game uses the integrated accelerometer and gyroscope to track the movement across the screen while being able to (and needing to I might add) re-calibrate the controllers at anytime with only minor interruption.  This re-calibration became an issue during our first session with the game and became very distracting and frustrating, especially when trying to either buy specific objects in the store or placing fragile objects in the fireplace.  Eventually the problem went away after switching Joy-Cons; battery power, distance from the Switch, bad angle on my part?  No one knows.

Sorry, I Forgot To Warn About Spoilers.

Since this game is now five years old, buying on the Switch may not be the most economical way of playing (lack of sales and all), but the one main difference for Little Inferno on the Switch is that the Switch version can be played as a cooperative game, which is how Conklederp and I spent the 5 hours 23 minutes reaching the end of the game in just a handful of sittings; it was more than one and less than five, I know that much.  And surprisingly, Little Inferno works great as a co-op game, mainly because the game has 99 combos you can earn by burning two or three specific objects together.  These combos are hinted at by name such as "Lender's Combo" or "LOL Kitty Combo."  Most of the titles are pretty easy to figure out when you read the description of the items, or just by the items themselves, but there are others like the "Rosy Combo" or the "Planes and Trains Combo" that have managed to elude us.  This adds a fun word puzzle solving component to an otherwise repetitive game which works well between two people who, in my own opinion, communicate pretty well together.  The only other advantage I can see, is being able to ever so slightly faster than normal select and purchase items.

So, if you have a Switch, go ahead and pick up Little Inferno and play co-op, but if you don't, I would still highly recommend picking up this game on any one of the other platforms (PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) it has been released on in the last five years and turn it into your own single player co-op game.  And you know, I could have been upset at having a $9.99 game last only five hours (less if we did not care about earning combos), but here I am talking about it and actively listening to the soundtrack because it is that good.  

And if you really need another reason, then the in-game infomercial, which was also the first released trailer for the game, is the perfect sales pitch:

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.  I did a thing:

I only had to light just one of the 40 Mini Nukes.

At this point, the games fps really began to suffer.

I seem to recall a staticky noise followed by a flash of light and then a mass of coins and Tomorrow Stamps.

MIDI Week Singles: "Little Inferno Titles" - Little Inferno (NS, WU, PC, Lx, OSX, iOS, And)

"Little Inferno Titles" from Little Inferno on the Nintendo Switch, Wii U, PC, Linux, Mac, iOS, & Android  (2012)

Comoposer: Kyle Gabler

Album: Little Inferno Original Soundtrack

Label: Tomorrow Corporation

Developer: Tomorrow Corporation

Maybe it was intentional or not, but the opening titles, as well as some of the other songs from Little Inferno, have a bit of a Christmas vibe to them.  Be it the semi-angelic "ahh'ing" choir coupled with the chimes (which I personally immediately associate with "Carol of the Bells"), and even the visual of a roaring fireplace as well as the game world help to cement the wintry holiday atmosphere.  And now that I think about it, also in part because composer Kyle Gabler said that he was inspired by 1990s Danny Elfman, but "Little Inferno Titles" is fairly reminiscent of Danny Elfman's score for Edward Scissorhands, which also contains a fair amount of ethereal vocals in songs like "Ice Dance" and "The Grande Finale."  What I love, is that you can detect enough homage to Danny Elfman without feeling that there has been theft of themes or melody.

In the liner notes, Kyle Gabler says, "Little Inferno is a quiet introverted art project masquerading as a loud extroverted shopping game. For a long time, we weren’t sure which face of the game to portray in the opening sequence, but eventually decided on this one."  

I wholeheartedly agree with this as the theme for the game because it is a great introductory song containing a lot of the atmosphere and musical elements that help to make up the world in Little Inferno.  I ultimately decided on "Little Inferno Titles" for today because I felt that there were other great songs from the soundtrack, but I thought that they relied a bit on the emotional impact of the scenes they were used in.  Yes, the songs themselves were beautiful alone, but it would be like listening to "The Throne Room and End Title" from Star Wars without ever having seen the movie.  There was also the issue of some song titles that I felt gave a little bit away as far as the story in the game goes, and I would like to try to avoid spoilers because this game is pretty awesome (Game EXP article for Friday most likely).

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Now I Spread the Wings of Fire

P.S.  I highly recommend picking up the soundtrack (or any/all of Kyle Gabler's soundtracks) which is available for free from The Tomorrow Corporation's website for each respective game that they have released.  But again, there could be spoilers in the song titles if you care about that sort of thing; or maybe they're just spoilers in hindsight.

Game EXP: Code of Princess (3DS)

About a month back, I finally hunkered down and beat the Atlus published arcade-style hack and slash beat'em up, Code of Princess on the 3DS.  While I did enjoy the concept of the game, there were some issues overall that I had during my nine hours playing.

First off, let us talk about the massive blanche elephant in the room.  The main character, Princess Solange Blanchefleur de Lux is a rather amusing name and title combination.  To go along with her ever so slightly humorous name, is the armor she wears throughout the entire game.  There are various armor, sword, and equipment upgrades that you can find and purchase throughout the game, but the visual of Princess Solange stays the same.

So let us talk a little bit about this decision.

First off, Japanese illustrator Kinu Nishimura, the brainchild behind the look of Princess Solange Blanchefleur de Lux, first designed the character and look before there was ever mention of a game.  While unable to find an interview that describes what prompted Kinu Nishimura to design Solange, she did nonetheless, and the design was recognized and picked up by indie developer Studio Saizensen.  The art style for Solange also appears to be somewhat consistent with Kinu Nishimura's style of drawing female characters as evidenced by Hazuki Kashiwabara from 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, and many of the fighters in Street Fighter II and III.  So obviously Kinu Nishimura knows what she is doing when it comes to designing ridiculously proportioned female protagonists.  

Hot damn look how short her ski. . .oh shit, getting attacked again!

Does this excuse the obvious marketing of a titular protagonist?  Probably not since Solange did have some specific animation (the first few seconds anyway), which was a deliberate choice made by someone at Studio Saizensen.  The functionality of the armor is even brought into question by a couple of characters throughout the game and the reasoning is given is that it is the traditional outfit  and a "royal gown" for the Princess of the Kingdom of DeLuxia.  And while I do appreciate that at least someone either in the original Japanese translation or the English localization was able to call into question the all too often revealing nature of armor designed for women in high fantasy genres, I will say that in-game, there is no real time to ogle at Solange's attire.

The writing in the game though, never does take itself too seriously (there is a character named Milk Macchiato, a duo named Emble and Semble, and Ali-Baba who is the leader of a group of thieves), which I do appreciate as the story follows the traditional evil empire trying to take over the obviously good kingdom.  Some of the characters even seem to take notice that they are in that type of a story and have a good time with the cliches that tend to run rampant.

And speaking of characters, while there are 52 playable characters in the multiplayer and online versus matches in the game, in the main quest you are limited to only four, which makes only a little bit of sense when you consider that of the 52 characters, Solange is joined in her quest by six other characters.  Why you are only able to play as the first four friendly characters in the game, I cannot say.  But again, you are able to play as these characters in various local, online, or single player challenges.  That being said, I pretty much stuck with Solange for most of the game as I felt that replaying levels with new characters in order to level them up to be a bit redundant.  I reached a point about half way through where I stopped trying to level other characters, just played as Solange and worked my way though to the end of the game; she was the tank after all and I desperately needed all of that sweet sweet HP and attacking power.

And speaking of stats, I did like that you could customize each of the four characters' stats as you leveled up.  I quickly started giving Solange more and more points in the speed category so that she moved a bit faster than her sluggish starting stats allowed. 

Now a few things disappointed me with Code of Princess.  The first being that when I read descriptions of the game as an arcade style hack-and-slash, what I had pictured was something along the lines of TMNT: Turtles in Time, or Golden Axe, where you would start out at the beginning of the level and fight your way though an area and fight a boss or mini-boss at the end.  What the majority of Code of Princess turned out to be was starting out on one side of an area, say a graveyard, then fighting to the other side which would be no more than a full second screen away.  Basically, there was no moving through an environment, but just fighting within that one environment.  Other locations included a tavern, a thrown room, and a village square.  It really felt like the locations were more akin to a fighting game like Street Figther  or Killer Instinct than to an arcade style beat'em hack'n up slash.

Secondly, I really feel that Code of Princess would have been a lot more fun if I had played it as a co-op game.  There were times while fighting against waves of enemies that having a second player would have made my life a lot easier and a lot less frustrating.  While I cannot comment on how the game differs with additional players, there were some battles in the late game, that definitely felt that they were not scaled for a single player experience, either in regards to the number of enemies or the types of attacks the main bosses would utilize.  And while each stage did have a timer that counted down, usually from 20 minutes, I never felt that I was running out of time, no curious to find out what happened if I did run out of time.

Thinking about the 3D effects, I used them a bit in the early stages, but as more and more enemies started filling the screen, I did either turn them down or off completely.

Lastly, the music which was composed by a Japanese composer credited as ACE, was damn catchy and I will most likely be putting up a MIDI Week Single with some of that music later in the month.  Nearly all of the music used in each stage was upbeat and exciting enough to help push through the last of the enemies and defeat each boss at the end.

Now, would I recommend Code of Princess?  Sure.  Maybe?  I dunno.  It was a fun game that was at times frustrating, had very good music, and cliched and not overly developed story, but had an amusing script and decently voice acted.  And ridiculous outfits for some characters.  I did buy it on sale through Nintendo's eShop for $9.99 or less which I felt was a good price for the amount of game that I used; I did not fully go into all of the "extra" stages which seemed to be just the same in-game levels but only as one-off encounters as opposed to the story mode.  I also cannot comment on the version that is out on Steam although a number of the reviews complain about the characters being too pixely for a larger screen, which does not really come across on the 3DS screen.  So sure, why not.

Maybe.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Don't Go Trying Some New Fashion

MIDI Week Singles: "I Have Begun My Ascent" - Dear Esther (PC)

"I Have Begun My Ascent" from Dear Esther on the PC, Mac, Linux, Playstation 4, & Xbox One (2012)

Composer: Jessica Curry

Album: Dear Esther Official Soundtrack

Label: thechineseroom

Developer: thechineseroom

What I love about not only the song "I Have Begun My Ascent" but also the game Dear Esther, is that Jessica Curry's music perfectly compliments the visuals in the game, the semi-sparse poetical narration, and the often bleakness of the scenery of the island.  If you were to replace any of those aspects, the rest would loose a lot of meaning, which is not to say that listening to the music on its own looses all emotional impact, it doesn't.  It does loose a little something if you sit alone in a darkened room and listen, but the song itself is still powerful in its own right.

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of many songs that feature a piano that plays only two chords, and not just a song that only plays two chords with melodies flitting throughout, but literally the same tri-tone for the entirety of the song.  Yes, at around 1:02 (what I am going to assume is the cello performed by Chris Worsey) brings the first bits of melody, which is later picked up by the violins roughly a minute later, but the piano line is never truly gone, it is always present.

"I Have Begun My Ascent" is not an overly complicated song when you break it down into individual parts, but when everything fits together so seamlessly, what is created is a powerful and gorgeous soundscape that is pretty easy to be lost in.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Of Happy Times There Spent So Long Ago