RIP: Nintendo 3DS & Wii U eShop*

 

There could probably be a lot of things I could say in regard to the 3DS and Wii U eShops closing to new purchases relating to topics like video game preservation. Still, as a civilian who is not connected to the video game industry in any way shape, or form, I can only speculate beyond the reasons that Nintendo gave back in February 2022.  

I really just wanted to take today to say "thank you" to the 3DS eShop for being a functional storefront where I could track prices on games in my wishlist, browse games that were on sale (including an end date for the sale), and rate games that I had put in the minimum amount of time.  Sure there were things that I would have changed about the 3DS eShop like being able to browse games in a list mode instead of having to scroll horizontally through 25 games half a dozen times. After going through the eShop on the Wii U, I found that I would have liked the Virtual Console tab to have been split up by systems and not just have everything grouped together.

I was pretty miffed though after the New 3DS released and there were exclusive games that only that version of the 3DS/2DS could play because at the time I only had my original 3DS.  I was also sad that the last Virtual Console game released that was playable on the standard 3DS was a series of Pokemon games and nothing new after that time; February 2016 I believe.

As for the Wii U eShop, because I only started using a Wii U for the first time in 2021, I cannot really comment on the evolution of that storefront, only that it works.  I do wish that there was a separate tab to see all of the different Virtual Consoles though such as the games for the TurboGrafx16 which I did not were accessible until I did a search on Wikipedia.

So far thee well, the ability to purchase games from the 3DS and Wii U eShop.  Had I all the money and hard drive space, I could have spent upwards of $250 on all of the games I wanted, but I did pick up quite a few games that I did want to buy and several others that were too tempting to pass up.  And because I am finishing this article on Sunday, March 26th, I cannot say for certain if any games will have a final last-day sale on Monday, March 27th.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

This Has Happened Before

* I, of course, know that the eShops for the 3DS and Wii U are not actually dying or closing down entirely per the use of RIP, I just figured it was a semi and not at all original way to title this article.

MIDI Week Singles: Nintendo Wii U eShop Music - May, 2019 (NWU)

 

Nintendo Wii U eShop Music - May 2019
Composer: I don't know
Developer: Nintendo

Similar in some ways to the music from the eShop for the 3DS but not, because I only bought and (first) used a Wii U when I bought mine used back in December 2021, I did not know that Wii U eShop music was as varied as it turned out to be.  I have read/heard about people lamenting there being any music in the eShop for the Nintendo Switch, and I frequently just brushed this off as people finding something else to complain about with the Switch (if it was not there not being folders on the home screen, or no music on the home screen, or that Nintendo's online servers were crap for any kind of online Smash competitions) and part of me now gets it.  But only part of me.

The music that is currently playing on the eShop for the Wii U was last updated in May 2019, or at least that is what the Internet/YouTube is telling me when I search "Wii U eShop music."  For me, this is the only eShop music for the Wii U that I will really ever know and have any kind of nostalgia (if 4-year-old music could be considered nostalgic) for because since I bought the Wii U, I have planned on making most of my purchases through the eShop and when I boot it up, this is the song that I have always heard, and when I listen to this song again in 10 years, I will think back on those middle years of the COVID-19 pandemic, lying in bed browsing the scant eShop for the Wii U, looking through all of the different Virtual Console titles wondering which ones I should pick up that have not been ported over to the Nintendo Switch or the NES/SNES Mini console already, or also surprised that there is essentially a Turbo Grafx 16 Virtual Console (but not because there is not a dedicated VC for the TG16 or the Game Gear) list of games.

Goodtimes.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Wir stoßen an auf uns

Thoughts on the 3DS and Wii U eShop Closures

With Nintendo's Twitter account making the rumors of the 3DS and Wii U eShops closing now official, I could not let this announcement go un-written about.

This article is in no way an attempt to do explain the reasons behind Nintendo's progressive closing shop on the eShops across the 3DS and Wii U systems, although the closing of the digital storefronts for systems that are no longer in production (3DS ceased production in 2020 and the Wii U in 2017) is admittedly frustrating even if it does make sense from a business perspective.  I am not saying that I agree with this decision, having just gotten a Wii U to be able to access the Virtual Console, but from a business standpoint, if something is costing the company more money (keeping open a digital store and the processing of credit card information) than it is bringing in over a period of time, then stopping that service does make sense.  I don't like it.  But I can understand the decision.

So what is the timeline (if you haven't already clicked over to read Nintendo's official statement?):

• May 23, 2022: You will no longer be able to use the 3DS or Wii U eShop to add funds to your Nintendo Account using a credit card.
• August 29, 2022:  You will no longer be able to add funds to either your Nintendo Account by using an eShop gift card through the eShop for the 3DS or the Wii U.
• Nintendo does clarify though that if you have a Nintendo Account linked elsewhere, say the Switch I think now is the only supported Nintendo product (put a pin in that), you can add funds (credit card or eShop gift card) and use those funds on the 3DS or Wii U eShops if your Nintendo Account on those respective systems is the same Nintendo Account.
• Late March 2023:  You will no longer be able to purchase anything from the 3DS or Wii U eShops, but you can still download any games that you previously purchased.  Nintendo does say that you can download previously purchased games after late March 2023 "for the foreseeable future" which is, at least, a good point.  

I am at least thankful that I use the same Nintendo Account across my 3DS, Wii U, and Switch, although most of my eShop funding is done through gift cards that I add funds onto through Nintendo's website; gotta get those sweet-sweet credit card/Amazon/Target Red Circle points/discounts.

I have talked about games that I know I want to pick up on the Wii U although there are still a couple of hold outs (like the Metroid Prime Trilogy) because I would prefer to have that on the Switch, but the current word is that the Switch might only(?) get the first Metroid Prime HD version.  Then there are some games that I would like to get for the 3DS that I do not have a spreadsheet for and their respective physical editions will likely spike in price following March 2023.  Games like Fire Emblem Awakening, and I keep hearing that Liberation Maiden is a fun game from Grasshopper Manufacture (Killer 7).  And probably another 20+ games that I might be interested in.

That being said, there is the knee-jerk reaction to buy games now out of the fear that they will no longer be available, but that day is still more than a year off.  There could be sales, however unlikely, leading up to March 2023, or even going into the dates in 2022 listed above, as various aspects of the eShop are disabled.  And then come March 2023, if prices on specific games have not dropped, then I might make a couple of full-priced purchases.  It will be my birthday after all.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

As I Now Leave Your Town

*P.S.  I saw someone else mention this on Twitter, sorry I do not have the Tweet in front of me, but pointing out that come March 2023, unless there is an announcement and release in the next 12 months, the Switch will be Nintendo's only supported platform since the Game Boy was released alongside the NES back in 1989.  Just something else to think about I guess.

P.P.S.  There is a larger conversation that we could have about the importance of preserving video game history, but that is a discussion all on its own so you may have to wait for that.  At least for now anyway.

Game EXP: Chicken Wiggle (3DS)

Disclosure:  I reached out to Jools Watsham at Atooi on Monday September 11th, 2017 when he offered free download codes for his recent Nintendo 3DS game, Chicken Wiggle, to reviewers on non-specific gaming sites.  That same morning, I received a download code, free of charge with no caveats about how the game would be reviewed, nor was a positive review of Chicken Wiggle promised or inferred in exchange for the provided code.  After receiving the code, I did write that I would post an article reviewing Chicken Wiggle in a given time frame, but that was of my own volition.

I also wanted to add that all of the screen shots I used in today's article were taken from the "Chicken Wiggle: Stage 1-6" and the "Chicken Wiggle: Play Create Share" videos up on Jools Watsham's YouTube channel because I wanted to use pictures that were not taken with the crappy camera on my phone.

On with the show!

Chicken Wiggle, the most recent game from Jools Watsham over at Atooi, a 16 bit styled puzzle platformer from the same mind that created Mutand Mudds, (and Mutant Mudds Super Challenge), Bomb Monkey, Xeodrifter, Totes the Goat, and the soon to be released Treasurenauts.  If you have played any of these games on any one of the platforms they have been released on, you will immediately recognize the visual aesthetic.  If you are unfamiliar with Jools Watsham, Atooi, or any of the aforementioned games, I suggest checking out one of the trailers on YouTube.

All of that being said, I have currently made my way through the first three worlds (called Towers as there is a fair amount of vertical climbing), have tooled around with the Mario Maker styled level designer, have shared two levels online, and have played/downloaded a couple of custom levels.  There is a lot to do here!

First off though, one of the things that I love about this game, is that there is no emphasis on high score, or fastest time.  There is no timer that ticks down, or additional points for killing more enemies.  All of the stages I have played have consisted of getting to the end to free one of your captured friends, and you are welcome to take as long as you want.  There are diamonds to collect that are scattered throughout the stage although they are typically arranged to function like a path to follow.  There are also the letters F, U, and N that are usually hidden to some degree, often with very little if any clue as to where there is an invisible wall ahead, which I do appreciate.  And the reward for finding all 100 diamonds and spelling FUN?  You get a star, and extra gold shine on the stage button after you finish.  The completionist in me is having a blast, and somewhat thankful that I do not have to do it all within a certain time or with enough points to earn those often coveted three stars; looking at you Angry Birds!

The meat of Chicken Wiggle, and where I have spent most of my time has been playing through the pre-created stages.  What I have loved so far, is how tight and precise the game-play and controls are, similar to Super Meat Boy, but without the aggravating precision that is often required.  In Chicken Wiggle, you have two forms of attacking, the first using your worm friend (Wiggle?) as a whip which can stun enemies and stretches up to four "squares" across the screen, and the second being your (Chicken?) peck attack, which reaches only 2-3 pixels beyond your chicken sprite's little beak.  And in classic Mega Man fashion, a lot of the stages are filled with spikes.  Spikes that will kill you without a second glance if just one of your fluffy yellow pixels comes in contact with their spikiness.

I could probably use the rest of the article to talk about various aspects of the stages that have been a lot of fun.  Everything from the challenge of the stages, to the enemies and their locked-in patterns, and the bonus outfits that you equip which give you different skills for that one stage.  But since there is more to Chicken Wiggle than just the story mode experience, moving on is a necessity.

The second part of the game is the aforementioned Mario Maker type creation kit that allows you to create your own stages.  When you start out, every single item and enemy in the game is available to you and I was at first a little disappointed that there was not anything to unlock, as well as a little overwhelmed by all of my options right off the bat.  When I started, I had already completed the first tower area so I recognized a number of the items, monsters and blocks, but there were still things that I was confused by, and this is where I feel that the game made a great choice.  While you are able to use any item you want, knowing how to use them well really comes with experience in the game.  I have managed to create two levels that I uploaded to the online server (see the third and final section below) titled "Follow Me!" which is a traditional yet easy Chicken Wiggle type level, and "Sort Of 1-1" where I tried to create an homage to World 1-1 in Super Mario Bros.  Something that I really like about how this creator studio works, is that in order to post your stage for others to play, you have to complete the stage.  Every diamond you put down, every F, U, and N you place, you have to pick up.  If your stage requires you to kill all the monsters, you have to do that too before your creation can be uploaded.  

The final aspect of the game is the sharing of said stages, which is directly related to the creator studio from the previous section.  My biggest fear with attempting to play creations from other players is the same as playing stages from people in Mario Maker.  There are going to be, and there are, plenty of stages that are just downright difficult, or have a great concept (the Pac-Man stage started out fun), but they lack the polish of someone who has created something to be fun.  For instance, in a lot of the main story stages, there is a checkpoint right at the point where you feel that if you died, you would be upset and annoyed if you had to start all over.  Knowing that distance between creating a fun challenge and deciding that your stage is only going to be about challenge comes with experience and, I would assume, having to deal with people who actually pay money for your product and the desire to please your customers.  

The music is something that I initially wrote off, especially during the first area Cloud Tower.  It was a little bland and uninteresting for my taste, or maybe I was expecting something as catchy as "World 1-1" from Mutant Mudds.  But by Treetop Tower, I felt like the music had hit its stride and was a better fit for the action on the screen.  Even the background music during the creation stage is entertaining and fitting for having to make minuscule yet necessary touches to fine tune your own level.  I may end up covering one of these in an upcoming MIDI Week Singles article.

At this point you might be thinking that the receiving of the game has clouded my judgement of Chicken Wiggle.  Like, "where are all the bad things about the game?"  Honestly, for what the game promises, it really delivers.  I do not feel that there is a whole lot of innovation if as you play the main game as a puzzle platformer.  As a level designer, there is not a lot here that was not already seen in some aspect in Mario Maker.  But these two combined create a great gaming experience.  After only playing for a few hours last Monday, I was questioning if my niece Flan had a 3DS so that I could buy her a copy as the difficulty level would be perfect for an 11 year old.  It may not be the easiest experience, but hey, I was beating Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2 by the time I was 9.  

Now that I think about it, I guess the one negative thing I have to say is that there is not a lot of replay value once you have completed a stage if you already have found all 100 diamonds and spelled out FUN.  But because there are official developer created stages and a mound of community created stages to sift through, as long as Atooi's online servers are active, Chicken Wiggle may never run out of content.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Playing With Our Lives


P.S.  Once again, super uber thank you to Jools Watsham and Atooi for the complimentary copy of Chicken Wiggle, which allowed me to play and review the game for our site much earlier than I would have been able to do.

P.P.S.  It should be noted that from yesterday (September 14th) through next Thursday (September 21), Chicken Wiggle is 33% off it's regular price.  I wasn't prompted to mention this because of the free game, I just really like the games that Jools / Atooi develop so why not mention it?

P.P.P.S.  In all of the interviews that I have watched/read in recent weeks, I did not come across anything that mentioned Banjo-Kazooie.  For me, this was the first thing I thought of when I saw game play videos of Chicken Wiggle.  Both games have a protagonist who carries a friend around in a backpack while on the trail of an evil witch.  To me the those similarities are very obvious, but they come across more of an homage, be it intentional or not, than an attempt to capitalize on the nostalgia of 1998.  Had Rare made a 16 bit side scrolling Banjo-Kazooie entry, it very well could have looked and felt a lot like Chicken Wiggle.

P.P.P.P.S.  In case anyone was wondering, the download size for Chicken Wiggle is 280 Blocks, which translates to 35 MB in real world memory size.

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: "They Haven't Seen Us" - Crimson Shroud (3DS)

"They Haven't Seen Us" from Crimson Shroud on the Nintendo 3DS (2012)

Composer: Hitoshi Sakimoto

Album: Crimson Shroud Original Soundtrack

Label:  Basiscape Records

Developer:  Nex Entertainment

I am a bad Internet person and I will tell you why.  Up until a few minutes ago, I was convinced that this song, "They Haven't Seen Us" from the amazingly designed Nintendo 3DS eShop game Crimson Shroud, was one of the battle songs, but after a bit of searching, I could not find anything linking this song to any of the battles.  Maybe it is the fact that this song, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, Vagrant Story) sounds so much like a lot of what makes him great, that I just assumed that I had heard this song before during a battle.  To me, is screams, "They haven't seen us ye...OH BLOODY HELL THEY'VE SEEN US!  TO ARMS!  But first, roll for initiative."

Something else that is impressive about the music from Crimson Shroud is that the music in the game is very high quality.  I cannot recall much if any degradation between what my lowly peasant ears hear coming from the game and what appears to be (because I cannot read Japanese much/at all) a live recording orchestra, gaQdan.  And now listening to the music again, makes me want to go back and actually try and complete the last battle, which was a doozie of a fight, especially with my already limited health potions; maybe it's off to GameFAQs for me.  Or maybe I should try and level up once more and hope I don't have to heal during that monster of a fight?

Either way, great classic music-ings from Hitoshi Sakimoto.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

When You're Ready

Obligatory Post About The Nintendo Switch Presentations

Last night, Nintendo held their Switch presentation in Tokyo (last night being here on the West Coast in the US, 1pm Tokyo time), and I was pretty excited, in that Conklederp and I put off watching the most recent episode of Vikings until after Nintendo's presentation had finished.  Additionally, the Nintendo Tree House folks had their own hands on presentation where they showcased a number of games, although I noticed no mention which games would receive a physical release and which ones would be sold only via the eShop.

Now, I am not going to be going into speculations about the system, the specifications of the hardware or what frame rate it looked like games were running at, this article is basically stating my impressions of the system, the presentation itself, and probably what games I would like to see based on the developers who were advertised as working on games for the Switch.

All of the main information about the Switch can be found on Nintendo's website, so if you are in fact looking for concise information, it would probably behoove you to go over there and take what you can, a lot of which I will talk about in my own rambling sort of way over here.

Overall, I thought that the presentation was very well handled, in that it was more of an announcement about the product than an event that was more about the speakers, music, and noise than the Switch itself.  If there hadn't been any wide shots of the audience, you might have thought that the presenters were on a stage talking to an empty room or a blank wall.  I actually preferred this to the typical presentations that you would find at E3.  Basically the presentation was mainly information and less hype, at least from my perspective.

You know what, there is so much more out there that will have a better consolidation of this information, especially from the first presentation, the Tree House event, and from Nintendo's own site, so I will just briefly ramble about what about everything that I liked.

The Price: $299
I find this price to be about on par with what I was expecting and so much more reasonable than either the PS4 or the XBox One, which retailed at $399 and $499 respectively.  With this in mind, you could surmise that the Switch is a less powerful gaming machine, and you could be correct, mainly because I have not put together a spreadsheet comparing and contrasting each feature.  By comparison, the Wii U first sold for $299 for the basic unit and $349 for the deluxe system.

The System

The system only comes with one set of controllers, either grey, or neon blue/red.

Because of my cynical approach to businesses, I had figured that the Switch would only be sold with the console, dock, the two Joy-Cons, adapter, and HDMI cable, even though the Joy-Con Grip was pictured in the advertisement, so were games and I just assumed that the grip would be sold separately.  I was equally surprised to find that the Joy-Con Straps were a thing and that they too would be included.  The Switch Pro Controller though is sold separately.  Still, for $299, I find this price to be very reasonable, if only there were games of sorts included?  No word on included or pre-loaded games.

The Games
The games showcased during the initial presentation on Thursday night (Friday afternoon in Tokyo), I had mixed feelings about, possibly because I never owned a Wii or a Wii U and therefore have no invested interest in a new 3D Super Mario Bros. game (I also recognize that I am probably in the minority that did not like Super Mario 64, which also turned me off to all 3D Mario games), or a Splatoon game.  I however fully recognize the market is there for a 3D open world Mario game and a non-violet team shooter, those just aren't my cup of coffee.

The games that did pique my interest was a new Shin Megami Tensei title from Atlus (seeing as how I loved SMT: Strange Journey, but never really got into Persona or Devil Survivor); The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (partly because I love The Elder Scrolls series, but also for the opportunity for Bethesda and their like-properties and subsidiaries to develop games for Nintendo); Project Octopath Traveler from Square Enix, which is a mouthful and a title that could only come from Japan or a Finnish black metal band, but I really like the art style which reminds of a mix between Final Fantasy Tactics with a more traditional JRPG battle system; and of course The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild, which looks so much like an Elder Scrolls game with a Legend of Zelda skin.

Since last night presentation, there have been a number of other games announced, some of which sound interesting which include: Puyo Puyo Tetris, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Snipper Clips: Cut It Out Together, 1,2,Switch, Has Been Heroes,  Super Bomberman R, I Am Setsuna, and Steep.  Again, no word though on which games will receive a physical release and which ones will be digital downloads, some of which definitely feel like they should be digital only (Snipper Clips, 1,2,Switch, Has Been Heroes to name a few).

During the presentation, Nintendo officially announced the companies currently developing games, along with 80 games currently in development.

There are a handful of independent developers that I would like to see Switch games from, ATOOI, Infitizmo, Playtonic Games, Frictional Games, The Chinese Room, DrinkBox Studios, and Shiro Games, to name a handful, although I understand listing primarily AAA title developers during the official product announcement and presentation.  I am still hoping for a Castlevania game from Konami seeing as how they have been named as a developer, but I am not holding my breath since they announced back in 2015 that they will be focusing on mobile games, but the Switch could be viewed as the perfect in-between?  A Mega Man or Resident Evil (Just not Resident Evil 4 all over again) game from Capcom would also be nice too.  

Basically, I think I just want to relive my '80s and '90s childhood through this system, what looks and feels like a great blend of DS portability with Wii U capabilities (kind of).



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
We Bleed For Ancient Gods



P.S.  Yes, I know that my article made no mention of a Super Smash Bros., game, or of the online properties as far a co-op gaming goes, but since those do not interest me, and since we do not have any sponsors, we do not have to appease anyone but ourselves.

Final Review: Pokemon Picross (3DS)

About two weeks ago (I believe it was two weeks. . .okay, so it was three), I finally reached the end of the main campaign/story mode in Pokémon Picross on the Nintendo 3DS.  This is an amazing and fun introduction into picross puzzles, but only if you have the patience for a free experience.

Pokémon Picross is a free to start game available only through Nintendo's eShop and only for the 3DS, although I already talked quite a bit about the game shortly after I started playing back on January 16th of this year.  If you are looking for a general run down of the game, I would recommend reading that article as this time around, I am just going to briefly cover my overall joy that I experienced over the last 11 months.

In total, I spent 97 hours 12 minutes playing this free game.  30 stages, 304 Pokémon caught, 312 puzzles solved, not including two mural puzzles each made up of 64 10x10 puzzles.  Granted some of that time was probably spent with my 3DS open and not doing anything, but most of those 97 was spent actually playing any one of a massive amount of puzzles in a free game from Nintendo.

Probably the biggest reason why it took me so long, was because I played this as a free game.  You have the option to pay for either energy refills rather than waiting for the timer, which translates to one unit of energy for each minute in real-world-time, or by purchasing Picrites, the currency used to purchase access to additional stages and for increasing the number of Pokémon you are allowed to bring into each puzzle.  I decided that I would take my pretty time by not making any currency exchanges and as it turned out, 97 hours is what it took me.  You, the master picross puzzler and accurate puzzle marker on the somewhat small 20x15 puzzles where the squares are fairly small, might take significantly less time since you may not have wasted energy filling in the wrong square over and over again.

Plus, there is the "Alt-World" that I have yet to open that has the same 312 puzzles, but with a slightly different method of marking the blocks, so there is probably another 50+ hours.  Again, this is a lot of content for a game that can be completed for free and was released by Nintendo.

So in closing, here is a breakdown of my playtime:

Started: January 16, 2016

Completed Zones 00 - 30 and two mural puzzles: November 29, 2016

Time: 97h 12m

Average Time: 20m each time I logged on to play.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental