super smash bros. brawl and link's crossbow training

My 360 Red Ringed on me and I have gotten it back, but I've decided its time to show my Wii a little bit of love as it has been neglected lately. Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl is out I went to the BestBuy in Noho on Sunday and picked it up along with Link's Crossbow Training game, as I've been meaning to try the plastic zapper mold. I must admit, I have been having fun with these two games.

We'll start with Link's Crossbow. This game brings me back to Nintendo's original zapper game: DuckHunt. The plastic holder integrates the Wiimote and Nunchuck in pretty well, just don't expect to put it together and take it apart quickly. Out of laziness i've just relegated a set to the gun and just keep it in gun mode.

The game is fun, you point and aim your cursor and try to shoot targets and score points. There are score multipliers for consecutive targets hit without a miss. Where you hit the target matters with more points for hitting the bullseye. To mix things up a bit there are targets you can hit, enemies to shoot at for points and even a ranger mode where you move link around with the Nunchuck and turn him by aiming to the left or right off screen. It works pretty well and is quite fun. It isn't a long game but there is replay value as you go back to try to earn higher scores to get more medals. Some of the later levels will require a few retries and you can always go back for bragging rights for the high score. For 20 bucks its not a bad buy, you get the "gun" and the game. If you've ever enjoyed lightgun games and aren't expecting for a long shooting adventure and more of something along the lines of a more in depth wiiplay shooter its a definite buy. I hope that more games that incorporate the Gun come out soon.

Now onto the main entry: Smash Bros.

Anyone who has ever played any of the smash bros. be it melee on GameCube or the original on N64, this game is great fun and shows a good amount of polish. While on the surface it may seem to be just a button masher, there is skill involved for all you dedicated gamers. I appreciate the single play campaign that is included this time around and it is by no means short. Its also a great way to unlock characters that are hidden in teh game, to add to your roster. There is also the traditional solo campaign where you just pick your character of choice and try to get through all the brawls.

But what is Smash Brothers without multiplayer. Nintendo has integrated online play into this rendition of the game and it works, sort of. When i first got the game, finding a game online was .... rather impossible. There were few games to be found and I was frequently disconnected before a game was found. On Monday night, the online play was working better and finding me games, but I believe that wireless play for the game is still less than ideal. The game seems to slow down to the speed of the worst connection so the action becomes rather unfluid if there is a bad connection. This combined with the fact that unless you're hardcore and feel like setting up a match with three other friends, you have no control with regards to the connections you find. There are definite teething pains with the online component and in some regards I wish Nintendo had picked another game to give its online play the first go around, but on the other hand I hope that Nintendo figures out how to deal with the lag issues and makes improvements with Wii updates. To be fair Xbox live took a while to settle down into the great service that is now and Wii online is free, so I'll take it with a grain of salt.

The characters are beautifully animated and look pretty good on my HDTV (get the component cable, get rid of your composite if you're playing on HD) As I play more of it this week there will be future updates.

Verdict: buy, even if you don' t see the appeal yet, you will after you play it. Its also a great party game as anyone can pick up the game and play but it will stay in your wii for a while as there is a lot of depth in the game as well.

Upcoming Releases

My Wii has been sitting next to my TV for months without seeing much use. After WiiSports and a few games were beaten or played for a while I rebonded with my Xbox because Nintendo's online support is still lacking. As much fun as classic games are, most of the time they just aren't as fun when you go back to them. The mind has a funny way of making old games seem more enjoyable than they were or maybe I'm just really bad at old 2d sidescrollers now. I don't have the patience when I mess up to start the level entirely over with no savepoints. What used to be a fun challenge in my youth is now just absurdly infuriating which doesn't help with my "casual retro" gaming.

Enter Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii. I'm excited for it. Bottom line. This will be a game where I can play it with ANYONE. My Xbox has ironically become my single gamer console even though I mostly use it to game online with others. Most of the games are too complex for me to get used to playing split screen. I want the whole screen for those games and there aren't very many "party" games where 2-4 people can all play together. Seriously, I challenge you to name some non arcade games for the xbox. Try. Ok I'll give you guitar hero cause its so much fun but you still have to pass the guitar around. The only downside to my upcoming smash bros brawl is whether or not i really am willing to spend the money for two more controllers.... they're really expensive! I definitely see Smash Brothers being the party game that gets played when a few friends are over no matter their gaming experience.

The Wii has definitely expanded casual gaming and it is a very welcome change, I just hope that Nintendo can follow through with some legitimate games that aren't just hokey and lose their appeal after a little bit of time with it. So far I am feeling good about Smash, Mario Galaxy and Metroid.

On the 360 I'm looking forward to GTA IV, Halo3 (obviously), Mass Effect, BioShock, Prototype and Blue Dragon.

For Sony... I hope they can get a few interesting games out that aren't ports. A few quality exclusive games such as Metal Gear will help Sony try to regain some ground if perhaps they stop trying to sell me a system that I should be honored to go work more hours in order to have. Psh, until that attitude changes or there's a significant price drop, I'll sit on the sidelines and be jealous of those who get to play the new Metal Gear.

Wii Accessories and Avalibility

So I now own a Nintendo Wii, the frustrations in attempting to find one will be discussed in another post. Trying to find accessories for the Wii in February israther ridiculous. As a new owner I have been dying to try out the Virtual console.

Growing up I never owned SNES. Instead I had the original Nintendo and Sega Genesis so when Super Mario World made an appearance on the virtual console, I was sold. I would finally get a chance to play through the entire game. All that I had to do was buy a Nintendo points card, a virtual console controller and download the game. Easier said than done. Where the hell can you get a controller? I've looked at BestBuy, Target, Wal-mart, Circuit City. Point cards and the Wii classic controller are nowhere to be found. I am aware you can play virtual console games with a game cube controller, but there's just something about playing with Mario and Yoshi using that SNES style controller. Also, no I'm not using my credit card to download the game, I have no self control. I will just end up getting every crappy virtual console game ever. I'll stick to the cards as it was designed for children to be able to get games. Consider me a child.

Lastly, as I await the availability of a controller I've decided that Nintendo needs to drop down the prices of games. Right now they are priced outside of an impulse buy. These games have been out for a while and unless they are classic gems customers will be hesitant or at least think about such purchases. At 2-5 dollars a pop people will buy them in a heartbeat.

Reviews and thoughts regarding the controller and virtual console are to come once I find them. Don't hold your breath. I've been trying to play super mario world for a while now.