Nintendo Memories (the rest)
N64: I never owned a Nintendo 64. I remember being pretty interested in it, when it was still called the Ultra 64. But the damn thing never seemed to want to come out. I eventually ended up getting a PlayStation, although I'm not certain if this was before or after the N64 came out. It had to be close.
I rented the N64 once or twice. Mario 64 was pretty interesting. It was fun to play around with Mario's face while the game was booting up. And the new play style wasn't bad. But it just never clicked with me. There were a lot of things that felt too awkward and difficult to do, and the game didn't strike me as a "must have." I also couldn't comprehend why Mario suddenly couldn't breath underwater, and watching him drown wasn't very fun.
I also played the N64 occasionally at other friends', namely a kid named Graham. We played some of the Goldeneye multiplayer and that was a lot of fun. We also rented a game called Forsaken, which we also only played in multiplayer. Kinda the same deal, except you were a spaceship instead of a spy. That game's box was weird and oddly compelling with that freaked out looking woman. I have no idea what that had to do with the game, but it was kind of cool. I later rented Forsaken for my PSX and was dismayed how much worse it looked.
There were other games I was interested in for the N64, like Yoshi Story and Kirby 64, but they didn't drive me to get the system. At that point in time I was on the path to becoming a completely dedicated Mega Man fan; listening to all those classic tunes on VGMusic.com prompted me to go re-buy them. And the PSX was the system getting Mega Man by that point. So that's how it went. Kinda good thing too, 'cause Yoshi Story and Kirby 64 are awful.
GC: I would never have gotten a GameCube if not for Mega Man Network Transmission, which itself isn't that great of a Mega Man game. Really, I'd imported the Japanese game, Rockman EXE Transmission. Aside from being a fan and all, it was a time when getting footage and coverage from a just-released Japanese game was kind of a big deal, not that easy. These were my PMM days. There was some disc you could get that'd let you boot imports on a GC, but because the GC BIOS didn't have Japanese text the text was garbled. Not that it mattered much since I didn't really know Japanese too well at the time, but it still looked crappy for the sake of videos so I sent my GC in to get mod chipped.
I also had Metroid Prime, which came with the GC, but I didn't really get into it. Also imported Rockman X Command Mission, but a combination of not knowing the language well and not caring for RPGs resulted in me giving up pretty quickly (plus a friend as obsessed as I got the good footage from it, I think).
Over time, I have picked up a handful of other GC games likes Super Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker, Smash Bros Melee. Some were gifts from friends. While I am still completely appreciative, I just couldn't get into any of these games. I was especially appalled at how awful Sunshine was, though this was after I played Galaxy, too. Still, seeing as 64 never did much for me, Sunshine wouldn't have had a chance.
I should also mention I think the GC controller is godawful. I don't think I'm in the minority here but I know the people who think otherwise can be pretty loud.
Wii: The Wii was really when things turned around for me. Initially I wasn't too interested in it; it seemed novel but I questioned how it could do anything against Sony's dominance. At this point I was hardly playing anything outside of Mega Man, and a couple other games here and there. A friend of mine who went to E3 when the Wii was revealed exclaimed it'd be the nail in Sony's coffin, though I was somewhat skeptical. Not for liking Sony much or anything, but for just going by recent history.
However, there was a huge buzz in the air with the Wii. It wasn't just hype, you could definitely tell there was something different about this console, about the way people felt about it. Everyone seemed to want one. Friends who didn't even show a lot of interest in gaming were excited for it. By the time it came out, I was really interested in picking one up. But of course came the sell outs. I figured, maybe give it a few weeks, and stock would be plentiful. But no, every time I went to a store, they never had it. People were literally following truck shipments to the stores, at least from what some clerks told me.
I'll admit that part of it was wanting to be part of the bandwagon, but I wanted a Wii bad. So bad that I eventually gave in and went for GameStop's crazy bundle offer. It was like $500, and you'd get a bunch of added on games and crap that you may or may not have wanted. It's the only way they'd sell it. And even then, I had to watch their site like a hawk to see when it'd come in stock again.
Game-wise, the bundle came with Twilight Princess, Call of Duty 3, Raving Rabbids, and one other that I can't remember... aside from Wii Sports, of course. I eventually sold off all of these games... aside from Wii Sports, of course. Naturally there have been a ton of great games following the Wii. Mario Kart, NSMB Wii, Wii Sports Resort, Punch-Out, Monster Hunter Tri, DKC Returns, Animal Crossing, and so on. And there still ARE good games coming (Rhythm Heaven, Kirby's Return). I'll even say I liked Galaxy a bit, if only for being the first 3D Mario that wasn't too awkward to play to the finish. I also liked Super Paper Mario, at least for that first playthrough. And of course, Mega Man 9 and 10 on download were bliss.
Being an adult now, I've got more Wii games than I had games on any other system. Though I've also been prudent about selling them off when they got uninteresting. And I can't say I've had the regrets like I did with my old NES and GB games. Not to make that a knock on the Wii, but... gaming is still real different today than what it used to be, with what it focuses on. There is less interest in making games that you want to play over and over again.
Also being an adult now, I suppose, I don't have many fond Wii memories since... well, it really hasn't been that long. Two things do come to mind though. First is Red Steel. I never owned Red Steel, but I borrowed it from someone for a while. Never get into the game itself. But the free for all multiplayer was great. It was really crude and basic compared to what was out there on other systems then (and compared to day a complete joke), but somehow that didn't matter. It was a lot of fun to screw around and take turns dishing out defeat and insults. Being crappy didn't matter.
The other is NSMBW, which goes without saying is a stellar game. But I did the right thing by flying to Cali and visiting Andy when it came out. He got a couple friends over and our first experience playing the game was with 4-player coop, which is as it should have been. Going out of the way to have that experience made all the better and more memorable.
But all in all, the Wii turned me from just a Mega Man fan to a gamer, and a savvy gamer at that (at least I like to think so). The way I see games now, and what I expect from them, has led me to a lot of fun experiences. It's really that reason why I've shown some contempt and dismay for Nintendo these days in earlier posts.
Anyway that wraps it up for now. I left out a bit of stuff, I know. Like how my friend Cheston and I would play Guerrilla War for the NES constantly. I also really didn't cover any of Nintendo's portable line. That'll be for another time perhaps, when I've taken to this whole moving to Japan thing.
I wouldn't consider myself a Nintendo fanboy, but it is certainly true that Nintendo largely has been the home of the games that suit me, except for the times when it didn't, and then nothing really suited me.
That's kind of a weird way to end it.
I rented the N64 once or twice. Mario 64 was pretty interesting. It was fun to play around with Mario's face while the game was booting up. And the new play style wasn't bad. But it just never clicked with me. There were a lot of things that felt too awkward and difficult to do, and the game didn't strike me as a "must have." I also couldn't comprehend why Mario suddenly couldn't breath underwater, and watching him drown wasn't very fun.
I also played the N64 occasionally at other friends', namely a kid named Graham. We played some of the Goldeneye multiplayer and that was a lot of fun. We also rented a game called Forsaken, which we also only played in multiplayer. Kinda the same deal, except you were a spaceship instead of a spy. That game's box was weird and oddly compelling with that freaked out looking woman. I have no idea what that had to do with the game, but it was kind of cool. I later rented Forsaken for my PSX and was dismayed how much worse it looked.
There were other games I was interested in for the N64, like Yoshi Story and Kirby 64, but they didn't drive me to get the system. At that point in time I was on the path to becoming a completely dedicated Mega Man fan; listening to all those classic tunes on VGMusic.com prompted me to go re-buy them. And the PSX was the system getting Mega Man by that point. So that's how it went. Kinda good thing too, 'cause Yoshi Story and Kirby 64 are awful.
GC: I would never have gotten a GameCube if not for Mega Man Network Transmission, which itself isn't that great of a Mega Man game. Really, I'd imported the Japanese game, Rockman EXE Transmission. Aside from being a fan and all, it was a time when getting footage and coverage from a just-released Japanese game was kind of a big deal, not that easy. These were my PMM days. There was some disc you could get that'd let you boot imports on a GC, but because the GC BIOS didn't have Japanese text the text was garbled. Not that it mattered much since I didn't really know Japanese too well at the time, but it still looked crappy for the sake of videos so I sent my GC in to get mod chipped.
I also had Metroid Prime, which came with the GC, but I didn't really get into it. Also imported Rockman X Command Mission, but a combination of not knowing the language well and not caring for RPGs resulted in me giving up pretty quickly (plus a friend as obsessed as I got the good footage from it, I think).
Over time, I have picked up a handful of other GC games likes Super Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker, Smash Bros Melee. Some were gifts from friends. While I am still completely appreciative, I just couldn't get into any of these games. I was especially appalled at how awful Sunshine was, though this was after I played Galaxy, too. Still, seeing as 64 never did much for me, Sunshine wouldn't have had a chance.
I should also mention I think the GC controller is godawful. I don't think I'm in the minority here but I know the people who think otherwise can be pretty loud.
Wii: The Wii was really when things turned around for me. Initially I wasn't too interested in it; it seemed novel but I questioned how it could do anything against Sony's dominance. At this point I was hardly playing anything outside of Mega Man, and a couple other games here and there. A friend of mine who went to E3 when the Wii was revealed exclaimed it'd be the nail in Sony's coffin, though I was somewhat skeptical. Not for liking Sony much or anything, but for just going by recent history.
However, there was a huge buzz in the air with the Wii. It wasn't just hype, you could definitely tell there was something different about this console, about the way people felt about it. Everyone seemed to want one. Friends who didn't even show a lot of interest in gaming were excited for it. By the time it came out, I was really interested in picking one up. But of course came the sell outs. I figured, maybe give it a few weeks, and stock would be plentiful. But no, every time I went to a store, they never had it. People were literally following truck shipments to the stores, at least from what some clerks told me.
I'll admit that part of it was wanting to be part of the bandwagon, but I wanted a Wii bad. So bad that I eventually gave in and went for GameStop's crazy bundle offer. It was like $500, and you'd get a bunch of added on games and crap that you may or may not have wanted. It's the only way they'd sell it. And even then, I had to watch their site like a hawk to see when it'd come in stock again.
Game-wise, the bundle came with Twilight Princess, Call of Duty 3, Raving Rabbids, and one other that I can't remember... aside from Wii Sports, of course. I eventually sold off all of these games... aside from Wii Sports, of course. Naturally there have been a ton of great games following the Wii. Mario Kart, NSMB Wii, Wii Sports Resort, Punch-Out, Monster Hunter Tri, DKC Returns, Animal Crossing, and so on. And there still ARE good games coming (Rhythm Heaven, Kirby's Return). I'll even say I liked Galaxy a bit, if only for being the first 3D Mario that wasn't too awkward to play to the finish. I also liked Super Paper Mario, at least for that first playthrough. And of course, Mega Man 9 and 10 on download were bliss.
Being an adult now, I've got more Wii games than I had games on any other system. Though I've also been prudent about selling them off when they got uninteresting. And I can't say I've had the regrets like I did with my old NES and GB games. Not to make that a knock on the Wii, but... gaming is still real different today than what it used to be, with what it focuses on. There is less interest in making games that you want to play over and over again.
Also being an adult now, I suppose, I don't have many fond Wii memories since... well, it really hasn't been that long. Two things do come to mind though. First is Red Steel. I never owned Red Steel, but I borrowed it from someone for a while. Never get into the game itself. But the free for all multiplayer was great. It was really crude and basic compared to what was out there on other systems then (and compared to day a complete joke), but somehow that didn't matter. It was a lot of fun to screw around and take turns dishing out defeat and insults. Being crappy didn't matter.
The other is NSMBW, which goes without saying is a stellar game. But I did the right thing by flying to Cali and visiting Andy when it came out. He got a couple friends over and our first experience playing the game was with 4-player coop, which is as it should have been. Going out of the way to have that experience made all the better and more memorable.
But all in all, the Wii turned me from just a Mega Man fan to a gamer, and a savvy gamer at that (at least I like to think so). The way I see games now, and what I expect from them, has led me to a lot of fun experiences. It's really that reason why I've shown some contempt and dismay for Nintendo these days in earlier posts.
Anyway that wraps it up for now. I left out a bit of stuff, I know. Like how my friend Cheston and I would play Guerrilla War for the NES constantly. I also really didn't cover any of Nintendo's portable line. That'll be for another time perhaps, when I've taken to this whole moving to Japan thing.
I wouldn't consider myself a Nintendo fanboy, but it is certainly true that Nintendo largely has been the home of the games that suit me, except for the times when it didn't, and then nothing really suited me.
That's kind of a weird way to end it.