Read-a-long with Nintendo Power #242 (June 2009)

By Joe Fourhman | May 17, 2009

#242 brings a diverse lineup of game articles, but also some bad news. EIC Chris Slate confesses that Nintendo Power will no longer offer the monthly sweepstakes contests that have lurked in the back half of the mag for years. Generally, the contests were sort of dicey… you’d win a Wii or DS plus whatever the game du jour was. Which I always thought was odd since readers likely already have a Wii or DS anyway. Except for the transitional year between generations, why would you read Nintendo Power if you didn’t have the system(s)? Nevertheless, it’s a bit sad to see the contests ride off into the sunset, even if very few people ever benefitted from them. Third prize was usually a t-shirt; I would have been happy to just win that. So save your stamps and read-a-long!

Issue #242, June 2009
featuring Red Steel 2 (Wii), MySims Agents (Wii, DS), Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS), Punch-Out!! (Wii), Nostalgia (DS), Spore Hero (Wii), Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics (Wii, DS)

You have to wonder why Ubisoft is bothering to go with Red Steel 2 as the game’s title. The “sequel” has nothing to do with the Wii launch title, and the development team is determined to erase all the bad memories associated with the disappointing original. One supposes Ubi still thinks the Red Steel brand has market value, but for all intents and purposes, Red Steel 2 is an entirely new game.

There’s two big reasons why: first, a new visual style that leverages style over realism… and second, Wii MotionPlus.

Art Director Stephane Bachelet makes a very important point when he says “If you try to do realism on Wii, you’ll always be compared to the other systems.” So Red Steel 2 sidesteps that issue with a cel-shaded look, but Bachelet is quick to stress that they feel their take on cel-shading is a bit more “mature” than, say, Jet Set Radio Future. He also mentions that the original Red Steel was set in the 1970s and “was not a fun look.” But while the two games are very different, there is at least one recurring visual theme: East meets West. The first used 70s style and Yakuza gangsters; Red Steel 2 turns the clock back to the American West with an overlay of the era of the Japanese Samurai.

Wii MotionPlus allows Red Steel 2 to detect the power of your swing more precisely than before. Early on in RS2, a tutorial will ascertain whether you’re a kid or an adult and then judge your swinging power accordingly. Nintendo Power tested the power-sensing by throwing light swings followed by heavy swings, and the game was able to render the resultant destruction accordingly. And of course, there’s the swordfighting. NP doesn’t drop the hallowed phrase “1:1″, but they do claim the onscreen sword followed the Remote motions “exactly, without any noticeable lag.”

I’m still very skeptical about the longterm playability of the vaunted 1:1 swordfighting. I simply do not find overdone motion controls fun to play. Standing in my living room swinging an imaginary sword does not sound like something I could keep up for hours at a clip. To date, Wii games have either beat our brains in with stupid motion controls that make your arms physically ache, or they split up the motion control into small segments so that you end up playing for only a short time (IE, mini-games). Neither solution is what I want in my gaming. I want subtle motion controls that are suitable for long sessions or short sessions. Few Wii titles have nailed that sweet spot.

But Red Steel 2 seems to have some smart decisions behind it, particularly the stylized look. And the dev team is actively seeking to address the concerns of the first Red Steel (Hey! You can instantly switch between your sword and your gun!), so maybe there’s redemption for this title yet.

Check out the preorder bonus for Little King’s Story It’s a cute little black devil demon thing… oh hell, I’m not going to pretend I know what an “Onii” is in relation to Little King’s Story. Here’s what it looks like. I’m guessing it’s made of that soft “stress ball” material.

Little King’s Story strikes me as a potentially brilliant title that will get washed over in sales, ignored by Nintendo’s core since it’s not a known property and sniffed at by the hardcore crowd because it features cutesy Animal Crossing-level art direction. We’ll find out when the game is released this July.

Yuji Naka reveals Sega’s loose hiring practices in his Power Profile interview.

“I wanted to go to Namco. But I didn’t get very good grades in high school. That’s why I didn’t go to university. Back then, Sega and Taito were the only companies that would hire people without a university degree. So I chose Sega.”

And of course Sonic’s father would have a hobby focused on speed… Naka dabbles in circuit racing with a Lotus Elise and a Ferrari 360 Spider. After admitting to running “about 20″ Ferrari races this year, Naka throws down the gauntlet at the feet of Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi: “I think I’m the person who knows the most about cars in the games industry.”

Worst Product Description Ever Writer Justin Cheng describes Guitar Hero Metallica as “Imagine Guitar Hero World Tour with a Metallica-heavy track list, and you’ve got Guitar Hero Metallica.” No forking snot!

In other news, Justin summarized Cooking Mama World Kitchen as “Imagine Cooking Mama but with a world kitchen,” Raving Rabbids TV Party as “Imagine everyone’s favorite Raving Rabbids having a TV party,” and the new Punch-Out as “Imagine the old Punch-Out but on the Wii.”

Out of the four arcade titles that debuted on the Wii’s Virtual Console Arcade last March, only Namco classic Mappy scored a “recommended” from Nintendo Power. The other three, Gaplus, Star Force, and The Tower of Druaga (which you Baten Kaitos fans should recognize) all received a lesser rating.

To celebrate, here’s a Japanese band doing a swinging version of the Mappy theme.

Download Staff Picks: Bit.Trip Beat (WiiWare), Super Punch-Out!! (SNES)

Top scoring Wii review: Punch-Out!!, 8.5 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times, 7.5
Lowest rated Wii review: Help Wanted, 4.5
Lowest rated DS review: Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled 5.0

Localization is… slow – Japan has SIX Professor Layton titles. We have one. NP reports that they’re working on localizing the second one for a western release.

Ignore the barber behind the low score – NP gave WiiWare release Bonsai Barber a “Hmmmm”, which the middle level of their three-grade method for rating downloadable games. They are wrong. It’s a top WiiWare title. Incidentally, the only DSiWare release with a “Recommended” rating is Art Style: Aquia.

An idea with no explanation – Treasure World for DS is one of those games that sense various WiFi signals and generate specific in-game items. While this is cool and all, NP doesn’t say anything about the actual gameplay. More details, please.

Your ball, America – Deca Sports 2, the minigame collection that launched a million WII IS DYING rumors when it flopped in Japan, will arrive on our shores this fall.

Next month in Nintendo Power… no teaser here, NP promises a big article on Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for DS.