Read-a-long with Nintendo Power #243 (July 2009)

By Joe Fourhman | June 13, 2009

As we wait for word on Kingdom Hearts III, we’ll have Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days on DS… and although the series is best known on PS2, a 2004 GBA sidestory already introduced the franchise to Nintendo fans. Grab that keyblade, ask “Where’s Sora?” and read-a-long!

Issue #243, July 2009
featuring Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS), Tatsunoko vs Capcom (Wii), Scribblenauts (DS), Rhythm Heaven (DS), Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii), Astro Boy (Wii)

Straight off, let’s get it out of the way that Nintendo Power does not know what 358/2 Days means. What they do know is that this DS exclusive takes place between Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, focusing on Roxas. Roxas is kind of like Raiden if you consider usual series lead Sora to be the Solid Snake.

With the spotlight on Roxas, 358/2 Days is going to make for a different kind of Kingdom Hearts. Although Roxas will visit Disney-based worlds, he’ll do so without sidekick regulars Goofy and Donald Duck in tow. In their place, you can choose from various members of the doomed Organization XIII. I say “doomed” because if I recall KH2 and the GBA sidestory Chain of Memories, most of these guys were dispatched by Sora and company.

In fact, 358/2 Days seems to be primarily about filling in the gaps created by the typically Square Enixian storyline. Nintendo Power promises the game will reveal how Roxas met his friends in Twilight Town (the people and setting for the extended prologue section of Kingdom Hearts 2), introduce a new Organization cutie named Xion, and go into Roxas’s friendship with series thorn Axel.

But if screens like this one are anything to go by – and given that we already know that Roxas and Sora are the same person, sort of – it’s not too hard to guess that the Roxas / Xion / Axel relationship will be a mirror of the Sora / Kairi / Riku trio.

I know I just dropped a heap of Hearts trivia on you, but game creator Tetsuya Nomura (and character designer for Final Fantasy, as if you didn’t know that) promises that 358/2 Days is also a good jump-on point for gamers unfamiliar with the series. After all, Roxas himself is something of a cypher and has to learn about his role in the Kingdom Hearts mythology right alongside the player.

358/2 Days has an offline WiFi multiplayer mode, where up to four players can compete in Four Swords-esque missions. These missions are unlocked during the single player quest and in return, the rewards collected in multiplayer can earn special items back in single player.

Rumors can continue to percolate about Kingdom Hearts on Wii. Nomura, in a classically vague riposte to NP’s question, says he may consider it at some future date.

This game has been getting coverage everywhere, so the article on Tatsunoko vs Capcom is pretty much all old news. The press release Aeropause HQ received for Tatsunoko vs Capcom mentions that animation studio Tatsunoko (the half of the game where you need to be a serious classic anime buff to recognize anybody) is perhaps most famous for the original Speed Racer. Well if that’s the case, how come I don’t see him listed on the fighters’ roster? Maybe he’s a secret unlockable.

Speed’s lack notwithstanding, it is an interesting mix of characters. TvC will include characters from Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Lost Planet, Mega Man 64, Onimusha, Okami, Viewtiful Joe and Rival Schools. And that’s obviously just the video game side.

They’re also considering adding online play, which was not included in the original Japanese release. Just get me Speed Racer and I’ll bite.

It seems to have been completely overshadowed during E3, but Scribblenauts is a game to watch. Coming to DS this fall, Scribblenauts is a puzzle/action game where, when confronted with a challenge, you simply write a word onscreen to make your way through. And I don’t mean some kind of prompted writing, as in Typing of the Dead, I mean that you literally have to come up with your solution out of thin air. Nintendo Power shows this example of a puzzle where you have to get a cat off a roof, and three possible solutions would be to write the word “fish,” “lasso” or “water balloon.” Each word you write summons the object, and how these objects interact will determine if you have solved the puzzle or passed the challenge.

This sounds like a promise of Molyneaux proportions, but NP (and just about every other article I’ve ever read about the game) says every word the tested created some kind of response. You’re limited to nouns only (as if that’s a limitation), but nothing vulgar and no proper nouns. So a penis would likely not help save that cat. Among the words that NP tested include tsunami, minigun, jerk, capybara, rutabaga, moose and god. Developer 5th Cell claims “tens of thousands” of words can be used.

Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka mentions a hilarious but simple word combination that crashed the game during development: writing “bunny” and “bunny.” The randy buggers multiplied to infinity.

The only knock I have against Scribblenauts is that 5th Cell also brought us Drawn to Life, which was completely oversold on its concept of being able to draw your own game. Most of Drawn to Life involved coloring, not drawing, so I am the teenciest bit worried that Scribblenauts could be similarly misleading.

Here’s your top WiiWare games, as picked by Nintendo Power. I own exactly three of them.

In order from bottom to top: Dr. Mario Online Rx, Gradius Rebirth, LIT, Space Invaders Get Even, LostWinds, Tetris Party, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, World of Goo, Strong Bad, and Mega Man 9.

It’s shameful nonsense that Bonsai Barber did not make the cut (pun!) And I suppose that the mag went to print too soon to properly judge the recently released funfest that is Swords & Soldiers.

Download Staff Picks: Penguin & Friends: Hey! That’s My Fish! (WiiWare)

Top scoring Wii review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, 9.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Knights in the Nightmare and Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming, tied at 8.0
Lowest rated Wii review: Destiny of Zorro, 2.5
Lowest rated DS review: Miami Law 3.0

Other notable DS scores: Nintendo’s own Legendary Starfy gets a 7.0 and the mystifyingly not-LEGO-like LEGO Battles hits 5.0.

On the Wii front, Let’s Tap received a 7.0 (Would you have expected much higher? This one is more concept than game anyway), Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings both got a 7.5, Boom Blox Bash Party reached 8.0, The Munchables landed at 7.0, and The Conduit reached 8.0 (cue flailing about the failure of “hardcore” games on the Wii).

Here’s your only Beyond Good & Evil appearance you’re likely to see this year. – Photographer/adventurer Jade will be in Ubisoft’s Wii MotionPlus-enabled soccer game, Academy of Champions. In addition to genuine sports stars like Pele and Mia Hamm, you’ll also get to kickabout with Rayman and Sam Fisher.

Marvel jumps on the LEGO train, but not with a LEGO game – Marvel Super Hero Squad (Wii and DS) borrows the popular family-friendly gameplay of LEGO Batman/Star Wars/Etc but utilizes the super-cute chibi toy line of mini-heroes. We’ve got a ton of these toys at my house, but I imagine I’ll be going for the PS3 edition of the one, simply for the Trophies.

Elsewhere this issue, there’s Scooby-Doo: First Frights, which will also follow the same formula of easy multiplayer and cutesy redesigned characters.

Here’s one for the otaku among you – The lead creator behind Rhythm Heaven, TSUNKU (his spelling, not mine), was not only lead singer for Sharam Q, but also was producer, songwriter and backup vocalist for legendary j-pop girl group Morning Musume. One of Morning Musume’s songs was featured in the first Ouendan.

Coming to WiiWare: Braid – Not really! But PC-to-WiiWare conversion Super Meat Boy promises to wrangle cameos from stars of the indie game scene, including Commander Video from Bit.Trip Beat and Tim from the 360 platformer Braid.

Was Muramasa originally intended as a PS2 game? – Wii watchers have been drooling over Muramasa: The Demon Blade since the first screens surfaced of the shockingly beautiful 2D actioner, but developer George Kamitani reveals that the game would likely have appeared on the venerable PS2 if publishers hadn’t already starting “rejecting PS2 proposals” by 2006.

Next month in Nintendo Power… you know that thing we just had? That convention? E3? Yeah, they plan to devote the issue to that. Sucks being in print media.