What I'm Playing (Volume 29): Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Mario Golf: Advance Tour is a handheld version of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour for the Gamecube. As Toadstool Tour is one of my favorite Gamecube games, and I've really been hankering to play it again, I ordered the handheld version to complete my extremely extensive review of the handheld Mario sports games on the GBA. So how does it stack up to it's beloved console counterpart?

Extremely well! Advance Tour is a masterpiece of handheld sports gaming, and will be one of my most cherished GBA games forever, on a handheld that I truly love. I enjoyed the Mario tennis game quite a bit, but Advance Tour positively blew me away with its brilliance.

The gameplay is nearly identical to the Gamecube and N64 versions of Mario golf, in which you press a button to start the power meter, one to stop the power meter, and another to determine how accurate your shot will be. Anyone who has played a golf game like Mario Golf or Hotshots Golf will be very familiar with the mechanic.

One of the things I thought would be most tricky about the game would be the putting. The greens on the console versions are usually very complex, particularly on the more challenging courses. Rather than try to portray the hilly nature of the greens on the handheld version, Camelot wisely chose to simplify these greens, making the challenge less about reading the greens and more about timing. It can still be difficult to hit longer putts, though, making putting no cakewalk, especially since it lacks a view from behind your golfer to see where your ball lies. All in all, this is as good a putting system as I ever could have hoped for, and it works for great effect.

You can play on 5 courses that increase in difficulty. These courses are largely taken from the Gamecube game, although they are altered a bit for handheld play. A few of the courses from the console version are mashed up into other courses, like combining the Mushroom Kingdom course with the Bowser's Castle course. The courses are all beautiful, and have a lot of the fun, fantastic style that you just don't see in golf simulators, including tricky shots to the middle of an island to cut a par 5 course in half, or giant chain chomps that will eat your ball if you land too close to them.

The game is visually perfect. It has a really nice recreation of the 3D visualization from the Gamecube version during tee shots, enabling you to look at the beautiful courses and watch the nice swing animations. During other shots, you have a top down view that shows you the lay of the course and your shot path, with the ability to zoom in more closely on the area to which you are shooting.

The music is all excellent, and is again taken from the console version.

You can play the game with multiple players in hot seat mode, or in linked or wireless match play against another player with their own copy of the game. I haven't done this, being a solitary wretch by nature, but I trust that it would work very nicely.

So is this just a port of the Gamecube version, with minor changes for functionality? Hardly! The main draw of the game, and the meat of how you'll spend your time, is a fantastic RPG mode in which you try to become the ultimate golfer. You work on progressing through the tournaments at the difficult courses in your area, and try to become champion of each. You can also play a doubles mode, in which you alternate shots with your CPU partner, and there are separate tournaments for doubles play. You can also challenge golfers to play you in match play, in which you try to win more holes than your opponent. You can also play doubles match play, in a similar style. After finishing a match or tournament, you receive experience which you can use to improve how far you can hit the ball, how accurate your shots are, change your shot angle, and how much you spin the ball. This mode will take the meat of your time playing, and it's quite a delightfully long game. I've spent probably at least 20 hours just playing through the RPG mode and then trying to set course records to earn all of the unlocks.

There are also TONS of challenges and training exercises you can do, including a mini golf game, a par 3 course, and opportunities to improve in your putting, driving, and approach game. These are lots of fun, and finishing them all would probably add 10 additional hours to the game. And I may do so, with how much I enjoyed it!

It's hard for me to find any weaknesses in the game at all, but in fairness there are a few. I would have liked it if the Mario characters would have played a larger role in the game, as they play almost none. It would have been fairly easy to have a Mario character be the champ of each course, and to get to play them in match play at the end, but they didn't do this for some reason. The only time you can play against the Mario characters in match play is in the quick play mode, rather than in career mode. Having their presence in the game would have increased the "Nintendo feel" of the game, which would have been nice.

The game also has a perfect physics engine, unless of course you're trying to hit the ball up a slope while your ball lies on the slope. In this case, it's literally impossible to hit the ball forward at all. You'll just pop it straight up in the air, which is totally not like real golf at all. Eventually you'll learn to just shy far away from slopes, but this is just a silly addition that exists in the Gamecube game, too. Boo.

But try as I might, those small weaknesses were all I could find. It's a true handheld masterpiece, and a must own for any fan of golf games, Mario, handheld gaming, baseball, apple pie, and/or motherhood. And it's pretty cheap, too! I got my copy for about 10 bucks on Amazon, and it was well worth the price. I'll be circling back to this one over and over again, for certain. I'll give it a 9.8/10.

The next iteration of the handheld What I'm Playing series is teased in the image below, and only hardcore fans will be able to figure this one out...

-TRO

Song of the Day (Volume 22): Too Hot to Stop

This is such an excellent album cover

Too hot to stop indeed. For some reason this was on the muzak at Raising Canes once, and I almost broke my thumbs scrambling for my phone to find out what it was once I heard that sexy synthesizer in the intro. Enjoy!

-TRO

3DS Rant

I adore Nintendo, and have since 1993 when I first plugged the RF cable from my garage sale purchased NES into my TV and enjoyed Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and Bases Loaded. But Nintendo, like most companies, makes a lot of stupid decisions. The one that happened most frequently that was the most infuriating to me was their decisions regarding the virtual console.

For those who don't know, the virtual console is basically just a set of emulators that let you play games from old Nintendo consoles on your Wii, Wii U, and 3DS. By far the best set of games available was ironically on the Wii, which had not only Nintendo games, but also Turbografx, Genesis, Master System, and even some Neo Geo AES games.

I won't fault Nintendo for not including the games from the other systems. I have no idea about the negotiations that went into deciding revenue splits between the IP holder and Nintendo, or what the negotiations were like this round, what kind of profits they made last round, etc. It would have been cool, but ultimately they can't be faulted for not getting Hudson Soft to include games on the 3DS, nor could they be faulted for deciding that it wasn't profitable to do so. I don't know what's going on behind the big Red-N curtain.

But for heaven's sake, could we please just be completely honest and give people access to older games on a wide variety of consoles? For some incredibly bizarre reason, Nintendo said that the original 3DS couldn't run SNES games in "pixel perfect" mode, and so they wouldn't release the games on the 3DS. First of all, I'm sure the clever people at Nintendo could have figured it out. They figured out how to put out some very impressive SNES ports on the GBA, which was 2 FULL GENERATIONS AGO. If the GBA can handle Super Mario World 2, I'm pretty sure the 3DS can handle Earthbound. This bizarre reasoning carries over, in an even more bizarre version, to GBA games and DS games. Why in the world would you have handheld games available for download on the Wii U, but not the 3DS? Please Nintendo why. It's not like the 3DS can't handle them technically speaking. The thing plays DS cartridges! And it would have been a great fit to have your back library of handheld games on the 3DS, but they limited themselves to Game Boy and Game Boy Color, which is just completely baffling to me. Even if it wasn't pixel perfect mode, I don't think anyone would have cared.

I'll give Nintendo a 80% pass on not having N64 games on the 3DS. N64 emulation has always been tricky, so it probably requires power the 3DS doesn't have. But I do find it slightly fishy that one of the launch titles on the DS, and the first game I bought with my shiny new silver DS on launch day, was a port of Mario 64. Hmmmmmm.

And why can't we have Earthbound Beginnings on 3DS? It's an NES game!!!!!! It seemed like Nintendo was just using the Virtual Console this cycle to try to rescue the floundering Wii U, and gave up a lot of money in virtual console sales to get it.

Also, why were there so many Nintendo games that were on the Wii's virtual console that aren't on the 3DS or Wii U? It's not hard to put roms in a shop, guys. You already have the emulators. There are a ton of games I'd like on Virtual Console for 3DS that the Wii could handle, but apparently the 3DS can't. I really hope the Switch is better in this regard, giving a wide range of titles, and avoiding arbitrary distinctions that don't make sense.

Anyway, end rant. Get it together, Nintendo.

-TRO

Song of the Day (Volume 21): Mudshovel

Anyone who knows me knows that I detest few things more than radio friendly brofest hard rock. Puddle of Mudd, Nickelback, Korn, Limp Bizkit, and ESPECIALLY HINDER can all go away and never come back. If I hear Lips of an Angel one more time...But I have to confess that despite bearing all of the horrific hallmarks of that genre which I so geniunely hate, this track is excellent. Go Staind for being a remarkable outlier on a probability curve which is consistently skewed towards low quality!

What I'm Playing (Volume 28): Mario Tennis: Power Tour

I'm cheating a bit. This isn't my first playthrough of Mario Tennis: Power Tour for the Game Boy Advance. I used to have this game in high school, and played it a ton yet. But I'm going to bend my rules for What I'm Playing going forward, and include any games I'm playing through, even if it's a replay.

Power Tour is a very good handheld adaptation of the superb Mario Tennis games for the N64 and Gamecube. Apparently there are Game Boy color games of Mario Tennis and Golf based on the N64 versions of those games, but I started with my mobile experience here, and I really wanted to play some Mario sports games again.

While my limited experience with Mario Baseball, Basketball, and Soccer (not the exact titles), weren't fantastic, I have always loved the Tennis and Golf series. Both take very complicated sports and boil it down to the essentials while adding on the cutesy charm of the Mario universe. While I probably prefer Golf, the Tennis games are excellent as well.

Power Tour is developed by Camelot, who are most notable for creating the Mario sports series, but also produced standouts like the Golden Sun series, which compose two excellent GBA games and one dismal DS game. In the main thrust of the game, you control a boy or girl attempting to distinguish him or herself on the mean streets of a tennis academy, and become the very best. Controls are simple but very effective. You can move with the d-pad, hit top spin shots with A, and slice shots with b. The computer decides whether or not your character will dive or not, a very good decision due to limited reaction times and a small number of button inputs possible on the GBA. The AI controlling whether or not you hit backhands or forehands, and when you dive is excellent, and never really makes a mistake, enabling you to focus more on spin, positioning, and shot direction. You can also hit power shots that you can unlock by training after you conduct a long enough rally.

The game features an RPG style mode in which you get experience after every match, and can use that experience to improve a certain aspect of your player's abilities. You climb the ranks through juniors, seniors, and varsity, and eventually progress your way through higher levels to become the champ. There is a certain charming story to the game that works, and I don't want to spoil it for you, so just check it out!

You can climb the ranks of doubles and singles, playing with your counterpart (girl if you selected boy, and vice versa) in doubles and by yourself in singles. Your doubles partner is controlled by the AI, which is perhaps too good. Your partner will rarely make mistakes, even if you don't level them up at all, making it far more worth your while to only level yourself to capitalize on big play opportunities. I wish that they had made the partner AI less perfect, forcing you to decide between investing in yourself, or your partner.

The tennis itself is fun and cartoony, with power shots that sparkle, freeze your opponent, blast them backwards, or spin them around in tornadoes. You can unlock these power shots by playing mini games, all of which are very fun. The better you get at the mini games, the more advanced your power shots will become.

The music is very good, as is the sound. There are good voice samples in the game which tell you the score, and make voices for the players. The game's visuals are solid if unremarkable, although the tennis shots do have a delightful streak behind them that never fails to make me happy.

The enemy AI in the game is probably too weak to be fun, although I may just be very good at the game. I never lost a set in my path to tennis greatness, whether in singles or doubles. What's worse, it seemed like the most common strategies were very effective from start to finish, and the opponents never really learned. After sending backhand serve returns up the line past my opponent in doubles 5 or 6 times in a best of 3 set match, I would hope that that opponent would start to position close to the line to force me to alter my strategy, but the opponents never really learn. With that being said, you probably won't lose much, but it also won't feel like a cake walk, as the ball will be delivered to different locations to force you to alter your strategy and shot selection to them.

The game is a good length, although it errs on the side of probably being a bit too long, which is better than being too short. It's long enough to feel rewarding (I spent about 8 hours completing both the singles and doubles stories), but short enough that the gameplay doesn't get too repetitive. If you really like the gameplay, you can play exhibition matches anytime, and can even play via a link cable against a friend, although I didn't test this out at all.

While I feel like the AI could have used some tweaking, I really enjoy this game. It's a fun sports RPG, and boy do I love those! If you're looking for a nice diversion that you can wander back to every few years, Mario Tennis: Power Tour is for you. I'll give it an 8.8/10.

Here's a hint as to what's up next on the handheld front:

-TRO

What I'm Playing (Volume 27): Mega Man 10

Yet another terrible American Mega Man cover, necessitating using this sweet promotional art. 9/10 are bad (8 has an OK cover). I just don't get it!

And I finally lurch to the finish line! I first started documenting my progress through the classic Mega Man franchise in March of this year, although I foolishly used save states on 1-6 and ruined the experience, necessitating my circling back to them in the last month or so. But now I can officially say that I have finished every classic Mega Man game, depending on whether or not you consider Mega Man & Bass, the Game Boy games, and the Wily Wars to be part of the series. I don't, but will probably get to them all if I can pick up a Wily Wars repro cart (rerelease it, please, Capcom!) as I am such a big fan of the series.

So how was Mega Man 10, the last of the series (maybe ever, with how Capcom has treated Mega Man in the last few years)?

It was good! They really haven't made a bad Mega Man game in the classic series, so this is no real surprise. Even 7 and 8 have their own interesting quirks that make them fun.

The tenth game in the series operates on a very similar framework to 9, but definitely changes up the visual look a bit. While 9 looked like it reused Mega Man 2's sprites in entirety, Mega Man 10 has a new look, although it's definitely still 8 bit and retro. But it's certainly more in the vein of 2 and 9 than of 3-6.

The controls are again excellent, and the look is good, although not as good as 5 or 6, curiously. I never really understood adhering so closely to the look of 2, as that's hardly what makes the game great. Pretty much anyone will tell you that 6 looks the best, but that 2 or 3 are preferable for other reasons. I kind of wish that they had taken a few more visual risks to look more like the late NES games, or even the gorgeous 8, but 9 and 10 are operating about 25% on fanservice, so I get it.

The music is good, although not quite as good as in 2, 3, or 9. But it doesn't detract from the game at all, and there are plenty of memorable tunes, with a lot less rehashing of old songs than in 9, for example.

The great thing about 9, the creation of varied and interesting weapons that are more or less necessary to get through the stages, is largely forgotten here, and greatly reduces the need for a Mega Man 10 at all. This was the core thing that made 9 stand out so much from the other successors to the NES games, and so 10 feels much more stale than the 9th iteration.

The stage design is also not quite as interesting in 10, as it tends to rely more on BS cheap deaths rather than on the cleverly designed levels of 3 or 9. These deaths come more often than in any other game in the series, with the exception perhaps of 2. Fixing this weakness was a great service in 9, which replaced the false difficulty of 2 with really tricky and interesting platforming that required pure skill rather than memorization. 10 regresses in this regard.

The robot masters are not bad, and fighting them is actually a joy. Each has their own interesting pattern, and had no easily exploitable patterns that I could see.

I actually enjoyed the cheesy story here, and the cut scenes were clearly lovably done.

The game features two playable characters, Mega Man and Proto Man (you can also play as Bass with DLC). I only played as Mega Man, so I won't evaluate this aspect of the game, but you should be aware of it.

So Mega Man 10 to me is far more in the pantheon of 4-6 than 2 or 3. It's a fun, standard Mega Man game that shares many of the weaknesses of the games, and most of the strengths. If you like Mega Man, you'll enjoy it.

I'll give it an 8.0/10.

-TRO

What I'm Playing (Volume 26): Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (PQ) is a Bejeweled clone. Before you stop reading, being a clone doesn't make a game bad. KC Munchkin is an excellent game despite being a Pac-Man clone, as is Ms. Pac-Man. What matters is the degree to which the clone diverges from the existing pattern of play in its progenitor, and whether or not those changes help to provide an interesting or different spin on the game that distinguishes it enough from the original to make an original and interesting take.

Candy Crush Saga, for example, is an excellent Bejeweled clone, as it adds in the novelty of having preset and challenging levels, an excellent presentation, and the ability to compete against and help out your friends.

So is PQ a bad game? That depends on the innovations it provides! In this case, Puzzle Quest provides a polished version of Bejeweled, but throws a layer of classic RPG onto it. The Bejeweled portions of the game are the simulation of combat, and throws in a  few wrinkles on the classic Bejeweled formula. For the first point, this is a competitive puzzle game, but not in the same way that the vs. versions of Tetris, Puyo Puyo (Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine), or Dr. Mario are. In those games, you both play simultaneously on separate boards. In PQ, you both use the same board, and take turns. This completely changes the pace of play, changing it from a race to rack up points to a thoughtful game in which you survey the landscape and make not only the play that's best for you, but also the play that blocks your opponent from making a good play on their next turn.

In addition to the "battling" nature of combat, the game also enables you to gain levels and specialize in a certain kind of strategy. You can select from a few classes, and each has their own strengths. Some classes specialize in gathering the colored mana to use spells to damage your opponent directly, protect yourself from damage, or heal yourself. Others specialize in collecting the skulls on the board to damage your opponent through making matches. Once in the game, you can level up to add more to your skills, allowing you to strengthen your chosen approach to victory.

The AI of the game is excellent, which means that you'll need to be good at Bejeweled to win. The bosses in particular have stacked the deck against you, but once you've mastered the mechanics, every match is winnable.

You can travel the world discovering more of the story, and completing quests, almost all of which involve playing Bejeweled to defeat enemies and returning back to the questgiver. The combat is fun, because it's Bewjeweled, which rules! The little twists on the established formula makes it a unique approach using familiar rules.

So the core gameplay is fun and unique, but the game isn't perfect. The soundtrack is positively dreadful. Imagine finding a 90s keyboard (musical instrument), and hitting a preset titled "medieval". The sound vomit you're imagining, like every terrible band at every terrible medieval festival you've ever been to, is the result. Play this one on mute, please. All the two and three tambourine anyone could ever hope to avoid.

The game is, frankly, way too long. What exacerbates this is that randomly generated creatures appear on the world map all the time, making getting from one area to the needed one to complete a quest a 15 minute affair, every time. While the combat is fun, after 20 hours it can get a bit dull, and you can really want to get to the final boss, as I did.

In the PSP version, which I played, you can get companions you provide your team with certain abilities, including doing 10 damage to undead enemies, adding to your masteries and resistance percentages for spells, and others. While a cool idea, from what I can tell, these companions do not actually do anything, which is a critical bug in a cool function.

The plot for the game is incredibly stupid, as is the dialogue. It tries to weave some interesting narrative, but fortunately spends far more time on the core matching mechanic, which lessens the blow a bit.

So if you like Bejeweled, I'd recommend giving PQ a shot! It's a good and unique clone with plenty of warts, but will give you hours of enjoyment if you like the archetype. I'll give it a 7.8/10.

-TRO