Nintendo is my second favorite video game company, no doubt. Beaten only by Namco for the number one spot. I think I like Nintendo’s games so much because of my preference for cheerful, lighthearted fare, which many of Nintendo’s titles fall in this category. But did you know for every Mario, Zelda, and Kirby there is a Nintendo title or franchise that I’m not that into? Because of the recent release of Kid Icarus: Uprising, featuring a lesser known Nintendo character, I thought I’d go over some of Nintendo’s properties that I’m not as big about.

Now, first of all, keep in mind that while I may not like these games I’m listing; it doesn’t mean they’re bad games. So please don’t get mad that I may not praise your favorite franchise. I just want to explain why I don’t like EVERY Nintendo game that comes out. I thought about even putting Mario on this list, since there are so many series that I like better, such as Kirby, Zelda, and even Metroid. But I still get nearly every Mario game that comes out, so I guess that wouldn’t count. But anyway, here are the Nintendo franchises that don’t quite excite me as much.

Kid Icarus

When I first got my NES, Zelda had already been out for a bit (that was the reason for me getting one). By then I had already heard people and magazines rave about Kid Icarus as well. A game with a Greek Mythology setting also sounded interesting, as that stuff was fun to learn about in elementary school. Of course, when I took a Greek Mythology class in college, I learned that the REAL stories were nothing more than perverted soap operas, so I stopped enjoying learning about them after that. But anyway, I rented Kid Icarus once as a kid to try it out, and I hated it. Sure it had all the makings of a great NES adventure, but the floaty jumping controls made it fall flat for me. The game was tough as nails, too, but I think if the controls were better, the game would’ve been much easier, and much more fun, too. After Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out, I gave Kid Icarus a second chance…and still hated it. When the Game Boy first came out, my cousin got Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters and I tried it for about five minutes. But back then, I didn’t like the green smeary mess of the original Game Boy much, so I stopped playing it soon after. If Nintendo would release the GB Kid Icarus game on Virtual Console, I’d gladly give it a second chance, too!

Kid Icarus: Uprising (Mini Review)

Because of my sour experiences with Kid Icarus in the past, I wasn’t too eager to try the new 3DS Kid Icarus game. But after my friends were raving about it, saying it was nothing like the original game, I decided to give it a try and buy the game at a local 3DS meetup that I recently attended. While I do like the game better than the NES one, I have to say that I’m still not a Kid Icarus fan. Uprising is really nothing more than a shooter. Heck, they could replace the characters and setting and this could easily be a Star Fox game.

There are two main reasons why I don’t like Uprising that much. The big one is the controls. I’ve been playing this game for a week and I still can’t wrap my head around them. The game even tries to explain the controls to you like they are simple enough for casual gamers to understand. But I’m sorry, that’s not the case. If anything, Uprising was made for the hardcore Nintendo crowd, so if you’ve been complaining that Nintendo focuses more on causal gamers, then this game is for you. I set the game on easy and still die once or twice in every level. I can’t help but think that the reason why I ‘get finished’ so much isn’t because of my lack of skill, but instead because I have such a hard time wrestling with the controls. The bad thing is that I can’t think of a way to make the controls work better. And I haven’t gotten very far in the game either because I have to take a break after every level.

My other big complaint with Uprising is the lack of instructions. Actually, the basic controls of the game and other main gameplay aspects are explained pretty well via conversations between Pit and Palutena during the beginning of the game. But they don’t even explain how the side modes work, such as StreetPass, mixing weapons, making idols, and other things. Granted a lot of this stuff you can figure out on your own if you try them, but I was still left with a lot of questions that a well written instruction manual would’ve answered quickly. And the instruction booklet in the game is just a fold out sheet of paper that only explains the bare bones of how to get started. Very piss poor, in my opinion. As a game reviewer, good instructions are very important to me.

It’s a shame, too, because there are a LOT of things to like about Kid Icarus: Uprising. The graphics are gorgeous and look better than most Wii games. The game does a good job of using classic Kid Icarus elements and characters, too. Familiar enemies and bosses, Grim Reapers, Eggplant Wizards, even hot springs make appearances. You can also tell the game was made by the same team who did Super Smash Bros. (and Kirby Air Ride), as everything from the menus to how you unlock things is the same. I especially like the playful banter that goes on between Pit and Palutena in the game. Their witty conversations would fit right in a rollicking fun Saturday morning cartoon. Palutena is especially funny, plus she’s pretty and I like her green hair. I think my favorite thing about Uprising, though, is the most gimmicky. I love how you can scan AR cards and set them beside each other and make them battle! It makes me think how cool it would be for young Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh card fans if there were 3DS games that used the AR cards for those franchises, too, so kids could see their favorite monsters come to life as they played.

So yeah, lots of good things about Kid Icarus: Uprising, wrapped around some really bad controls. But at least you can’t say I gave it a try anyway!

Punch Out

Punch Out is a prime example of a game series that is very good; I just never really got into it myself. I’m not a big boxing fan, so the draw there is lost on me. Even though I know that Punch Out isn’t a TRUE boxing game, and if I HAD to play one, I’d definitely pick Punch Out. I first knew Punch Out from the arcades, not the NES. But I never played it in arcades because all the bigger kids were hogging it, but I could still hear “Bodyblow! Bodyblow!” above all the other noise in the arcade. Nearly everyone I knew had Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on the NES, so I did play that a lot. But I was never any good at it. I rented the SNES Punch Out game once and while it looked great, I didn’t get too far in it, either. Now that Punch Out on the Wii is only 20 bucks, I’ve been debating getting it. But I also heard it was really hard, so I don’t know. Maybe one of you can help convince me?

Pikmin

I do appreciate Nintendo’s more action oriented take on the Real Time Strategy genre, but a lot of it felt more like work than fun. Plus I hated the time limit aspect. I hear the sequel got rid of that, but by then I had such a sour taste in my mouth from the first game that I had no desire to try the second one. Pikmin also had the unfortunate luck of being released around the same time as Super Smash Bros. Melee, so you can guess which one I preferred to play. That’s kind of like how Kid Icarus: Uprising is. There’s a game out now that I’m having much more fun playing: Tales of Graces f.

Fire Emblem

Back in high school when I was REALLY into RPGs on the SNES, Nintendo Power had a section of their magazine devoted to RPGs. One time they did a big article on a new Fire Emblem game. I was so excited at first until I read that it was a rather unforgiving strategy style RPG. And then as I read further, it was just talking about the Japanese version only. I got so mad and questioned why they would even write an article about a game that would never come over here. But then, I do that too sometimes when I review an import game. I’m kind of glad that one of the 3DS Ambassador games was the GBA Fire Emblem game so I could try it. But I just don’t like those strategy style RPGs and I hear it’s also pretty unforgiving. I do like some of the character designs, with crazy blue and pink hair, but the rest of the game seemed too “Lord of the Rings-ish.”

Advance Wars

This started out on the NES in Japan as Famicom Wars. While I hear the GBA one is fun and easy to get into, I still don’t like strategy games much.

Star Fox

The fact that this is on my list of Nintendo games I’m not into isn’t entirely true, as I do have every Star Fox game ever made except for the 3DS remake. But I wasn’t going to get the SNES one right away until I saw it in action. And I only got the N64 one from a friend after we graduated college. I enjoyed Star Fox Adventures on GameCube even though it felt more like a N64 game and was meant to have other characters star in it (both claims are true). I only got Star Fox Assault because Namco made it (not a good game), and I didn’t like the strategy aspects of Star Fox Command on DS. So I’m not really clamoring for a Star Fox sequel, unless they make it more like the first two games.

StarTropics

As a Zelda fan, you’d think I’d like this one. But I felt it was overly difficult, hard to control, and just not easy to get into. Plus it had the unfortunate coincidence of being rented at the same time I also rented Kickle Cubicle, which was a WAY more awesome NES game. By the time the StarTropics sequel came out, I was already full swing into the SNES and never looked back, unfortunately.

Prof. Layton

I love cartoony games, point and click adventures, and puzzles. So why didn’t I like Professor Layton? Well, most of the puzzles were like math story problems, and I HATED those in high school. And who wants to revisit the things they hated then? I will say, though, that the Prof. Layton movie was awesome. I love how they integrated aspects of the game puzzles in the film (more than you might think), and the whole thing had a Castle of Cagliostro feel to it (that was a Lupin movie made by Miyazaki).

EarthBound

I think I’m going to get the most flak about this one. I have three reasons for not liking EarthBound much. Two good reasons and one bad one. The bad reason why I don’t like EarthBound is because it was released a little after Final Fantasy 6, and I was still REALLY into that game. So basically I didn’t like EarthBound because it wasn’t FF6. But keep in mind that I was still a teenager and not as mature as I am now. I also have two good reasons for not liking EarthBound. One, the battle system was extremely antiquated, and felt no better than RPG battles in NES games. And the other reason is the nonsensical story. You’d think I’d like that since I enjoy quirky games. But stories in RPGs are important to let you know what to do next. And EarthBound’s story was so crazy that sometimes it was hard to follow. There’s a reason why this game came with a strategy guide in the US. Now that I’m older, I’d be willing to give EarthBound a second chance if it came out on Virtual Console or on a collection that had the other two games on the NES and GBA in Japan.

Xenoblade & Last Story?

Two RPGs are set to be released on the Wii soon. I know that many of you will reply to my blog trying to convince me that a lot of these Nintendo series are good, so maybe you can also convince me as to why I should even care about these games as well. I’m leaning more toward getting Last Story, as I hear it’s only 20 hours instead of 60 plus, like Xenoblade is. In this day and age, I welcome shorter RPGs (that wouldn’t be the case when I was in high school). Plus Last Story is being published by XSEED, and I like to support them. So what do you all think? Let me know in the comments section.

Nintendo series that deserve more attention

Now that I’ve talked about Nintendo game series that I’m not into, I thought I’d conclude by talking a bit about Nintendo series that I think deserve MORE attention. Don’t worry, it’ll be short.

Arcade Classics

Nintendo is pretty quick to relive their famous NES and SNES franchises, but they were making arcade hits way before then. But you never hear about those. I’d like to see a Nintendo arcade collection featuring arcade perfect renditions of Donkey Kong (with all the levels), DK Jr., even Donkey Kong 3. Maybe the arcade version of Punch Out, and even bombs like Radarscope. If they could get the license, maybe even their Popeye game. Mario Bros. would be a given, and maybe they could even have the arcade version of Super Mario Bros. (which was a LITTLE bit different than the NES version, and I actually first played SMB in an arcade anyway). They could even put more modern fare on that collection, like Mario Kart Arcade GP 1 and 2!

Kirby

Actually Kirby DOES get plenty of attention from Nintendo. Just not all the time. Sure he has tons of games and even a Saturday morning cartoon show. But Nintendo only makes Kirby games near the end of a system’s lifetime. Since the 3DS has been out for just a year and we’re on the cusp of the Wii U, we may not see a new Kirby game for a while, and that makes me sad. Why not launch a system with a Kirby game? He’s cooler than Mario anyway. Plus, life just seems better when you know a new Kirby game is coming soon, don’t you think?

F-Zero

This racer also gets plenty of attention, with games on several platforms, an arcade version, and even a cartoon! But we haven’t seen a new F-Zero game since the GameCube. There are all sorts of neat characters and racers (my favorites are Mrs. Arrow and the fat Samurai guy in the pink car), and I think a 3DS sequel would be pretty slick. Hopefully it won’t be so gosh darn hard, though!

The Legendary Starfy

I was surprised we actually got one in the US. I’ve imported all three Starfy games on the GBA and the two on the DS. They’re great kid’s games, and even grown-ups would like them if they don’t mind breezy 2-D platformers, as they still have that Nintendo polish to them. I can kind of understand why they don’t bring more Starfy games over here, as we already have a great 2-D platformer series for kids, that being Kirby. But as I always say, kids deserve good games, too, so having another great series for kids is OK in my book. Maybe Nintendo could make a Starfy collection with all three on the GBA and the one we didn’t get on the DS. Or if TOSE decides to make a new Starfy game, maybe Nintendo could bring that over here as well.

Chibi Robo

This is the series that I feel most strongly about Nintendo reviving. The first game on the GameCube is hard to describe. You play as a tiny robot as you explore a house. Your main job is to clean, but as you play, you’ll help solve the problems of a broken family, as well as the toys that come to life at night (similar to Toy Story). Platforming in the giant house is fun, and the game has a beautiful story. I wish that Nintendo would’ve brought over the “Play it on Wii” version of Chibi Robo, as I would’ve gladly replayed it. At least we got Chibi Robo: Park Patrol on the DS. That was kind of like a park sim, but it also had a charming ‘save the environment’ story that didn’t get too preachy. There is another DS Chibi Robo game in Japan that never came out over in the US, and I really wish it did because it’s supposed to be a direct sequel of the first game. I wish more people, including the folks at Nintendo, would realize just how awesome Chibi Robo is.

Conclusions

And that’s all I feel like talking about for now. In the comments section, I have a lot I want you to respond to. What do you think of my choices and opinions? Which Nintendo franchises do you not like as much? Which ones would you like to see more of? If one of your favorites is on my list, feel free to convince me why I should give it a second chance? Later! –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews