The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Possibly the worlds worst opening statement but it is true, whilst playing classic gems such as Hitman 2 and err Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg it suddenly hit me (although it didn't hurt), as to why Mario Sunshine and Zelda ARE as good as their predecessors. (Just for those that spend the entire post complaing... "in my opinion" are as good as their predecssors).
Let me tell you about my game collection, yep brag brag I have 53 Gamecube games (*cough* loser *cough*) but you see 50 of them are what I like to call PLAIN games... titles that are good... have nice graphics... some have clever gameplay... some wonderfully simple gameplay... and some are crap because they don't adhere to any of those. But the top 3.... The Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United of my collection are 1: The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker 2: Super Mario Sunshine and 3: Mario Kart: Double Dash.
Yes this is a matter of opinion but in some dire attempt to express my point I'm going to justafy my decision. Let me guess, one of your first questions is where be Metroid Prime? And if it isn't one of your first questions then pretend it is for the sake of my argument. Metroid Prime is number 4, it is number 4 because it does have a "special feel" to it... but this is a special feel I can describe... this is fantastic because of amazing graphics, clever new gameplay ideas, brilliant handelling... wonderful engine.... it is number 4 on my list because it does EVERYTHING right and I'm not going to claim otherwise.
Hitman 2 is another game that does one hell of a lot of things right... a really good saving system and some damn smart AI... even my new pet game Billy Hatcher (which I'm enjoying now) does many many things right. But none of these 3 games or the 47 others come even close to Nintendo's main 3 titles (they are the main 3 because they all come in different coloured boxes... thusly they are more important).
Does Mario Kart have better graphics than Metroid? Not a chance. Does Mario Sunshine have a larger variety in gameplay than Billy Hatcher? Nope not really... what about Zelda, does that do everything as well as Hitman 2... no indeed it does not.
The reason why Wind Waker is better than all of the games is because of the "FEEL" an indescribable sixth sense which Nintendo only acchieve by spending such a damn long time on a game. Metroid Prime didn't get this luxery design time, neither did Wario World or the 100 other Nintendo games.... This is the Nintendo magic... that difference which is so difficult to describe. Graphics? Who needs them, Music? Whatever! Addictive gameplay from start to finish? Not 100% needed... nope Zelda rules because Zelda feels like Zelda.... Mario Kart rules because it feels like Mario Kart... Sunshine rules because it feels like Mario.
Now complaints about all these games came into play when Nintendo released them. Zelda had dull parts and felt shorter... Mario Sunshine did nothing really over Mario 64 and Mario Kart: Double Dash was just Mario Kart with some new ideas that only work as well as the gamer. But there will be no platformer from Sonic team, Ubi-Soft or any other developer that can beat Sunshine in this generation... only Mario himself can do that... because he has that Nintendo love... feel and passion throughout.
Yes Wind Waker may of done some new things that didn't always work as well as it could have done, a few ideas that didn't always pull off too well (the new control system and flying methods were great but the sailing was a tad dissapointing) but it had that same magic or feel that existed in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask that made that irrelevent... this "feel" makes any minor flaw totally insignificant... Mario Kart: Double Dash for me is the best in the series because I love the 2-character system but for those that don't you have to admit it STILL has the Mario Kart charm. Sunshine may of lacked variety, depth and contained too much collecting... but it still felt like a Mario game and had that same magic Mario feel and so therefore is still a classic.
There is Nintendo magic, a little sprinkle in every game that Nintendo make... but it is only the big titles that have the full blown magic effect... maybe it is because Miyamoto is more in control of these titles, I don't Know. I can't even describe what this extra bit is... but this is why Nintendo haven't lost it... this is why Nintendo are still the worlds greatest developer... because despite some (relativly minor) design faults in a few of their latest games... they still contain the Nintendo magic. And only when they lose that can Nintendo ever truly "lose it".
Here's to Dringo's multiple, obessive and seemingly pointless posts
Dringo - Fanboy till the end.
> But they were still pretty big, particulary Zelda.
Not really.
Average at best.
> Lightweight? Are you sure?
Yeah.
> ~Well it blew me away... it was far better than I was expecting...
> zelda always manages that.
What WHERE your expectations? :-S
> Ah but I completed Mario 64 quicker than Sunshine... although in
> Sunshine I got all the shines and didn't get all the stars in 64.
The last stars are the hardest.
It was the other way around for me.
Having said that, I didn't get ALL the Shines in sunshine, but the only ones I didn't get were the last 2 blue coin ones, where the only blue coins left were the ones you could only find by tediously spraying every single bit of the level, hoping that it would pop out.
> Do you think? I found Wind Waker a place filled with classic Nintendo
> moments... Getting into the Dragon roost Island temple... waking up
> the Deku Tree, Visiting the ancient world of Hyrule... scaling the
> forsaken fortress.
Not bad... but far from Nintendo's finest, and still sub-OOT.
> Well I saw a Zora... and 3 Goron's. The Kakiri or however you spell
> it have evolved into the Koroks, proven by the fact the Deku Tree
> still looks after them. The Gorons and Zora's just died out...
> Goron's are now left as travelling salesmen, a small variety of
> people that probably exist in another land that Link and Zelda are
> currently perparing to visit. The Zora's and Kokiri are preserved by
> the fact they are sages hence the 2 sages. These are sages of temples
> we never saw in OOT.... these legendary sages are elsewhere and
> preserved as stain glass windows in the underwater world of Hyrule...
> another classic gaming moment.
Fair enough.
But it still left a lot unsaid.
And no Saria?
> Double Dash was amazing, best Mario Kart yet... at least Nintendo
> tried to freshen it up with a stratagey element... they just pulled
> it off so well the game didn't really feel different.
It was a conversion with a couple of extra gimmicks, and they cut out the jumps.
Anyways, this is as far as I'll take it.
I've got my opinion, you've got yours, I've not kept up with the "press" so I can't say whether they hail Nintendo as God's for their recent games, or more because of their past genius.
But it wouldn't surprise me too much if it was the later...
> That seems almost blind fanboyism to me. In general multi format games
> are better on the Gamecube than the PS2, but the best version are
> normally the Xbox ones. Better graphics, better sound and no
> footering around with memory cards. Not to mention occasional
> downloadable content.
It varies from company to company...
EA for example release their BEST version on the Gamecube with the small extras in many of their titles...
Ubi-Soft seem to support Gamecube's GBA-GC connection and X-box's better graphics and sound... and they support both's online functions which is a miracle.
SEGA support each system seperatly from eachother.
Acclaim, Activision etc... use the X-box's improved power.
Varies.
> Neither of you are right.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
And Strafio the press approved of Sunshine, Wind Waker, Prime and Mario Kart.... the majority rating them very highly.
So why is it then that EA advertised many of their Christmas line-up as Gamecube exclusive?
Why did EA make the Gamecube version of The Sims 2 bigger with GBA-GC connectivity.
Why therefore my version of Fifa never crashes?
Seeing as it says "Your GameCube has experienced an internal error" rather than the usual "Disc read error".
I've actually NEVER had a problem with my Cube. Not one.
My Cube has failed once, on Metroid Prime, and I'd just saved it so it didna annoy me much.
Cyclone, you ought to try ringing Microsoft to see if you can get a free repair, from what I have read on the Official Xbox forums it does happen sometimes even when the machine is out of warranty. Could also be worth checking the air vents are not full of dust and that there is plenty of room for ventilation around the console.