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Each week we collate the latest releases on each of Nintendo’s systems for your reading pleasure. There are usually some weird and wonderful titles available for you to chuckle or marvel at, so let’s get down to business, starting with the humble Wii.
Wii
September 15, 2011
Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension
September 15, 2011
Barbie: Jet, Set & Style
WiiWare
September 15, 2011
Kyotokei
3DS
September 20, 2011
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns
eShop & DSiWare
September 2, 2011
3D Classics TwinBee
DS(i)
September 15, 2011
Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension
September 15, 2011
Barbie: Jet, Set & Style
September 19, 2011
Kirby Mass Attack
September 20, 2011
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns
Judging by the quality of Wii games listed above, you would be well within your rights to walk away from reading this, head to your bathroom and have a good, long hard look at yourself in the mirror, hands tightly gripping the edge of the sink, a lone tear sliding down your cheek, whilst quietly mumbling to yourself: “where did Wii go wrong?” (Lewis! -Ed.) Nintendo’s king of consoles promised so much upon its 2006 release. Ahh, those heady days of new ideas, and visions of unbound creativity. Little did we know that a few years down the line we would be choosing between Barbie: Jet, Set & Style and (another) Disney game adaption to pad out our Wii game library. Given the choice of applying make-up onto the pixelated face of Barbie, and having hot coals placed onto my eyeballs I think I would have to go with the hot coals. At least then the abomination I would have created by applying subtle, Homer Simpson “Makeup Gun“-style face artistry, would not have to be witnessed.
Kyotokei happily copies Ikaruga‘s red/blue shooter mechanic, and we’re happier for it.
On a brighter note, lets talk about Parodius on the SNES. That game was really fun. It was Gradius, but in an alternative, opium-filled Japanese wonderworld where penguins shoot guns and 50 foot go-go dancers try to crush you, whilst electronic versions of classical masterpieces blare out in the background. Why am I talking about this? Well, the developers of Kyotokei have lost their minds in the same way that Konami’s developers did when developing Parodius. Kyotokei, an Ikaruga-inspired WiiWare shooter coming out this week, reminds me of that insane Gradius clone. You fly a firepower-packing bird and take down an assortment of enemies including fairies, baby devils and of course, sumo/seal hybrids, all wrapped up in an old-school, side-scrolling, cutesy Japanese aesthetic. Which actually may turn out to be quite good.
Pictured: E3 2011 trailer of Kirby Mass Attack. It’s gotten crazier since then.
Moving onto the DS we have Kirby Mass Attack which is a real-time strategy platformer (something of a rarity to say the least). The strategy part of the game seems to come from collecting Kirbys and using them wisely in the correct situation. The unsettling site of an orgy of pink balls shuffling along the screen can be seen on gameplay clips and whilst the genre may seem strange, the premise looks to be quite promising and may be one you want to watch out for. (If you’ve got Nintendo Channel on your Wii, you can also download a demo, in case real-time strategy platformers just aren’t your thing.) Next for release is farm-’em-up Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns. Stick on your straw hat, turn off Farmville and plough your land on the originator of the genre. If you are a fan of the series then this should be one to keep an eye on.
Now onto DSi: pass me the coals please.
