It’s once again the weekend, how quickly time flies. (I was off on holiday visiting friends this week so I’m guessing that the rest of you who were stuck in an office this week are just glaring at me now.) Regardless, it’s time for our weekly look at what the staff of Nintendojo are playing in this Saturday’s edition of Week: End Game: On. Be sure to let us know what you plan on playing in the comments!
Nicolas Vestre
This weekend I hope to finish Mega Man Network Transmission for GameCube (obviously it takes me a long time to beat a game). The last few bosses I played were ElecMan, GravityMan and StarMan, and they were all very entertaining to defeat. After I conquer each Navi, I go to the Battle Simulator (which lets you fight any previous Navi as many times as you want) and take on these same bosses over and over again until I max out the battle chips they give me.
Things are going well in Mega Man Legends 2 for PlayStation. I passed the S rank Digger’s test, so apparently the enemies in the ruins will be more aggressive and difficult to defeat. Also, there’s a cave which can only be accessed if you have an S license. In anticipation of extra difficulty, I upgraded my Homing Missile (very powerful and useful) and my Machine Gun (quick and fun to use) to level the playing field. Usually I choose the Machine Gun because the Homing Missile can make things a bit too easy. With the help of the Internet, I answered a 100-question quiz, which gives a part that goes to make the Blade Arm (apparently like Zero’s Z-Saber). It was either that, or pay the mayor 2 million Zenny for the part!
I’m getting close to the end of Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure for PSP. So far, I’ve gotten an S rank on every level I played; to do that, you need to find every treasure chest, break every jar, and defeat every enemy in the level. You’re rewarded with a Gold Medal at the end of the level if you succeed. After collecting 19 medals (which took forever), I traded them with my (in-game) grandpa and got Hair Buns! What on earth would I do with Hair Buns? Actually, after upgrading them, they provide complete protection from water, gas, and spiked traps, as well as tell you when a treasure chest or jar is close. It makes finding everything that much simpler.
Lastly, I’ve been taking care of Ivy the Kiwi for DS. World 7-1 is a very annoying challenge because it’s so hard to use the vines to guide the boulder to where it needs to go. Then, all the vines I use to propel the rock get in the way of Ivy, while precious seconds tick off the clock. I got to the end of the level with five seconds left, and a vine got in my way from reaching the pedestal and finishing the level. Yeah, that was pretty much infuriating.
Kevin Knezevic
In preparation for my most recent article, I dusted off Chibi-Robo! this week for the first time in about five years. I don’t remember why I originally stopped playing it (if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was because I started college before I got to finish it and just never went back to it), but I found myself being taken in by its charm all over again. It’s strange, actually– for what should be such a bland setting, I get a sense of adventure I haven’t felt since the early days of three-dimensional games. It’s really exciting when you figure out how to scale certain pieces of furniture or find some previously-undiscovered area of the house. I will most likely keep plugging away at it until I finally reach the rank of Super Chibi-Robo. Better late than never, right?
On the handheld front, I did some more wandering in Ocarina of Time 3D (to no avail) and finally got to play my digital copy of Kirby’s Dream Land. I must admit, I was kind of disappointed with it. It was definitely fun, but it was also exceedingly short, featuring only five levels. Hard mode does admittedly add some replayability (and surprisingly lives up to its name), so I will probably go back to the game until I either best it at this increased difficulty or just give up in frustration.
Adam Sorice
I have grown determined this week and I now know my goal for the weekend: clear a path to my television. Books, clothes, shoes, folders, magazines, they’re all in the way. And moving it is the only way to gain access to the alleged GameCube functionality of my Wii, something I’m desperately craving ever since I read Kevin’s article about Chibi-Robo!. Even though it took me a few years to track down the game (due to Nintendo of Europe only printing about eight copies at release) the brief time that I have spent with little Chibi-Robo still stands as some of my fondest gaming memories. I’m unsure whether to continue on with my original adventure or start again, I seem to recall being very close to becoming a Super Chibi-Robo but I don’t want to miss out parts of the game’s heartwarming story. A dilemma emerges.
What’s not to love about Chibi-Robo? Nothing, that’s what.
If I dust off my Wii, I may also start The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess again. I started when it originally came out (yes, that was a while ago) but I got sidetracked and then eventually went back and completed Wind Waker and then my Zelda chronology just went up in smoke. Regardless, as I’ve documented in the past, I’m avoiding the purchase of any new games til I clear through some old ones so that means no Skyward Sword until Twilight Princess is completed. So that probably means no Skyward Sword.
Smith Stuart
I’m not exactly sure what game(s) I’ll be playing yet. My recent purchase of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for Virtual Console has me knowing that it will be on the horizon shortly, but since I’ve played it already on SNES I know how it goes– and that can be a devastating blow to an RPG’s addiction value. I’ll mostly be revisiting it to “study up” for an upcoming Geno documentation, I reckon. Other than that, I hope to get at least a couple of stages in on Donkey Kong Country Returns soon. I love playing it co-op, but I’ve been way too caught up in more important matters (life, writing, cornhusking, etc.) to get any veritable time in. This is my present dilemma.
Andrew Hsieh
I guess now is as good a time as any to say that I’m going back to the Wii. For a while there I had an elongated excursion into the land of PlayStation Portable, but I recently made the mistake of purchasing Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for my younger brother, and now I never see my PSP anymore. It doesn’t call, it doesn’t write– I think my kin has got it tied up somewhere in the basement. If we had a basement.
Anyway, this gave me time to finish Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn— that last stage is diabolical– and then, in a stroke of horrible un-inspiration, decide to start all over again in Hard Mode. Turns out you can’t Battle Save in Hard Mode, meaning there’s no saving during battle, which is the only thing that kept me from going insane while playing Normal Mode. You’ve gotta start all over again when you screw up, which is something that I do a lot. Needless to say I’m only on the fifth stage in Hard Mode and it’s already been a few hours. It probably doesn’t help that I refuse to let anybody ever die.
On the bright side, I think my pain threshold is improving. Goal: to play Superman: The New Adventures for N64 without having spasms.
Now it’s your turn, what are you playing this weekend? Going to indulge in that staff favourite Chibi-Robo!? Or taking a leaf out of Nicolas’ book and devoting yourself to all things Mega Man? Let us know in the comments!
Currently playing: Final Fantasy IV, The After Years on Wii Ware. Not sure why I started playing again but I did. I beat it nearly 2 years to the day (according to my old save file) but decided to play again. I’m tempted to buy some of the additional content after I beat it even though I know it’s a rip off.
Link’s Awakening: Virtual Console. I’m on the 7th dungeon and the difficulty in the puzzles ramped up beginning with the 6th dungeon. I’m having a heck of a time getting through it. I’ve probably already logged 25 hours on this game. Have never played it before this.
Zelda: TOoT 3DS: Barely played this simply because I want to complete Link’s Awakening first. I beat this on the N64 when it came out, have not played it since. Looking forward to it though.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories: Well, I was playing it. For the most point I was enjoying it until a game freeze about 4-5 hours in halted everything. I can’t get past it. Freezes every time in the same place. Have tried 10 times to get through. I’m done with it.
Radiant Historia: About 20 hrs in but have been neglecting it due to Link’s Awakening. Will get back to it though. I play once a week or so so I don’t forget everything.
Extreme Hangman 2: DSi : My girlfriend and I played the heck out of Extreme HM 1 so I thought this would be a no-brainer. Wrong. Words are way too hard, even on Easy. Many of the answers I’ve never even heard of. Big disappointment, well, for $2 anyway.
Glad I’ve infected at least one other person with Chibi-Robo fever. B)
Nicolas, you have my awe for your NT playing. I bought NT a long, long time ago, expecting it to be the usual MMBN kind of deal– and then realized that it wasn’t, promptly lost to QuickMan more times than necessary, and then sold the game for far less money than it’s worth. Needless to say, I really wish I had the game now that I’m a more– patient– kind of gamer, so that I could beat the heck out of it ;)
That seems to be why many people dislike NT– it’s not like the MMBN games. But I’ve had a blast with NT in the same way I would with a conventional Mega Man game. Collecting Battle Chips just sweetens the deal and adds depth. I really wish people held this game in higher regard. :)
QuickMan was a pain at first, but after a while he becomes fun to beat. At the beginning of the fight, he will always charge at you, so as soon as you get control of Mega Man, slide! After that, he might dash as much as three or four more times; the key is to be ready to slide at a moment’s notice.
As for attacking him: you can only damage him while he throws his boomerang, which is a pretty small window of opportunity. Cannons work best because they hit their target immediately, even from far away. And always be prepared for another slide.