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Summary
Noah and Evan discuss Theatrhythm and Rhythm Thief impressions, as well as 3DS’s continue success.
You can send in feedback to showmail at nintendojo dot com, facebook.com/nintendojo or twitter.com/nintendojo! You can also leave a comment below!
Recording Date
July 23, 2012
Hosts
Noah and Evan
Contents
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:05 Player Input: Theatryhthm, Rhythm Thief and Heroes of Ruin
00:24:42 News: 3DS and DS Sales
00:34:21 Listener Feedback: Hunger for 3DS XL and Monster Hunter
00:57:51 Conclusion
01:00:18 Credits
01:02:07 Total Length
Links
I’m going to agree with Noah; despite being a rapid Final Fantasy fan, I’m actually enjoying Rhythm Theif more than Theatrhythm, and that’s saying quite a bit considering I gave Theatrhythm a B+ in my review. To me, there’s just more variety in RT. It may not feel as involved as the gameplay present in Theatrhythm, but I like having something new to experience every few minutes. Plus, in a somewhat surprising turn of events, the characters and story in Rhythm Theif are simply delightful.
4983-5025-9484
Are you guys going to buy NSMB2 at retail or digitally? I’m leaning towards digitally, since I don’t plan on trading it back, and it would nice to always have it on my 3DS. I’ve done both on my Vita, and it’s nice to have the digital copies always on my system, but sales don’t happen nearly as often for digital copies (although if we’re talking about buying games at launch, sales are a moot point). It stinks that Nintendo is selling digital versions for the same price as retail copies. Sony sells digital versions of Vita games for 10% off and offers their 3rd parties the options of 10% off, $5 off, or no discount at all. It will be interesting to see Nintendo’s digital sales figures.
But 80 coins on Club Nintendo is pretty sweet… Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’m a sucker for a cool poster …. I platinumed this year.
Just to clarify, you get 80 coins on club nintendo for downloading NSMB2 as opposed to buying it at retail. I don’t know if this was widely known or not….
I’m planning on buying it digitally because I kinda of have to because of where I live. Is there b=going to be muiltplayer in NSMB2?
New Super Mario Bros. 2 has co-op multiplayer for 2 people, but requires that both players have a copy of the game, physical or digital.
Ya wanna hear what I’ve been playing? Well, I’ll tell ya! Best Buy has a crazy sale right now where they mark down retail games to ridiculously low prices. I picked up Metroid: Other M for 5 bucks, new, with Club Nintendo rewards and all.
Since it has been a while since Other M came out, I’d like to hear what you guys think about it, retrospectively. I noticed Nintendojo gave it the most positive score out of all reviewers, and after 100%-ing the game, I have to agree with your score. I’d even say it deserves a wee bit higher. Does this score still stand for you guys?
My two cents? I am extremely impressed by two things. First of all, the combat is spectacular and very dynamic, and it’s a bit deeper than I was expecting. At first, I thought the dodge move was cheap, assuming it played the Smash Bros “invincible-while-dodging” rules. However, I came to realize that dodging doesn’t mean much if you dodge straight into the enemies fist, giving more importance to not only when you dodge, but also where you dodge. Plus, the finishing moves are super fun to pull off. ‘Nuff Said.
Secondly, the presentation is probably the best I’ve ever seen on Wii (A spot previously held by Striker’s: Charged). Even in games like Skyward Sword, Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Galaxy 2,and Metroid Prime Trilogy, the menus had a sort of generic “Wii-ness” about them, thanks to the pointer friendly large buttons and the tacky onscreen reticles used to navigate the menus. Not so with Other M. The game, as a whole, feels a lot less stuck in the past when compared to other Nintendo franchises’ most recent outings, and it takes a lot of cues from the HD era of gaming presentation, probably thanks to Team Ninja’s involvement.The dynamic camera, the surprisingly clean and detailed graphics and animations, and the sense of atmosphere came very unexpected (to me) in a First Party Nintendo franchise, and these additions were welcome. I especially enjoyed the way bosses were encountered, often jumping out of hiding places or crashing through a nearby window and scaring my pants off.
Not that the game didn’t have its flaws. I still think the story had some strength in terms of main plot points, though (Spoilers!) the creepy AI thing could have been played up a bit more. It’s execution, however, was a bit lacking. Yes, Samus was kind of droning, and the dialogue was slow-paced, but this all just a side-effect of Other M’s plot being very Japanese. The main reason I think it’s so jarring is because it is done with more Western sensibilities in the art style and execution. One minute Samus is kicking butt and taking names in a good ole american shoot ’em up, and next minute she’s waxing poetic over her daddy issues over 5 to ten minute cut-scene’s like she came out of an ambiguous JRPG. It almost seems like an American team designed the game’s art design and game play, while a Japanese team wrote the story and localized it, with all the strangeness and idiosyncrasies that come with such a localization.
It also received ridicule for being more linear than past Metroid games. This is definitely true. And the lonely atmosphere is dissipated somewhat by intermittent conversations and meet-ups with the Galactic Federation.
But this poses the question … if this weren’t a Metroid game, but rather, a new IP, would this game have reviewed better? Without the expectations set by the Prime series and more than 2 decades of Metroid fandom, would people have been more forgiving of spotty voice acting and (somewhat) linear gameplay? Personally, this is the first Nintendo game I’ve played that feels like a true “Next Gen” Nintendo game, and it’s a shame the ambitiousness of the project and the hard work put into it were rewarded only with lukewarm critical reception and lackluster sales. Could the failure of Other M possibly have attributed to Nintendo’s reluctance to embrace more modern game design, even with the Wii U? Graphics don’t make the game, after all. The extra horsepower of the Wii U could be used for so much more than making Pikmin 3 “look” prettier than 2. I want Nintendo games to “play” prettier as well. Other M succeeded here, even with the Wii’s limitations.