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• Nifty Nostalgia: Super Game Boy

  I have a Gamecube connected to my TV. It sits right next to my Wii. Why have the Gamecube, since the Wii plays GC games you ask? To play GB/GBA games of course! As much as I enjoy the games released for my portable systems, I have never liked the portables themselves. I don't like the tiny screens or the cramped way I have to hold them (and I have small hands). So really, it's no wonder I thought the Super Game Boy was The Best Thing Ever back in the SNES days. The Super Game Boy, in all its chunky glory, kept an entire library of portable games from ever occupying my neglected Game Boy. Aside from allowing me to play GB games on my TV, there was one other neat little thing that I loved about the Super Game Boy, indeed, something that absolutely fascinated me when I discovered it: the animated borders. When the SGB displayed games on the TV, it always placed a frame around them. There were a variety to choose, and Nintendo being Nintendo, they went the extra mile to actually hide clever little animations in these frames. If you left the system idle long enough, something special was bound to happen. Check out some videos of my favorites after the jump. Read More... Posted Feb 09 2009, 10:30 PM by Amber Ahlborn with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, game boy, snes, gamecube, amber ahlborn, nostalgia

• You’re Doing It Wrong: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Franchise Misuse

  I understand. Using a familiar property to sell a game is a great way to make it popular. Just look at the myriad faux-sports games Nintendo’s made in the past decade. Would Tennis have been a hit on Gamecube? Hell no. That’s why you give Mario and everyone else living in a Mushroom Kingdom area code a racket and put them on the courts. The familiar will bring people in to play something they wouldn’t have otherwise. While the franchise-means-audience maxim holds true, I’m baffled by the way certain properties get used. Sonic Riders is a perfect example. Why in the hell would you make not one, but two separate racing games starring Sonic the Hedgehog when nobody runs? It would be like making a Transformers game where Optimus Prime spends the game renewing his trucking license. Ubisoft’s new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for Wii is just as misguided. Read More... Posted Jan 27 2009, 06:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, ubisoft, gamecube, sonic the hedgehog, smash bros, teenage mutant ninja turtles, mario tennis, game arts, sonic riders, tmnt

• Gaming: A Throwaway Hobby?

  The human race has some pretty appalling habits, this we know. But if I were to flog one of society's particularly vile traits, it would be our tendency to declare, “not my problem” as we chuck refuse into the dumpster. It's not that I'm down on trash cans. Trash cans work hard and keep our cities clean. But as a recent message board post Europe-Nintendo illustrates, when we sort our refuse we have some issues differentiating between old coffee grounds and perfectly good toys and food that will let a child, y'know, not be sad or hungry for a little while. There are certain legalities when it comes to disposal of retail products. A restaurant claims it can't do anything useful with its food at the end of the day because food poisoning risks might bite them in court some day. Likewise, returned toys might contain a dislodged part that will poke some kid in the eye. But there's something decidedly sad about throwing out dozens, maybe hundreds, of video games. Read More... Posted Jan 26 2009, 10:55 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: gamecube, retail, nadia oxford, nintendo-europe

• When Does a Console Pay For Itself?

  Mr Cole Stryker and I share similar opinions on Nintendo's Wii. I do not believe it's going to kill the industry, nor do I think Nintendo is going to recruit hardcore gamers through a Super Smash Bros Brawl tournament and grind them into sustenance for casuals. But after listening to the complaints about how little the Wii has to offer, I've come to wonder how gamers gauge their satisfaction with a system. When do you lean back, pat your belly and declare that a game console has wholly proved its worth? I don't play with my Wii all hours of the day (huh huh), but I'm honestly puzzled by people who say, “I'm a long-time Nintendo fan, but I sold my Wii because there's nothing on it.” I'm going to assume that a “Nintendo fan” fought to the point of collapse during the bitter droughts that struck the N64 and GameCube. I owned both systems, and both earned me gasps from peers. “Jesus Christ, why?” they would wail. Franchises like Mario and Zelda are in fact why I bought the N64, the GameCube and the Wii. My Playstation saw a lot more action than my N64, but declaring a console a flop once the dust on its casing reaches a certain level is deceiving. Read More... Posted Jan 21 2009, 11:03 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: wii, gamecube, Playstation, n64, nadia oxford

• Underrated: Metal Arms - Glitch in the System

  When it comes to shooters I'm a pretty picky gamer. I don't like First-Person Shooters in general but I do like some Third-Person Shooters. Jak 2 and 3 along with the Ratchet and Clank series come to mind, though they are mostly shooter/adventure hybrids. The under appreciated game I'm featuring today is also a Third-Person Shooter, one that comes much closer to the feel of an FPS than the aforementioned games. Indeed, if you have played Metal Arms: Glitch in the System then pat yourself on the back. You are one of a handful of people that took a chance on an unknown title from an unknown studio and struck solid gold. Read More... Posted Dec 02 2008, 10:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: gamecube, amber ahlborn, ps2, xbox, underrated, metal arms glitch in the system, underappreciated

• Your Way: Chrono Trigger and The Glory of Options

  I spent the Thanksgiving holiday not shopping, not overeating, not doing much of anything outside of that most traditional holiday pursuit: catching up with family. Not the extended fam, just the nuclear, and even then we weren’t all around. Sometimes work and obligation gets in the way and not everyone can make it home, just the way it goes. It was just me and the parents. And Chrono Trigger, obviously. A true homecoming, really; early winter playthroughs of Chrono Trigger have been, for me, as much a tradition as seeing loved ones during the season but I’d fallen out of rhythm over the past three years. Excited as I was to play the game again, I was going in with some trepidation. Not over the two new dungeons, the new ending, or the re-written dialogue. (The script, by the way, saw far more significant changes than was previously reported. The re-write isn’t bad by any means, but some of the charm of Ted Woolsey’s original is lost.) No, I was worried about the incorporation of the PS1 version’s animated cutscenes. I skipped the earlier re-release because the thought of slowdown in Chrono Trigger is nauseating, but getting to avoid the cutscenes was an added bonus. Nothing against the anime stuff, it’s fine that it exists, but the game’s story simply doesn’t need those scenes. Not to mention how they break the game’s seamless presentation. So it was a nice surprise when I saw this screen. Read More... Posted Dec 01 2008, 07:15 PM by John Constantine with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, resistance, nintendo ds, the legend of zelda, mega man, gamecube, chrono trigger, super mario galaxy, mega man anniversary collection, persona 3, resistance 2

• Animal Crossing: City Folk: Nintendo at Their Worst

  Like many of you out there, I played the first Animal Crossing pretty obsessively when it first came out for the GameCube in the Fall of 2002.  While it did resemble The Sims in many ways, AC was still a remarkably fresh and relaxing console game--and at that point, there wasn't much else like it.  Back in those days, talk of an online Animal Crossing sequel was the stuff of dreams; until, of course, a glorified 2005 DS port which featured limited online functionality.  But there was always the feeling that Animal Crossing had a limitless potential that was being held back by technology. So now that a relatively next-gen Animal Crossing is on the verge of release, will Nintendo finally give this series the scope it's always deserved? I'll let a single sentence from 1UP's Giancarlo Varanini field this one: City Folk seems like a missed opportunity to improve and enhance the series in almost every possible way. If you've been following the development of City Folk, this should really come as no surprise.  The N64-era graphics made it clear from the very beginning: we've got another glorified port on our hands, here. Read More... Posted Nov 17 2008, 08:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, wii, gamecube, animal crossing, bob mackey, ripoff

• Nintendo Might Just Hate You

  The Nintendo Press Conference back at the beginning of October was, as Bob so precisely put it at the time, a bit like Christmas for the Nintendo faithful. The reveal of new Punch-Out! and Sin & Punishment games and a recommitment to Trace Memory (one of the publisher’s scant few newborn IPs) certainly made the old Nintendo fanboy inside me stir for the first time in a couple of years. The announcement of Nintendo’s Play On Wii line of re-appropriated Gamecube games featuring tacked on Wii controls gave me pause though. It’s a very good thing to give games like Metroid Prime, Pikmin, and Chibi-Robo a new print run considering that there are literal millions of Wii owners who never had the chance to try them out on their initial release (or don’t know they can walk into any Gamestop in the country and pay fifteen dollars total for all three.) But will they be full price? Should they be? Will any new content offered be made available to owners of the original games? On the one hand, giving Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat another chance at life makes it seem like Nintendo loves you. Adding new levels makes it seem like they really, really love you. Yoshiaki Koizumi and EAD Tokyo’s debut platformer, the game that led to their making Super Mario Galaxy, is one of the Gamecube’s best. Read More... Posted Nov 12 2008, 08:15 PM by John Constantine with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, donkey kong, gamecube, pikmin, metroid prime, super mario galaxy, chibi-robo, trace memory, punch-out!, play on wii, yoshiaki koizumi, Nintendo ead, donkey kong jungle beat, sin & punishmen

• Brave New Super Mario World

  A couple of days ago I posted my own ideas for "freshening up" the Zelda franchise. They were minor suggestions, at least compared to some other ideas I've seen 'round the fandom (how do you feel about Zelda steampunk?), but even minor suggestions are necessary. A collect-a-thon while you're wearing a wolf pelt is still a collect-a-thon. Miyamoto knows he needs to give Zelda a bit of a spit-shine, and he said the same about Super Mario Galaxy. It's true that Twilight Princess was a bit close to Ocarina of Time in ways, but Super Mario Galaxy was, for me, a pretty unique experience--or if there's some game out there that lets you relive anything close to the space-faring adventures of The Little Prince, by all means please let me know. That said, how do we get more "original" than forcing Mario to stomp Koopas while he's hanging upside-down? Read More... Posted Oct 31 2008, 06:20 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: wii, gamecube, super mario 64, n64, super mario galaxy, nadia oxford, legend of zelda twilight princess, super mario sunshine, innovation, new super mario bros

• Why Am I Playing This: Star Fox Assault

  Star Fox is undoubtedly Nintendo's own Sonic the Hedgehog; it's an increasingly irrelevant series saddled with a creepy furry vibe and plagued with "innovation" instead of being designed with a thoughtful reflection of what made the first two games so great. And because my GameFly queue was so overloaded with in-demand games like Sly 3: Band of Thieves, you get to read about Fox McCloud and his friends. I am a bad person. Star Fox Assault gets a bad rap for a good reason; it starts you off in a level very similar to that of the original Star Fox or Star Fox 64. It's not quite as well-designed as Nintendo's own handiwork, though it's a reasonable facsimile. But when you get to the second level, the fine people at Namco decide to make Star Fox the on-foot shooter it apparently always wanted to be--and the third level's not much different. Just like with Sonic the Hedgehog, you'd think it would be so damn easy to make a Star Fox game; put me on rails with limited range, give me some optional paths, and BAM! You have what may be called Star Fox. But--as the similarly-wonky DS Star Fox proved to us all--there's a time and place for needless creativity, and Star Fox isn't it. Because Nintendo can't seem to get their shit together when it comes to Star Fox, I've compiled a list of tips that just may save the series. I hope they appreciate the minutes of work that went into this. Read More... Posted Oct 15 2008, 10:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, gamecube, star fox, namco, sonic the hedgehog cartoon, bob mackey, star fox assault, why am i playing this

• Lowering the Standard: Why Nintendo’s Hardcore vs. Casual Commitments Aren’t the Problem

  I tend to sound overly pessimistic when talking about the Wii. I happen to love the system. I think the funky little box has quite a lot going for it and it’s given me a handful of unforgettable gaming experiences, with Wii Sports and No More Heroes chief among them. No, I’m not overly pessimistic about the Wii. I’m overly pessimistic about Nintendo. As much as I want to be excited about a new Punch-Out!, I can’t help but look at the facts: Nintendo has released more traditional, hardcore games in the Wii’s first two years than they did in the Gamecube’s first four and all of them, with the exceptions of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, have been below the gold standard of Nintendo’s internally developed software from generations past. Read More... Posted Oct 02 2008, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 9 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, metroid, nintendo, wii, madworld, zelda, gamecube, fire emblem, super mario bros, punch out, klonoa, fragile, smash bros, house of the dead, oboro muramasa

• Me VS. Blue Hedgehog

  Just yesterday Bob Mackey posted about his experiences with Sonic the Hedgehog. Naturally, this put me in mind of my own rather odd relationship with Sega's troubled mascot. Back in the days of the 16 bit wars I was deep in the Nintendo trenches, so anything that came from Sega was of the devil. Sonic was an enemy general to be assaulted on any playground where gamers collided in verbal combat. Okay, enough with the war analogies. After growing up and leaving my blind brand loyalties behind, I decided to try and like the guy. After all, with such a large fan following, Sonic games had to be pretty good right? Read More... Posted Sep 25 2008, 10:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: wii, gamecube, amber ahlborn, ds, sonic the hedgehog, sonic unleashed, sonic and the secret rings, gba, sonic chronicles

• No Alternate Soundtrack: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

  Nearly a full year before the first Guitar Hero introduced gamers to the now all-too familiar concept of game controllers shaped like musical instruments, Nintendo released Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the Gamecube worldwide. The game was a platformer in the vein of Donkey Kong Country that overlooked the Gamecube controller in favor of the DK Bongo peripheral used earlier for Donkey Konga, a rhythm game that aped (oh god, sorry about that) its own development team's Taiko Drum Master series of games. Rather than come off as gimmicky as a result of this peripheral use, though, Jungle Beat felt fresh and intuitive and was praised by critics for its innovation. Years before the Wii would get gamers off their butts, Jungle Beat was moving players and causing them to work up a sweat, all while playing a traditional platformer. Read More... Posted Aug 26 2008, 11:00 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, alternate soundtrack, derrick sanskrit, wii, guitar hero, wii fit, donkey kong, taiko drum master, gamecube, super mario galaxy, wii sports, bongos, jungle beat

• Whatcha Playing: Cleaning House, Finding Roots

  It has been well over a month since my last Whatcha Playing here at 61 Frames Per Second. The vicious truth of the matter is that I haven’t been playing that much since the beginning of July. The summer will do that to you. When the weather is as nice as its been here in the northeastern United States (mild, sunny as hell, great thunderstorms), its hard to devote eight hours of a Saturday to grinding RPG characters, engaging in manic shoot-outs, or even just taking in some classics (especially if your apartment isn’t air conditioned.) Last Thursday, though, I finally downloaded Bionic Commando Rearmed, a game I may have mentioned anticipating. Those first delicious minutes I spent grappling around the vibrant world GRIN created signaled one undeniable fact: come the weekend, it was time to play some freaking videogames. But first I had to clean house. Read More... Posted Aug 19 2008, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, whatcha playing, playstation 3, metroid, nintendo ds, xbox 360, capcom, bionic commando, grin, gamecube, too human, pixeljunk, pixeljunk eden, braid, lair, ninja five-0

• The Art of Metroid Prime, Echoes, and Corruption

  While the debate over whether video games are an art form or not continues to rage, there can be no denying that fantastic visual art assets are used in many game titles. The Metroid Prime trilogy is a series particularly noted for its visual style and intense detail. To the artists at Retro Studios I tip my hat and dedicate this post to your fantastic work. Read More... Posted Jul 31 2008, 11:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with no comments Filed under: metroid, nintendo, wii, gamecube, amber ahlborn, metroid prime, metroid prime 3, metroid prime 2, retro studios, metroid echoes, metroid corruption

• No Alternate Soundtrack: Chibi-Robo

  There's no denying that music is an important part of games. There are some fan-favorite scores that initiate warm feelings outside of the games that bore them (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man). There are some games where the music IS the gameplay (Rock Band, PaRappa the Rapper, Elite Beat Agents). And then there are a distinct few in which the sound is so irrevocably tethered to the gameplay that removing those sounds would render the game dull and lifeless. It is these games that I hope to spotlight in this new irregular feature – NO Alternate Soundtrack. Today, a personal favorite of mine, skip's quirky Gamecube platformer Chibi-Robo. Read More... Posted Jul 29 2008, 11:00 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: alternate soundtrack, derrick sanskrit, music, gamecube, chibi-robo, skip

• Metroid Prime Trilogy Retrospective: Part Two

  A few months ago, I wrote an extensively in-depth retrospective of the Metroid Prime trilogy and posted it at a couple message boards. I've decided to touch it up a bit and repost it here along with a new article that will focus on the fantastic art of the series and finally I'll wrap the week up with my own purely speculative vision of the Metroid series' future. Yesterday I posted about Metroid Prime. Today I take a detailed look at Metroid Prime: Echoes. Echoes - Like Dark Chocolate. Very rich, but bitter... Read More... Posted Jul 29 2008, 10:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: gamecube, amber ahlborn, metroid prime 2, retro studios, metroid prime echoes

• Metroid Prime Trilogy Retrospective: Part One

  A few months ago, I wrote an extensively in-depth retrospective of the Metroid Prime trilogy and posted it at a couple message boards. I've decided to touch it up a bit and repost it here along with a new article that will focus on the fantastic art of the series and finally I'll wrap the week up with my own purely speculative vision of the Metroid series' future. If you love Metroid, step inside. If you're simply curious about all the fuss and care not one wit about spoilers, come along for the ride. Let us begin with Metroid Prime. Prime - Like milk chocolate. Smooth and sweet... Read More... Posted Jul 28 2008, 11:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: gamecube, amber ahlborn, metroid prime, retro studios

• Personal Firsts: My Gaming Scrapbook, From A to Wii

  Written by Amber Ahlborn At some point in the 1980s, the year nebulous in my memory, my mom bowled with her team every Thursday night. I loved Thursday nights because dad let me stay up late to watch M.A.S.H. and Benny Hill. Sometimes he and I would hop in the car and go visit mom at the alley, and that was the best. Dad would sit and watch mom bowl. Me? I would squeeze every last quarter I could get out of him. With a fist full of change and dollars soon to be converted into change, I’d walk down to the alley’s hamburger bar, snag a stool, and drag it through the glass doors into the arcade. Without deviation, I’d position my stool in front of the “Ostrich Game” and stay planted there until I ran out of money. I’m speaking of Joust of course, but at that age I could neither reach the controls without a stool to sit on nor read very well. Read More... Posted Jun 02 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: pac-man, metroid, wii, legend of zelda, snes, nes, ico, mega man, atari, gamecube, amber ahlborn, kaboom, katamari damacy, chrono trigger, firsts, pikmin, Playstation, joust, pitfall, star fox, ps2, frogger, super mario bros, ds

• Whatcha Playing: Fire Emblem is Pretty Hard

  Introducing 61 Frames Per Second's latest blogger: Amber Ahlborn I think I can hear the strategy role-playing veterans laughing at me, but cut me a little slack, I'm pretty new to the genre. Fire Emblem is a series with deep roots. I didn't become personally acquainted with the series until Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance hit the GameCube. The game absolutely captivated me. Convinced that Fire Emblem is awesome, I snapped up Radiant Dawn the day it released for Wii. Read More... Posted May 30 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, nintendo, nintendo ds, wii, gamecube, fire emblem, amber ahlborn