Sin and Punishment – N64 Virtual Console on Wii

Sin and Punishment is one of those games that made N64 history in Japan, sitting next to Zelda Ocarina of Time, this Treasure classic was released in early 2000 in Japan with the intension to be released in the US and Europe, the problem was that by the time the game released in Japan, the Sega DreamCast was already released worldwide and the N64 was coming to an end. Even if the game was easy to localise, Treasure decided to cancel the International versions despite release the game in 2004 in China for the iQue (The Chinese N64). Due to its limited number of copies it demand the most sought-after N64 game for gamers not just in Japan, but all around the world.

Nintendo began their first series of special Virtual Console games on the European Shop Channel calling it the “Hanabi Festival”, Hanabi meaning Fireworks in Japanese, started to introduce the Virtual Console’s first wave of Japanese import games made available for European Wii owners to buy and download. This included the Original Japanese Super Mario Bros 2, Ninja Jajamaru-Kun and Mario’s Super Picross. The last game in Nintendo’s Hanabi Event is the Legendary N64 game, Sin and Punishment, localised and with a 1200 Wii Point price tag (£8.40 GBP/ €12 EUR /$12 USD) making it the most expensive game on the European Shop channel so far. The price might be scary due to the fact that there are Xbox Live Arcade games cheaper then that, but this game is no simple port, the Nintendo and Treasure worked on translating the Japanese text in the Menus, options and title screen to make sure that you know what you’re doing. As for in-game, the game already has English voice-overs and the Japanese Subtitles still exist.

Sin and Punishment takes place in a near future, 2007 to be exact, how uncanny that they release the game on the Virtual Console the same year that the game is in, heh. The world has been terrorised by an insect-like alien race named the “Ruffians”, the US Army have acquired Ruffian corpses and have been performing weird genetic experiments to make the Army stronger to have a better chance in beating the Ruffian invasion, to discover that the new Ruffian blood infused soldiers have turned into corrupt uncontrollable freaks that mutate into Ruffians. You play as one of two surviving rebels that want to bring back peace and order to the world, who have to fight against the US army that have been infused with Ruffian blood and prevent any more experiments, to discover that the Male lead protagonist, Saki, is in fact a Ruffian blood infused human and turns into a very powerful, 60 foot vertebrae Ruffian that the US Army has called “BEAST”. Playing as the Female protagonist, Airan, you go out to prevent the US Army to destroy the mutated Saki and turn him back into a human; however you end up being teleported from Japan to the USA and now you got to race to save Saki from being killed by the US Army.

The game play is pretty simple; it’s an on-rails shooter similar to the likes of StarFox64, Space Harrier and Panzer Dragoon. Except this time around you get the freedom to strafe left and right independently to avoid enemy fire with the D-Pad, whilst moving a crosshair on the Screen with the analogue stick. The L button on the Classic Controller fires the gun, whilst the R button executes a jump. In close range of an enemy, the player’s gun turns into a light sabre and slashes the enemies, you can use this same move to deflect missiles, hurling them back towards the enemy. The A Button switches between two crosshairs, a Manual mode, and a Lock-on mode. Manual mode allows you move the crosshair with total freedom like in a typical shooting game, whilst the Lock-on mode will instantly lock the crosshair onto the nearest enemy, however by doing this you sacrifice your firepower by 50 percent. The Issue that I have with these controls is Nintendo’s decision to put the fire button on the L Button rather then the R button. The reason why I’m saying this is because it makes sense that the hand you use to aim should be the same hand you use to fire. However in this case it’s flipped around and Jump button is on R instead, which makes the experience very weird. Originally on the Japanese N64 game, you would hold the N64 controller with your left hand on the D-pad with the right hand on the analogue stick, as the Z Trigger fires and the R Button is for Jump, which makes sense, but in this case, it’s quite weird that they swapped the buttons. There are other button layouts that you can try out, Such as using L and R to strafe rather then the Dpad, the but this doesn’t really work very well for me, so I stick to the peculiar swapped button layout. If only Nintendo swapped those two buttons around to make it feel more like the actual N64 game, then it would make it a better experience for me, and I would be rating this game higher. Thing is, Nintendo in the past has fixed control problems in VC games before, so it’s very possible that there could be an update for this game soon that will swap these buttons around and will make the game a much better experience.

The Graphics in the game is very blocky, I mean fair enough, I can’t expect super quality poly-models on an N64 game, but it does make it feel that Zelda: Ocarina of Time has some poly-models that looks better on the eyes then this. However the game does sport some really awesome camera techniques that I never thought was possible on the N64. In certain levels, the camera will pan and roll slightly depending on where the crosshair in positioned on the screen, which gives the game an extra touch of awesome-ness, however the best is to come when you play in mid-air level riding on a levitating piece of metal; the whole environment will rock, roll and twist around giving the feel of some crazy mid-air flying, plus there’s a part where you’re practically hanging upside down and you actually feel like hanging upside down, something that I can honestly say, I haven’t ever felt in an N64 game before…

As for sound, it uses typical sound effects that you would find in an anime, even with the over exaggerated machine gun noises. The Voice acting isn’t too bad, but it’s still the typical kind of voice acting you’ll find in an anime, as if the whole game itself is meant to be an interactive anime. The background music consists of generic 80s style rock music that’s kind of forgettable; however the first level music is semi-humbable.

Overall, this game is still very good and it’s worth every penny, but as I said, the swapped buttons to me are a bit of a let down. I would prefer it if it had the button layout I want, or if Nintendo aloud me to map my own buttons. But the swapped buttons will defiantly confuse you at first, here’s hoping that Nintendo will solve this problem with a Virtual Console Update.

Presentation: 9.0

Nintendo and Treasure actually localised the game so that the menus are translated, great job on their behalf!

Graphics: 8.5

Despite the blocky poly-models, the game sports some awesome camera techniques never seen on the N64.

Sound: 7.7
Very Anime like, however it can be very forgettable, as I can only remember the first levels music. The voice-overs are ok, at least they’re better then some anime shows that I’ve seen.

Gameplay: 8.5
An awesome, awesome game, however despite it’s amazing-ness, Nintendo random swapped buttons around making my experience with this game a little cumbersome.

Lasting Appeal: 9.0

As an Arcade game, it defiantly has it replay value in there, the different difficulty settings, and trying to beat your own high scores will keep you entertained for a few weeks at least.

Overall 8.8

Wii Classic Controller

So... you've downloaded a few games onto your Wii, and you want to get playing, you could use a GameCube Controller. However you can buy a Wii Classic controller for £15/$20. So why should you buy it when you can use a GameCube controller?

First off, playing SNES games with the GCN controller is awkward, back then, the "B" button became the new "A" button to jump, and the new "Y" button became the new "B". The thing is, Nintendo has been literal about what the buttons, so A on the GCN is A on the SNES pad, which mean if you're playing Super Mario World, you'll be spin jumping instead of normal jumping, plus have you ever tried pressing B and Y together on a GCN pad? It's quite awkward to pull off unless you're holding the controller in an odd way.

The Controller itself is very comfortable, think of it as a SNES pad, but a tad thicker. Just like the SNES pad, it features the Dpad, A, B, X and Y face buttons and the L and R buttons; however an additional Z buttons (ZL and ZR), two analogue sticks and a home button are available on the pad for N64 and Wii Home options. The L and R buttons are sprung just like the GCN pad's triggers, including the digital click. This could be used for original download games for the Wii. There's a button in between the ZL and ZR buttons that controls a sort of lock on the back of the pad; there are two slots that looks like something can be attached to the back of the Classic controller.

So, why should you buy a Wii Classic controller? Well it really depends on what games you're going to get, the GCN pad feels OK for all the other consoles (NES, N64, MD/Gen and TG-16), and it’s just a pain for SNES games. I’d say buy it if you're going to get a lot of SNES games from the Wii Shop, if not, you might not really need it. Otherwise it's a very nice controller that guarantees to work on all VC games, although the GCN controller at the moment works on all VC games, Sega and Hudson have mentioned that the GCN may not work on up coming MegaDrive/Genesis and TurboGrafix-16 games.

Pros:

• Guarantees to work on all VC games.
• Comfortable.
• Button layout matches SNES pad.
• Wireless (connected to the Wii Remote).

Cons:

• Isn't necessary for other VC games (NES, N64, MD/Gen and TG16).
• The two sticks a little too close to each other.
• Requires a Wii remote to work.

Score: 4/5

Metal Slug Anthology

Metal Slug Anthology Wii – Great but not perfect...



(This is a review for the UK/European version of Metal Slug Anthology published by Ignition Entertainment on the 30th of March 2007)

When it comes to Run ‘n’ Gun games, most people would think about Contra and it’s world famous cheat: Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start. However, as much as I like Contra, there’s another Run ‘n’ Gun that beats the likes of Contra; Metal Slug. To hear that a collection of Metal Slug games were coming to the Wii I thought it was amazing as England only ever received a few Metal Slug games, Metal Slug X (on the PS1), 3, 4, 5 (on the PS2) and Advance (on GBA of course). To hear that I’ll be able to play the Metal Slug 1 and 6, I thought “wow”. However my experience with the game wasn’t a perfect one.

The problem started as soon as I pulled off the shrink wrap and opened the DVD case; I discovered that the disc was decorated with this crazy hot pink colour, at first I thought I got the wrong game in the case, but reading the disc label it did say “Metal Slug Anthology” on it. Then when I popped the disc into the Wii, and selected the disc channel, I witnessed this somewhat shoddily made Disc Channel screen with that didn’t even use the actual logo found on the case cover, it looked as if someone making below minimum wage made it with Microsoft Word, increased the font size and used Arial to display “Metal Slug Anthology” on the Disc Channel screen.

Then came the intro, it was blurry and a little dark compared to the rest of the game, I knew that it was just a motion video but it still pretty poor for an intro sequence. Then you go to the Select screen menu, I don’t know who made this menu but it annoying as heck. You select the game you want to play by pressing left and right on the remotes D-Pad, however when you go to the options you use up and down. The reason why I’m whining about this is because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed the hold the remote in the vertical or horizontal position, why? Well it’s because when you select something you have to press the “A” button rather then the “2” button, and it was a bit odd pressing the “A” button when holding the remote in it’s horizontal position.

The Game features a bunch of control schemes you can use that you can set up in the control profile in the option screen. At first I got annoyed that I couldn’t use the control scheme I wanted, in this case I wanted to try the GameCube controller mode, and for some reason despite selecting it, it wouldn’t use that control scheme. I then discovered that I had a bit of the blond moment when I discovered that printed at the bottom of the screen it says “(+ button) save”; what’s wrong with pressing “A” or “2”?

Ok, so the presentation of the game is bad, and I’m been whining about the bad stuff, lets get into the good stuff. The games themselves work actually like the arcade cabinet versions; every pixel on the screen matches that of the arcade game and the games themselves haven’t changed in the way of gameplay at all, same great bosses, great challenges and a horde of enemy soldiers to slay. However I am going to nit pick on Metal Slug 6 in this collection; I have never played the actual arcade version, but Metal Slug 6 in this anthology looks really dark compared to the other games, I don’t mean “dark” in an evil sense, but “dark” in that “who changed my TV settings!?”. Just like the NES games on the Virtual console has brightness issues, so does Metal Slug 6, which puts me off a bit considering that this game is meant to be the graphically intense Metal Slug game; but I’m not going to bitch about it too much because Metal Slug 6 in general is still an awesome game despite it’s brightness problem.

Talking about Metal Slug 6, it’s a brilliant game that has some awesome features such as the ability to hold multiple weapons at once and switch between them. You can hold 2 other weapons and you hand gun and you switch between by pressing the “A” on the remote, or the L button on the GCN pad. This weapon switching is so handy because I have a habit of picking of a new gun after holding a gun I want to use on the boss for a while and I end up with a silly weapon like the drop shot or the Iron Lizard. This makes it so much better to prepare yourself for the boss ahead, you can still use a special weapon whilst keeping the gun you want on reserve for the boss, and if that special gun runs out of ammo, you can switch back to your hand gun without graining the ammo of the gun you want for the boss. Brilliant idea SNK, I just wish you did that with the other Metal Slug games. As for the graphics, despite the darkness that I mentioned above, the game has some awesome visuals and the backgrounds look amazing. This is by far the prettiest 2D game I’ve seen yet, it shows off what SNK’s new NeoWave board can pull off.

One thing that I am disappointed about is that even though you get arcade perfect ports of each Metal Slug game, I still miss those great bonus missions you receive in Metal Slug 3 on the PS2, the Fat Island bonus Mission is a blast with 2 players. I kind of miss them in this anthology. At the same time though, you are getting 7 Metal Slug games for the price of 2 separate Metal Slug games on the PS2, so there's value in this anthology pack. Plus the other motion control schemes such as Tilt mode and arcade mode are really gimmicky and not really that great to use, just stick to either Remote mode, the default setting, or GameCube Controller mode.

So, what the conclusion to Metal Slug Anthology then? It’s got great Gameplay and pixel perfect graphics, despite MS6’s dark screen. However the presentation of this game is really poorly done and I’m wondering if Ignition has been spending too much time making Mercury Meltdown then making a nice presentation for this game. I say buy this game if only you’re a fan of the game, don’t buy it if you’ve never played or got a little bit of interest for the Metal Slug series, because it’s presentation will put you off.

I just hope that there could be a "Perfect Collection" pack in a near future...

Including Metal Slug 3D maybe..?


Presentation: 4.0
Hot Pink Disc, Confusing Menus, shoddy intros and dark screens. Ignition needs to work a bit harder on their presentation.

Graphics: 8.0
Pixel perfect renditions of the arcade cabinet versions, however they're not quite next-gen graphics, but who cares these are great 2D arcade games.

Sound: 8.0
Humable tunes will keep you going through out this game, just remember this is an arcade game and not Gears of War.

Gameplay: 8.5
Metal Slug "Run 'n' Gun" goodness throughout, and with the weapon switching system in MS6, it makes the gameplay that tad bit better. However the other Motion control schemes are gimmicky...

Lasting Appeal: 7.5
The Challenge is there, but it misses the extra missions that Metal Slug 3 for the PS2 had. You may only complete each game once to then leave it under dust or never touch it if you're not an MS fan.

OVERALL 7.7

Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS: You’re playing with power… DS power!

Possibly one of the most wanted games on the DS this year is Mario Kart DS because it is the first time that Nintendo opens up Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, an online play service that is free to use. On the other side features a great single player and multiplayer modes too.

The single player Grand Prix mode now has two championships, the Nitro Grand Prix (a Championship with new original level) and the Retro Grand Prix (a championship with various levels from the previous Mario Kart games including Double Dash). This gives you the opportunity to play courses that have never been seen before, and play the SNES and GBA circuits in glorious three dimensions, instead of playing them in mode-7. Like in Double-Dash, drivers can use either a typical racing kart, or a unique vehicle suit to that character, e.g. Mario can use the B-Dasher that looks like a cross between a 1940’s style racing car and a formula one. Each character have their own statistics on how well their acceleration, tope speed and handling, but this can change on what vehicle you choose, in some cases the original kart can be better then the unique vehicle, later on in the game you can unlock other vehicles for your characters to drive in. In addition to this there are 8 characters to choose from with an additional 4 more characters that can be unlocked later on in the game depending on what Grand Prix you complete. The controls in the game are almost like the controls you get in Mario Kart on the SNES, except it moved around 90 degrees anticlockwise, accelerate is A, break is B, changing the map is Y and to fire weapon is X (you can also use the L button instead to fire). The control of the vehicles in the game is a lot easier then the cars found in Double Dash that in my opinion had handling like a runny egg. Drift turning too is a lot nicer too, you can master it quite quickly and discover you’ll use it a lot often to get every turn right and take advantage of the little boost it gives you after it.

Battle mode now isn’t just a multiplayer affair, you can now play it with you and 7 other CPU controlled rivals, and there’s a new battle mode game too, Shine Runners. This is a lot like Shine Thief in Double Dash except there’s multiple shines and a countdown ticks, the people with the least amount of shines get booted out and this repeats until only one person remains who becomes the winner. The Original Balloon battle game has a slight twist too, instead of 3 balloons to start with, you only get one balloon; however you got 4 in reverse. What this is, is that you’re meant to hide somewhere and then blow on the DS’ microphone to pump up more balloons, you can only pump up more balloons where you’re not moving, so you can’t cheat. The Levels included for Battle mode includes Block Fort from Mario Kart 64, Pipe Plaza from Double Dash, and 4 new levels including an oversized DS, The Twilight House that feels like a maze, Palm Shore, and open out arena with water and Part Top, an arena made out of a huge cake where you use a ramp to get up to the cream and cheery to get to the item boxes.

The one thing you will want to do on the Mario Kart DS is to use it’s first ever use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. It’s very easy to use; you don’t need to worry about signing up for usernames; the nickname that you assigned on the DS will be used for you Nintendo Wi-Fi account, all you need is a wireless router, a known local hotspot or Nintendo’s Wi-Fi dongle to get online. After that you’ll get on and you’ll get the choice between four ways to play, Regional, Worldwide, Friends and Rivals. Regional allows you to play others from your continent, this depends on what version of the game you own, I own the US game; therefore I get to play with American players; Worldwide allows you to play with anyone around the world; Friends allow you to only play with people who you have traded friend codes with (I’ll explain this later) and Rivals allow you to play with others with the same amount of wins and loses. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection doesn’t allow you to play with people who you want to play, it’s picked out randomly; however when you make a Nintendo Wi-Fi account you get a friend code, if you enter other people’s friend codes into your account and them entering you code in, when you select “Friends” on the Nintendo Wi-Fi match up. Your friends can then join you in a race match online.

There are some limitations when playing online, firstly you can only have a maximum of 4 players, battle mode is not available, and only 20 of the 32 tracks are only available to race online. Although there are limitations it didn’t feel like the end to the world. What is cool though is that this time you not limited to be all playing different characters, you can now have 2 or more Mario’s racing each other; however I find this annoying and try to play as someone different.

My conclusion to this game, it’s very good, and for being the first Nintendo Wi-Fi connection game it’s a great introduction for Nintendo’s new online future. Even it there’s some slight limitations on the online side of it, the Single player and local Multiplayer is very solid, this doesn’t mean that the Nintendo WFC isn’t, it’s still very good, it did “slightly” disappoint me at first, but I got use to it and I love it, plus it’s free, so what’s the pain in that?

Presentation 9.5
Fantastic, Everything there for an all round good Mario Kart game. Incredibly Mario-ish, the way it's meant to be!

Graphics 9.0
Graphics could've been better, but hey we're getting a good 50/60 frames per second out of it, so I'm not whining!

Sound 9.5
Classic Mario tunes including new and very humbable tunes for the new tracks. Includes Virtual Surround sound, very nice

Gameplay 9.8
Possibly the best Mario Kart controls found in any of the previous game, even though the button layout maybe weird at first. Handling and drifting is so much better than Double Dash.

Lasting Appeal 9.8

This game has plenty of extras to find, and with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, it'll make players go back for more online play!

OVERALL 9.7 out of 10