Who's still playing their Wii?

[ClodBuster]

Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't tried Chameleon Twist yet, but saw it in magazines back then, when people were still waiting for Banjo Kazooie to be released after having experienced Super Mario 64.

Speaking of, Super Mario 64 still nails 3D platformer controls. There's no other game like it afterwards that has the same good feel of control and momentum to me. Even Super Mario Sunshine feels inferior in that regard, which is especially noticeable in the tough stages where you have no access to the hover nozzle.

I played Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island around 2002 or so and managed to beat the main game, but only got access to a few bonus levels. Good game, but if I had to pick between this and Super Mario World 1, my choice would be SMW1.

[crazydean]

SMW is my favorite 2D Mario.

I completely agree with you on Sunshine. I wanted to like it so badly after playing SM64 and Galaxy. I don't understand how the controls got worse after the great job of its predecessor.

[Michirin9801]

While I agree that Sunshine doesn't control as well as SM64 or Galaxy, I still think it's an amazing game which controls really well! I missed the long-jump, but the spin-jump and the slide almost made up for that and wall-jumping is even better in Sunshine than it already was in 64... The thing about sunshine is that when you master the controls you can do some really crazy stuff just like in SM64! Well, almost...

If you wanna see a Mario game which actually has bad controls, try Super Mario 64 DS, that one is unbearable to me... Shame too because if that game had better controls it would have been better than the original N64 game in every way... I think they should have waited until the Nintendo 3DS to remake SM64, I mean, at least the 3DS has an analogue stick, and it would have had amazing graphics! I mean, try to imagine Super Mario 64 with graphics on the same level as 3D land...

Also, SMW is my favourite game of all time...

[ClodBuster]

I agree, Sunshine isn't broken by any means.

Still playing Yoshi's Story and have beaten the game for the first time yesterday. I noticed some slight BGM stutter during loading between different scenes, but nothing too bad. I'm glad there are so many levels and secrets you won't see at the first playthrough, so you have to beat the game several times to experience everything it has to offer.

For shits and giggles, I downloaded Mario Kart 64 yesterday. The only advantage compared to the N64 original version is the lack of fuzzyness screen resolution wise. But since the original had pretty clear visuals due to flat textures anyway, there isn't much to write home about it. Although the 480p resolutions helps for 4-player splitscreen multiplayer. I noticed the sound effects in the menu as well as when points are counted in championship mode are slightly distorted. Everything else played fine so far. Of course, no ghost saving feature available since the Wii Virtual Console lacks N64 controller pack (memory card) emulation.

I also got my hands on Alien Crush. After having played Devil's Crush, I can't hide a little bit of disappointment over the predecessor graphics and gameplay wise. Still, Alien Crush is a more than just decent Pinball game with designs shamelessly ripped from the Alien franchise - which is a good thing! Oh, and I can not praise enough the smooth plunger pull animation, rawr.

[Michirin9801]

Would you believe that I still haven't played Alien Crush? I probably should, but the thing is that every pinball game ever just looks (and probably sounds) like s*** in comparison to Devil's Crush >w>';
I guess I'm just spoiled...

[ClodBuster]

I'm definitely spoiled by Devil's Crush. There's so much going on at the screen at once, amazing. Also, having a three-tier playfield and so many bonus rounds is great. The only other game I know of that has more playfields (four) is Pinball Revenge of the Gator on the GameBoy, and this even has three different bonus rounds to discover.

I'm fine with Alien Crush changing screens between the two playfields instead of scrolling like in Devil's Crush, since I'm used to the changing screen behaviour from Revenge of the Gator.

I'd suggest you should have a look at Youtube for Alien Crush and decide for yourself if it is worth to you paying 600 Nintendo points (or even going for a Huey).

Or watch this Game Sack episode about Naxat's pinball games.

[esteban]

If you like pinball games, then yes, I'd go for Alien Crush without hesitation. The music is quite nice and, as ClodBuster said, the screen flipping is not a problem (I don't begrudge folks who prefer scrolling, but this game, IMHO, plays fine, especially on a small screen like the TurboExpress).

The intricate, creepy visual themes (Giger! + "light-hearted" bonus screens) + superb music create an atmosphere that really makes  Alien Crush a slam dunk for me (I never tire of the visuals), but I reckon it could wear thin if you are not as smitten with Giger...

...and, with pinball, you spend a long time looking at and listening to the playfield (I have never been as smitten by the themes and atmosphere in Time Cruise, for example...my reaction to Alien/Devil's Crush is more visceral). 

The CRUNCH and CRACK of alien skulls getting smacked around is pretty satisfying, too.

[Black Tiger]

Alien Crush still has some of the best graphics ever made.

[Michirin9801]

Oh I'm sure Alien Crush is a fine game, I really should play it sooner or later, the thing is getting around to it >w>';
I like Pinball games okay, but I rarely go out of my way to play them... One that I liked was Mario Pinball Land on the GBA which is pretty weird because Mario turns into the Pinball and you have to knock him around dozens and dozens of (static) playfields, it has some really nice-looking pre-rendered graphics though! That one is worth a play for Pinball fans, but still, Devil's Crush is really the only one that I keep coming back to...

[MrBroadway]

Pinball of the Dead on GBA was pretty decent, too. Even though I no longer own it (Gredler has it now) Revenge of the Gator is good for a GB game. Even though I haven't played it in over 20 years, Crue Ball was a blast, even if mostly for the music.

[blueraven]

HOW IS THIS THREAD STILL GOING

owait, nvm double-post

[Ratix]

The Wii is my scummvm and dosbox machine now. Sure setting up dosbox is a chore but it's still amazing to play space pirates on it especially with that drug PSA. They don't make PSAs like that anymore.

[esteban]

DragnMasterDan told me that the Wii store is still operational (I was in disbelief) over the summer.

I never got the Konami rebirth version of Gradius, so I’m going to get that.

I have Castlevania Rebirth (I bought it when it was released) and its fun.

I can’t believe the Wii store is still operational.

So...the Wii lives.

[Michirin9801]

DragnMasterDan told me that the Wii store is still operational (I was in disbelief) over the summer.

I never got the Konami rebirth version of Gradius, so I’m going to get that.

I have Castlevania Rebirth (I bought it when it was released) and its fun.

I can’t believe the Wii store is still operational.

So...the Wii lives.

Only until 2019... I'm just as surprised as you that it's lasted this long, especially when you consider how quickly Nintendo usually drops support for their previous console once the next one comes out...
But yeah, unless you wanna go the pirate route, you can only get Wii Virtual Console and Wiiware games for the next year or so, and then BLAM! It's dead...
Pretty sad too, the Wii has by far the best Virtual Console out of any other Nintendo system, perhaps even the best selection of retro-games in a digital store in general...

[_joshuaTurbo]

DragnMasterDan told me that the Wii store is still operational (I was in disbelief) over the summer.

I never got the Konami rebirth version of Gradius, so I’m going to get that.

I have Castlevania Rebirth (I bought it when it was released) and its fun.

I can’t believe the Wii store is still operational.

So...the Wii lives.

Only until 2019... I'm just as surprised as you that it's lasted this long, especially when you consider how quickly Nintendo usually drops support for their previous console once the next one comes out...
But yeah, unless you wanna go the pirate route, you can only get Wii Virtual Console and Wiiware games for the next year or so, and then BLAM! It's dead...
Pretty sad too, the Wii has by far the best Virtual Console out of any other Nintendo system, perhaps even the best selection of retro-games in a digital store in general...

I actually agree, getting a hacked Wii (on accident, honest!) has been a really cool discovery for me.  I got to try out TONS of the VC and WiiWare games that I pretty much ignored for most of the Wii's life span.