On our very conveniently timed podcast this week, we at least mentioned the upcoming Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem games. Nintendo had teased them a while back, between the releases of Miitomo and Pokemon Go. Miitomo was fun for a while and Pokemon Go was something we discussed in-depth. I’d gone so far as to claim that AR is a more viable interest than VR. And now, I want to elaborate on that. At least, I want to elaborate on Animal Crossing Mobile.
Pokemon Sun and Moon have been doing a lot of interesting things with the series. Hyper Training, the potential replacement of gym leaders, and, most importantly, the Alola forms of specific Pokemon. So far, we have 5 confirmed Alola Pokemon: Alola Vulpix, Ninetales, Sandshrew, Sandslash, and Exeggutor. Obviously, these aren’t the only ones that are going to be in the game, and I thought it would be a cool idea to share potential new Alola forms for older Pokemon. I personally feel like doing this kind of thing to older Pokemon is a really cool idea, and breathes a lot of new life into the game by adding a certain level of realism. My big rule here is that I’m not just going to pick Pokemon I want to see re-typed. I’m choosing Pokemon that I feel would fit into the ecosystem Alola has going for it and how their new forms would fit into the area.
Golem has always been a weird Pokemon for me. I’ve always wanted to like it, but felt no reason to. If we were to make its design a bit better and slap a fire typing onto it, I feel like I’d like it a lot more. Alola Golem (and by association, Geodude and Graveler) could be living around the tip of a volcano on the island, and being by the lava all this time has caused them to develop a fire typing to withstand the heat better. For aesthetics, I feel like it’d be a really simple change. Take all the grooves between rocks on Golem and fill them with flowing lava, and then make the rocks acting as his main body take on a darker color, closer to something like coal. The Alola Golem would basically have its stats flipped. Make it a special attacker, with high special defense as well. Regular Golem already gets access to Flamethrower and Fire Blast, so maybe Alola Golem can hold onto those moves and also learn Power Gem to seal the deal. It could get something like Flame Body as its ability or keep Sturdy, both work.
A lot of you may be thinking “but Dan, Bellossom is already doing a hula dance and has flowers in its hair, it’s already Hawaiian enough!” and you’d be right. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a regular Bellossom has already shown up in some sort of Sun and Moon trailer or image. But that won’t stop me from decking this thing out with even more flowers, changing its color scheme to make it brighter, and giving it a fairy typing which is honestly should have anyway. Way I see it, the Bellossom could be a more friendly Pokemon of the region, consistently interacting with humans, and as such, have been closer to the culture of Alola than in other regions. Because they’re more interactive with humans, they live closer to civilization, making them adapt to the life there as opposed to the wild. If Bellossom were to get a fairy typing, its decent defensive stats would actually be a lot more useful in battle, too.
Let me tell you, I love Mamoswine. I love its bulk, I love its typing, and I love its design. But wouldn’t it be super cool to see it as a fire-type? Alola has icy mountains, so you could still have the ice-type ones alongside the fire types. Mamoswine that went into the icy areas stayed as the ice/ground-types we know, but the ones that chose to stay in the more tropical parts of the area eventually developed into normal/fire-types. In order to survive the warmer climate, their thick coat of fur got thinner and thinner, and being in such high temperatures also gave them an affinity for the hot rather than the cold. The blue patch around their eyes is red now, too. In terms of new stats, Mamoswine’s defenses would be lower, but a little more evenly split, and its speed would be higher, as it doesn’t need to traverse mountainous landscapes anymore. Attack stat stays the same, too. For an ability, it could have Flash Fire or Defiant.
Adding any of these Pokemon, or any new Alola Pokemon, really, would be awesome.
But Drampa will always be the best.
All images courtesy of Bulbapedia
Two months ago, I wrote an article about rare games that are actually worth their asking price on the Gamecube. I did this because like many collectors, I’ve noticed that there’s a glut of rare games out there that are so outrageously expensive not because they’re outrageously good games, but more often than not it’s because of things like limited quantities of a game, exclusivity, a certain version or cover or edition of a game, etc. Sure, there are plenty of rare games out there that are so rare because they’re such excellent games and everyone wants a copy–games like Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and .hack//G.U.–but then there are your Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, Cheetahmen II, and Spud’s Adventure sort of games that are only rare and expensive because of the aforementioned reasons: The games themselves aren’t very good, they’re just elusive. I wrote my first Rare Games that Don’t Suck on the Gamecube because it’s arguably my favorite console of all time. Now, I’d like to tell you about rare games that don’t suck on what is by far my favorite handheld console of all-time, the Game Boy Advance.
Image Courtesy of GameFAQs
The first game I’m going to talk about is one that doesn’t really need much of an introduction. As the title suggests, it’s an enhanced port of Final Fantasy VI on the SNES. Final Fantasy VI Advance has been subject to critical acclaim, just like its SNES counterpart, with an 8.9/10 from GameSpot, a 9/10 from IGN, 9/10 from Eurogamer, a 31/40 from Famitsu and many more. On average, a complete used copy of Final Fantasy VI Advance is $59.48, with a brand new copy costing you about $80.
Final Fantasy VI is the story of a girl named Terra, who is captured by the empire and forced to fight against her will. She was eventually broken free and rescued by The Returners, who also want to use Terra for their own purposes in war, but they ultimately respect her freedom, and let her make her own decision. I’ll stop there because after that is when it gets really good. It has a fantastically told story, a truly unique world to explore, incredibly memorable characters, solid and consistent combat, and stunning visuals for what it has to work with. The limitations of the GBA caused a musical downgrade, but that’s really it. It’s still a faithful version of one of the greatest games of all-time.
Image courtesy of GameFAQs
Car Battler Joe is one of the many, many hidden gems on the GBA. As a matter of fact a lot of the games on here are expensive because they’re hidden gems. Car Battler Joe is about this guy named Joe who is basically the standard kind of protagonist you’d see from a show like Beyblade or something, and that goes double for the game. It’s received relatively high acclaim from reviews (8.1/10 from GameSpot, 7.7/10 from IGN), and is one of my personal favorite GBA games. A used complete copy of Car Battler Joe will run you roughly $85. New copies for this game are incredibly hard to find, so getting an estimate on the overall price of a new copy is hard, but recently there was a copy sold on Ebay for $440.
You go around the world doing missions in your car, from fighting off bandits, to delivering packages, all the while collecting parts to either build new cars or upgrade your current one. These cars are equipped with various weapons that you can adjust and customize to your liking for combat. Basically think this weird version of that movie Death Race but if it were super anime, intended for children, and actually good. Mechanically speaking, it’s essentially a third person shooter/cart racer, but without the racing. In terms of sheer control, Car Battler Joe is fantastic. Each car controls differently and each weapon has different physics, and combining this with the tight controls means you’ll get consistently great gameplay. Customization is also complex, especially for a GBA game. The combinations of cars and weapons are incredibly varied, and just trying out different combinations will take up a lot of time in the game. It’s a truly fun experience.
Image courtesy of GameFAQs
Alright, let me get this out of the way right now: I love me some mecha anime. Mechs are like the best things ever. Giant robots fighting other giant robots with high-adrenaline pilots and stupidly overpowered weapons? What’s NOT to love? Being a huge mecha fan, when I found out that there was a strategy RPG series about anime mechs fighting each other, I was all in. What I ended up getting was one of the best strategy games I’ve ever played, along with being loved by the others who have played it (8.5/10 from GameSpot, 85% from RPGfan). Good news, though! This is the cheapest game on the list. A complete used copy is worth about $45 – $60, and a new copy goes between $65 – $90. What a steal!
Super Robot Taisen: The Original Generation 2 (hereon referred to as SRT2) picks up right after the first game left off. I would explain the full story, but it’s so long and complicated that it’s not worth it. All you have to know is that in the first game, there was a war between our protagonists and a faction called the Divine Crusaders, along with an alien race called the Aerogators. What’s happening now is that the world is fixing up its mechs in case something like that happens again, and low and behold, something like that happens again. Only they’re much stronger than the Aerogators or the Divine Crusaders. The gameplay is just complex enough to encourage good decision-making and strategy, and it also has a really good difficulty curve; never getting too hard, but never being a total cakewalk either. The roster of mechs is diverse, and it offers many ways for you to build a personal team (mix and match pilots and mechs, upgrading mechs and weapons, etc.). It’s also absolutely gorgeous for a GBA game and has a fantastic OST.
Image courtesy of GameFAQs
Ho boy this game. This was back when CastleVania knew what it was doing. It’s no Symphony of the Night, but it gets pretty damn close, as shown in its ratings. 9/10s across the board from all sources. Everyone pretty much agrees that Aria of Sorrow is one of the best CastleVania games. A used complete copy of Aria of Sorrow will cost you around $70, where as a brand new copy will cost you more around $90. You play as Soma Cruz, who is basically the second coming of Dracula except not really, and you’re sucked into Dracula’s moon castle and are trying to get out while also stopping someone else who is also basically the second coming of Dracula except not really.
You’ve got your standard MetroidVania style gameplay, except much better in terms of controls. The previous CastleVania games, Harmony of Dissonance and Circle of Moon, didn’t control nearly as well as Aria of Sorrow. Soma has the perfect weight to him, feeling just floaty enough for the environment while still feeling like you have to move him around well to succeed. It’s got a soul-absorption system which basically gives Soma the powers of enemies he defeats, and then standard RPG stuff like armor and weapons. The game looks and sounds fantastic, though the story is fairly weak. Combat is incredibly satisfying, and the enemies and environments are very well-designed. My only real complaint is that it’s pretty short, but other than that, it’s fantastic.
Image courtesy of GameFAQs
There’s a chance you’ve heard of this one. It’s not incredibly popular, but those who have played it will say that it’s one of the best games on any handheld system ever. It’s received tons of ratings generally around an 8.5 – 9/10 from almost everywhere. But it’s also probably the single most expensive game in the GBA library, and by far the most expensive game on this list. A complete used copy of this game is worth an astonishing $356. What about a brand new copy, you ask? $515. Five hundred and fifteen dollars. And that’s not all. Even if you want just the cartridge, it’s still going to cost you over $100. This game is incredibly rare.
The game itself is a 2D stealth platformer where you play as a ninja, who can slash his sword and fling his projectiles. As you progress through the levels, you have to kill bad guys, rescue civilians, find keys to progress. You can use a grappling hook to traverse high ground, and also find power ups to make your attacks stronger and give you different projectiles. You really do feel like a ninja while playing this game; hopping up and stealth attacking opponents, catching them from behind to go for a kill, and sometimes even just running in guns blazing. The level design is top-notch, really lending itself to a slower-paced, more stealth and timing-focused style of game. Combine that with nice-looking graphics and a pretty nice soundtrack, and you’ve got a recipe for a fantastic game.
As I said last time, when you’ve got some spare cash, don’t be responsible and save it, go spend it on pointless video games!
I’m one year away from getting my Bachelor’s degree in advertising, and if there’s one thing I learned about the advertising industry in these past few years, it’s that it’s a mine field. All it takes is one wrong word, one wrong model, one wrong shirt, or one wrong placement, and suddenly the whole ad takes a completely new meaning–oftentimes a negative one. Let me show you an example.
via Cracked
Here we have an American Starbucks ad from 2002. Looks harmless right? The customers didn’t think so. This ad is from the Spring of 2002–care to remember what was heavy on America’s mind in 2002? I’ll give you a hint–it involved two tall, side by side structures and a flying object that planned on collapsing, but not into cool. That’s right, this ad was recalled because many customers thought that it was trying to demean 9/11. Was it intentional? Absolutely not. But this is just the point I’m making: Customers oftentimes see things that photographers and graphic designers don’t–and all it takes is one person to say, “Hey, this ad looks like 9/11!” and another person to agree with them before that’s all anyone can see. Suddenly, a harmless ad has turned into a vicious mockery–all without the company intending it. The advertising industry can be absolutely incredible sometimes.
As you can see, timing is one of the biggest factors that can lead to an otherwise harmless ad taking on a whole new meaning–just ask Weight Watchers, who probably learned this lesson the hardest in 1997. To summarize, the day following the death of Princess Diana–who, I’d like to remind you, died in a car accident in an attempt to flee a paparazzi–Weight Watchers sent out mail-in ads featuring the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson saying that losing weight is “harder than outrunning the paparazzi.” You see where this is going, right? The campaign had been planned out months in advance, and by the time the news of Diana came in, the ads had already been mailed out and were immediately recalled. Timing is arguably the biggest factor that can lead to ads taking on completely new meanings. If that Starbucks ad had been released at least 3-4 years later, I highly doubt it would’ve been recalled for resembling 9/11. Likewise, had that Weight Watchers ad come out at least a year or two later, it wouldn’t have received any negative backlash either. But that’s not to say that time does nothing but work against an ad as it did for Starbucks and Weight Watchers–in Nintendo’s case, timing worked for them when it came time to start advertising the Gameboy.
As I’m sure your grandparents–even your parents or older friends and relatives–have wonderfully displayed for you, different eras of history had different values. Different values, different mindsets, different morals, different concerns, different interests. An ad that was effective in the 60’s wouldn’t be very effective today–and likewise, an ad made in 2016 wouldn’t be very effective in the 60’s. Ads generally have a very short shelf life because of how fast society changes–what’s trending, what’s effective, where is the target audience. Obviously there are a few ads out there that have managed to survive the tests of time longer than most–most well known among them probably being the man in the Hathaway shirt–but generally, even the longest living ads don’t live for more than a year. Think about it: A year ago, did you see any ads that are still where you found them? Are they still completely unchanged? Probably not. As society changes, so do ads. This is why ads from even the late 80’s and 90’s–such as the Gameboy–probably wouldn’t stop at just being ineffective in today’s market, but would probably be considered offensive by some.
Enough talk, let me show you what I mean:
via Coloribus
In recent years, eating disorders have really started coming to the forefront of America’s attention–definitely much more so than they were in the early 90’s. That’s why when this ad was published, nobody bat an eye at it–because it was the early 90’s. Eating disorders weren’t considered a major problem by the American media yet. If this were to be published today, I’d bet you anything in the world that it would be criticized for “making fun of anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders.”
But that one’s not awful, right? To consider it offensive is a bit of a stretch, and I’m not trying to start a debate over whether it’s because people these days are more sensitive or if it’s because people have always been like this and it’s just that the Internet has been a more effective outlet to voice these concerns. When there’s an ad, no matter how innocent, someone somewhere will always find at least one thing they don’t like about it. You could have a charity ad filled with corgi puppies and someone, somewhere will say, “I don’t like this ad because I like pugs better.” It’s just that some ads–like any of the ones I’ve already mentioned–have more agreeable, more obvious reasons to be disliked than others. You can complain about the corgis all you want, but the fact of the matter is, most people think they’re cute and won’t care that it’s not a different breed of dog–because corgis are still cute. And I think this ad is one of those ads. You could argue that it’s offensive, you could argue that it’s just made in good fun. It’s not exactly heavily leaning in one direction or the other. Do I think it would cause controversy if it was used today? I could see it causing a little stir, but nothing major. I doubt it would get recalled, but I could definitely imagine some people having a problem with it. But the fact of the matter is, because of the time it was published, it didn’t cause any problems. Most Gameboy ads fall under this umbrella.
via Kinja
via 8-bitcentral
via imgur
Another important factor to keep in mind about Gameboy ads is that at the time, although children were the largest audience for Nintendo, its adult audience was still sizable enough to make it worth making ads for–which is why you’ve probably noticed adult themes in some of these. Does that excuse some of these ads from being notable? You could argue one way or the other since, at the end of the day, Nintendo did still consider itself a family-friendly company even then, and these ads were basically their equivalent to some of the occasional adult lines in old kid’s movies.
Those are the ads that, in my opinion, might be considered slightly controversial if they were released today–they might have a few concerned customers (but again: no ad doesn’t) but it’s doubtful that they’d cause a major uproar.
Then there are these two:
via gameboyoriginal.blogspot
via gameboyoriginal.blogspot
Both of these ads are from the early 90’s–they’re from a time where trying to poke fun at racism and rape weren’t considered a red flag in not just advertising, but the media as a whole. Because of the time these ads came out in–a time where racism and rape weren’t in the spotlight of American media–these ads weren’t considered problematic. It should go without saying that if these ads were published today, they would put the utmost negative spotlight on the otherwise family-friendly Nintendo. They would be recalled immediately, talked about in several news outlets, and might even cause legal problems for Nintendo. Amidst the Pokemon Go hype, great expectations for the NX and Breath of the Wild, and the upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon, it seems as though Nintendo is untouchable: Like nothing can bring them down right now. If these ads were to be published today, however, I’m absolutely certain that they’d be Nintendo’s kryptonite.
I’m not saying that we should judge Nintendo for these ads, though. Like I mentioned: It was a different time with different values. I’m not trying to say that this makes these ads okay–because frankly, it doesn’t–but these ads from 20 years ago don’t reflect the thoughts and feelings. These ads are awful, yes, but trying to purge them from Nintendo history is like trying to forget that there was a time when racism and rape weren’t considered major problems in the media–it’s like trying to censor Nintendo’s history. We’re not pardoning them, we’re simply acknowledging that there was a time when such behavior was considered acceptable. Censoring them and trying to brush them to the side is like trying to say it never happened. I’m not saying Nintendo should be proud of these–it shouldn’t. If I were in charge of their marketing, I know I wouldn’t be. I just think it’s important for us to remember the time these ads came out during when looking at these: These ads are 20 years old and should be taken with a grain of salt. They reflect Nintendo of the early 90’s–not Nintendo of 2016. It was an awkward time for Nintendo’s advertising department–their awkward, middle school years. They’re not proud of them–they shouldn’t be–but let’s not forget that there was a time when this was considered acceptable advertising.
The point I’m trying to make here is to show you how short the life of an ad is–these ads from 20 years ago would be considered downright unacceptable,and without a doubt would cost Nintendo millions of dollars, in today’s media. As I mentioned in the beginning of this, the advertising industry is a mine field, and if you didn’t believe me in the beginning of the article, I hope you do now. It’s looking back at ads like these that make me wonder what ads of today will be considered offensive in 20 years–or even 50 years! If you thought some of these ads were bad, you should consider looking at ads from the 40’s and 50’s. It was a different time full of different people with different values.
The Lifecast’s Greg Fernandes discusses why he prefers linear games over their more open counterparts.
…pation. For games from this year’s E3.
That’s right, folks, it’s that time of year. The time where we all gather ’round our computer screens and talk about what we saw at E3 that we actually liked. Of course there’s a handful of things that I couldn’t have guessed would be shown. Others I knew would be teased, and I’m even more excited for them now than I was last week. So: shall we?
This shouldn’t come as any surprise if you’ve read my author description on this site at all. (via ScreenRant)
Much like anyone who watched Nintendo’s Treehouse over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, I, too, really want to see the newest in The Legend of Zelda’s franchise. Breath of the Wild looks like it’s going to be huge, and I mean that literally. Nintendo teased us to only 2% of the game’s world, and I really hope that’s true. Since I got into the series I’ve wanted a game I could fully immerse myself in, and this seems like it’s a step in the right direction.
On top of that, it’s rumored that the story isn’t linear, per se, but that you’ll be able to go fight the final boss even at the beginning of the game. I think this is especially interesting for speedrunners, as it’ll make that sub-20 minute Ocarina of Time run look pretty damn mediocre. Of course, running a two-day treehouse at E3 wasn’t ideal, though it was nice to be able to tune in for a few minutes at a time for news. Good job, Nintendo!
Next up! Horizon Zero Dawn doing what it does best thus far: generating hype. (via GameSpot)
To say I’m excited for Horizon Zero Dawn may be a bit of an understatement. I like fantasy, archery games, and I like cyber, mechanical games. I also happen to enjoy games with a female protagonist. Call me politically correct, if you must, but playing as a dude 90% of the time in games is boring. Not that I won’t, but hey. Change is good. (Unless that change is 4k.)
It seems like it’s hard for developers to make a survival-action game and have it be colorful, but with Horizon, that’s not the case. The colors are striking and rich, and it’s going to stand out, especially when I play it in my drab-colored living room. The story seems expansive, the gameplay seems novel, and overall the game promises something that at least looks good.
Speaking of striking visuals, it’s time for my final most anticipated game of E3 2016. (via Playstation Lifestyle)
Similarly to the other two games in this list, ABZU is richly colored, story-driven, and, well, anticipated. Like its predecessor Journey, it promises an immersive musical score with Austin Wintory returning for its composition. It should be noted, though, that ABZU is not a sequel or a successor to Journey. It’s different.
While some people may not like Journey or even think it’s a game, I probably won’t be able to get enough. If the game’s going to be pretty short, that’s fine. I liked Journey and Flower all the same. What I’m looking forward to the most about this game, though, is the fact that it’s coming to Steam. I can finally play a thatgamecompany game in the comfort of my own home. A PC’s all I got.
And now, for everything else. (via GameSpot)
That’s not all that got teased at E3, and that’s not all that I’m hype for. Now that I’ve heard more about games like Days Gone and Resident Evil VII, the future looks promising for gaming. I want to know more about Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, though, as I’m curious to know why Norman Reedus oil beach fetus was the first thing that he decided to make after leaving Konami. Then again, maybe some mysteries are better left unsolved.
That being said, I don’t think my wallet’s going to be able to keep up with the upcoming gaming binge. Regardless, almost everything shown off is something I want to get to at some point or another. Except for Resident Evil in VR, that just looks like it’ll make me afraid of the dark again.
Bravely Default surprised fans and critics alike as this handheld experience was the best example of a quality JRPG in years. It prompted Square Enix to reevaluate their design philosophy and upcoming releases. So how does this Bravely Second stack up? Find out next week!
As this is my first review I’d like to explain how I analyse games. I primarily look at games from three major perspectives: Narrative, Gameplay and Aesthetic. Narrative representing the greater story told as well as the ways the story itself is presented. Gameplay representing the interactive elements the player takes part in. And Aesthetic representing the visuals, art style, sound design and soundtrack.
Your four heroes.
The story of Bravely Second follows Yew Geneolgia, heir to an influential religious family and his quest to live up to his family name. On the brink of a peace treaty between the Duchy of Eternia and the Crystal Orthodoxy an anarchist by the name Kaiser Oblivion kidnaps Agnes Oblige, the leader of the Orthodoxy. On his quest to save her, scared and alone Yew meets: Edea, daughter of the Leader of Eternia. Magnolia Arch, Ba’al Buster from the Moon. And Tiz Arrior, farm boy turned legendary hero after the events of the prior game in the series. Together Agnes’ Ba’al Busting Avengers face giant monsters known as Ba’al and the Kaiser Oblivion’s fearsome allies.
An adventure that will take them to the ends of Luxendarc! And Beyond!
Sounds pretty generic right?
The saving grace of this game’s narrative are the characters and how the game really doesn’t take itself all that serious even if when you think about it, some really awful things happen during the course of its 40 to 50 hour run. I wouldn’t say the characters are particularly well written, Magnolia constantly flops between complete badass super-spy, saucy seductress and naive teenager all throughout the story. But, at the end of the day the characters are written so earnestly that you can’t help but crack a smile and some of their antics. Their official group name is “Agnes’ Ba’al Busting Avengers” for Pete’s sake. A name they and many others refer to them as in earnest.
The best example is this silliness is in the line “Coup de Gravy.” Magnolia being from the Moon, speaks French. (Obviously) And when Yew hears this he combines the phrase “Coup de grace” with his love of food, notably gravy, into a term that would be repeated at even the most dire and serious of moments. “Coup de gravy.”
Speaking of food, the characters in this game talk about food alot. Like an insane amount, I’d say one-fourth of the game’s total dialogue is about food. And that has to be the best part of the writing in this game. Nothing humanizes a character better than knowing what they like to eat. Not only do they flesh out characters with these campfire chats they world build as well. The characters will comment about the local food or combining dishes of different regions.
It’s brilliant.
The precedent was set for strange meta story telling in the prequel and Bravely Second does not disappoint in that regard. I won’t go into too much detail, butitssick.
Overall if you can handle some of your standard anime cheese, like “MY FRIENDS ARE MY STRENGTH!” and “YOUR HUMANS AND YOUR LOVE MEANS NOTHING TO ME FUFU!” Then there is absolutely no reason to skip out on this one.
Bravely Second’s gameplay is easily its strongest aspect with combat so engaging you won’t even mind grinding. Bravely Second is your standard turn based, 4 person party JRPG with a few unique twists, namely the Brave/Default system. First, whenever you take an action you can spend something known as a Brave Point(BP) to do that same or another combination of actions up to 4 times in a single turn. This is known as the “Brave” action. Secondly, instead of your defend or block action you have the “Default” action. This grants your player additional defense for that turn and grants you additional BP. If you start your turn with negative BP that turn is skipped and you gain 1 BP per turn until you are positive. So as the player you must manage knowing when to Brave and when to default. While seeming somewhat straightforward this is a very complex system that will probably take you a good amount of your time with the game to truly wrap your head around. But when you do you will discover that Bravely Second has the most well crafted and engaging combat system in JRPG history.
That’s right! I said it!
To help with the learning process here are a few examples of optimal use of the Brave/Default system:
– During exploration your may want all your units to Brave for the full amount to clear the battle quickly as there will be no consequence to having negative BP.
– Oh shit! Healer’s down and not only do you need to make sure he/shes’s both back up but you also need him/her to be able to survive the monsters next attack! So, you Brave and throw both a phoenix down and a hi-potion their way.
– You’re party is low and you’ve examined the boss and you see he’s at low health as well! You make your healer cast some spells to stabilize everyone to the point when you feel confident you won’t get wiped! You have your tank protect the healer while this is taking place cause if they go down your screwed! You have your two other units default so your healer doesn’t have to spend additional BP reviving them and so that they can potentially fully brave two turns in a row finishing off the boss. Woo! Get it?!
Next is the Class System. As you journey through Bravely Second you will unlock classes and these are not specific to any character so you’re free to mix and match as you please. As you gain levels within that class you gain new passive and active abilities. You can then equips two class sets of actives and you can equip passives from any class. Seems pretty straightforward but what makes this such an excellent system is the ludicrous amounts of synergy between the classes.
Each time you gain a new class you gain potential for new strategies and synergies!
For example lets look at the wizard class. The wizard’s specialty is known as “Spellcraft.” Spellcraft allows you to manipulate ANY spell in special ways such as: casting it at the start of a turn, casting that spell as an AOE, casting that spell to proc at the end of turns for several turns, and much more. Combine all that together and you get one of the most satisfying progression systems in any RPG.
Here’s what a pretty basic character build might look like.
Magnolia:
Main Class: Knight – Throws themself in front of enemies attacks with large defensive statistics.
Sub Class: Swordmaster – Abilities that increase aggro and retaliates after being hit.
Passives:
Counter:(Swordmaster Passive) Chance to retaliate when hit by a physical attack.
Stand Ground:(Freelancer Passive) Chance to live with 1 HP when dropped below 0.
Counter Amp:(Swordmaster Passive) Increase counter damage.
This build fits neatly into the “Tank” archetype having high defenses, actively defending allies, and benefiting from doing so. And on the off chance you do fall you’re using someone from a third class, Freelancer, to help you as well.
Here’s what the Core Gameplay Loop looks like:
– Plot directing you to a dungeon
– Traverse landscape to arrive at dungeon
– Solve Dungeon’s puzzles whilst handling the new combat encounters within.
– Encounter Boss which unlocks a new class
– Explore potential synergies between new classes and old.
– Reach new town and buy new gear.
Bravely Second sports nearly identical visuals and art style to its predecessor. In other words its one of the best looking games on the 3ds. The game combines chibi character models and beautiful backgrounds that resemble water color paintings. This perfectly represents the world of Luxendarc which is both charming and beautiful.
But forget all that ’cause this game’s soundtrack is fuckin’ bonkers.
This is the general boss theme. What? Who? Why is it so intense? Who is this for? Why does this cute ass game where we say shit like Coup De Gravy has such an intense boss theme? I don’t know and I don’t care, because I love this song.
The soundtrack isn’t all heavy guitar as the comment sections say, there does exist some variety. While I do agree with alot of the sentiment that the variety of instruments in the Default’s OST was preferable, all that matter in the end is, “Are these tracks fuckin’ tight?”
And the answer is a resounding yes.
But there is a serious amount of guitar, and depending on who you ask may or may not be the best thing ever.
The only problem with this soundtrack is sadly a lack of variety. While I love that first theme I linked you do end up fighting ALOT of bosses and there is such a thing as “Too much of a good thing.” If that boss theme was for one of the bosses I wouldn’t hesitate to call it one of my top 10 favorite tracks of all time. But the more bosses I fought the more it faded into the background and the more the magic slipped away. And this is true for a few of the themes. Especially since there are some tracks that are from the PREQUEL!
In conclusion, Bravely Second is a fantastic game and one of the best on 3DS, particularly if you have no experience with its predecessor. But as a huge fan of the first game there are a lot of issues I cannot ignore. This game relies far too heavily on things established in Bravely Default. In Bravely Second you are exploring the same overworld, with a good 80% of the dungeons in the game being reused, and two members of your party are from the prior game in the series. Even a good chunk of the boss fights in the game are ripped straight out of the prequel. But at the end of the day I’m happy that I picked this one up, and I think you will too.
Now for my recommendations.
Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user velior.
1080 Avalanche, a great GameCube exclusive
1080 Avalanche is the lesser known sequel to the critically acclaimed N64 game 1080 Snowboarding.
1080 Avalanche manages to maintain the lightning speed of the first game and contains some cutting edge graphics for the GameCube. To top it off, it has a unique trick system and a wide variety of modes to play and creative tracks to ride on.
Why would a sequel with this much polish be overshadowed? SSX 3 was released the same year for all three consoles at the time, the PlayStation 2, original Xbox and, of course, the GameCube. 1080 Avalanche’s comparisons to SSX 3 were inevitable, but odd, since both games are completely different.
SSX 3 may have a slightly easier control scheme and more of a broad appeal. 1080 Avalanche just happens to be more of a difficult game, but when the player sticks to it, 1080 Avalanche is incredibly rewarding and a blast to play.
About to head down the mountain! Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user rabidweasel91.
1080 Snowboarding’s impact
The first time gamers played 1080 Snowboarding, there was no other action sports game like it. A snowboarding game that had a focus on tricks and racing. Somehow, Left Field Productions, the second party developer at Nintendo, emulated the speed of F-Zero. 1080 Snowboarding was a massive hit for Nintendo and is fondly remembered as being one of the best titles on the N64.
A sequel was unavoidable and in 2003, Nintendo Software Technology (NST) developed 1080 Avalanche after Left Field Productions dropped out. The game was previously going to be titled 1080: White Storm in reference to Wave Race: Blue Storm, another underappreciated GameCube exclusive.
Blistering speed makes up most of 1080 Avalanche
If there is one phrase to describe 1080 Avalanche, it’s from the classic 80s masterpiece, Top Gun.
Shredding down the mountains of 1080 Avalanche will urge the player to keep going and marvel at the speed and snow effects. The snow crashing towards the player camera and the wind affecting the character’s clothing on the mountain certainly give the player rushing adrenaline, as if they are on the mountain themselves. With a focus on racing as opposed to tricks, this is a good feature of 1080 Avalanche which brings the player into it’s crazy, snowboarding world.
These screenshots don’t do the insane speed of the game justice. Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
The control set up does not hinder the great gameplay of 1080 Avalanche
The original 1080 Snowboarding is a game that perfected controls on the bizarre looking, and rather unintuitive, N64 controller. 1080 Avalanche is able to replicate the success its predecessor had. However, there is a rather steep control curve for first time players.
1080 Avalanche’s controls have a strange layout. The main face buttons on the GameCube controller, A, B, etc. will do the jumping and speed boosts. To do tricks and to grind properly, the player will have to incorporate the shoulder buttons and Z button. The player will have to hold down the A button to get the jump they want, which is similar to how professional snowboarders will have to find the right momentum to get the air they want. In addition to this scheme, players will be incorporating the control stick, if the player wants to perform spin and flip tricks along with their grabs.
Tricks can be complicated or simple. Image courtesy of Euro Gamer.net.
The player’s hands will be all over the controller to perform a trick, making strange claw like hand formations. Whereas SSX 3 had a far easier control set up. This may come as daunting to first time players, but spending more time in the freestyle trick parks of the game will be great practice.
Once a player can master the controls, they will find 1080 Avalanche to be a fulfilling experience as the game is consistently challenging.
1080 Avalanche features a good amount of single players modes, as well as split screen multiplayer. The main mode, Match Race, will have the player select a circuit, with the difficulty of each circuit represented the three levels of difficulty skiiers are used to. Green, Blue and Black Diamond. Completing these will also unlock the Expert level. Other modes are trick attack, which can take place in a park or a slope, time attack, which is great for building stats and gate challenge. They are all fun in their own way and can manage to keep the player busy enough.
Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user pixelrevolt.
Each part of the mountain the snowboarders will populating has a unique feel to it and no track feels the same as the other. There are some basic ones, but 1080 Avalanche has tracks that take place in abandoned saw mills, a posh resort area with a gigantic Mario ice sculpture and shiny ice caves. Of course, all this pales in comparison to the nail biting final level, where you are trying to outrun the growing threat of an avalanche. It’s a truly gripping finale, and one of the few games to capture the dangerous nature of snowboarding in an avalanche.
The GameCube’s graphics present the tracks with enough life in them and manages to capture the snow and ice perfectly. The rest of 1080 Avalanche has a great stylized look to it, as each of the snowboarders have their own unique look.
Similar to the first game, 1080 Avalanche only has five characters to choose from. Returning is Ricky Winterborn, Akari Hayami and Rob Haywood. The two new characters are the Brazilian Kemen Vazquez and “hip-hop diva” Tara Strong (who is not played by the famous voice actress of the same name). The five characters have alternate costumes which exemplify their personality and have their own boards.
The game also has a ton of unlockable snowboards that are unusual, but reflect the nature of the game. There is an NES controller and a live penguin the player can have Ricky Winterborn and the rest of the crew to ride on.
The NES controller even makes 8-bit sounds when jumping. It’s great! Image courtesy of Giant Bomb user rabidweasel91.
One of Gaming’s Undervalued Treasures
Peel away the incredibly dated mid-2000s radio rock (Finger Eleven? Yay.) and steep learning curve of the controls and 1080 Avalanche is a worthy sequel to an immensely popular game. 1080 Avalanche’s gameplay is immensely entertaining and the races are sure to rip through a player’s cornea with its breakneck speed. It’s a fantastic snowboarding game that remains satisfying throughout the time spent on the mountain.
Many things can make a game rare, but it’s usually something along the lines of limited quantities, exclusivity, a specific print of a game, or simply being so well-loved that anytime one comes on the market, there’s a few dozen people who want to own a physical copy of one of their favorite games. Despite that, reasons like limited quantities and exclusivity tend to be the bigger things that make a game rare, and because of that, a lot of rare games don’t tend to not actually be too good for their price. The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak on NES, for instance, isn’t anything special. In fact, for the time it came out, it’s painfully average. And yet, because it was just such an exclusively released game, it’s slipped through the grasps of many collectors, and is now worth around $1000 if it’s in good enough condition. This game, though, is only one of many examples of games all across systems that are just not worth the price their rarity is asking for. This got me to thinking about which games are actually worth that rare price that people might actually enjoy as a game rather than just as a collector’s item. Today, we’re going to be talking about the games on one of my personal favorite systems of all time, the Nintendo GameCube.
The first game we’re gonna’ be talking about is the fantastic Skies of Arcadia: Legends, a remake of Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast. Chances are you’ve heard of this one, because it’s received very high critical acclaim all around the board (32/40 from Famitsu, 9.2/10 from GameSpot, 9/10 from GameInformer), and consistently mentioned when people talk about the GameCube. Skies of Arcadia: Legends is a simple story about a group of sky pirates. Yes, sky pirates, and it’s just as awesome as you think it is. Sadly, neither the original Dreamcast version nor the Gamecube version sold well, and have become very hard to find because of it. I lucked out and found mine for $15 at a Gamestop, only to find out a few years later that this game is going for $75 on average for a good copy.
Image courtesy of GameTDB
The story is fairly simple, but not in a bad way. It’s the standard “evil group of people are trying to collect magic items to rule the world and our heroes must stop them” storyline, but what it lacks in how unique its concept is, it makes up for with good, engaging writing, characters who are loveable from the moment you meet them, and just the right amount of self-awareness. It has a lot of fun with itself and it encourages the player to have just as much fun as its having, if that makes any sense. You’re going to get your standard RPG gameplay here with random encounters, shops everywhere, elemental alignments, and all of that good stuff. While none of it brings anything new to the table mechanically, it’s done incredibly well. What it does bring that’s super cool, though, are airship battles. Keep in mind when I say airship, I mean that they are literally pirate ships that are flying instead of on water. You can build up your ship’s weaponry to fight other ships in a style that has you plan out your actions before hand, and then watch them happen. It leaves the standard RPG formula for these battles and instead goes into some weird turn-based strategy game. And these breaks from regular gameplay aren’t jarring in the least; they fit very well in the game. On top of this, you have a lot of sidequests, the bounty system, and new discoveries, most of which is not found in the Dreamcast version. Couple this with great graphics for its time and a pretty good soundtrack, and you’ve got yourself a game that shows that you don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary to be impressive. It doesn’t try to be unique, it takes what it has and makes it the best it can be.
Up next, we have Gotcha Force, from none other than Capcom themselves. This game is rare for a similar reason to Skies of Arcadia: Legends, but with one thing making it even more rare and expensive. See, instead of being a critically acclaimed game that didn’t sell well, Gotcha Force is a game that got a lot of mixed reviews that sold pretty badly, but retains a devoted cult following, one of them being me (though again, I lucked out and found this for like $30 at a Gamestop). The average reviews for this game were between 5-7/10, but when asking its following, they’ll say it’s one of the best games on the GameCube. For a complete used copy of Gotcha Force, you’re looking at a staggering $150 – $170 price tag.
Image courtesy of GameTDB
Gotcha Force is an action game focused around collecting toys to do battle. You’re put into an arena, which is normally just a regular park or a kid’s room, to fight other small toys with swords and laser beams in a style somewhat similar to the Armored Core games. You can compose a team of toys, called Gotcha Borgs. The Gotcha Borgs are pretty much if the Transformers in the show were the size of their real-life toys. Gotcha Borgs are separated into different types, and each have different stats, and having good team synergy is key to beating this game, because it’s hard. Very hard. Half because of its awful camera, half because of the actual difficulty. Content wise, this game is pretty long, with a story that will last around 10 hours, probably more of you’re as bad as I am, and if you want to complete everything in this game, you’re gonna need to dump in at least twice that. There are so many Gotcha Borgs to collect that just trying to find them all is going to run you a few more hours, and you may have to look for more just to complete the story if you see yourself getting beaten by a particular enemy a lot. It’s got some of the most fun multiplayer you’ll ever play, just because of how fast-paced and crazy the screen gets with four people going all over the place trying to kill each other. This game is great for parties. You know, if you don’t mind leaving your $150 game out for people to constantly play. Graphically, it’s a pretty nice-looking game. The Gotcha Borgs are well designed, and for a game with so many, they do a really good job at making sure they look unique from one another. Musically… Ehhhh. Not good, not bad. Gotcha Force is a game that’s really good if you just want to sit down for a few hours and have some fun, fast-paced shooting action while still looking at cute things and cool robots.
Now, we’re going to talk about the rarest and most expensive game on here, and one that has a very fun story to go with it as well: Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest. Cubivore was originally released in Japan as Animal Leader, and upon receiving mixed reception and bad sales, Nintendo decided to not bring it over to the west. Then, after hearing that, Atlus came along and decided to give it a North American release. A very limited North American release. Combine that with the fact that even in comparison to the limited release, this game didn’t sell very well over here and still had mixed reception, and you’ve got a recipe for a rarity. A complete used copy of Cubivore will run you between $175 – $220 depending on the condition. Yes, you read that right. $175 – $220. For a game about cubes eating each other.
Image courtesy of GameTDB
Funny story about how I got my copy of Cubivore. Back when I was in middle school, my friend needed to sell some games for some money, and just didn’t know what he had. Granted, I didn’t either because I was like 12, but point is, I bought this $175 game for $10 because neither of us knew about it.
Either way, Cubivore is… Weird. Is it an adventure game? Survival? RPG? You can’t really tell. You’re a cube who eats other cubes to evolve into a bigger and stronger cube in order to eventually become the biggest, baddest cube in all the land. You’re trying to become this better cube not just live better and longer, but to overthrow the Killer Cubivore, who reigns over the top of the food chain and who has eaten the essence of the land along with his allies, causing the land to dry up. If you can overthrow the Killer Cubivore and become king, you can restore the land to what it once was. You evolve by literally eating other cubes and absorbing their forms. But not in a cute Kirby kind of way where he sucks ’em up and then poof, new form. No, this is actually quite violent. You bite into the other cube, shake them around, and then literally rip their limbs off with your teeth. You then get a new limb, or a different limb. Each set of bodies/limbs functions differently, which means you have to change your approach when hunting. You progress by eating enemies and bugs, which bring color back to the land. And, well, yeah. That’s it. The main story takes about 12 hours to complete, but the game takes a lot of getting used to, since it’s so weird. So it’ll probably take you a bit longer. Cubivore is slow, but pretty fun. And it’s definitely one of the most unique experiences on the gamecube. All for the low, low price of $175. Oh, and one more thing. This game was developed by Intelligent Systems. You know, the team behind every Fire Emblem game.
SPEAKING OF FIRE EMBLEM!
Image courtesy of GameTDB
I’m not going to go into too much detail on this one, because so many people already know how great it is and how rare it is, but it’s something that has to be talked about. Path of Radiance is the other fan-favorite Fire Emblem game after Awakening, and it goes for around $100 used. Its incredible story (that is continued in Radiant Dawn which is an equally rare and expensive game on the Wii) and loveable characters make its more-dialogue-than-gameplay style very enjoyable, and the gameplay itself is very good. Path of Radiance is one of the harder Fire Emblem games, and it shows. It forces you to be very tactful in your decisions, and is not a game that you can brute force your way through. Great looks, great soundtrack, great everything, really. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is a strategy game that you’re gonna want to pay the money to play.
Just remember, if you have some extra cash, don’t do the smart thing and buy something that will help you in the long run, spend it on a stupidly expensive video game, because that’s what money is for.
When it came out in 1994, Earthbound was a massive loss for Nintendo of America, and it seems that it’s haunted them to this day in more ways than one. Right off the bat Earthbound was a major financial loss during its initial release—its poor sales are commonly attributed to its poor advertising, RPGs not being popularized in the West yet, and most of all, you could only buy the game in a special edition that came with the guide that cost $70. Needless to say, there weren’t that many people at the time who wanted to pay $70 for a game that they hardly knew anything about, so sales were atrocious, therefore Nintendo didn’t produce many carts of it, nor did they bother to release its sequel game Mother 3 that came out 12 years later.
You’d be hardpressed to find a fanbase so devoted despite how Nintendo of America has neglected them than American Mother fans. Earthbound became a cult classic a few years after its initial release—just long enough for carts to be nearly impossible to find since Nintendo of America stopped distributing them so quickly. When Mother 3 finally came out in Japan 12 years later, for the first time in a long time for many Earthbound fans, hope had finally seem to come back! And so they waited for the announcement that Nintendo of America would translate Mother 3, but that announcement would never come. The closest thing they would receive was Lucas being in Super Smash Bro’s Brawl on the Wii, but his being there was not a decision made by Nintendo of America.
Image Source: Earthbound Wiki
When time passed and there was still no announcement, fans started to get angry. More importantly, fans started to get vocal. Threads about wondering where Mother 3 was became all too common in not just Earthbound and Nintendo forums, but video game forums as a whole. Notably, in an interview with Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo of America President) in 2007 he said, “…For example, I’m still being bombarded by Mother fans who are asking for [Mother 3] to be translated to English and launched here in the U.S.” Nintendo was clearly hearing the Mother fans, but they didn’t care to listen because of the horrible financial loss that was Earthbound—even though it had aged terrifically and is widely considered to be one of the best games on the SNES.
The next time America would hear about Mother 3 wouldn’t be until 2015 when Lucas was going to be added to Super Smash Bro’s 4 on the Wii U and 3DS—though again, his addition to Smash wasn’t a decision made by Nintendo of America. His release, however, got a lot of people wondering: Mother 3 turns 10 years old next year, and there’s a new group of Smash players being introduced to the Mother franchise through not only Lucas and Ness being in Smash, but the addition of Earthbound on the Wii U virtual console, and more importantly, the release of Mother 1 (retitled Earthbound Beginnings) which had previously been translated but never officially released in America because of poor timing (Which is why they decided to release Earthbound despite the myriad of production and translation snags that were had with it.) Nintendo of America seemed to finally be acknowledging the Mother franchise again—was there actually hope for Mother 3 all these years later?
On February 3, 2016 their prayers were finally answered when Emily Rogers—an employee for Nintendo who has been known to leak out information that thus far has been true (usually about when NX/Zelda U news would be annoucned) tweeted, “Don’t be surprised if Nintendo celebrates a game’s 10th anniversary this year… just some food for thought.” followed by a tweet with a picture of Kumatora—one of the main characters of Mother 3. The Internet went into a frenzy wondering if Mother 3 had actually been confirmed after all these years.
Image source: SSL Forum
There’s no reason to discredit or doubt what she says, as her track record of leaks has been pretty solid. On the other hand, however, she’s never leaked anything even close to as major as the potential release of Mother 3. Personally, I only see that as more reason to believe her, though—if she’s used to only leaking small, generally unimportant details about what Nintendo of America is doing, then why would she dive into something she knows would set off a frenzy? She knows that all eyes will be on her now, and if she’s wrong about this, she’ll be one of the first people a mob of enraged Mother 3 fans who had shown a glimmer of hope would be hunting down. An English release of Mother 3 has become such an unbelievable concept that the idea that a Nintendo employee would leak something like that has to be believable—if she wanted to leak something huge just to mess with everyone it would make more sense for her to go after something bigger and more relevant like Zelda U—a game that she had previously been leaking small tidbits of information for, and would therefore be far more believable.
Shortly after these tweets were set free, another Nintendo employee, Liam Robertson, tweeted “I was asked to keep quiet, and then Emily decided to let the cat out of the bag herself. Hopefully this clears some confusion.” “What I heard about Mother 3 (rumour) was that it was in the final stages of localisation in Nintendo of Europe a little while back.” “Emily sure likes to play around lol. My tweet wasn’t nearly this explicit and I got told off for it.” Tom Phillips of Eurogamer would later go on to corroborate them as well. She also recently tweeted that Mother 3’s announcement would likely be done at E3 in June—which would be a wise move on Nintendo’s part not only because their last E3 was considered to be a failure, but because this is also the first E3 for the new President of Nintendo, Tatsumi Kimishima. E3 is essentially the Olympics of video game distributors—if he were to have as lackluster of an E3 as Nintendo did last year, it would haunt his career (and PR) forever. If there were ever a time for him to bring out the absolute best of the best, it’s this E3. Nintendo has already announced that E3 will be mostly focused on Zelda U, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be entirely on that. Last year, for instance, although Star Fox Zero was the focus, it wasn’t the only thing we saw. Granted it was still almost entirely what we saw, my point still stands that there were a few other miscellaneous announcements. Zelda U could be the star of this E3, and the release of Mother 3 in English would make for a wonderful ending announcement to send Nintendo off on a good note.
I’m confident that Mother 3 will get announced sometime this year—more than likely at E3, but still sometime this year at the very least. If there were ever an E3 for Nintendo to do well at, it’s this one. More than that, Nintendo of America has been better about acknowledging the Mother franchsie by adding 1 and 2 to the Wii U Virtual Console and putting Earthbound on the New 3DS virtual console. They’re actively creating more Mother fans, and when they’re combined with the millions of insane Mother 3 fans who were already here, it would sell tremendously. Knowing that there’d be these same millions of Mother 3 fans demanding your head on a pike to be paraded through the streets if you were wrong, I don’t think anyone would leak anything about Mother 3 getting a translation this year just for fun—let alone it getting corroborated by two other reliable sources. It’s Mother 3’s 10th birthday this year, and Nintendo has always really liked celebrating major birthdays for their games— Super Mario Bro’s turning 30 last year for example, and even the 20th birthday of Earthbound by putting Earthbound Beginnings on the virtual console.
All the signs are pointing to it.
C’mon Reggie, give us Mother 3.
In 2005 and 2006 a little game called Nintendogs took the handheld gaming world by storm. Such a simple idea, taking care of virtual puppies, the idea had been done before, but most of those games had an ending; ultimately there was a way for the game to end whether it be training the dog after a certain amount of time or completing mundane care tasks with little reward. Then the Nintendo DS artfully used its stylus and touch screen to create an interactive environment in which the person behind the screen acted more as an actual owner and less of an errand boy.
First of all, you got to pick your own dog. You were given enough money to pick whichever dog you wanted that was available in your specific game. Then you got to name it, feed it, give it water, give it baths, make sure they were happy and energized with toys and walks. You can could teach your puppy tricks and even train it for competitions. You could make your dog a pro athletics champ or maybe just dress them up and take them out on walks hoping for a special mystery gift to show off your doggy prowess to your friends who also had the game.
The game offered tons of opportunities to redecorate the house, dress your pup up, and become a competition champion. The only real end goal was maxing out the trainer points which were earned while playing the game, but in the end there were always the dogs to take care of. The puppies always needed to be fed, given water, washed and walked at the very least. There was always something to do in Nintendogs; so why do so why are so many puppies left abandoned?
It is really sad when you think about it, the puppies being left all alone with only themselves or maybe they have a friend or two to play with. They’ll be parched, starving, and filthy with flies jumping off of them, but they’ll slowly walk up to the screen begging for a bit of love and attention. It’s almost heartbreaking going back to an abandoned Nintendogs game, simply because they don’t die; they just wait.
It could be said that this style of punishment is used in other games, but in games like Animal Crossing the villagers move away if you don’t keep up with them. That would almost be better than the Nintendogs treatment. Yes the dogs run away, but that actually only happens if the game is left on. If that game isn’t played the dogs are left in a state of abandonment, still growing hungrier, thirstier, and dirtier with each passing day.
Thinking about the dogs being left to just wait reminds me of that one story, Hachi: a Dog’s Tale, the story of a very loyal dog who constantly waited at the train station for his master so that they could come home, but after the master dies while at work, Hachi finds himself waiting still for him to come to the train station, leaving Hachi to wait for the rest of his life. He was so loyal he couldn’t bear to leave his spot.
You can’t really ever hurt your Nintendog. They can get “sick,” but there isn’t a risk of losing them. They just look a little off for the rest of the walk after they eat trash, but after a few paces they’re back to their chirper selves. You can tug their leash a little too tight, but they only whimper for a second then they bark with joy. You can tug their paw a little too hard and it prompts a sneeze or they dance a bit jumping back and forth on their paws, but you can never really hurt them at all. They don’t hold a grudge over anything that their owner does or doesn’t do; they just continue to wait for love and attention, even if it’s the form of a few style taps on the screen. Give them food, water, a bath, maybe even a walk; make your Nintendog’s day, they’ve only been waiting ten years.
Image from Nintendogs Wikia