Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Going back to that PSP post about how I'm weak... I picked up a DS over the weekend with Mario, and today I got the game that I bought the system for: SaWaRu! Made in Wario. It's supposedly being retitled Wario Ware Touched! in the US, so I'll use that name instead. Impressions, beginning with the killer app:
Wario Ware Touched!
Bliss on a card. Let me get my first nitpick out of the way first: The story sequences for the characters are too damned long. Look, I appreciate that those wacky interludes are what ties the game together and that they can be funny, but Wario Ware is a quick-hit game and they take TOO DAMNED LONG. I swear the Mona one clocks in at around five minutes, which is ridiculous.
Otherwise, complaints are thin on the ground. To be blunt, it rocks. Everything about this game is awesome. I love the little touches, like the title screen being a smorgasbord of interactive elements to play with, or the "level select" being a bunch of characters freely walking around on the touchscreen (naturally you can prod them and pick them up and move them around to your little heart's desire). Hell, the game even occasionally uses both screens to good effect -- either showing a bit more of the minigame, introducing a new element, or in one story sequence, used for a little flashback sequence.
All the old favourites are back as characters in this one. I've only played through four, but alongside Wario I've seen Mona, Jimmy, Dr. Crygor, Kat & Ana, 9-Volt & 18-Volt, and even WARIO-MAN from Wario Ware Twisted (the tilt-sensor-packin' GBA sequel, yet to see the light of day in the US). There appear to be more games per character than Twisted or the original, but I'm not too sure there.
I don't really want to spoil particular games (since that is most of the fun), but there's been a fairly decent variety and I will talk about a few. Thus far I've only ever had to use the stylus, so there's no word on whether the A button will be ever called into action, but since the stylus is more capable than Twisted's tilt sensor (which was basically a clumsy D-pad) there seems to be plenty to do. Some games call for:
Precision: Tap the tips of tiny fireworks to make them explode; Scrubbing: Rub wide areas of the screen to erase a picture from a blackboard; Speed: Rub the stylus repeatedly on a roll of toilet paper quickly to pull the whole roll out; Drawing: Mark out a safe path for a skiier; Something else entirely: Use the stylus to make a hand wave good-bye.
There have also been a few cool re-workings of older games. Two of my favourites so far are the dripping-snot game (different woman, this time you need to cut the snot instead of sniff it back in) or the pets (pet the cat to put it to sleep). Either way, the games are tons of fun.
I should note that it's pretty hard. Not amazingly so for Wario Ware vets (I had been playing the original virtually non-stop until Twisted came out), but it's certainly harder than Twisted. One thing for sure: The time limits are shorter. By the fourth character I was hitting time limits shorter than anything you'd experience outside the very highest speed setting on the other to games.
Oh, one more thing: This game is nuts. I say this because after every character you beat, you unlock a bonus. And the bonuses are just damned weird. The first one was a calculator -- an actual working calculator on the touchscreen that only allows you to add or subtract; no multiplication or division for you! There's also a countdown clock, a metronome and a plate of pudding. Yeah, a plate of pudding.
Super Mario 64 DS
I'm not too thrilled by this. Well, that's a bit harsh, but there's a lot of give-and-take here. For instance, it is in fact not only Super Mario 64 (a game that ranks very highly on my personal best-of list), but an ENHANCED Super Mario 64. But then there are a whole bunch of problems that drag the whole thing down. Maybe I'm being cranky -- I don't know, judge for yourself.
So right, it's Mario 64. And in many ways, it looks better than Mario 64 -- the textures are certainly better, the character models are more detailed, and it appears to be pushing more polys because even the coins are polygonal now. On the other hand, those textures are really pixelated (something the N64 was known for avoiding), a lot of Mario 64's gee-whiz special effects like the liquid metal either look rubbish or don't exist, and despite a general rise in polys some of the level geometry has been simplified (Tall Tall Mountain is a good one for that). Still, overall I've got to say that I didn't expect it to look that good anyway, so colour me impressed.
The other impressive thing are the additions they've weaved into the game. I mean, the majority of it is vanilla Mario 64, yet they've somehow managed to cram in three extra characters with very distinct playstyles (Yoshi even throws eggs, for crying out) without seriously disrupting the flow of the game. The game is a little screwy with them, sure, since the pacing is a bit off and you're never quite sure if you've got the right character or whether you've missed something new or what, but it's still really cool that they've managed to add stuff like Mario's new balloon ability without breaking the core game. And though there is some grumbling to be had about various changes to various Stars, given that I pretty much have all 120 mapped out in my head already some change is certainly welcome.
But there really is one major, major, earth-shaking flaw: The control. Super Mario 64 was made for the N64's analog stick. This is an undeniable fact. Without it, the game just does not work. It's playable, but it's missing so damned much. Control was the reason Super Mario 64 was Super Mario 64. It's the reason why people spent hours running and jumping around the castle before starting the game, because it was so easy and free that the control in itself was fun. That feeling is gone. Mario 64 DS is playable either with the D-pad or the bizarre thumbstrap/touchscreen combo, but neither is ideal, neither feels comfortable, and neither has the joy of the original's solution to 3D movement.
I'm using the D-pad right now, but it's not terribly ideal. On the one hand, it's comfy, and they've managed to somehow give you more than the D-pad's 8 angles of movement. On the other, when Mario's moving at anything other than those 8 angles it's damned-near impossible to do things like the backflip jump or the wall-kick. And you have to hold a button down to run. Yes, I realise all the 2D Mario games forced you to hold a button to run, but those games are an entirely different beast to Mario 64. In Mario 64, even novice users run first and walk second; I contend that the same is not true of the 2D games.
The other option is the thumbstrap and touchscreen. The thumbstrap is a novel idea, but is not comfortable (neither for that matter is sliding your thumb away from its natural resting place on the D-pad and holding it over the screen) and is prone to slipping off. Touching the touchscreen brings up a little circle that emulates the analog stick. This circle moves with you, though, so every so often I've found myself slowing down because the circle is trying to catch up with my sliding thumb -- which itself is another matter, because without a stick restricting your movement your thumb is going to slide all over that screen. And it lacks the "weight" or feel of an analog stick, which really helps moves like the backflip jump. It's a novel idea but an annoying one -- and one that really makes me wish for an analog stick.
I had been playing Super Mario 64 DS fairly solidly until Wario Ware came out, and now that that's in my possession I really don't see myself playing Mario anymore. It's a pity because I am fairly impressed with the extra content they've added in (oh, and the minigames absolutely ROCK and are almost worth the price of admission on their own...), but the control just annoys me.
Nintendo DS
Lastly, I thought I'd talk about the unit itself. I have to say it's bigger, heavier and uglier than I expected. Actually, it reeks of a lack of polish. It's really odd ergonomically -- there's this really weird ridge running around the bottom half that cuts into your hand. The top cover doesn't close entirely over the bottom (you can still see the D-pad and buttons peeking out), which is probably safe but looks ugly. The top screen feels cheap and hollow when you open it, and painted plastic on the top half sucks. On the other hand, I haven't had a problem with the REALLY small buttons yet; actually, the D-pad is pretty damned good, and better than the GBA one. The only button that annoys me is Power. What the hell is it doing over there? I have my finger over it half the time when I'm using the stylus (the other finger is awkwardly trying to get a grip on the edge of the GBA cart slot). And while there have been complaints about the tiny stylus, I'm actually fine with it. It's weird, I've taken to it totally naturally. Might have something to do with my Clie's stylus also being a little toothpick...
The flipside is that the software is pretty slick. I didn't think I'd "enjoy" the set-up or the menus, but the touchscreen really helps navigation and the little bloops and beeps are actually fairly slick. Having built-in wireless communication and PictoChat also rocks (pity there's nobody to chat with here!). And I'm fairly impressed by its power -- the PSP will blow it away, sure, but Mario 64 DS is comparable to the N64 game and I was really impressed by the attempt to bring Metroid Prime to the DS (in a graphical sense only) with the First Hunt demo.
So yeah, I'm happy with it overall. I still think the damn thing is riddled with flaws and worries me for the future, but it's got Wario Ware, so all is good. Comparison pics and the like due whenever I get my mitts on a PSP!
Posted at 4:52 AM
