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Friday, Sep 18, 2009

This blog goes out to my friend Julianozuca, who relies on me to condense several weeks worth of GoNintendo articles into one pithy Gamespot blog. Oh wait. Did I say GoNintendo? Just forget I said that.

Be warned. My Friday plans were cancelled, so I had lots of time to write. It's long.

Q3 (aka Near Future)

Bit.Trip Void


I like these Bit.Trip games. They're hard, but so charmingly uber-retro that you just have to love them. Retro, but at the same time, very new and refreshing, which is a condradiction, but it's my blog, so moo. What I'd love, and this is my distaste for digital distribution showing, is if once all six Bit.Trips are out, if they'd release them on a disc, called Bit.Trip Disc. Or Bit.Trip Bonanza. Bit.Trip Bundle. Bit.Trip Box? I don't know. I'm not a marketing graduate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWXtcDc8JY4

So in this Bit.Trip, you're a black orb (Well, chunky pixels made to simulate an orb), and you have to collect the black pixels and avoid the white ones. But the more black pixels you collect, the bigger you get and the harder it is to avoid the white ones. There's also this thing where you can deposit the black pixels you've collected so far, and they're worth more the more you deposit at once, but if you hit a white pixel you lose them. Did I make sense? It's fun, dagnabbit!

Cave Story


Ah, Cave Story. The 2D fan-made internet smash hit phenomenon RPG/sidescoller hybrid nostalgia-infused game-thing-what-I-never-played. I know some of you are saying "Bah humbug. I can plays it fer free, I can. Why shoulds I buys it on the WiiWare like a sucker?" Well Becky Sue, I'll tell you why. Because they've spent many a fortnight purdying up the graphics for you to enjoy. Odd thing to say about a game designed to look like a NES game. But Nicalis (one of my favourite developpers, currently) has decided that SNES is really where the nostalgia is at. And I'm inclined to agree, especially watching this trailer here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULxQOotbngo

So I've never played the thing, but word on the street is good. And the music gives me the happies. I love chiptune music, don't you? I would buy albums of the stuff if I could.

You, Me, and the Cubes


I just found out about this game a couple days ago. Apparently it was at E3. Why did I not hear a peep about it during E3? That tears it, I'm going to E3 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds2jzQNdLNo

So it's a puzzle game that sort of makes me think of the Mii Channel, only imagine chucking your Miis onto a slippery, tippable surface on the brink of an abyss, and then trying to make sure they don't die an unimaginable death.

"When you fall into a bottomless pit, you die of starvation."

Q4 (aka Just Before Christmas)

And Yet It Moves


Say what you want, but I like arty games. And And Yet It Moves is pretty arty. (Sorry about that And And business. I just couldn't resist.) If there's one thing developpers are doing a lot this generation, or at least on the Wii, is perspective games. Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario and Fez are all games that challenge your feeble human brain to rethink your perspective and find solutions you wouldn't normally consider using ridiculous concepts like logic or physics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAg0eJcuQZs

And Yet It Moves was a project created by European computer science students, but has since won awards and accolades, so they decided, hey, let's Cave Story it's ass. And so it was.

Lost Winds: Winter of the Melodias


If you haven't heard of this game, or it's predacessor, I'm going to assume you either have never visited my blog, or you are an ugly poo face and I hate you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w84pKWdsK1M

Hello new people and ugly people! Lost Winds! It's about this kid who can control the powers of the god of wind, and it's all sweet and peaceful and full of nature and old timey buildings and ruins and goopy monsters who want to eat your face. It was a launch game for WiiWare and it kicked everyone else's arse. Even Nintendo's. Come to think of it, what did Nintendo release at WiiWare's launch? All I remember is this, Defend Your Castle and FFCC: My Life as a King.

So right. Now there's a sequel. Wait. Scratch that. Now there's finally a sequel. Yes.

Zombie Panic in Wonderland


Oh man I love this game. So here's the basic rundown. Wonderland, meaning "Alice In" not "Canada's", has been infested with zombies. Lots of zombies. And it's up to you, asexual anime hero boy, to shoot those zombies. With machine guns. A lot. It seems to take a page from Sin & Punishment. Only unlike S&P, Zombie Panic doesn't take itself seriously. And that makes me happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuAefQ8IN_U

Snow White also seems to be in the trailer, killing everything. It also seems to offer local multiplayer, which will make my offline friends happy.

Q1 (aka The Q of the Skinny Wallet)

La Mulana


Now, you'll have to forgive me, but this is a title I don't know all that much about. But it's on my radar for 2 reasons. a) It's being made my Nicalis, who is actually making 3 of the 9 WiiWare games on this list, and is my hero. And 2) It's a 2D retro platformer. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'd a 2D platformer junkie. But look at it! Oh wait. Let me give you the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAsDRIF25SE

But look at it! It's like Indiana Jones meets Castlevania meets Cave Story meets 1989. I don't have to know much about it to know I want it to come out.

Night Sky


Some of you with good memories might recall I've been waiting like a good muggle for this game for a long time. It was called Night Game for a while, then just Night, but now it's Night Sky. And it's purdy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h08ZvuC1QDI

It seems to be a physics-based game in which you move this little marble across levels of silhouetted rocks and cliffs and construction sites and hangy death chains, while a really kind of serene music plays. Again, I like arty games and I like Nicalis. And this has to be my most anticipated on this list.

Super Meat Boy


Shame I had to say Night Sky was my most anticipated and then ask Super Meat Boy to follow up. Sorry Super Meat Boy. But I mean, wow. Look at this thing. That blob of meat can really jump. Playing this almost scares me. But in a good way. This seems to be a trend, but this is a 2D platformer, that takes a page from old cartidge game days, which was a hit flash game and has been Cave Storied!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl8MVEfWong

The game reminds me in no small way of Earthworm Jim. And I hear there are several cameos or playable characters maybe? All from the indie game scene. Alien Hominid, the guy from Braid, the Bit.Trip thing, all in this insanely difficult game about a chunk of meat out to save a pink chunk of meat. Or something.

So there you have it! 8 games you probably didn't know existed, and LostWinds 2. All coming to your Wii between now and.. what, March? Sure.

Posted by Wonkyman, 5:29pm
26 Comments | Post a Comment

Comments

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WiiWare doesn't seem to get as much coverage as PSN or XBLA. Good job letting people know what's out there.
Posted Sep 18, 2009 5:44 pm PT
I think Nintendo's lauch Wii Ware title was Dr. Mario Rx, but I can't remember if that came out right on the release date of the system.

That was a fantastic read and I love the humor! I am looking forward to Night Sky, Cave Story, LostWinds 2 and La Mulana! 2-D platformers FTW!
Posted Sep 18, 2009 6:10 pm PT
lost winds is certainly on my to get wiiware games.
Posted Sep 18, 2009 9:26 pm PT
Since the wii really lacks some great WiiWare content I really hope these titles are up to the expectations
Posted Sep 19, 2009 10:18 am PT
@johnsteed7 - Thanks. I do my best.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 10:40 am PT
@Pierst179 - For me, it's the revival of 2D platformers that has made this generation so great. And you can't find more of them in one spot than on the Wii.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 10:42 am PT
@reo-117 - The first one was really great, and early buzz is that Frontier has listened to fans and fixed little problems here and there for the sequel. Ah, I'm excited.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 10:43 am PT
@alidallal - I suppose that's a matter of opinion. I've been pretty satisfied with WiiWare so far. World of Goo, Mega Man 9, LostWinds, Swords & Soliders, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, NyxQuest, and the Bit.Trip series have all impressed me. I think there are two problems with WiiWare, and even the Wii in general. First, the great games it gets aren't ones that have mass-market appeal. They're all niche titles for gamers like me who are tired of your standard game (like the Conduit). And second, there's no hype train to accompany those great titles. But I'm working on the second issue personally.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 10:49 am PT
I'm particularly excited about Cave Story; it's one of those games I've always wanted to play. And I definitly want to try out one of those Bit.Trip games, but like you said, I'd rather have them release them on disk (although not for the same reason as you; I'd feel less guilty about spending so much time with another pick-up and play game if it were an actual on-disk game, and I'd get to see what the critics actually think about them), although I'm thinking of starting out with Core.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 11:46 am PT
@GamerJM - The Bit.Trip games are hard, just so you're warned. They may be pick up and play, but you'd better give them your whole attention or they'll kick your ass. From what I hear, Void has toned the difficulty down a bit, which would annoy me for any other series. If you do try one out, let me know.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 11:52 am PT
Whoa, Cave Story is looking swell! 16-bit is my nostalgia factor, so...Score!

And Yet It Moves, I heard about that game awhile back, but never thought it could come to Wii.
Looks pretty psychedelic.

Lost Winds 2 !!! Can't wait for that.

-

I would also buy chiptunes if they were commercially available. Shame on you, music industry. *crosses arms*
Posted Sep 19, 2009 2:06 pm PT
@evrdayblues - The music industry and I don't normally spend a lot of time together, sadly. When this whole Kanye meme popped up, I had to do a search on who the guy was. I'd gladly listen to chiptunes over popular music any day. Or chiptune-turned-real remixes, like this brilliant SNES RPG medley. Holy monkeys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJukB5hJybE
Posted Sep 19, 2009 5:23 pm PT
What an AWESOME blog entry! I know what word gets thrown around a lot these days, but in all seriousness, you've done a great job with putting this together. As big of a fan I am of WiiWare, you've enlightened even me with this compilation of upcoming titles, and I'm now proud to say that I've gotten a better glance of each and every one of these games in action.

WiiWare is such an under-appreciated platform, but it really has started to come into its own lately, and it looks like it's about to explode in the near future. Heck, with only a handful of retail Wii games that excited me for the rest of this year, it's both great and a tad worrisome to know that there are a number of WiiWare releases that are going to put some pressure on me as far as gaming budget goes. It also looks like I'll definitely need to invest in an SD card soon, as I can't keep trying to manage the games on my system in order to enjoy them. lol

If you don't excuse me, I'll be trying to update my list wish with these games to ensure that I'm aware of them come release time. Once again. Superb job on this entry!
Posted Sep 19, 2009 5:27 pm PT
Yeah, but they're part-rhythym games....and I'm generally really good at rhythym games .
Posted Sep 19, 2009 6:10 pm PT
@Madmangamer364 - Thank you very much! Believe me, it took a long time to put this one together. I was a bit worried nobody would bother reading it because it was about WiiWare, which doesn't get much respect, and it was so very long, which tends to turn away certain people. I'm glad you liked it so much.

I do entries like these basically because I hear comments around Gamespot and the like so often, that there's nothing worth playing on the Wii. And I figure I can either argue with them or help get the word out. There has to be some info not getting out to your average gamer, because I only own a Wii and DS and gaming costs me a lot of money.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 6:18 pm PT
Heh, a noble move on your part to do what you can to help the cause. I'm also on that same Wii/DS only boat as far as current gen games systems go, and while I'll admit that there hasn't been a lot of retail release lately that have excited me (at least on Wii), WiiWare has been good for my gaming fix this year. I think the service deserves a heck of a lot more attention than it gets. It amazes (and also disappoint) me when I'm looking at the majority of these games, I get a better sense of effort and understanding of the Wii system itself and those who play it than most of the system's "big" games that insist on trying to be "tests" for what can sell on the system instead of being the best games possible. And yet, many people are more attracted to the older Virtual Console games than WiiWare for the most part, and much like with the system itself, like to say that nothing enjoyable is on it.

This list has only made me more excited about the future of the service and I think the Wii's future is great if these games are executed well and are well-supported. Not that I'm one of those people who tries to scare people into buying certain games, but I do hope that these upcoming titles are given some time in the spotlight. Blog entries like this one are my favorite to read, seeing as how it takes something pretty cool to get my hyped about something I wasn't already eyeballing. That's why I can't help but give you kudos for doing at least a few times in one entry.
Posted Sep 19, 2009 7:11 pm PT
Wow, thanks for mentioning me! Even if I was painted as a lazy gamer that don't get the job done when talking about 'gamespelunking'... I told you already, keep your mouth shut or I'll track GoNintendo instead of you!

And thanks to you my 'tracked games list' reached the number 193 - maybe I'm a tracking junkie, I don't know... I wish Gamespot could handle me an emblem or something.

Just downloaded the free PC versions of La Mulana and Cave Story and I'll try them anytime soon. I'll be back to tell you how they look. Keep up the good work!
Posted Sep 19, 2009 7:52 pm PT
Thanks for clarifying
By the way, I'm not into game such as the conduit I prefer mostly Nintendo games but I really should try out some of the games you mentioned
Posted Sep 20, 2009 2:04 am PT
Oh, I forgot to mention that World of Goo is one hell of game that I 'd love to see a sequel to
Posted Sep 20, 2009 2:05 am PT
I'm looking forward to Night Sky, that game certainly looks interesting. Super Meat Boy also looks very fun as well.
Posted Sep 20, 2009 1:04 pm PT
@julianozuca - 193 huh? I'll keep working at it and see if we can't hit 200. Nice even number.

You'll have to let me know what you think of La-Mulana. I'm interested, just not entirely sure what to expect.
Posted Sep 20, 2009 2:39 pm PT
@alidallal - Tell me about it. I would buy a World of Goo sequel this second if one was available. Last I heard, 2D Boy (the creators) were working with the creator of Henry Hatsworth on something which would have to be stupefyingly brilliant. Keep your eyes peeled.
Posted Sep 20, 2009 2:41 pm PT
@tennis12master - Super Meat Boy looks insane. That just might end up rivaling Bit.Trip Beat as the hardest thing I own this generation.
Posted Sep 20, 2009 2:42 pm PT
@Wonkyman: La Mulana holds a huge potential to be a great game: a little of RPG conversation, solving puzzles to open new areas, a wide variety of weapons and items, a large amount of nostalgia (the main character's got a "MSX laptop" that even can run carts), varied environment, good music... BUT... It will need some serious finishing work to be good. The game is so hard to figure out that it can become unplayable without much dedication. We'll see.

In time, here is something for you:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/wiiware/artstyle/index.html?cubeleo.
Looks good to me. I hope I can add at least one game to your tracked list...
Posted Sep 20, 2009 8:19 pm PT
@julianozuca - I've been meaning to give the Art Style games a look. Is this a good one?
Posted Sep 21, 2009 1:59 pm PT
@Wonkyman: Unfortunately I can't read Japanese... But it looks interesting, aside the clean-shiny-polished graphics design - something uncommon in Art Style titles.
Gamespot doesn't have it for us to track though... (sad)
Posted Sep 21, 2009 7:52 pm PT
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  • Wonkyman
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