Worth Playing vol. 9: The Wii One

The Wii is officially a generation past and with the bizarre exception of Rodea: They Sky Soldier releasing as a Wii title paced in with the Wii U version, there aren’t going to be anymore games created for Nintendo’s money-making, motion controlled system. The system has sold over 100 MILLION units worldwide, making it one of the best selling video game consoles of all time (and Nintendo’s best selling non-handheld console to date). With that many units on the market it can be easy to skip over a few gems while playing arguably some of the best games out there like Super Mario Galaxy and Resident Evil 4. I’ve compiled a list of ten awesome Wii games that are worth tracking down, even as we’re approaching the little-console-that-could’s 9th birthday! And while the Wii U is chugging along strongly, these games can also be played on that console as well, giving even more incentive to find and play them!

 

Pokemon Rumble World Could (and Should) Have Been So Much More

The latest game in the renowned Pokemon franchise, a free-to-play action game called Pokemon Rumble World, has been out for around two weeks now and I’ve spent a good deal of time finding, battling, and collecting Pokemon toys. At its best the game offers up fun, addictive gameplay not unlike a child’s version of Diablo: at its worst the game feels boring and limited. But I have hope the game can be better, the game can be what Pokemon Conquest was to strategy RPGs: an introduction title for a new generation of fans to the awesome world of action RPGs. There’s hope for this series Nintendo. Hope and an aspiration to make it something special, something truly worthy of the Pokemon moniker.

 

It’s Time to Spend Those Club Nintendo Points!

Nintendo announced a couple weeks back that the loyalty incentive program, Club Nintendo, would be closing down in Summer of 2015, to be followed by a yet-unannounced new program. The Big N also promised dozens of new rewards and games to spend your hard earned Club Nintendo Coins on before the program shuts its doors for good. The company came through on those promises on Monday, releasing a handful of new physical rewards to spend points on, as well as over 100 digital games across all of their current systems! These are the last items to be made available for the entire program, with nothing (assuming Nintendo sticks to what it has stated) being added until the discontinuation of the service in July.

So if you have Club Nintendo points, now is the time to use them!

Now that the rewards catalog has been fully updated, there are still two more important dates to remember:

3/31/2015: Last day to register products with Club Nintendo to earn coins
6/30/2015: Last day to spend Coins on Club Nintendo

Keep in mind these dates and the fact that what’s there now is what’s going to be there through June. Assuming some of those physical rewards don’t get swooped up first, since it is a first come first served basis. Speaking of those physical rewards, there are some cool ones!

Leading the charge is easily the 800-Coin The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Messenger Bag. Big enough to hold a standard or smaller sized laptop, the sweet bag comes stitched with the Majora’s Mask logo, the Club Nintendo Logo, and a cool rendering of the Skull Kid and the titular Mask. It’s pricey, coming in as the second most expensive item on the entire list, digital or otherwise (for some reason Nintendo thinks Wii Party U is worth 850 Coins. Great game, but really?)., but it’s also a cool item, and one that will surely have huge collector’s value in the future. Also, unique Zelda swag, especially officially licensed from Nintendo swag, is hard to come by that doesn’t also come with a Hot Topic price tag.

The only other new physical items added that I think are worthwhile are the 2016 desktop calendar, which sounds kind of lame but if it’s like the one they’re showing off from 2015 is actually pretty awesome, and the Majora’s Mask Fierce Deity puzzle. I’m not a huge puzzle fan, otherwise I’d fork over the Coins for that too. As far as other physical items go, Club Nintendo has had a nice string of those “Card Case 18” cases that can store your loose DS/3DS games, but this new one isn’t as neat as the others in my opinion.

If you’re like me though, you’ll really want to take a look at those digital games you can download. And man, take a look indeed, because there are over 100 games to download with your Coins. Virtual Console games, eShop games, and even full-blown retail games for the Wii U, 3DS, and the good ol’ Wii are included. Here’s a few highlights:

Nintendo 3DS:

Super Mario 3D Land – 600 Coins
Paper Mario: Sticker Star – 700 Coins
Star Fox 64 3D – 700 Coins
HarmoKnight – 300 Coins (By the creators of the Pokemon series)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX – 200 Coins
Ketzal’s Corridors – 200 Coins (A fun puzzle game exclusive on the 3DS)
A few dozen other eShop exclusives and Virtual Console games

Wii U:

Golden Sun – 200 Coins
Super Metroid – 200 Coins
EarthBound – 250 Coins
NES Remix – 300 Coins
The Wonderful 101 – 600 Coins
Wii Party U – 850 Coins (Pricey, but if you have 4 friends to play with this is an absolute blast!)

Wii:

Doc Louis’s Punch-Out – 250 Coins (A huge collector’s item which will now plummet in price)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – 250 Coins
Super Smash Bros. – 250 Coins (The Nintendo 64 original)
Excitebike: World Rally – 250 Coins (an eShop exclusive sequel to the Excitebike series)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 250 Coins

Those are the games that caught my eye at first, but looking through the list again there are some other really great titles! You should have no problem spending your points between now and July, because there’s both quantity and quality included.

Nintendo really outdid themselves with this final lineup of Club Nintendo content. It makes me wish Club Nintendo was like this all the time: a few dozen games to choose from each month, instead of just six, which were starting to be repeats.

While I’m sad to see Club Nintendo leave (I actually kind of did enjoy doing those silly surveys), I am hoping for bigger and way better things with the next program Nintendo will roll out. I hope to hear some details about it soon since the old program is now terminal. I’m pulling for more physical rewards, but I bet Nintendo will go with a money-incentive based program, meaning if you spend so much/register so much, you’ll get kicked back some spending cash on the eShop. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but not my cup of tea.

So don’t forget to spend those points! Pick up something nice for yourself and wait for the next (hopefully) great thing to come out later this year!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Review: Super Princess Peach

It’s not often Peach gets to steal the limelight from Mario. Even when she can scrape up some screen time it’s almost always while being held captive under Bowser or someone else’s clutches. If you wanted to play as Peach you were limited to romps around the Mushroom Kingdom either riding go karts or playing tennis. But with Super Princess Peach for the original Nintendo DS the eponymous princess steps to the forefront as the game’s hero, saving Mario, Luigi, and countless Toads from certain doom. Although a bit old, the game holds up well and is a welcome addition to the excellent Mario franchise.

 

Top Ten Pick Ups of 2014

In lieu of the usual Yearly Roundup, where I recount every game added to the collection over the past year, this year I’ve decided to do something different. As with every year here on SlickGaming there are many excellent finds and surprising deals on video games each and ever month, and I’ve always had a blast sharing them all with you. But now it’s time to look at the best of the best from 2014. I purchase a lot of games that are, for better or worse, padding to the collection. Now it’s time to look past those and determine the best, most exciting, and generally awesome finds of the last year. The following games (or groups of games) were the most impressive additions to the catalog in 2014. They’re not necessarily the rarest or most hard to find, but rather the most memorable pickups and greatest deals.

 

Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack 1 Video Review

By now you all likely know the first chunk of DLC for Nintendo’s Mario Kart 8 is here. It has three new characters for your racing pleasure, including Link from the Legend of Zelda series, as well as a few new karts to use, and eight brand new tracks! To help take it all in, I’ve created a review video breaking down all the new content, what’s good, what isn’t, and why you should pick it up if you haven’t already!

Laters,
Jsick

 

Here’s Hoping Nintendo’s Amiibo Figures Are Worth the Wait

With the impending release of Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, Nintendo is not only going to roll out the (hopeful) biggest game on the Wii U ever, but the Japanese company will also bring out the newest contender in the NFC toys-meet-games sub-category. Called Amiibo, each figure is being marketed as something very different from Activision’s Skylanders and Disney’s Infinity line of figures. Not simply used to unlock content in a specific game, each Amiibo figure will apparently act as a sidekick to the action, enhancing your gameplay experience, but not at all required to otherwise play and enjoy the game they are a part of. It’s bold, it’s different, and I think it just might work, and here’s how.

 

Worth Playing vol. 8: The Crossover Collection

Crossovers are the best fan service gamers can get. The blending of popular IPs into one unique game usually gets fans in a fever, finally being able to play as Sonic the Hedgehog in a Mario-themed game. Or finally being able to see who would win between the X-Man Wolverine and the Street Fighter Ryu. The opportunities for creating these scenarios is endless, but despite this we don’t get too many crossover games. Maybe it has something to do with publishing rights, company egos, or (most likely) money, but whatever the culprit may be, there are still a handful of crossover video games that are a hell of a lot of fun to play, and totally worth your time!

 

Review: Gunman Clive

It’s Mega Man in the Wild West!

 

Review: Tomodachi Life

Nintendo’s Mii characters have been around since the onset of the Wii console back in 2006. The super-deformed versions of you, your friends, or really anyone that you want to put into the game usually show up as characters to represent your profile when playing certain video games, or make cameo appearances in the background of some titles. Occasionally you’ll be able to play as your Mii (like in the recent Mario Kart games as well as the upcoming Super Smash Bros.), but they’re usually just added on as a fun diversion from the main protagonists. Tomodachi Life puts your Mii characters into the leading role, as you get to witness and interact with their daily happenings. Who knew the Miis lived such insane lives!