1UP has been struck by a glacier, or something. We did this crazy thing over the weekend: we switched the site to a new data hosting service, which is reputed to be one of the fastest and most reliable in the country. (And for a small bonus, it’s located down the block from us.) In theory, the site should be faster than ever… in reality, erm. It’s the thought that counts, I guess.
Anyway, assuming you can get the site to load, my reviews of the Haunted Castle and Contra Oretachi Game Center imports are finally, finally up. The reviews are longer and more boring than I remember, but I guess I had a lot of anger to worth through after playing Haunted Castle. So! If you’re dying to know whether you should import some games that came out a few weeks ago, here you go. Almost but not quite up-to-the-moment coverage.
Spoiler: No, you shouldn’t buy them.
In much happier news, the information superhighway suffered a major Super Paper Mario spill over the weekend. Cleanup efforts were largely unsuccessful, so if you haven’t rubbernecked yet you should check out GameVideos. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Back already? Well then. Let’s commence frothing.
Nintendo is responsible for a lot of great stuff these days, but I’m fairly certain that Intelligent Systems is the best thing the company has going for it. Maybe I’m just biased in favor of the development house that gave us Metroid.
Mostly, though, I think IS has an intuitive grasp of how videogames work — an ability to explore the inherent and unique possibilities of the medium without getting bogged down in excess like, say, Hideo Kojima. Paper Mario was subtly sophisticated beneath its disarming facade of simplicity, and WarioWare is… well, WarioWare.
Everyone’s already gushing about how the Super Paper Mario dragon boss fight is OMG SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, which… OK, yeah, I see it. It also reminds me of Ouroborous from Strider 2. Far more intriguing to me is the first video, which shows off the simple, mundane platforming aspect of the game — specifcally, the fact that it’s in no way mundane. 
My only fear is that the inclusion of hit points and a seeming experience system indicates that this will not be a simple level-based Mario game but a platformer with the world structure of the previous Paper Mario games. That is… Metroidvania. Or, perhaps, Mariovania. I’m kind of hoping that’s not the case, because then I won’t be able to play the game. I’ll be far too occupied with curling up on the floor weeping for joy, you see.
P.S. Important memo to Mega Man from the BLOGOSPHERE (TM): put on some pants.
17 thoughts on “Meanwhile, on the other side….”
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Huh? I thought Metroid was Nintendo R&D1, while IS did the Famicom Disk Drive – Famicom conversion… and that Super Metroid was also Nintendo R&D1, with a few programmers from IS. Anyhoo, Super Paper Mario looks great (even when played clumsily by 8 year-old at the World Hobby Fair) and I’m definitely looking forward to it.
IS is a spin-off from R&D1, and by all accounts that includes quite a lot of the original Metroid/Super Metroid creators (though not Yokoi or Sakamoto). I guess I was being a little disingenuous.
Mariovania is a good way of looking at it.
Mariovania sounds incredibly awesome.
You know, it seems sorta off to remove the Metroid from Metroidvania in order to throw in the Mario, since it’s Metroid which the gameplay style comes from in the first place.
…Of course, Mariotroid sounds really weird. I guess Mariovania it is!
I was thinking Nintendo’s own Zelda II personally. But Mariovania works for me too.
IS already earned a lifetime pass from me for Paper Mario and Super Metroid. That they’re still kicking ass and taking names (TM Reggie) is a bonus.
Alex, that’s why you call it Metrario, which sounds super hot. Okay, not really. Anyway, the concept of a Mariovania has me trembling with glee. Oh, Paper Mario, will ever fail to be amazing?
. . . Metrario?
. . .
Damn and blast. I had let me browser sit idle before making a comment and thought I came up with Metrario on my on, when Guy had already in fact posted about it a couple minutes earlier. Note to self: Refresh before commenting, you fool.
In any case, I think Metrario is pretty damn hip.
I’m just waiting for them to come out with Stridemetrariovania City Ransom at Demonhead Legend. Then my life will be complete.
Between this and the metal lord boss in Mario Galaxy, it seems like Nintendo is doing a lot of the “OMG SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS” nowadays.
Whenever I see footage of either of these games is seems like they’re competing with each other. Like, Galaxy is trying to out-acid-trip Paper, while Paper is trying to out-post-modern Galaxy. Either way, it’s a great point in history to be a fanboy.
I can’t believe you just used the phrase “information superhighway.” Have you no shame?
Super Paper Mario brings tears of joy to my eyes. This is why I love videogames.
Hey, at least all the ads are still loading up super quick!!
Marioid? Metrio? Well I guess if someone’s going to rip-off Metroid it may as well be the people who created it in the first place.
“My only fear is that the inclusion of hit points and a seeming experience system indicates that this will not be a simple level-based Mario game but a platformer with the world structure of the previous Paper Mario games. That is… Metroidvania. Or, perhaps, Mariovania. I’m kind of hoping that’s not the case, because then I won’t be able to play the game. I’ll be far to occupied with curling up on the floor weeping for joy, you see.” Will someone have to snap a puppy’s neck in front of you to bring you back to reality? (ala this crazy buffet – http://crazybuffet.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3148805)
Matriod. (Looks better than it sounds) It’s totally baffling that there ain’t a Mariovania game yet, what with all the fun suits in Mario 3, y’know?
As for the Colossus stuff, I think I read something like Miyamoto and Iwata checking out Shadow of the Colossus at E3 (two years ago?) with really attentive eyes…
The Colossi that the dragon is “copying” wasn’t even shown until a video at TGS ’05, so I doubt that.