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Character Analysis: Luigi (Contains Spoilers)

Archive — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 05:24:00 +0000

Luigi, Mario's younger twin, has always been the brunt of Nintendo's little jokes. He's portrayed as being cowardly and is constantly in Mario's shadow, but he certainly tries his damnedest and is worth his weight in gold. As such, he'll be the star of this article and I'll be going over every little detail I can think of about his personality, the way he dresses and even why he idolizes the one who constantly overshadows him. So in the words of Toad, here we go!

Luigi started idolizing his brother at a very young age when in Yoshi's Island, the infant Mario and his temporary guardian Yoshi saved him from the clutches of the evil Kamek, Baby Bowser's caretaker. This drove the young Luigi to follow his brother everywhere he went, even going as far as dressing like him but in a color that compliments red. He even pushed himself to be the best he could so he could help Mario with his quests as evidenced by the fact that Luigi can jump higher and run faster than Mario, but Luigi isn't without his flaws.

Luigi is an odd case. Unlike his twin brother Mario, who is brave and heroic, Luigi is a bit of a coward. If the journey to save Princess Peach proves to be too harrowing for Luigi to handle, he will likely stay in the Mushroom Kingdom and take care of the cleaning and general upkeep of their house. But this isn't always the case. In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Luigi has been shown to actually help others when they need it and even go on quests of his own if Mario is unavailable. This proves that Luigi has an adventurous side that doesn't always show. But no matter how much or how little Luigi goes on adventures, this does not diminish his fear of ghosts.

Luigi has been in a few scenarios in which his fear of ghosts is evident, but none are more prevalent than in the Luigi's Mansion series. In those games, Mario is the one that needs rescued and Luigi is the only one able to get the job done, and because it was the Boos that abducted Mario, Luigi is at quite the disadvantage. As I said before, Luigi is very much a coward, especially when it comes to ghosts, but when his brother needs help, he swallows his fear and tackles the problem head on. Because of Luigi's timidity, he is easily startled and is often unnerved when placed in stressful situations. As such, he hums and whistles to himself to cope with being in such an unsettling environment. However, he has been shown to overcome this fear as at the end of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, he adopts the ghostly Polterpup that had been teasing him throughout the story.

Now because of the fame and notoriety that Mario gets compared to our titular subject known as Luigi, it is not hard to imagine that under all of that idolizing that there may be a bit of resentment, especially considering that Luigi's name is often forgotten by the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom and even by Bowser, King of the Koopas. This is actually evident in Super Paper Mario as his mild resentment toward Mario allowed seeds of darkness to be planted in his heart by Dimentio. This is probably Luigi's greatest weakness as while he has braved the forces of many ghosts, he can't seem to come to terms with the envy that he has for his brother's life.

Luigi isn't in any way perfect. He's a coward, he resents the brother he looks up to, and he is often the subject of ridicule. But I like Luigi all the more for it. Adversity builds character, and if The Year of Luigi is evidence enough, he may someday become even more popular than the brother he holds in such high regard. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

Quickie Review: Dr. Mario Miracle Cure

Archive — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 06:39:00 +0000

As someone who loves puzzle games, I was ecstatic to hear that a new Dr. Mario game was in the works. They have always been really well constructed and have a charming simplicity about them that can't be beat, but does this brand new title have the gusto to be an exceptional entry in the franchise? Well let's see.

Like every other game in the series, Dr. Mario Miracle Cure keeps the series tradition of eliminating viruses by matching them with like-colored pills (called Mega-Vitamins) in rows or columns of four or more. The pills can be rotated to better fit into certain areas, and if the entirety of the pill isn't vaporized, the remaining half will drop down toward the bottom of the bottle if it isn't blocked by an obstacle in its path. As you play, the bottle will fill with more and more viruses in each subsequent stage, with the drop speed of your pills increasing in later stages. Now if this were just a simple game of Dr. Mario, then I'd be done with my review right now, but it's not, and now I'll explain why.

This iteration of the series actually includes quite a few features from previous games in the series and even throws in a few brand new gameplay elements in order to keep things fresh and exciting. Starting by order of additions, we have the game mode called Virus Buster which actually first made its appearance in the DS game Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day as a bonus minigame. Virus Buster still goes by the same gameplay staple of connecting four viruses and pills of the same color to remove them from play, but the major difference is that the game is played with the stylus and two or even three pills can be dropped into play at once, although they fall at a fairly slow pace. Next is the Online mode which was introduced in Dr. Mario Online RX on the Wii. All it does is let you face a random player from somewhere around the world, or play against a friend on your 3DS's friend list. Then we have the game mode Dr. Luigi, which was introduced as the Operation L game mode in Dr. Luigi on the Wii U. This game mode drops two pills at once in the shape of the letter L with the long side of the shape often being comprised of all one color. This forced the player to think of new strategies as the unusual pill configuration and its large size made it difficult to maneuver in the confines of the bottle.

Now new to this game are the new Miracle Cure capsules which can help turn the tide in a losing match. These capsules can wipe out whole columns, whole rows, like-colored pills, like-colored viruses, or a two square radius around where the capsule is dropped. Now because of the nature of these power-ups, they cannot be used in the normal classic game mode as it would make it far too easy. Instead, a new game mode called Endless was specially made for the purpose of getting the full use out of them. In Endless mode, new viruses will continually spawn from the bottom of the playing field and won't stop until you get a game over. In addition to the Miracle Cures, we also have set of sixty single player challenges to help you get accustomed to using this new addition to the franchise. The challenges range from easy to excruciating in ten training, twenty basic, and thirty advanced challenges designed to test your reflexes and ability to think under pressure.

All in all, Dr. Mario Miracle Cure is a great entry to the franchise. It includes enough game modes to keep you busy for a long time to come and its new Miracle Cure power-ups make for a fine addition to the series. Hopefully we'll being seeing more of them in future installments, but until then, I'll be seeing you.

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E3 2017 Nintendo Spotlight Recap

Archive — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 11:47:00 +0000

Another E3 has come and gone and it has come down to me to recap the entirety of Nintendo's press conference once again, but was a bit odd this time around. Not because of any unusual games being announced, but rather the length of the video they released; it was abnormally short. Nevertheless a 25 minute video can still have a surprising amount of content in it. If you wish to watch it you can view it below.

Even though the video is much shorter than what Nintendo has done for E3 in the past, there was a LOT of new stuff shown off with only a few teasers that didn't actually have any gameplay. But as always I'll recap what I can, and as a bonus I'll even recap some of the news that Nintendo showed off in their live streams after the Spotlight video ended. So let's get started.

After the preview for the video had ended, there was a new trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the Switch which showed off a small bit of some actual gameplay and more story elements. A definitive release date wasn't yet confirmed but it has a planned release for the holidays at the end of the year.
Next a brand new Kirby game was shown off for the Switch and it appears to run on the same engine as the past three main series games. It appears that the game is already pretty far in development as gameplay footage of Kirby recruiting enemies as helpers and fusing abilities together in the trailer. It has a projected release of 2018.
A brand new core series Pokemon game was revealed to be in development for the Switch. No other info about it was announced at this time.
In an amazing surprise reveal, it was confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch. However it was also confirmed that Retro Studios will not be working on this entry in the series meaning the game that they're currently working on for Nintendo is still unknown at this point in time.
A brand new Yoshi game is in the works for the Switch and it was confirmed that it is being developed with Unreal Engine 4 of all things. It has a similar look and feel to the previous Yoshi game, Yoshi's Woolly World, but it has this new gameplay feature where you can flip the environment backwards when you ground pound and even throw eggs at enemies in the foreground and background. This game is also set for a 2018 release.
Gameplay and story footage was shown off for Fire Emblem Warriors. A full voice cast will also accompany the game giving an official English VA for the character Marth. It was also shown that it will not feature characters from the entire series, but rather just the games Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates. It is slated to launch this Autumn.
Content for first DLC pack for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild called The Master Trials was shown off preceded by the announcement for amiibo support in the Switch port of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The first DLC pack will go live at the end of June. In addition to this, a preview of the second DLC pack for Zelda was teased and the official name for the story that it will tell was revealed to be called The Champions' Ballad. DLC pack 2 will launch some time this holiday season. 4 new Breath of the Wild amiibo based on the 4 champions Mipha, Daruk, Revali, and Urbosa were also announced for the game. No official release date the amiibo was announced at the time of the conference.
Ubisoft revealed new info for their brand new crossover game for the Switch, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle which features Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi stopping an invading force of rabbids with the help of 4 "friendly" rabbids that are dressed like them. The gameplay footage shown off is a turn-based strategy game with heavy emphasis on cover-based shooting; much like X-Com. It will launch August 29 of this year.
Psyonix revealed that their hit game Rocket League is coming to the Nintendo Switch with special Nintendo themed content exclusive to the Switch version. In addition, they confirmed that the game would have cross-platform multiplayer with the XBox One and PC versions of the game when playing online. Its slated for a holiday release.
And finally, new features were shown off for Super Mario Odyssey. In the new gameplay footage, at least 2 new worlds were shown off (one being monochrome and one being prehistoric); Mario was seen to have the ability to ride certain vehicles and turn 8-bit to move around wall paintings; and through the use of Cappy, the spirit that is occupying his hat for this adventure, Mario can possess a plethora of different objects and enemies to help him on his quest to save Princess Peach. Also, after the Spotlight presentation, it was confirmed that the game would have Co-Op play where player 2 plays as Cappy. It will be released on the 27th of October this year.
Now after the Spotlight was over, a few more things were announced. One of them being that we're getting not one, but two new Metroid games. The second one they announced was Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS and is being developed by MercurySteam. According to Yoshio Sakamoto, the game is said to be a reimagining of Metroid II on the original Game Boy. The remake will be adding many new features such as melee countering and amiibo support, and will use the original game as a base (I guess now we know why AM2R got hit with a cease and desist so soon after it was finished). It will be released on September 15th. New Metroid series amiibo were also confirmed to be in development for the game in the form of Samus in her Metroid II boxart pose, and a metroid with a soft, squishy outer membrane. These new amiibo will launch alongside the game.
Separate from the E3 streams, Nintendo announced that a remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was being made for the 3DS with updated graphics and new content in the form of a strategic battle mode where you take control of Bowser's minions. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions will launch on October 6th of this year.
A rather unusual new IP called Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido was revealed for the Nintendo 3DS and is being developed by Indieszero of NES Remix and Retro Game Challenge fame. Judging by the gameplay shown, it appears to mix the concept of match-3 puzzle games with real-time combat in a frantic style of game where you need to eat as much sushi as possible, collect the plates that the sushi was sitting on, and then use the plates as ammo to knock out your opponent. No release date was confirmed, but it will be released some time in 2018.
More amiibo were confirmed to be in development. Mario, Peach and Bowser in wedding garb were shown off as well as a Goomba and Koopa Troopa for the Mario series set. In addition to those, Chrom and Tiki from Fire Emblem Awakening were also shown off in amiibo form. The new Mario, Peach and Bowser amiibo will launch alongside Super Mario Odyssey and the Goomba and Koopa Troopa will be released at the same time as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions. No date has yet to be confirmed for the Chrom and Tiki amiibo but I would imagine that they would be released around the same time as Fire Emblem Warriors.
More of Miitopia was shown off in detail. Movement in dungeons appear to be mostly automatic with occasional input from the player and combat is turn-based with the option for auto-battling. Amiibo support was also confirmed and would be used to gain Nintendo themed equipment. As for the miis in the game, all of them come from the system's internal memory or you can import them from Tomodachi Life. Miitopia will launch July 28th of this year.
A bit more info for the 3DS game Ever Oasis was revealed. It will give the player the ability to customize their own oasis paradise and go dungeon crawling for more loot and experience. The overall combat appears to be similar in design to the Mana series of games which makes sense considering it was conceived by the same creator. The game will launch incredibly soon on June 23rd and a demo of the game is now available to download from the 3DS eShop.
And last but not least, the first DLC character was shown off for ARMS in the form of the one of the game's previous champions, Max Brass. It was shown that he has skills that mirror the abilities of both Spring Man and Master Mummy. The new character, along with a spectator mode, will be patched into the game later this month.

Well that's all the info I can muster up for now. I can certainly say that if you are a Nintendo fan like me, then their announcements this year probably made you a very happy camper. Metroid Prime 4 and Metroid: Samus Returns were certainly a welcome surprise for those that were disappointed by Metroid Prime: Federation Force, but only time will tell if they are in good hands. So until then, I'll be seeing you.