Gifts

My mother gave me a fishing game for the Wii for my recent birthday, which was really nice.  I haven't played a fishing game since Bass Hunter 64 on the Nintendo 64.  I used to be really into these games during the SNES era (I played Super Black Bass and owned Bass Masters Classic), but my interest in the fishing genre faded during the N64 era.  It should be really fun playing this game with the motion controls.

Also, Keet sent an amiibo triple pack as a belated Christmas gift, but due to the timing, it feels more like a birthday gift.  Thanks Keet!

Super Nintendo System Box

Some time last year I discovered that I had the wrong type of system box for my SNES.  You see, I managed to keep all of my system boxes from my childhood, except for one: the SNES.  For some reason my family threw the box out right after we opened our SNES.  Since I received my SNES for Christmas of 1992, I thought maybe I had received the launch version, so I picked up a launch version box off eBay a few years ago to make my box collection complete.  I thought I had the right box when I bought that one:

Well, it turned out I was wrong.  By late 1992 Nintendo had revised the system box for the SNES.  It was now labeled the "Super Set" and it included a triangular-shaped label in the top right corner letting you know that it came with Super Mario World.

After months and months of searching, I recently found a pristine SNES box on eBay that matched my requirements.  Here it is in all its glory:

Now, at this point you might be wondering how I discovered which type of box I needed.  Did I manage to do a ton of research on retro forums?  Am I some sort of living Nintendo encyclopedia?  Well, it's neither of those.

I went digging through some old family pictures and found this photo from Christmas of 1992:

That right there answered everything.

Wario's Woods

There are tons of sealed copies of Wario's Woods floating around eBay, so I went and got myself one.  I guess stores had a ton of unsold stock that eventually made its way to the secondhand market.  As I recall, this was the last game released for the NES, all the way in 1994.  I look forward to trying this game out.  It's the last major puzzle game I was missing on the NES.

Mike's 2017 Boxed Wii U Collection

The Nintendo Switch has finally arrived, so it's officially the end of the Wii U era.  As is my tradition, the older console (the Wii U) is now being moved down to the basement of my TV stand to make room for the newest system at the top.  It's getting a bit crowded in there with all these systems, but for now, thanks to these vertical stands, I still have enough room.

When the Wii U was first unveiled at E3 2011, I was pissed at the monstrous new controller.  I absolutely hated the dual analog control scheme that had dominated console gaming during the PS2/GameCube/XBox era, so when Nintendo tried something different with the original Wii, I was overjoyed at the simpler and more intuitive control scheme.  There was simply no going back to dual analog for any type of shooter after that.

But then Nintendo went and did something incredibly stupid with the Wii U: it betrayed Wii owners by turning its back on the Wii Remote and resurrecting the terrible, archaic, dual analog control scheme.  Even worse, Nintendo was now putting a huge screen in the middle of this new controller, making the so-called "GamePad" (a term improperly adopted from the NES era) the largest, most complex and convoluted controller in Nintendo's history.  Oh, and the battery life sucked too.

I just couldn't understand how Nintendo could be this arrogant and stupid after their incredible success with the Wii.  How could Nintendo go from making their simplest, easiest-to-use controller, to their largest, most complex and confusing one?  What made them think that Wii owners would accept that?

To put this into perspective, Nintendo's decision with the Wii U was as crazy as Nintendo theoretically abandoning the successful D-pad controller design of the NES era (the true GamePad, not that Wii U monstrosity) just to go back to an Atari-style joystick design for the SNES.  I honestly expected Nintendo to release a Wii 2 or Super Wii that would improve upon the motion control scheme of the Wii, but I was wrong.  Nintendo let me and millions of others down.  Oh, and Nintendo had the audacity to call this system part of the Wii family after doing all of this.  Then Nintendo was shocked when the system didn't sell like the Wii.  Go figure.

In reality, the Wii U wasn't truly a Wii.  It may have hijacked the name for marketing purposes, but the system itself was simply an evolution of the GameCube/Game Boy Advance connectivity that had been used two generations prior for games like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.  So the Wii U concept wasn't even truly new.

I also hated the name "Wii U."  While Wii was a catchy name that anyone could remember (because it sounds like "we," meaning everyone), Wii U was contradictory and stupid.  If it's for everyone, why does it also have to specify that it's for you?  Who thought of this stupid name?  As one Youtuber put it, "Wii U" sounded like the siren on an ambulance.  Not only that, but I have always detested morons on the internet who used letters to replace words (such as "u" instead of "you").  But now, Nintendo itself was doing that

For the first time in my gaming career, I actually considered not buying a Nintendo system.  But about a full year later, something interesting happened.  Nintendo started showing Wii Remote support for games like Pikmin 3 and Call of Duty Black Ops 2, plus they changed the questionable "New Super Mario Bros. Mii" into the much more attractive "New Super Mario Bros. U."

So based on the confirmed Wii Remote support and the awesome new Super Mario Bros. game, I changed my mind and decided to get a Wii U at launch.  I preordered my Deluxe system from Wal-Mart and picked up a copy of New Super Mario Bros. U on launch day.  After spending a few hours downloading and installing the system updates (ugh), I invited my friend Peter to try the system with me.

We had a bunch of fun playing both Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U.  Oddly, Peter seemed to really enjoy the GamePad, especially since it gave him his own screen.  I later had Drew and Luke try the system as well, and they all seemed to enjoy it, especially Nintendo Land (we really liked Zelda Battle Quest and Metroid Blast, not to mention the competitive multiplayer games).  Whenever my friends visited, I simply handed them the GamePad and stuck to my Wii Remote, and that seemed to work out great.

Even though I already owned four Wii Remotes (white ones), I picked up a black Wii Remote Plus and nunchuck for the Wii U specifically, as well as a black Wii Wheel (I always thought the black ones looked cool).  Later, when Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate came out, I bought a black Classic Controller Pro as well (before, I had only owned the original White Classic Controller that lacked handles).

While the Wii U didn't have the mass appeal that the Wii did, it still had some fun multiplayer games.  Unfortunately, within less than a year, developers began abandoning the system left and right due to terrible sales, and I witnessed the worst gaming drought I have ever seen in my life.  The Wii U suffered from a drought so bad that it made the worst elements of the Nintendo 64 and GameCube eras look like a golden age.

Game after game was cancelled or delayed, and worst of all, I never got a Wii Remote FPS to play online following my awesome experience with Conduit 2.  Unlike the Nintendo 64, the Wii U just didn't have the kick-ass games to make the droughts bearable.  No GoldenEye.  No Perfect Dark.  No Excitebike 64.  No Conker's Bad Fur Day.  The system didn't even receive an original Zelda game until the Switch was released.  In 2015 I bought a single retail game (Super Mario Maker), and in 2016, I didn't buy anything.  That's how bad it was.  My Wii U game collection is the smallest of any of my home consoles.

I ended up mostly buying platformers (which I have always loved) and playing a few online games like Mario Kart 8 and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, but even those games eventually got old.  In addition, Mario Kart 8 ended up becoming incredibly frustrating to the point that I stopped playing it shortly before the Switch launched.  I would currently rate it as the second-worst Mario Kart game behind the giant turd that is Mario Kart 7.

None of my Wii U games really impressed me with any ground-breaking designs like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Metroid Prime.  But like I said, I enjoyed all the multiplayer games that I bought.  Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze was probably the best of the bunch.  Shovel Knight and FAST Racing Neo were a lot of fun, but again, nothing ground breaking.

Overall, I think I have to rate the Wii U as the worst Nintendo console so far, which is shocking because I didn't think Nintendo could actually do worse than the GameCube.  But the biggest problem was simply the lack of games.  Even if the GameCube didn't have that many games I wanted to play, it still had far more than the Wii U.  The Wii U was like a barren desert.

The second problem was the GamePad itself.  Too many games required that terrible controller, and certain system functions (such as system options/settings) couldn't even be accessed without it.  So if you used a different controller, you would be forced to switch to the GamePad for no good reason.  I left the stupid thing in a drawer most of the time and just let the battery die.  I would only connect it when I needed it for system/game settings, or when a friend visited.  Serves that stupid controller right.

But looking back, I wouldn't have changed my decision to purchase the Wii U.  The games that I did buy were definitely worth it, and I got to spend a decent amount of time playing multiplayer games (local or online) with friends.  I just wish the system had received more titles.

It's time to Switch

Top Gear 1 and 2

I had so much fun playing Top Gear 3000 again for my Youtube channel that I decided to pick up the prior two games in the series.  The used game market has been totally out of control for the past couple of years, and there's no telling when games like these will suddenly shoot up in value.  So I might as well get them now.  I now have the complete Top Gear trilogy for the SNES.  The prices weren't too bad either.

New 3DS

When Nintendo first announced the New 3DS about two years ago, I wanted to get one, along with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, but NOA had to go and screw all that up by announcing - in their infinite stupidity - that the standard-size New 3DS would not be releasing in the U.S.  Instead, only the XL version would be releasing here.

Since I don't want a massive-sized handheld, I decided to simply hang onto my original launch-version 3DS and send Nintendo a nice little email explaining my thoughts on the matter.  I also decided not to buy Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate because 1) for me, it's unplayable without a second analog stick for the camera control, 2) none of my friends seemed to be getting the game, and 3) I was pissed at Capcom for not releasing a Wii U version after they had previously released a Wii U version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

Well, shortly before Black Friday, Nintendo announced that the black version of the standard-size New 3DS would finally be arriving in the U.S., and it would only be $100!  Now that's a deal!  I pre-ordered mine from Amazon as soon as I could and just now got my system (Amazon's free shipping takes forever, but I wasn't in a rush).  I was surprised by how small the system box was, but it's basically just holding the system and the instruction booklets.  No charger, no charging cradle - nothing else.

Since the system doesn't come with a charger, I bought one separate (only $7, I should note), and I decided to buy a 32 gb micro SD card as well (I was already needing a 16 gb SD card on my original 3DS, so I decided to go even bigger.  The things are dirt cheap anyway)

Also, I had known about a special set of Zelda-themed cover plates, and since I thought they looked awesome, I went and bought a set (released in Japan only) before I even purchased my system.  The Mario-themed cover plates that came with the system really look nice, but the Zelda ones are definitely my favorite.

It took more than an hour, but I managed to transfer all of my data off my old 3DS.  I have never had a problem with the "glossy" design of the prior system, but I have to say, the matte finish on the New 3DS feels really nice.  Also, I really like the slightly larger screens.  The buttons and the D-pad feel better than prior versions, everything is placed in better spots, and overall, the New 3DS is more comfortable to hold.  I think it's just an all-around improvement from the prior model.  I can't see any drawbacks whatsoever.  I hear it also has a slightly better battery life, and the added system memory seems to make software boot up faster.  Hooray!

Hopefully I'll be getting Monster Hunter Generations for Christmas, but in the mean time, maybe I should go back and replay A Link Between Worlds, except this time on Hero Mode.

Oh, here's a better picture of those sexy new Zelda face plates.