Posts Tagged ‘Wii’

Welcome to number three in my on going review of 2010. It is not coverage of the best games, or the worst, but instead a look at those titles that became emotional touchstone for me over what was a difficult year. This time it is New Super Mario Bros, and it focuses a little more on the memories around the game than the game itself.

New Super Mario Bros holds a particularly conflicted place for me in my memories of 2010. After the usual blanket TV ad campaign (that Nintendo subjects Japanese audiences to) interest was high. While it released in 2009 limited funds in my UK account meant I was forced to wait some time before I was able to get my hands on a compatible copy.

During this wait I was constantly being asked by my girlfriend of the time when I was getting it. This was a woman who barely tolerated my gaming (maybe with good reason as I poured hours into it and writing) but here was a game she wanted to play, and we could play together.

Instantly recognizable, there is no barrier to entry for New Super Mario Bros.

On its arrival at my door she was suddenly keen to share my hobby. Everyday after this her first question upon arriving home from work was if we could play. Sometimes I even found myself reticent about playing due to commitments to cover other titles, but I always tried to make time.

We would laugh and enjoy hours with it each evening. At first I would play sloppily, ensuring she did not feel out classed. She quickly improved however and within a few days it was no longer necessary for me to handicap myself as she was happily bouncing her way through levels. Frequently it was her completing a stage as I died in my frequently unthinking haste, and while I would pick her up and throw her Luigi around in jest to show off my superiority she was in truth probably my equal at the game. Even if she never believed me when I told her.

It is the beauty of Mario that at this point though, especially in 2D, everyone of a certain age is almost certain to have had exposure to it or one of its derivatives.  With just a few additional, well-demonstrated controls the eight directions of the control pad and two buttons are enough to make it through each of the games archetypal levels.

I had only played the game with her, at her request. I never indulged in solo player sessions, preferring instead to keep it for us.

It became a game for the two of us, playing it alone just didn't feel right.

But my memories of it are bittersweet. While I look back on it fondly it marked perhaps the best of my final days with her, and indeed overlapped painfully with our break up. Key among my negative recollections is a day we had a visitor. A mutual friend from a local karaoke bar, and while I cooked my girlfriend entertained.

Most people may not appreciate the inherent difficulties of an intercultural relationship. Touchstones are sometimes hard to find. It isn’t that there aren’t any connections, but when meeting new people of their or your own culture there often seems to be an ease that can’t help but make the other partner feel jealous.

So it was this day. As I cooked the two of them sat playing Mario and laughing. I was already worried about them, knowing there was some attraction between them, but their enjoyment of each other’s company really started to grate on me as I worked. Their ease in conversation was made all the worse by the time they had been spending together at the bar he worked at, and the struggles we were both silently starting to feel to make our relationship work. And as I worked in the kitchen the jaunty Mario tunes provided a theme tune for my anger.

I could elaborate at length ongoing problems of my relationship; suffice to say that my feelings that day were symptomatic of a larger issue that plagued my ex and me. It crystallised the fact that it would not work, that we were not happy for reasons neither of us could combat, however much we wanted to.

Now, without her to play with, Mario looks lonely by himself on screen. And I suppose I feel the same way.

That day sealed the fate of my relationship, it still hurts and is inseparably intertwined with New Super Mario Bros. Now playing it I feel only melancholy where there should be joy. Each jump deadens me a little inside, and it is impossible to continue, save file will forever sit at world six. In short, what was supposed to be a game designed to bring people together did so until I found my person gone, replaced by a horrible loneliness.

Logically I should sell it, remove it from my life, but I cannot. Even with all of the loneliness and pain it reminds me of, it still has memories of the good times. Somewhere in all the hurt having it on my shelf is a comfort, and while playing it remains beyond me, I do still it and the times we spent jumping and laughing together.

We are back for the almost-last DoFuss Show. December will see the last DoFuss Show with my return from Japan to the UK. As I won’t be in the ‘land of the rising sun’ any more, the opening lyrics claim that I am ‘the number one gaijin, the man in Japan who can’ will become hopelessly inaccurate so (as we can’t be bothered to rewrite the theme tune) we decided to cancel the show.

Being busy trying to get ready for my return from Japan it has been a while since the last show, because of this it is a game and news filled episode. Stretching the entire gamut of gaming we jump from Half Life to Megaman, Yakuza to Kinect and 3D Space Tank to the Bible (don’t ask). But any podcast can bring you games, so we also deliver the best in Japanese terror attacks and a smattering of my own personal insecurities about my immanent return to Blighty.

Just in case you are worried about the fate of DoFuss, don’t be. The site will endure, and in the near future Darren and I will return with some as-yet-still-amorphous something for you aural delectation. I say ‘near future’, but I mean in the New Year once I am settled and (hopefully) employed back in the UK. Talking of which, if anyone knows of any job openings in England please let me know, the email address on the left. Thanks.

The DoFuss Show – Penultimate [ 1:03:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Since Silent Hill 2 Konami’s psychological survival horror series has been following something of a downward trend. Now new developer to the series, Climax Studios, buck this trend by making one of the most interesting, but flawed, installments since Silent Hill 2.

It is unusual to see me play through a game that doesn’t grab me immediately. It is even more rare I finish a game that at points actively discourages me from playing, and yet this is exactly what Silent Hill: Shattered Memoires does.

Short and flawed Shattered Memories is none the less is deserving of a play through, maybe even two if you want to see how the game change to reflect your in-game psychological profile.

Shattered Memories creates an incredible world. Moving away from the black rusted ‘dark world’ of past Silent Hills the new ‘dark world’ is one of blue ice that plays perfectly with the games narrative. Add to this the games promise that it was to actively psychoanalyzing me as I played and the hooks were there, but it kept fighting its own accomplishments.

Completely separating the puzzle element of the game from the action sections sees long sections of atmospheric exploration punctuated with horrific (as in bad not scary) chase sections. When I heard that combat had been removed from the game I initially rejoiced as it was always a failing point of the series, but the reality of the change made me less exuberant.

Being hunted with no recourse through Shattered Memories icy dark world was scary, but the tension was constantly undermined by the ineffectually Wii remote flailing I was reduced to every time I was caught by the shambling female figures that pursued me. It was a problem I could have forgiven if stealth was a viable tactic; unfortunately ‘sneaking’ hinted at by the game amounted to turning off the flashlight and doing exactly the same in the dark as I did in the light.

Shattered Memories flaws are redeemed in the last few hours of its six-hour story. Mounting psychological elements are slowly woven in to the story to create an awesome crescendo to events. Shattered Memories is so much better in retrospect that if you are ever fortunate enough to play it you owe it to yourself to finish it. Go on, it’s not that long!

We are coming in to May, which here in Japan means Golden Week. A magical time of strained family relationships and unspoken expectations that can only result in disappointment. Fortunately if you are I, and thus only involved in these festivities by the loosest of connections, it is possible to sit back and observe during your three extra days off, dodging the barbed comments and drinking beer. Plus as an extra bonus I get to finally try and finish Dragon Age on my laptop.

Unfortunately the downside to my upcoming situation is that I will have no Internet during the five-day visit to my other halves family abode. Thus unless I manage to get my planed post finished in my remaining time in Osaka, April is going to look like a pretty Spartan month for DoFuss. Not to worry really, my time has been fairly well spent, indulging in games (for edification and review) and writing for other sites. I have little to complain about but would like to have managed to get at least one of my two articles in progress up on the site before I left.

There is still a small chance I will manage to complete one of the unfinished projects that sit on my desktop before tomorrow morning when I have to leave. Just in case I don’t however here are some links to my other writings for the month of April on the wonderful Game People and Play Devil. Please visit them and remember to check back here next week for when I get back to civilization to post these articles, and maybe even do a podcast.

Line Rider 2 (Wii), Dark Void (PS3), Greed Corp (360), Lumines (PSP), Heavy Rain (PS3).

Heavy Rain (PS3), Silent Hill – Shattered Memories (Wii), An Open Letter To Fanboys (Feature).