Drack

***ROUND TWENTY-TWO*** Star Fox: Assault NO OVERRIDE There is NO way this can be considered a must have. Supposedly its aim was to mix the new (at the time, Adventures) Star Fox with the classic (SNES/N64) Star Fox, it did indeed mix them, with a variety of aerial and on foot missions. HOWEVER, the story was completely lacking. It didn't feel at all like Star Fox. It felt as if there was a sci fi writer who contributed a plot, and Nintendo decided to replace the characters with Star Fox characters. The voice acting was abysmal. Characters, especially Peppy, showed virtually no emotion. They just didn't care about the life and death situations they were going through. Once you hear the characters talk, you'll note that there's a reason I play this game on mute. The music is unoriginal. Sure, they're building upon the classic Star Fox 64 tunes, which I'm not bashing. But the tracks are often worse than the ones they're based on. Take Katina's theme for example. Assault's version slows the tempo down, making it very hard to listen to. The controls are very annoying, and counter intuitive to use. Even though Assault gives you multiple schemes, none feel as natural as Star Fox 64's. Granted, most of the game is in "All Range Mode" - but even the multiplayer from '64 feels much easier to use. A few changes to that tried and true interface, like the weapon change, is all that's needed. The plot. Oh my god, the plot. The aparoids idea feels like it was taken from a budget sci fi movie and has no place in Star Fox. The killing off and then revival (omg spoiler) of characters feels forced and meaningless. The alliance between Fox and Wolf (oh crap more spoilers) seems contrived and unnatural. My first reaction was to shoot at him after the dialog explained not nearly clearly enough that he wasn't an enemy. It had the look, but not the spirit of a true successor to the classic Star Fox games. Super Monkey Ball 2 not voting This game was a lot of fun. The goofy cutscenes and characters, even the very concept of a monkey inside a ball made the game nice and relaxing and gave it a nice personality. The mechanics are great. Who knew a game that only uses the analog stick could be so fun? It was intuitive to pick up yet difficult to complete. It offers a great variety of difficulty and quite a bit of replay value, even a fun multiplayer mode. I like it too much to not feel guilty giving it a no vote, but I don't think it's quite up to the cutoff for being a must have. It sits right on the line, so it's more like a must consider -- so I'm not voting on this one. ***ROUND TWENTY-THREE*** WarioWare: Touched! NO What a wacky game. Bust out your stylus, cause you're gonna be poking, dragging, tapping, and doing all kinds of stuff with the touch screen. In fact, aside from a few gimmicky unlockables, the touch is the only interface this game uses. The premise of WarioWare is simple. You must complete simple tasks one after another, but you only have a few seconds to complete each one. Miss too many and you're done. The game gets faster and faster the further you go, and you must complete a larger "Boss Stage" to finish a section. The problem with WarioWare: Touched! -- and all other WarioWare games -- is that it's too shallow. There are plenty of microgames, but once you beat it - and this only takes a couple hours - it will all be "been there, done that" and you'll never feel inclined to pick up the game again. There is no wifi multiplayer, the unlockables are simple and quickly lose their luster, and the microgames themselves have little to no replay value. Rent it, play through it once, and don't look back. ***FINAL ROUND*** Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Edition YES If you haven't played these games, I recommend them. OoT is unquestionably a must have, and if you haven't played it, shame on you! Fix it with this! Zelda 1 is also a must play. It's the classic that got the ball rolling, and is a lot of fun. It challenged the then standard level system of games with a nonlinear structure that has carried on into its sequels and into similar games. You could do many of the dungeons out of order. The challenge was there too. This is not an easy game. Zelda II, also included, packs even more difficulty. If you have a desire to conquer big challenges, Zelda II is definitely a must play. If only they had included Link to the Past, this game would be all the more incredible. Instead it has Majora's Mask, which I've only played part of the way through so I don't have an opinion on it. Definitely pick up this game... oh wait it's not for sale. It was given away as a promotion for buying a gamecube at a specific time interval so you'll have to get it used. Still, get it if you haven't played the originals. These games are fantastic. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Borderline YES. Everybody's gotta play a Mario Kart game, and this is the best of the recent ones. It has some interesting features, like characters having exclusive items, cars determine speed rather than characters, and its signature feature of being able to use 2 drivers at once, when you're solo or pairing with a friend. The game is challenging to complete, though I did max out the single player in a single weekend. There is a good amount of replay value. It's a great game to play with a friend. Have one person drive and the other handle items and you'll have a lot of fun. There is also a good amount of multiplayer options. Who wouldn't enjoy chucking bobombs at your opponent on top of a giant gamecube? Sonic Adventure 2 Battle NO As far as 3-D sonics go, this is the best of them. It had a lot of improvements over Adventure 1, and has a lot of plot and story elements, though as with Adventure 1, the plot has shifted from defeating a crazed scientist to saving the world from annihilation. I personally didn't like this game very much, and I stand by that decision. The way the 3D was handled was awful. The camera would move around with a mind of its own, making the platforming very difficult. Bottomless pits ahoy, and repetitve themes for levels - the Knuckles / Rouge missions were extremely tedious - make this game better for renting than buying. The story is long and detailed, the content is there - levels are enormous and complex - but the gameplay is nothing like what the 2-D sonics were like, and the physics/camera/placement of hazards made the game feel unfair. It's leaps and bounds ahead of Shadow or Heroes though imo, so this should by your top choice for 3-D sonics. Metroid Prime Pinball NO Morph ball pinball, What fun! Samus goes through the levels of Metroid Prime in a pinball machine, complete with pirate attacks, bosses, all kinds of stuff. It's pretty exciting, but if you're a pinball fan, most of the mechanics are "been there, done that" The rumble addon is a nifty toy, but you have to keep in mind how much that motor is taxing your battery. There really aren't many levels (Entire areas, ie "Phendrana Drifts" only get one table). The fun seems to wear off quick, as you don't get far unless you can "complete" boards, and most of the content is unlockable. Pass on this one. If you're so hell bent on Metroid for DS, get Hunters, but even that has a lackluster single player. Star Fox Command NO Did anyone not expect this after I NO'd Assault? Command continues the downward spiral of Star Fox games, exhibiting many of the same flaws, but also fixing a few. If anyone's played the Star Fox 2 beta, it's easy to see where Command got many of its good parts from. So why don't I like Command? Wel, I still don't like the voice acting, though it's worlds better than Assault's. The story is better as well. Instead of having the story of a budget sci fi movie, this one plays more like a choose your own adventure book. There are MANY paths and endings you can earn, and a lot of them are bizarre and interesting. It's an odd thing for a game to do. However, there are some huge negatives I cannot overlook for this game. For one, the ONLY control scheme is with just the touch screen to steer, boost, somersault, barrel roll, etc. If I remember correctly, even bombing is done with touch, though I seem to remember shoot being L as in Metroid Prime Hunters. Anyway, there's no way to control it SNES style, which shocked me as the DS and SNES controller have so many similarities. If you were expecting an on rails shooter, or even a mixed one like Assault, you'll be disappointed. The game is played like a Real TIme Strategy game. You take your units and do stuff on a world map, and when they bump into enemies, you fight them in a time limited, All Range Mode dogfight. This is the part that's similar to Star Fox 2. However, these battles have trivial depth. It's nothing like the scripted events of '64. You just fight some enemies and beat em in time or you don't. Then it's back to the map. No thanks. Tetris DS not voting This required a lot of thought. Tetris is one of those games that everyone's played but there are only a few hardcore fans. This game's allure is many, MANY modes, and an online WFC function. Sounds great, aye? But some things bring it down. The music is merely okay, featuring old Nintendo classics remixed, but are short and repetitive. The classic Tetris theme, "Ancient Tetris" only plays on a few, very difficult, levels. While there is a sound test, it would be awesome to have the option to select which musical track plays through the entire session. After all, the original tetris had this feature. The online mode is quite competitive, featuring optional items and up to 4 player battles. Some negatives are that for 4 player mayches, you CAN'T play with 2 or 3 people. One person disconnects? You can't play a match with the other peeps you've been playing with and have to search again. There's no rivals system a la Hunters, which came out the same day. Perhaps the biggest flaw is the "infinite spin" - If you don't know where to put a piece, keep mashing that rotate button and it won't lock into place. This eliminates one of Tetrtis's biggest challenges, and can't be turned off. You won't see this being used in hardcore competitions - Levels have been maxed out by quite a few casual players. As far as competitive online tetris, I think Tetrinet is (was? is it still around?) a better solution. It's fun for a time, and surely interesting, but if you're not a hardcore tetris fan why would you buy it? and if you are, the infinite spin will be a huge smack in the face. Still, the game has too many merits to be easily discounted, so I'm just reviewing, not voting on this one.

I still don't like it. It's as if Fox got his head chopped off and regenerated it wrong.

I'm a console modder. I've noticed that 100% of the N64 titles that have been released for Virtual Console so far are in the small set of games that can be run in Nintendo's own N64 Emulator for Gamecube. What is this emulator I speak of? Let me draw your attention to two gamecube games: Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time + Master Quest. These promotional games featured emulated versions of Ocarina of Time and either Ocarina of Time Master Quest or Majora's Mask, depending on the game. (Collector's Edition also had the 2 NES Zeldas and a Wind Waker demo). Not so recently, the console modding community has been able to rip this emulator from these discs, and run other N64 games on modded gamecubes using these. Classics such as Super Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Mario Kart 64, Pilotwings 64, F-Zero X, of course the Zelda games, and not much else, could be played on this emulator. All of the current N64 virtual console games previously ran on this emulator. What does this mean for Virtual Console? I predict F-Zero X to be released soon (It already has been in Japan), Pilotwings 64, and Ocarina of Time Master Quest. Majora's Mask may soon follow - Those who played it on the Zelda Collector's Edition know that it was a little glitchy with sound problems and lower than the original's FPS at times. These are the games that would require the least work to be done on Nintendo's emulator to work with virtual console. Sadly, much work will have to be done to make other games run. We're already feeling a lack of N64 games for virtual console, and there are not many titles remaining that can work with the current software.

Good thinking there, the reflector and the "mine" are both hexagon shaped.

That looks like a mine on his belt.

Database is back online. I will be keeping backups from here on out. If 1111mb pulls this crap again I'll be ready to switch hosts. I am irked that there is absolutely no acknowledgment of the downtime on the site. Drack demands an explanation for this bullshit!

You'll have to set port forwarding or DMZ in your router configuration. Open a new web browser window or tab. If your IP in ipconfig showed up as 192.168.0.x go to 192.168.0.1 (in the address bar). If the third number wasn't 0, go to 192.168.whatever-the-the-third-number-was.1, for example 192.168.100.1 Once there you'll have to put in a user name and password. Unless these have been changed, there are fairly predictable defaults. The username is almost always "admin" and the password is often "admin" "1234" "" (blank) "linksys" etc. You can Google for your router's default user/password. Once there you will have to go to the port forwarding menu. Look for things like "Applications and Gaming" or "Advanced" - different brands put this in different places. This can help you getting there: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm Once you've got that menu, you can forward the desired port, or set the DMZ to yourself to completely disable the blocking that NAT does. For the lan/target/server IP field, use the ip you got for your computer in ipconfig. Once you've forwarded the appropriate port or made your computer the DMZ, you should be able to connect to whatever service/p2p as if you weren't behind a NAT.

NAT, or Network Address Translation, is a process where a router masks your computer's IP address. All home routers do NAT - they share a single connection and a single internet IP with several computers. You may already be behind a NAT router. Opsn your start menu, go to run, type "cmd" sans quotes and press enter. In the DOS box type "ipconfig" and check your IP address. if it begins with 192. or 10. you are behind a NAT. NAT blocks connection-oriented protocols - like servers and P2P programs. Two NAT'd clients cannot connect to eachother, but if you're behind a NAT you can still connect to peers who aren't NAT'd themselves, and you can be a CLIENT for servers like FTP and email. You can bypass NATs through port forwarding. Forwarding a port number makes all traffic on that port go to the computer it's forwarded to. You'll want IP Address reservation or static IP if you want to forward ports. This lets a NAT'd computer act as a non-NAT'd computer. You can also set a DMZ - A NAT router will direct ALL port-specific connections to the computer set as a DMZ. This basically makes that computer not NAT'd at all. If you have any questions I'll be glad to clarify any of that.

For whose who are getting this when you visit my database: 1111mb seems to be having problems. See their main page http://www.1111mb.com/ If this is not solved soon I will switch hosts.

I said that wiimote + chuck isn't going to be practical/comfortable, not that it won't be used. I did not say that gc controller would be the only mechanism. I said that I predict multiple control schemes. Lo and behold.

Four is many.

Hey Radical Dreamer! News from page 257! I'm sorry, but I'm taking that response with not a grain, but a mountain of salt.Answers have been across the board when Nintendo employees have been asked about Brawl's controls. From my perspective, it's easy to see how a classic or gamecube controller would work - just like Melee did! But a Wiimote + Chuck combo isn't likely gonna cut it. You have A attack, B attack, Jump (Not everyone uses up to jump), shield w/ grab, and shield w/o grab. Unless you want to use the D-pad on the wiimote, that's not going to work out. And if you do,it's not going to be comfortable. I predict multiple control schemes, but I don't think many will use the 'mote. Who's laughing now?

***ROUND TWENTY*** Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door YES If you liked the other paper mario games, this one is unskippable. The script is fantastic, the personalities of the characters are great. The battle system is turn-based as its predecessor was but involves timing and strategy, but in a better balance than the timing-fest that was the Mario & Luigi games. There were enough surprise/random moves like the appeals and the roulette that things are kept interesting. The story was good, and while the game takes many hours to complete, these hours are packed with content - the game doesn't make you run around doing boring tasks as much as Super Paper Mario, and makes you keep coming back for more. The paper elements that you get from the "Curses" are creative and fun. The boss strategies are interesting and creative. There is not much bad I can think of for the game, except a need to be able to run faster. Megaman ZX Borderline NO. This was a tough decision. ZX is a great game. It has creative enemies, cool bosses, great music, and nice levels. It's a very fun Mega Man game. However, it has some undesirable elements. For one, the whole "weak point" mechanic for the bosses was retarded. Having to AVOID hitting bosses at their weak point so you don't damage the suit you get form them added much tedium to the game, as the alternative to getting a good suit was to buy upgrades, and it cost a LOT of money. You only get 4 boss suits, your ZX suit, and a secret one . Most Mega Man players are accustomed to having 8 It's still very, VERY enjoyable, but I don't think it's a "Must Have" Sonic Rush NO NO NO NO NO. I'm probably going to catch a LOT of flak for this, but this game really did not jive with me. The premise was great: A 2-D sonic, to remedy Sonic's decline following its lackluster 3-D titles. And it was 2-D, save some bosses and some cool stage effects. It even adds a cool turbo mechanic, where you have a bar that lets you boost, instantly accelerating into the high speeds we're accustomed to for Sonic games. It even packed a very cool and very retro Sonic 2-esque SPecial Stage that used the touch screen very well. So what's wrong with it? Enemies, Levels, Bosses, Characters. The enemies were nothing new. A higher percentage could just be rolled or jumped on from any direction than most sonic games. Rooms would lock you in forcing you to defeat 4 or 5 of these dull enemies before you can continue. The levels were boring and uninspired, aside from some cool gimmicks. The main threats were not in creative ways to get through them, as was in Sonic 1-3&K, but instant death traps, pits, pistons that crush you, etc. Where most sonics would use these cheap tricks to get rid of your rings - perfectly acceptable - Rush throws death at you. A LOT. The bosses are interesting, until you realize that the same boss is repeated several times. Many times you find yourself running around a 2.5D ring waiting for the boss to finsh its routine and expose its weak point. It's the same kind of bosses that were criticized in Shadow, just in a more restrictive geometric plane. During every boss fight, you have Tails or Cream egging you on. This dialog is annoying and distracting. They state the obvious with very few voice samples whenever you hit or get hit by the boss. The dialog between stages is laughable, and the character development is idiotic and superficial. The conflict between Sonic and Blaze culminated in a somewhat interesting fight, but the fight itself copied so many boss moves from previous games it wasn't funny. The music for Rush is a far cry from the simple catchy tunes with great chord progressions etc. that ocremix fans know and love. Rush's music is much more similar to pop, with vocals much more intrusive and repetitive than those in Sonic CD. It was a nice attempt at changing the mix, but only a few tracks were worth listening to. Great premise, great ideas, poor content, poor execution.

I was about to say the same thing. Quoted for major emphasis.Also, add descriptions/reasons to votes, or they are just made of fail.

Possibly one of the greatest ways to save money: to spend all your time doing one thing that has a fixed monthly rate rather than an hourly one.

I like Meteos better because it's more frantic, fast-paced, and action packed. While I'm not denying in the least that PPL requires you to think fast, it kind of "locks up" for a second whenever you make a trio, giving you a chance to combo but at the same time stopping the growth of stuff from below you. You can't even force it with the L+R combo. With Meteos, if I'm on a roll, you bet I'm holding L and having the game throw everything it can at me while I combo it right back. Constantly fearful of death, I'm making moves as fast as I can think of them. Step jumping ignitions and building up bigger and bigger rockets, while having the game dump as much as possible onto the heap and shooting the whole damn thing at the enemy. That's classic. There is also so much diversity (dare I say, depth?) between the various planets. With PPL, it's more of a set up. You make a trio, the game kind of pauses and lets you think of how you can combo it. It's more about strategy than action and reaction speed. The game will even give you hints in the form of an arrow telling you to move a block this way to that when it falls it makes another trio. The comboing system of PPL is more similar to Puyo Puyo than it is to Meteos: You get a combo if when the blocks that fall form your last trio fall in such a way that they make another trio, as opposed to meteos's "secondary ignitions" where you make an ignition on or adjacent to one you've already made. It's a different style of play, and one I enjoy less than blowing stuff up. Both games have excellent music. You are entitled to your opinion, but this comment reeks of "Anyone who disagrees with me is wrong."

Thanks Bummerdude. Rehosted and enabled. Looks great.

***ROUND NINETEEN*** Midway Arcade Treasures 2 NO - It was entertaining, but no single game in this collection struck me as a "Must Have" .. Mindless Games like Rampage World Tour were fun for a few hours but most of these "treasures" are relics from a time where games didn't need a lot of content to sell. Every era has its great and not so great games, and I feel that not enough of those featured in Midway Arcade Treasures 2 were of the former category to label this collection as a Must Have.

It does both. IMO stylus is much easier to use. I still like meteos much better .. /grumble

***ROUND EIGHTEEN*** Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin YES. This game, as far as Castlevania go, is incredible. The world is massive, the items and weapons are numerous, the enemies are cool, the bosses are interesting, the story is decent, It references Bloodlines, the 2-person system works well, the puzzles are innovative, and the replay value is incredible. I've done no-damage runs on the final boss using (spoiler) *Richter* on Hard mode even. Not to mention the other secrets being a hell of a lot of fun. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl YES. This is borderline, but if you haven't gotten sick of Pokémon from R/S/E this is an incredible game. While the formula hasn't changed much, there is an important feature that give this game a lot of life: Wifi. You can trade and battle online, and even do anonymous trades over WFC. If you decide to play a pokémon game, this is the best one by far in my opinion. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't played the GBA ones, though it's not a must-have if you have. Chances are, though, that if you have played the last few games you're an addict and will buy it anyway

Looking for a boss sig with Triclyde from SMB2 Preferably one that includes it breathing fireballs at Mario.

Yeah but he has 2 black eyes and the eyebrows look weird as hell. Even if they DO stick with the new Fox look, they could make him look a lot better. Or at least provide an alternate costume where he wears the sunglasses from SF64 Expert Mode, to cover up those eyes.

They need to change Fox's face. His look (not to mention everything else) was so much better looking in SF64 and SSBM. The adventure/assault/command look just doesn't fit the fox.

Ok, So the format is xxxxxx-xxxxxx for this game? Database updated, thanks. Feel free to add your code there

I will when I get home. See you tonight.