Games I like, that most people dislike

There are games everyone loves, there are games everyone hates, but sometimes there are games that you like and most other people simply hate.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

While the games are beloved by many Pokemon fans, they're generally hated among the reviewers.  The Metascores for the games are around 50-60/100 and GameReactor placed Gates to Infinity as #5 Worst Game of 2013 with following text:

"Colorful, good-looking but at the same time so boring that it should be sold as sleeping pills for people with insomnia. The dungeons were boring and identical and the dialogues full of morals (which of course were unskipable) and most scenes ended with the characters crying and wanting to hug. We cried too, until we fell asleep of pure boredom and dreamed about kicking Pikachu in the face"

First of all, bashing a game that has a great focus on its story for the amount of dialog is just wrong. That's like if you were bashing a book for having text. And what's the problem with the characters showing emotions? While I'm not the biggest fan of Mystery Dungeon, I do love both the concept and the story and while I can see why people can find it boring, I do not agree with the really harsh reviews. If it was just GR, I wouldn't mind since their reviews are often quite bad (like saying that Donkey Kong Returns was too easy while the reviewer only played on the EASY mode), but it seems like almost no one likes it, except for the Pokemon fans.

Final Fantasy XIII

Why yes, it is definitively not the best or even one of the best games' in the series, does this game really deserve this much hate? I don't think so. Yes, it's not nearly as good as Final Fantasy VI, VII or IX, but it's not THAT horrible. It's biggest issue, that I do agree on is that it's way too linear, but at the same time, it has a great story (again, not as good as some of the games), great visuals and music and is overall not that bad of a game. It's not even close to being the best Final Fantasy, but it's still a good game.

Metroid: Other M

Ok, we all know the problem with this game. They "ruined" Samus by making her follow someone's commands and talk A LOT, but honestly, aside from that big flaw, the game itself is really good. I certainly enjoyed it.

Sonic Unleashed

This might be a little controversial, but... Sonic Unleashed is my favorite Sonic game and I really don't understand the hate it gets. I really love most things about this game. I really love the places you visit as they are based on real-life regions, making it a worldwide adventure. I love exploring those beautifully looking towns that are in my opinion a nice break from the action. I love the music, but well, every Sonic game has some good music (except Sonic R). People seem to mostly hate the Werehog stages, Chip and the story in general. While, yeah, some of the werehog stages are lame, I still found most of them very enjoyable and Chip was honestly my favorite character in the game.

But hey, there are some Sonic games everyone loves but I hate, but more about it another time.

Super Paper Mario

Sure, it has a different style than the previous games, as it is more of a RPG version of the regular Mario games, what are really liked about it was just that. Don't get me wrong, I love the previous two games in the series, but I love this one just as much. I really loved basically every second of this game. The gameplay was fun, it has a nice art-style, the music is great and the story is the best in a Mario game. Yeah, that might sound strange, but this Mario game has a really good story and probably the darkest too. Probably one of my favorites. At least, this game is still quite loved by the fans of the series.

That's it for today. See you next time

The Nintendo @ E3 Wishlist

The biggest gaming event of the year is just around the corner and even though Nintendo won't have a regular conference again, they'll be doing a bigger Nintendo Direct like last year and even more with things like Treehouse Live @ E3 and the Smash Bros Tournament. While many people are complaining, my question is: Why? It doesn't make any difference for us who are not present at E3 anyway. It is common knowledge that WiiU is not selling well to say the least and everyone has their set of things they want to see at E3.

I have formed a whole wishlist of things I want to see from Nintendo at E3 2014. Some of them are unlikely to appear, but it's a wishlist, and not a prediction list ;). The list isn't in any particular order.

Mother Trilogy HD

While I did say that the list doesn't have any top-list order, this entry is the thing I would love to see the most and sadly probably the least likely to appear. Shigesato Itoi stated that he's done with the Mother-series and it is complete. That's why I would love to see Nintendo giving the series the love it deserves by making an HD Trilogy, containing all three games remade with handrawn HD-visuals, new music and updated gameplay for Mother 1. It would be a perfect treat for all the loyal fans of the series as well as a chance for newcomers to discover why the series is so beloved by its fans.

Just imagine the games with this kind of music (Though Mother 2/EarthBound should still have the same musical style as the originals):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jts1E9gXsV8 .

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

I know, I know... Everyone wants this to happen and I'm one of them. Simply because, aside from Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask is in my opinion the second best Zelda game. Nintendo knows we want it and the engine is already there with Ocarina of Time 3D. Who knows, maybe it's already in development.

The Legend of Zelda Wii U
We're very likely to see something about the upcoming big game in the series. We've already been promised things we haven't seen before and a more open world. So what do I want to see? A world like that of Twilight Princess, but more open, kinda like Skyrim. More focus on freely exploring and more sidequests, all in glorious HD-visual that utilizes WiiU's power to its fullest

More platforms for WiiU's virtual console
The Virtual Console on WiiU kinda sucks right now. Sure, we got EarthBound and GBA games and the DS games are on the way, but where are the N64 games? Or even better, Gamecube games. Having that ultimate VC would be really amazing. I hope Nintendo will announce some new Virtual Console related things.

Miiverse app for smartphone

As Nintendo enters the smartphone world with Mario Kart TV app, all I wanna see is a Miiverse app with more features that the web versions. Like being able to send private messages to your friends or even make hand-drawn posts. The message and friend request features should also be enabled on the 3DS.

A Pokemon game for WiiU

There are rumors about a game called Pokken Fighters, being developed together with Namco. A fighting game with our favorite Pokemon would be awesome, but I would also like to see a Pokemon Stadium-esque game on WiiU. Who doesn't want to see their favorite Pokemon in HD (outside of Smash Bros)? Even Pokemon Snap 2 would be nice, even though I didn't really find the first one as good as people say.

A new Star Fox/F-Zero/Metroid game for WiiU

Nintendo doesn't seem to treat some of their franchises as well as the others. When was the last time we've seen a Star Fox game? On DS, and while the endings kinda suggested it being the end of the story, I bet they still have ideas for a new Star Fox. Or they could just you know... Use that new Star Fox team from one of the better endings. They seem quite awesome. Just imagine a game like Star Fox 64 in awesome HD. Nintendo knows how to do awesome-looking games. Give it a bigger story mode and a good multiplayer and there we go.

A new F-Zero would be sweet too. Super-fast racing in 1080p 60 fps. Who wouldn't want to see that? We need another F-Zero game.

And finally Metroid. Be it Metroid Prime 4 or something completely new. A new Metroid game would satisfy many fans of the series and could even bring some new gamers into the series or maybe even bring some Xbox/PS gamers to WiiU if it had a decent single- and multiplayer. And it would be best if any of these games were made by Retro Studios

A 3DS-Player for WiiU
Watching videos from various 3DS games on my Smart TV, I realized how nice it would be to play some off those game on the big screen. Either by streaming or by an extension, it would really be nice to play your 3DS on the TV. It works with Vita and PSP, so why not. 

The Rumored NFC figures

 Lately, the internet got some rumor (or is it confirmed now o.o? )about a Skylanders-like thing from Nintendo, using the NFC on WiiU and possibly a special adapter for 3DS. Why I am not a fan of Skylanders, the same thing with Nintendo characters would be quite awesome and could attract many children and adults alike.

Animal Crossing Wii U

Animal Crossing works the best on a portable system, but to be honest I would really like to see it in HD as well. My idea for it is that it could work in a similar way that Monster Hunter 3U did. The player could just transfer their save data to their WiiU when they're at home and transfer it back while going away. It would  be basically the same game but with better online compatibilities.

New Ouendan or Taiko no Tatsujin for all regions with the JAPANESE songs
I really love japanese rhythm games, especially Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (aka Elite Beat Agents in the west) and Taiko no Tatsujin. It would be nice to see those two get a new game for all regions instead of being Japan-only, but they should keep their original japanese soundtracks. 3DS or WiiU, it wouldn't matter
 
Something entirely new
An entirely new IP

More about existing projects
Inclusing Smash Bros, X, Bayonetta 2 etc. and thier release dates,

That's pretty much it, a quite long list indeed. I hope at least some of these things will be announced.
All aboard the hype train!

The Big problem with Gaming sites

As I mentioned in my first post, I was as previously blogging on a Swedish gaming website GameReactor, that also claims to be "Europe's Biggest Gaming Magazine". Sure, one of the reasons is that I wanted to do something more stand-alone, and in English as well. But the truth is, it's mostly all the negative atmosphere on this kind of sites that was the main reasons. I've actually been recommended to get off the site by some of my friends as they considered it a waste of time and that in the end it will just make me as negative as everyone else.

And yeah, that's honestly true. And my main problem with basically all pages like this is the community. Being a big Nintendo fan, I always focus the most on Nintendo related news. And most of the time, no matter if the news if positive or negative, there are at least a few negative and hateful comments. Sometimes, I just simply ignore them but sometimes is just getting on my or someone else's nerves when the comments just gets too stupid. Everyone also seem to always know everything about economics and what's best for the company and if you just try to say anything positive you get the most overused title of the gaming community: "fanboy". Seriously, it seems that by simply liking Nintendo and unlike them, enjoy what they're giving us. Sometimes things get to the point where it just anger me. Like the time someone said that everyone who is an adult and still enjoys "kiddie" games is mentally disturbed and had some disorder in maturing process. Some people also like to say things about autism or even worse, tell things like "Go kill yourself".

Seriously!!!! That's just gross! Why can't people just let others enjoy what they like? Why create all that unnecessary negativity. Don't you have anything else to do? Like playing those "superior" games? Finally, autism is nothing to joke about, not to mention phrases like "Go kill yourself" which can really leave an impact on a more sensitive person. The gaming community really should stop being like that, because as it is now, it might just be one of the most hateful of communities

I had a Swedish Nintendo related group on Facebook. It was a nice place where people could share their experiences and get the latest Nintendo news. But it all changed, when the negativity nation attacked. Some people, basically always the same ones, started to post (if not spam) the wall with about one negative post a day. "WiiU doesn't sell", "Iwata sucks" etc. I don't know the reason people do things like that. Do they like when people get angry at them? Whatever the reason, it was just getting more and more annoying. I tried to have some rules, but it resulted in people's disappointment and words like "dictatorship" were present.  Finally, I closed the group when a new, closed one was created by one of my friends.

In the end I want to point another important piece of that "puzzle". The writers of the news articles. Many gaming website seem to love creating negativity around things. Nintendo or not, many articles have overly negative titles that make he problem much bigger than it actually is. The articles are often poorly written too. While this is not only about GameReactor and Nintendo, they just give too many good examples of that:

Let's take the latest one, the one that inspired me to write this.

An article titled "Nintendo turns off online functionality for Nintendo Wii and DS"
The first paragraph is basically bashing Nintendo, mentioning the bad sales and of course the current issue of Tomodachi Life same-sex marriage:
"Lately they got a lot of critique for stopping same-sex marriage in their new game Tomodachi Life."
 First of all, they didn't STOP anything. The game never had same-sex marriage intended to be there to begin with. It was a bug in the game that basically made one of the characters take the same role as that of a female, resulting in some weird results and it could also results in the save file getting corrupt. So they patched it. Honestly, if the game didn't have the bug, nobody would make a big deal out of it. I mean, the game is supposed to be a silly escape from reality and not a real-life simulator like the Sims.

Secondly, which they actually corrected after I mentioned it, they wrote that all online features including streaming services like Netflix and Wii Shop Channel to be disabled. They even linked to the original Nintendo post which clearly said it's about online games and CERTAIN features, so someone was really half-asleep.

At least, I have one more problem. The whole article seems to aim at saying that it is all because of Nintendo bad situation and that they just announced it recently, while they actually planned it quite some time ago.

To sum it all: The gaming community as it is now is really on a bad rail. Hate from the gamers towards other gamers and developers as well as the site themselves encouraging that hate by writing bad articles with attention-seeking titles to get more traffic. Of course, it won't stop, but it's just sad.

Retrospelsmässan 2014 - Impressions

Except for being a lot of fun and a wonderful experience, Retrospelsmässan left a big impression on me as a gamer and even as a person.

I live in a small town and locally there's basically no one with the same taste in games as I am. People see those games as either childish or bad because they're old. I know a few people who love Nintendo both in real life and quite a lot on the internet, but it wasn't until Retrospelsmässan I realized how many people are into the same things that I am. I mean... There was a ton people there and even though Sweden is a big country, it has a small population. Seeing this many retro-loving gamers made me very really happy but at the same time sad that I live in a crappy town like that. I left the event with a higher self-esteem. Sure, I never even wanted to stop loving what I love and I knew that there's a lot of people like me, but it was still different to actually see that in real life.

Charles Martinet was probably the biggest highlight of this year's event. Not only was it a great experience to meet him in person and get a cool autograph, but it also made me remember why I love Nintendo that much: Fun! This guy, he clearly loves what he is doing. It is almost impossible to not smile when he is around: All the time sitting and signing and all throughout his speech, you could feel the joy in that. He seems to be a very nice person. And that's exactly what I love about Nintendo in general: having fun. And that's what Nintendo accomplishes with basically any game they make.

In 2012 and 2013 I was on another Swedish gaming event (more E3-like), Gamex. While the first time was good, the second left me disappointed. Nintendo wasn't there, which was a shame, but the biggest problem was (which I was told before) that it was like a freaking pre-school with all the kids running around and playing PEGI 18 games. It was annoying and made getting to any game almost impossible without standing in a long queue. That was not the case here. Yes, there were some kids too, but they were on a whole different level. They were not only much calmer, but they also knew a lot about retro-games which makes me really happy, because from what I see everywhere (and hear what they say in my sister's school) the kids today have a horrible taste in games, only wanting to play violent, mainstream games and mobile games, while LAUGHING at my sister for playing Pokemon on 3DS. The kids of RSM show that there's still some hope left in the young gamer generation.

Retrospelsmässan is the best gaming event in Sweden. It is made for true gamers and gives you the chance to relieve those amazing retro moments, meet people and so much more. I am really happy that I went there and will be there next year!

Retrospelsmässan 2014 - Sweden's Best Gaming Event

As I am getting back to the boring everyday life in this boring tiny town, I wanna look back at the awesome event that took place in Göteborg (Gothenburg) mere two days ago. An event full of all sorts of retro-gaming awesomeness and even more. Let me tell you about Sweden's Best Gaming Event.

Retrospelsmässan (Retro Game Gathering/Fair) is an annual event held in Eriksbergshallen on north coast of Göta River in the city of Gothenburg (the best city in Sweden imo). This event gathers true gamers from all over Sweden and lets them to experience the good old days of gaming as well as give a chance to purchase retro games, consoles and all sorts of accessories and collectibles.

This year's RSM had a very special guest: Mario himself, Charles Martinet, who also voiced Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Paarthurnax (Skyrim). Everyone had a chance to meet him, get an autograph and take pictures with him.

 

He also had an amazing speech there he talked about the story behind him as a voice actor and he even answered many questions as well as showing his voices. Luckily we even got a chance to meet him in the hotel, twice. It was really amazing to meet one of the people behind one of my (and many others') beloved characters. 

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Bergsala (Nintendo of Sweden) was present on the event too, bringing a whole lot of nostalgia by having all Mario Kart games playable, as well as giving us the chance to have a taste of the upcoming Mario Kart 8. The game is really awesome by the way! Looking forward to May the 30th. Nintendo even had some replicas of Mario's and Luigi's karts. Just a few minutes after entering the hall, me, my sister and some of my friends who moved away to the west coast had a kind of reunion and a reminder of the good old 3DS-meetup times by playing a cup in Mario Kart 7.

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One of the cool aspects was the Demo-room, which had most of the existing consoles that anyone could try out. It was really cool to see everything from the epics like NES to even those lesser known consoles such as Jaguar, Neo Geo and even those famous flops like Virtual Boy and CDi.

And yes, I tried both. As for the Virtual Boy, the flaws are obvious, but I gotta admit that it wasn't as bad as the internet makes it to be. Don't get me wrong, it's bad, but somewhat playable. As for the Zelda CDi games... Yes, they're really bad, but again, not as bad as the internet makes it. Considering that the tea behind had little time and resources, as well as the hardware limitations, it is quite good anyway... Well, except the cutscenes, they're horrible nightmare fuel.

I also tried out other games, including Pong on Magnavox Odessey 2001, Star Fox on SNES and some weird Japanese sidecrolling space-shooter on Famicom. As mentioned before, there were tons of games and consoles to try out, including...

The unholy grail of gaming, the game that was so bad, it is said to be the cause of the Video Game crash of 1983, the game that was buried in the desert. E.T for Atari 2600.

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The big parts of the event is all the things you can buy (after all it's a Retro Game FAIR ;) ). There were tons and tons of games, consoles and other goodies. The new consoles that plays games from 5 different systems, RetroN 5, as well as a book called 8-Bits had their Swedish premieres on the event. Collectors had a chance to buy games for all the systems, some of them were really cheap, some of them were REALLY expensive (up to $800!!!). Personally, I bought the book, a Tankooki Mario Plushie, a huge event poster and a Zelda-themed bag while my sister bought PixelCraft magnets, a Yoshi egg plushie and a cool Super Mario-themed cap.

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Another attraction was making bead sprites. It was completely free and was really fun to do among many other people. I did a Mario sprite and my sister did a Lugia and Yveltal

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Well, let's just shortly mention the other attractions, because I could go on for a long time. You could try out some indie games, including the amazing SteamWorld Dig by Image&Form and even get a free copy if you answered a survey.

Some people were speed-running multiple games, several competitions were held, an art gallery and a small museum were there and just so many awesome things that it really needs to extend to two days instead of just one.

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These kind of events are of course a place where you get many StreetPass hits, and this is no exception. I got over 100 StreetPass hits on a single day, something I didn't manage on either of Gamex events. It is a really amazing feeling to be among this many people with the same interests.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I will write about what made this day so special and why this event was important to me.