Welcome to another week of Nintendo downloads, of which you’ve got plenty of options (especially on the DSiWare). First, let’s look at this week’s Virtual Console release starring our favorite mustached plumber…
Mario Tennis
Developer: Camelot
Publisher: Nintendo
Original System: Nintendo 64
Original Release Date: 08/24/00
Price: 1000 Points/$10
Chris Bowen: I’ve never been a fan of the Mario sports titles. It’s not even that I favour realism over arcade play, because I can do a good arcade game like NBA Jam or Rock the Rink. That’s not the problem. The problem I have with the Mario sports games is that it seemingly takes NO skill to play them. I’ve lost to my five year old brother based on nothing but special moves. I take sports maybe a little too seriously for my own good, though, so take that with a grain of salt.
With that said, Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 is a good game. It’s got nice, easy gameplay without the ridiculous special moves that ruined the Gamecube version of the game. It also has some decent balance, in that hard mode isn’t overbearing. For $10, this is a good purchase for Nintendo fans.
The WiiWare service got three new games this week. Jett Rocket costs 1,000 Wii Points/$10 and is a platformer wherein the main character uses a jet pack to get around. For a 40MB game, it actually does look sort of impressive. Pong Toss Pro – Frat Party Games goes for 600 Wii Points/$6, involves variations of tossing ping pong balls into plastic cups, and appears to be an updated version of Pong Toss: Frat Party. I suppose if you wanted to (re)live the glory days of frat parties, you could like this. Finally, Robin Hood: The Return of Richard runs 500 Wii Points/$5 and is a shooter starring the eponymous heroic outlaw that’s somewhat reminiscent of the types of shooter cabinets you’d see in arcades with lightguns attached, though in this case a bow and arrow is the weapon of choice.
As for the DSiWare service, six games were added, five of which cost 500 DSi Points/$5. Maestro! Green Groove is a platformer/rhythm game hybrid in which you create music by hitting objects as you proceed. There was another game in the series prior to this one, Maestro! Jump in Music, but it was only released in Europe. Date or Ditch is a Western dating sim that was first released on Blackberries, and in this version you can put in your own photo to add a bit to the immersion factor. Animal Color Cross (not to be confused with Animal Crossing) appears similar to the Picross games and consists of revealing hidden pictures by filling in the right squares with the right colors. It should be noted that Color Cross was released back in May, though Gamestop does not appear to carry it (though Amazon does). Ancient Tribe is a prehistoric themed real-time strategy game that entails building up your tribe and guiding them in battles against various wildlife. Brain Drain is a puzzle game that involves spinning elements so that they match a picture given as a model. Lastly, Battle of Giants: Mutant Insect – Revenge is the sole game going for 800 DSi Points/$8 in which the premise is to customize a giant insect into a killing machine. It’s also a continuation of Battle of Giants: Mutant Insects, which came out this past March.
That’s everything for this week, and you’re certainly not lacking for choices. See you next week!
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