Saturday, November 8, 2008

Opinon: Heroes Fallen


Kid Icarus, F-Zero, Starfox... All fo these featured in our E3 countdown way back in July, when we hoped for a new game in the series. Kirby, Zelda, Pikmin, Mario and Punch Out!! have all recieved a new sequal, and Nintendo have even revived Sin & Punishment- The ultra-hardcore cult classic realised on the N64 in Japan when the console was nearing the end of it's life. It may never of reached the west on it's original cartidge form, -Infact, an original S&P cart is worth upwards of £100 these days- but when it eventualy reached the Wii's Virtual Console last year, it got the popularity it deserved, promting Nintendo to make a sequal. But the best selling VC N64 game -Besides Zelda and Marios, and S&P- is F-Zero X. So how come Nintendo hasn't made a Wii version then? Surely if something hardcore that could still be enjoyed by the 'Mainstream' or 'Casual' audience due to any motion controls Nintendo may stick in there wouldn't go down badly?

But then again, no Nintendo system has got through it's lifepsan without a F-Zero title since it was created back in 1992 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the same goes for StarFox. Ok, there was Command on DS, but besides that we've seen nothing from Fox, Falco and Slippy The Berk on Wii outside Smash Bros., inwhich they even made them far weaker that in the GameCube version, despite the far incressed foxy love poured into the game.

OK, maybe Smash isn't the be-all-and-end-all as some fans (Even though our 'Other Ed' Grancko belives) but it is the only way Nintendo are keeping some franchises alive these days. There's 5 Mario characters, 5 Zelda characters, 4 Pokémon Characters (or, depending on who you ask, 6) and then many from other Nintendo franchises. Mainly covering the big ones, it's still a suprise to see that Nintendo's posterchild of Hardcore Gaming (Besides Zelda), Metroid, only recives one character and an alternate version of that one if you hold L & R o the Character Select menu or use their Final Smash. And yet, there's already been a Metroid game on Wii AND DS: Something only Mario and Zelda have accomplised besides Ol' Massive Shoulderpads.

But! Let's not complain too much. There's a new Kirby out on DS next month, even if it's a rehash of an old one, and then we've got Animal Crossing: Another member of Samus, Mario & Link's "Wii and DS!!" club. Not forgetting Sin & Punishment: A series we thought long-dead. Another Code, Punch Out!! and Pikmin are all also set to do the whole "Rwise From Your Gwavez" thing next year two. And now that the Fall Confrence has shown that the Old Nintendo are still in there, we wouldn't be suprised to see F-Zero or Kid Icarus announced during next year's E3.

Oh yeah, and Nintendo, please get to work and realise a new trailer of that new Wii Zelda game. K TNX BY.

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