I tried the Hey! Pikmin demo and I think I liked it

When Nintendo first revealed this handheld Pikmin spinoff last September, I immediately added it to my ever-growing (or maybe I should say never-shrinking) "buy these 3DS games as soon as is humanly possible" list.

Later, when it slipped out that Hey! Pikmin's developer wasn't an internal Nintendo team but the forever-maligned Arzest--makers of Yoshi's New Island, among other titles of debatable quality--my interest flagged a bit. It diminished even more after early hands-on impressions of the game made their way onto the Internet.

None of the above caused me to give up on Hey! Pikmin entirely, mind you. Even when my (uninformed) opinion of it was at its lowest, I still expected I'd pick up a copy once my bank account allowed.

Fast forward to this weekend, when I played through the Hey! Pikmin demo Nintendo recently--finally!--dropped onto the 3DS eShop. The gist of my reaction to that bite-sized version of the game: I'm definitely buying it, and sooner rather than later.

As for what tossed me back onto the Hey! Pikmin hype train, here are the first four reasons that came to mind:

The game looks great when splashed across a pair of 3DS screens--OK, so "splashed across" probably is the wrong phrase to use here, especially if your 3DS is of the LL or XL variety. If you use one of the original 3DS models, or one of the smaller New 3DS systems, though, Hey! Pikmin looks superb on its screens. Which shouldn't be a surprise, really. 3DS screenshots often disappoint visually when viewed on a computer or phone, but the games they represent almost always appear many times more impressive when experienced in motion and on the "real deal." At any rate, the hand-painted art style Arzest employed while producing this platformer is beyond pleasant. It reminds of the aforementioned Yoshi's New Island, but improves upon that title's aesthetic in pretty much every regard.

I already love its rather deliberate, exploration-focused gameplay--Early on, Hey! Pikmin's gameplay stumped me. It looked like a side-scrolling platformer, but that didn't really gel with strategic nature of the series' other entries. Thankfully, everything becomes abundantly clear once you start plodding your way through this portable Pikmin offshoot. Basically, it is a side-scroller, but it doesn't require players to hop from platform to platform, à la Super Mario Bros. Instead, you move Captain Olimar to the left or right with the 3DS' circle pad--or its directional pad or even A and Y buttons--while a tap of the systems' touch pad launches the Pikmin that follow in his wake to and fro. (You do the latter to collect or break objects, or to damage enemies.) I know it sounds clumsy, but I found it to be both competent and comfortable while completing the demo.

No 3D? Doesn't bother me a bit--I know some folks gets riled up when a 3DS game doesn't support the system's stereoscopic 3D feature, but I'm not one of them. Although I understand where they're coming from, and I wish every release made for Nintendo's second dual-screened handheld allowed people to customize their experience in such a way, I never turn on 3D while playing 3DS titles. Plus, adding stereoscopic 3D effects to Hey! Pikmin wouldn't have made much sense, as most of its action takes place on the portable console's lower screen.

I also can't say I mind being forced to use the 3DS' circle pad and touch screen--A lot of people prefer to use traditional input methods--directional pads and buttons--while playing games. I get that. In the case of Hey! Pikmin, though, ignoring the 3DS' touch screen would only make corralling the titular creatures more awkward than it needs to be. I guess the developers at Arzest could've included a mode that aped the control scheme of Yoshi's Island (where pressing a button brings up a target reticule, and another press launches a Pikmin). Even if they'd gone that route, though, I'd personally stick to the one highlighted in this demo, as I found it plenty precise.

Don't take all of the above to mean I had no issues whatsoever with the Hey! Pikmin demo. One negative that popped up during my 30-minute playthrough: the frame rate chugged or skipped now and then. It didn't bother me much, but I could see it being a problem if it happens frequently or if the action ever slows down substantially in the retail release.

Also, the soundtrack in the Hey! Pikmin demo is a bit too subtle for my liking. That doesn't mean the same will be true of the full game, of course, but I won't be shocked--or dismayed--if that's how things play out.

Have any of you tried the Hey! Pikmin demo? If so, what did you think about it? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section of this post.

Boy, do these game tunes bring back memories...

How's this for a silly, game-related tidbit that's likely to shock at least a few of you: back when I was a junior or senior in high school, I was completely obsessed with the Saturn version of Sega's Daytona USA.

I suggest that may surprise some of you because I'm hardly known for my love of racing games. In fact, the only examples of the genre I've ever given much attention here are F-Zero and Super Mario Kart, if memory serves. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)

At any rate, I became more than a bit smitten with Daytona USA after picking it up on a whim during my days as a Saturn owner.

That game's slick, exhilarating gameplay obviously had a little something to do with my aforementioned infatuation, but there were other instigators, too--with its energetic, effervescent soundtrack being a particularly noteworthy case in point.



I bring up all of this because I've had one of Daytona USA's songs ("Sky High," listen to it by clicking on the video above) stuck in my head for the last few days.

Also, reminiscing about the Daytona USA period of my life--and the hold a number of its ditties had on me at that time--prompted me to think about some of the other "game tunes" from my youth that left similar marks on my memory.

For example, there's the "Map Theme" from Yoshi's Island:



I remember humming that one on the regular while I obsessively worked my way through the pastel-filled platformer that has since become one of my all-time favorite games.

The Great Gaymathon Review #68: Yoshi's New Island (3DS)

Game: Yoshi's New Island

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Arzest

Publisher: Nintendo

System: 3DS

Release date: 2014

Now that everyone else on the planet has declared this Yoshi's Island follow-up to be a stinker of the first degree, I'm going to spend a few hundred words doing the same here, right? Wrong.

In fact, although I agree with those critics who gnash their teeth and wring their hands while muttering that New Island never quite reaches the heights its predecessor hit in terms of gameplay, graphics, soundtrack or even engagement, I also believe it eventually shows itself to be a "worthy enough" successor to that classic 16-bit platformer in most, if not all, of those same areas.

As for why that is, let's start by talking about the most important of the aforementioned elements: gameplay. For the most part, there's little difference between controls and options found in the original Yoshi's Island and those found in New Island. Jumping, inhaling enemies and tossing eggs serve as the anchors of both titles, and each of those actions feels pretty much the same regardless of which game you're playing. (It's possible jumping is a smidge slower in the 3DS title, but I can't say that with any confidence.)

New Island does attempt to add some spice to the Yoshi-platformer formula by throwing huge eggs of a couple of sorts and a handful of gyro-controlled bonus games that turn the titular dinosaur into various vehicles into the mix, but in my opinion neither winds up making the kind of impact or impression Nintendo seems to think they should make on players. So, it's probably best to think of New Island as "more of the same" in terms of gameplay--which is fine by me.

When it comes to New Island's graphics, on the other hand, there's no question that early impressions aren't good. At all. At first, everything looks, at best, to be a bastardization of the original. (Compare the aesthetics of the opening stage in Yoshi's Island to the first one in Yoshi's New Island for a particularly glaring and depressing example.) A few worlds in, though, and the situation improves mightily. In fact, my only complaint with this game's visuals in the end is that they sometimes seem a bit too mishmash-y due to the variety of art styles (chalk, crayon and watercolor paint among them) stuffed into each and every stage.

Another area in which Yoshi's New Island initially disappoints is its soundtrack. Gone are the assertively peppy songs that filled the first Yoshi's Island title, and in their place are a selection of far more laid-back tunes. Like New Island's graphics, though, I eventually came to appreciate, if not love, its background music and respect that its composer, Masayoshi Ishi, decided to take an altogether different path, aurally speaking, than his predecessor (Koji Kondo).

Given the positive-ish-leaning-toward-ho-hum reactions I've shared so far, it shouldn't be too hard to understand how some people who've played New Island have walked away feeling sour while others (like myself) have left it with a more appealing taste in our mouths. I can't help but imagine, though, that the former group of folks (the ones who aren't fans of Yoshi's New Island) may have had a less negative reaction to the game had the overall experience been a tad more engaging. After all, try as it might, this 3DS title never quite matches the original in that regard--although I'd be hard-pressed to point out exactly why that is. I have a feeling, though, it's due to the folks at developer Arzest being too concerned with aping the first game's key components instead of trying to improve upon them.

Regardless, I still consider Yoshi's New Island to be a worthwhile pick-up for 3DS owners--yes, even those who've placed the 16-bit original on a pedestal--looking for a platformer that'll keep them busy for 15 or so hours. Just make sure you don't go into it expecting it to resemble Super Mario World 3 or anything crazy like that.

See also: previous 'Great Gaymathon' reviews

If you like Yoshi's Island, you're going to love the Videri String Quartet's take on a handful of that game's classic tunes

In honor of the recent release of Yoshi's New Island, the members of Boston's Videri String Quartet decided to arrange, perform, record and share a medley of tunes pulled from the soundtrack of that game's Super Famicom (or SNES, if that's your thing) predecessor.



The entire composition is so wonderful I can't even point to a particular section as my favorite--although I guess if I were pressed I'd have to go with the quartet's sublime rendition of the game's "castle and fortress" theme. How about you?

See also: 'Raise your hand if you, too, are conflicted as hell about Yoshi's New Island'

Raise your hand if you, too, are conflicted as hell about Yoshi's New Island

It's unlikely you'll ever find someone who loves the original Yoshi's Island more than I do. I loved it to bits back when it was still fresh in everyone's mind and today I consider it to be among my all-time favorite games.

As such, I was a tad excited when I heard that the folks at Nintendo were working on another Yoshi's Island game for the 3DS.

Until I saw it in action, I mean. (Check out the game's latest trailer, below, if you've yet to lay eyes on it yourself.)

Now, I won't go as far as some people and declare Yoshi's New Island to be ugly or hideous, but I will say that its odd mishmash of an art style is a far cry from the one so brilliantly utilized in the original and in Yoshi's Island DS. (Hell, I even prefer the looks of Yoshi's Story at this point.)



My skepticism isn't based solely on Yoshi's New Island's aesthetics, by the way. I'm also a bit wary of its gameplay, which so far doesn't seem all that different or "new" from past efforts. (Yes, there are those humongous eggs, but I'd hardly call them game changers.)

If I've learned anything from my recent experience with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, though, it's that just because a game doesn't look so hot in screenshots or even video, it doesn't mean it won't look a whole lot better while playing it on an actual 3DS system.

So, despite the conflicted feelings I currently have for Yoshi's New Island, I'm going to do my best to remain open-minded about it until a copy of it is sitting in my hands.

What do the rest you think about this upcoming release based on what you've seen of it so far? Share your opinions in the comments section below, if you're willing.

From the back of my boyhood closet, part five

The following photo shows off the fifth (as well as sixth, seventh and eighth, I guess) game-related treasures I pulled from the closet of my childhood bedroom over the holidays. For those of you who can't quite make out the names of the SNES games in said snapshot, the one at the front of the line is Secret of Mana, followed by Final Fantasy II, Super Tennis and Yoshi's Island.

Would you believe it if I told you these games are among my all-time favorites for Nintendo's 16-bit system? Well, it's true.

Secret of Mana, for instance, will forever have a spot in my heart thanks to its lush graphics, laid-back soundtrack--and gobs of loot. Super Tennis, on the other hand, earned a place within my left ventricle (or is it my right one?) by bringing tons of late-night enjoyment to me and my childhood BFF during our frequent sleepovers.

Anyway, as stoked as I was to dig these four titles out of my old closet, I was saddened that I didn't also find a few other SNES games I know I used to own, such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart and Super Mario World.

Oh, well, there's always eBay, right? Speaking of which, I'm going to need to pay a visit to everyone's favorite auction site at some point in the near future in order to pick up either an SNES or a Super Famicom system, as I'm currently unable to play any of the above-mentioned games.

See also: Previous 'from the back of my boyhood closet' posts