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Feb 6th, 2008 at 19:38:50 - Yoshi's Story (N64) |
3rd assignment
2nd entry
Gameplay
My second session with the game was spent completing the game. Actually, all I needed was to complete one level. Once I completed the final level, I had to face the final boss, Baby Bowser. This battle felt like the easiest final boss fight ever. After the final boss was defeated, a colorful cut scene appears showing all of the pop-up pages of the Yoshi’ Story. Once the game has been finished, the player can play it over but this time with the other sub-levels. There are a total of 24 levels, but only 6 are needed to pass the game’s story mode.
I found myself reminiscing about my childhood after playing this game. I first purchased this game when I was nine or so. Therefore I may seem a bit biased when I write about this game. It isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it is a solid, fun, and beautiful game that should be in every gamer’s collection. Yoshi’s Story substitutes challenge and difficulty with plain fun.
Design
One design aspect of Yoshi’s Story that’s interesting is the jumping mechanic. Jumping is one of the most important elements in a platformer, and Yoshi’s Story does it right. You can control the direction of Yoshi’s leap smoothly which is a problem in a lot of platform games. Many platformers have a strong gravitational pull programmed inside of them. Yoshi’s Story has realistic gravity that feels right. Also, if you hold the jump button, Yoshi extends his jump for higher platforms.
The art style is another important design element in the game. All of the environments and characters have this realistic look to them, even though the game is a 2D game. It doesn’t look aged to me at all. I am still visually impressed by the game even though it is a 10 year old game.
The main design element that can be noticed by any gamer who gets their hands on Yoshi’s Story is the difficulty. It feels like that game is always on easy mode. A hardcore gamer can possibly complete the story in a half hour. The bosses feel like mini-bosses and the puzzles only take a mili-second to think about. This game is aimed for kids. However, that does not mean that it’s a bad game. This game does what any 2D platformer does, but better. It’s smooth, pretty, and never boring.
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Feb 5th, 2008 at 21:03:31 - Yoshi's Story (N64) |
3rd assignment
1st entry
Summary
Yoshi's Story is a fun, simple, and short 2D platformer with 3D character models starring none other than Yoshi. The game was released in 1998 on the N64 and was the successor to "Yoshi's Island" on the SNES. However, it wasn't accepted by gamers as the true sequel to Yoshi Island due to its simple difficulty level and its short length. Yoshi's Story had big shoes to fill since Yoshi's Island is considered by many to be one the best sidescrollers of all time. There is also a story in the game, well not really. The Yoshi's tree has been stolen by baby bowser and you're on a quest to find it and take it back.
Gameplay
In the game, you play as Yoshi trying to find fruit to eat. You need to eat 30 servings to complete a level. Some fruits are inside of bubbles that you must pop by tossing eggs. There are special blocks that give Yoshi eggs to use as your projectiles. Also, after swallowing enemies they become eggs as well.
They game has 6 levels with 4 sub level. Most games make the player complete all the sublevel before moving on to the next level, but that isn't the case in Yoshi's Story. All that's required is the completion of one sub level. This makes the game extremely short.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 22:33:37 - Super Smash Brothers (N64) |
2nd Entry
Summary
My second 45 minute session with Super Smash Bros included playin multiplayer with some friends. It brought back some nice memories of my childhood when I first purchased Smash Bros. It's strange how a game can trigger memories. I remember having a blast thunderbolting my brother to hell with pikachu. This is what the gameplay did to me. It was so fun that it transported me nine years ago when this masterpiece was first released.
I spent a lot of my time trying to master the fighting system. I wanted to test my skills agaisnt my friends so I disabled all the items. This way, we can see who was truly better. We basically were playing Smash Bros competively, rather than playing it like the way it's intended to be played: as a party game.
Design
A design element in Smash Bros that is different in other fighters is the "look" or artstyle of the game. Smash Bros has a 3D look, but yet plays as a 2D fighter. Most fighting games around that time were hand drawn 2D fighters, or fully 3D like Tekken or Virtual Fighter.
Even the stages in Smash Bros are designed differently from other fighters. They interfere with the fight against your opponents. For example, in the pokemon level "Safron City," numerous pokemon attack you, and in the Kirby level a tree tries to blow you off the stage. Most fighters don't do this. Usually fighting games have a flat level to showcase your combos. Smash Bros allows players to mix their skills with the level interference.
Another design choice that is not a traditional fighting game element is the items systems. Smash Bros include dozens of items from classic Nintendo games. Examples are pokeballs from pokemon, fireflowers from Super Mario Bros, and the Hammer from Donkey Kong. This adds a strategy to the game along with chaos.
The graphical design is nice as well, however not up close. The characters look blocky when the game zooms in on the fight. The game is still visually impressive though. When four-players are in action the camera tends to zoom out and thats when the game's graphics shine. The explosion effects from the items are beautiful. The stages are also easy on the eyes with gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds.
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Jan 25th, 2008 at 21:27:56 - Super Smash Brothers (N64) |
Summary
Super Smash Bros is a very popular fighting game for the N64 that took the videogame world by storm in April of 1999. Developed by the team who brought us the Kirby games, Hal Laboratory, you fight as one of twelve classic Nintendo characters against other Nintendo mascots. You fight on stages that are based on the games of these mascots.
Gameplay
Smash Bros is very easy to pick up. It's a fighting game, but it doesn't have traditional fighting elements, well at least for that time in 1999. The combos that are excuted in traditional fighting games like Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and Mortal Kombat are quite difficult and require long button combinations. Smash Bros on the other hand, only needs a button and a tap on the analog stick to perform a special attack. The controls are great and very simple, and yet it remains highly addictive. This game is for eveyone. It's not intimidating to play like a complex 2D fighter. Children who aren't hardcore gamers can put their hands on a controller and actually put up a fight. That is how simple the controls are.
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