PixlBit

 Number 22

I always dreamed of going to a Nintendo theme park. It's something I always wanted to see as a kid, sadly it doesn't exist. There is a Pokemon theme park in Japan though and that's a place I plan to hit up if I do have the chance to go. But imagine a Nintendo theme park that's like Disney Land, except it's video game themed rather than based on a legacy of movies and cartoons. It probably wouldn't be on par with Disney Land but it would be pretty amazing. In fact, creating a Nintendo theme park is sort of a dream of mine and it's one thing I might or plan to do if I ever get rich or something.

When Nintendo showed Nintendo Land at E3, alot of people expected a new IP. Some people were impressed and some weren't. I was excited because this was as close as I would get to seeing a theme park based on alot of my favorite games. That year I got a Deluxe Wii U set with Nintendo Land included for christmas, and my bros and I were excited to see what new things we can expect from the Wii U. We played Nintendo Land for a bit and I was stunned at the graphics. The game looked nice but what surprised me the most was the games themselves.

Alot of them are mini-game versions of their real counterparts but they are surprisingly fun and are an almost faithful representation of the full games. Well some of them. Games like Mario Chase and Luigi's Ghost Mansion are simple but fun games, but they show you what the gamepad can do. Mario Chase is a hide and seek type game, where you have four players on tv looking for the fifth player who is using the game pad. What's neat is that the people on tv can't see the gamepad player but the gamepad player could see everyone.

The mansion one is more than just chasing actually. Like the Mario one, the Luigi one involves all the players on tv to find or hunt down the Gamepad player who is a ghost. I think this one might be a slightly bit more better than the Mario Chase game. In this one you play hide and seek, or hide and sneak. The gamepad player plays as a ghost and the players on tv use flashlights to find and exterminate the ghost. The players with flashlights try to deplete the ghost's hp of 100 points. If you manage to deplete the HP of the ghost you win. However, if the ghosts catches you 3 times, you're out. If the ghost does this with all the players, the ghost wins.

Those are just a few of the multiplayer games, but there are actually games based on Zelda, F-Zero, Pikmin, and Metroid here too. Those are my favorites. The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest has you take the role of Link (or different colored Links if you're playing with more people) and you embark on a quest to slay monsters while searching for the Triforce. The game is on-rails so you can't move freely like in your traditional Zelda game, but you are however in control of your attacks.

In this game you either play on the Gamepad or use a Wiimote +. If you use the Gamepad, you play as an archer and fire arrows using the gamepad and you use the gyroscope to aim. If you opt to use the Wiimote +, then you use a sword and shield instead. I prefer the Wiimote + because you can block attacks with your shield. It's really fun and you can play with 4 players.

You also have a Metroid game called Metroid Blast and this one might be the most fun out of the multiplayer games. This game plays like a Metroid Prime game but in a third-person mode. You are in control of moving anywhere and what you do is fight through waves of enemies using abilities from the Metroid games. If you use the Gamepad, you play the game using the Gunship, but if you use the Wiimote +, you go on foot. This game even has a head to head mode with more people and it's really fun. This game also shows what a Metroid game could be like on the Wii U. Sure, it wouldn't be a mini-game like this but at least it gives you glimpse of some ideas.

 

You also have Pikmin Adventure that plays like a Pikmin game. It's much more linear but it's really good at what it's supposed to do. You can even play with more people. The player on the Gamepad plays as Olimar and Wiimote players play as Pikmin. The Wiimote players can move freely on their own, but Olimar can also whistle to call them at his side to attack enemies or obstacles.

Then there's Captain Falcon's Twister Race which is probably one of the biggest troll moves to fans of F-Zero. It's been years since there's been a new F-Zero but Nintendo sure loves to tease fans about it with cameos, but that's for another time. This game is only single player but it's pretty fun. You play as Captain Falcon and drive the Blue Falcon through tracks with obstacles you must avoid. Some might have normal vehicles, others might involve these tornado things coming out of vents from the ground, others might be spikes or bombs. The bombs kill you in one hit so be careful. You control this game with the gamepad using it's gyroscope but you hold the gamepad differently which makes things interesting. It's fun but only makes me miss F-Zero more.

            

There are more mini-game/attractions but this post would get more longer than it should be. But here are a few more things I can talk about before ending it here. The game also has a Pachinko machine at the top of Nintendo Land where you can use coins earned in games to unlock Nintendo memorabillia to decorate your park. They are props from the actual attractions but it's neat to have them there. Monita, the tv guide thing that follows you and offers advice in the attractions, even has descriptions on them and some of them are quite funny. You can even unlock tracks that are used in the attractions and you can listen to them in the plaza. You can even change the background music to one of the tracks you unlocked via a jukebox thing.

               

Another thing this game has for you achievement hunters and whatnot are in-game achievements. You get them by accomplishing tasks in games like not getting hit once in Zelda Battle Quest through avoiding all the obstacles in Twister Race and more. Sadly, all of my achievements are missing or gone for some reason, forcing me to restart all over again. The achievements are only for this game, they aren't a systemwide thing like you see on the PS360 PC thing, you there's no comparing them to your friends. It's a nice start I guess, but alot of people are fans of them so I thought I might as well address it.

As I've said before, most of these games work like their real counterparts. I like all of them and they're good at representing the games they are based on. This game might also be Nintendo's way of attracting new players to these franchises. Let's say a player who might not normally try Zelda or Metroid, by playing the attractions in Nintendo Land, it might encourage them to try out the actual games from the attractions. I know it's not an exact representation of the actual games, so they might be a bit overwhelmed and that's really the only problem I might see.

It's also the game that shows you what the Wii U is all about. Alot of people say that there really isn't a Wii U game that takes advantage of the gamepad and they are right. Nintendo Land is the only game from Nintendo that uses the Gamepad in different and fun ways. There's other games from Nintendo that uses the Gamepad, but only for practical things like hotswapping items on the fly, maps, and off-tv play. But Nintendo Land actually takes advantage of it in different ways. The game might not sell you on the Wii U, nor to the casual player, but it shows you what the Gamepad can do and things a second screen can bring to console gaming. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm thinking about adding a Kirby, Pokemon, and Star Fox attraction to expand the park.

So, did you ever play Nintendo Land? If so what did you think of it? Thanks for reading and later.

*Images in this blog are courtesy of me, Nintendo Land, my Wii U, with the help of my little brother*