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WiiWare First Look: Art Style series Light Trax, Rotozoa
Nintendo's house brand of "minimalistic mechanics" downloadables, the Art Style series, is growing its ranks with two new titles: Art Style: light trax and Art Style: Rotozoa, both for WiiWare. The games were present (and looking close to finished) at the Big N's media gathering in San Francisco, and I took both for a spin -- quite literally in one case. Catch my thoughts after the break.
Wii Warm Up: Your style
Nintendo announced three Art Style games at once for Europe, treating them as a set. Statements made by developer Skip also indicate that there may not be more Art Style for a while. Nintendo may have already proved us wrong this morning -- as of the time of writing, they haven't announced the releases yet. But we'll discuss these three now anyway, since some of us have had plenty of time to play some or all of them. Which has become more of a staple in your gaming life? The chilled-out Orbient? The brand new, slightly action-oriented Cubello? The intensely frustrating Rotohex?
VC Friday: Strong Bad, Cubello, cooking, billiards
Four new WiiWare titles came down the tubes in Europe and Australia today, and the selection couldn't be more diverse. Art Style: Cubello and Strong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands you'll already know about, but CueSports and Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam are more mysterious beasts. The former looks promising, the latter, er, not particularly great, according to the few reviews that are about.Art Style: Cubello -- WiiWare -- 600 Wii PointsCueSports -- Snooker vs. Billiards -- WiiWare -- 800 Wii PointsStrong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands -- WiiWare -- 1000 Wii PointsYummy Yummy Cooking Jam -- WiiWare -- 1000 Wii PointsFootage of all these is past! The! Break!%Gallery-33956%
Wii Warm Up: bit Regenerations
Two of the three Art Style games out on WiiWare are remakes of Game Boy Advance bit Generations games (possibly more; at the time this post is being written, today's games have yet to be announced, so forgive us if we neglect a fourth Art Style). The GBA games were characterized by simple gameplay and even simpler graphical styles. The Wii versions have redone graphics, but the gameplay is pretty much the same as ever. For those of you familiar with the bit Generations games, have the Wii remakes been satisfying? Do you consider them good representations of the original? If you're not familiar with bit Gen, do you like the Art Style games? Can you tell them apart from other WiiWare puzzle games?
Wii Fanboy Review: Art Style: Rotohex
When I first played Rotohex, I understood on a basic level how I was supposed to play the game, but I couldn't imagine a distant future in which I could play the game. I could not make my mind process the act of rotating triangles to create same-colored hexagons. I think it's the hexagons -- whatever it is, it felt a lot more mentally taxing than most puzzle games, and I failed within a few minutes on my first try. Then, during subsequent attempts, I began to experience a bit more success. I started instinctively knowing how to position blocks, without consciously knowing what was happening. The world outside of my TV dropped away and I entered a prolonged Rotohex fugue state until the rush of falling triangles overwhelmed me and, half an hour later or so, I was dumped back into reality.To me, that combination of total focus and trancelike hypnotism is the ideal result of a good falling-block puzzle game. You sort of forget about the world, and you even forget to think about what you're doing, and things just happen on the screen as your dinner gets cold.
What is Art Style: ROTOHEX?
Nintendo has been making a habit of releasing these Art Style games onto WiiWare, but not really giving us enough info in the announcement. First it was Orbient, then Cubello, and now, it's ROTOHEX. And, just as with those games, this one is another remake of a bit Generations title for the GBA, Dialhex. We snagged the gameplay video you see above from the Nintendo Channel to give you all a glimpse at what to expect in the game. Now that you've seen it, think you will be downloading it?
Strong Bad joins Art Style: ROTOHEX on WiiWare
click to embiggen Whoa, ch-check out this week's WiiWare selections. No, really, check them out. Strong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands (Telltale Games, 1 player, 1,000 Wii Points): If you've played the previous Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People episodes, this is a no-brainer. If not, you're probably better off starting at episode one. Art Style: ROTOHEX (Nintendo, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points): Another entrant from the Japanese bit generations collection. Formerly known as DIALHEX, the game is essentially a stripped-down version of Hexic. Gallery: Strong Bad Episode 3
Wii Fanboy Review: Art Style: Cubello
Okay, so WiiWare is overrun with puzzle games. The download service is really the perfect venue for simplistic, single-screen games such as falling block puzzlers, and developers know that. The hardest part is coming up with the concept for the game, and then the work can be done on a small budget. For that matter, Nintendo hasn't even had to worry about coming up with new concepts -- they've got plenty of puzzle games in their past to remake. It's a surprise, then, that Nintendo and developer Skip have introduced a brand new game in the Art Style series after only one remake. Cubello is a bit more of a traditional game than Orbient, but it's still worthy of the Art Style moniker -- and the interest of WiiWare puzzle fans.
Mega Man 3, potential new Art Style games rated in Australia
Two more games presumed to be Art Style remakes of bit Generations games showed up on the OFLC database: Rotohex and Cubello. Rotohex was the original name for Dialhex, a puzzle game involving rotating triangles to form same-colored hexagons, back when the series was known as Digitylish. The GBA game even received an ESRB rating under that name. Cubello is probably Coloris, a game about matching colored blocks by shifting their colors along the visible spectrum. Unless it isn't an Art Style game. Mega Man 3 needs no introduction. It's the NES game that most closely vies with Mega Man 2 for the title of "Most Beloved Mega Man game," the one that introduced Rush, sliding, and the least menacingly Robot Master ever, Top Man. He attacks with the power of tops! [Via VOOKS]
Wii Warm Up: WiiWare revival
The release of Art Style: Orbient yesterday got us thinking about WiiWare and how it's a great means to deliver gaming content that may otherwise not be able to reach us. The Virtual Console gets the occasional import game and Nintendo can even deliver remakes of titles that were previously Japan-only. So, what would you like to see release on the service next?Is there a Flash game or a title that is only available in a certain region you'd like to see hit WiiWare? What would be a dream title you'd like remade for WiiWare?
What is Art Style: Orbient? Watch and find out
The Nintendo Channel updated with fresh videos today, most important of which is a gameplay video showing off Nintendo's new WiiWare title, Art Style: Orbient. Our own JC noted that the title looked a lot like Orbital, a Bit Generations game for the GBA. Sure enough, it is! Head past the break for some gameplay footage of Nintendo's new game.
Play-Asia has awesome GBA sale for cheap people
Play-Asia is clearing out a bunch of GBA stuff, and passing the disappointment losses savings on to you, the customer! They've marked some very interesting items down to very interesting prices, and as of right now there are still limited quantities available of most of it.Three of the bit Generations games, Digidrive, Boundish, and Dialhex, are available for $9.90 each, and Soundvoyager for $14.90. Donkey Kong: King of Swing is only $7.90. Perhaps most excitingly, the Japanese version of Mother 3 (as if there is any other version) is marked down to $14.90. There's a nice selection of cheapo Japanese games, so get out your iMoney and start e-browsing those virtual shelves!
Buy it while you can: Blast Arena Advance
Though newcomers to the homebrew scene likely missed Blast Arena Advance when the title was released mid-2005, and even longtime followers of the community probably acted too slow to pick up one of the original 41 cartridges that were manufactured and distributed later on, there may still be a chance for you to make things right.Developer Matthew Carr (Lemmings DS port) has made available 150 more Blast Arena Advance carts for approximately $14, warning timid buyers that this limited run will be the last for this project. Already, over sixty of the semi-transparent, teal-colored carts have been sold. The penny-wise among you could always download the ROM posted on Matthew's site instead, but you'd have one more hole in your collection of rare GBA games.From its minimalist-but-stylish graphics to its immediate accessibility, there's plenty to compare between Blast Arena Advance and the bit Generations' series presentations. You can play the entire game using just the D-pad, collecting flanges and dodging debris from exploding stars while the soundtrack -- music so good you'll try your damndest to survive longer just to hear more of it -- paints in the scenery missing from the black background. Fling yourself past the post break for some video we took of us playing Blast Arena Advance.
Play-Asia's summer smoothie sale
For the next week, online shop Play-Asia will be selling all of its in-stock items at a 20% discount, excluding weekly specials or anything released in the past 30 days -- cross Jump Ultimate Stars and Doki Doki Majo Shinpan off of your to-buy list. All of the import retailer's eligible products have been marked with the smoothie icon shown on the right, so it's easy to spot which games are on sale. We've picked out several noteworthy bargains that you might want to consider: Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 - $39.12 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All - $23.92 Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu 4 - $15.92 Gyakuten Saiban 4 Limited Edition - $103.92 bit Generations: Orbital, Soundvoyager, Dialhex, Boundish, Digidrive - all $11.92 Urban Life Style Cases, White and Light Blue - $10.32 Headsets, Nintendo - $10.32, Dragon - $5.52 Play Stand DS Lite - $11.92 Though the sale doesn't end until next Friday, a lot of these items won't stay in-stock for long. Don't be that guy who has to leave a comment about missing out on a particular deal![Via CAG]
Tour Nintendo.co.jp's bit Generations site
The good news: the website for Nintendo's retro, budget bit Generations (née Digistylish) series has gone live, featuring mini-pages for each of the three games contained in the series 1 package, Dotstream, Boundish, and Dialhex. The bad news: it's in Japanese. What we can extract from the site: the series 1 package, which includes the aforementioned three titles, will launch on July 13th in Japan for 2000 ¥ (about $17); the series 2 package, which includes Coloris, Digidrive, Orbital, and Soundvoyager, launches two weeks later for the same price. More good news: we've embeddded a trailer after the break, so if you're unable (or unwilling) to navigate the Japanese page, keep reading to get a glimpse of some GBA-goodness. [Via 4cr]
