Games Beaten 2013

[FerretGamer]

Kirby's Epic Yarn - Wii *new*

Kirby's Epic Yarn is just about the most charming and adorable game I've ever played, and despite the very different gameplay (no sucking and blowing), it is undoubtedly one of the strongest entries in the series (which is high praise for a series with few if any slackers). It is exceptionally easy (I am not sure if I ever lost a life), but it has plenty of exploring and challenging platforming that pulls you in nonetheless. Great fun!

Yes! Epic Yarn is the best Kirby game that no one played. I loved every minute of that experience and the music is just simply amazing and memorable.

Did you see that Nintendo just announced a new Yoshi's Island game for the WiiU in the same style and by the same developer? I do not have a WiiU, but I might pick one up if the new game is as charming as Kirby's Epic Yarn.

Holy shit, I completely forgot about the Nintendo announcements today. NO WAY! A new Yoshi's Island. What an unbelievable start to the new year.

Pandora's Tower
Project X Zone
new Yoshi's Island.

!!!!

As you can tell, I'm very excited.

Edit: I just read the other announcements, YAY!

[Luke]

Yes! Epic Yarn is the best Kirby game that no one played. I loved every minute of that experience and the music is just simply amazing and memorable.

Maybe that's why we didn't sponsor it. Were sales that bad?

edit* Sweet! cib copy being sent to my local GS.

[FerretGamer]

Yes! Epic Yarn is the best Kirby game that no one played. I loved every minute of that experience and the music is just simply amazing and memorable.

Maybe that's why we didn't sponsor it. Were sales that bad?

According to Wikipedia, sales were about 1.59 million worldwide. I don't know how that compares to the other Kirby games but it just seemed like no one played this one. It also dropped in price very quickly and can be had for about $10 easily (well WORTH IT!).

[BoringSupreez]

Epic Yarn can't be the best Kirby game no one played when Dreamland 3 and Return to Dreamland both sold less.

[FerretGamer]

Epic Yarn can't be the best Kirby game no one played when Dreamland 3 and Return to Dreamland both sold less.

Kirby's Dream Collection will definitely help introduce Dreamland 3 to a new audience. I've looked over the sales numbers for a lot of the Kirby entries and it just seems that Kirby as a whole is just not appreciated that much.

[pierrot]

Dreamland 3 and Epic Yarn are actually two of the only Kirby games I've ever played.

I beat Epic Yarn last year, and it is definitely an incredible game. I have to say that in retrospect I loved it, but I know that while I was actually playing it I was elated by the first world, and became progressively less enthralled from world 2 until the winter world.

Same for the music. Though, overall: pretty excellent.

[Gamerforlife]

I don't think Naughty Dog actually remembers how to make ORIGINAL games with HEART. It's just copy and paste whatever gameplay is popular at the time and use whatever characters seem marketable. That's the Naughty Dog formula.

I get don't think Crash was any more/less "original" or had more/less "heart" than any of their IPs since. It too just combined things that were popular at the time (fuzzy mascots with attitude, mad scientists, shifting traditional 2D gameplay to 3D, etc.). Their strength has always been in bringing those popular elements together in a polished, refined way with tight game mechanics, excellent graphics, and compelling writing. You might like fuzzy mascots with 'tude and platforming more than adventurers with 'tude and shooting, but it seems to me that the creative formula used in all their series isn't really very different.

I see what you're saying, but I don't recall there being many games that really captured platform based gameplay well in 3D like Crash Bandicoot did when it hit the scene. The original Crash Bandicoot came out the same year as Mario 64, both games can be viewed as the forebears of successful 3d platform based gameplay. Back then, Naughty Dog was leading the way, not simply following what everyone else was doing. It was right around the Jak and Daxter series that I feel that Naughty Dog stopped innovating.

If you look at the gameplay of their closest competitors of the time (Sucker Punch and Insomniac), they were bringing much more original gameplay to the industry. Sucker Punch was adding new twists to platforming abilities (Sly's thief like acrobatics being similar to Prince of Persia Sands of Time which would come out later)and also merging stealth based play into the platform genre in interesting ways. Insomniac was fusing platforming and shooting in more interesting ways than had ever been done before (and certainly more impressive than the rather conventional, Grand Theft Auto inspired way Naughty Dog's Jak and Daxter series was doing it). Even to this day, no one has really successfully copied the Ratchet and Clank formula. It's still uniquely theirs.

Even as I see videos of The Last of Us, I see elements of Enslaved, the newest Tomb Raider game, and Resident Evil 5. It just seems like Naughty Dog's influences are so transparent now. They are no longer innovators

But I guess that's fine if you feel that their games are highly polished and you appreciate that. I guess there is something to be said for quality of execution, but people talk about them like they are somehow pushing the industry forward, when they are really just following the REAL industry leaders.

[dunpeal2064]

1. Mega Man (NES)
2. Kirby's Adventure (NES)
3. Toejam & Earl (GEN)
4. Mortal Kombat (SCD)
5. Rockband (Hard) (360)
6. Mega Man 2 (NES)
7. Metal Storm (NES)
8. Little Samson (NES)
9. Super Meat Boy (360)

Super Meat Boy: This game is just awesome. I started this game up in December, but its fantastic 8-bit references had me wanting to go back and try some of the highly-praised NES titles I've never played, so I set it aside for a bit. After too many Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden failures to count, I decided to come back to this.

I think everything was pulled off right in this game. The levels on their own provide a decent challenge, especially towards the end. On top of that, some levels have bandages, that are usually in very tough-to-reach places, that must collect and finish the stage with (on the same life) in order to unlock other playable characters. There are also portals on some levels that will take you to the Warp Zone, where you tackle stages with a life-limit, in order to get secret characters or extra bandages. Then, to take things even further, any stage you complete within the expected time limit, you can then play in Dark World, where the layout of the level is the same, but the obstacles are usually much higher in number. Bandages and Warp Zones can be found here as well. There is just so much to the game, that even after putting a good amount of time into it to get through the story (which is also quite excellent, and very humorous), I still can't wait to play more. I think its crazy the game can offer so much content, and such a perfect level of difficulty that pushes you to the brim, without ever feeling impossible, yet can still be so simple at its core. This is definitely old-school platforming at its best.

And now I have no excuse and have to start playing Castlevania again

[pierrot]

And now I have no excuse and have to start playing Castlevania again

Seriously. I can't believe you were even able to stop playing it. Were you at Death?

[dsheinem]

I see what you're saying, but I don't recall there being many games that really captured platform based gameplay well in 3D like Crash Bandicoot did when it hit the scene. The original Crash Bandicoot came out the same year as Mario 64, both games can be viewed as the forebears of successful 3d platform based gameplay.

They were hardly "firsts" - Crash wasn't even the first on the PS1 (I believe Jumping Flash earns that distinction) - but they did shape the genre, no doubt. But the move to 3D platformers was hardly an innovation or a surprise - everyone was working on that around the time as all genres were switching to polygons.

Even as I see videos of The Last of Us, I see elements of Enslaved, the newest Tomb Raider game, and Resident Evil 5. It just seems like Naughty Dog's influences are so transparent now. They are no longer innovators

Everyone in any entertainment industry steals/borrows/is inspired by competitors. I see lots of other 2D games influencing what was in Crash. I am not sure that The Last of Us is any more or less innovative and original than Crash, Jak, or Uncharted since it isn't out - but all of these games undoubtedly have connections to existing titles.

But I guess that's fine if you feel that their games are highly polished and you appreciate that. I guess there is something to be said for quality of execution, but people talk about them like they are somehow pushing the industry forward, when they are really just following the REAL industry leaders.

I think where you aren't giving them credit - and what a lot of people cite about Uncharted 2 and to some extent Uncharted and Uncharted 3 - is how well Naughty Dog tells a story in a genre that has never really done that very well. Gears is a mess of storytelling, Lara Croft's story is very basic and boring, and a lot of their influences don't bring together the full package the way that they do with that series. So yes, polish is important - as is innovation. I just don't know that ND has ever really been a big innovator as you claim...