deKay's Gaming Diary

I’ve played a lot of games. And, in recent years, I’ve completed loads too – more than 150 in less than three years, in fact. That’s all well and good, but plot twists and end boss “surprises” are becoming less and less, well, surprising. It’s no real spoiler to say that the end boss, isn’t actually the end boss as there’s another boss afterwards. This is now The Done Thing with games these days, it seems.

Not that there’s anything bad or wrong about this, it’s just, well, expected now.

So Chapter 8 then. It’s all (well, not quite all – see below) set in Count Bleck’s castle, as you’d expect. A castle that throws pretty much everything at you. It wasn’t difficult, but you do have pretty much every single puzzle and baddie in the game making a return. You also have a need for every character and almost every Pixl too, so it does give you that Nintendo feeling of “now use what you have learned!”.

Sadly, there is The Great Big No of games. That’s right – a SuckySuck(TM) bit. You have to fight several previous mini-bosses again. This is RUBBISH and LAZY and should be banned. In fact, it gets worse – there’s also a SuckySuckPlus(TM) bit. That’s a new term for something that happens in Super Paper Mario and a few other games (including, if I recall correctly, Paper Mario 2) – whole previous sections of the game are repeated, not just bosses. There’s a rerun of a bit of almost every world in Chapter 8-3. For no reason!

DEAR GAME MAKERS: DO NOT DO THIS.

But, save that couple of irritations, Chapter 8 was good. There’s a twist at the end (actually, two, but one was obvious from some point in Chapter 2), and the final boss was suitably bizarre. In all, the whole game was fantastic, with a few slight dips although nothing to ever ruin it. And certainly no “slide into crap” like some people have been suggesting.

Chapter 7 DONE! One of the bits was slightly annoying as you had to re-do a section a couple of times, but it was short and easy so I didn’t feel frustrated.

I’ve got all the heroes together now too, and I’ve found the 8th Pure Heart, so I’m close to the end of the game now. I’m almost 17 hours in, so I’m betting I’ll be done by 20. That’s a lot of hours for what is, basically, a platformer!

Chapter 6 went all strange! And then I ended up in the Underwhere (no, not Underwear), where game characters go when they run out of lives. Amazing!

Anyway, I’ve managed to do all that, and now I’m onto 7-2, and am about 13 hours in. I think people have been saying 16 hours is about how long it takes to complete, so there’s not a lot of game left now, sadly.

And I still don’t understand those people who say the game gets worse as you get further in. Chapters 6 and 7 have been some of the best bits so far!

Hmm. I’m a little worried about spoilers now. I realise my last post on this did contain some minor spoilers (mainly only spoiling dialogue rather than plot), so I’ll keep this brief.

I’ve made it all the way up to Chapter 6-2 now. Chapter 4 was set in space (and had a bit of a false start – play it and you’ll understand) and had some side scrolling shooting sections. It was a bit of a dip after the genius of Chapter 3, but things went on the rise again with the modern Neanderthal rock-people themed Chapter 5.

And 6? Well, I had to kill 100 bosses. Or did I? Play and see!

Just three more puzzles on Level 5 today, and then my eyes went wonky and I couldn’t do any more. Pff.

OH. MY. LORD.

Chapter 3-4 is amazing, and one of the funniest sections of any game I’ve played ever. Francis the Nerd Chameleon is great, and his Nerd Castle is full of RoboCat maids and guards who give a, uh, frightening insight into Francis’ personality.

And the castle security system is a robot cat, who won’t allow you in to see Francis unless you’re a “hot babe” (that’ll be Peach then), and even then you have you agree with some of Francis’ core values. Such as:

and…

Then, you get to take part in one of those bizarre dating sim games as a prospective partner for Francis:

See? AMAZING.

So, off into Chapter 3 (again having faffed around in town for ages, doing some cooking, exploring, talking to people, shopping, etc.) and again, it is ace.

I mean, what’s not to like about a chameleon version of Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons who eats your Pixl-friend Tippi the moment you meet him? Amazing! And the graphics on this level – everything is giant pixels! And! There’s a bit where a Koopa Trooper collects a star to make himself all 8-bit and huge, and then chases you, and you have to find a star and have an EPIC BATTLE (uh, you jump on it).

And! Bowser joins your party!

Sat and completed all of Chapter 2 today. Well, that and the half hour of wandering around the town of Flipside trying to find the next heart pillar, anyway.

It really is rather good, isn’t it? I know Nintendo manage to take the rise out the Mario titles in just about every other Mario title they now make, but somehow, they always seem to do it just right. Super Paper Mario is no exception – the in-jokes are still funny, and there’s plenty of them.

Chapter 2 was all about finding Merlee in her house, which had been turned into a factory full of slaves. I became a slave there too, and had to work off a debt of a million Rubees (more than a slight nod to Zelda’s Rupees there) carrying out menial tasks. Now, some of the people of rllmuk (a forum I frequent) have been quite vocal about this particular part of the game, saying how the tasks were rubbish, boring, and took far too long. To that I say a) that’s the point, and b) if it takes you more than 10 minutes to pay off the debt – you’re doing it wrong. Seriously – there’s a quick way.

Oh, and thanks for the warning from Luffer about the potential crash on 2-2. I actually already knew about it (as has the entire internet, it seems), but without spoiling anything, don’t talk to Mimi on 2-2 again after talking to her the first time, until you have the key.

Hurrah for Mondays when new games arrive!

I knew this was more “action” based than Paper Mario 2, but I was still surprised to find it so different. Not in a bad way – just, well, different. And everything is so much flatter than in Paper Mario 2, especially when you flip into 3D. Yes, I realise that makes no sense.

So I’ve completed all of the first chapter, taking just over an hour an a half. I have to say, the dialogue is excellent. Nastasia (who appears to be Count Bleck’s PA) is amazing, and Fracktail (“fractal”, get it?) has some hilarious lines. And when he’s scanning? His eye does the Wii Virtual Console “please wait” spinning ring thing. Genius! And Watchitt! He was great too.

The only thing I’m slightly concerned about is that I get the feeling I’m going to have a load of pixls following me around. I’ve already got two…

At first I thought “Hang on, isn’t this supposed to be hard?” as I got to 2-2 without losing a life or even finding it particularly tricky. Sadly, there’s a bit in the middle of 2-2 which seems totally impossible. So I lost all my lives. Bah.

That’s all of Level 4 done. And, since Level 4 was the last level, I thought “only the Wario Levels to go now!”. Only, of course, I was wrong – I unlocked Levels 5, 6 and 7. Um.

Anyway, completed most of the Level 5 puzzles. Still no Nintendo ones though.

Finished all of Level 3 and have done a few puzzles on Level 4. Still no really hard ones yet, and I’m slightly disappointed that there haven’t been any Nintendo-themed puzzles either. Still ace though!

Picross is ace. Mario is ace. So Mario’s Super Picross has to be acetwice, yes? Yes! And it is!

Downloaded it for the Wii Virtual Console this afternoon (along with Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels) and completed all the puzzled on Level 1 and Level 2. Nothing hard yet. Also unlocked Wario’s Super Picross in the process, although I’m not sure how I managed that.

It seems an hour and a half is the going rate for a two-player game of this. Today’s board was “Koopa’s Town”, or something named similarly, and was somewhat different to any of the other boards I’d played (even on previous Mario Party games). You see, there are hotels along the board, and as you pass them, you invest coins in them. Whoever has the most coins invested, owns the hotel.

However, if the total number of coins invested (by all players) in a hotel is less than 20, the owner gets a star. 20-50 coins, and two stars. 50+ coins, three stars. And I expect there’s more too. Things get interesting when one player owns (for example) a two-star hotel as the sole investor and 25 coins invested. Then, someone else comes along, invests 26 coins, and not only gains ownership, but three stars, AND the previous owner LOSES two stars! Then the original owner can just invest two more coins to become owner again! It was star-tennis galore today!

I came second, and my wife first this time, although, like previously, the outcome could have been entirely different on just the final dice roll.

Another game tonight, this time on the King Boo level. Waluigi won this time though, nabbing the “proper” star just before I got the “hidden” star twice, resetting the castle and sending us back to the start. Bah!

After that, we played the bowling and puzzle mini-games.

This arrived today, and my wife and I played one game on it this evening. A game that took an hour and a half! That’s a bit of a stretch compared to our usual games of Carcassonne and Puzzle Fighter.

We played the “Goomba’s Booty Boardwalk” course over 15 turns, and, of course, I won. However, I only won because of the outcome of the final turn, which could have caused any of three of us to win.

I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the hardest game ever made. I played a few games online, and lost every since one by at least three goals. Not only that, but I’m incapable of finishing the second (novice!) challenge in Challenge Mode.

Rubbish.

OK. First up, it’s not really football. You have a ball, and you score goals, but there the similarity ends. You have powerups, special moves (some of which let you score six goals at once!) and it’s totally insane.

Anyway. I played through the tutorial section, which actually took the best part of an hour, and then dived straight into some online games.

I really should have practised offline a bit, though. I played two people, both in Best of Three bouts, and lost two games to none both times. Bah.

Back in the day, I completed this zeventyfazillion times. I could do it with my eyes closed. I could do it upside down in a bucket of water. I could do it by shouting instructions over the phone to someone else holding the controller.

Now? I can’t get from 8-1 to 8-4 without losing at least two lives, can’t get past the water bit on 8-4 at all, and am generally just crap at it.

Clearly, Nintendo have hardified it since the NES era. FACT.

I’ve left the game saved at the beginning of 8-4 as Super Mario and with two lives remaining. No doubt when I come to continue, I’ll fall in the lava pit immediately to my right twice in quick succession.

Eh? I went back to have a go at getting closer to the full 96 exits completed, only to find that it hadn’t saved my game after completing it last time. Meaning I have to do all of Star Road again. Rubbish!

Only a relatively quick go today, playing through the second cup on 50cc. Naturally, I won, coming first in every race. Hurrah!

Amazing scenes. I found a warp to Star World (yeah, I’ve played SMW a few times before…) and worked my way around that, finding all the secret exits and ending up at Bowser’s front door. Chose route 4 and route 5 through his castle, and reached him without getting hit.

Then it was time to kill Bowser himself, who was the easiest thing ever, ever, and I didn’t get hit there either. Game over, win!

Tore through all of Donut (Doughnut, dammit!) Plains, finding most of the hidden exits, before moving on to Vanilla Dome. No secret exits here, yet, but I am on Lemmy’s Castle. 35 lives already too! I don’t remember it being so easy…

New Virtual Console Game Day! Yaay! Mind you, I haven’t really played Mario Kart 64 much after buying that last week, but that’s mainly because The Castlevania has stolen my brains.

So I downloaded Super Mario World, and tried very hard to get used to the “proper” way of holding the pad (I have this freaky way of doing it with the SNES pad and the classic controller for the Wii isn’t quite right). I think I may have it sussed though.

I’ve found the yellow and green switch palaces, killed Iggy, and am about to embark on the Donut Plains Ghost House. It’s aces, is this.

One of today’s Virtual Console downloads was this. Well, it would be rude not to download it, yes? So I did.

Firstly, the graphics look a lot better than I remember. This could be because I’ve more recently played some of the N64 game’s tracks on the DS version, and the DS isn’t quite up to N64 standards. However, I was surprised at how sparse the tracks were. Of course, once I get to Wario Stadium I’m sure things will improve, but the four tracks on Mushroom Cup that I played (on 50cc, first place in each!) were certainly bare.

Still a lovely game, though.