NINTENDO-RAMA!

Klonoa · Post by **Klonoa** » Tue Apr 17, 2001 7:20 am

Boredom has set in, so I think I'll do reviews of 3 games. What do these games have all in common? They were made by Nintendo! I've played Pokemon Stadium 2, Dr. Mario 64, and Kirby Tilt n Tumble and I'm going to tell you all about them.POKEMON STADIUM 2
First of all, let's get Pokemon Stadium 2 over with. Like the first one, you can use a Transfer Pak to battle your Pokemon in 3-D, but the sequel lets you use Gold and Silver Pokemon as well, now. If you didn't know that, you'd swear it was the same game. The battleground graphics are a little better, but the animation of the Pokemon and the ANNOUNCER IS THE SAME FROM LAST TIME! Needless to say, I played the battle once and then quit. I'm getting a bit tired of Pokemon. It was fine when it was just a game, but 3 movies and thousands of Burger King meals later, it wears a little thin. However, there's one thing worth playing on Pokemon Stadium 2. There are four-player mini games similar to Mario Party games featuring Pokemon characters. I'll tell you about those.1.Gutsy Golbat
In this one, you control one of four Golbats (bat Pokemon) as they fly in an automatic horizontally scrolling cave. Press the A button to flap, just like Joust. It actually plays more like the Game Boy version of Balloon Fight: Balloon Kids. You have to collect hearts in the cave, and the one who makes it to the end with the most hearts for Jynx wins. If you bump into a Magnemite along the way, one of your hearts will be bumped out. Also, if another player bumps you, a heart will bump out, too and you may lose it. Since the bats are so large onscreen, it's really hard to avoid the other players. I don't like this mini game much.2. Topsy Turvy
This one's fun. Four spinning Hitmontops are in a round arena, and each time you knock one out you get points. After a time limit, whoever has the most points wins. Press a button to do a dash attack. Make sure who you're dashing is near the edge, and don't fall off yourself!3. Clear Cut Challenge
You control a Scyther or Pinsir Pokemon. Five sets of logs are raised, then lowered. When they come down, whoever cuts the log closest to the white line gets the most points. It's pretty fun because it takes a bit of timing skill.4. Furret's Frolic
I also really like this one. Furrets are new Pokemon that look like a cross between a squirrel and a ferret. Anyway, the overhead playfield is set up in grids, and your Furret is facing towards his goal at the other end of the field. PokeBalls will come rolling into the playfield, and you have to move from grid to grid, kicking the balls into your goal. The other players will try to be kicking the balls into their goal, too, so you have to watch out. It's like soccer.5. Barrier Ball
It's four-player Pong and air hockey mixed with Mr. Mimes holding the paddles. Use the A button to do a super smash which sends the PokeBalls flying. First one to get by 5 paddles wins. Also one of my favorites.6. Pichu's Power Plant
If you thought Pikachu was annoying, wait'll you see his babies! It's like a redone version of the Pikachu's Power Plant mini game from the first Stadium game. Each Pichu has four lightbulbs: up, down, left and right of them. When the lightbulbs turn green or blue (A or B), rapidly press the button while holding the controller in that direction. If done correctly, your power meter will go up. First one to fill up their power meter wins, and gets to fry those Pichu buggers!7. Rampage Rollout
This one reminds me of Super Sprint. Four Donphans race on a square racetrack. Donphans are Pokemon that look like a cross between an elephant and a treaded tire. First one do to ten laps wins. After each lap, you get to use a certain number of tornado power-ups to slow the others down. You get 3 if you're in fourth place, 2 in third, and so on. It's fun but hard.8. Streaming Stampede
This one's about average. You get to be either a baby Jigglypuff or baby Clefairy (names of them escape me now). A bunch of Pokemon will run by and you have to count when a certain type of Pokemon goes past. Push the button as many times as you counted. Whoever is closest to the actual number wins more points. Blah.9. Tumbling Togepi
4 Togepi run down a track and you just have to guide yours by using the control pad. Roll over the speed arrows but avoid rocks and bushes. If you don't run over all the speed arrows, you'll never beat the computer to the finish line. I don't like this one much.10. Delibird's Delivery
Delibird is one of the new Pokemon. He looks like a cross between an owl and Santa Claus. He's a red and white bird and he carries around a sack. He looks kinda cool. In the game you start at one end and have to pick up gifts at the other end, and then carry them back to your base to be packaged. If you collect two or more gifts in a row, you get bonus points. Some of the gifts include Christmas stockings, Game Boys, and Snorlax plushes. Cool!

11. Egg Emergency
You have to help your egg shaped Chansey Pokemon collect falling eggs. Catch eggs by moving left or right with the L and R buttons, or don't press anything to catch eggs in the middle. Don't catch Electrodes or you'll lose some of the eggs you caught. 100 eggs will fall, and whoever misses the least wins.

12. Eager Eevee
This is my least favorite one. It's a cross between musical chairs and the old annoying kids' card game Slapjack. Four Eevees walk in a circle, and in the middle is the monkey Pokemon Aipalm. He'll lift a box and berries will be inside usually. Whoever pushes the button first to get the berries will get points. Sometimes, though, the monkey will lift up the box and the metal pinecone Pokemon will be under, and if you push the button then, you'll lose a turn. You get five turns to get points. It's hard! Ugh!While I'm talking about Pokemon, I guess I'll give my opinion on the third Pokemon movie. I took my little brothers to see it when it opened. Aren't I a nice big brother? Anyway, as far as plot goes, this one was about the same as the others, which means it was weak. Also, Team Rocket didn't have as much of a presence in this one this time, so that sucked. It was cool that Brock was in it again, and Prof. Oak and Ash's mom had important roles, too. Poor Officer Jenny only was on for three seconds! One thing I didn't like about the other two Pokemon movies was that it just seemed like an extension of the TV show. I have higher production value expectations for movies. The third Pokemon movie upped those production values. It's one of the few animated movies that successfully blends drawn and computer animation, plus the backgrounds were very imaginative. The only other thing I liked about the third Pokemon movie was the music. NO, not the singing music, but the background music. The only thing that kept the Pikachu and Pichu short film from becoming suicide inducing was the cool jazz piece in the background and the music in the main feature was fitting, too.DR. MARIO 64
Well I've talked enough about Pokemon, so I'll talk about the next game: Dr. Mario 64. What can I say, it's just Dr. Mario on the N64. You have all the old stuff, plus some new modes, too. You can play four players, although each player's bottle is teeny tiny. There's a story vs. mode where you can pick to be Dr. Mario or Wario. It's kind of cool with the Paper Mario-ish cutscenes. All the enemy characters are from Wario Land 3, which doesn't make any sense. Where's Nurse Peach, or Orderly Toad, or Chiropractor Luigi? There's a Flash mode where you only have to eliminate flashing viruses before the other player. And there's a score attack mode. Sorry if I don't seem too enthusiastic about Dr. Mario 64. It really is cool. They kept all the music from the first game, plus some new songs as well. The game seems a little rushed, but even in its rushed state, Dr. Mario 64 still has that Nintendo polish. Once a good game, always a good game. I wish they could've put Tetris on it like with the SNES version, but since the N64 already has two Tetris games (The Next Tetris and Mickey Mouse Tetris), I guess we didn't need another one. If you have a N64 and like puzzle games, you should get Dr. Mario 64 because it's good AND cheap.KIRBY TILT N TUMBLE
I've saved the best for last. Kirby Tilt n Tumble is awesome and innovative. You roll Kirby around the playfield like those wooden board games where you guide a marble through a maze. You physically tilt the Game Boy because the cartridge has a built in motion sensor detector. Lean the GB left slightly and Kirby will roll that way slightly. Flick the GB fast and Kirby will jump. It's like having Kirby roll around on top of your GB. It's really fun and not overly easy like most other Kirby games. I'm on world 7 now. There are 8 worlds with 4 levels each. Like a NES game, a lot of the levels look the same, but there's a new obstacle to face in every level, like water or sand or collapsible floors. My favorite level is this one that is one big long half pipe, and you have to avoid Poppy Bros. rolling around so you don't get knocked off. Each level has secret stars to find, and there's a time limit, too, so you have to move fast AND dexterous. I haven't even scratched the surface of all the secrets and bonus games you can find. There's even a few voice samples of Kirby saying things like "Hiiii!" when you start a level or "Ugh!" when you make him jump or "Waaaahhhhhh!" when you fall off a ledge or a really strange moaning sound when you let Kirby drown in the water. Graphics and music will be familiar to Kirby fans, although I wish the Gourmet Race song was in there. It would've also been nice to have some more imaginative bosses. Plus since you have to lay the Game Boy flat to play, you have to be in a well-lit area to see anything. But Nyko's Worm Light helps a lot in this case. Another bad thing is that when you flick the GB to make Kirby jump, you can't see the screen for a split second. Still, despite these shortcomings, Kirby Tilt n Tumble is one awesome and innovative game, and if you have a GB Color you should pick this one up NOW! By the way, Nintendo sent me this really neat pink kickball made up to look like Kirby!And now I'll end with a few of my favorite words: Multipass. Autowash. Jill Sandwich. Um..bye.--Klonoa

Klonoa · Post by **Klonoa** » Wed Apr 25, 2001 1:16 am

Hey folks. Just thought you might like to read my published review of Kirby Tilt n Tumble. Later!
<A HREF="http://www.dallasnews.com/technology/34 ... _26pe.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.dallasnews.com/technology/34 ... pe.html</A> --Klonoa