Super Mario 64 DS (DS) Retro Review

I've been playing a lot of retro games over the summer, but rest assured, some new stuff has my gaming attention as well. In the meantime, though, let's focus on another retro title, but a much more well-known one than what we've covered previously. The original Super Mario 64 celebrated its 30th anniversary this past June, so since we've reviewed the original game already, let's take a look at the enhanced Nintendo DS port with Super Mario 64 DS!

Will I still need you, will I still indeed enjoy you, when you're not on the Nintendo 64? 

It might not seem like much now, but when Nintendo DS launch title Super Mario 64 DS and the DS itself were originally in my hands, that Christmas of 2004, I was absolutely amazed and astounded. There was something mind-blowing to me about having a console-quality game from the Nintendo 64, retooled into a game that could fit on a device in the palms of my hands. 

I'm sure even at the time there were folks more into tech and the possibilities of handheld tech that weren't too impressed by Nintendo's offering. However, for someone who wasn't too deep into the world of technology and also grew up on playing handheld games that were all 2D and mostly monochrome, the Nintendo DS and especially Super Mario 64 was a revelation. It made me excited at the potential of the DS as a device, and as the years would go on, that novelty of early 3D on a handheld would wane, but the potential, I believe, would be realized.

The Nintendo DS launch itself wasn't too much to boast about for Nintendo. Sure, it featured two handfuls of games, but really, the main selling points were Metroid Prime: First Hunt, a demo that came prepackaged with systems, and of course, Super Mario 64 DS itself. Now, having the latter as just a strict port of the Nintendo 64 game would have been incredible in my eyes, because as previously mentioned, having a handheld that could play a console-quality game was a source of amazement in my young, albeit naive eyes.

Fortunately, for everyone else, Super Mario 64 DS stood as more than just a straight port. In many ways, Super Mario 64 DS is an upgraded remake of the Nintendo 64 original, but it simultaneously takes one step backward for every two steps forward, making it a bit of an enigma.

Super Mario 64 DS starts similarly to the Nintendo 64 original, featuring a note written by Princess Peach which invites Mario to her castle. Mario accepts this invitation, but this time he's joined by Luigi and, for some reason, his rival Wario, as attendees. From there, we see Lakitu waking up Yoshi who rests on the nearby roof and exclaiming that Mario and friends have, too, been kidnapped by Bowser. Thus, Yoshi, our new protagonist, sets off to enter into Peach's castle to do his very best to rescue Mario and pals.

Super Mario 64 DS does a lot of tilting and defying of expectations. Yes, you still have 15 main courses set across the front foyer, basement, and top floors of the castle, but since you're starting and playing as Yoshi, things are understandably and considerably change course here and there.

For instance, Yoshi himself plays differently, of course, to the portly plumber veterans of the N64 game are so used to controlling. Yoshi can do pretty much all of the platforming tricks Mario can muster, save for punching (meaning Yoshi cannot break open blocks like the other characters are able to do), but he can also use his trademark flutter jump, use his tongue to gobble up enemies, and even turn them into eggs that can bounce off foes in a ping-pong-like fashion when thrown. 

A familiar Super Mario 64 stomping ground with an unfamiliar-to-64 playable protagonist! It's Yoshi!

Meanwhile, another decidedly different aspect of Super Mario 64 DS is how there simply other characters to play as. Through finding the portraits that each character is trapped in, beating the brand-new level and boss that guards their respective keys to unlock their respective doors in a revamped section of Peach's castle, new character become available to switch between. 

It's not quite like Donkey Kong 64 in how you switch characters either. There aren't universal points in the courses where you can switch between characters easily at specific spots in the levels themselves. Instead, the main act of switching characters is in the room of locked doors where Princess Peach's Secret Slide is located, within Peach's Castle, the main hub and overworld of Super Mario 64 DS.

As new characters are unlocked, their caps appear at unique points in each level, usually worn by an enemy like a Goomba or simply laying around the level somewhere specifically. When you pick up a cap and wear it, your currently controlled character transforms into that character whose cap they adorn. Or at least, they take on their appearance and abilities. Their voice intentionally stays the same, and this is, I assume, to not confuse the player on which character is the one they originally selected to play as. Plus, upon taking damage, your character transforms back into their standard self. 

Yoshi is unique in that when he enters into a course and prepares to select the Star to go after, players can utilize the second screen on the DS to also select what character's cap he wants to wear to enter into the level, if any. This makes Yoshi a fantastic character to usually choose for convenience and versatility of being able to transform into any character upon level entry.

Mario jumps with intent as he nabs his first Red Coin at Whomp's Fortress.

Each character, of course, plays differently and has their own unique set of abilities to utilize. Luigi is nimble and a back flip causes him to spin perpetually in the air, slowly floating back to the ground, while Wario can punch boulders and ground pound with his hefty weight to break certain obstacles that the other characters can't. The other form of each characters' "unique set of abilities to utilize" comes chiefly in the form of which power-up pops out of red boxes. Mario still has the Wing Cap to fly and soar around levels with, but there also brand-new Flowers that have exclusive uses for each character. 

Certain objectives are brand-new in Super Mario 64 DS, 
while others are slightly altered like this Hazy Maze Cave Power Star.

Mario's flower will puff him up into a balloon where he'll awkwardly float around with player's presses of the jump button to reach new heights. Luigi will turn practically invisible and transparent, able to pass through gates, fences, and other obstacles with ease. Meanwhile, Wario will turn into a metal form that allows him to sink deep down into water, bypass air vents, and otherwise be a big, heavy bastard. Finally, Yoshi earns the ability to breathe and blow out flames with his flower. Each of these abilities are temporary, and thus, as Super Mario 64 veterans can see, the Metal and Vanish Caps that Mario could equip himself with, have now been replaced by the new playable characters' flower abilities. 

Someone give Mario his Maalox moment. Our boy's all bloated!

As you can probably imagine, the playable characters are their abilities make for a different experience in Super Mario 64 DS compared to the original N64 game. That's obviously not all that's new in the adventure, especially since you start the game out as Yoshi, as stated earlier. Yes, the goal of the game is to collect the stolen Power Stars that rest in and out of Peach's Castle's various paintings that contain the game's main courses, but instead of 120 Power Stars total, there are 150 in this version of the game.

Right from entering the first painting of the game to embark into the game's first course: Bob-Omb Battlefield, all seems like the usual Super Mario 64. You have the same task of reaching the summit where King Bob-Omb stands tall. However, since Yoshi can't pick up enemies, his strategy to rout the king of the booms is a bit different. King Bob-Omb throws smaller enemy Bob-Ombs that Yoshi must lick up and spit back out at the boss to deal damage. It's not until a later Power Star that players must bring the rescued Mario into the level to beat King Bob-Omb the standard way in the boss's rematch.

Super Mario 64 originally contained six stars or missions per stage. That doesn't count the bonus star for collecting 100 coins in a given course. In Super Mario 64 DS, there are seven main stars or missions to complete. Many of these introduce new challenges such as collecting and holding onto five Silver Stars that when all have been gathered, brings the Power Star's arrival at a set spot in the stage to nab. Another platforming challenge includes stepping on a star switch that summons the Power Star. It's then a race against time to grab the Power Star before it disappears and the star switch must be stepped on again to start the race anew. 

It's not Wednesday, but it's still time for Wiggler!

Even the courses themselves have altered designs. Whomp's Fortress, the second intended course of Super Mario 64 DS, features an entirely new back section on ground level, containing two flower gardens infested by Piranha Plants, a new location for one of the course's collectible red coins, and serves as the path to a star switch's Power Star. Later stages, too, have changed designs, such as Tick-Tock Clock no longer being a total bottomless pit at its bottom-most level Instead, there's some safety netting in the form of floor there, which makes it more difficult to fall into the abyss below.

Part of me believes that these additions have been made to make for a more inviting and accessible adventure to players. As Super Mario 64 veterans know, the original N64 game could be quite punishing and unwelcoming in some aspects. Super Mario 64 DS alleviates some of the burden with these new level design decisions, but some new burden is added because of the controls and how characters handle, bringing me to the other reason I believe the level and mission design in many levels were changed.

In the N64 original, the analog stick of the Nintendo 64 controller meant Mario could pretty much and practically turn on a dime. This isn't the case with the Nintendo DS and its D-Pad. Mario and friends make noticeably wider turns, which can often result in struggles with staying on platforms and frustrating falls to doom. What this amounts to is a lot of aggravation and movement set to eight directions as opposed to the full range of movement that the Nintendo 64 controller allowed. It feels quite limiting quite fast for someone like myself who grew up on the N64 game. Now, of course, with the advent of the Nintendo DS hardware, touch screen movement is indeed possible, though it's not ideal for my use case. Camera controls are also limited to the touch screen, save for one of the shoulder buttons snapping the camera in the direction your character currently faces. Also, not ideal.

While twirling around Bowser by his tail with the D-Pad isn't completely awful, 
the touch screen is probably the intended control method for this.

Super Mario 64 DS delivers a less colorful, less blocky, and much more pixelated look with its visuals. Texture work is not very wonderful here, and it sort of resembles more of an OG PlayStation game than that of the Nintendo 64, funnily enough. Still, aspects like the draw distance, details on characters and environments, and the mostly smooth frame-rate make for an enjoyable graphical experience overall. Musically and sound-wise, beyond the additions like voice-work for the new playable protagonists and new additional music tracks, namely a remix of Delfino Square for an all-new tropical island mini-level, all is the same and familiar within Super Mario 64 DS's adventure.

That said, there is an aspect of Super Mario 64 DS that I have not delved into, and it's tangentially related to the main adventure: the touch-screen-based mini-games. These are mostly unlocked through capturing rabbits within the halls, floors, and outskirts of Peach's Castle. Playing as each character reveals new rabbits in different locations. Nabbing the rabbits means earning keys that open up chests within Peach's Rec Room.

"Pick a card, any card, paisan!"

These mini-games are arranged in four types, and each characters' keys unlock specific types of mini-games. For example, Yoshi's mini-games are puzzle-based, while something like Luigi's mini-games are more casino and chance-oriented. True to the Mario, his mini-games possess a lot of action, whereas Wario brings up the rear with a little bit of this and that which doesn't necessarily fall into any one specific category. These mini-games are part time-wasters, sure, and part demo to show off the capabilities of the then-new DS hardware and its touch-based functionality. They do a great job, as the touch controls feel good, and the games themselves are fantastic time-stealers, at that. It's no wonder they'd return later on down the road in New Super Mario Bros., also on the Nintendo DS.

Super Mario 64 DS doesn't long jump past the original Nintendo 64 game. It more takes some jumps to the side in improvements as well as complaints. Is Super Mario 64 DS the definitive version of Mario's first full foray and adventure into three-dimensions? That's a difficult question to determine the answer to, because it's totally conditional. From a content point of view, there's no question. From a control perspective, not so much. That's why I surmise that Super Mario 64 DS is more of a side-grade to the original Super Mario 64 than a total upgrade or downgrade. Either way, you'll be jumping for joy and the occasional--but not insurmountable--frustrations, too with this Nintendo DS launch title. 

[SPC Says: B] 

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

It's time for another retro review of the extreme sports variety! With Toy Story 5 having been in theaters, something called upon me to try out a game featuring the lovable cast of toy pals. But why stop there? Why not throw in some Lion King and Tarzan, and on skateboards, too!? That's what we have with Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, a game I had on my backlog for quite some time! Here's the SPC review.

When you skate upon a board, 
doesn't matter how many points you've scored.

The era of the 2000s was a gold mine for extreme sports games. Of course, leading the pack was none other than the Birdman himself, Tony Hawk and his Pro Skater series of games. It's no wonder why Disney wanted a piece of the extreme sports pie and threw its hat--or mouse ears--into the arena with a licensed skateboarding game built off of the Tony Hawk engine. Developed by Toys for Bob for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is the end result. Does it manage to stay on its board till the very end, or does it suffer from a premature bail?

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is a skateboarding game featuring characters and levels from Toy Story, Tarzan, and The Lion King. There are 10 levels total, three in each Disney or Disney/Pixar franchise (in the case of Toy Story), and a special Olliewood level that not only serves as a special customizable kid skater's skating grounds--based off of one of two winners of a contest that Disney and Toys for Bob ran to put their likenesses into the game--but also a level that takes on the role of a hub, using it as a portal to the other Disney levels for your kid skater to skate in.

Howdy, pardner! There's a snake in my boots and a board on them, too!

You're, of course, not limited to just playing as a kid skater in Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure. Each spotlighted Disney franchise features a handful of playable characters to choose from, many of which need to be unlocked by completing in-level goals. You ARE, however, limited in what characters and skate where. For instance, only Toy Story characters like Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, and Zurg can skate in Toy Story level locations, such as Andy's Room, Pizza Planet, and Zurg's World.

Buzz Lightyear looks particularly proud of himself for this grind.

The levels in Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure are quite sizable, expansive, and pretty wide open as well, featuring plenty of well presented locales from the Disney worlds they're plucked from. From grinding on toy blocks, up cardboard halfpipes, and even discovering the way into the bathroom in Andy's Room from Toy Story, to skating along the hull, grinding along the high wires, and avoiding taking a plunge in Clayton's Ship from Tarzan, the levels are large, fully-featured, and full of housed secrets, great tricking opportunities, and fun skate lines to discover. 

Be careful as to not get seasick on this ultimate level of the Tarzan world of skating stages: Clayton's Ship.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure plays a lot like a Disney-themed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, specifically the fourth entry. While you don't have as many moves and special abilities in a given skater's repertoire, it pretty much plays similarly. And it's not just the gameplay that is familiar--the entire structure of freely skating around open sandbox levels with no timer to worry about, while searching out characters that task you with performing and completing various skateboard-related challenges and goals is present in Disney's skateboarding title.

Chat it up with the locals to obtain different goals to take on.

These goals are relatively simple to perform and achieve, for the most part, but I was amazed by how varied they were. Sure, there are goals as basic as grinding, performing a lip trick, or jumping over a specific spot, but there are also more complex goals to take on, too. These can be traditional finding and collecting the S-K-A-T-E letters in a level before the timer runs out, successfully executing a series of tricks as they're called out to you, flushing a toilet to get Hamm the pig from Toy Story off from the lid's high heights, and so forth. 

Collecting the letters S-K-A-T-E is a customary THPS challenge, and it's of course present in this game, too.

Completing enough goals unlocks new levels within that Disney series of stages. You also unlock new characters, as well, and seeing as each character in the game has their own set of special collectibles to nab, 25 per level--these unlock new content in the form of new tricks and special cosmetics--there's a decent amount of replay value to be found within the game. This is especially so when there's over 150 goals to complete within Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, multiple characters, levels, cosmetics, tricks, and special movies to unlock, and over 150 gaps to nail, too.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater's controls haven't necessarily been dumbed down compared in their transition into Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure: instead, they've been made more accessible for the younger audience the game was intended for. The default control setup puts players in a more manageable configuration, with the most notable change being how manuals are performed. Rather than flick up and down on the analog stick to initiate a manual, it's as simple as pressing a specific face button. 

That said, if you're craving the controls from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, there actually is a "Pro Controls" feature, that takes the traditional controls of the THPS series and allows players to utilize them. Manuals once more are performed by flicking the stick up and down, grab and flip tricks are assigned to their typical buttons as seen in THPS, and the tricks available to your character greatly increase. Now, you won't have the same amount of unique tricks when compared to the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, but it's a stark contrast between "basic"--for lack of a better term--controls, and the Pro Controls featured in the game. Not to be misunderstood, you still have access to manuals, reverts, spine transfers, and all the standard moves regardless of which control scheme you choose.

Uh... I'll have to decline that offer, Tarzan.

One issue I do have with Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure that the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series doesn't have is because of the fantastical, oftentimes unconventional dimensions of the character skaters involved. When doing spin tricks, it can be hard to judge where the front or back of the board is, and if you're going to land straight or fumble, stumble, and bail. This is due to the aforementioned unique dimensions of characters like Timon & Pumbaa and young Tarzan. Whereas the skaters in THPS are traditional in appearance, the majority of characters in Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure can block the view of the board or make it unclear if you're going to stick your landing while in the air. It can make for more bailing than I would have liked, but it's hardly a major frustration.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure features a lovely and most importantly for this type of game, smooth graphical style. It runs and performs well with seldom if ever a hitch in frame-rate. One of the most impressive aspects for me with the game was seeing just how exponentially expressive the characters in the game animate. Seeing Woody bail on his skateboard, and pick himself up while adjusting his limp toy arm was an absolute delight, and each character comes complete with a wide range of animations and voice clips. 

Olliewood is the largest level within the game, and is your kid skater's stomping (or skating) grounds.

Continuing with the sound aspect of the game, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure's soundtrack is less Disney fare (you won't hear "Hakuna Matata" on the set list or Phil Collins' Tarzan tracks) and more Radio Disney. This means lots of contemporary artists that you'd hear in the early 2000s as played on Disney's old radio service. Nothing awful and a lot of it is rather catchy and emblematic of the era.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is exactly what you'd expect from the cover--a super competent skateboarding game for the kid and tween market, and also those Disney adults who who can't get enough of Tony Hawk-style skateboarding gameplay. It's not anywhere near as complex as a THPS game--and that's to be expected for the audience it was trying to capture--but Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure manages to make for a marvelous skateboarding gaming experience that lands its tricks much more than it bails on them.

[SPC Says: B] 

Splashdown (PS2, XBX) Retro Review

It's Monday again, and tonight I have a retro review this time to dive into, both figuratively and literally, with Splashdown. Sure, there's a pile of unplayed recently released games on my desk as I type this review, but that's not stopping me from playing some retro fare. After all, some water racing action is rather perfect for the summer months! Here's the SPC retro review of Splashdown.

 I'm feeling up to splashing down!

We're approaching the dog days of summer in Central City, so while I'm scared to death of oceans and deep water in general (not being able to swim will do that to a person), it's with gaming I can do things I wouldn't ordinarily be able to accomplish. In this case, hopping on a Sea-Doo, jumping along the waves, and racing across an abundant number of interesting locales across a plethora of unique environments. Thank goodness for gaming, am I right, folks? Enter Splashdown for the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox. 

Splashdown decidedly takes aim at Wave Race 64 and less so its GameCube successor Blue Storm to become the watercraft racing champion and wear the wave racing crown. Whereas Wave Race 64 utilized Kawasaki watercrafts, Splashdown rides the waters with Sea-Doos. Either way, the goal is pretty much the same: race against your opponents in three-lap spectacles across a variety of wet and wild locations around the world, from the tropical ocean of the Caribbean, to the icy, frigid waters of the Bering Strait.

This Splashdown race is apparently brought to you by Certina Swiss Watches.

The main single-player mode within Splashdown is that of the career mode. Depending on the difficulty chosen (there are three total), the amount of events you play through grows. Easy contains the smallest amount of races to compete in (though still rather sizable) while Normal possesses around 20 events. There's always a requisite threshold of points to acquire from your position in races, and if you don't meet said threshold, your career is kaput. However, on Easy and Normal at the very least, it's not too challenging to reach the required number of points to progress, even if you don't always cross the finish line in contention. 

Each fictional rider in the game has their own personality and own career mode, and completing their career unlocks a special ending movie for them. Every handful of races in the career sees an opportunity to take on another character of your choosing. Win this race against them in a stadium race setting, and they'll join your team of racing riders. 

Cross the finish line before your opponent to have them join your team in these stadium-style races.

Controlling and handling your rider's Sea-Doo is rather easy. While each rider has their own stats, making handling feel different between characters, for the most part, riding one's Sea-Doo along the water feels and handles like one would imagine a watercraft to behave on the waves. Pulling back on the left analog stick is perfect for straightaways to decrease your Sea-Doo's resistance on the water, thus making your ride go faster. Of course, there's the risk of wrecking, especially in tight turns or if you brush up against other opponents or obstacles. 

Whether on a clear, sunny day or in a downpour, the race must go on.

For those who want to splish-splash and take a quick bath, your Sea-Doo can also enter underwater via the submarine technique. Not only is this great for ducking under hazards that hang out on the surface of the water, but you can also quickly dive under the water and come up for air, in more ways than one, to perform a jump. 

There are a multitude of jumping opportunities outside of smart submarine usage. Those come in the form of ramps that offer the chance to unleash some sick tricks in midair. There's a trick gauge that fills as you hold tricks in midair, though of course you'll want to let go of the trick before hitting the water, or else you'll discover yourself bailing and swimming with the fishes. Tricks build up your performance meter, and as this meter fills, your Sea-Doo's abilities noticeably increase. Chiefly, things like handling, acceleration, and max speed go on the rise.

This trick is seriously hurting my spine just looking at it.

Like the Wave Race series, being on the correct side of a buoy directs racers through the tracks and circuits of the game. Unlike Wave Race, however, missing buoys on the wrong side doesn't lead to eventual disqualification. Instead, your performance meter decreases for each buoy passed on the incorrect side. If you have less than an ideal amount of energy in the aforementioned meter, your Sea-Doo temporarily stalls. And like crashing and wiping out, it's not doubt that stalling isn't optimal if you want to win a race as it wastes precious seconds.

The tracks themselves feature plentiful places to go off the beaten path, multiple shortcuts, and routes that diverge and eventually converge from and to one another respectively. Though while Wave Race 64 utilized masterful wave tech for all of its tracks, Splashdown is mostly wild and wet racing along pristine waters. Only certain sections of track feature waves to negotiate instead of the entirety of tracks. That makes for a nicer go of things in navigating tracks, but it also doesn't necessarily make for an easy, breezy time in general. The CPU can be vicious at times, and races in later difficulties on harder tracks make for grueling match-ups on the water.

Ramps like this one provide plenty of trick-indulging potential.

When you're not contending with a given character's career--which unfortunately each play out the same save for their previously mentioned unlockable ending movies--you have some options otherwise for continuing the aquatic carnage. As the name suggests, Free Roam mode offers the ability to freely explore each of the stellar 20+ environments in the game. This has a twofold purpose: to become better acquainted with tracks before taking them on in the career mode, but also it allows you to stumble upon and collect special tokens hidden throughout each track. While some of these can be collected in the career mode, many of them are out of reach in a traditional race setting. These tokens unlock new color variants for your stable of riders in the game, adding some further longevity to Splashdown.

Don't crash too much, or your chances of victory might be in "ruins".

Multiplayer is also offered in Splashdown, though this does not hold much water or extend replay value in a meaningful way. Yes, you can customize races to your liking, setting up the amount of laps to your leisure on any track already unlocked, but it would have been nice to be able to play the career in multiplayer with a buddy. As is, multiplayer is a pretty limited mode, which won't carry you or a friend for that long.

Splashdown graphically is rather impressive. The reflective surface of the water on each track is amazing to look at (and sometimes it resulted in me crashing from being too distracted), especially considering the time of the game's release early in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox's respective lives. Yes, while the water might have your eyes and mouth... well... watering, at how good it looks, other effects can leave something to be desired. It would have been cooler to have some more prominent splashing happening, especially for a game named Splashdown, ironically. Meanwhile, track environments such as in the geometry of the land, weather effects, and particularly the lighting on some tracks do definitely delight. 

Pull up a seat and start surfing! Wheeeeeee!

If you're looking for a sign of the times to tie Splashdown to a specific era, well, look no further than the soundtrack full of licensed tunes. Really, it's as if I stepped back into the early 2000s and entered a teen rom-com of the era with the music going on here in the game. If Smash Mouth's All-Star doesn't tickle your fancy AND if you somehow have an original Xbox with the game, you can enjoy your own roster of songs via the custom soundtrack option. Either way, you'll be hearing more of the soundtrack than the sound effects, as the Sea-Doos' sounds are more whimpers than roars, though you do get a lot of banter between riders as they race.

Splashdown delivers fast and frenetic aquatic racing action, yes, but it also doesn't do much else. The amount of tracks and environments is immensely impressive, and the difficulty is tough but fair. Career mode essentially being the same for each racer means you'll race the same series of tracks against progressively more challenging opponents, which is about as repetitive as it sounds. Still, for a game you pick up on the used market for cheap nowadays, if you possess a PS2 or OG Xbox, Splashdown's small number of issues are a drop in the bucket compared the oceans of fun you can end up having with it.

[SPC Says: B-] 

4PGP (PC, PS5, NS2, NSW) Review

After an unplanned absence and hiatus from the site for real-life reasons, I'm back in the driver's seat in more ways than one with a new review on SuperPhillip Central. It's 4PGP, offering a veritable who's who of racing game talent behind it and lots of arcade-y action in racing form. Here's the full SPC review--and not a moment too soon!

Start your engines and potentially some frustration, too.

I truly miss the era of arcade racing games. I'm talking about games like Virtua Racing, Ridge Racer, Daytona USA, etc. that don't appear in the modern gaming landscape. 4PGP (or Four-Player Grand Prix) brings with it the spirit of retro arcade racing games of that caliber with some talent that appreciates the era as well. 

For one, the game is directed by Jonathan Marole, a man who has worked on titles like The Crew and Test Drive Unlimited, while also having Kenji Sasaki, director of Virtua Racing and Sega Rally, involved too. Then, on the music front we have Tomoyuki Kawamura, whose past works include the aforementioned Virtua Racing and Sega Rally Championship. The talent is no doubt here, and it's awfully prevalent from the moment you start a race in 4PGP.

The feel of racing your formula-one vehicle is amazing. There's enough weight and tightness to the controls that it's simple to pick up and play the game. You won't have to worry about a simulation here, as 4PGP is pure unadulterated arcade racing action. From performing turns that require you to lean in on the inside of a curve or brake to not overshoot, to speeding down straightaways, the racing feels great, the sense of speed is immense, and it all handles beautifully.

Do you have the need for speed? Well, 4PGP will definitely sate it with its high-speed skirmishes.

The 14 tracks in 4PGP (three per cup, and two that unlock later on down the road) take you all across the world, from the United Kingdom to France to Japan. Turns are well choreographed, so you're seldom required to keep an eye on the mini-map for any reason other than to determine the amount of your lead (or in my case in later difficulties, how far behind the leader you are). 

Speaking of difficulties, 4PGP lures players into a false sense of security. If you start off with the Rookie difficulty, you'll find yourself easily breaking from the pack, maintaining large leads, and having a relatively easy go of racing. Novice brings about some added challenge, offering races that are much closer. That said, the distance in difficulty between Novice and the next level of races becomes a bit too large. What remains in the final difficulty is best left unsaid, as it requires a level of racing expertise that most players besides seasoned veterans most likely won't reach. The CPU is supremely punishing here and not always in a fun way. (Okay, I lied and actually said it instead!)

We may be at the middle of the pack, but there's plenty of race to go!

And that's okay, considering 4PGP would be a boring game if you could just speed through all four difficulties with ease. Instead, the latter difficulties do require the ability to read the tracks well, slipstream opponents, use the boost function sparingly but also smartly, enter into pit lane when needed at apt times, and pretty much run flawless races with perfect racing lines, applying the brake subtly to best take turns.

While there is a racing assist option available, perfect for beginning players or those who can't quite get immediate heads or tails on racing lines, it's somewhat of a handicap (and one not in your favor) in later difficulties, as it restricts you to essentially the same racing line as your CPU opponents. 

Like any racer of this type, following and executing the correct racing line is the key to victory.

My only real gripe with the difficulty settings of 4PGP other than the immense level of skill required to win on the hardest difficulty (a level of skill I decidedly did not have) is that vehicle stats are not balanced whatsoever. There is always a class of cars that is required to race in to stand a chance (or drive a chance, perhaps in this case). The starting set of vehicles do not hold a candle stat-wise and especially speed-wise to the sets and series of rides that you unlock as you beat various cups. This makes multiplayer a bit unbalanced. If a player picks a low-class vehicle, they might as well wave the flag in surrender if their opponent picks a higher class car (and that's waving the white flag and not the checkered flag).

As stated, 4PGP isn't just racing with no frills. There's some nuance here to keep the experience from feeling or being simplistic. For one, there is the boost function, which with the press of the left bumper instills your vehicle with a temporary higher speed. It isn't too pronounced, either, which might put off some players expecting a more prominent burst of speed. 

And while early difficulties don't really require keeping an eye on your tires, later ones practically require it. As you race, your vehicle's tires degrade, especially upon going off the track onto the tarmac, taking turns too fast, and so forth. The more wear and tear, as well as damage to your tires there is, the less accurate your steering becomes. This is where entering pit lane for a quick pit stop becomes mandatory. Successfully completing a short quick-time event style mini-game grants you full boost energy once more as well as fixes up your tires in a jiffy. 

Take a pit stop like the one seen here if your tires are in serious disarray.

4PGP is quite the looker on the track with impressive blur effects when blasting forward on the track to present a sensational sense of speed. This sense of speed is also mightily helped by the 60 FPS frame-rate that is as ever-present as the need to take turns well to win. The first two laps of each race is mostly accompanied by the roar of your vehicle's engine with periodic musical jingles to start each lap. It's on the final lap that the music kicks in, letting you know that the race is at its most serious apex. It works and works well here.  

4PGP is certainly quite kind on the eyes, but remember to focus on the track and not the sights if you wish to win!

4PGP delivers racing thrills with a modest amount of frills. While so many racing games nowadays chase after realism and simulation in the feel to their controls, 3goo's 4PGP is unapologetic in how it harks back to the classic era of arcade racing games. The lack of online multiplayer and steep challenge may turn off some players, however. For everyone else, 4PGP speeds past the finish line in sublime style while adding some subtle substance here and there to make for a worthwhile racer.

[SPC Says: C+] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Kioku: Last Summer (PC) Review

While summer isn't officially here just yet in my hemisphere, we turn our attention away anyway from a private eye mouse to another indie game, one of a decidedly cheerier and more charming focus--that of a young girl's first summer on her new island home. This is Kioku: Last Summer, and this is also the SuperPhillip Central review.

Summer break with a game that can sometimes be summer broken.

Summer holds a lot of special memories for me, especially as a child, and no doubt I'm not alone in that. Friendships could continue to grow and prosper. Summer days spent playing outside from day to night, until the streetlamps turned on and you knew it was about time to return home. It was an era where the only real worry in life was possibly a scraped knee--or dreading the new school year starting, for that matter. 

Kioku: Last Summer attempts to recapture the nostalgia folks have for summer with a decidedly charming game. Unfortunately, like a rural Midwestern summer, it's also full of bugs, and just like the spiders and mosquitoes of the real world, these bugs can bite--though in a different way that does make for a less enjoyable experience.

Starting out, Kioku: Last Summer stars Asti, a young girl who finds herself at a new island home with new friends to make, new discoveries to be found, and new adventures to be had. It begins with the island's ferry docking, and you, as Asti, entering the school where you're introduced to your classmates, the friends that you hope to make.

Summertime is always better spent with friends.

The game follows a day-to-day format, though not in real-time. Each day presents a series of activities for Asti to accomplish to further the story. The first one, for instance, requires her to pick up three lost marbles belonging to a character named Bo, who doesn't take too kindly to Asti at the start of the game. He blames her for having his Game Boy-like device taken away from him by their teacher, calling Asti a "snitch" for doing so. Fortunately, this island is otherwise too kind, so snitches don't get stitches here. ...Ahem. Other activities that further the story can last a whole day, like searching for the whereabouts of a certain islander, or simpler events like bike races, learning to catch crabs from the sea, and various activities that essentially boil down to fetch quests. 

Feeling crabby? Head to the water to catch the clawed creatures, then!

Meeting the locals isn't too rewarding or exciting. They seldom have anything interesting to say when you speak to them, and the lines of dialogue at one time are limited to, well, just one line of dialogue each. This is not Animal Crossing where the locals have myriad things to say at a given point, and this isn't meant to be a sim like Animal Crossing anyway. A bullet point to Kioku: Last Summer is building friendships, and this couldn't be more passive. It's simply completing activities and progressing the story, and eventually Asti is the biggest social butterfly on the island--just like that.

When you're not progressing the story that plays out among a week of in-game days, there's not too much other stuff to do. You can search around the island for stickers, hidden in some pretty crafty locations--to the point where I still can't find the last one I'm missing for 100% completion. You can skip or ride your bike around the island for faster travel. You can head to the sea and catch crabs in a simplistic "fishing" mini-game, and you can even play a surprisingly enjoyable creature-battling, marble-slamming mini-game called Marubi.

Marubi pits three creatures in marble form against your opponent's trio of monsters, as you take turns rolling and spinning your marbles, or creatures, into your opponent's marbles. Each turn you and your opponent roll one marble apiece, and "attacking" another marble causes it to lose health points (or HP) based on their attack power. When all three marbles on one side are destroyed, the game is over and the victor is crowned. Now, sure, the game isn't very balanced in the sense that once I got a certain trio of marble monsters, I found that I was pretty much unstoppable, but the game itself is still fun.

Instead of believing in the heart of the cards like in Yu-Gi-Oh!,
 do we believe in the heart of the marbles in Marubi?

Unfortunately, island life isn't ALWAYS the most fun or the easiest to adapt to in Kioku, and not because of the occasional rivalries and friction between friends. No, island life is difficult because the game, unlike the pristine island itself, is littered with bugs, some of these actually locked my progress for a bit. Kioku: Last Summer is an incredibly unpolished experience currently, and that's even after the developers' patch. 

I've had instances where I interact with one islander, and suddenly I'm speaking to someone halfway across the island. Sometimes interactions don't work at all. The character you're trying to speak to will face you as if to initiate a conversation, but nothing will be said.

Generally, characters and tasks you have to accomplish next are helpfully highlighted by a colorful ring of flowers blooming around them. However, on some occasions I had it where even though I tried to talk to the proper character with the ring around them, they didn't initiate or continue the quest line. Instead, they talked about the weather or how they were yearning for coffee or whatnot. 

Chat with the locales, as they have... well, not much to say.

One very annoying glitch after a second bike race in the game saw me exit the finish line, and then go about my merry way. Unfortunately, as I learned later upon reloading my autosave (by the way, there is no manual save option in case you get softlocked and need to reload a previous save) that there was supposed to be a phone call from Asti's dad that she was supposed to be stopped by, but when I originally played through the scenario, no such phone call or interruption happened. So, basically a half-hour of my time was wasted wandering around like a goofball wondering why I couldn't make any further progress.

Kioku: Last Summer is not a long game by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it's over faster than my summers tended to feel as a child. To roll credits takes but a handful of hours, four or five, to be exact. Yes, there are achievements to earn, but most of these are time-wasters meant to be filler and little more. Why anyone would want to waste time "kicking" 100 goals into a soccer net is beyond me--WELL, OKAY! I WANTED THE ACHIEVEMENT!!! 

But seriously, heck to the no, if you think I'm riding this bike ad infinitum for that last achievement.

The game itself graphically on the presentation end of the equation is rather lovely. The anime aesthetic given to each of the islanders and characters in the game is suitably charming, and Kioku's color pallet is pretty and pleasant on the eyes. I especially enjoyed the lighting, specifically when the sun sets, blazing a bright ball in the sky over the horizon, sending its beams onto the island. 

The sound design is a mixed bag in the sense that the default settings, at least when played on Steam Deck, are ridiculously low. It took me an hour to realize there was supposed to be sound in the game other than little fanfares here and there! Seriously, bring all the audio levels up to 100% if you want to hear anything. What I DID hear was nice and serviceable for this type of game to elevate the cozy atmosphere the developers wanted to give the player.

Kioku: Last Summer is a short experience, as stated, and unfortunately, it's one that I would have a hard time recommending in its current state. Perhaps once the bugs and glitches I experienced on a consistent basis are ironed out and some additional polish is included, this would be an easier recommendation for breezy and cozy summer game. As is, though, you'll suffer some frustrations that are ironically the complete antithesis of the cozy vibes the development team intended. That said, I still overall enjoyed my time on the island, but if I didn't have a review to write, I would have most certainly held off until next summer.

[SPC Says: D+] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.