Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Even More Stats According to the Nintendo Channel

With the Wii players can download the Nintendo Channel and find out how long they've played various games. It's surprising that the other consoles don't have something like this. It's a cool feature to track how long you've played a given game. Nonetheless, here are five games with increased or new playtime data. If you're new to this segment of SPC, check out my past installments:

More Stats According to the Nintendo Channel
Most Played Wii Games According to the Nintendo Channel - Games 10-1
Most Played Wii Games According to the Nintendo Channel - Games 20-11
Most Played Wii Games According to the Nintendo Channel - Games 30-21

Donkey Kong Country Returns - 31 Hrs. 46 Min.


Donkey and Diddy return for an all-new adventure, and whether I was playing solo or with my older brother in cooperative play, there was some serious fun to be had. The game featured eight unique, themed worlds with the goal to collect all of the K-O-N-G letters in a world to unlock a super secret banana temple level. These were much more challenging than the usual levels which were already difficult as it was. With a friend, when one of you perished, a barrel held up by a balloon would slowly hover to the ground for you to tag your partner back in. Instead of taking turns like previous DKC games, you played together simultaneously. A wild ride indeed, Donkey Kong Country Returns nearly reached New Super Mario Bros. Wii levels of playtime.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - 28 Hrs. 39 Min.


Originally planned to be a game starring a new character, Kirby was thrown in midway in development as a character people could latch onto. It worked well as the sales of Kirby's Epic Yarn are in the millions as we speak. Like Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn had cooperative play as well. You could grab your partner be it Kirby or the Prince of Patch Land, and toss him up to higher, out-of-the-way locations. Something impossible to do in single-player mode. Also like DKCR, there were several themed lands to explore from grass to space, water to fire. The music, too, was excellent with a heavy focus on light instruments such as the piano. If you're looking for a relaxing platformer, Kirby's Epic Yarn is the game for you.

Sonic Colors - 28 Hrs. 13 Min.


What is this-- a great 3D Sonic game? 2010 was the year of Sonic the Hedgehog it seemed, or at least the year Sonic got his groove back. There were three titles starring Sonic including Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (winning Multiplatform Game of the Year at the SPC Best of 2010 Awards), the somewhat decent Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, and finally, Sonic Colors for Wii and DS. We're focusing on the Wii version which featured six worlds each with six acts and a boss level. You could beat the game in a handful of hours, but collecting all the hidden red coins (five in each act) was a challenge all to itself. With superb visuals and a stirring soundtrack, Sonic Colors was a pleasant surprise for a hedgehog who just couldn't seem to catch a break.

Mario Sports Mix - 23 Hrs. 39 Min.


A variety of time spent with Mario's latest sports outing was divided up between solo play and cooperative play. Each tournament lasted three cups of three rounds each. After completing a given cup, you could play it again for the chance to play on secret routes to unlock new characters and stages. There were four sports in Mario Sports Mix: basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, and hockey. Hockey was my least favorite as the games went on seemingly forever. I would have the AI chase me around my own goal just to kill time. Regardless, Mario Sports Mix is a game of genuine quality. While none of the sports are as deep as they would be if they were each a video game all to their own, each sport had enough depth to keep us interested.

Metroid: Other M - 17 Hrs. 5 Min.


I only performed one playthrough of Metroid: Other M, and unlike a lot of people who were put off by the story and the linear approach to the gameplay, I happened to enjoy the game a lot. Initiating attacks and moving around with the d-pad was a breeze, and pointing the Wii remote at the screen to scan objects and fire missiles was usually problem-free save for one hard-to-get expansion in Area 1. The Bottleship vessel held all kinds of secrets to uncover, bosses to battle, and areas to explore. Even if you grew restless hearing about "the baby", there was enough story to properly understand why Samus Aran acted the way she did in Other M. I look forward to the next Metroid game whenever and wherever it appears.

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Which games do you think you've spent the most playtime on, for any console? Give me a holler in the comments section.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My most played game of all time is Smash Bros Melee without a shadow of a doubt. Between me and all my friends' consoles in high school, we probably put in a good 200-300 hours between 2001-2004 (and a few dozens more since).

Most played single player game is tougher to say, but Final Fantasy VI would be a good guess. I've only beaten it maybe a half-dozen times since 1994, but for a game that long that's a lot of hours. Super Metroid would have to be my single player game with the most playthroughs, though.

Unknown said...

My memory card 1,000-something corrupted, and I think my Melee data was on it. I don't want to check. I really don't.