Title Screens That Say A Thousand Words: Gaming's Best - Part Two

A good title screen puts the player in the mood to enjoy the game. It's memorable, it's iconic, and just looking at it even without the actual game name on it can remind of you that game. With SuperPhillip Central's relatively new series on the best title screens in gaming, these titles bring out great memories of even greater games. To check out the first entries in this series, look no further than this link. After checking out SPC's picks, which title screens from gaming's past and present do you consider the best and most memorable?

Mass Effect 3 (Multi)

We begin our journey through great title screens with one from Mass Effect 3 that really sets the stage for the game. While the ending might have had much ire from fans, the title screen of the game is one that is hard to dislike. With pieces of debris and countless asteroids falling to the planet's surface, this Mass Effect 3 title screen is so easy to get lost in, gazing at each falling piece of debris as it smashes into the planet's surface.

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

Xenoblade Chronicles X's title screen shares a common theme with Mass Effect 3's in that it's quite easy to get lost in. The world of the game is full of behemoth beasts both docile and threatening, and this title screen shows multiple flying beasts as our cast of heroes stands tall on a mountaintop gazing over them. The giant, hulking Skell standing next to them impresses as well, and the idea that players will be able to eventually hop inside one to take on these imposing beasts makes for one engaging title screen.

Kingdom Hearts (PS2)

Unlike Mass Effect 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles X's title screens, what Kingdom Hearts offers is a more relaxing and subdued title screen. Beautifully done artwork of series protagonist Sora rests on the right side of the screen as the logo takes up the majority of the screen's real estate. All of it is cast against a gentle white background, but the piece de resistance that blends it all together so splendidly is Yoko Shimomura's Dearly Beloved theme that plays over it. Soothing and pleasant to the eyes, this is the Kingdom Hearts title screen.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)

Going from subdued to more energetic, New Super Mario Bros. Wii's title screen shows off our heroes of the game, Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad, and Blue Toad sauntering through a idyllic landscape full of small mountains and gigantic polka-dotted hills. This is all the while this peppy and upbeat tune plays. The title screen shows the first taste of the New Super Mario Bros. series on a console as well as the main draw to the game other than the terrific level design, the crazy, zany, and ultimately fun local multiplayer for up to four friends to enjoy.

Sonic & Knuckles (GEN)

This title screen begins with Sonic falling downward with Dr. Robotnik's Death Egg smashing into a mountain in the background. As Sonic's feet meet the ground, planting firmly next to Knuckles' location, the Sonic & Knuckles logo pops up from the bottom of the screen. Now, both a 3D-looking model of Sonic as well as Knuckles perform their own modest idle animations as players choose between taking on the game as either the Blue Blur or the echidna that unlike Sonic, doesn't chuckle. It's an energetic and for its time, impressive title screen that really hits home that Sega Genesis owners were in for one exciting platforming adventure.

Streets of Rage (GEN)

Streets of Rage's classic title screen brings players with a nighttime view of a '90s era city, full of criminals and thugs to beat down and brawl. The three protagonists, Axel, Blaze, and Adam, all ex-cops, position themselves on the title screen, taking up top billing as the Streets of Rage logo manifests on the screen as well. Between the gorgeous city background, the impressive and large ixel and sprite models of our three heroes, and the Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack that backs it, this title screen for Streets of Rage is absolutely old school cool.

Super Metroid (SNES)

Going from old school cool to cool in general, Super Metroid's title screen is chilling in every sense of the word. Showing fallen bodies on both sides of the baby Metroid from Metroid II: Return of Samus that is held in captivity, the cold choices of color, the flashing of the computer monitors on both sides of the Metroid, and tense, mysterious music that plays while players look on all add up to one ambient title screen that is as memorable as it is alarming.

Mega Man 2 (NES)

Wrapping up this installment of the best title screens of gaming's long history, we go very retro with this one. After the opening scrolls up the side of a building, we see Mega Man without helmet standing at the top with his hair blowing wildly in the wind. The iconic Mega Man 2 logo presents itself, and players realize that they're in the cusp of greatness. Mega Man 2 is not only one of the greatest games on the classic NES, but it also possesses one of the most memorable title screens that the system has ever seen-- And as we've seen, one of the most memorable title screens in gaming history,

Time to Call EA Out On Their Stance Regarding the Wii U

One of the nice things about being an independent game site is that we can do articles that the big boys would shudder to post on their sites. This editorial is one of those. For months now, EA executives and personnel have been making the PR rounds for interviews regarding their present situation and future releases. One system that will not be seeing any of the latter is the Wii U, something quite damning for Nintendo's desperately struggling system. However, one piece of information that EA always seem to mention regarding the system is the quality of their releases for the Wii U.

A snippet of an MCV interview with Andrew Wilson of EA Sports: 

MCV: What needs to happen before you’re back on board with Wii U?

Andrew Wilson: I build for a userbase. I made games on Facebook because I thought people were there that wanted to play them. Then it became apparent to me that either I had the wrong game or they weren’t there. We had a strong offering on Wii U at launch. The platform hasn’t had the take-up. Our games hasn’t had the take-up we’d have liked. So at this moment we are not focused there. Now they could do a range of things that might change that situation, and we’d never count them out. And should there be a sizeable gamer base there in the future, we would build games for Wii U. But for us it’s less about building for a platform, and more about building for a group of gamers on a platform where they are. And sports gamers weren’t there.

If you paid any attention to EA's initial support for the Wii U, then you might just need to sit back and nod your head to the following that we have to say on this matter. If not, then let us enlighten you.

First of all, the idea that EA as a company had anything close to a "strong offering" is such a disingenuous lie. EA literally released Madden 12 and FIFA 12 with the only change being roster updates (and some thoughtless GamePad functionality) and labeled them as Madden 13 and FIFA 13, as those versions of the game used the game engine and features of last year's entries. Did we mention these releases were launched later than the competition AND they were released at full price? Nintendo console owners are many things, but stupid is not one of them. Saying that you put ANY effort in your EA Sports lineup for the Wii U is dishonest at best and duplicitous at worst. 

Then let's talk about Mass Effect 3, a game that was the third entry in a series Nintendo console owners had never seen before. Somehow this third entry was to supposed to light the sales charts on fire, because we all know how fun it is to jump into a series on its third installment! This is compounded by the fact that weeks before Mass Effect 3's release on the Wii U EA announced the Mass Effect Trilogy for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Both the Wii U version of Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect Trilogy launched around the same price. If you had the choice, which would you get? The decision is easy: Mass Effect Trilogy. To say that EA essentially sabotaged the Wii U port of Mass Effect 3's sales isn't that much of a stretch. Of course, no business deliberately destroys the sales of one of their games, right? We have to chalk this down to the corporate heads there, apparently.

Finally, there's EA's best effort on the Wii U, Need for Speed: Most Wanted. This was an example of a great effort. However, it was released originally in October of last year on most platforms. At the time of the Wii U port's release the other versions of the game were available for purchase for half the Wii U version's price. Unless you really needed the GamePad for Need for Speed: Most Wanted, the decision to get a cheaper version was a no-brainer. It made us feel horrible for Criterion because they actually did do a strong offering for the Wii U game. It simply was released far too late and priced too high. 

The fact that no one in the mainstream press has the fortitude to take the almighty EA to task on their deceitful tall tales regarding their Wii U support is astonishing to us. We're not saying the Wii U deserves EA's support, as it is up to Nintendo to get some interest for their console, which they have been doing absolutely terribly (though you can bet if the PS4 and Xbox One start off sluggishly, EA will support them regardless). 

What we're saying is that EA is blatantly lying about how well their Wii U support was, and it was nothing short of a self-fulfilling prophecy (there's that term again) as to why their "strong offering" of support was not met with high sales. Early adopters are usually the most "with it" with regards to game quality and releases. The fact that EA thought early adopters of the Wii U would happily lap up the weak content the publisher offered them should say it all about what the company thinks of the system and its users. They were perfectly happy to basically con Wii U owners out of their hard-earned money with low-effort releases. Hardly what anyone would call a "strong offering." You generally get out what you put into something, and EA put hardly anything into the Wii U and deservedly got little for their "effort."