Top Ten Handheld Games of 2014

It's not often we see two top ten lists in one week on SuperPhillip Central, but that is exactly what I have done this week. If you missed the on regarding the top ten third party Wii U games, check out this link.

Today's top ten has to do with the greatest handheld games I played that were released last year. While the Nintendo 3DS had a stellar year software-wise, let us not forget the fun experiences the PlayStation Vita offered. By no means is this list an exhaustive one, so please give me your recommended games that I should add to my backlog after you've scoped the games and explanations on my list!

10) Ragnarok Odyssey ACE (Vita)

Although also available on the PlayStation 3, I preferred the handheld Vita release due to its portability and Sleep Mode ability. Since there was no Monster Hunter on the Vita, many developers aimed to fill the hole left by Capcom's series by putting in similar style games of their own. Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, an upgraded version of the original Ragnarok Odyssey which was also released on the Vita, was such a game, drawing on Norse mythology for its enemy design. I spent far too many late nights completing quests for materials, money, and just for the fun of slicing and slashing monsters and creatures of all shapes and sizes. While it didn't quite fill the gap that Monster Hunter left, Ragnarok Odyssey ACE was a great time-waster all the same..

9) Freedom Wars (Vita)

While the western branches of Sony Computer Entertainment are fine with letting the PlayStation Vita dangle from a proverbial string, I'm very happy that SCEJ is still producing some software for the system. Freedom Wars from last year was one of these games. Players served as criminals (whether fair or not) with the goal of fighting huge monsters to lower their characters' sentences. The game was modeled somewhat after Monster Hunter in the big monster-bashing way, but there was so much more to Freedom Wars. Whether online or off, Freedom Wars was a phenomenal retail title for the PlayStation Vita, and one that had so much content that system owners can't help but continue playing to this day.

8) Yoshi's New Island (3DS)

Many found this next game on the list quite disappointing, and while the challenge level was low (save for the super-hard unlockable levels), the music utilized the same melody for nearly every stage save for this audio abortion, and the quality of the game did not enter the same league as the original Yoshi's Island on SNES (but then again, what does?), Yoshi's New Island was a solid platforming romp with some good ideas, solid level design, and interesting new mechanics. The benefit of not forcing players to 100% the levels in one go was a nice touch, making for far less frustration. I'm looking at you, Yoshi's Island DS!

7) Tomodachi Life (3DS)

Starting off with controversy in the west due to the disappointing lack of same-sex marriage in the game, Tomodachi Life went on to make mad bank for Nintendo. The game put players in the role of a voyeur overlooking the everyday activities of an apartment complex full of the player's own collection of Miis. Miis could interact with one another, have you play mini-games with them, and even get married to one another, eventually having children. While Tomodachi Life didn't have anywhere near as much of a long-lasting appeal as Animal Crossing: New Leaf, it definitely offered plenty of playtime for those into a wacky and weird gaming experience.

6) Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (3DS)

The last of the prequel trilogy of the Professor Layton series saw the titular character of superior deductive skills and intellect, his ever-faithful apprentice Luke and his highly capable assistant Emmy on a journey around the world, solving the mystery of the ancient Azran people. Along the way, heartstrings were pulled with the very excellent story and dialogue, brain-bending puzzles were solved, and mini-games were played to further add to the longevity of this solid adventure. One couldn't help but have a tear in their eye as the final credits rolled. So long, Professor Layton. May we see you again real soon.

5) Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)

Kirby received a Return to Dream Land-style adventure in portable form. However, unlike that Wii game, it was just Kirby to himself to save the day! The intricately designed level featured a massive amount of obstacles and enemies to watch out for, clever implementation of moving objects from the background into the foreground to capitalize well on the 3D effect of the Nintendo 3DS, and a load of secrets to keep players playing far after the final boss was felled. The collectible aspect of acquiring key chains displaying characters, sprites, and essentially the history of the Kirby franchise made doing so insanely addicting.

4) Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (3DS)

With such technological mastery that a huge game like Super Smash Bros. could be squeezed onto a Nintendo 3DS game card and run on the actual system (albeit with some casualties like no Ice Climbers and no ability for Miiverse while playing the game), Masahiro Sakurai and his highly capable team displayed amazing talent, as would be expected of the director and names under his developing guidance. The 3DS exclusive Smash Run remains my favorite mode of the two versions released. In addition to that, the amount of stages was fantastic and varied, and the novelty of playing Smash Bros. on a handheld device still hasn't become old yet, four months after the game's initial release in North America.

3) Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)

I am calling it here and now. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is my favorite rhythm/music game of all time. This is with Elite Beat Agents, Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5, and more that I've experienced in the past. Regardless, even compared to the original Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, this Curtain Call expansion featured a myriad more of music, over 200 songs from dozens of Final Fantasy numbered games and spin-offs. Leveling up a wide array of Final Fantasy characters, setting up parties, establishing ability lists, and more were all handled beautifully to make this rhythm game crossed with an RPG play and feel wonderfully. The constant unlocking of content through simply playing songs meant that I always felt like playing more just to see what I'd unlock next. Curtain Call is hopefully not curtains for the Theatrhythm series in the West after its unfortunately low sales on this side of the Pacific.

2) Fantasy Life (3DS)

Posted as the 550th review on SuperPhillip Central, Fantasy Life was a magical little game that sported a vast amount of charm, humorous dialogue, a multitude of quests, and a story mode that was best played in bursts rather than all at once. While the story of Fantasy Life clocked in at just over ten hours, the real game came from choosing one of twelve Lives, leveling up your skills via completing Life-centric objectives, and using those new skills to become even better at your current life. From paladins to woodcutters, miners to blacksmiths, Fantasy Life had a ton of content that one could easily go into the hundreds of hours just to master every Life and see everything this wondrous game had to offer.

1) Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)

While Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is my favorite rhythm/music game, Mario Golf: World Tour knocked both the Nintendo 64 version of Mario Golf and the PS2's Hot Shots Golf Fore! from their respective seats as kings of the arcade golf game. World Tour offered SO much for the player, and that was even without the DLC, which by the way was VERY much worth getting. (Four new characters and six 18-hole courses? Yes, please!) The amount of regular and Mushroom Kingdom-theme courses was amazing, the mechanics were tight, both Castle Club-- the single player mode where you play as your Mii-- and the Challenges-- where you completed different conditions to win-- were great additions, and the level of unlockables meant you'd be playing this game for quite a while! While the N64 Mario Golf and Hot Shots Golf Fore! are masterful golf games, they scored an albatross while World Tour sunk a hole-in-one. (I had to use a golf analogy!)

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Which handheld games that released last year are your personal favorites? Feel free to offer suggestions for games I should try out that I may not have already in the comments section!

Review Round-Up - June 2014

As my review said, "Gravity schmavity", as
Mario Kart 8 is SPC's game of the month!

It's a summer of superheroes and blockbusters it seems this season at SuperPhillip Central. It all kicked off with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which swung its way to an above average 6.5 score. Then, our game of the month revved and roared onto the site with Mario Kart 8 getting a 9.5. The superhero goodness wasn't over with Spider-Man, as Batman's handheld debut on both the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, was met with a 7.25. Then we went digital with Ittle Dew (8.0) and Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (8.0). The exuberant eccentricities of Tomodachi Life rewarded that welcomed breath of fresh air on the 3DS a satisfying 8.5. Finally, we rounded out the month of June with a retro review of the great Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (9.0) and took a trip to Gotham with Batman: Arkham Origins for Wii U (8.25). July looks to heat our site up even more with hot new reviews, including our special landmark 500th review!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Multi) - 6.5
Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) - 9.5
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (3DS, Vita) - 7.25
Ittle Dew (Wii U eShop) - 8.0
Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (GBA, Wii U VC) - 8.0
Tomodachi Life (3DS) - 8.5
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS2) - 9.0
Batman: Arkham Origins (Wii U) - 8.25

Mario Kart 8 was so nice,
we had to post a pic of it twice!

Tomodachi Life (3DS) Review

We cap off the week with a review of Tomodachi Life, a game once riddled with controversy. Now that the game is actually out, we can see how the game's quality is. Here is my review of Tomodachi Life.

Life's What You Make It.

If you asked someone about Tomodachi Life several months ago, you would have been met with a bunch of answers regarding the entire same-sex marriage controversy. Now that the game has released, the discussion has since shifted to the actual quality of the game. Tomodachi Life presents an incredibly quirky life simulator where your Miis can mingle with one another, marry, and even start a family. Its amount of content is only met by its amount of weirdness, but don't be put off-- this is a great kind of weird.

Welcome to your island getaway! 

Tomodachi Life has you having your Mii take up residency within your island's apartment complex. If you want a more involved experience, then inserting as many Miis from your 3DS or 3DS XL system into the game or via reading QR codes is recommended. You can set their speech pattern, tonality, quality, and speed; how Mii nicknames and real names are pronounced (you can even bypass the nickname by inputting a custom pronunciation); and set up a personality profile to get a feel of what personality type that given Mii is categorized in. You can have over fifty unique Miis in the apartment building, each having desires and needs.

Wouldn't that be an improvement?

Thankfully you need not babysit and tend to every Mii if you don't want to. Tomodachi Life isn't really an experience similar to Animal Crossing: New Leaf, where an absence from the game will have a negative affect on what happens. No Mii will move out, no weeds will need to be plucked from the ground, and so forth. In this regard, it's quite refreshing and much more relaxing. I never felt like I had to play Tomodachi Life when I didn't want to just to make sure my virtual friends were happy.

Captain Falcon exclaimed, "I didn't
mean for it to kill her. I swear!"

When a Mii has a desire for your attention, the window of the apartment they are in will present itself with an icon. The most common icon has a Mii that wants you to do them a favor. Again, this isn't like Animal Crossing where you have to trek across town searching for another villager who has that other villager's box of crayons. No, these favors are much more basic in nature. It can be something as simple as feeding them some food, giving them a change of scenery with an apartment makeover, or dolling them up with a new hat or outfit.

Introduce your Miis to other island
residents to create friendships.

An orange icon in the shape of a Mii's head means that apartment resident wants to interact with another Mii in some way. These events are how friendships and relationships flounder or flourish between fellow apartment complex inhabitants. When wanting to be friends with a new Mii, the apartment resident will first ask you if you think the pair is a suitable personality match. If so, then they'll ask your advice on what to talk about or how to present their greeting to their potential friend. There's other times where Miis just won't get along, and a third party will want to jump in to weather the storm and fallout if the intervention does not work.

Oh, no you didn't, Bea Arthur!

The final kind of icon notes when a Mii wants to play a game of some type with you. From memory matching games to quizzes that test your knowledge on Mii residents, food dishes, and other items, each win grants you a pick of one of three prizes, some more expensive and rarer in value than others.

Short little games like this reward you
with trinkets that can be sold for cold-hard cash.

Each Mii has a list of things they like and dislike, whether it be food, clothing and apartment styles, and personality types. When entering a Mii's apartment, you can see their current hunger level (based off of how empty or full their stomach is), who their best friend and sweetheart are, if applicable, and list of fed foods they really love, like, and detest. It's very common to see Miis in one another's apartments, just hanging out, or even at various locations around the island.

Ah... A nice sunny day to sit out and
watch the old carousel...

If two Miis are really close and of the opposite sex to one another, the possibility of a romantic relationship arises. This can end up in marriage, and not only that but they can produce their own baby, an entirely new addition to your personal island of Mii madness.

Oh, God. My mom and David Letterman
are bonding! 

You earn money and Miis gain experience points of sorts through positive interactions with you, the player. Doing tasks and helping them out by fulfilling their various desires fills a meter up. Each time it reaches its full capacity, that Mii levels up, allowing you to grant them a gift of sorts, whether that be an actual gift to tinker with like video game systems and exercise equipment, giving a Mii the power of song, refurnishing their apartment with a new room model, or creating a phrase for a Mii to say pending on their mood.

There's a large amount of room interiors
that you can give your island inhabitants.

Outside of the apartment complex where Miis reside is a whole slew of different locales on the island. Most of these open up as simple conditions are met within the game, such as solving a certain number of problems that Miis present to you. This equals even more things to do and a greater variety too. There's a restaurant where food is purchased, a clothing shop where different outfits are sold, a hat shop that specializes in headgear, a pawn shop that buys back won treasures from games, and a room showcase that offers up a selection of room types for apartments. The shops which sell different items regularly change their selection on a daily basis.

Sure, a veggie burger is a healthier
alternative, but give me meat any day!

Other than stores that buy and sell goods, you can visit various locations around the island that have timed events that only happen during special hours of the day. There's rap battles, barbecues, 8-bit RPGs starring your Miis on a quest, nighttime markets, and trips to the cafe to see Miis mingle at different tables. It's hilarious to see David Letterman ask Jay Leno if he's in or out on eating a boatload of soda crackers at the cafe.

Truer words have never been spoken.

In essence, that's the true fun of Tomodachi Life-- seeing your Miis, whether they be folks you know in real life, caricatures, or famous people, interacting with one another or just set loose to do as they please. There's something sensationally satisfying about seeing Bea Arthur, Betty White, Batman, and Conan O'Brien on stage singing a custom-lyric heavy metal theme together, or looking at two of your closest friends who don't even know each other in real life perform yoga together and eventually become romantic sweethearts.

I couldn't do this in real life
due to stage fright.

Tomodachi Life has a very simplistic graphical style to it, no doubt to fit the basic designs of the Miis that the game stars. You won't be seeing complex geometry and massive amounts of polygons in the world of the game, so don't expect to be wowed by the visuals. That said, there's an immense charm that Tomodachi Life gives players with its visuals, and the fact that it all runs so smoothly with incredibly minimal loading times helps things exquisitely.

This scenario would NEVER happen.
Me not playing with the GamePad!? Please!

For those looking for an absolutely mad game from our friends on the other side of the Pacific, Tomodachi Life is a great pickup. The amount of content featured is amazing, seeing how your Miis interact with the island's various locales, eccentricities, and other Miis is infinitely entertaining, and the flexibility in what you can do is astonishing. While you most likely won't log in anywhere near the amount of hours as you would with Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Tomodachi Life is a fantastic and quirky game that acts as a great diversion for 3DS owners looking for something atypical on the system and in gaming in general.

[SPC Says: 8.5/10]

Miiquality and Tomodachi Life: Admirable Cause or Awful Controversy?

Nintendo seems to attract negativity to itself a lot these days. Whether it's the Wii U's abysmal sales, orders for the company's president to step down, have their games put on mobile devices, or go third-party, Nintendo really has the ire of a lot of people. That's not to say some of it is unwarranted.

The latest negativity comes from a Nintendo 3DS game that is releasing next month called Tomodachi Life. This is the first time the series is leaving Japan, so it should be a cause for celebration. However, there's a bit of controversy surrounding the game due to a Nintendo representative's comments on a certain modern-day issue-- same-sex marriage. This is not allowed in Tomodachi Life, and this has angered many.

Unfortunately, the gaming community in general seems to get outraged by pretty much everything these days. It gets to the point where it simply becomes noise in the background. It makes otherwise admirable causes become much weaker due to the constant amount of folks crying foul for anything and everything. This somewhat diminishes the impact when we have various members of the gaming community and press playing the role of "the gamers who cried wolf... over and over again."

This Miiquality controversy regarding Tomodachi Life seems like yet another manufactured issue by those who must always be politically correct. While it's incredibly awesome to see this group champion sexual equality and want Nintendo to not be so firmly set in its ways, the leaps of logic and jumps to various conclusions don't do this group's arguments any favors.

In a perfect world, same-sex marriage would not be controversial issue at all. We wouldn't even need to be up in arms over Tomodachi Life because Nintendo would have same-sex marriage in it without any problems at all. There would be no outrage from either side of the aisle.

However, I don't think Nintendo deliberately gave a judgment either way whether same-sex marriage was a good thing or not. No, instead the company dodged the question with some mental acrobatics as a means to not create any kind of perception at all. When you're dealing with a hot button issue such as gay marriage, particularly here in the United States where we still get all-too-common backwards thinking that homosexuality is a sin, it's best to tread carefully. How does not wanting "to provide social commentary" mean that Nintendo doesn't care for same-sex marriage?

If Nintendo doesn't allow same-sex marriage, it is viewed as anti-gay. If it does allow same-sex marriage, then reports of Nintendo defiling the minds of our youth will be plastered all over the news. It's a no-win situation for Nintendo.

There was an incident on the Disney Channel here in the States with a show called "Good Luck Charlie." There was an episode that portrayed two women in a union with their own child. This caused an immense amount of controversy from various parents, religious groups, etc.

It's my belief that if that all happened with a Disney Channel show, which pretty much has the same demographic Tomodachi Life is going for, then if same-sex marriage was implemented into the game by a company known for being family-friendly like Nintendo is, all heck would ensue. It would be damaging for Nintendo, much like it's damaging for it by not including same-sex marriage at all. It's being misconstrued that the absence of two male Miis or two female Miis getting married must mean that Nintendo looks down on the act.

Does that mean homosexuality or same-sex marriage are bad things? Hell no. It just annoys the crap out of me to see so many people intentionally twisting the words of Nintendo to fit their own agendas, to get traffic, and to generate even more unneeded controversy. Thus, those who find that Nintendo is somehow delivering a message and presenting its moral values on the culture through a carefully worded statement just come across as the same type of people who throw up their arms whenever there's any kind of chance to be pissed off about something in the gaming industry. We as an industry need to fight for good causes, and this one really is, but when we do so, we can't create leaps in logic and expect to be taken seriously.