• Punch Out
• Wii Motion Plus

Punch Out

Punch out isn’t a simulator. If you’re looking for realism, you’re obviously not looking here. Nor are you looking here for exceptional graphics. Or a robust boxing engine. Probably not for many hours of gameplay or depth, either.

But it’s some of the most fun I’ve had on a console in quite a bit.

Sure, part of it is reliving my youth. Every now and then I need to bring out my inner 8 year old, and Nintendo did an amazing job of that, bringing back (mostly) the familiar cast, primarily from the original NES version. It has a very familiar feel, with very familiar characters, tendencies, and gameplay that invokes a very large sense of deja vu.

And that’s what makes it a great divergence. Sure, there’s a market for boxing simulators. I love Fight Night (make one for the Wii, damnit!), but there’s also a great market for good, fun, simple arcade games. Something to play with friends, something to enjoy yourself for 10 minutes after a stressful day. There’s just something inherently fun about hitting King Hippo with a star punch and watching him fall over the ropes.

This didn’t need a remake. It needed an update. I love it.

Wii Motion Plus

There’s part of me that feels the Wii Motion Plus should have been what the Wiimote was originally. When I first heard about the Wiimote, this is what got me excited. Not saying the Wii was a disappointment at first, but it definitely wasn’t realizing its potential. That being said, it works incredibly well. The Wii Motion Plus brings it a lot closer to unlocking its full potential.

Tiger Woods ‘10 makes good use of the new controls, but I can’t wait to see the new possibilities. Tennis (I don’t have Grand Slam Tennis), Boxing, Sword Fighting (re-do the star was game please, we need lightsabers with the WMP), Bowling. Endless possibilities. Can’t wait.

I really do have to commend Nintendo here. Supporting a product over a 3 decade span is an achievement, especially in today’s day and age. I’m impressed, at least.

So far I’ve only gotten Wii Sports, Zelda and Spiderman 3, but so far it’s fantastic. With Wii sports, Golf and Bowling are tons of fun. The Wii-mote is going to absolutely revolutionize sports games and shooters. I would have never bought a Golf of Bowling game in the past, but now I absolutely would. The Wii Sports games are really just mini-games, with a lot of features that could be added, but they’re loads of fun. And what makes them great is if you’re playing by yourself, you can play in 10 minutes easily. I haven’t really played Spiderman enough to have an opinion on it, it came bundled with the system.

Zelda is absolutely phenomenal. It goes back to the Ocarina roots, but adds plenty fresh. Those complaining (and there’s few) that it’s too much like Ocarina and not enough has changed are nuts. You don’t change something just for the sake of changing it, and the controls and presentation on Ocarina are great. The new additions the game has made are enough to keep it fresh. Overall, this is definitely the best Zelda made yet.

And the Virtual Console is absolutely great. Keep in mind, I’ve used emulators quite a bit, probably since about ‘99. Playing the old games isn’t something new. But having the option of playing them on a console again, in front of the TV, with multiple players in the room is very nice. Adds a little more nostalgia than playing them on the computer (not to mention the controls are better). I’ve only got a couple (Mario64, Super Mario Brothers, Punch-Out, Donkey Kong Country), but there’s hours of gameplay I can still play there. Particularly with Mario64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Yeah, there’s no doubt that my opinion of those games are influenced by memories, but those are two of the greatest games ever. Mario64 revolutionized gaming, and Zelda: OoT is still considered by many to be the greatest video game ever. I can play both of them, and even 11 and 9 years after their releases (respectively), those are still viable games that can be played (and sold) today. There were certainly consoles I played longer when I was growing up, and consoles that had a better range of games. But the N64, for my buck, was the most memorable console ever, mainly because of those two games.