Eagerly awaited GameCube titles playable for first time on UK soil.
Hands-on with Zelda and Mario.
With the promise of free beer and continental hors d’oeuvres, Nintendo yesterday invited the UK press to a small central London club to show off their upcoming Gamecube titles. Never one to sniff at such a generous gesture, we made no hesitation in heading over there and sampling some of the action. And some of the lager.
With Miyamoto-san’s latest masterpieces Super Mario Sunshine and Legend of Zelda obviously the most enticing prospects of the day, other titles, such as Resident Evil, Eternal Darkness, Starfox Adventures and Mario Party 4 (albeit with ONE control pad available!?!?) appeared in playable form, as did Disney’s Magical Mirror and Time Splitters 2. Obviously now finally happy with Retro Studio’s progress, Nintendo also had the much anticipated Metroid Prime on offer.
Fans of the new Zelda incarnation will be pleased to know that it plays every bit as well as it looks. Competition for one of the two designated Zelda machines was fierce, but brief play did not disappoint. With a game mechanic seemingly borrowed from Ocarina of Time, it’s clear that Nintendo have gone for the ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach. The playable code at the venue offered, via a basic menu, a selection of the game’s mini missions, which gave a good idea of what we can expect from the final release. One of the missions, for example, featured the boss encounter prevalent in the E3 movies and screens and to witness this in action would surely convince any of the cel-shaded cynics that Link’s cartoon makeover has been a bright move for Nintendo. A barrage of lighting and particle effects make up this scene, as the cel-shaded lava drips from the huge central creature, illuminating the cavern.
After watching some journalist’s miserable attempts to beat the boss for nigh on 20 minutes, it was time to show him how it was done. Someone obviously hadn’t done his research.
Nintendo’s continued prowess when it comes to water effects was prevalent throughout the Super Mario Sunshine preview. The six-level demo on offer had been conveniently put together to showcase all the game’s available eye candy and, with the exception of some rather questionable textures on some of the walls, generally impressed on the visual front. With the aid of his new back pack, our plumbing hero squirts, swims in, rafts on and even hovers with the heavily-featured water in the game, presenting a convincing representation of the qualities of liquid. The ‘Sunshine’ element of the title is greatly emphasised, often leading to the impression that the game was built around the engine’s great lighting effects. The whole world is wonderfully sunny, real time shadows cast off everything and the reflective properties of the water, and more impressively some manoeuvrable mirrors, are pretty darn nice.
The familiar feel of Mario 64 was expected and is reassuring. Mario can perform all his original moves, as well as quite a few new ones, as he embarks on his quest to clean up the island. The all-new backpack can be switched between a water cannon and a jetpack. The water cannon can be used to shoot enemies, clean up the mess and even propel Mario on a floating leaf, whilst the jet pack enables the guy to reach high places and hover. Other new additions to Mario’s array of moves include a spin jump, the ability to bounce up walls and some very interesting rope-walking tricks.
Expect more details on the rest of the games at the event in our next update.
With Miyamoto-san’s latest masterpieces Super Mario Sunshine and Legend of Zelda obviously the most enticing prospects of the day, other titles, such as Resident Evil, Eternal Darkness, Starfox Adventures and Mario Party 4 (albeit with ONE control pad available!?!?) appeared in playable form, as did Disney’s Magical Mirror and Time Splitters 2. Obviously now finally happy with Retro Studio’s progress, Nintendo also had the much anticipated Metroid Prime on offer.
Fans of the new Zelda incarnation will be pleased to know that it plays every bit as well as it looks. Competition for one of the two designated Zelda machines was fierce, but brief play did not disappoint. With a game mechanic seemingly borrowed from Ocarina of Time, it’s clear that Nintendo have gone for the ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach. The playable code at the venue offered, via a basic menu, a selection of the game’s mini missions, which gave a good idea of what we can expect from the final release. One of the missions, for example, featured the boss encounter prevalent in the E3 movies and screens and to witness this in action would surely convince any of the cel-shaded cynics that Link’s cartoon makeover has been a bright move for Nintendo. A barrage of lighting and particle effects make up this scene, as the cel-shaded lava drips from the huge central creature, illuminating the cavern.
After watching some journalist’s miserable attempts to beat the boss for nigh on 20 minutes, it was time to show him how it was done. Someone obviously hadn’t done his research.
Nintendo’s continued prowess when it comes to water effects was prevalent throughout the Super Mario Sunshine preview. The six-level demo on offer had been conveniently put together to showcase all the game’s available eye candy and, with the exception of some rather questionable textures on some of the walls, generally impressed on the visual front. With the aid of his new back pack, our plumbing hero squirts, swims in, rafts on and even hovers with the heavily-featured water in the game, presenting a convincing representation of the qualities of liquid. The ‘Sunshine’ element of the title is greatly emphasised, often leading to the impression that the game was built around the engine’s great lighting effects. The whole world is wonderfully sunny, real time shadows cast off everything and the reflective properties of the water, and more impressively some manoeuvrable mirrors, are pretty darn nice.
The familiar feel of Mario 64 was expected and is reassuring. Mario can perform all his original moves, as well as quite a few new ones, as he embarks on his quest to clean up the island. The all-new backpack can be switched between a water cannon and a jetpack. The water cannon can be used to shoot enemies, clean up the mess and even propel Mario on a floating leaf, whilst the jet pack enables the guy to reach high places and hover. Other new additions to Mario’s array of moves include a spin jump, the ability to bounce up walls and some very interesting rope-walking tricks.
Expect more details on the rest of the games at the event in our next update.
Read More Like This