#suzak

[ryozeroswim]

Ao ashi chapter 278 coloring | Xhaka Demian and Suzak

DON’T REPOST | NO ROBAR | DON’T STEAL

Art made by yugo kobayashi, coloring made by me

Tw: Ryo_Zeroswim

Ig: Ryo_Zeroswim

[miloscat]

[Review] Wario: Master of Disguise (DS)

Wario Land: Touched!

Between Wario Land games (World in 2003 and this in 2007) the Ware spinoff series exploded, with four whole entries utilising different hardware gimmicks to expand the microgame concept. Eventually it fell on Suzak to continue the parent series. They had previously done some F-Zero games on GBA for Nintendo and would later be known for their G.G Series of small-scale games on DSiWare. But for now, their goal was seemingly to take Wario Land and make it as much about the touchscreen as they possibly could.

Oddly enough, the premise here is pretty similar to Suzak's first game, Domokun's Strange TV on GBA. In that game, Domokun went into his TV and it was an excuse to change up gameplay styles and settings by swapping between programmes. Here, Wario invents a telly-helmet to enter the world of a drama about a master thief... then he stays in that one show the whole time. The plot kind of forgets that he's even in a TV world until the epilogue, although the game returns you to Wario's tiny Japanese-style apartment living room between stages. It feels like the concept is underused, and continues the stakes-lowering trend of Wario having adventures in pocket realities for no reason.

This adventure plays out in a series of large, sprawling levels. A return to Wario Land 3's style of exploration was welcome for me, including unlocking abilities and an emphasis on puzzle-platforming. There's tons of treasures to find, and this time they're all logged with funny descriptions to read, which is nice. Getting around the levels can be a slog though, especially when backtracking is required. The game has fewer stages than Wario Land 4, but they're massive, many of them taking me over an hour to clear. More frequent save points or the addition of warp points would have been appreciated; this is a portable game after all.

The elephant in the room is the touchscreen integration. You play the game one-handed, jumping with Up on the D-pad (left-handed controls are also available) while your stylus allows your transformations and their abilities. Wario has eight forms total, which get found and enhanced over the course of the game. They have distinct and obvious situational strengths, and it felt like eight was the right number to not be overwhelming but give plenty of variety. At any time you draw the appropriate symbol on Wario's body to take on that form, then tap or whatever to do their thing. They work well for the most part, although blowing into the microphone to fly as Wicked Wario, or drawing boxes and trying to recover hearts under pressure or time crunch as Arty Wario, can get frustrating.

More egregious are the forced touchscreen minigames every time you open a chest. There's a lot of chests in the game and a surprisingly small pool of tasks, so you'll very quickly be repeating the exact same thing... it's a real drag. The minigames themselves aren't even good. I also found the boss fights a low point, as they demand precision transformations and inputs and drag on while draining your health. Yeah, MoD still has health as a mechanic. At least the ticking timer only exists to give you bonus money after a level.

While I think the premise had unfulfilled potential, they do inject some welcome characterisation with cutscenes between and within levels. Wario is afforded many opportunities to display his brazen, oafish Wario-ness, while the villains are a bit bland but bumble along with some fun dialogue. The locations come to life with lovely detailed pixel art, and there are often cute and lavishly animated new enemies for each level. (One level has an enemy cast based around goofy dolphins, which I enjoyed.)

My super-hot and spicy take is that I had a better time with this than the usually-beloved Wario Land 4. I think the touchscreen stuff turns people off, and rightly so, it's a bit overbearing. Naming the game the way they did (the Japanese title is Phantom Thief Wario the Seven, which along with interstitial screens when saving, etc. give the feel of a Japanese TV show) also can lead to it being dismissed. As far as I'm concerned, this is a very fitting Wario Land game in spirit and should have borne the name if only for the sake of legitimacy. Give it a chance!

[randomisedgaming]

F-Zero Climax - Game Boy Advance - 2004 Developers: Suzak Publisher: Nintendo

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[vgjunk]

F-Zero: GP Legend, Game Boy Advance.

[vgjunk]

Domo-kun no Fushigi Terebi, Game Boy Advance.

[vgjunk]

Wario: Master of Disguise, Nintendo DS.

[vgjunk]

Wario: Master of Disguise, Nintendo DS.

[everygame]

G.G. Series: Ninja Karakuri Den (Nintendo DSi)

Developed/Published by: Genterprise / Suzak Released: August 23rd, 2010 Completed: 23st April, 2015 Completion: Finished all 60 levels at the cost of many, many continues. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

I’m obsessed with weird cheapy games—well, Japanese ones, anyway. I’ve made a habit of collecting any Simple Series games I can find (like most folk in-the-know, I adore the EDF series) and I’ve always been interested in the G.G. Series, a series of really cheapy ($2) games thrown out on the DSi eShop.

(Confusingly for collectors, there’s also the GO Series put out by Gamebridge, which includes a bunch of re-badged G.G. Series games in Europe, but in North America just seems to be a grab-bag of other weird cheap stuff.)

Anyway, Ninja Karakuri Den is the first of the series released in North America, and I’m going to surprise you (possibly?) by saying I loved it. For $2, anyway. It’s a simple little game that’s anything but the Ninja Jajamaru-kun clone you might imagine—your ninja constantly jumps, every platform he jumps from crumbles, and the idea is to modify your jump height and dash and slash to destroy all the cogs on screen while avoiding/killing enemies to progress.

It’s great! It really is! The controls are initially a little complex until you work out you want to be dashing and slashing more or less exclusively, but most importantly they feel great. Combined with the cute graphics and just-enough-content for $2, I ain’t complaining.

If I was to complain, I’d probably moan that there isn’t a better way to continue than just hitting retry to brute-force your way to the end, and that the bosses are a repetitive low-point of the game. And, honestly, now I’ve done all 60 levels I don’t really see a point in fighting for a high score or anything.

Basically, Ninja Karakuri Den is one idea done well for just long enough. Could it be longer, have more enemies and maybe platform types? Sure. Did I enjoy it because it was such a pleasant surprise as I was expecting nothing good at all? Very likely!

Will I ever play it again? No, but I’ll be happy to drop the $12 for the other six games in the series released in North America and that’s a big, big recommendation.

Final Thought: I don’t really have any other thoughts so actually I’d like to open the floor—have you played any of the G.G. Series? Any particular stand-outs? Sound off in a reblog? I think that’s how the “kids” are doing it now.