Download Services Have Missiles, Dolphins

This week both Nintendo and Microsoft's downloadable game services have some great titles to offer. The Wii will soon be playing host to Super Mario Bros. 2, Ecco: Tides of Time, and Dragon Spirit . Xbox Live Arcade, meanwhile, has up an update of Missile Command . This latest follows on the heels of Pac-Man: CE , a worthy and well-received updating of the arcade classic. Ars' comment about Ecco is dead on: "I used to love this game, just swimming around and doing those flips out of the water as Ecco was pretty calming. Then you tried to actually play the game and found out just how excruciatingly difficult it could be. While the Dreamcast update lost some of the magic, the original Ecco is still a neat twist on 2D games. Who knew that taking a platformer and setting it underwater would be so much fun?"

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[EveryNickIsTaken]

I take it you never owned an Atari (or Atari clone) system?

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[hal2814]

I did, and the 2600 version of Missile Command absolutely sucked compared to the arcade machine in all its multi-button trackball glory. If anything, Missile Command would be far better suited to an update on the Wii where at least the Wiimote would be more interesting than moving crosshairs around with a joystick.

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[morari]

My Atari was sold at a yard-sell before I ever got around to getting into all of the games. All I really remember is being consistently pissed off at Pitfall's difficulty.

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[LighterShadeOfBlack]

Missile Command is supposed to compete with Super Mario Bros. 2 and Ecco the Dolphin?! Sucks to be Xbox Arcade.

I know which one I still play from time to time 15 years after my first encounter with it. And the one I'll probably still be playing 15 years on. Hint: It isn't Mario or Ecco.

I'm sure Mario and Ecco will probably perform better than Missile Command at least at first, but provided it's a decent Missile Command conversion that's the one which has the more timeless gameplay. It's definitely the one you're more likely to go to for a 20 minute gaming burst, which is the kind of situation these games should be

20 minutes?

[Krozy]

try 7 hours before losing all your cities! - I loved that game back in the day. Probably the longest time I've ever played a single game of that type. Even pacman I couldnt keep going for that long.

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[LKM]

There are good missile command clones for every imaginable platform - I used to play this on an old Apple ][. There's only one Super Mario Bros 2 (well, there are two, if you count Doki Doki Panic :-).

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[Notquitecajun]

I LIKED SM 2 for the original Nintendo (and it remains my favorite Mario game to date [Which is relative, considering the only other Mario game I ever liked was Mariokart]...and it wasn't really a "Mario" game, just a Japanese game that switched out some Mario characters).

Wait...we're not talking about that Super Mario 2, are we?

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[Stormwatch]

Wait...we're not talking about that Super Mario 2, are we?

uh..yeah, we are. what are you babbling about?

Possibly he's thinking of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. That one kicked ass!

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[LKM]

No. He's talking about Super Mario Bros 2, which was a sprite switch of a Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic.

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[eln]

I dunno, I'm probably in a minority, but SMB 2 was probably my least favorite of the early SMB games. I've downloaded SMB and Super Mario World from the Virtual Console, and I like those ones (and liked them when they were new too). I'd much rather see SMB 3.

As for Ecco, I'm actually surprised it is as popular as it is. I owned it back in the day when I had a Genesis, and it was okay, but I didn't think the gameplay was that good. I remember being impressed by the graphics at the time, though.

Missile Co

Old-school

[Rob T Firefly]

Who knew that taking a plat former and setting it underwater would be so much fun?

Someone who played Super Mario's swimming worlds in 1985?

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[EveryNickIsTaken]

Though to be honest, those white squid things were annoying as hell.

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[Tol Dantom]

Who knew that taking a plat former and setting it underwater would be so much excruciating torture? Someone who played Super Mario's swimming worlds in 1985?

Okay I think I fixed it.

Disappointed

[DarenN]

I thought that this would be a story about thePirateBay.org taking over Seaworld and defending themselves with missile armed dolphins. The real story is an anti-climax :(

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[Overzeetop]

So who would you back...dolphins with missiles, or sharks with lasers? Maybe that's the next big game, like the old Alien v Predator?

You're not the only one.

[CrazyJim1]

I thought that exact same thing. Maybe I suffer from Slashdot groupthink.

Ecco...

[jb.hl.com]

Excruciatingly difficult says it all, really. Seriously, I almost threw the fucking console at the wall because of that thing. "Whoops, you brushed against some weeds, so you're going to be stuck here until you press all the right buttons in the right order for the right amount of time, or until you drown. Either way, you're stuck." I think that's the first game where I've actually been more satisfied skipping levels.

Grr. I'm all angry now, reminded of that.

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[BlueLightSpecial]

I used to play ecco with a friend and we actually tried playing it, once controls and such were understood, to make a long story short sega genesis got intimately acquainted with the nearest wall I wonder how hard it would be if i picked it up now though...

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[Hatta]

Yet beautiful and compelling nonetheless.

BTW, THAT headline and no one's mentioned sharks with frickin laser beams on the heads?

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[macshome]

To me the best version is still the Sega CD one...

The first new Pac-Man mazes in more than 26 years?

[hal2814]

Pac-Man CE claims to have "the first new Pac-Man mazes in more than 26 years." I didn't realize 1996 [wikipedia.org] was 26 years ago.

Re:The first new Pac-Man mazes in more than 26 yea

[GoodbyeBlueSky1]

Yeah, they changed base-10 arithmetic 18 years ago (1998). Where were you?

Re:The first new Pac-Man mazes in more than 26 yea

[LKM]

Maybe they meant "the first designed by the original Pac Man designer since 26 years."

Missing a few games...

[Cutriss]

This latest follows on the heels of Pac-Man: CE [worthplaying.com], a worthy and well-received updating of the arcade classic.

Since Pac-Man CE has come out, we have seen Catan, Band of Bugs, and Carcassonne, all excellent strategy games which are well-worth the mention. Pac-Man CE was pretty good, yes, but these three games shored up a gap in a very under-represented genre on XBLA.

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[oberondarksoul]

Then, don't buy it. Since when did Nintendo force you to buy the game multiple times? Some people don't have a NES, SNES or GBA and still would like Super Mario 2; some would like to have the series on one console; some may simply not fancy connecting up their old systems for impulsive Mario Bros.

If you're happy with what you've got, then good for you, enjoy it and stop complaining that - heaven forbid - you have some choice in the world.

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[ivan256]

It's still in stark contrast to Sony's "If you already bought this game for PSP, you can download it to your PS3 for free" policy.

And why is the new Nintendo and Microsoft downloadable content getting free ad-space when Sony has new games available this week too?

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[demi]

And why is the new Nintendo and Microsoft downloadable content getting free ad-space when Sony has new games available this week too?

Is this the part where I say "you must be new here?"

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[ivan256]

I did already know the answer, of course, but what actually does surprise me is that I didn't get modded down.

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[Hatta]

If you still have them, play them! I do, and I do. Now quit your bitching.

huh?

[nomadic]

I used to love this game, just swimming around and doing those flips out of the water as Ecco was pretty calming. Then you tried to actually play the game and found out just how excruciatingly difficult it could be. While the Dreamcast update lost some of the magic, the original Ecco is still a neat twist on 2D games.

WTH? The Dreamcast version was incredible. The graphics were amazing, the controls were fantastic, and the only thing that keeps it off my top 10 list is the fact that it was so damn hard

Difficult

[Databass]

Then you tried to actually play the game and found out just how excruciatingly difficult it could be.

Some of the later levels have names like "Nightmare of Human" and "Nightmare of Dolphin".

All these rewrites suck

[QuantumG]

Either 1. put an emulator and the original ROMs up, or 2. do a rewrite that has EXACTLY the same gameplay as the original. None of this Donkey Kong with the hammers in the wrong place and the second level missing crap.

Replaying old games.

[MaWeiTao]

To this day Super Mario Bros 2 is my favorite of the entire series. I don't know what it is. The game just seemed even more surreal than any of the others. The enemies seems more inventive too. The others are all great, but there's something I just like about that particular version.

I'm a bit underwhelmed by Pac Man CE, particularly graphics wise. So they put the effort into making the states rendered in nice high resolution and they couldn't be bothered to have done the same with Pac Man and the ghosts? I don't see the nostalgia in keeping them pixelated like that. And there have been numerous inventive Pac Man clones through the years, especially on the PC.

The interesting thing about many of these old games is how awkward their control schemes feel. Most anyway, Super Mario Bros and a handful of others still feel very fluid and natural to this day. But most take some getting used to. Some games I had fond memories of I found myself disappointed by because of the controls to the point where I couldn't be bothered to play them very long. One particularly aggravating example is Bionic Commando.

Interestingly, I've never had a problem graphics-wise. I maintain that 2D sprites age better than 3D graphics, especially those aiming for realism. However, given my experience with emulation, I have a hard time spending money buying Virtual Console games. To be honest, I prefer the approach seen on Xbox Live where developers take an old game and update the graphics and gameplay. It would be interesting to see this done with some of those old Nintendo games.

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[LKM]

To this day Super Mario Bros 2 is my favorite of the entire series. I don't know what it is. The game just seemed even more surreal than any of the others. The enemies seems more inventive too. The others are all great, but there's something I just like about that particular version.

You probably already know that, but the reason for this is that SMB2 was not actually a Mario game. It was a Japanese game based on a TV show (I think). It's called Doki Doki Panic and got a sprite swap for the US and Euro versions.

Also, what's wrong with the VC emulation? I've never noticed anything amiss, other than the lack of rumble. In fact, most games look quite a bit better on the Wii than they used to. The VC isn't the place for remakes, it's the place to buy old games... Eventually, we'll get ne

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[cowscows]

I love the music from SMB2. It doesn't have the same cultural persistence as some of the other mario music, but I've always thought it was excellent.