Guides
I have to say I find that kind of response peculiar as Nintendo may actually have the largest selection of hardcore first party titles available, while the DS has been an outlet for niche hardcore titles like the dungeon crawling roguelike Etrian and Shiren series. Perhaps the problem is that even their serious games, like Zelda and Mario for example, can also appeal to the casual crowd for various reasons. This however really shouldn't be a problem for any gamer as long as they can get their hours worth of entertainment. In any case, even though Nintendo didn't showcase any of the first or third party hardcore focused games during their E3 conference, does it mean all that much when many such games are actually being developed as we speak? I'll attempt to list the titles which made an impression to me, feel free to look them up on your favorite video and screenshot websites for additional eye candy. I should note many of these were actually available during E3 even though the media seemed to ignore their existence only to constantly bring up Nintendo's lacking conference. Coverage really wasn't up to par making new information hard to find.
Mad World
Blood. Violence. Gore. Whatever, it's all about fun and this seems to deliver. You can't really expect anything less from the people responsible for titles such as God Hand and Okami.
Castlevania Judgement
The title doesn't try to compete with the likes of Soul Calibur as expected and provides an alternative fighting game with as much emphasis on dodging as on blocking and attacking, interactive levels (note the zombies in the graveyard) and some great looking, over the top special moves which fit the series it is based on. If random anime shows can have fighting games, so can Castlevania.
De Blob
I urge everyone to try De Blob for the PC, a student project of yesteryear, which can give you a clue of what to expect from this, though judging by all the Wii trailers it has much improved aesthetics, style, controls and variety. I get a "Katamari meets Jet Set Radio" vibe and that's a classic waiting to happen.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI
A renowned strategy game series returns with many improvements, changes and enhancements. You wanted hardcore, right?
Call of Duty: World at War
More than enough effort seems to be done on the visuals this time, while with COD3's great reviews for the Wii, largely thanks to the great controls it offered, this sequel could be a must have.
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Namco know how to make a good RPG, and this sure looks like one. It also adds a monster capturing and training element to an already great series for that extra addictive twist.
Little King Story
I get all kinds of good vibes from this. It looks kiddy, but it seems close to the Heroes of Might & Magic series, except done in full realtime rather than have separate exploration sections and turn based battles. Charmingly unique is the least I can say.
SPRay
This could be a grand adventure of the Zelda / Okami type with a few welcome gameplay twists. Why not then?
Deadly Creatures
A unique premise with pleasant visuals and reported great use of the Wii controller. What more can you ask for?
Monster Lab
What I saw looked like a combination of standard adventuring and pokemon stadium style battles complete with fully customisable monsters and locational damage. Explore, find parts, build monsters, fight other monsters, repeat. It sounds like fun.
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
A fully featured, hardcore console dungeon crawler / roguelike. You really can't go wrong with this much improved sequel of an underrated original Playstation series.
The Conduit
Hopefully the FPS to show you can have both a good single player campaign and a robust online portion on the Wii. Don't let us down!
Wario Land: Shake It!
I saved Nintendo's only game in this list for last (sort of*). Mario's rival has always been able to provide a different kind of fun which should be welcome by all types of gamers. This title looks like a glorious return to his roots complete with beautifully animated characters, colorful environments and all around fun gameplay.
*Here are a few games which weren't actually demonstrated during E3 (unless they merely weren't covered by the media), but are most certainly on their way and looking promising.
Fatal Frame (Project Zero) IV
Be afraid. Again. A potential return to form for the creepy series.
Fragile
A brand new Namco RPG with a different, creepy, almost post apocalyptic atmosphere, involving some sort of epidemic.
Sky Crawlers
Anime inspired combat flight game from the developers of the Ace Combat series (yes, that would be Namco once again).
Shiren the Wanderer 3
The latest part of a hardcore dungeon crawling roguelike series which has been receiving great reviews on the DS.
FFCC: The Crystal Bearers
An anticipated, unique and pretty action RPG from Square.
Arc Rise Fantasia
Another promising Japanese RPG with unique ap based battles.
Tenchu 4
A welcome return to the original creators for the celebration of the series' 10th anniversary. It already looks very promising.
This list only includes my favorite promising titles and doesn't mention multiplatform games like Crash and Spyro, Sonic, Tomb Raider, The Force Unleashed, Ultimate Alliance 2, the various Lego titles, Dead Rising, etc, except for the COD game which I believe we can all agree will offer a different enough experience on the Wii. Upcoming hardcore WiiWare titles like Megaman 9 and Animales de la Muerte were also skipped for the sake of a future blog and actually getting this one published while E3 is recent.
We also know that Nintendo themselves are working on new AAA titles as well, Zelda, Disaster: Day of Crisis and Pikmin being a few of those. They'll obviously take a long time to get right, especially since Zelda is going to be an all new adventure and not just "Zelda as we know it" so it will take a lot of experimenting with Nintendo's dedication to quality. I'd prefer all these to start showing up 1-2-3 years from now than see them today looking like expansions of the last games instead of all new titles. And who really thinks we won't be seeing more of Metroid, Pokemon, F-Zero, Bomberman, Starfox, Mario and many other quality series?
There are bound to be many other third (and first) party projects we don't know of (like Sega's two secret projects announced with Mad World) or know very little about (like Monster Hunter 3) but may get to see at Leipzig, TGS, or other shows and future E3s. Good games usually take sometime after all.
It's also worth noting that, with the relatively low penetration of the GameCube, there are many worthy last generation titles for Nintendo newcomers to enjoy, while they honestly don't lack compared to any fancy next generation games. Let's not forget the Virtual Console, you really can't get much more hardcore.
All in all, I believe the Wii has and will have a lot to offer for the hardcore gamer. I hope this blog helped some of you Wii owners (or potential buyers) see there's little to worry about and that the future of Nintendo's console is looking very bright indeed, no matter what your gaming habbits may be. Game on!
on Oct. 15, 2008
on Oct. 10, 2008
on Sept. 1, 2008