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My Weekend 'Zelda' Toy Haul

Posted 1/7/08 2:19 pm EST by in GameCube, Imports, Japan, Toys, Wii, zelda


zelda_281.jpgThere really is no better way to spend a Saturday night in the city than dragging my girlfriend around New York's Lower East Side looking for video game toys.

While she may have gotten little out of the experience, I was able to find this great little collection of "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" action figures. I try my best to stay up on Japanese gaming toys as they are released, at least for import, but I hadn't seen these come up at all, so I had to make them mine.

My haul included four 4" posable figures: Link, Princess Zelda, the Usurper King Zant and a Wolf Link/ Midna combo. The set ran me $30 at J1toys.com (the store's name is actually a web address - it's so late 90's). While, they might not the highest quality, they are all really well done. They appear to be officially licensed from Nintendo by Yujin, and are part of the SR Series (the rest of the little booklet that came with the set is in Japanese). As an added bonus, the Link figure can hold his sword and shield in either hand, and you can have the figure represent your preferred version of the game.

They have a high level of detail for all of the characters will look great collecting dust on my shelf with my multitude of other game-related toys and tchotchkes, only to be taken down and played with when I feel like acting out the final GameCube "Zelda" game.

Hit the jump for a full gallery of images of the figures.

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Repeat Spender - Which Game Have You Bought Multiple Times? The Most?

Posted 12/10/07 5:09 pm EST by in Retro, Virtual Console, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, zelda


Pokemon SnapNintendo announced this morning that "Pokemon Snap" is now available on the Wii's Virtual Console system. I plan to buy the game. It will be the second -- possibly third -- time I've bought "Pokemon Snap."

Earlier in the year, when "Sin & Punishment" was released on the Virtual Console, I bought it too -- my second time owning that game.

And back when I got the Wii and downloaded "The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time"? Let's see, how many that was:

  1. The Nintendo 64 original
  2. The "Ocarina of Time" Master Quest GameCube disc that was a pre-order for "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker"
  3. The "Zelda" compilation GameCube disc (though, if memory serves this wasn't really bought, but traded-in for)
  4. The Wii virtual console edition

There you go. I bought that game four times. And it's not even my favorite game or anything. I just like having an accessible version. (My reason for having multiple "Pokemon Snap"s, however, is that I keep meaning to play it, I keep never getting around to it, and I keep trying to make it easily accessible to myself.)

I've bought "Yoshi's Island" twice, on the SNES and GBA. I bought "Halo" twice, because I lost my first disc -- and I'm considering buying it a third time through the new Xbox Live Originals program, just because I like the idea of having lots of games available on my hard drive (which reminds me, I guess I've now bought "Psychonauts" twice).

So I'm wondering: which game have you bought the most?

[UPDATE/ CLARIFICATION -- Which game have you bought the most, across any format the game has been released in?]

I bet there are a lot of you out there who keep buying "Super Mario Brothers." Or "Pac-Man." Again and again, on your Atari, your cell phone and so on. Admit it.

The Complete 'Zelda' Vs. Mode - Full Croal And Totilo Exchange

Posted 11/21/07 11:58 am EST by in 3DS / DS, nintendo, VS. Mode, Wii, zelda


ZeldaBack in October Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and I waged a four-round debate about "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass."

This turned out to be an unusual installment of our critically-complimented (it's true!) Vs. Mode series. It included a transcript of a conversation he and I recorded right after I had him play the big to N64 "Zelda"s for the first time.

The full exchange is below, a veritable mountain of reading for your (possible) Thanksgiving holiday or, if you're anywhere else in the world, for the remainder of your week.

N'Gai and I had planned this Vs. Mode for a long time. He had never played a "Zelda" game at length before, and I never let him hear the end of it. I was excited to show him what was great about the series.

Surprise, surprise. I wound up expressing some of the most anguished things I've ever written or spoken about video games, stuff like this:

I'm the one at the more dire crossroads than you. You simply get a chance to decide whether or not "Zelda" is a blind spot in your gaming career to be embarrassed about or to feel vindicated that you could afford to skip it, but for me I'm at this crossroads where I'm like, "Am I correct in feeling that 'Zelda,' that the world has had enough 'Zelda' and am I correct in having the hubris to say that I know that Nintendo should move on?" Or am I a victim of my old age and, is it the case that when I say, "Oh, this 'Phantom Hourglass' doesn't have as good dungeons as the 'Zelda' in my day," am I onto something or not? You've now played "Phantom Hourglass" dungeons, therefore you've played 21st century "Zelda" dungeons and you played 1998 "Zelda" dungeons and the Deku Tree. Were they the same?

So if you've ever felt you got too old for some aspect of gaming you used to love... if you've ever felt a series has gone too long ... if ever you wondered if the problem was you or the people who made the game you struggled to enjoy or something else altogether... then this Vs. Mode is for you.

(These exchanges are mirrored on N'Gai's "Level Up" bog.)

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Wii Zapper Delivery Surprise -- What Is Configuration Number Two?

Posted 11/16/07 2:31 pm EST by in Peripherals, Wii, zelda


Ah, the Wii Zapper -- a piece of plastic that comes with a new "Zelda" shooting game.

A piece of plastic that I had a great time using at Nintendo's media summit in October.

It's Nintendo's new $25 light gun for the Wii. And today it and it's packed-in "Link's Crossbow Training" are mine.

I received the Zapper today in a large box from Nintendo, a box so large that it has made me question Nintendo's commitment to the environment. (Why such a large box? To better contain a metal suitcase which contained a lot of foam, a copy of "Medal of Honor: Heroes 2" and the Zapper)

What surprises lurked within? So far, just one...

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Sexiness, Randomness And Great Use Of Writing -- The 'Metagame' Arguments

Posted 11/15/07 9:24 am EST by in Arcade, Culture, Fighting Games, FPS, Gamer's Week, Graphics, Metagame, mtv news, PC, PS2, Puzzle Games, zelda


On Friday, November 2, I joined MTV News' Tim Kash in a face-off of video arguments against Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and author Heather Chaplin.

We played "The Metagame," a game show created by game designers Eric Zimmerman, co-founder of Gamelab, and Frank Lantz, co-founder of Area/Code.

The game lasted 70 minutes and was among the most fun things I've done on the beat all year. We've presented 20 minutes of highlights on video here.

This post lists every argument we had to make in the game. Any time an opinion was challenged, the audience had to decide the winner.

Here are three samples. Read on for the rest... and you decide where justice was served and where my team (Team MTV) or Chaplin/Croal (Team Brooklyn) were robbed.

Opinion: "Tetris" has more randomness than "Resident Evil"

Argument: Team MTV said it does. Team Brooklyn challenged.
Verdict: Overruled -- The audience agreed with Team Brooklyn.

Opinion: "Virtua Fighter" is sexier than "Super Mario 64"

Argument: Team Brooklyn said it was. Team MTV said it wasn’t.
Verdict: Upheld -- The audience sided with Team Brooklyn.

Opinion: "Adventure" for the Atari 2600 makes better use of writing than "Street Fighter II"

Argument: Team MTV said it did.
Verdict: Uncontested -- Team Brooklyn sided with team MTV.

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'Zelda' Vs. Mode Ends -- N'Gai Goes 'Manhunt,' Stephen Changes Tune

Posted 11/1/07 6:36 pm EST by in 3DS / DS, Wii, zelda


Here ends the latest Vs. Mode with a new confession from N'Gai and an all-new complaint from me. The pattern stays the same. The content changes.

Why did N'Gai, champion of "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" in Round 1 turn his back on the game in today's Round 4?

Why did I, champion of classic ("Zelda") games in Round 2 and Round 3 take a swipe not just at N'Gai but at four of the world's best game designers in this final round?

The world's flipped like a great "Majora's Mask" dungeon in this final round. Read on for N'Gai's closing thoughts on the triumph of the game's sailing system:

Were I Satoru Iwata, I'd hand out the "Phantom Hourglass" code to DS licensees for this very purpose.

And my call for a whole new level of game-sharing.

But enough about what you missed. And enough about why you missed it. Let's talk about a solution. I remain frustrated that it is so hard to share games. I don't mean that I have trouble lending you a copy of something. I just want to share, the way someone might want to share part of this Vs. Mode. I want to be able to clip and send ...

… I look forward to the day of a gaming DVR-YouTube function that is innate to a console, one that lets me capture anything I just saw or did in any game and send it to my buddies. I don't want to have to wonder if they own a copy of the game as well or if I don't have their 16-digit code. I just want to send them cool stuff.

Read on for the full exchange, and thanks to everyone who added their own thoughts to this dialogue. It's been a fascinating experience, as ever.

(Vs. Mode also appears on N'Gai's blog)

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‘Phantom Hourglass’ Vs Mode: Comparing 'Zelda' To 'The Sims,' 'Madden,' 'GTA' And... Life

Posted 10/31/07 7:24 am EST by in 3DS / DS, halo, LittleBigPlanet, nintendo, Retro, VS. Mode, zelda


My Zelda My N64Here we go, folks... this is the post I've been reluctant to publish.

It is Round 3 of this week's "Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" Vs. Mode, a series that has filled my inbox with letters from people who say I'm rejecting a beauty of a game.

In Round 1 Newsweek's N'Gai Croal praised the game's controls and described his experience as a "Zelda" neophytye. I then explained why "Phantom Hourglass," my 12th "Zelda," wasn't doing it for me.

In Round 2 N'Gai took me up on an offer to get a crash course in the two wonderful Nintendo 64 "Zelda" games, "The Ocarina of Time" and "Majora's Mask." I explained why "Phantom Hourglass," my 12th "Zelda," wasn't doing it for me.

Today, Round 3 continues the previous round's experimental approach (a transcript of a chat N'Gai and I had after the N64) crash course. I explain why "Phantom Hourglass," my 12th "Zelda," wasn't doing it for me.

I'm being hard on myself. I'm not that much of a broken record, but I really felt stuck in this Vs. Mode. As I say in this round:

It’s kind of weird for me to proselytizing about "Zelda" for so long and then when we finally have a "Zelda" conversation to be the big "Zelda" doubter. Maybe it’s because I’m always going to be contrary about everything, but I think it really is that I got surprised by this crossroads that I found myself walking into.

The more I read what we talked about, the more conscious I am of just how anguished I sound in all of this. I've been a big "Zelda" fan for years, and the prospect that the series is either going south or that I have played too many "Zelda"s to appreciate them has unsettled me. I don't want to be over "Zelda."

Well, read on and see what you think. N'Gai talks about his issues with the "Zelda" gameplay formula, and how they relate to his feelings on "The Sims," "GTA," "Little Big Planet," "Metal Gear" and "Halo 3"'s Forge.

I play my same sad tune. Here's one comment from me -- slightly rambling -- that I wanted to highlight, because it speaks to my developing thoughts about the value of video game remakes as well as my long-time concerns about how hard it is for great game experiences I had in the past to be appreciated by gamers that come after me:

Totilo: ... with "Madden" what I view EA as having done and the other football game developers, is they’ve essentially been able to work off of an ideal, which is real football and year after year after year try to come close to that. And really once they’ve reached that ideal and they’ve got football as realistically rendered or as successfully rendered as it needs to be for a video game that at that point there’s no need to make, to remake the engine, remake the graphics or remake anything other than to keep the rosters up to date, keep the uniforms up to date and so on. And you can see a lot of people saying that that’s all they’re seeing from some of the football company game developers anyway.

"Zelda" — it peaked. It’s been great already. It’s like the ideal "Zelda"s exist. They’re already out there. And in other forms of entertainment, once the ideal exists and companies have found a way to make money off of just re-releasing that ideal, finding a way to make that ideal relevant even if it means transferring it from VHS to DVD to downloadable or whatnot. And so, you know, clearly where I’m at is at a spot where I’m just saying, "Look, I’ve played the ideal 'Zelda.'" I was able to play it in 1998 when, at the time, it was running on technology that blew my mind so my memory of that "Zelda" will always be a bit as an ultimate experience. Your memory of "Ocarina" will probably always be that, "hey this was a really good game." That was an interesting artifact of history that you played in the year 2007 right after seeing "Ratchet and Clank [Future]," you know, HD quality graphics on my standard definition set. And so you probably actually haven’t experienced the ideal "Zelda" experience.

Read on. And check in later this week for Round 4, which will return to the original format and in which I will finally say some nice things about "Phantom Hourglass." Hopefully I'll have beaten the game by then. I'm at the final dungeon.

(These exchanges are mirrored on N’Gai’s “Level Up” bog.)

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‘Phantom Hourglass’ Vs Mode: In A Twist, N’Gai Is Forced To Play N64 "Zelda" Games On My Old Console

Posted 10/30/07 10:51 am EST by in 3DS / DS, Retro, VS. Mode, zelda


Phantom HourglassIn yesterday's Round 1 of this week's "Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" Vs. Mode, Newsweek's N'Gai Croal admitted that he's a "Zelda" newcomer and I grumpily huffed and puffed about how the series was showing its age.

In today's Round 2, we do what Nintendo has been largely unwilling to do with "Zelda." We alter our tried-and-true formula. Instead of the standard exchange of e-mails, this round and the next are a full transcript of a conversation between the two of us about the "Zelda." See, what happened is that I ended the last round inviting N'Gai to get a crash course on the two N64 "Zelda" games, "Ocarina of Time" and "Majora's Mask."

On Saturday, October 20, he agreed and stopped by my Brooklyn apartment for several hours of N64 gaming goodness. I walked him through some of "Majora's" and then had him play "Ocarina." How did the Ivan Drago of video games journalism manage the experience?

In the exchange I ask him the following about "Ocarina":

You spent one hour going from the opening of the game to the beginning of the first dungeon--which basically required you to get the sword and the shield. And then you spent I think two hours in the first dungeon, Deku Tree Dungeon, which I said at the end of the first round of our exchange was what I felt epitomized all that's great about Zelda and Dungeons and in fact I think is the best Zelda Dungeon.

So I gave it a lot of build up, did I oversell it? What did you think?

The full exchange, which, admittedly has some crazy-long sentences -- such is the nature of a transcribed, informal dialogue -- now follows. It will wrap up in tomorrow's Round 3 and then this session was close with a more customary Round 4.

(These exchanges are mirrored on N'Gai's "Level Up" bog.)

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'Phantom Hourglass' Vs Mode: N'Gai's First 'Zelda' And My Last?

Posted 10/29/07 10:35 am EST by in 3DS / DS, VS. Mode, zelda


ZeldaShock and hysteria! Newsweek's N'Gai Croal just played his first "Zelda" and I just played my twelfth. We're talking about "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" on the Nintendo DS.

He wasn't sure he'd be into it. I was sure I would be.

And then we played the game. Everything got flipped around. So we wrote about it. Prepare yourself. It's Vs Mode time.

In Round 1 of this week's Newsweek-MTV Vs. Mode N'Gai and I talk about why he's only now playing his first "Zelda," and why I think it might be last one. As always, the exchange is mirrored on N'Gai's blog.

Croal:

Would it be terrible of me to say that I admire "Phantom Hourglass" a lot more than I like playing it?

Me:

Maybe I'm part of an aging player base that has changing tastes of their own. So maybe, as one gets old, playing "Zelda" loses its meaning. Maybe.

Me again:

Can't they just keep re-releasing the really good ones, polishing them up for new platforms, and make some newer non-"Zelda" stuff? I've heard all the arguments about limited development resources, but I'm unconvinced that remaking "Ocarina" wouldn't net Nintendo more money and do a better job of solidifying what is great about the series than routinely iterating sequels. The era of "Zelda"-as-rough-draft is past.

Oh boy. Bring on the hate mail. But first read on for the rest of the exchange. And check back in for a very unusual Round 2 tomorrow.

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Aonuma: "Phantom Hourglass" Is An "Updated Version" Of NES "Zelda"

Posted 9/26/07 11:23 am EST by in 3DS / DS, Multiplayer Originals, nintendo, Video, zelda


Eiji Aonuma, long-time producer of Nintendo's "Zelda" series recently sat down with us to explain what next week's upcoming DS title "The Legend Of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass" is all about. He describes the new game as an unintentional remake of the first "Zelda" from the NES. Check out the video interview. And, hey, would anyone like to see an intentional remake of that first Link adventure?



From that last comment, it sure sounds like Aonuma's got some interest in non-"Zelda" projects. Should Nintendo set him loose on some games that don't feature Link?

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