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tapedeck

The Wii Audio/Graphics Appreciation Thread

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I'm completely in love with the music from Warioware - Smooth Moves. It's so random and funky and bouncy and silly and fun. All the little tracks in that game bring a real smile to my face. I love the visuals aswell to that game. They look great, vibrant and clean. Also this game made excellent use of the Wiimote speaker.

 

I must also mention World of Goo. The music in this game is simply beautiful. Unfortunately (sad story alert) I had just found out my boyfriend had cheated on me and I was devastated so the next day I thought I'd fire up some World of Goo to make me forget things. Well that didn't work because as soon as I heard the music from the level "Flying Machine", I started to weep uncontrollably. I've never heard such emotional music in all my life. That moment will be with me forever.

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It's actually really interesting. Almost all of the "beautiful visuals" titles listed here are simply great in terms of art style. Twilight Princess has quite average tech, but a stunning art direction. Meanwhile games like The Conduit which boast amazing tech, but have somewhat lacklustre art, really don't look all that grand.

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If anything, this thread shows that we really can look past the lack of HD and enjoy Wii for the great ideas and passion that exists on the platform. Glad the OP mentioned Battalion Wars 2 - shame it wasn;t a big seller; i'd have loved to have seen the series continue (perhaps with a darker tone, a la Advance Wars Days of Ruin)

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I'll try to avoid obvious and already-covered ones.

 

Red Steel

 

red-steel-20060825041625260_640w.jpg

 

I always thought Red Steek was and is a really interesting one as far as graphics go. It's clear that for all its shortcomings as far as control goes, the team clearly did get a lot out the system before anyone else did, and the high production values certainly weren't wasted on in-game presentation. It goes to show that a non-fantastical game can still have great art while retaining a realistic look. Still stands up today in many areas.

 

Metroid Prime 3

 

metroid-prime-3-corruption-20070822001351070_640w.jpg

 

While I've been something of a critic of the colour palete Retro went for with Corruption (if it wasn't brown or red, it was REALLY blue), it would be incredibly foolish to dismiss the visual achievement the game made. While I don't think there are any REALLY REALLY superb environments in the game (though Valhalla was very interesting, there was no Phendrana or Sanctuary Fortresses in Corruption), I do think that the only for that is just how high a barrier Retro set with Prime and Echoes. However I would say on the whole, the environments in 3 form a much more consistent package than its predecessors.

 

MadWorld

 

madworld-20090306101441451_640w.jpg

 

It's slick and it's striking - Platinum absolutely nailed the style of MadWorld. One the one hand, one loses faith in humanity slightly whenever an ignorant philistine dismisses a game simply for being mostly black and white. But on the other, it also pleasantly reminds me that while there are of course idiots in the world, I am not one of them.

 

 

MadWorld - You Don't Know Me

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Brawl - Gourmet Race

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Twilight Princess - Midna's Desparate Hour

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Great thread, by the way.

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H-O-T you should be ashamed of yourself :heh:

I held back from even mentioning it, because I thought you would mention it yourself since you are a huuuuuge fan of it...I think you already know what I am talking about xD

 

Monster Hunter 3

first-look-monster-hunter-3-20071010082255737_640w.jpgmonster-hunter-3-screens-20090108091728650_640w.jpgmonster_hunter_3.jpg

 

 

and of course the main theme :D

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Visually I love the usual candidates like Mario Galaxy, Mad World and Brawl. But I have to give a shout out to Eternal Ocean, Klonoa and Zack & Wiki.

 

Also loved the music in Z&W, very old-school in a charming way. Fave Wii music is probably the piano theme in Twilight Princess (not sure what its called but its just after the third dungeon iirc).

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Visual:

 

  • Super Mario Sunshine (D'uh!)

 

Since this is a Wii thread, I'm sure you meat Super Mario GALAXY, no?:rolleyes:

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A great thread and there's been some truly worthy mentions so far, however... it looks like one tune is missing. Décor (Blissful) is my favourite of the funky music in de Blob- no one else agree? :wtf:

 

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Love it. :love:

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A great thread and there's been some truly worthy mentions so far, however... it looks like one tune is missing. Décor (Blissful) is my favourite of the funky music in de Blob- no one else agree? :wtf:

Love it. :love:

 

Awesome music there Darkster. Makes me think of 1970's Bond films - in France.

Delighted with the input on this thread we can all agree on some positives afterall! :laughing:

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no one else agree? :wtf:
I agree Stevo. :hehe:

The reason I left it out of my gargantuan post was...

A. It was already a gargantuan post. :heh:

And B. I wanted to concentrate on the full on, more lively funk stuff from deBlob and Décor is very much a chilled out track.

I still love it though.

 

Delighted with the input on this thread
Yeah it's been nice to see what everyone likes, hopefully there will be many more posts in here in the future too. :)

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I'm gonna try to stay away from the more obvious choices.. most of which have already been mentioned :heh:

 

It may not be as striking as Wario Land: The Shake Dimension but Super Paper Mario certainly looked quite nice back when it was released :hehe:

 

superpapermario_2.jpg

 

 

Also, although I still have it sealed :eek:, I'd like to give a mention to House of the Dead: Overkill for it's style :smile: I played it at a friend's house and I enjoyed what I saw :heh:

 

ss_preview_House_of_the_Dead__Overkill_Nintendo_WiiScreenshots15861Screenshot_017.jpg.jpg

 

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Open it and give it a play - you wont be disappointed.

 

I know I won't :heh: I just unsealed Okami last week though so House of the Dead: Overkill will have to wait for it to finish.. though I'm not sure what I'll play next :eek:

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Since this is a Wii thread, I'm sure you meat Super Mario GALAXY, no?:rolleyes:

 

Ouch! Got busted there!

 

Anyways, an excellent opportunity to add Mario Kart Wii to my audio-selection. Love the music!

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Monster Hunter 3

first-look-monster-hunter-3-20071010082255737_640w.jpgmonster-hunter-3-screens-20090108091728650_640w.jpgmonster_hunter_3.jpg

 

Anything that has to load everytime you move or press a button should be automatically excluded from this thread. I thought that behaviour went out of fashion with Batman Forever on SNES.

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Anything that has to load everytime you move or press a button should be automatically excluded from this thread. I thought that behaviour went out of fashion with Batman Forever on SNES.

 

Of course, I mean this is 'The Wii Audio/Graphics Appreciation Thread' a place where you put games that look good and awesome music in...only if the loading times aren't long. So yeah perhaps it doesn't count.

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Ah yes, I understand this thread... This is not a bash on HD consoles, but I have always been attracted to the bolder, more vibrant but inferior(?) pictures Nintendo consoles display. I really, REALLY tried to appreciate MGS4 and GTprologue in the same way, but just can't... Just too...shiny! and too much unnecessary detail. I noticed a few wallpaper designs on that MGS4 demo ( I recently got a slim)... But who GAF about something so trivial?

 

Anyway...

 

sheik5.jpg

Love me the bold Smash Bros environs. Everything just flows so fluently. Like a walking piece of art.

 

gfs_53739_2_5.jpg

Simple, yet bold. I especially love the calming effect of the water in Pikmin.

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Ah yes, I understand this thread... This is not a bash on HD consoles, but I have always been attracted to the bolder, more vibrant but inferior(?) pictures Nintendo consoles display. I really, REALLY tried to appreciate MGS4 and GTprologue in the same way, but just can't... Just too...shiny! and too much unnecessary detail. I noticed a few wallpaper designs on that MGS4 demo ( I recently got a slim)... But who GAF about something so trivial?

 

I wonder why that sounds extremely sarcastic.

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Just too...shiny! and too much unnecessary detail.

 

You actually meant this then?

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Sonic and the Secret Rings

preview_Sonic_And_The_Secret_Rings_2.jpg

 

Say what you will about the gameplay but you'd be hard pushed to fault the graphics. There's a distinctive art style at play with solid execution backing it up. And even though it was released early on in the system's life cycle, it's still offers some of the best eye candy.

 

I really liked the music too - with the following being my favourite track

 

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It's called No Way Through and is on the Pirate Storm level. The problem with this level is that's it's too noisy to be able to properly hear the music. But all the levels and bosses have a good music - the only songs that gets tiresome from hearing it is the main theme and that's because you are constantly hearing it. If they down played it a little it wouldn't seem quite as bad.

 

 

 

Keeping with excellent music...

 

No More Heroes

Pleather for Breakfast from ranking match 2

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A lot get's mentioned about NMH graphics and as well it should - it's a real gem full of personality. But what doesn't get the mention it should is the music. The main theme is reused in every level but altered to create a whole new sound and then the boss fights... I was torn which to use as example between the above, Stop Hanging DJ's from ranking fight 7 and Steel Python from ranking fight 9. But that's not to say the others aren't excellent of course. All high energy pieces that get you pumped for the fight of your life - perfectly fitted to the environment and character you're up against.

 

 

And I would also like to mention Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

This game has a quite a large soundtrack and as well it might given the length of the game. What's surprising is the consistency and variety of the pieces. They may have skimped on the graphics, but when it came to the music, they clearly let it be handled by talented people.

 

And so I give you The Devoted which is the battle theme for the Greil Mercenaries.

 

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With way too many to choose from, I picked this because you never get to hear it at length during the game in regular play thanks to shortened battle sequences - but now I'm giving it a chance to shine. All the level map music is excellent too and by naming just one, I'd be unfair to all the others.

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Just had to add the main theme from Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

 

I love the vibe of this entire game, dilly-dallying in the snow.

Perhaps the music is one of the best things about the title though. Give this tune a blast all the way through to see how sublime the arranging is. Gorgeous stuff.

 

Also: Super Mario World Medley is awesomes...

 

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Edited by tapedeck

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