Shigesato Itoi’s No. 1 Bass Fishing - All N64 Games

[Ashley]

5 minutes ago, Cube said:

With this being a Kirby game (of which I’ve somehow played none of before)

I wish I had known this before making you an admin

[Glen-i]

Spark Cutter is by far, the most effective power combo in that game.

The cutest Sith Lord

Seriously, if you didn't need specific powers to get some Crystal Shards, I would use nothing but. It's way too good.

Also, this game has Checkerboard Chase, an absolute top-tier multiplayer minigame. And I know people who'd agree!

Everyone's dead, Dave.

[Dcubed]

Insane that it took an entire year to come out in Europe after the US release.  NOE really hated Kirby all the way up until Kirby Returns to Dreamland on the Wii in 2011 for some bizzare reason; as these kinds of delays were sadly the norm for the Kirby series all the way up until RTD came out (With Dreamland 3 outright not getting an EU release at all until it came out on the Wii VC).

It’s not even like it had much text to translate either! There’s hardly any localisation involved with most games in the series, NOE just had a weird grudge against the series for some crazy reason.

Anyway, Kirby 64 was the last of the Dark Matter trilogy (consisting of Dreamland 2, Dreamland 3 and Crystal Shards).  These games were all directed by Shinichi Shimomura (who mysteriously vanished and went missing not long after Crystal Shards came out; he remains a missing person till this very day!), and all feature a similar gameplay structure which eschews the High NRG action of the Sakurai directed Kirby games in favour of slower paced level design that encourages exploration and puzzle solving.  They also tend to feature a smaller number of copy powers that are augmented by something else (notably the Animal Friends in KDL 2 & 3, and the Copy Power Mixing mechanic in Crystal Shards).

They’re also characterised by having optional collectables in each stage that require you to solve optional puzzles that involve specific copy powers and tasks to complete in each stage; along with some darker undertones that link in with a shared lore involving the recurring baddie, Dark Matter.

The Dark Matter Trilogy tends to be a bit of an acquired taste compared to Sakurai’s Kirby titles, or the more modern Kirby titles.  And Kirby 64 is certainly no exception.  While I personally consider it to be a bit lower on the rung of Kirby titles, owing to its glacial pacing and sloooooow AF movement mechanics (including a bizzare limitation on Kirby’s ability to fly); I still very much enjoy Crystal Shards and can appreciate what they were going for here.  I love the Copy Power Mixing mechanic, and I’d love to see it make a return proper; but I can totally understand why they’ve never attempted it again (outside of some very limited mixing in couple of future titles), as it becomes exponentially difficult to implement as you increase the number of copy powers.

I also need to say that it feels like an odd choice to doggedly stick with 2D sidescrolling gameplay with the first (and only) N64 entry; given that almost every other N64 sequel went out of its way to bring their respective sequel into the world of 3D gameplay.  But HAL were notably struggling with the transition to 3D, so this was likely a necessary compromise to get something out during the console’ lifecycle.  It wouldn’t be until all the way until 2022 when Kirby would finally get a true 3D entry with 3D platforming gameplay; and while Forgotten Land (a very fitting name!) turned out excellent, it’s shocking that it took so long for that gameplay to finally be realised.  Forgotten Land actually takes after Kirby 64 and the rest of the Dark Matter Trilogy in many ways (most notably the slower exploration and puzzle focus in its gameplay and level design); so they were clearly onto something back on the N64.

Kirby 64 isn’t for everyone (not even amongst those who are already Kirby fans), but it’s certainly an interesting game, both for what it does and what it doesn’t do.  It and Forgotten Land also share some interesting lore connections too… I’m looking at YOU Shiver Star…

Edited yesterday at 04:02 AM by Dcubed

[Cube]

Daikatana 

• JP release: 31st March 2000
• PAL release: 26th May 2000
• NA release: 1st August 2001
• Developer: Ion Storm, Kemco
• Publisher: Kemco
• N64 Magazine Score: 67%

John Romero’s Daikatana was supposed to be the next biggest thing in video games. A new, much more cinematic, first person shooter from the creator of DOOM and Quake, without any higher ups getting in the way of his creative vision. This was more story-focused, with other characters fighting alongside you. Then it came out and it just fizzled away, with many claims of it being one of the “worst games ever”.

The N64 version of the game is very different, including different level design. Music was cut back, and the voice acting removed. The characters that were supposed to fight alongside you just vanish when you have control of the game, only popping back up in cutscenes. Interestingly, the last change is seen as favourable – on PC they had very low health and were very dumb, meaning they would constantly die, and result in a game over.

I played Daikatana on N64 when I was younger – I think my cousin had it. We got around two minutes into the game, and couldn’t work out how to get past a door that looked like you needed to crouch under it, but there’s no crouch in the button config – which is rather robust, and includes multiple aim options (such as turning off inverted aiming, and disabling the camera snapping back to facing forward). I encountered the same issue playing now, and when I looked it up, it turned out that pressing A and R makes you crouch.

The most baffling thing about the game not explaining this, is that a few moments later you’re presented with a locked door and a button. As you approach, the game pauses to explain that the door is locked, and the button next to it can be used to open it. There’s a few other moments where you get an overly long cutscene explaining the obvious.

As the main big ideas for Daikatana were mainly in the cinematics and presentation, the N64 is left with just a really, really boring Quake clone. The levels’ design is all over the place, with some over before you know it, and others that are maze-like with buttons that do things elsewhere. Even though this is a time-travelling adventure, the enemies are boring to fight, and the weapons – although very varied – are rather dull to use.

You see, the weapons include sci-fi guns, crossbows, regular guns, and magic staffs. It’s really cool having weapons from different time periods, it’s just a shame they all lack a punch. How they managed to make an explosive ballista you carry around boring, I have no idea.

One interesting note with the weapons, is that the PC version has one particular weapon that can be used throughout most of the game, yet on N64 you can only use it for a very brief period at the end of the game: the magical sword Daikatana. You still have it on you for most of the game, and will use it in cutscenes (which have some of the worst animations I’ve ever seen in a game), but for some reason you can’t use it in gameplay.

Is Daikatana one of the worst games ever? It’s not even close. It’s just a game that was hyped up, and turned out to be painfully average.

Fine

Quote

Daikatana tries to combine RPG-style character skill-building with traditional first-person shooter thrills, but it looks like this conversion is just a heavily simplified port of the PC original. And that’s probably why Kemco’s game has beaten its parent to the shops. The levels are small, textures bland, colours muted and muddy, and you’ll only ever encounter one or two enemies at a time. Compared to Activisions fine port of Quake II – and forgetting for a minute the all-out brilliance of GoldenEye or Perfect Dark – Daikatana ends up looking more like Hexen. And yes, for all its basic faults – which, bafflingly, include the inability to surface out of water unless you find a ramp leading to dry land – Daikatana can be curiously enjoyable.

Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #41
 

Remake or remaster?

There are some interesting ideas in Daikatana. It would need a complete remake, but I think it could be turned into something very enjoyable.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get the N64 version of Daikatana, but the PC version is available on GoG – be sure to get the unofficial 1.3 update as well.

[Cube]

Shigesato Itoi’s No. 1 Bass Fishing
 

• JP release: 31st March 2000
• PAL release: N/A
• NA release: N/A
• Developer: HAL
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Original Name: Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1 Kettehan!
• N64 Magazine Score: N/A

Shigesato Itoi’s most famous contribution to gaming is the Mother/Earthbound series. However, he also loved the concept of a game that allowed fishing to be casual, but also needed skills of people who were into fishing. No. 1 Bass Fishing was originally on the SNES, with Satellaview compatibility to download extra content to take part in online tournaments, with some real-life prizes. The N64 version (sometimes referred to as the “Definitive Version”) is a remake that brings it into 3D.

No 1 Bass Fishing is a game you play at your own pace. The aim is to collect big fish to amass acorns (currency) to buy new stuff, and you can do this at three difficulty levels. Easy makes it easier to lure and catch fish, but the bigger fish will be much harder to find. You can also pick between when you’re allowed to fish – either weekdays or just weekends, based on the in-game clock. You can walk around a little village, or take a boat onto a lake.

The difficult part is finding a fish. You’ll need to learn about the lake’s conditions and where fish are likely to be, either from talking to the animal NPCs, or based on your own knowledge of fishing (which, for me, is zero). One of the marketing parts of the game is that it’s like real life fishing: a child can catch a few fish by being lucky, but it takes someone who knows what to do to be able to catch them consistently.

Being a child when it comes to fishing, I was able only able to catch one fish. The controls are quite easy, and you don’t need to do technical stuff like managing tension. The lure camera helps you track the fish’s progress (as well as seeing around the lure when looking for fish).

For what the game sets out to do, it does it well. It’s just that a game for families where the kids will play a bit and then get someone that knows about fishing to help them out is a very niche market.

Fun

Remake or remaster?

With some more difficulty settings, this could do well on Switch – it has some Animal Crossing vibes.

Official ways to get the game.

There’s no official way to get Shigesato Itoi’s No. 1 Bass Fishing