Game On: Let's Play 3.06 - Super Metroid Part 3

Game: Super Metroid System: Super Nintendo Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Publisher: Nintendo Player: Tony Wanschura

Game Background
[This segment is the same as Episode 3.04]

The Metroid series was but one creation from Nintendo Research and Development Group 1 (Nintendo R&D1). Nintendo R&D1 was formed in 1970 as one of a number of teams developed in order to compete against one another and create better products. R&D1 in particular was run by Gunpei Yokoi with a focus on Game & Watch and arcade games. From this group, Shigeru Miyamoto would develop Donkey Kong, which propelled the creation of Nintendo R&D4, which later became Nintendo EAD. The developer went on to produce Metroid, Ice Climbers, and Kid Icarus for the Nintendo among other lesser-known NES titles before the developer was pushed into developing games for the Game Boy. On top of developing spin-offs of large franchises, such as Super Mario Land and its sequels, Nintendo R&D1 would produce a number of other Game Boy games, including Alleyway and Balloon Fight’s sequel, Balloon Kid.

Super Metroid itself was headed by Team Shikamaru, which was a segment of Nintendo R&D1 dedicated to designing characters and scripts for such games as Kid Icarus, Metroid, and Famicom Tantei Club, a mystery adventure series released only in Japan. The team consisted of Makoto Kano, Toru Osawa, and Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto. Sakamoto joined Nintendo in 1982, when he was hired as an artist for the Game & Watch version of Donkey Kong well as Donkey Kong Jr. for arcades. He would later design Wrecking Crew, Balloon Fight, and Gumshoe. While he helped work on the scenario and design behind Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus, Sakamoto’s debut director role in the series began with Super Metroid.

Super Metroid, is the third iteration of the Metroid franchise. Following the end of Metroid II: Return of Samus, Samus encounters the last baby Metroid in the galaxy, which sees her as its mother. Wanting to benefit humanity, Samus brings the baby Metroid to the Ceres Station for research on its life-sucking ability. However, just as she leaves, Ridley attacks the station and steals the Metroid before Samus can stop him. Returning to Zebes, Samus must now find the baby Metroid and stop Ridley and Mother Brain once again.

Super Metroid is a side-scrolling action adventure game in which players travel around various sectors of Planet Zebes. Starting out with no powers, Samus must collect a number of upgrades to allow her to overcome obstacles and venture deeper into the planet's deep cavernous labyrinth. Using missiles, bombs, and beams, players will have to exterminate both local floral and fauna in order to find and save the last Metroid before the Space Pirates use the Metroid to take over the galaxy. The game's open-ended nature allows for a varied experience with each playthrough, particularly with so many hidden locations and items to collect.

Since then…

Super Metroid is seen by many as the absolute best game in the Metroid franchise, if not for the Super Nintendo or even of all time. The game sold fairly well, although its long development may have prevented much of a profit. If anything, it solidified Metroid as a desirable franchise for Nintendo in the future.

However, Metroid as a franchise, despite the high acclaim, went into hibernation after Super Metroid. According to developer commentary, there were attempts to bring Metroid to the Nintendo 64, but it was not possible, especially with activity within Nintendo R&D1 focusing on the failed Virtual Boy (on such games as Teleroboxer). The series would come back into the spotlight in 2002, when Retro Studios started the Metroid Prime series. At the same time, Nintendo R&D1 completed Metroid Fusion for Game Boy Advance. Retro Studios would continue with the Metroid Prime series, making Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for GameCube and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for Wii; meanwhile, the Prime series received two other spin-offs: Metroid Prime: Hunters by Nintendo Software Technologies (NST) and Metroid Prime Pinball by Fuse Games. Internally, Nintendo and Sakamoto developed Metroid: Zero Mission and later, Metroid: Other M, which was developed in conjunction with Team Ninja of Tecmo-Koei.

Outside of the Metroid series, Yoshio Sakamoto would act as the lead designer and eventually producer for other games by Nintendo R&D1, including Game & Watch Gallery, Wario Land 4, and the entirety of the WarioWare series (co-developed by Intelligent Systems). The micro-game concept behind the WarioWare series would be used in the music-based game series Rhythm Tengoku, or Rhythm Heaven in English.

The structure for Nintendo R&D1 has shifted since developing Super Metroid. Team Shikamaru would help design the characters and scenario for at least one more franchise: Card Hero. However, the group would not appear in credits following that release. In 2005, Nintendo started a restructuring effort, which disbanded Nintendo R&D1, sending most of the team into what is now Nintendo Software Planning & Development (SPD) Group 1. The company is currently working on Rhythm Heaven for the Wii, due for release in the US this year.

Super Metroid has been brought to the Virtual Console for Wii, but otherwise the game has not been rereleased in any other fashion.

The Let's Play

Tony is a major fan of Metroid, and deciding that he was prepared to complete the best Metroid game himself, he chose to play through the entirety of Super Metroid. While item collection percentage was not a factor, he would try to venture to wherever he could in order to beat the game in the fastest and most effective way he could based on his gaming experience.

In the conclusion of the Let's Play series for Super Metroid, Tony rushes back into the game, heading right into the depths of Norfair to take care of Ridley, and then he immediately rushes into Tourian to take care of an old foe once and for all!

Post-Mortem

As a note, all three parts of the Let's Play were shot at once, and using the capture equipment, some flickering sprites did not appear in the final product. Besides that, we used a unique system for recording: a boom mic aimed at Tony rather than a lavalier. It turned out pretty well for the playthrough. Also, because the episode was made with the SD RTN channel in mind, there is extra space seen around the edges of the video.

While making fun of Alex and running through the rest of the adventure, Tony ends up facing a few major obstacles but goes through them in stride. His fight with Ridley turns out to be a bit closer than he expected. Venturing into Tourian, commentary kept on going despite the night drifting onward, and in the end, the third part is as good as the previous two, though it does not have the intensity of Tony's freakout in part 2.

Super Metroid, the epic game, is vanquished. Metroid: Other M...we will think about it.

Game On: Let's Play 3.05 - Super Metroid Part 2

Game: Super Metroid System: Super Nintendo Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Publisher: Nintendo Player: Tony Wanschura

Game Background
[This segment is the same as Episode 3.04]

The Metroid series was but one creation from Nintendo Research and Development Group 1 (Nintendo R&D1). Nintendo R&D1 was formed in 1970 as one of a number of teams developed in order to compete against one another and create better products. R&D1 in particular was run by Gunpei Yokoi with a focus on Game & Watch and arcade games. From this group, Shigeru Miyamoto would develop Donkey Kong, which propelled the creation of Nintendo R&D4, which later became Nintendo EAD. The developer went on to produce Metroid, Ice Climbers, and Kid Icarus for the Nintendo among other lesser-known NES titles before the developer was pushed into developing games for the Game Boy. On top of developing spin-offs of large franchises, such as Super Mario Land and its sequels, Nintendo R&D1 would produce a number of other Game Boy games, including Alleyway and Balloon Fight’s sequel, Balloon Kid.

Super Metroid itself was headed by Team Shikamaru, which was a segment of Nintendo R&D1 dedicated to designing characters and scripts for such games as Kid Icarus, Metroid, and Famicom Tantei Club, a mystery adventure series released only in Japan. The team consisted of Makoto Kano, Toru Osawa, and Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto. Sakamoto joined Nintendo in 1982, when he was hired as an artist for the Game & Watch version of Donkey Kong well as Donkey Kong Jr. for arcades. He would later design Wrecking Crew, Balloon Fight, and Gumshoe. While he helped work on the scenario and design behind Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus, Sakamoto’s debut director role in the series began with Super Metroid.

Super Metroid, is the third iteration of the Metroid franchise. Following the end of Metroid II: Return of Samus, Samus encounters the last baby Metroid in the galaxy, which sees her as its mother. Wanting to benefit humanity, Samus brings the baby Metroid to the Ceres Station for research on its life-sucking ability. However, just as she leaves, Ridley attacks the station and steals the Metroid before Samus can stop him. Returning to Zebes, Samus must now find the baby Metroid and stop Ridley and Mother Brain once again.

Super Metroid is a side-scrolling action adventure game in which players travel around various sectors of Planet Zebes. Starting out with no powers, Samus must collect a number of upgrades to allow her to overcome obstacles and venture deeper into the planet's deep cavernous labyrinth. Using missiles, bombs, and beams, players will have to exterminate both local floral and fauna in order to find and save the last Metroid before the Space Pirates use the Metroid to take over the galaxy. The game's open-ended nature allows for a varied experience with each playthrough, particularly with so many hidden locations and items to collect.

Since then…

Super Metroid is seen by many as the absolute best game in the Metroid franchise, if not for the Super Nintendo or even of all time. The game sold fairly well, although its long development may have prevented much of a profit. If anything, it solidified Metroid as a desirable franchise for Nintendo in the future.

However, Metroid as a franchise, despite the high acclaim, went into hibernation after Super Metroid. According to developer commentary, there were attempts to bring Metroid to the Nintendo 64, but it was not possible, especially with activity within Nintendo R&D1 focusing on the failed Virtual Boy (on such games as Teleroboxer). The series would come back into the spotlight in 2002, when Retro Studios started the Metroid Prime series. At the same time, Nintendo R&D1 completed Metroid Fusion for Game Boy Advance. Retro Studios would continue with the Metroid Prime series, making Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for GameCube and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for Wii; meanwhile, the Prime series received two other spin-offs: Metroid Prime: Hunters by Nintendo Software Technologies (NST) and Metroid Prime Pinball by Fuse Games. Internally, Nintendo and Sakamoto developed Metroid: Zero Mission and later, Metroid: Other M, which was developed in conjunction with Team Ninja of Tecmo-Koei.

Outside of the Metroid series, Yoshio Sakamoto would act as the lead designer and eventually producer for other games by Nintendo R&D1, including Game & Watch Gallery, Wario Land 4, and the entirety of the WarioWare series (co-developed by Intelligent Systems). The micro-game concept behind the WarioWare series would be used in the music-based game series Rhythm Tengoku, or Rhythm Heaven in English.

The structure for Nintendo R&D1 has shifted since developing Super Metroid. Team Shikamaru would help design the characters and scenario for at least one more franchise: Card Hero. However, the group would not appear in credits following that release. In 2005, Nintendo started a restructuring effort, which disbanded Nintendo R&D1, sending most of the team into what is now Nintendo Software Planning & Development (SPD) Group 1. The company is currently working on Rhythm Heaven for the Wii, due for release in the US this year.

Super Metroid has been brought to the Virtual Console for Wii, but otherwise the game has not been rereleased in any other fashion.

The Let's Play

Tony is a major fan of Metroid, and deciding that he was prepared to complete the best Metroid game himself, he chose to play through the entirety of Super Metroid. While item collection percentage was not a factor, he would try to venture to wherever he could in order to beat the game in the fastest and most effective way he could based on his gaming experience.

This is the second part of three, Tony goes head-first into the Sunken Ship, and following that, he takes a dive into the water sector: Maridia. Will he be able to defeat his next two major foes as easily as he did Kraid? This episode is complete with a cameo of another player: Tony's twin brother Alex. His appearance is short but becomes surprisingly influential in this episode.

Post-Mortem

As a note, all three parts of the Let's Play were shot at once, and using the capture equipment, some flickering sprites did not appear in the final product. Besides that, we used a unique system for recording: a boom mic aimed at Tony rather than a lavalier. It turned out pretty well for the playthrough. Also, because the episode was made with the SD RTN channel in mind, there is extra space seen around the edges of the video.

It turns out that the brief appearance by Alex ultimately damages Tony's playthrough progress quite a bit. As a result, Tony ends up without a reserve tank and other upgrades which hinder his battles in Maridia, particularly against the boss. While he is successful, the realization that he had missed items at the Sunken Ship causes a delay in his run. In the end, however, the elements of confusion create one of the best parts of the three-part let's play. Nothing makes for a funnier scene than watching Tony freak out on camera.

Game On: Let's Play 3.04 - Super Metroid Part 1

Game: Super Metroid System: Super Nintendo Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Publisher: Nintendo Player: Tony Wanschura

Game Background

The Metroid series was but one creation from Nintendo Research and Development Group 1 (Nintendo R&D1). Nintendo R&D1 was formed in 1970 as one of a number of teams developed in order to compete against one another and create better products. R&D1 in particular was run by Gunpei Yokoi with a focus on Game & Watch and arcade games. From this group, Shigeru Miyamoto would develop Donkey Kong, which propelled the creation of Nintendo R&D4, which later became Nintendo EAD. The developer went on to produce Metroid, Ice Climbers, and Kid Icarus for the Nintendo among other lesser-known NES titles before the developer was pushed into developing games for the Game Boy. On top of developing spin-offs of large franchises, such as Super Mario Land and its sequels, Nintendo R&D1 would produce a number of other Game Boy games, including Alleyway and Balloon Fight’s sequel, Balloon Kid.

Super Metroid itself was headed by Team Shikamaru, which was a segment of Nintendo R&D1 dedicated to designing characters and scripts for such games as Kid Icarus, Metroid, and Famicom Tantei Club, a mystery adventure series released only in Japan. The team consisted of Makoto Kano, Toru Osawa, and Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto. Sakamoto joined Nintendo in 1982, when he was hired as an artist for the Game & Watch version of Donkey Kong well as Donkey Kong Jr. for arcades. He would later design Wrecking Crew, Balloon Fight, and Gumshoe. While he helped work on the scenario and design behind Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus, Sakamoto’s debut director role in the series began with Super Metroid.

Super Metroid, is the third iteration of the Metroid franchise. Following the end of Metroid II: Return of Samus, Samus encounters the last baby Metroid in the galaxy, which sees her as its mother. Wanting to benefit humanity, Samus brings the baby Metroid to the Ceres Station for research on its life-sucking ability. However, just as she leaves, Ridley attacks the station and steals the Metroid before Samus can stop him. Returning to Zebes, Samus must now find the baby Metroid and stop Ridley and Mother Brain once again.

Super Metroid is a side-scrolling action adventure game in which players travel around various sectors of Planet Zebes. Starting out with no powers, Samus must collect a number of upgrades to allow her to overcome obstacles and venture deeper into the planet's deep cavernous labyrinth. Using missiles, bombs, and beams, players will have to exterminate both local floral and fauna in order to find and save the last Metroid before the Space Pirates use the Metroid to take over the galaxy. The game's open-ended nature allows for a varied experience with each playthrough, particularly with so many hidden locations and items to collect.

Since then…

Super Metroid is seen by many as the absolute best game in the Metroid franchise, if not for the Super Nintendo or even of all time. The game sold fairly well, although its long development may have prevented much of a profit. If anything, it solidified Metroid as a desirable franchise for Nintendo in the future.

However, Metroid as a franchise, despite the high acclaim, went into hibernation after Super Metroid. According to developer commentary, there were attempts to bring Metroid to the Nintendo 64, but it was not possible, especially with activity within Nintendo R&D1 focusing on the failed Virtual Boy (on such games as Teleroboxer). The series would come back into the spotlight in 2002, when Retro Studios started the Metroid Prime series. At the same time, Nintendo R&D1 completed Metroid Fusion for Game Boy Advance. Retro Studios would continue with the Metroid Prime series, making Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for GameCube and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for Wii; meanwhile, the Prime series received two other spin-offs: Metroid Prime: Hunters by Nintendo Software Technologies (NST) and Metroid Prime Pinball by Fuse Games. Internally, Nintendo and Sakamoto developed Metroid: Zero Mission and later, Metroid: Other M, which was developed in conjunction with Team Ninja of Tecmo-Koei.

Outside of the Metroid series, Yoshio Sakamoto would act as the lead designer and eventually producer for other games by Nintendo R&D1, including Game & Watch Gallery, Wario Land 4, and the entirety of the WarioWare series (co-developed by Intelligent Systems). The micro-game concept behind the WarioWare series would be used in the music-based game series Rhythm Tengoku, or Rhythm Heaven in English.

The structure for Nintendo R&D1 has shifted since developing Super Metroid. Team Shikamaru would help design the characters and scenario for at least one more franchise: Card Hero. However, the group would not appear in credits following that release. In 2005, Nintendo started a restructuring effort, which disbanded Nintendo R&D1, sending most of the team into what is now Nintendo Software Planning & Development (SPD) Group 1. The company is currently working on Rhythm Heaven for the Wii, due for release in the US this year.

Super Metroid has been brought to the Virtual Console for Wii, but otherwise the game has not been rereleased in any other fashion.

The Let's Play

Tony is a major fan of Metroid, and deciding that he was prepared to complete the best Metroid game himself, he chose to play through the entirety of Super Metroid. While item collection percentage was not a factor, he would try to venture to wherever he could in order to beat the game in the fastest and most effective way he could based on his gaming experience.

This is the first of three episodes dedicated to the game. In this episode, Tony starts from the beginning of the game and ventures through Brinstar and segments of Norfair. Will he be able to easily defeat the monstrous Kraid and deadly Crocomire? Find out.

Post-Mortem

As a note, all three parts of the Let's Play were shot at once, and using the capture equipment, some flickering sprites did not appear in the final product. Besides that, we used a unique system for recording: a boom mic aimed at Tony rather than a lavalier. It turned out pretty well for the playthrough. Also, because the episode was made with the SD RTN channel in mind, there is extra space seen around the edges of the video.

Tony did a fantastic job running through the opening segment of the game, although he made some mistakes in attempts to sequence-break the game a few times. That is, he failed to get certain power-ups before it was expected of him. Still, he vanquished both Kraid and Crocomire with little problem, and he would end this segment about to venture into the Sunken Ship.

Commentary was quick, quirky, and altogether well-balanced between the happenings in-game and off-topic themes. The ranting near the end may have muddled it up a bit, but otherwise the episode was a smooth ride all around.

StreetPass Princeton's 3rd Event!

StreetPass Princeton is a group of gamers who all own 3DSs and want to not only come together to take part in StreetPassing but also to talk and enjoy gaming experiences between people in the local area.

Over the last two months, there were a great set of events from StreetPass Princeton. In May, SPP went to Panera Bread in Princeton to play with QR Codes and Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, and in June, SPP was at the Quakerbridge Mall GameStop to hold a Dead or Alive: Dimensions tournament. This month, StreetPass Princeton took part in a nationwide StreetPass Network event, and while there were some setbacks, the event made it through.

Group founder Rob Oehlberg met us with a few fellow members at Marquard Park, a small park complete with playground sets, softball field, and picnic areas. A canopy stood by the group's selected picnic table, and underneath it stood a table complete with the event's catering. At the picnic table, a selection of QR codes for Pokedex 3D were laid out, which was useful for getting a myriad of special stickers, in-game.

The setup was a miracle, Rob would tell us. The month of July came as a rush for the group, particularly with those who set up the whole event. Rob and his twin brother Nick had moved in the past month, the latter of which was in North Jersey and could not attend. Furthermore, a number of people had called out from the event in the last second, including the member in charge of the planned Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition Tournament; the tournament was cancelled as a result. To make matters worse, the crew found that Marquard Park forbade barbeque on the grounds, with mere days before the event. Thankfully, they were able to improvise a nice spread of peanut butter and jelly, turkey and cheese, ham and cheese, and combination meat sandwiches. Cookies, chips, and a plethora of soda choices filled the gaps. Rob said determination and improvisation helped StreetPass Princeton's third event from the brink of cancellation.

Mario and the gang stood to defend the sammiches from the fly invasion.

The headlined event at the park was Capcom's "Stop the Swarm" campaign, a national StreetPass Network event in which players attempted to get an S or SS ranking on missions within Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. Throughout the event, people went through missions to get those fabled scores, and while a number did go to the easier training missions, others pushed through more difficult missions filled with large zombies and other big baddies. Those who succeeded placed their name on a list to be sent by StreetPass Princeton to Capcom for public posting.

Proof that I got me an S rank and did it the easy way.

A Capcom-based Cosplay Contest was held at the event, and the winner came out as Detective Gumshoe from the Phoenix Wright series. For the prize, she walked away with a Platinum Club Nintendo Mario Statue from 2010.

A portion of the people hanging out and talking games. Check out Gumshoe to the left.

While these events took place, attendees discussed gaming in general, from the eShop's first month of release to other console releases in the coming months. Pokedex 3D was used by some to pass around pokemon and get much needed QR codes, while others picked on each other with Dead or Alive: Dimensions. Others took part in singular experiences, such as Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX or more Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. Even disregarding the handheld, a number of small conversations erupted between people at the table and around the canopy as the afternoon drifted toward the evening.

Yes, some things did not go according to plan, but in the end, this event was a simpler, more relaxed meeting compared to the tournament-driven June event. No doubt, this event helped get members to know more about each other and bring StreetPass Princeton closer as a group.

Soda, conversations, and gaming. A great trio.

Now, the big question arises: What about August? Well, there are few games coming out between now and the next date, Rob says. Instead, he has plans for the first Retro Game event, that is, DS tournaments, including Mario Kart DS and Tetris DS. More details will follow on the StreetPass Princeton Facebook Page. Talk also emerged for potential online meetups and a forum; while StreetPass cannot be used, at least these meetings could allow more informal meeting and enjoyment in gaming with friends across the 'net. See you next month!

Third Rate Game Play: Steel Diver

Game: Steel Diver System: Nintendo 3DS Developer: Nintendo EAD and Vitei (Rock ‘n Roll Climber) Publisher: Nintendo Player: Alex Experience: Played through Mission 6 and a match of Steel Commander

The history of Steel Diver begins many years before the original concept of Steel Diver came about. Argonaut Software had begun developing a 3D engine for otherwise 2D consoles and handhelds when it approached Nintendo in the early 1990's. Among those in the company were Dylan Cuthbert (who would later form Q-Games) and Giles Goddard, who is now the head of Japanese studio Vitei. While still working with Argonaut Software, the two programmers helped establish the Super FX engine and unveiled it with the smash-hit Star Fox.

Following Star Fox’s completion, Cuthbert and Goddard helped create Vortex, a 3D mech shooter which was published by Electro Brain. While Cuthbert would later work with Nintendo on Star Fox 2, Giles Goddard joined Nintendo’s internal teams and was the Lead Programmer for Stunt Race FX. As a member of Nintendo EAD, Goddard went straight into developing Nintendo’s next gaming masterpiece, Super Mario 64. Another big project for the Nintendo 64 for him was 1080 Snowboarding, released early 1998. While he worked on smaller jobs within Nintendo EAD, his next large project would come with the release of one of Nintendo’s few 64DD projects: Doshin the Giant. This god-simulation game was well received, but the 64DD was not, so Goddard worked alongside the original team to port the whole game to the Nintendo GameCube. Ultimately, the GameCube version of Doshin the Giant would appear in Japan and Europe only, whereas America got another oddity from Nintendo of Japan: Cubivore.

After bringing Doshin the Giant to GameCube, Giles Goddard decided to leave Nintendo and form his own small development company, known as Vitei. Since the company was formed, Vitei has provided additional support to Nintendo products, and it is behind the development of Theta, a Japanese-Only Nintendo DS puzzle game, and the worldwide WiiWare game Rock ‘n Roll Climber focused on the Wii Balance Board. Steel Diver marks the company’s third known game in development.

Before Steel Diver shifted to full development, the game was merely a technical demo for the Nintendo DS during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2004. Shigeru Miyamoto, General Producer for the game, said that he wanted the game to be made based on his desire to make a game-specific controller, similar to Capcom’s Steel Battalion. The Submarine Demo was later available through wireless downloads in other Nintendo events. The demo would not move toward full-game development until Nintendo of America requested that the game be created to build the DSiWare software lineup. However, partially into development, Nintendo of Japan decided to shift development from DSiWare to 3DS as a retail product. It was not until E3 2010 that the game would finally reemerge as Steel Diver.



“Steel Diver is a new action-packed submarine combat game from Nintendo that immerses players in the 3D action with unique game controls and lush 3D environments. The player can choose from three different submarines, each with touch-screen control panels that players will have to master to guide them through treacherous undersea caverns while engaging enemy submarines, dodging depth charges and battling massive sea creatures. Steel Diver also takes advantage of the built-in gyroscope of the Nintendo 3DS system. The combination of 3D game play and one-of-a-kind controls makes for an immersive combination that must be experienced to be believed.”

“Playing Steel Diver is like driving a car with a clutch. You have to learn how to do it: "If you don't do this, it won't move." "Oh?" "If you don't do this, it won't stop." "Okay, I see." It's really fun to do several things at once that you have learned.”

– Shigeru Miyamoto, General Producer for Nintendo EAD

“You can really enjoy reading each other's hidden motives in [Steel Commander]. Imamura-san and I played this mode a lot as we were developing the game as packaged software for the Nintendo DS system. We really got into it. You can also play the computer in Steel Commander mode, but there's a special enjoyment that can't be duplicated when you play against a real person. As long as you have one cartridge of the game, you can use the Download Play feature, so I hope people will enjoy squaring off against each other.”

– Tadashi Sugiyama, Producer from SDD of EAD

Steel Diver is one of Nintendo’s three 3DS launch titles, alongside Nintendogs + Cats and Pilotwings Resort. The game is an arcade simulator game which consists of three main modes, each with their own unique gameplay twists. All three modes consist of controlling ships and submarines, whether by using the touch screen interface or the 3DS’s gyro sensor controls.

In Mission Mode, players control one of three submarines, each with their own sizes, speeds, and control mechanics. For example, the smallest submarine can shoot horizontally and vertically but can only control movement in the same manner; meanwhile, the largest submarine can shoot up to four torpedoes forward at a time and must be steered using a wheel. Mission Mode consists of two selections: Campaign and Time Trial. In Campaign, players go through seven missions to thwart an invading country from taking over the land, whereas Time Trial takes players through a number of obstacle-infested pathways. To boost a submarine’s abilities, special decals can be applied to each submarine and make missions easier to complete. Furthermore, missions come complete with three developer ghosts, against which players can race for the top time.

The second mode, Periscope Strike, is a mini-game in which players use either the touch screen or gyro sensors to control a periscope and ultimately fire torpedoes at foes. There are three levels available to select within this mode, although a bout in Periscope Strike appears after each completed mission in Campaign. The third mode, Steel Commander, is a strategy game spanning nine maps; using a grid system, players move units in an attempt to eventually sink the opponent’s supply ships. While this game is meant to be played for multiplayer purposes, the mode does allow for AI opponents for singular experiences.



The Nintendo 3DS launch was not too successful, partially due to the lack of major products available to purchase when the handheld launched. Steel Diver was seen as the B-grade title of Nintendo’s releases, and many reviews gave it a negative look in relation to its apparent limited content. At the same time, a number of fans have been praising the game for its extra, hidden content, including an enhanced hard mode and its emphasis on time trial ghosts. Still, the issue between price and content remains with this game.

Vitei’s titles for the future are unknown, as this last game was released only a few months ago. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s releases on 3DS are certain to become more intense over the next year. Currently, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D remains the only major retail 3DS game since the 3DS launch, but plenty of other games are on the way. Whether they are original IPs such as Steel Diver is a different story.

The mild sales of Steel Diver will most likely prevent any sequel for the future, but weirder things have happened when it comes to Nintendo’s previous franchises.



In an attempt to show the entirety of the game, we take a look through each of the game’s modes, starting with Campaign, moving through some Time Trial levels, and then concluding with a match of Periscope Strike and Steel Commander.

Throughout the playthrough, we examine each of the three types of submarines and examine how the ghost and decal systems work for the main game. No Gyro sensor controls are used for the sake of recording.



Steel Diver is a disappointment for one big reason: it could have been a really hefty experience. Instead, the game has great content but forces you to play through it too often. The end result is a somewhat overplayed feeling just as you reach the end of the Campaign mode. I was unable to beat the game before completing the episode, but at the very least, it is fun if a bit too shallow.

The recording was modified so as to make the top screen larger for display purposes. This turned out to be a great improvement to the recording, although editing took a little longer than anticipated. Still, it was a success of an episode and showed off what we wanted to, including an unexpectedly quick win in Steel Commander!

The big problem, however, came from the commentary. After recording Rayman 3D, we were apparently in “examination” mode rather than “entertainment.” Those who are looking for a deep look into the workings of Steel Diver should be quite happy with this video, but if you are looking for a humor-filled adventure, this will not fit your desires well. There are parts that are funny, but they are few and far between. The funniest segment was the Time Trials section, for those who still wish to find the funny diamond in the rough.

It is a disappointment, much like the game, that the episode had it all except that touch of 3RM humor. We will try to keep 3RGP videos from being as descriptive as this one was in the future, unless people prefer seeing extended reviews over our squabbling.

3RM Says: I'm certainly an advocate for diving, particularly in the bath.
Much safer, I think...um, what is that?!

Game On: Let's Play 3.03 - Left 4 Dead (Death Toll)

Game: Left 4 Dead (Death Toll) System: Xbox 360 Developers: Turtle Rock Studios / Certain Affinity Publisher: Valve Player: Michael Jackson

Game Background

The development of Left 4 Dead began in early 2005 by developer Turtle Rock Studios. Formed in 2002, this Lake Forest, California-based company started development with Valve-published products in the Counter-Strike series. In particular, the company worked on Counter-Strike for Xbox, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, and a number of additional maps for the original Counter-Strike. In 2006, however, the company would announce its own new game using the Source engine. Originally, Left 4 Dead was more open-ended and had different character designs and additional special infected, but play-testing and years of development eventually turned toward more linear experiences with less special infected. In January 2008, less than a year before release, Valve Corporation announced its acquisition of the company, renaming it to Valve South. The game released that following November, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Half-Life.

The Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead was developed in conjunction with ex-Bungie developers who comprised the developer Certain Affinity. Formed in December 2006, the developer’s first development project would be the creation of two maps for Halo 2: Tombstone and Desolation, which were remakes of Hang ‘Em High and Derelict. The company’s first original title was Age of Booty, released by Capcom for all major downloadable distribution services in 2008. While helping port Left 4 Dead to Xbox 360, Certain Affinity also developed Call of Duty: World of War multiplayer maps for the game’s retail release.

The game’s publisher, Valve Corporation, was originally formed as an LLC in 1996 by ex-Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Its first title, Half-Life, is seen as one of the biggest PC first-person shooters of all time. In 2003, the company incorporated and would release Half-Life 2 and its Steam service a year later. Left 4 Dead was not the first time the company acquired a developer who was modding or developing its own shooter using Valve’s engines: other games which fit that category include Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Day of Defeat, and Portal.

Left 4 Dead is a four-player cooperative first-person shooter involving the survival against a zombie apocalypse. The game contains a number of scenarios in which four survivors (Francis, Zoey, Bill, and Louis) must venture through a number of zombie-infested locales between safehouses until they can eventually be rescued. Cooperation is pivotal in surviving against the myriad of enemies; other players can heal or help incapacitated players in order to ensure cooperative safety. Working together may be helpful, especially when faced against the special infected, a number of uniquely twisted zombies. Left 4 Dead contains five special infected: a bile-filled fat infected (Boomer), an agile infected which slashes at its prey quickly (Hunter), a long-range infected which suffocates its victims (Smoker), a super-powerful and extremely muscular infected (Tank), and a seemingly innocent but actually extremely deadly female infected (Witch). Initially, the game had four campaigns: “No Mercy,” a trip through a city toward a hospital; “Death Toll,” a small-town setting near the woods; “Dead Air,” a trip through another city and into an airport; and “Blood Harvest,” another wooded scenario involving a trail through farmlands. At the end of each campaign, players usually have to remain within a specific location in order to be saved, requiring additional teamwork in order to survive the hordes of zombies and special infected.

Since then…

Left 4 Dead was a massive success, rekindling the desire for cooperative multiplayer games in the first-person shooter genre, as well as other genres. Releasing not too far from The Orange Box, (another Valve-published product involving Team Fortress 2, Half-Life: Episode Two, and Portal) Left 4 Dead eclipsed its sales, sparking desires to create more for the franchise in a short timeframe.

Left 4 Dead has seen three additional campaigns for download since the game’s initial launch. The first, “The Last Stand,” is a versus-exclusive “what-if” scenario in which the four survivors end up at a lighthouse with no way out. “Crash Course,” a two-segment campaign, takes place immediately following “No Mercy” after finding the helicopter pilot succumbing to the infection. A final DLC campaign, “The Sacrifice,” acts as a bridge to the game’s sequel, in which the survivors encounter a massive horde of infected, and in the end, one character must sacrifice him or her in order for the others to survive. To further encourage custom campaigns, Valve developed editing software to players, allowing for heavy modifications and customized maps for download. All three DLC campaigns were developed by Turtle Rock Studios.

As hinted earlier, Left 4 Dead has since seen a sequel release. Left 4 Dead 2 was announced at E3 2009, which many thought was too early for a sequel announcement, but the game was highly praised upon release. The game introduced four more survivors and also brought out new special infected to face off within the world. Unlike the Philadelphia-based predecessor, Left 4 Dead 2 takes place within the hot and heavy south, complete with a setting very fitting to Louisiana. The game, which launched late 2009, contained five campaigns and received additional DLC campaigns, including re-released campaigns of the original Left 4 Dead. More extra content is still being produced to this day.

However, Left 4 Dead would not remain developed by the then-Valve South. In 2009, the company ceased to be called Valve South, and by February 2010, Turtle Rock Studios announced that it had reformed and was making videogames apart from Valve. Since reforming, the company has created a subsidiary called Turtle Rock Garage, dedicated to casual game development. So far, out of the two companies, the only release has been Leap Sheep! for iOS and Android. THQ has confirmed that it is publishing Turtle Rock’s next game, which is expected for unveiling this year.

Certain Affinity has continued work on first-person shooter content, most of which relates to the Halo franchise. Working alongside startup 343 Industries, the developer created Halo Waypoint, a Halo-focused application for news and other content. The company worked continually at the development of multiplayer maps, specifically with Treyarch and Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and “First Strike Map Pack 1,” as well as the “Defiant Halo Map Pack” for Bungie’s Halo: Reach. While it is working alongside Saber Interactive and 343 Industries on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Certain Affinity is developing its next new property: a dungeon-crawler adventure game titled Crimson Alliance, set for release Fall 2011.

Valve Corporation’s output as a publisher has not been massive since Left 4 Dead’s release, save two particularly large games: Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal 2, the latter of which came out early 2011. Outside of the major releases, Valve released Alien Swarm through its Steam service, which is today regarded as the best downloadable distribution system to date. Valve is currently working on DOTA 2, a real-time strategy game based off a customized game of Warcraft III, Defense of the Ancients. The lead creator of the original game, IceFrog, is now employed within Valve and is heading up the development of DOTA 2. Alongside this game, Valve is said to be working on the next Half-Life adventure. Furthermore, Team Fortress 2 has since become a free-to-play FPS.

The Let’s Play

We could not hold MJ back after enjoying a fun romp with Taito Legends 2. As a result, we asked him to venture through a game of his choosing, rather than a weird compilation like last time. He gladly chose to take down a campaign of Left 4 Dead by himself and in a high difficulty setting. He assured us everything would go smoothly.

Having his choice of campaign, Michael Jackson gladly chose Death Toll, and the episode is labeled as such in case any other campaign is to be played by Third Rate Minion in the future. Because of his skills before playing this episode, MJ decided to play the game in Advanced, which is certainly going to show a lot of intense moments throughout the campaign. With his Xbox in check, he began his journey.

Post-Mortem

He died. Many times. However, the deaths were not entirely his fault. In fact, he died several times within eyesight of his teammates who, for some reason or another, found themselves completely dumbfounded by each scenario. A lot of Hunter attacks and unsuccessful Tank offensives would make MJ become increasingly aggravated and the audience more delighted. In order to eventually complete the game in a timely fashion, MJ opted to lower the difficulty some time into the game. While he was not able to survive through the whole way in Advanced, there was plenty of fun to be had.

As for the episode content itself, Michael Jackson’s banter remained pretty smooth throughout the game, even if the gunshots were so loud that the game volume had to be diminished greatly in the process. Unfortunately, Alex was suffering from a cold, so coughing would erupt every now and again. Also, note that the player window is a bit larger than it should be, as the original was compensating for the cut-off of SD televisions.

Overall, this would be the last episode of Game On: Let’s Play to feature MJ. We enjoyed our times together, and from the looks of things, he really enjoyed his time with us as well. We wish him the best and hope to see more hilarity and fun stuff from him in the future.

Game On: Let's Play 3.02 - Taito Legends 2

Game: Taito Legends 2 System: Sony PlayStation 2 Developer: Empire Oxford / Taito Publisher: Empire / Destineer Players: Michael Jackson and Alex Wanschura

Game Background

Taito Legends 2 sits as the second collection of arcade games developed and published by Taito over the course of its lifetime. This was during a generation filled with collections and anthologies, whereas this current generation tends to sell games a la carte through downloadable distribution systems. Taito Legends did so well that Empire was willing to publish a second collection of Taito classics, and the result is an even larger collection of arcade games from one of the arcade’s biggest developers.

Taito formed in 1953 by Russian businessman Michael Kogan as Taito Trading Company, and its major focus was the buying and selling of vending machines and jukeboxes. Twenty years later, the company renamed itself to Taito Corporation and released its first arcade cabinet. The company’s signature arcade franchise Space Invaders was released 1978 and is seen as the company’s biggest and most iconic franchise to date. Since then, the company released a large number of arcade games under its subsidiaries Taito America and Taito Software, although development remained in Japan. Major franchises other than Space Invaders included Qix, Bubble Bobble, Elevator Action, Operation Wolf, and Bust-a-Move (known elsewhere as Puzzle Bobble). In 2003, the company celebrated its 50th year anniversary with the release of Bujingai: The Forsaken City, a third-person action game co-developed by Red Entertainment and using the likeness of J-Pop singer Gackt. As of 1986, the company was owned by Japanese media conglomerate Kyocera, but in 2005, Square-Enix announced that it would purchase Taito and turn it into a fully-owned subsidiary. Taito Corporation would then merge with SQEX Corporation (previously Game Developer Studio – developer of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles) as it stands today.

Empire Interactive, the game’s compiler and lead publisher, was founded in 1987. The UK-based publisher started off as a small PC publisher, but over time the company shifted toward console publishing. Empire was best known for its involvement in the Big Mutha Truckers, Ford Racing, and FlatOut game series. In 2000, the company established the Xplosiv publishing label for budget and rereleased games by Empire or other companies. Taito Legends 2 was not only published by Empire; the game was developed by Empire Oxford, one of its internal companies. Budget publisher Destineer was behind the game’s American release.

Since then…

Taito Corporation has remained a pivotal part of Square-Enix’s Japanese wing. A number of new games have been released which try to bring new life to the Space Invaders franchise, including Space Invaders Extreme (developed by Taito on DS, GUILTI CO. on PSP, and Backbone Entertainment on XBLA), Space Invaders Extreme 2 (developed for DS by Project Just), Space Invaders Get Even! (co-developed by Cattle Call for WiiWare), and Space Invaders Infinity Gene for iOS, PSN, and XBLA. Other recently developed titles by Taito since Taito Legends 2 include Qix++, Darius Burst, and the LostMagic games.

While Taito Legends 2 has never seen a re-release since it was released on Xbox, PC, and PS2, Taito has since released one other collection product. The game, Taito Legends Power-Up, was a PSP collection of 21 Taito classics and four deluxe editions of some of the titles: Balloon Bomber, Cameltry, Crazy Balloon and Legend of Kage. Also developed by Empire Oxford, this game was also published by Empire and Destineer.

Meanwhile, Empire Interactive did not perform well following Taito Legends 2. The company was purchased by Silverstar Holdings in 2006, which was around the time Taito Legends 2 was released. By late 2009, the company had become bankrupt, and its properties were sold to New World IP for resale purposes. Currently, New World IP has leased the rights for its franchises to budget publisher Zoo Games.

The Let’s Play

Seen by many of the members of Game On: Let’s Play’s staff as the most content-dense episode yet, Taito Legends 2 debuts Michael Jackson to the show (and yes, that’s his real name). So many times we attempted to get this recording down, but several factors kept on preventing it from being completed. We persevered, and in the end, we went through as many games in a two-hour span as possible. We end up trying 18 games and completing Space Invaders ’95, one of the weirdest arcade experiences ever made.

The arcade games are played as follows:

1. Crazy Balloon 2. Qix 3. Alpine Ski 4. Chack’n Pop 5. Front Line 6. The FairlyLand Story 7. Ki Ki Kai Kai 8. Kuri Kinton 9. Syvalion 10. Bonze Adventure

11. Nastar Warrior 12. Raimais 13. Cameltry 14. Don Doko Don 15. Violence Fight 16. Growl 17. Metal Black 18. Elevator Action II 19. Space Invaders ‘95

Post-Mortem

No episode of Game On: Let’s Play could really compare to this one. MJ and Alex really went to great lengths to ensure the game was as fun to talk about as possible. There are so many games in the collection, but we kept the games selected random enough as possible to ensure a high quality product in the end. Only some of the playthrough became dulled as Space Invaders moved onward, but the commentary between Alex, MJ, and the audience helped make this episode one of the best ones ever filmed.

In particular, this episode’s audio was pretty good, although some commentary is lost in the room’s acoustics. There are some odd issues we face over the course of the recording, but nothing truly reduces the quality of the episode. Split into two parts due to length, this episode was truly what I desired from making Game On: Let’s Play, a show dedicated to players having fun playing games, even if they happen to be poor. Not to say all of Taito Legends 2 is poor, but a few particular problematic games emerge from this episode.

Michael Jackson would return for one more recording this season, and we are glad to have had him be a part of the team.