2007 Most Wanted Roundtable

Yeah, it’s already February, but every gamer knows the first few months of a new year are slow while everyone recovers from the holiday rush. The “good stuff” is yet to come, and here’s what the Nintendo Spin staff is looking forward to most for 2007:

Clark says:
I’m anticipating just about every Wii game that isn’t a PS2 port. I have a feeling this year will be for Wii what the year of Mario Kart was for the DS. The two games I most want, however, are Super Mario Galaxy and Super Paper Mario. I just finished playing Paper Mario: TTYD, a game full of artistic charm and clever puzzles, and I can’t wait to see that integrated into a more traditional platformer. I’m sure Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3 will both be awesome games, but I’m really just craving some good, old-fashioned Mario platforming.

On the DS front, Chibi Robo: Park Patrol definitely has me interested. The original Chibi Robo for GameCube was one of my favorites on the system, so seeing that the franchise isn’t going to die makes me very happy. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles was another great GameCube title but was held back by its reliance on expensive hardware requirements. I’m hoping the upcoming DS version fixes everything that was wrong with the first FFCC. There’s also a little title called Flipper Critters, a pinball game, which I’ll be keeping an eye on. Pinball games are a weakness of mine, and Metroid Prime Pinball was unable to cure my addiction.

Saul says:
2006 was the year of the DS, and 2007 will likely be the year of the Wii for Nintendo fans. Like everyone else, I’m excited about Super Mario Galaxy because controlling Mario in 3D has always been fun, and the wii-mote offers an opportunity for a new twist.

Being a huge Metroid fan, I’m looking forward to Metroid Prime Corruption. The boys at Retro are extremely talented and I have no doubt that the game will be both fun and intuitive. I also believe that the game will serve as a graphical showpiece to Nintendo’s new console. I don’t see any developer pushing the console as hard as Retro in 2007.

On the DS side, I’m looking forward to the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Final Fantasy. The DS has become the dominant gaming platform, and the maturity exhibited by many of its titles reflect this.

Ok, so those are the obvious choices, but what about the lower profile titles that I’m looking forward to? Well, I’m excited to play Hotel Dusk on DS. Considering how much I enjoyed Trace Memory, this game should be right up my alley. I’m also looking forward to Cooking Mama, Batallion Wars, and Paper Mario on Wii. Overall, this is shaping up to be a big year for Nintendo, and they’ll need every last game they can develop to compete with the other console manufacturers, who are also gearing up for a big holiday season.

Paul says:
Can I have Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles? Please, Capcom? Being a rather obsessive Resident Evil fan, this is without question my top choice for the year. That is, Capcom willing, it even sees a 2007 release. Aside from the purging of undead, here’s another potential title that could skulk into the 2008 threshold: Super Mario Galaxy. Enough has been said about the title that doesn’t need to be further emphasized. Super Mario Galaxy should showcase just what Wii is capable of doing, and just how it plans on doing it. And hey, it helps to have Miyamoto on task to accomplish such a feat.

Oh Nintendo DS, you wonder system, you. My backlog of DS titles will already extend deep into 2007, but that’s alright. I’m wondering what that dubious ten man team working on Phantom Hourglass is concocting? Just like their console counterparts, handheld Zeldas seem to generate an equal amount of adoration and praise both critically and by fans alike. I’m fairly sure the wait for Phantom Hourglass should be worth it. On that note, I’m kind of an in-the-closest shmup fan. If Nibris can manage to release Raid over the River (recently renamed to the acronym: ROTD) this year, or at all, I’d be happy.

2007 looks to be a promising year for all consoles, and is shaping up to be one for the record books.

Clark:
If Mario Galaxy is delayed to 2008, I will cry. Although it wouldn’t surprise me. There’s just too much good [supposedly] coming out this year. Makes you wonder if 2008 will have anything.

I’m not looking forward to Phantom Hourglass as much as I should, though. I wasn’t too impressed by Minish Cap, and I’m worried about how the stylus is going to be used. Stylus control has pretty much ruined some games for me (Metroid Prime Hunters, Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble), and I’d hate for it to do it to Zelda, as well.

Paul:
That’s one of my main concerns with Phantom Hourglass, also. As well as sailing again, ugh. I’m really not a fan of implementing stylus control unless it’s necessary. Good examples obviously being Elite Beat Agents, Trauma Center, Hotel Dusk, etc.

For the most part though, games have managed to circumvent the gimmick status in favor of rational controls.

Saul:
We can all think of a recent instance where we all worried about Nintendo hampering a Zelda game with potentially gimmicky control. Let’s hope Phantom Hourglass can be as much fun as Twilight Princess turned out to be.

And what about the new games that can be either great or painfully mediocre? Yep, I’m talking about Project H.A.M.M.E.R. and Disaster: Day of Crisis. Both have tons of potential, but I’m beginning to wonder if:

1. We’ll see them in 2007
2. They’ll be lengthy adventures with rich gameplay

Both could go a long way towards expanding Nintendo’s stable of franchises and gameplay styles. Nintendo obviously realized they need to go beyond Mario and Metroid if they want to broaden their appeal. They’ve already succeeded to an extent with Wii Sports, now it’s time to expand in the other (more hardcore) direction with the new franchises.

Clark:
We definitely need some more hardcore games out there. And now. Just look at the release list for February and March. Wii Play and Mario Party 8? How many mini-game compilations do we need?! SSX Blur and Sonic are looking good, though. Here’s hoping third parties can fill the void while Nintendo most likely delays all its “big guns” to the holiday season and into next year.

P.S. Dewy’s Adventure is now one of my most anticipated games. Konami didn’t do much for GameCube, but this is a company that’s really showing some Wii love. Elebits. DDR. Wing Island. Keep ‘em comin’, boys!

Marc says:
Like everyone said, it seems like 2007 is going to be a great year for Nintendo with a lot of great games coming for both the DS and the Wii. I am especially excited about Metroid Prime 3 Corruption since I have played both Prime games and they rank as 2 of my favorite games of all time. I know Retro is going to blow everyone with intuitive Wii controls that every other company will adopt after for their first-person shooters.

Of course, Mario Galaxy is also going to be huge and so will Super Smash Bros Brawl, but I just hope that they will keep their promise and include online play as this game will probably be a system seller just like it was on the GameCube. Having online could help it sell even more in my opinion. And speaking of online play, I hope that Nintendo brings Pokémon Battle Revolution here as we all know there are millions of Pokémon fans here who would love to battle others online in glorious 3D. I can’t stop playing my import copy of Pokémon Diamond and as soon as the US version comes out I’ll be getting it and I hope I’ll be able to battle it out on my Wii too.

I’m also impressed with what some of the 3rd parties are bringing. I know a lot of them seem like ports with Wii controls, but at the same time it feels like they are experiencing with the hardware more than anything else and once the foundation for those types of games is there the real original stuff will come out I think that’s when we’ll really be impressed. Games like Prince of Persia and SSX Blur definitely seem to be like that but I think they are still great games and many haven’t played them and are looking forward to them.

SquareEnix’s announcement of 2 Dragon Quest games for Nintendo systems is what I am looking the most forward to this year though. Dragon Quest on Wii could very well be a system seller and it looks interesting enough that I might be tempted in importing! And of course, Dragon Quest 9, the official sequel to Dragon Quest 8 on PS2 is coming exclusively to DS in what was probably the most shocking announcement we’ve seen in a while. This will absolutely sell more systems and being a huge RPG fan this is THE game to be looking forward to this year.

And I hope Nintendo will impress us this year and announce more online support. An MMO would be a real surprise but will probably never happen since it makes too much sense! I’m looking forward to a Demo channel though and maybe some more Virtual Console stuff, especially original content.And please, more first party announcements! We want to know what’s coming down the line! Let’s not leave the Wii to turn into the next GameCube, no more waiting for months until the next big release.

Clark:
I agree, a Nintendo-made MMO game would be awesome. I really think this is the direction Animal Crossing should take.

Are there any specific Virtual Console games you guys are hoping make the list this year? I would love nothing more than Super Mario All-Stars–the SMB3 battle mode in that is so much better than in the original SMB3, and the cleaned-up graphics do make a difference–but I have a feeling this will never happen. Ah, well…

Paul:
I’d go with Super Metroid if anything. Though somehow I don’t think that’s headed on the VC anytime soon. Also: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Kirby Super Star.

Marc:
Having Super Mario All-Stars would probably be a bad idea from Nintendo’s perspective since they could sell them all separately although I wouldn’t mind if they did sell the compilation.

Personally though, I’d really love to be able to play Earthbound again since I lost my SNES cartridge (yes, I really did!!!) and maybe they could release the original one on the NES since it has already been translated. Besides that, I’d love to get some stuff like Secret of Mana and Lufia. Demon’s Crest from Capcom is a game I’d also like to play again as I haven’t seen that one in a while. Super Mario RPG would probably do really well on the Virtual Console.

Also this week while at work for some reason I started thinking about the Startropics game for the NES and I would definitely pay to have that one on Wii for the Virtual Console. I still remember the music from that game and I thought the gameplay was great and it would be a blast to play through that game again.

And we also need more N64 games on the VC! I’m thinking about games like Excitebike 64, Waverace, Donkey Kong 64, San Francisco Rush, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask… So many games to list, honestly I think it’s going to take a while before we have everything we want!