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RipTen Review: Pilotwings Resort (3DS)

Justin Berube — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:23:42 +0000

Pilotwings Resort is one of the three first party Nintendo titles released for the 3DS. For those that don’t know, Pilotwings Resort is the third title in the Pilotwings series and every title in the series has been launched along side Nintendo hardware.

Pilotwings Resort is a flight game, but it’s one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The game isn’t a flight simulator by any means, so anyone can easily pick it up. This is a good thing for a large majority of players and those thinking that this title will be easy as a result will actually be pleasantly surprised, but more on that later!

At the start of the game the player will be prompted to pick out one of their Mii’s saved on the 3DS hardware. From that point on players will use the selected Mii for the entirety of the game, a departure from the previous Pilotwings title on the N64.

Another difference over previous titles is that Pilotwings Resort only features one environment, although a familiar one, Wuhu Island. Wuhu Island is the same island found in Wii Fit, Wii Fit Plus, and Wii Sports Resort. Anyone that has played those previous Nintendo titles will find the Island familiar and it’s rather cool to see it in the palm of your hands as opposed to the big screen. While this is awesome, and the island is big and full of places to explore, it’s also a bit sad that it’s the only environment in the entire game.

Pilotwings Resort is broken up into two modes, Mission Flight Mode and Free Flight Mode. While in these modes the players will have access to three main vehicles, Plane, Rocket Belt, and Hang Glider. Each vehicle feels unique and offers advantages and disadvantages. Some other aircraft do become unlockable, or useable in some cases, but they are typically just beefed up versions of the three main vehicles.

Mission Flight Mode is where the meat of the game lies and players will be able to start off with some training missions for each of the three main vehicles found in the game. Successful completion will unlock more Classes such as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

The objectives found in the Mission Flight Mode include successfully navigating the selected aircraft through rings, popping balloons with the aircraft (or shooting at them in some cases), staying on a select path, collecting bonus points that look like pills, successfully landing the aircraft, and more. At the end of each mission the game will give the player a score based on their performance and that will translate to a Star Ranking between zero and three.

Like A Boss

I’ve heard that some other reviews say that this mode is way too short, and it can be. However, players that are looking to extend the challenge, and also thereby extend the length of the game, have that option. The game does challenge the player to get perfect scores on each mission and this is where the game becomes hard. There is a bonus for getting a perfect score on every mission and in addition, players can replay missions after accomplishing a perfect score. They can even replay those missions and score above their perfect score. Seriously.

Free Flight Mode is a bit more laid back. In this mode the player is allowed to fly around Wuhu Island in their favorite aircraft at their own pace. If players want, however, they can search Wuhu Island for every location, find and fly through all the stunt rings with the Plane, find all the Mii Trophies with the Rocket Belt, or fly through all the Gold Rings with the Hang Glider. Finding everything hidden in this mode does take some time.

Additionally, when players play Free flight mode they are given a time limit for each flight. This time can be extended permanently if players pop enough white balloons scattered around Wuhu Island. There are 40 balloons hidden for each vehicle type and this also increases the amount of time required for full completion of this mode.

Pilotwings Resort is a ton of fun. I really couldn’t pass up on the challenge of going for a perfect score on each mission and at the same time I wanted to find everything in Free Flight mode. It was strangely addicting. Fully completing the Mission Flight Mode took me about seven hours, while Free Flight Mode lasted a little over four hours for full completion. My final game time was 11 hours, 2 minutes and 42 seconds. I have, however, seen other players take nearly double this amount of time to do the same thing so the length, if going for 100% completion, could vary depending on the skill of the individual player.

While I definitely found Pilotwings Resort to be fun, it does have its downfalls. As previously mentioned, there is only one environment to explore. Additionally, the game could have used some more vehicles and some of the mission objectives could have been more varied. Pilotwings Resort also doesn’t take advantage of StreetPass at all, which would have been perfect for sharing or comparing high scores from the Mission Flight Mode.

On the plus side, Pilotwings Resort is one of the best launch titles for the 3DS. The game is fun and players looking for a challenge will have that option if they choose to accept it. Pilotwings Resort also has some of the best 3D effects to be found on the system so far and will definitely make a great 3DS showcase game that anyone can pick up, play, and have a great time with on the system.

(Additionally there is a nice Easter Egg for those longtime Pilotwings fans that get three stars (not perfect) on every mission!)

Here’s The Rundown:

+ Easy to pick up and play.
+ Lots of fun.
+ The game is challenging for players that want it to be.
+ Wuhu Island in your hands.
+ Amazing 3D visuals.

- May be too short for those that don’t go for perfection.
- Could use more vehicles.
- Mission objectives could have been more varied.
- Wuhu Island is the only environment.
- Street Pass functionality isn’t used.

To keep up with my latest reviews Follow me on Twitter @KingNintendoFan or Like Me on Facebook.

Pilotwings Resort was developed by Nintendo and Monster Games and was published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The game released in North America on March 27th, 2011 with an MSRP of $39.99 USD. The copy used in this review was purchased by the reviewer. The game was played to completion.

Everything We Learned About The Nintendo 3DS This Week

Ripten Staff — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:25:16 +0000

Did you sleep in all week? Miss out on all the awesome Nintendo 3DS information that exploded onto the interwebs? Well, fear not – We’ve rounded it all up for ya!

First thing Wednesday morning, our own KingNintendoFanboy, Justin Berube, was live on the scene in NYC for the 3DS preview event. We did our best to keep up with all the details.

First off, we quickly learned the DATE and PRICE and of course the COLORS of the North American 3DS.

Then – we learned that the European version was in fact coming out a few days earlier and that retailers would actually decide the price. (Which looks to be a little more than in the US)

We then learned that Ubisoft would be brining no less than 8 titles to the 3DS this year – including Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon and Rayman.

Then we brought you some trailers and screens from Capcom’s upcoming 3DS games – Super Street Fighter IV 3D and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.

Meanwhile – Justin was in NYC messing around with the 3DS itself and digging into the Parental Controls of the unit.

Up next were some screens from Ocarina of Time 3D – oooh, ahhh – it’s not coming out at the systems release. :-(

Then Justin was at it again – pouring over some new press information and discovering some interesting information. Like the fact that the 3DS can finally play MP3′s now!

Before the KNF got his hands on some games – he was kind enough to take a video of the event itself. It looked very . . . sterile?

Of course – then came the impressions – and there was quite a bit to be impressed with. Check out all of the games and software that the KNF checked out:

Super Street Fighter (3Ds) Impressions

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries (3DS) Impressions

Target Shooting (3DS Built-In) Impressions

Face Raiders (3DS Built-In) Impressions

3DS Virtual Console Impressions

Ocarina of Time (3DS) Impressions

Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS) Impressions

Nintendogs + Cats (3DS) Impressions

Steel Diver (3DS) Impressions

Pilotwings Resort (3DS) Impressions

Last but not least – We learned that Nintendo will be shipping 900,000 3DS Units to Europe and that they intend so sell at least five million by year end.

So, there you have it – everything we learned about the Nintendo 3DS this week from our hands on coverage. If you still don’t know enough to decide if you want to purchase one – we really don’t know what else to tell you.

The 3DS will finally be available on March 27th – you can pre-order yours today!

Nintendo Confirms 3DS Launch Titles

Dave Oshry — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 18:01:57 +0000

Have you been wondering just what games will be available on the day the 3DS comes out? Well wonder no longer!!

Here’s the list!!

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS – Nintendo

Nintendogs + Cats – Nintendo

Pilotwings Resort – Nintendo

Pro Baseball Spirits – Konami

Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle – Level 5

Ridge Racer 3D – Namco Bandai

Samurai Warriors Chronicle – Tecmo Koei

Steel Diver – Nintendo

Super Monkey Ball – Sega

Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition – Capcom

Don’t worry, our resident Nintendo expert (fanboy) Justin Berube already has each title as well as the console on super double secret pre-order!!

*Note: This is the Japanese list, the US list may contain less and perhaps even more launch titles!!

Source: My Nintendo News via Softpedia

Rose-Tinted Nostalgia: The Top Five Franchises That Nintendo Forgot

Cavin Smith — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:18:14 +0000

“No time machine? Not my problem!”

I admit it, I’m a hypocrite. I have no problem busting Nintendo’s chops on forums across the internet for banking on nostalgia these days, but I’ve got a secret rose-tinted past of my own. Like most of you, I grew up on Nintendo — watched the cartoons, ate the cereal, wore the underoos. But I feel like they’ve left a few of my favorite franchises collecting dust while Mario and Zelda get all the glory. Hit the jump for the top 5 series that I think time (and Nintendo) forgot and how they should be resurrected.

5. Pilotwings

Oh yes, Pilotwings. The flight sim that actually made flight sims fun. I’m also pretty sure it paved the way for hundreds of “fly through the rings” challenges and mind-numbing checkpoint races to come, but it was great stuff back in 1990!

It’s also one of the games that introduced us to the SNES’ ubiquitous Mode 7 technique which allowed flat surfaces to be stretched, scaled, and so on to produce a mock-3D effect. Its only sequel, Pilotwings 64, likewise ushered in a new era as real 3D entered the fray. Using the added dimension to allow players full-freedom flight, it was arguably an even more satisfying experience than its fellow pioneers.

But where did Pilotwings go? 64 really dates the series with its atrocious graphics and Nester cameo (Nintendo Power’s mascot du jour back in the late 80s/early 90s). Its absence is excusable on the GameCube, which had no significantly fresh experience to offer (though Factor 5 was rumored to be making one for awhile), but what about the Wii?

Pilotwings’ penchant for ushering in new technology would’ve made it a perfect fit for showing off motion controls. Even as a Sports-style collection of flight mini-games (which it always kind of has been), it would’ve been fantastic!

Konami and Hudson even tried to fill in the gap with Wing Island, but spectacularly failed at capturing the same magic.

Bringing It Back: It might be too late for this one. Pilotwings has always appeared at the beginning of a console’s life cycle, and we’re a full year past that point with no new iteration in sight. It could still come at some point, but I don’t think it would have quite the same impact. That either game in the series has yet to hit Virtual Console yet is a bit surprising, but it’ll likely happen sooner or later, so it looks like you’ll have to go there for your flight sim fix.

4. Super Mario RPG

I was a giddy little 12-year-old when this came out. It was probably my most anticipated game ever up until that point except for, oddly enough, Earthbound (I was sadly too young to truly appreciate “Mother” back then, but it managed to draw me in anyway).

I remember the day, itself. My buddy got it the same day as I did and told me not to start playing until he got home so that we’d be roughly at the same point. I was weak, I couldn’t do it. I started it up without him. Sure, he got pissed, but the anger soon abated as we delved deeper into the game’s wonderful world.

In retrospect, this probably seemed like a horrible idea at the time. How could you take a platforming series with a rudimentary story and spin it into a full-fledged role-playing epic? Even attempting would normally seem like a waste of time and effort, but Squaresoft was up to the task. To date, few RPG adaptations have even come close to touching the genius of Legend of the Seven Stars.

But, even as the core Mario characters endure, few of the new introductions were even seen again. What about Mallow, Booster, Frogfucious, the Axem Rangers, Smithy, and all the other unique creations? One of Mario’s allies, the possessed doll Geno, did make a small cameo in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, but that’s about it. It’s a shame that some of the less creative characters to come out of the Mario pantheon (Bowser Jr., Piantas, etc.) continue to pop up, while they’ve fallen by the wayside. Wouldn’t you like to see them again?

And what of all the memorable sequences in the game? Climbing Booster’s tower, fighting Chef Torte’s wedding cake, ascending into Nimbus land, finding all those hidden blocks, or tackling Culex, the hidden Final Fantasy-esque boss even stronger than main villain Smithy?

Bringing It Back: It could happen now that Square-Enix is back in bed with Nintendo. Since they have the rights to certain aspects of the game (like the character Geno), there’s nothing technically stopping a sequel from being made. Well, except that Nintendo’s moved on.

During the infamous split, Intelligent Systems took over RPG duties, creating the Paper Mario series. And then came Mario & Luigi for portables. Though highly creative in its own right, Intelligent Systems’ take on the plumber no doubt took cues from Legend of the Seven Stars from hit timing (to cause more damage or dodge an attack) to utilizing a cast of quirky characters and a plot prone to both the drama and wackiness not typically found in a traditional Mario game.

Considering as much, some would probably say that Super Mario RPG has never really left us. Either way, a sequel feels like it’d work best on the DS for me. The game has never been updated or re-released, so even a version of the original would be more than welcome.

3. Wrecking Crew

Wrecking Crew was one of Nintendo’s earliest NES games, born in a time when Mario still wasn’t sure what he wanted to be when he grew up: chocolatier? golfer? pinball master? Nah. But before he settled on “Princess Peach’s savior and part-time plumber” (kind of like those guys on Ghost Hunters, except with more spooks and less wailing females), he tried “demolition man” on for size.

The object of this puzzler was to destroy all the walls and doors on any given level whilst avoiding scary, anthropomorphic tools and a devious evil twin named Spike. It was really quite a good formula for the time, a bit like Lode Runner.

Just as that game did, Wrecking Crew also featured a built-in level editor. Sadly, the Famicom Data Recorder was required to save creations, and considering that it was never released in the US, the options were disabled over here.

Various elements of Wrecking Crew have made cameos in other games over the years (one of 9-volt’s levels in Wario Ware: Twisted!, for instance), and a remake eventually popped up in 1998, appropriately titled Wrecking Crew ’98, but the gameplay was remarkably changed.

Bringing It Back: Sure, why not? The core mechanics of the game work just as well today as they did over twenty years ago. Puzzle games are timeless, and with a bit of tweaking, there’s no reason why a true sequel couldn’t be produced. It would work well on either the DS (tapping walls to destroy them) or on the Wii (use the remote like a hammer), perhaps as a Wii Ware download instead of a retail release.

Currently, Wrecking Crew is available on Virtual Console, where you can actually save any levels created in the editor. Masahiro Sakurai certainly hasn’t forgotten about it, with the Golden Hammer appearing as a weapon in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

2. The Adventures of Lolo

Speaking of Sakurai, he’s probably one of the only Nintendo alum willing to dig deep enough into the company’s past to dredge up the most obscure bits of nostalgia. Just take a look at the trophy list in any Smash Bros. game, it’s a minefield of fanboy memories!

Sakurai’s perhaps most famous for designing Kirby at the age of 19, though, when he was still an underling at HAL Laboratory. His creation would go on to overshadow my #2, The Adventures of Lolo, turning its titular hero into a villain in Kirby’s Dream Land.

But why has the little blue guy not been able to return for his own game since? Like Wrecking Crew, it was a wonderfully devious puzzler. It was also freaky as hell. Modern horror games have nothing on Lolo’s Medusa Heads or fire-spitting Gols. It was like sitting on pins and needles every time you’d have to pass through the gaze of Medusa, it’s eyes flicking open looking for prey. If you weren’t behind some sort of solid cover, it meant instant death.

With its devious enemies and clever block-pushing game mechanics, Lolo remains both compelling and incredibly difficult even today.

Bringing it Back: Please! Someone! The original is available on Virtual Console, and there are two sequels to work your way through, but an update would go great on the DS. As a bite-sized puzzler, it’s perfect for play on-the-go.

Just as Nintendo did with Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, using the stylus to creatively control different objects on screen could lend enough innovation to the series to make it feel fresh and new, even to long-time fans.

Come on Hal Labs!

1. StarTropics

Finally, we get to number one! I remember this being a pretty big release back in the day, with a serialized Howard and Nester comic in Nintendo Power and everything. Its rough similarities to Zelda didn’t hurt, either, but StarTropics was still unique enough to stand on its own.

You played as Mike Jones (read: not the rapper), a yo-yo toting youth out to save his archaeologist uncle, Dr. J, from malevolent aliens led by the evil Zoda. Sounds wacky, but the combination worked quite well. Marrying island mysticism with good old sci-fi standbys resulted in a winner.

Immersion was helped along by a letter from Dr. J being included with the game, which asked Mike (i.e. the player) to come and help him. At one point, you’d have to submerge part of the letter in water to reveal a code used to proceed.

Dungeons were great fun, as well. They would consist of all kinds of different traps an enemies with hidden areas and weapons to find. A key component was jumping around on floating tiles in order to figure out which ones would reveal a switch or open a door. Of course, you’d have to be careful, because some were booby-trapped or would sink into the water. Not to mention that there were monsters to be avoided in the process.

StarTropics shared the same sense of exploration and adventure as other key Nintendo franchises of the time like Zelda and Metroid did. Though it enjoyed a less-popular sequel (Zoda’s revenge), there’s no good reason why it can’t be resurrected today.

Bringing It Back: Wii game, hands down. A lot of people have talked about using the Wiimote like a whip for Castlevania games, so why not a yo-yo in StarTropics? The setting is certainly interesting enough and there’s nothing else like it currently on the market.

The main problem might be that it was one of the few games developed by Nintendo R&D3, one of the company’s in-house studios that is primarily responsible for hardware improvements instead of creating software. This, of course, doesn’t mean that another team couldn’t handle a potential update.

Why not give it to Retro? Though I’d prefer it to remain top-down myself, a Metroid Prime-esque first-person interface would work well for exploring intricate island ruins and alien spaceships.

Of all the franchises I’ve listed here, this is hands down the one I’d like to see come back the most.

Conclusion

Nintendo seems fairly set in their ways at this point. With a new demographic to go after, it hardly makes financial sense to chase after old franchises that only the hardcore would still remember.

Sure, we’ve got Smash Bros. Brawl there to remind us of Nintendo’s glorious and unceremoniously forgotten past, and Virtual Console will (or already does) allow us to relive some of these experiences, but I want them renewed.

Even though I listed Super Mario RPG as one of my picks, I’ve begun to resent Nintendo’s mascot in recent years. I owned Mario everything as a kid. Mario sheets draped my bed, Mario Dixie Cups sat next to the sink in my bathroom. I even had the damned board game (oh yes, someone tried to make a board game out of Super Mario Bros.).

Playing Mario Galaxy made me fall in love with platforming all over again, but I could no longer relate to the plumber’s charm. In fact, I was slightly put off by it.

So why the hate? It must have something to do with the way we conceive nostalgia. We love to dredge up artifacts of our past as a confirmation of the great times we used to have. Each of the series I’ve listed can be linked to happy memories, even in the face of tough times. My family didn’t have a whole lot of money when most of these games came out, so I learned to really love and cherish playing them. Some of them I didn’t even own, but rented over and over and over again.

Mario remains with us, though. He’s not the only example, but the strongest one by far. He’s not so much my memory anymore, as he is an over-saturated cultural one. You can find people wearing Mario shirts who haven’t picked up a controller since they were ten. Yet, I’d snap up a StarTropics shirt the second it was available if King of Games suddenly decided they were going to make one. Hey, as I said at the very beginning of this article, I’m a hypocrite. :)

So dig deep into your archives Nintendo and dust off some of these oldies-but-goodies. Give them some fresh air tor breathe. You never know what hidden treasure you might have sitting in the attic!