Bit by Bit: February 2014

Coming off of the two biggest features I have ever done, it is hard to get back in the swing of regular writing.  I have so many ideas spinning around in my head of articles to write, but no true direction of where I want to take Silver Bit next.  It is a very peculiar position I am currently in with Silver Bit.  Personally, I think getting back into the regular of schedule of work and school after Reading Week will get the creative juices following in this writer's brain.  For this week, I like to revisit an old staple of Silver Bit, Bit by Bit.  Now let us break down yours truly's favourite games and videos of the past few weeks.

Game of the Month
Nintendo always knows how to get people playing their handhelds during February.  Last February, Nintendo released Fire Emblem Awakening, a game which engulfed an enormous amount of this writer's free time and earned Silver Bit's 2013 Game of the Year.  Early this February, Nintendo brought Square Enix's Bravely Default to North America and it has easily won over this gamer's heart.  Bravely Default harkens back to the early entries in Square's legendary RPG franchise, Final Fantasy.  The story is very familiar as the player is sent on a quest to purify four elemental crystals.  Bravely Default's job system pulls a lot from the systems implemented in Final Fantasy III and V.  While Bravely Default does share a lot with Final Fantasy, it captures a sense of fun and wonder that modern Final Fantasies completely lack.  The battle system is turn-based like many RPGs, but it offers an incredibly creative twist.  During battles, you are able to brave or default.  Default acts much like defending as it decreases damage taken, but also increases battle points (BP).  You use BP to brave, which allows a character to unleash multiple attacks in a single turn.  Braving and defaulting is a risk-reward system that adds an inventive layer of strategy to battles.  The choice of braving or defaulting can be the difference between success or failure in battle.  The battles are only just one piece of the great pie that Bravely Default offers from the incredible StreetPass features such as rebuilding the main character's hometown with those you walk past or summoning friends to help in battle to the innovative ability to change encounter rates and difficulty at anytime.  If you own a 3DS and are fond of RPGs, I highly recommend picking up Bravely Default.  It is well worth the price of admission.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
Usually around this time of the year, I put up my Most Anticipated Games of the Year article.  2014 has been different.  When I write those articles, I personally enjoy writing about a variety of games made by different developers, usually for various devices.  Sadly, there is not much of anything that has gotten me truly excited outside of Nintendo's offerings this year.  With the new consoles, it is going to be a waiting game until E3.  A few announcements may trickle out before then, but nothing too substantial in my opinion.  In the midst of all my pessimism, there is one downloadable game I am really psyched for.  Take some old-school Castlevania gameplay, add in Scrooge McDuck's pogo jump from DuckTales and meld in the themed bosses from Mega Man.  From this crazy concoction, the game you get is Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight.  Taking inspiration from classics of the 8-bit era, Shovel Knight looks to modernize these amazing elements while keeping the look and feel of these classics.  The more I see of Shovel Knight, the more excited I get.  If you are looking to get in on the excitement, I will share the trailer for Shovel Knight below.  March 31st cannot come soon enough.


Video of the Month
Whoever the person at Nintendo that creates the trailers for Super Smash Bros. deserves a raise.  These trailers are among the best I have ever seen.  Each new character reveal feels like an event and rightly so.  This time around Nintendo pulled the curtain back on one of the most requested Smash Bros. character, Little Mac.  This veteran of the boxing ring will make his first appearance on the battlefields of Smash Bros. in the Wii U and 3DS entries of the series.  Even though it is his first time, Little Mac looks up to the challenge with his all fisticuffs move set and Doc Lewis at the the pink sweatsuit-wearing pugilist's side.

On the Download: DuckTales: Remastered

“Life is like a hurricane, here in Duckburg.  Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes, its a duck-blur.  Might solve a mystery or rewrite history!”

When that iconic verse rang through the halls of PAX East, a chill formed down gamers’ spines both young and old in anticipation of the newest adventure with the greedy yet lovable Scrooge McDuck.  From the charming 8-bit graphics to the beautiful chiptune music to the masterful gameplay, Capcom’s DuckTales for the NES has been revered as one of the greatest licensed games of all-time.  To see such an iconic game be remade for a new generation of gamers to experience and older fans to lovingly revisit is simply amazing especially considering the NES original has never been released on any online service.  Being developed by the wonderful team at WayForward Technologies, who are responsible for great titles like Shantae, Contra 4 and the Mighty series on DSi and 3DS, there are high expectations for the return of Scrooge McDuck.

DuckTales: Remastered is not a quick and dirty remake of the NES original.  The team at WayForward has put their heart and soul into reimagining DuckTales for this modern era of video games.  The 8-bit sprites have been replaced by beautifully hand-drawn and animated sprites that look straight out of the cartoon itself.  Even with the limited bleeps and bloops on the NES processor, DuckTales’ soundtrack is held in high regard by most older gamers.  Jake Kaufman, the composer of DuckTales: Remastered, did his best to preserve the original compositions of the soundtrack while taking a more orchestral approach on each track.  The NES did not have enough processing power to convey a story through cutscenes like games do today so most of the storytelling was put in the game manual.  With the extensive power of the game systems of today, WayForward expands on the original story of DuckTales with brand new cutscenes which add more context to Scrooge’s objectives in each level and explains some lingering questions such as how a duck is able to breathe on the moon.  Along with the obvious additions to the presentation and audio, DuckTales: Remastered contains two new levels, new areas to explore in returning levels, the privilege to swim in Scrooge’s money vault, a map screen, an easy pogo jump setting and tons of unlockables such as concept art and music.

As a big fan of the show, DuckTales has been a game that yours truly has wanted to play for the longest time.  I have listened to the music and watched quite a bit of gameplay from DuckTales, but I had never got the chance to play the game itself.  Thanks to DuckTales: Remastered, this writer can finally experience this NES classic now in high definition.  DuckTales: Remastered is available now for 15 dollars on PSN, Steam and the Wii U eShop.  Sadly, Xbox 360 owners will have to wait until September 11th to join Uncle Scrooge on his globe-trotting adventure.  For those who prefer physical copies of their games, a physical copy of DuckTales: Remastered will be available exclusively for PS3 on August 20th, which will cost 20 dollars instead of 15.  No matter if you enjoyed DuckTales on the NES or never played the game before, put down your money and support DuckTales: Remastered in order to convince Disney to revisit more of their classic video game library and hopefully inspire them to start a new age of quality Disney licensed games.

Bit by Bit: Q1 2013

Freedom at last!  Finally my first year of university is over.  Now with a little more free time on my hands, I can dedicate much more time to blogging.  As the season transitions from winter to spring to eventually summer, the release of games slow significantly.  While game releases slow, game news starts to pick up with big announcements leading up to some huge conventions like E3, Comic Con and PAX Prime.  The slowing of game releases for the spring and summer help with working on the immense backlog that has been building since last Fall.  Along with a few new games I am looking forward to in the next four and a half months, there are quite a few I want to work on this summer break.  I will get to those games in my blog tomorrow.  Before we look to the future, it is time to look back at the best of the first quarter of 2013.

Game of the Quarter
Even with the busyness that is university, I did make some time to pick up and play a good amount of new releases.  The games I picked up this quarter were Tomb Raider, Lego City:  Undercover, Luigi's Mansion:  Dark Moon and BioShock Infinite.  All these games are great and deserve your time and money, but none of them could compete with the 3DS's masterful strategy epic that released this past February.  Yes, Fire Emblem Awakening is the best game of the first quarter of 2013 and quite possibly could go to be this writer's Game of the Year.  Intelligent Systems has produced many great games over the years be it strategy, role-playing or even puzzle games, but Fire Emblem Awakening stands as their crowning achievement in this medium.  The countless hours of content, great story and vastly improved support system are the stars of Awakening bar none.  Combining these elements with the excellent tactile battle system and challenging yet fair difficulty that this series is known for easily makes Fire Emblem Awakening the best game in Nintendo's venerable strategy series, on the 3DS and of this year.  Personally, I have put just over 100 hours into Fire Emblem:  Awakening and I still have a handful of sidequests and DLC levels to play and plenty SpotPass teams to fight with tons of more content being uploaded daily.  Fire Emblem Awakening is a game that no 3DS owner should pass.  It is the 3DS's killer app.

Video of the Quarter
One moment in the past three months captured the hearts and minds of gamers around the world and put Capcom in a much better light after the hellaciously bad 2012 they had.  That moment was the reveal of DuckTales Remastered at PAX East.  Nobody saw this reveal coming, but when it happened jaws dropped.  Gamers have been clamouring for another DuckTales game for years now and finally got their wish when Capcom showed this trailer.

Hump Day Music: Duck Tales

For anybody who watched it on Disney Afternoons or saw reruns on Family Channel, Duck Tales was one of the best cartoons of the late 1980s early 1990s.  Duck Tales was soo good that it even got a game made by Capcom, which is just as acclaimed.  While I personally have never played Duck Tales for the NES, I have heard many good things about Scrooge McDuck's adventure into games.  If Duck Tales ever released for the Wii or 3DS Virtual Console, I would buy it immediately as I have wanted to play it for a long while.  I along with many other gamers would accept a sequel made by Warren Spector and his team at Junction Point in place of releasing Duck Tales for NES.

One of my personal favourite parts of the Duck Tales cartoon is the theme song.  Instantly iconic and easy to sing along with, the Duck Tales theme song is quite possibly the best cartoon theme song of all-time.  When Duck Tales was turned into a game for the NES, that meant Capcom had to alter the theme song to work on the musically limited NES.  So Capcom stripped away the lyrics and made an 8-bit version of the Duck Tales that is just as recognizable and just as good.  It might not have the lyrics, but you will be definitely be dancing to the infectious beat and possibly singing the lyrics yourself.  No matter if you watched it back on Disney Afternoons, caught reruns during the late 90s or have just been introduced to Duck Tales just now in 2012, it is a cartoon that has stood the test of time.  Just like Duck Tales' theme has stood the test of time in it's many forms.