QCF: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon

intendo’s Pokémon property has endured over many years, taking all shapes and sizes beyond the humble role-playing game it once was, but main line of titles not withstanding—one particular spin-off series of Pokémon that really embraced traditional conventions and difficulty curve of the Japanese RPG.

Mystery, Dungeon, or as its most commonly referred to as; the dreaded rogue-like dungeon crawling bastard of a niche RPG sub-genre—something this intimidating doesn’t soundly like it would pair up with a concept like Pokémon very well.

Unsurprisingly, the reality to the success of the concept has been mixed at best over the years. The latest title to grace the series however strives towards an ambitious direction, one that actually takes advantage of the license it’s built around.

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QCF: The Legend of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes

uper Mario isn’t the only Nintendo property that’s hoisted its share of spinoff titles, because there’s certain green-clad hero of legend that’s inching right behind him. In addition to titles like Link’s Crossbow Training, and Hyrule Warriors, the Legend of Zelda franchise has experimented with multiplayer in Four Swords; a cooperative adventure that up to four friends can play, and a fan favorite to this day.

As the online connectivity of the Nintendo 3DS continues to expand, it was only natural that Nintendo would revisit the idea, and add a different spin to it that would distinguish it from its predecessor; The Legend of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes, where three players can work together to solve puzzles that focus on verticality, and well—not much else.

It would seem that the concept didn’t have a whole lot of steam left in it after all as Tri-Force Heroes only manages to recycle familiar dynamics with some superficial additions thrown in, within a networking system that’s actually regressed in terms of performance, and reliability.

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QCF: Pokémon Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby

n what has gradually bloomed into somewhat of a subtle tradition from the gaming giant since the Gameboy Advance’s prime, the Big N has enlisted their subsidiary Game Freak, into unleashing yet another modern revamp of a past chapter out of their golden child’s past, for the latest incarnation of Nintendo’s pocket hardware.

While last year’s stellar X and Y entries went on to prove why the Pokémon brand is still a household name though, the inevitable remakes of franchise’s Ruby and Sapphire generation that we anticipated has sadly failed to keep the momentum that those previous titles had lent them.

No, what Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby does instead is quite the opposite, it falls victim to a wonted flaw that has infrequently plagued Pikachu and his Poképals in more recent years of the now tenured property—complete and utter fatigue.

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QCF: Shantae and The Pirate's Curse

or all of the self-indulgently romanticized tributes to the nostalgic age of platform gaming, the arguably saturation of this new trend sure forgot to bring with it one of the most important components that made this particular era so riveting—the personality.

Sure, the comfortingly familiar sights of the various mascot tropes in motion like vivid colors, or obnoxiously radical attitudes slowly came together like an awesome homecoming , but this wave of passionate tributes are starting to run out on the goodwill of the source material they homage.

Leave it to Way Forward to not only keep that charming blaze of platformer fire alive, but studio’s has labored a great deal of adding a new flare of innovation to the genre with the third entry to their flagship series, Shantae. Pirate’s Curse not only capitalizes on all of the trademark charisma and features that made the franchise what it is today, but it strives on to go a step further to burnish a new layer of polish the likes that would make exceptional present-day contemporaries like Shovel Knight blush.

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QCF: Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

side from a heroic blue android who shoots giant jellybeans of deadly plasma and a series of tournaments famous for hosting sparring matches on public roads, the iconic yellow and blue brand of games, Capcom, is memorable for one other type of venture when it comes to their software—crossovers, they’re practically experts on the sort of thing.

One such experiment however, utilizes all these ingredients and elegantly manages to expand the respective conventions and features through the mixture two licenses, and as a result, creates an incredible engrossing experience that engaging in its own right—one that doesn’t need to be completely carried by the fan-service of the subject-matter in order to be appealing.

Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a thoughtfully choreographed dance between two different classes of logic-driven gameplay that gracefully bounce off of each other with every step they take.

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Late To The Party: Bravely Default

et’s face it; we’ve reached a point where the cynical, yet-unavoidable truth concerning the relevancy of the JRPG couldn’t nearly deafen the opposing dissention to the contrary anymore like it has in 2014. Every new batch of titles that are hazardously published by the brave publishers who endorse them continue to dangerously escalate the degree of pandering we've slowly come to expect over the years. The same monotonous exercise of tired conventions and obnoxiously antiquated visual designs that do very little, or nothing, to break the repeating slump of circle-jerking that’s been plaguing the genre for the better part of ten years.

Sure there are the few exceptions that break out of the trappings of the stale mold that’s been defining the type. Lost Odyssey and Valkyria Chronicles are just a few worth naming and they have truly reinvigorated the same sense of charm and phantasm that the JRPG label once held, but these gems were few and far between the frequency of sub-par titles, and even garbage contemporaries released, within entire generations worth of time it seems.

That’s why it’s uplifting that Square-Enix, the arguabley, the giant of JRPG distribution that’s also seen its fair share of criticism for contributing the stigma associated with this kind of game, but then, there are moments like Bravely Default, that can surprise us all. Not only does Bravely Default stand as one of most criminally underrated champions for JRPGs at the moment, but it's easily one of the best games released in 2014 period.

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QCF: Tomodachi Life

m? Oh, yeah, I'm still here. Hard to stay focused with such an interesting microcosm brewing within the confines of my 2DS though. I'll try to stay on topic, but I'm also kind of watching an epic rap battle go down between George and Daeruna here too, so...

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PPR 85

e’re getting older guys, time passes every day, of every week, of every year, and all we can do is live it up, experience life and it’s splendor—as long as we have a Gameboy with us while we’re doing it, am I right? Last week, the Gameboy turned the big twenty-five, some of you aren’t even that old; we decide to wax nostalgic over our memories and some of your own that you’ve shared with us.

On the way, we’ll be discussing Bravely Default, Neverending Nightmares, Will Smith, DUX 1.5, Street Fighter X Tekken, Horn, Nathan Barnatt, Space Team, Steamworld Dig, and many more so pull up a chair with your Gameboy at the ready, and get ready for a wild ride. 

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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