Nintendo Fusion Tour 2006

Nintendo Fusion Tour 2006

We arrived in the great city of Detroit at around five thirty in the afternoon ready for Nintendo's Fusion Tour. Everyone was a buzz whether they were there to see the concert hosted by Hawthorne Heights, to see Nintendo's new Wii, or to see the the Tigers game. Keith and myself, however, were there for one reason, to play Wii.

Before heading in we took note of the line heading around the block littered with people playing DS's set for Wifi action. The most popular game played on these were the New Super Mario Brothers, no surprise there. Also, there was a nice blend of DS Lite's and original DS systems, seems the Lite is catching on.

The doors opened up and we gleefully anticipated touching the next phase in Nintendo's legendary video game history. Would it stamp a mark on the industry forever, or would it be the Virtual Boy the video game community is still trying to forget? Read on friends, it was a wild ride.

The main lobby was just ahead with three Wii stations dead center. Going around them to view the screens from left to right was, Wii Bowling, Excite Truck, and Wii Tennis. Getting in rather early and not following the host of people to the back initially we began with Wii Bowling.

Wii Bowling: If you've never bowled in real life, you may have a few things to learn with Wii Bowling. Yeah, it plays that well. Holding up the controller locking down the B button on the bottom of the controller as if to “grip” the ball you have your ready position. Before that's established you can move from side to side determining you start spot. I was far too excited and just started chucking away.

Still holding B down I reared back and watched my character on-screen do the same. Just before I got all the way back I released the B button and followed through. The ball went down the lane and hooked left. Wondering what could have caused this since I was given no “curve gauge” I wondered if it had to do with my hand tilting.

The next throw, sure enough I was right. I whipped another one and actually hooked it to a ridiculous degree on purpose. To no surprise the ball hooked nearly to the gutter due to my starting position being right in the middle.

I had a lot of fun with this game and will be coming back to it often. I need to practice my release and power though, didn't quite get a hang of it for my four attempts.

Evading an ever growing line we ventured back to see the remaining Wii games for play. From left to right again was, Wii Baseball, Wii Play, Excite Truck, Wario Ware, and the draw of the show Metroid Prime 3. On the opposite side of the Wii's were countless DS systems running some stellar games of their own. Because of the Wii lines we ventured to the DS games.

Elite Beat Agents: They brought out the big headphones for this game. Strapping them on I understood quickly what the title meant. This song timing game brought to you by Nintendo is the most challenging game I've played in years, but also plenty of fun. Numbers are brought up in 1, 2, 3 and you must tap them in sequence. The tap must come in as a circle closes in on the number and it must be done so very accurately for the game was picky. Throwing these up in odd sequences and patterns didn't help much either. I must say this game will be very enjoyable in a quiet setting sitting down for easy access.

Quickly, we moved on to the next DS title in our view.

Lego Star Wars II: This game looked really good. And I mean it looked really good... I had no idea what I was doing when running around with princess Leia, (don't kill me if I miss spelled that). I found the shoot and jump buttons, but I was enamored with the touch screen trying to figure out what the heck it did. I was just moving around this globe thing and nothing seemed to be happening. I've never played a Lego Star Wars game but this one made me not want to play one again. It was slow and boring with the few enemies I dispatched. There's very little I can say to recommend this game.

Moving on faster than warp speed!

Final Fantasy III: I'd like to first say RPG's are meant to be played for a long period of time before judgments can be made, but here's my impressions. Controls were fun with the touch screen, nothing different from Animal Crossing or Super Mario 64, you could also choose the D-Pad. It seemed I was in the first town and someone sprung the main character up to level 4. I decided to travel outside for a bit.

That was a mistake. My first encounter, and last, showed my how absurd this game is. I got creamed by what looked like the most basic enemy in the game. With full HP I got nailed for just over half of that in one blow. I was out of the match with the second attack. I really hope the atmosphere ruined my flawless RPG skills because if this is any indication of how this game works I'll be very, very upset.

Oh, and it looked super pretty.

Displeased with what may well be the Final Fantasy, (if that quality keeps up) we moved on hoping to score another Wii game. Big lines were all around us and as if lost at sea we slugged around waiting for something to turn up. Luckily we were carrying a very large camera that allowed us access into Metroid Prime 3!

Metroid Prime 3: As any gamer knows the Metroid Prime 3 demo comes in three flavors, a ball mission, pirate mission, or Ridley Boss battle. I of course chose the boss fight. Starting things off I tried to gauge my point of origin for the targeting system. It took a few seconds for the Wiimote to adjust to where I was but once that was established it was all gun and fun.
Tilting the Wiimote around causes the target to move, not necessarily where you are pointing. However, it feels quite similar so where you think you are pointing goes where you want it to anyway. The joystick felt incredible. Quite possibly, the best joystick I've ever held. It was just perfect the way it felt in my hand.

In any event, the boss battle takes Samus and Ridley falling like crazy as if you were in the Lord of the Rings movie fighting the Balrog. It took a bit for me to get the hang of things but once I understood how to take Ridely down things came easy. The goal was to shoot his glowing parts! Classic as always.

Movement was done with the joystick and aiming with the Wiimote. My brain couldn't quite grasp both at the same time right away, and I was toying with Ridely anyway trying not to overcompensate.

It got down to the end when I noticed I had a chance to win the battle after losing the majority of it. “Why not” I says to myself, lets cream this dino-thing. He got some good shots in and I found myself with 4 health left and one charge shot open. I let it go and held my breath only to hear a crowd of people uproar in cheer behind me. I whooped him, and apparently was one of the first as the gathering crowd was waiting for someone to do it. Success for me and congrats were given to me from the Wii Keepers as I called them.

Everything about Metroid Prime 3 played really well, my only concern is the game didn't look all that great. Something about it felt a bit dated to me and I'm not one to care about graphics. I think the problem came with Samus's cross hair, it looked like an ancient arcade deal turning red when you were on target. Hopefully, this game got pushed back to fix the cross hair back to the one I loved on Metroid Prime 1 and 2. It really kills the mood almost seeing that arcade one.
The night was moving along and we decided to swing over to Wii Tennis.

Wii Tennis: After figuring out neither of us was actually playing, we went to the player select screen and put ourselves in. Your character automatically moves to the ball so all that leaves is swinging the racket. Everything counts when you swing the racket, your speed, motion, and direction. Just playing around with it, I decided to swing a forehand when I clearly knew a backhand was needed. Sure enough the little guy missed.
Smiling with unmatched glee we continued the foray. It came down to the last point when Keith stomped all over me...Ah well.

I didn't pay close enough attention to how to play this game. I have no clue if the buttons did anything at all, I just swung away and had a blast.

With time enough for one more line, and one more game we decided to continue with the Wii Sports section we were enjoying so much. We ended up saving the best for last on accident.

Wii Baseball: Wow, I never thought I'd have this much fun with a game again. The child was brought back out of me for sure, and I didn't even get a hit!
Pitching is ridiculously clever. Again, your speed is in play here for a slow pitch can be thrown with a slow delivery and so forth. Holding down either the A, or B, or both causes a different pitch to be thrown. A lot of fun was had with the pitching.

Batting is very, very sensitive. Timing is everything here and I did not have that. Needless to say a few home runs were scored on me! I'll figure it out. But, the bat moves with you, you can point to the stands and so will the character. It's fully realized and a joy to play.

For a game I pepped up really high from the get go, I have not much to say about it. Simplicity is often the most enjoyable and this followed that rule. Playing was clearly believing here.
And so our Fusion Tour came to an end missing out on Excite Truck, Wii Play, and Wario Ware but much fun was had none the less. The Wiimote was far more intuitive than I could have ever imagined and felt very nice.

Biggest disappointment of the night, no Zelda!

Ryan Porter
Start Button News Staff Member