Pickups! Metal Slug Anthology (Wii Version)

I picked up this fantastic haul on eBay this week. This Metal Slug Anthology was released for the Wii and PS2 and contains the following games.

Metal Slug

Metal Slug 2

Metal Slug X

Metal Slug 3

Metal Slug 4

Metal Slug 5

Metal Slug 6

That's a whole lotta slugs. For those unfamiliar with Metal Slug, it was a run-and-gun series of arcade games developed by SNK (also known their many-many fighting games). Metal Slug didn't necessarily re-invent the wheel when it came to shooters, but it had some amazing animation and wonderful attention to detail.

I was going to go for the PS2 version but it's over double the price of the Wii version, plus the PS2 version apparently suffers from poor controls. The Wii version boasts a number of different control schemes, some involving motion control (won't be using those), but for those with an earlier Wii model you can plug in a Gamecube controller and use that instead. 

I'm really pleased to have picked up the majority of the Metal Slug collection, and if you haven't played these arcade classics before you can download some of them on current generation consoles or PC (cough..or emulate them..cough).    

Splatfest

Splatoon held it's first European/Oceanian Splatfest over the weekend. Splatfest involves everyone choosing a team based on whichever 'thing' you like best; this weekend's choices were Rock music or Pop music, and then you duke it out in Turf Wars for 24 hours and see who comes out on top! So, what went down?

Uneven Teams and Communication Errors

In many multiplayer games, it's still possible to seize a victory even if you have a smaller team...but not so in Splatoon. If you lack the full quota of players you may as well quit out because you'll be in for a 3 minute pasting at the hands of your adversaries, and it's just not fun for either team involved.

This became a real problem during Splatfest as it was clear after a few games there just weren't enough Pop fans to make up the numbers (at least that was the impression I got). This either meant you were battling against fewer opponents (or more opponents), or the server played you off against another group from the same team as yours (which is just as annoying as there's no incentive).

There was also a number of communication errors which booted everyone out of a number of matches, which I must admit has rarely ever happened to me since the game launched.

PAR-TAY!!!

The Ink-lings sure know how to throw a party as Splatoon's hubworld was plunged into darkness for the Splatfest, and everyone was treated to a neon musical performance by the Squid Sisters (Splatoon's resident music stars). Every match was accompanied by fully voiced rocking tunes, it truly felt a like celebration and really livened up the atmosphere.

The Prizes Stink!

The whole point of Splatfest was to earn 'Spiky Shellfish', which you can use to modify your equipment. They'll either add another attribute slot to your existing equipment, or randomise your existing attributes if you already have the maximum four attributes for each piece of kit.

The only problem I had is that anyone who picked up the game at launch most likely have the maximum number of attribute slots filled on each piece of their gear (making the shellfish pointless). Of course you can randomise your existing attributes, but randomise doesn't always mean better. I'm aware that some Ink-lings may want to improve a particular piece of gear they like, but there seems to be a better equivalent for every single piece of kit in Splatoon (again, making the shellfish pointless).

It would have been much better if Nintendo had thrown in some unique equipment for everyone to win, thus raising the stakes and making the Splatfest a must-play event. Come on Nintendo, let me win a FLUDD that fires ink!