Review: DS Spirits Hanafuda

by Matt Sephton — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 06:12:00 +0000

Nintendo started out in the entertainment business by manufacturing Hanafuda, or flower cards. There are a number of games that are commonly played with these cards the most popular of which is Koi-Koi, a game of surprising depth and one of my vices.

A Hanafuda deck consists of 48 cards split into twelve suits - one for each month. Each is designated a flower, and each suit has four cards. Typically, there are two “normal” cards, one poetry ribbon card, and a final special card. Familiarising yourself with the Hanafuda deck is the first obstacle to playing a game with them.

The object of Koi-Koi is to form special card combinations (“yaku”) from cards accumulated in a point pile. Players can gain cards in their point piles by matching cards in their hands, or cards drawn from the draw pile, with cards on the table. Once a yaku has been made, a player can stop to cash in points, or keep going (“koi-koi”) to form additional yaku for more points. Different yaku are worth different numbers of points, roughly matching how difficult it is to collect that particular combination of cards. Memorising the dozen or so valid yaku is the second obstacle to the game.

I first played Koi-Koi as part of the 42 All-Time Classics compilation of parlour games that Nintendo released for the DS. The game really intrigued me and I played it a lot to try to memorise the yaku. By then, though, the game had well and truly sunk it’s teeth into me. I search high and low for alternative versions of the game, amassing quite a collection in the process. I have Hanafuda/Koi-Koi games on pretty much every platform from older systems such as the WonderSwan, PlayStation and Dreamcast to more recent systems such as the iPhone, Wii and Nintendo DS. The main benefit of playing the game electronically is that you don’t have to keep score, but I find it fascinating that there can be such a range of quality and implementation when the rules of the game are so fixed. Some versions lay the cards on the table in a very confusing way, others over-complicate the controls so that it’s tricky to manipulate the cards or even see whose turn it is next or what your possible choices are. Then there are the games that dress up the game with licenced characters or graphics, such as Youkai Hana Asobi, in an attempt to add a story around the game.

So, after much searching I was overjoyed to find DS Spirits Hanafuda, which for me is pretty much the perfect Hanafuda game. It looks good, controls well, lays out the cards logically and has a multitude of game modes including a Mission mode in which you have to play in a variety of ways such as winning without conceding a point, by collecting certain yaku or within a certain number of rounds. This mode in particular shows the great depth to the game and I’m still to finish the final challenge. The only bad thing about this version of the game is that it features only Japanese text. Dealing with Japanese is the third obstacle with the game, as the traditional Japanese nature of the game means that there’s very little Western interest and very few versions released that are English-friendly.

But obstacles are there to be overcome. If you’ve not got a Nintendo DS, then the next best Koi-Koi game is on the iPhone. This version by Hidetoshi Hayakawa plays a great game of cards, supports wireless multi-player and also features a progressive mode versus the computer. Whilst not as polished or complete as DS Spirits Hanafuda it features full English interface and instructions so it’s as probably the best starting point. Perhaps Koi-Koi will capture your heart as much as it has mine? Give the game a go and find out.

Review: Excite Truck

by Matt Sephton — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:05:00 +0000

Creating a sequel to a game is a tricky thing. It’s often difficult to retain the essence of the original game, meaning a lot of sequels keep things safe and don’t stray too far from the concept along the way. This usually leads to an average game, which is why it was such a shock to find that this one goes up to 11.

One of the most well remembered NES games is Excite Bike - an arcade-style dirt bike game in which you jump over a series of hills whilst going fast and avoiding obstacles. The game received a sequel on the Nintendo 64 which took concept into the third dimension, adding a few game new modes along the way, but otherwise remaining quite faithful to the original.

After that, not much was heard from the series until a surprise announcement of Excite Truck as a launch title for the Nintendo Wii. It traded in bikes for trucks and multiplied pretty much everything else in the game by a huge factor. Courses are no longer set in a stadium but rather around vast landscapes based on countries from around the world that lend themselves to the standard themes for driving game environments: Mexico for deserts and canyons, Finland for snow and ice, Fiji for beaches and volcanoes, not to mention Canada, Scotland and China. The core gameplay is the same, in that you must race around a course getting big air and beating your opponents, making good use of your turbo which is prone to overheating. Also thrown into the mix is the ability to crash into your opponents, or indeed the scenery. Crashing into the scenery sees you having to pound a button repeatedly to restart your car, a great nod of the head to gamers who do this anyway during cut scenes and delays in many other games. On the other hand, crashing into opponents leads to a new mechanic - receiving stars - which can also be gained by performing mid-air spins and driving dangerously. Winning a race is not simply a matter of coming first - you also have to receive a certain number of stars, which adds a nice extra layer of subtlety to play.

Just like it’s predecessors, racing is still very much an arcade experience. There’s no hint of simulation anywhere in the game and that’s no bad thing. The game starts off easy enough and then gets more and more of an adrenalin rush as it continues through various difficulty levels and challenges. There’s a great sense of speed throughout, too. The game remains finely balanced at all times and you’re never left feeling hard done by and are always hungry for one more go. Racing hard and fast and getting ridiculously big air really is one of life’s greatest gaming pleasures.

The game offered local multi-player only, something that was addressed in it’s madcap sequel Excitebots: Trick Racing which adds a whole range of crazy mini-games and power-ups to proceedings whilst trading in the trucks for transforming robot animal cars. Yes. Whilst not as charming as Excite Truck, Excitebots is every bit as good a game. It may even be better if you like to play your racing games online. Sadly, Excite Bots was only ever released in the USA so you’ll have to look for it on import.

For those that don’t own a Wii, Smash Cars on the PlayStation 3 is a pretty decent copy of Excite Truck but has you racing radio controlled cars around oversized locations. It’s not quite as good a game as either Excite Truck or Excite Bots, and it brings little of it’s own to the table, but it plays well enough.

Get Info: #2007

Review: DS Spirits Hanafuda

Links

Review: Excite Truck

Links