The Top100 list nobody ever cared about finds somebody who cared: You! Read on for Part 11- games on Nintendo Consoles and that one Pokemon game.
Intro Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11
Chibi Robo (GC)
It should be no surprise I loved Chibi Robo as much as I did- playing the Toy Story 2 game, watching the movies, and reading about The Littles all made me appreciate the world from the point of view of a very tiny life form. And Pikmin helped in that aspect too.
Of course, it was Chibi Robo that really worked that idea the best, casting players as a tiny cleaning robot with a tiny television partner. After being purchased by a defunct family consisting of a dead beat dad and a little girl who thinks she’s a frog, the player understands there’s more than just a single mess to clean up.
But he’s not the only one in the house. Players will run into various toys, aliens, animals, and cameo appearances throughout their adventure, unlocking new items and equipment (including a Metroid-like arm cannon) to help wipe up after everybody else.
The true enjoyment comes, of course, from looking at far distant lands over the horizon, and wondering how and when you’ll be able to get to the cookie jar on the top shelf, or that collectible up on the ceiling fan. If nothing else, it made a young kid imagine his own home as Chibi Robo’s next outing, turning every room of the house into a fully-explorable open world.
Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS)
I first played SMT IV at my family’s annual vacation stay in Palm Springs. It’s a place we go mostly to cool off and hang out with the relatives that we generally see every week anyway.
Every day progresses in similar fashion: Video games with breakfast, pool, video games with lunch, movie, video games with dinner, night pool, video games with dessert, bed.
Palm Springs is, yes, located in the desert, which might seem a strange place to go to cool off. Air-conditioning is expensive at home, but at the Mariott? Included. Necessary, even. Which means nobody will come and turn it off when you’re finally comfortable.
SMT IV was an experiment for me. Not in that it was a whimsical purchase- I had planned to buy it at first announcement- but in that I would delay playing it until I went to Palm Springs that year.
Gaming memories are inundated with the pesky outside world- sickness can ruin what should have been a perfect one. The discomfort of a heat wave can make the sweating more immersive than the strange locales you visit. And, at the same time, great weather can impose forever a particular moment into your mind. For my brother, that came with Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. For me, Hotel Dusk.
So the experiment was simple: play a highly anticipated game at the proper time, at the height of comfort and favorable energy, when I had the appropriate time to give the game its due without annoying interruptions (not to say there were none- it was a family vacation, after all).
SMT IV won the draw, so I stared at it in longing for weeks (enjoying the 20 bucks that came with it and FE:A in the meantime) in anticipation.
Then, of course, we finally drove the three hours to our destination, finally unpacked everything and shut the door against the hundred degrees outside, and finally settled in to what would be our home for the next week.
That I am recounting this story at all should suggest already that this experiment was successful.
My love for SMT IV rang out from the very first moment- when you hover over the game’s icon on the 3DS’s main screen, the haunting jingle both foreboding and welcoming. And continued through the pre-menu theme call-outs (the developer and what have you).
Then I actually started playing the game, and found the combat, the grinding, the story, the music, the characters, and the production values as enticing as I had always wanted them to be.
Of course, my enjoyment with SMT IV didn’t remain in Palm Springs. I brought it everywhere with me, playing the game only in prime conditions. And loving every moment. It’s been slow going, but it’s been absolutely worthwhile.
Excite Truck (Wii)
I don’t get a lot of opportunities to drive- my older brother and younger sister always had dibs on the car (since they had sports activities). I went to university in a city with amiable public transportation and no parking to speak of. And even now I’m still sitting on a permit and biding my time until a car is available for me to learn on.
So I had to get my fix somewhere. Fortunately, Excite Truck has taught me all the rules of the road, and I’m proud to say I can’t think of a better teacher. The Wii mote operates just like a steering wheel, and, just like in real life, you get the most exhilaration when attempting a Super Tree Run. Also similar to real life, you’re rewarded for destroying other people’s cars, driving them off the edge or landing on top of them after falling from a mountain.
That you created.
Really, I owe all of my driving abilities to Excite Truck, and am glad to finally be able to live life in the fast lane.
Custom Robo (GC)
Guard 1: You know, Team Rocket actually used to carry whips around.
Guard 2: Whips? Why didn’t they use them?”
Guard 1: (shrugs) Beats me. You think it would be an extra leg up in fighting that pesky kid who ruined all their plans.
Guard 2: No kidding. Might have worked out a little better for them if they put their money towards actual weapons, don’t you think? Rather than playing around with their little Pokemons.
Guard 1: (nods) My thoughts exactly. No way is a Charizard going to fare well against some anti-air machinery.
Guard 2: Makes you question why the boss hasn’t learned from their defeat.
Guard 1: Our situation is different. We’ve invested in the finest technology that ever existed.
Guard 2: You mean the tiny robot toys with interchangeable parts? The ones the kids have anyway? Doesn’t remind you at all of Team Rocket?
Guard 1: Our situation is different. We’re the best.
Guard 2: Mhm. Tell that to the kid who has broken into our high security facility with just his action figure.
Pokemon X (3DS) - Top10 Awardee
I have long said that I would talk about Pokemon X, especially after reading some of the responses of the people here. How it didn’t connect with them, how it was one of the worst Pokemon games of all time.
Admittedly, the minority’s opinion.
Still, even the minority’s opinion is reason enough to make a man want to dissuade dissenting views. But it was something I was too busy to get around to. Mostly playing Pokemon X.
I’m going to ramble a bit, here, because I haven’t had the chance to share my experience yet, unlike most of the other games on my list.
My Top100 games of all-time list has only a single Pokemon main game. Because it’s a single game to me. Not because they’re all similar or carbon copies or whatever else it is the naysayers usually complain about, but because of the interconnectivity of the franchise. Because of how personal the story.
Pokemon X is my favorite Pokemon game of all time. Being able to say that is a relief, after the Hugh fest that was Black 2. It’s rare that I feel like a company listened to me specifically in regards to a design choice (don’t worry- I know they didn’t). But with Pokemon X and Y, I feel like Game Freak definitely had me in mind.
I’ve discussed how my favorite Pokemon stories are the ones that allow the player to create his own story. After all, they become personal from the very first moment- whether when you pick your gender, your name, your starter, or your team- and remain personal until the end (which, as I’ve similarly discussed, doesn’t exist). They’re the kind that give you small pieces that you can build your tale around, but how you translate those pieces in your own version of the tale is up to you. The strongest in this manner, then, are Red and Gold.
I’ve boiled down each of the games stories to help explain what I love about X and Y’s:
Pokemon Red: Pokemon Red was all about keeping up with your Rival. He was, always, one step ahead of you. He beats every gym before you (which you would only know if you read the signs). He fights with Team Rocket before you. He even becomes the Pokemon Champion before you. You were second best, no matter how your battles with him turned out. He advanced far more quickly. When you beat him, then, at the Indigo Plateau, you’ve at last overcome the menace.
Pokemon Gold: Pokemon Gold’s almost felt like the cartoon/anime to me. Each town was like an episode that had its own story. Climbing Sprout Tower in Violet City, protecting the Slowpoke Well in Azalea, clearing out the Radio Tower in Goldenrod, exploring the Burned Tower and Bell Towers in Ecruteak, helping Ampharos in Olivine…the list goes on. Each moment is separate of the one before, though tied together by the legends of the region and your continued struggle against Team Rocket. The highlight of the entire game is finding Red at the end of Mount Silver. “…” is empty, but in that emptiness the player can devise any sort of character. Red can be contemplative. He can be an ass. He can be Ash Ketchum. Or he can be you, the you who conquered Kanto years ago.
Pokemon Sapphire: Sapphire was defined by the struggle between Team Aqua and Magma. It left less room for interpretation, and it was the first game to do away with the asshole Rival and add a character who was kind of supposed to be your friend. The sickly dude. I always kind of felt bad for beating him. The Champion also appeared before you actually faced him, which was cool, and gave you that extra goal to strive for. But Sapphire truly opened up its room for interpretation when it brought in the expansive sea exploration (The Wind Waker of Pokemon, if you will). It was massive and littered with secrets. Rayquaza, the Regis, dozens of items, trainers, Pokemon…It’s in the exploration that the player’s story came through in R/S/E.
Pokemon Diamond: I’m always hazy on this one for some reason. I remember Team Galactic essentially wanted to rule/restart the world, and needed the power of the absurdly strong Dialga or Palkia. The player had to stop them. Cynthia appearing constantly was a nice touch, reminding you that, as a Pokemon trainer, saving the world is not your ultimate goal. It’s conquering the Elite Four and becoming the new Champion.
Pokemon Black: Pokemon Black’s story was about Truth vs. Ideals, about the player versus N. He was an annoying villain along the lines of older rivals, where every time I saw him I just wanted to kick his ass in a Pokemon battle and prove that trainers and Pokemon were friends, partners- that they were not the tools to us that he thought we saw them as. In that sense, I suppose N wasn’t all that bad. His appearance forced me to consider my own, personal views of Pokemon, and that his went contrary to mine made him all the more satisfying to finally defeat. His continued appearance in Black 2, and the fact that he was searching for “Mike,” better integrated his story with the player’s, though the rest of Black 2’s characters (Hugh, Colress) and constant interruptions (replay it- it literally is every town/route. And when you think you’ve finally left them behind, they call you on the phone…) were a travesty. Though I hated him in the past, I guess I better appreciated what N did for that duology of games.
Pokemon X: Pokemon X has some plot with Team Flare and AZ and Xerneas, and Mr. Fab’s plans to collapse the world and make a new, more fabulous and fashionable one. I was pretty invested when the shit hit the fan in that one, but Xerneas (cool as he is), Team Flare and AZ weren’t the reason for that. The friends were.
At the very opening of Pokemon X and Y, you meet an entourage of kids your age (you can pretend they’re your age lol) who are as eager as you to begin their Pokemon adventures. The beautiful thing about them is the way they work together. The way they all have different dreams. Shauna is in it for the memories, something I can completely understand (it’s why I do anything), and she has her insecurities because she has no further goal. I was easily endeared to her because of this, because of her eagerness to spend time with people important to her while traveling the world.
Tubby T (Tierno) had a baller T-shirt, and was in it for the moves. As a dancer, he wanted to travel the world of Pokemon and find inspiration in their moves for his own routines. He was a cheerful guy and pretty cool, but also fairly useless as a trainer. Because he wasn’t there as a trainer: he was a dancer. Anyway, yeah. Tubby T.
Trevor was more interesting than Tubby T, in that his goal was one more relatable to the player. Trevor was in it for the Pokedex, in it to catch em all. Like Tubby T before him, Trevor as a trainer was fairly worthless, but his knowledge turns out to be only a little less useful than the internet. He and the previous two served to show players that there are other ways to approach the world of Pokemon than just through training and battling.
But the most important of the four was Serena, and she was one of the biggest reasons I loved Pokemon X’s story. Serena presented a reversal of the 1st gen’s story. In that she is chasing after your footsteps, struggling to keep up with your achievements. She grows more and more frustrated as the game goes on, as she continues to lose to you at every turn. You’re the one who gets the Mega Ring. You’re the one who defeats Team Fab. You’re the one who becomes the Pokemon Champion. She is the only character in the group of friends who shares the same goal as you, and is thusly the only one who has nothing to set her apart other than always being second place. You pretty much take everything from her. And unlike with Gary/Blue, she’ll never beat you. Then her problem becomes not only beating you and proving her own worth, but setting herself apart- being special. Hence why, during the repeatable battle against her, she claims she will show you why she and her Pokemon are special.
Maybe it’s just because her theme was so perfect (favorite song from an unmatchable OST)- a more somber version of the friendship theme (pieces of it also appear in the Rival Battle theme!), that I was even more attached to her character. I couldn’t help but feel bad for her, even if it was technically me beating her down all the time.
Most of that isn’t told to you. The game doesn’t spell everything out for the player as previous ones have done, and as the majority of games are like to do. Just like in Red and Blue, you’ve got to pay a bit of attention. Just like in Red and Blue, the strongest story of the game comes not from the antagonists, but from your Rival.
Intro Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11