411 Games Fact or Fiction 09.22.08: Appreciating Mega Man 9, How Fans Will Respond to GTA: Chinatown Wars and More!

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 09.22.2008

411's Drew Robbins and Mark Salmela give us their thoughts on who will come away satisfied after playing Mega Man 9, the Tony Hawkization of the Lego games, the desirability of another Kingdom Hearts on the PS2, Wario Land: Shake It! as the number one game for the hardcore on the Wii for the rest of the year, making Avatars on the 360, and whether GTA: Chinatown Wars will disappoint in this edition of Fact or Fiction Games.

Welcome to another edition of Fact or Fiction. This week Drew Robbins and Mark Salmela stop by to give us the 411 on some of the week's most important video game news and issues.

About this week's participants:

Every Saturday Drew brings us Coming Attractions, his look at all of the upcoming week's releases. He also does reviews, his latest being one for Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People for the PC.

Mark is our resident fill-in writer. Over the past few weeks, he's helped Derek Robbins with The 10th Hour, Drew Robbins with Coming Attractions, and Theo Fraser with Nintendophiles.

Let's go -


1. Only those who were old enough to play Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 on the NES will come away satisfied after playing Mega Man 9.

Drew Robbins: Fact

Most of today's youth who weren't around for the glory days of gaming will be frightened by the game's lack of "realistic" graphics. Also, the game isn't a first-person shooter so they probably wouldn't even give it a second glance. Newer gamers probably won't appreciate the rocking 8-bit soundtrack, or the tough as nails platforming bits. They won't appreciate the amazing level design or the purposely cheesy box-art. I'd love to think that this new generation of gamers could enjoy an old-school revival, but honestly, odds are low.

Mark Salmela: Fiction

FICTION!!! Speaking of people who weren't old enough to play Mega Man 2 or 3 on the NES... Drew, how old are you again? I kid, I kid. But seriously, I thought the huge argument hardcore gamers love to make today is that gameplay > graphics. If that's the case, then NO ONE should have a problem with Mega Man 9. From the reviews I've read and seen so far, Mega Man 9 plays just like Mega Man 2 and 3, which were two of the best NES games ever made. The only thing that I could see holding it back is the difficulty level due to younger gamers these days hating on games that are deemed too difficult and thus, not fun. But Capcom didn't make Mega Man 9 with the intention of capturing the casual gamer or even capturing a younger audience. Capcom is doing fine financially and made Mega Man 9 specifically for the old school Mega Man fans such as myself. I still play classic arcade and home console games regularly, and I can't begin to describe how excited I am to see that developers are starting to create video games in true retro style. I will personally thank every god in the book if this trend continues and we receive a true Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (meaning no retarded gimmicks as I'm still burning everything in my house that looks like a werewolf).

Score: 0 for 1


2. The Lego games are going to be run into the ground Tony Hawk-style.

Drew Robbins: Fact

The problem here is - these will be run into the ground even quicker than Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk had a Madden scenario, with a new game coming out every year. It took about, what, five years for that series to get old? Instead of releasing one per year, they seem to be making even more than that. Just four months ago we got Lego Indiana Jones, and this week Lego Batman hits store shelves. I haven't seen any news on more Lego games, but I can only imagine that even more are on their way.

Mark Salmela: Fact

Screw Lego games. I don't see anything special about them. They're slow paced, boring beat-em-ups. I saw that they were going to be run into the ground once I saw that they made about 3 or 4 different Lego Star Wars games and then announced Lego Indiana Jones.

Score: 1 for 2


3. You will pick up and enjoy Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories for the PS2 then it comes out this December.

Drew Robbins: Fact

I've made previous stances against RPGs, and I still stand by those statements. However, Kingdom Hearts remains one of the only games in that genre that I actually enjoy. Gone are the turn based battles, which are replaced with sequences from action games. While this game does feature a slight strategic addition (cards), that shouldn't hinder my enjoyment as I recall the Game Boy version not really taking too much strategy. Button mashing, for me at least, still worked pretty well. I never beat the original, and actually can't find my copy, so picking up this 3D remake with voice-acting is a no-brainer for me.

Mark Salmela: Fiction

Drew Robbins - I have lost all respect for you. You're excited about a PS2 remake of a GBA card-trading game based off of an RPG franchise. I will make sure your whole family dies a painful death (sorry Derek, but you're partially to blame for your brother's bad judgments).

Score: 1 for 3



4. It wouldn't be a surprise if Wario Land: Shake It! ends up being the best game on the Wii for hardcore gamers for the rest of the year.

Mark Salmela: Fiction

If you're speaking in terms of classic platforming/adventure games, then yeah - I bet this will be the best game on the Wii for the holiday season. But the reason why I put fiction is because I still have faith in Animal Crossing. Sure, there will only be minimal changes to the gameplay, but dammed if I am not excited to go back and shove a nail in Tom Nook's eye. I may have let him slide with those outrageous mortgage rates on the DS, but I'm coming for blood if he tries to pull that shit again. 500,000 bells to add a basement my ass. But if Animal Crossing isn't your thing (which it isn't for a good percentage of the hardcore), then you better pray to god Nintendo is pulling a "Punk'd" with Wii Music (which, trust me, they're not). Wario is all you're going to get guys. Besides, the game is called City Folk. So maybe I'll be able to sue Tom Nook for holding a monopoly over the entire city on virtually every material good known to Animal-Crossing-kind.

Drew Robbins: Fact

While I am somewhat excited for Animal Crossing, I must say that Wario Land is probably the best option for hardcore Wii owners. Sure, I'm looking forward to seeing Tom Nook and his "crazy" mortgage prices again, but I've already done that twice now. Even though Wario Land probably won't *shake* (ba-dum-psh) up what fans can expect from a Wario game, his return to form is likely enough to rally his fans again. Honestly, what else is on the Wii's horizon? Mad World and Conduit aren't due out this year, Animal Crossing is practically unchanged, and Wii Music is... well... it is Wii Music. I severely doubt that the hardcore will be camping in line to pick up Wii Music, barring some unforeseen change to the gameplay, like, I don't know, actual gameplay? Probably not going to happen.

Score: 1 for 4


5. You are looking forward to making your own Xbox 360 Avatar.

Mark Salmela: Fiction

I already made a Michael Jackson Mii. It was all downhill from there. And you know what? I hate the idea of creating your own Avatar. It worked fine for the Wii, but it won't work for Home, and it won't for the 360. Whatever happened to buying a console for great games, and not the ability to create half-assed versions of yourself? Honestly, if you think Rare creating Avatars instead of developing Killer Instinct 3 was a good idea, then I want to murder you and your pet...

Drew Robbins: Fiction

Though I no longer own a 360, I'm fairly sure that even if I did, I wouldn't give two craps about creating Avatars. Much like Mark, I've already created a ton of awesome things with the Miis. You know the main problem with the Avatars? Miis were cool, what, two years ago? How many people still go to the Mii channel to create a Mii, besides those who are just now getting their console? People who own a Wii and a 360 will get a strong sense of "been there, done that" when they log on and create their Avatars, and it won't be near as awesome as the first time people created Miis. Another problem is Avatar-integration. Miis work because you can use them in several different games. Like in Mario Kart, if I want to see Jesus ride Wario's motorcycle, I'm going to get to see it, and even in Mario Super Sluggers, I can make my Mii play baseball. Are you going to be able to integrate your Avatars into Gears of War 2, or the imminent Halo 4? Not a chance.

Score: 2 for 5


6. What you've seen of GTA: Chinatown Wars so far leads you to believe that the game will disappoint GTA fans.

Mark Salmela: Fact

Well, considering that the screenshots don't look very good, and the fact that I'm not big on the DS right now, then yeah - I'm disappointed in Chinatown Wars. I got bored with GTA 4 way too quickly, and I can't imagine that I'll find a GTA game running on the DS to be very good.

Drew Robbins: Fiction

Call me crazy, but I thought the game looked pretty fun from those few screenshots I've seen. The graphics are fairly nice for the DS, and it looks like it will play a lot like the GBA Grand Theft Auto a few years back. Plus, one of the characters in this game looks like Will Smith. Chinese Will Smith, no less. How could that go wrong?

Score: 2 for 6



We end this week with a final score of 2 for 6.

Now, our only way out is through a pit full of lava. Unfortunately, the only way to get across is to make use of platforms which disappear and reappear at regular intervals. If we can figure out the pattern that will allow us to make it across without falling to our doom, we'll be back next week.