Top 5 Disappointments Of 2008

I don’t necessarily like doing negative lists, but how can you appreciate the good if you don’t remember the bad? There has been a fair share of disappointing games, news, images in 2008. So, let’s get through this together, and I promise the lists for the rest of the year will be positive. It is the holidays after all.

5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl Online System – Super Smash Bros. is Nintendo’s newest kick-ass franchise. Compared to Nintendo’s ol’ reliable stand-bys, the Smash Bros. series is relatively young. When we caught word that the series would be coming to the Nintendo Wii, we jumped in excitement. Plush Link, Donkey Kong, and Mario dolls were hugged, Super Smash Bros. was revived on the Nintendo 64 in celebration of the news. All was right in the world.

Gamer’s minds tend to move very quickly; we were excited for awhile but then we began to question. How would SSBB be different on the Wii? Will there be an online multiplayer option? What new characters will Nintendo add to the already large roster?

First, SSBB on the Nintendo Wii was quite a bit different than past iterations of Super Smash Bros. The largest additions being the Space Emissary mode. Then the addition of the online multiplayer mode, which is what’s on today’s list.

Being able to battle other Smash players around the world was a definite must for SSBB. While Nintendo obliged us this privilege, it was executed very badly. First, the mode was bare bones. Unlike Mario Kart that had a point system for their races, SSBB had no online leaderboards, tournaments, or anything special. It was pretty much, login, wait for fight, fight, then rinse and repeat.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Online Could Have Been So Much More

Ok, so it was bare bones, but atleast we still go to duke it out online right? If you ever got SSBB to connect properly then you had a chance to battle online. I’d say that I’ve tried to connect to multiplayer about 10 times throughout the year on SSBB. 2 of those times I actually got to the fight screen. Once I was there, only 1 of those times did I even get to fight at all. That one lone fight didn’t even last the entire match, as I was disconnected before we could finish.

Considering how excited I was, and other gamers were excited for SSBB Online, it was so disappointing to see how stripped down, and broken the system was. When Mario Kart: Wii released, it made SSBB’s online gameplay look about a decade old. SSBB is Nintendo’s hottest franchise at the moment, and releasing the game with a broken online system never should have happened.

4. Nintendo Wii Q3 & Q4 Game Lineup – Going into the beginning of 2008, Nintendo had been pretty adamant about getting their popular franchises released on the Nintendo Wii. When Mario Kart: Wii released back in April, we had already seen most of Nintendo’s big franchises represented on the Nintendo Wii.

Here’s a list of Nintendo’s big first party releases going into April:
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Wii Sports
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Paper Mario
Super Smash Bros. Brawl

That’s quite a list indeed, and in my opinion really spoiled us. After Mario Kart: Wii released, Nintendo hit a dry spell in terms of huge franchise releases. We saw Wii Fit release, but it was mainly popular due to the balance board. Going into Q3 and Q4, its been a barren wasteland, save for Animal Crossing: City Folk. Which for most has been a bit of a disappointment.

The dry spell has effected gamers enough, that some have lost faith in the House of N. While I haven’t sold my Wii, or gone to the extremes of giving up on Nintendo, I definitely feel the dry period. It’s probably been since Wii Fit came out, that I’ve heavily played a Nintendo first party release.

Looking into 2009, I’m hoping for a Renaissance year for Nintendo. They’ve already got me sold on Punch-Out! Which really isn’t that hard to do (If you read this blog frequently, then you know what I mean). While the future looks bright, the present has me kind of bummed. I’ve still got Mario Kart: Wii, and World of Goo to tide me over until ’09 atleast.

3. Animal Crossing: City Folk (PLUS Commercials) – Let me preface this by saying that I’ve never been a huge fan of Animal Crossing games. I never really understood what made the games so appealing. It might be because no one I knew wanted to really try the game with me. Or I had gotten so pampered on Harvest Moon games, that any sim-lifestyle type game had to have some kind of farming in it.

After seeing the showing at E3 this year, I started to think maybe Animal Crossing on the Wii was going to be different. The Wii Speak announcement was pretty sweet, and they looked to be bringing Animal Crossing to the city.

What we got from the release of City Folk, was an all too familiar game. Nearly every aspect of City Folk was present in titles before it. You really had to look hard to find anything new, which was a major letdown for me. The Wii Speak is a cool add-on, but I believe to be rendered useless with Animal Crossing. There’s not much that needs to be said if you visit others. Unless you truly believe people play Animal Crossing like the atrocious commercials. Don’t worry I’m not going to harp on those anymore.

2. Wii Music – At last year’s E3, when Miyamoto walked out on stage in a conductor’s uniform I didn’t know what was going on. I was scared, excited, was waiting for a massive live orchestra to belt out the Super Mario Bros. theme song. Instead what I got was a glimpse into Miyamoto’s latest pet project. Wii Music.

After seeing Miyamoto conduct music to the Legend of Zelda theme, I was instantly interested. Just what was this thing Miyamoto was cooking up? Would I be able to create my own music using the Nintendo Wii? Would a conductor’s outfit come with every purchase?

Fast forward to 2008, my interest turned to extreme doubt. All it really took was 4 Nintendo execs, and some mohawk donning drummer named, Ravi. I’ll save that video for later.

Then Wii Music finally released, to little critical fanfare. While most, myself included thought Wii Music was somewhat fun, it was also shallow. Using your Wii Remote, and nunchuk to play guitar might be fun for a couple of minutes. But when that gratification wears off, where’s the incentive to keep playing? Is there an online mode that you can compete with others? How about being able to create your own music? None of that or anything close to those additions were present in Wii Music

Easily one of biggest disappointments of the year.

1. Nintendo’s E3 2008 Conference – The E3 Nintendo conference is the first event I’ve covered on Wii Blog. Ok, so I wasn’t physically there but I did have a live stream going and posted live updates which saw a large amount of people showing up.

I had been excited for E3 all week long, and was especially excited to see what Nintendo had to show off for the upcoming year. What I got in return was quite possibly the most disappointing spectacle I’ve ever been witness to, in terms of E3 showings.

First, the conference started out very odd. Cammie Dunaway was the first person to take the stage, and really set an odd tone for the rest of the conference. Besides sharing her name with a hot and deadly Street Fighter character, there was nothing too appealing to me about her.

Once the conference got going, it just felt like every announcement was a let down. When Animal Crossing: City Folk was announced, they just attached the Wii Speak announcement to it. I was really excited to hear about Wii Speak, and they didn’t mention one thing about it during the conference besides it being bundled with AC: City Folk.

Wii Music, was easily the biggest letdown of the show. I was expecting the game to be really fun, and have a slew of modes in which to jam out on. What I got instead was one of the most god awful performances in the history of ‘performances’. Here’s the video of the Nintendo execs, and Ravi the mohawked drummer butchering the Super Mario Bros. theme song.

I hate to show the video, but you have witness first hand the butchering to understand why it disappointed me so much.

So, was there anything besides what I mentioned that really disappointed you this year? Are you a positive thinker, and are looking to ’09′s lineup for relief? Was there something I mentioned that you don’t see as a disappointment, and makes me a complete fool for even mentioning it? Either way, let me hear from you.