Okami Wii-ports for duty on March 25
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Jan 16th 2008 at 4:50PM }
You people should be thanking Ready at Dawn for providing you with a means of escape from the unforgiving and surprisingly creative torture we had planned for all Okami skippers. By purchasing the "exact" Wii port of Clover Studios' beautiful swan song when it releases on March 25th (the date Capcom says it's "currently driving towards"), you'll earn yourself a chance at redemption.
And by the time you're actually playing it on March 26th (the intro is a bit on the long side), you'll thank us for pointing you to the best Zelda game in years.
And by the time you're actually playing it on March 26th (the intro is a bit on the long side), you'll thank us for pointing you to the best Zelda game in years.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
samfish @ Jan 16th 2008 4:55PM
Okami was not better than Zelda. Sorry, Ludwig!
samfish @ Jan 16th 2008 4:56PM
And my Zelda, I mean Twilight Princess.
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Jan 16th 2008 5:02PM
And by Twilight Princess, you mean UR RONG.
Trev @ Jan 16th 2008 5:08PM
*checks references*
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/119/294168009_b25decaddf.jpg)
"Oh snap!"
samfish @ Jan 16th 2008 5:20PM
(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right.
And by Loving You I mean Twilight Princess.
KushielsScion007 @ Jan 16th 2008 5:55PM
I completely agree Samfish...
It might be blasphemy to some but Ocarina of Time while being a great game was NOT and will never be better than Twilight Princess.
TP was epic and absolutely stunning to me.
I don't understand all the hype surrounding this game but I'm willing to give it a try. Are there any videos showing how the Wii version plays/looks?
playwhutyalike (kinda digs Manhunt 2) @ Jan 16th 2008 8:36PM
I loved that background music when you are in the dark world and get jumped by the baddies. You know that creepy bassy synth sound they used.
BPM64 - The Second Attack! @ Jan 16th 2008 9:39PM
TP's bosses were epic... And that's about it. The story was mediocre for a Zelda. I don't know, it just didn't feel like Link really had a purpose in this story or something...
Twilight Realm was cool, in how bizarre the atmosphere (both sights and sounds) were, but was underused.
8.8 was a good score for it, really. It's a great game, sure, but Nintendo could've done more with it.
Personally, though, my favorite Zelda will always be ALttP. But as far as 3D Zeldas go, Majora's Mask is my favorite.
samfish @ Jan 16th 2008 11:05PM
My take on it between the two is that Okami did everything that Zelda (in some cases very badly) needed to do in Twilight Princess, but ultimately, TP was something of the paragon of the Zelda series.
Okami had a good bit of gameplay problems, while TP was absolutely flawless in that respect. I enjoy fighting enemies in a Zelda game. In Okami, I absolutely dreaded it. It didn't help that the brush gave the battles a turn based feel which slowed the game down quite badly at times.
Okami also felt too long at times. Part of me loved how it kept on going, but there were other times where I was just wanting to get to the end.
Plus...how many freakin' times do I have to fight Orochi?!
If Okami had more refined and perfected gameplay like Zelda did, I'd say it would be the better game.
The only place Twilight Princess falls short for me is in the story department, since it gave me (and a lot of others, it seems) a feeling of "been there, done that". You just couldn't help but notice to formula they had been using pretty much since aLttP.
Despite that, though, it did still have arguably the best TOLD story of the Zelda games, which helped it a lot, too. It just didn't have that epic feel that Ocarina had. And if you add in Wind Waker as it's direct continuation, you have a real one-two punch on your hands.
If Twilight Princess had Okami's story elements wile keeping in tact it's perfected gameplay, it would have potentially rivaled Ocarina of Time on every level.
As for the 8.8, initially I disagreed with it...then I agreed with it...now looking back and having played TP a little bit again, I think the game is a good 9.5.
Okami, by contrast, I would give a solid 9.0.
dan stabbingworth @ Jan 17th 2008 9:20AM
Okami had an epic, amazing storyline and a lot of really good but not great gameplay.
TP had epic gameplay with a lot of cool puzzles, ideas, and temples, but a pretty mediocre story.
TP > Okami
But both amazing games.
Edguy @ Jan 16th 2008 5:03PM
By saying "best zelda game ever" are you trying to refer to that one joke in Zero Punctuation?
grapenutsrobot @ Jan 16th 2008 5:07PM
I never got around to playing Okami on my PS2 but I made up for it by making sure I bought Zack and Wiki to appease the gaming gods.
I guess it'll count double when I finally do buy it.
Qwirk @ Jan 16th 2008 5:07PM
As far as originality with storyline, gameplay and art it exceeds all recent Zelda titles.
I believe Ludwig was comparing the gameplay to Zelda which there are quite a few elements that are similar.
40+ hours of play one time through with lots of replay value = one of the best titles for the Wii.
Nigeria @ Jan 16th 2008 5:08PM
I like this trend of porting last generation games to the Wii.
Having only an Xbox last time out it seems I missed out on a couple decent games, ex. Okami, Bully, so this is welcome.
Though I don't imagine myself paying full price for these games, especially since they don't seem to be enhanced in any important way, except for waggle of course.
And on a sidenote: I was under the impression Phantom Hourglass is the best Zelda ever, it certainly beats out Link to the Past.
samfish @ Jan 16th 2008 5:26PM
Better than A Link To The Past? Now you're just poking at a bee hive, chief.
And not just any bees. NUCLEAR bees. NUCLEAR BEES that were created by ex-Nazi scientists in conjunction with the US Government in an effort to frighten the populace into an unthinking state so that Project Blue Beam would be more accepted without question.
Nigeria @ Jan 16th 2008 5:36PM
I like the bees.
They're somewhat arousing when placed in certain orifices.
I'm told.
brandon_r87 @ Jan 16th 2008 5:40PM
Agreed, Phantom Hourglass does not beat A Link to the Past. It doesn't beat The Minish Cap either, which is my favorite handheld Zelda despite being so very, very short. I'll say that it beats the Oracle games, but I've only played Seasons. Also, I'll say that Okami is great, but not as good as most Zelda games in terms of gameplay. I have it for PS2, and lost motivation to finish it. It's definitely on my todo list, along with a nice stack of other neglected games. If Capcom makes it cheap enough, they might be able to sway me to buy it for Wii like they enticed me to repurchase Resident Evil 4 when it hit for Wii for $30.
BPM64 - The Second Attack! @ Jan 16th 2008 9:48PM
LA > OaA/OoS > PH > MC
That's my view on portable Zeldas.
(ALttP not counted since it was a port, and Four Swords is fun but needs friends to even be played)
Pom @ Jan 16th 2008 5:15PM
Phantom Hourglass, the best Zelda ever? With its repetitive "redo the whole dungeon again" mechanic, the gimmicky sailing minigame, and the obligatory godawful stealth sections - to mention but a few of the obvious flaws? Let's not be silly. It's not even close to being the best 2D Zelda, let alone best Zelda ever.
But Okami, I found, was a truly refreshing game in the Zelda genre. There should really be more games in it, since it's a great game style, and frankly I'm kind of tired of the whole generic elf dude in generic western medieval fantasy land #3.
Finally - The guy with the green laser sword thing is totally awesome. Fave character.
samfish @ Jan 16th 2008 5:28PM
Waka kicks ass. And his theme is probably the best song in the game.
...that or Rao's theme.
Nigeria @ Jan 16th 2008 5:34PM
This was my first Zelda game.
I got the GBA version of Link to the Past and it was too hard. Plus, apart from numbers on the dungeon map, there was nothing to advise me on what I'm supposed to do. You'd reach a dungeon and something will prevent you from progression.
Or maybe I just wasn't good enough.
Or maybe it played like a Snes game: the difficulty. Hard games aren't fun. (Final Fantasy 3 suffers from this as well).
I preferred the Mega Drive anyways.
Andrex (NDF - Host) @ Jan 17th 2008 2:40AM
Now you're being ridiculous. LttP is exactly the certain level of difficulty, PH is WAY, WAY, WAYYYY too easy.
Kids today. (Lol I was born in the 90s XD)
Pom @ Jan 17th 2008 8:25AM
Ushiwaka, that's the one. I'd play a spinoff game about him :P
As for difficulty, I suppose, but I found ALTTP to be fairly average on that level, and I was a kid back in the nineties (though sometimes these things just make more sense when you're young, heh). A better "first Zelda" for difficulty is probably Link's Awakening or Minish Cap, I guess. PH was just too much of a repetitive cakewalk for me to get much enjoyment from it.
Also, FF6 (calling it the SNES' FF3 just confuses things) hard? Maybe in the very very late stages of the game, but that's still one of the easiest RPGs to date. FF3 on the NES (and now DS), however, is tough as nails.
Torero @ Jan 16th 2008 5:16PM
Can't hardly wait!
1. Brawl
2. No More Heroes
3. Okami Im a first timer on this one.
You say you want a revolution man!!
Petras @ Jan 16th 2008 6:12PM
Nope. Twilight Princess was better. Sure, it was less innovative stylistically, but it was the superior in every way. I mean, (not to dis Okami) but Okami's painting thing was really only a placeholder for Link's different tools.
And that's not even mentioning Okami's extremely disjointed-feeling story (which kind of killed the experience for me), and the Family Circus esque saccharine ending
Mr Khan @ Jan 16th 2008 5:20PM
I'm glad i'll have the opportunity to test it against Twilight Princess myself
No PS2 meant i missed out on alot, but i was probably too busy playing Metroid Prime Hunters until i bought Wii in 2006...
Jechtshot78 @ Jan 16th 2008 5:20PM
Lugwig is truly the king of puns. Rock on brother.
vidGuy @ Jan 16th 2008 5:22PM
Any word on pricetag? I'm buying either way but I'd love to see this at $30.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Jan 16th 2008 5:43PM
Why wait? It's already out on PS2, and it's available cheaply, especially used.
Great game too.
Aisorik @ Jan 16th 2008 5:55PM
I hope people buy this game. I'm near the end of the PS2 version and I've enjoyed it much more than recent Zeldas. (Which I've beaten)The art direction and characterization is great.
DonWii @ Jan 16th 2008 6:10PM
Okami was the best Zelda game in years... 3 years(after WW).
Then came TP and PH.
Kia @ Jan 16th 2008 6:14PM
Should have released sooner, now it's going to compete with Brawl. Nice going, Capcom. Now it's going to be overlooked -again-.
mr nimblewick @ Jan 16th 2008 6:35PM
Since Brawl was supposed to be Feb 18th, they THOUGHT they gave enough of a buffer. Maybe it'll be pushed back to April to match.
Superstar90 @ Jan 16th 2008 10:42PM
Nintendo screwed them over :(
JodyAnthony (death by snoo-snoo) @ Jan 16th 2008 6:27PM
i think twilight princess was better than okami and ocarina of time. not that either of those are bad. okami is one of my favorite games of last gen, and oot one of that gens best.
then again i also think phantom hourglass is the best game on ds and best handheld zelda to date, so take that as you will.
Kyle N. @ Jan 16th 2008 6:35PM
Okami was a great, great game. One of the best games I've ever played, Okami is a better Zelda game than, well, Zelda. It's that good.
mr mobius @ Jan 16th 2008 6:44PM
Never has a PS2 but had played the demo for Okami. The only thing that annoyed me was the small jingly thing on the wolf's back. That may ony be because it was a 5 minute play and get used to it. It did seem like a nice stylized game that I'll be willing to give a try anyway.
Kael @ Jan 16th 2008 6:45PM
I really can't express just how brilliant that headline is! It--it's genius!
joystiq @ Jan 16th 2008 8:34PM
If you think this is a Zelda game I think maybe you never played Zelda. While their are some similarities, Zelda has percision action combat unlike and RPG (turn based non-action combat) and unlike Okami which has very non-percision combat. That combat is for me what makes Zelda fun and for me what I didn't like about Okami.
(01) @ Jan 16th 2008 10:02PM
So No More Heroes (unnecessarily) avoided the SSBB train, and now Okami is going to get right in the face with it. Oh well, the next couple months aren't looking to bad for the wii.
Superstar90 @ Jan 16th 2008 10:48PM
This is my ranking for Zelda games. A Link to the Past is no where near my favourite one.
Wind Waker
Twilight Princess
Phantom Hourglass
Ocarina of Time
Minnish Cap
the rest are equal in the sense that I don't like or dislike them.
Okami is good, but if it were on that list it would be 4th. It's action is not deep enough, and it gets wonky and weird to play sometimes.
waynski1457 @ Jan 17th 2008 5:13AM
i dont want to get into the whole okami vs tp issue (even tho i completely agree w/ samfish, but maybe liked tp a little more), i am exstatic over this release. i had to borrow my friends ps2 so i could play it and im so happy that i can finally own it!
baby sea tuna @ Jan 17th 2008 9:26AM
I'll totally re-buy this one for $30. Best Zelda game in years indeed.
t_m @ Jan 17th 2008 10:32AM
They should have CUT it. It was a great game.. but it had too much filler towards the end. It'd hugely have benefited from a bit of clever editing to improve the pacing.
Other than that, it rocks.
MC @ Jan 17th 2008 1:29PM
I agree, I loved Okami, amazing game, but it seemed to be tedious at times. By the time i got about 3/4 of the way done, it felt like I was just doing the same things over and over again. The game might have been too long or the battles might have just gotten boring (not on the boss battles though) or there might have been just not enough depth. I had to stop playing it completly for about a week before I could get back into it and enjoying it again.
I didn't have that problem with TP, which is why I would say TP is the better game to me.