Wiikly Wares: Maboshi's Arcade, Pool Revolution, StarTropics 2

by Justin McElroy { Dec 29th 2008 at 8:45AM }

WiiWare:
Maboshi's Arcade (Nintendo, 1-3 players, 800 Wii Points): Most WiiWare offerings sound like rehashed cellphone games, so we're understandably excited about Maboshi's Arcade, if only because we can't make heads nor tails of it. Play three different types of puzzle games on the same screen, each built around different shapes, each completed once you've scored 100,000 points? Sounds just bizarre enough to be intriguing.

Cue Sports – Pool Revolution (Hudson Entertainment, 1-4 players, 500 Wii Points): Ahh, a pool game with 9 Ball, 8 Ball, Rotation, Snooker, and a trick shot puzzle mode? That's the WiiWare we know.

Virtual Console:
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (NES, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): Do you like StarTropics, but hate the lack of diagonal movement and cameos from Tetris creator Alexey Pazhitnov? Well then, you're not only an exceedingly odd person, you're also a lucky one, as StarTropics 2 is now available on the VC.

Tags: virtual-console, wiikly-wares, wiiware

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Obie @ Dec 29th 2008 8:51AM

The year is ending and still no Super Mario Kart, Super Punch Out!, Starfox or Pilotwings.....WTF!?

samfish @ Dec 29th 2008 9:08AM

Awesome, it's another puzzle game for people to ignore among the hundreds of puzzle games already on WiiWare.
The pool game, on the other hand, is made by Hudson, so maybe it'll at least be competently made and not completely suck.

Jon A. @ Dec 29th 2008 11:04AM

This "generic puzzle game" (that was published by Nintendo), is one of the highest reviewed WiiWare games of all time.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/maboshithethreeshapearcade

It really deserves more than a passing glance.

samfish @ Dec 29th 2008 12:10PM

You're probably right. I somehow didn't even notice Nintendo made this.
...still, it's their own damn fault for allowing so much trash onto WiiWare. Well, NOA's fault, at least. The Japanese WiiWare isn't a landfill like the North American one is.

Roto13 @ Dec 29th 2008 12:34PM

Me and Jon are on the bleeding edge of video game releases. :P I was starting to worry that I was the only one who saw the press release and said "Fuck yes, time to get my MaBoShi on"

T @ Dec 29th 2008 9:16AM

"Cue Sports" and "Pool Revolution"? That seems a bit redundant. I didn't think there were many other cue related sports...

samfish @ Dec 29th 2008 9:33AM

Depends on if we're considering the Sex Olympics to be a sport or not...

Russ Carroll @ Dec 29th 2008 10:02AM

Queue the weekly Wii-haters...

Maboshi's Arcade is a Top 5 game for the Wii this year according to Metacritic and everything I've heard about it has been glowing praise. The interaction between 3 different puzzle games and need to work together seems like a really interesting and well definitely the reviewers have loved it...will pick it up immediately.

...notably, 6 of the top 10 games on Metacritic for the Wii this year were WiiWare games. If you don't think there are great WiiWare games, you clearly aren't playing them. It'd be great to see people play the games before they say they suck...just to get a different perspective ;).
(Notably, those 6 didn't even include Space Invaders Get Even, Lost Winds, or Final Fantasy: My Life as King)

Obie @ Dec 29th 2008 10:44AM

I don't find much fault in the Wii itself, rather the lack of good content is my only beef with the system.

Russ Carroll @ Dec 29th 2008 11:19AM

I really don't have the same experience. I bought a dozen games for the Wii this year and another dozen WiiWare titles and with Gamefly I played another 2 dozen. Honestly, I have trouble finding time to play all the good games. There is simply too many of them.

There is absolutely a lot of games on the system that look horrible and don't interest me, but there is also a long list of fantastic games out there.

From places like Joystiq, from what I can tell, there are a lot of complaints about lack of content from people who aren't playing the games.

I'd just like to see people play things before they form their opinion. I see a lot of ignorance in regards to the Wii.

Obie @ Dec 29th 2008 11:52AM

It could simply be a matter of taste, but the last game I enjoyed was Smash Bros Brawl, and the only franchise game this fall was Animal Crossing, which was too similar to past iterations for my taste.

But 2009 looks promising, and when the new storage update happens I will buy World of Goo.

Russ Carroll @ Dec 29th 2008 1:29PM

Smash was alright, I really enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) Mario Kart, andthere have been a lot of good games since :). Most recently Shaun White tickled my fancy. When played with the balance board, it's a lot of fun. Can't imagine what the point would be in ever playing another snowboarding game without a balance board.

Oh and World of Goo is fantastic, it's worth clearing the space for. I really preferred the Wii version for multiplayer, though I got it both on PC and the Wii and played through on both platforms ;).