Over the past few days, I’ve spent a lot of time playing/researching classic games, due to both the release of Grim Fandango Remastered and the upcoming demise of Club Nintendo. Last week I picked up Grim Fandango because it looked like a fun game that I could play on my PS Vita. I’m always on the look out for well done Vita games, and Grim Fandango looked like exactly the kind of game I would enjoy. I had heard of the game, of course, but I had never played it. My early gaming years were mostly spent with the NES and in arcades. The release of the remastered Grim Fandango got quite a bit of hype, but I didn’t consciously pick it up because of the hype. While playing through it, though, I did constantly scour the Internet trying to figure out what was different, what had changed. My burning questions included: was the story the same? The voice acting? The graphics (although updated)? I found this video, which answers some questions, but also leaves me questioning exactly what is different. The video makes it look very much the same as the game that was released in 1998. I was surprised by that because this is a very fun game. I loved the music, the acting, the soundtrack, the gameplay. I loved pretty much everything (except sometimes the controls seem to glitch a bit).
Regardless of changes (or not), I’m glad they rereleased this game. During my first run through of this game, I have already developed my own nostalgia about it. I’m in Year 4, and already I’m mourning the end of the game. To that end, I’m already looking ahead to what game(s) to play next, and yesterday, I found myself once again drawn into other people’s nostalgia via Club Nintendo.
Club Nintendo is closing (if you somehow haven’t heard this), and I have points to spend. Monday they put a ton of games in their rewards store. The store has been flakey to say the least, but I was able to get in a take a look at the offerings. My own Nintendo nostalgia revolves mostly around Super Mario Bros, but I have those games already, so I started researching the games others were talking about. Several caught my attention, and I have probably wasted way too much time trying to decide what to get. The Legend of Zelda is available. I’ve played The Legend of Zelda: a Link Between Worlds, so that one is interesting to me. I know how popular the series is, but I never played it until recently. I also put some research into games I have never heard of, but that are getting attention on gamer deals boards, such as Kid Icarus and Kid Icarus of Myths and Monsters, both of which look interesting. They also have Punch Out, which I might have actually played as much as Super Mario Bros back in the day, but nostalgia factor aside, I’m not sure it’s a game that would interest me at this point.
So what will you spend your points on? I’m interested in hearing what games from the list are the must play classics. (The Club Nintendo site is incredibly unstable right now and often “under maintenance,” but hopefully they will resolve the issues soon or at least the constant demand will ease up.)
