The Times They Are A-Changin'

Memories of the previous Connection Tours fill my mind with casual groups picking up a Wiimote for the first time with Wii Sports and other simplistic fun games. With the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo have set up yet another Connection Tour in Australia. In place of the go-active Wii Sports audience, this tour is more catered towards the self-titled ‘hardcore’ gamers.

At opening time, the line of gamers was set with one goal; kick some ass in Super Smash Bros. Brawl! With over 100 entries the Brawl tournament was the main attraction of the day, drawing people to their controller of choice. With four individual Wii systems running copies of Brawl, it was the popular choice for all age groups.

Along with Brawl, the list of games was quite a step up compared to previous tours. With the notable disappearance of Wii Fit and Wii Sports, the floor was cleared for new highlights including Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Samba De Amigo and Emergency Mayhem. The DS also saw a software roster update, adding to the growing list of Touch Generation games along with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Guitar Hero: On Tour. Here’s a breakdown on my impressions of each new game:

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith – This is my first time using the Wii’s Les Paul controller and I gotta say that I am not a fan of it. Maybe it was these guitars themselves, but the strum bar was flimsy and whammy bar was loose. Outside of controller complaints, this is the same ugly dummed down Guitar Hero 3 people got last year redone with Aerosmith tunes. It won’t win over any new fans, but if you didn’t like the difficulty curve of GH3, Aerosmith may be just right for you

Samba De Amigo – Never played the original game so I have no idea how this compares, but it was a fun game that seems to fit the Wii (or a pair of maracas) perfectly. Only tried a couple songs, but the controls seem to work perfectly so no complaints to be had from me.

Guitar Hero: On Tour – 26 songs isn’t really worth the high price point for Australians, but price aside this is a really well done game. The peripheral is made with small hands in mind, so people with hands bigger than 8 year olds may not want to strap themselves into the device. I don’t know if it’s a good thing that this impressed me more than the Aerosmith game, but it’s a great attempt at bringing the Guitar Hero series to new platforms.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood – I wasn’t paying much attention to this game before, but after sampling a bit of the gameplay myself I’m ready to give this game a solid chance upon release. Functional combat mechanics, clean presentation and branching storylines all help to show off that Bioware can make a great game regardless of platform. Still skeptical about the Sonic universe being suitable for a decent story however, and that will probably never change.

Swag was on the light side this year with most quiz prizes consisting of Guitar Hero caps and Pokemon figurines. The top 4 finalists of the Brawl tournament all scored a free copy of the game for their skills, although I question why THEY would need a second copy since they were all of high caliber. All contestants in the tournament also had their photo taken and kept in nametags (although that barely qualifies as swag to most people)

In short, if you were thought this tour would be more of the same as last year then you were wrong. If at any point you try to question this, I would point you to the sea of nerds and otakus hardcore gamers viewing every round of the Super Smash Bros. tournament. The last fight came down to two brothers with a single stock life each, with the younger brother coming out on top thanks to a deadly smash ball and hammer combination.

And what did he get to show off his accomplishments? Along with Mario figurines and a copy of Brawl he received a friggin sweet trophy!

P.S - As much as I loathe Naruto, I still gotta give credit where its due. Props to this brawler for a decent attempt at the world's most annoying ninja.