It’s mailbag time!

I know, it’s not Sunday night. This one was delayed slightly for various reasons, but you can check it out now. We cover various topics from the Mailman in Twilight Princess, Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and more!

Christian: Thanks, Andrew! For those wondering, Andrew is contributing to the continuing quest to find the mailman all around Twilight Princess. You can read a little more about it here.

Will we be able to play Tanooki staff writers in Wii Online games? There is Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, which should feature phenomenal online gaming. Will you guys share your friend codes here? on the forums, maybe?
- Val

Christian: Maybe. With my schedule through mid-May, it’s hard finding time to play games for review, let alone for leisure. If I and other staff decide it’d be fun to set aside time to play with you guys and girls, there’s a currently unused forum we have that we might make some use out of. Check it out next Sunday night…

Michael: Unfortunately, I won’t be available for any online gaming. My family, living 5 minutes outside of town on a small hobby farm, live in a black spot in terms of internet service and the only way that we could get fast internet is with a satellite service. Now, while it works great for everyday browsing and downloading, there is a considerable lag resulting from the trip out to space and back. (Plus, in Skype calls, alien conversations are picked up!)

Matthew: Don’t let these party poopers get you down, Val. If I have time, I will certainly be up for some online gaming with any of our readers (but be forewarned, I always suck at Smash Bros.). I’ll post my friend code in the forums when I get a chance. While I’m at it, my 360 gamertag is “theTanooki”- hit me up for all of your Call of Duty 4 needs.

Joey: I’m with Matt on this one. Although my free-time for gaming has been quite limited this semester due to my class load, I will undoubtedly be playing Brawl as much as I possibly can, and would be more than willing to play an occasional match with Tanooki readers. When the time comes, check the forums for my friend code as well. For all you 360 owners out there, my gamertag is “Buck XI” - keep an eye out for me in Halo 3 matchmaking.

I fully realize that Wii fit and accompaning balance board have some time yet before release here in the US. However, even in Japan this fantastic peripheral has not been utilized as much as one might expect. What games do you think are either in the works for the Wii fit balance board, or what concepts would make an awesome game for this little white, floor-based input device?
- Neal

Michael: The problem that will always come up is whether or not the exercise or basic movement involved will be worth the extra level of immersion. Almost any genre could use it, but depending on it as a main control input could get tiring in terms of full-fledged games. Can you imagine standing on the balance board throughout Call of Duty 4 or Medal of Honor: Heroes 2? Sure, it would be awesome to actually lean around a corner, or dodge bullets Matrix style, but gaming sessions would be incredibly tiresome at first. Who knows? Maybe it will catch on - motorcycle games, sports titles, even RPGs with an action-oriented battle system would be a lot of fun with balance board support.

Christian: A previous mailbag included a question asking about third party developers/publishers finding success on the Wii. The reason you’re not seeing many Balance Board games at the moment is for the same reason: most developers probably didn’t know about the device specifics until July of last year. It’s going to take some time to develop games built around the Balance Board that really use it to its fullest potential. You can bet that Nintendo has some really amazing concepts for it that they’re working on in-house. It’s a must - if Nintendo can’t effectively sell the product, then why should anyone else bother?

There are also third party developers trying to figure out their own good ideas and how to get them on the market as soon as possible. They’re working on the obvious - we’ve seen skiing and we’ll probably see things like skateboarding, Labyrinth, or more exercise games. However, the big successes are going to be the ones you aren’t thinking of just yet, and that you’re going to think are pretty silly when you first find out about them.

What is the biggest non-Nintendo game you guys at The Tanooki are looking forward to this year?
- rickytheleaf

Christian: Spore, easily. I’ve been a fan of Will Wright’s Sim games since I was introduced to SimCity 2000 in Miss Philips’ fourth grade class - long before I was a Nintendo-oriented gamer. I picked up 3000, The Sims (and almost all of its insane expansions), and 4 upon their release, and was sold on Spore’s concept as soon as I saw a video of a presentation on it.

Of course, Spore is something I’ve been waiting several years for, like the new Indiana Jones movie. So of course I’m going to be excited for it. In a not-so-close second? Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood for the DS.

Michael: I may be stealing Matt’s choice here, but without a second thought, Spore. No other game has the same level of hype. Spore is the ultimate game for fans of Civilization, The Sims, Flow, Sim City, and many other games. It pulls all of those game concepts together and wraps them up in a smooth and appealing package. Unfortunately, my laptop is a rectangular piece of junk, and the family computer handles Unreal Tournament 2004 admirably, but it would be a slow and choppy experience with Spore. So I will wait patiently for the Wii version. (Don’t even get me started on the DS version…)

Matthew: Both of you stole my choice, so I won’t even mention it. I just read EGM’s GTA4 preview a few minutes ago while in the bathroom. Rockstar is putting a huge emphasis on interaction and relationships in this game, so I’m intrigued to see how everything will work out.

But of course, the game that I’m looking forward to more than all the Spores and Liberty Cities in the world is Metal Gear Solid 4. Coincidentally, I will also be diving into the world of Blu-ray when the game is released…

I just wanted to ask your guys’ opinion on a Wii Channel idea I had the other day. I think it would be really cool if there were a Trophy Channel. You could collect trophies from various games, but the cool part would be what you have to do to unlock them. It would work similar to the way achievements work on the Xbox 360. You would get different trophies for completing various tasks in different games.

For example, if you fully power the observatory in Super Mario Galaxy you would get a trophy of Rosalina

Or if you catch Dialga or Palkia in Pokemon Diamond or Pearl you can connect the DS to the Wii and receive a corresponding trophy.
- Joe

Michael: That seems similar to what the PlayStation 3 Home service will be offering, and knowing Nintendo, they’ll try to come up with something different if they do it at all. The idea is sound, but it may rub Nintendo’s “gaming is for fun and fun only” approach the wrong way. But who am I to say? It would be a lot of fun to keep track of your accomplishments and have a museum of sorts to check it out. Speaking of museums, this is the kind of feature that would be perfect for Animal Crossing Wii. Along with the fossil, art, bug and fish rooms, you could have a gaming trophy room for each resident. The sky is the limit for Animal Crossing Wii.

Joey: I like the idea of this channel, however, I think online functionality would almost be essential in this case. By this I mean that it would be nice if we could view the trophies or achievements of our friends saved on our Wii consoles over the internet. If this feature was not added, it would be quite difficult to show off one’s trophies to friends who live far away.

Will the Wii Fit be one game like Wii Play or Wii Sports or even Guitar Hero?

Or will the Wii Fit have games available to work with the Balance Board available from seperate developers with seperate titles?
- Brian

Michael: So far, we know there are ten different titles in development that will support the balance board. If those titles see success, or the potential for it, other developers will be more inclined to develop for it, so it really depends on those ten games. Plus, the success of Wii Fit is important to get the ball rolling.)

How much Nintendo memorabilia do you guys have? I love stuff like keychains, figures, blankets, etc., and I bet you have a lot! *P.S. Could you supply pictures, if not, it’s okay*
- Nintendude

Christian: I’ve got a decent amount of novelty items, from McDonald’s toys from the early 90’s all the way to an official, limited-edition Star Fox Adventures bobblehead. Unfortunately, I can’t take any photos for you at the moment, since all my treasures are back home in the Chicago suburbs, and I’m currently about 130 miles away at school and surrounded by corn fields. I’ll try to remember and take some pictures when I head back home, so ask me again some other time for photos.

Michael: Sadly, I’ve been a terrible Nintendo fanboy: I have nothing to show for my obsession with Nintendo’s products over the years besides the actual consoles and games themselves. That may change soon now that I’ve finally decided to apply for a credit card. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you guys in the know if I ever spoil myself.

Joey: My situation on this one is pretty much the same as Michael’s. The only real gaming memorabilia I own is my replica ocarina of time that I purchased several years ago from a Nintendo Power ad. Also, I am quite proud of my Phoenix Wright plushie hanging on my wall in front of an “Objection!” image.

Matthew: Instead of describing every item, I’ll just let the gallery do all of the talking.

When I write the mailbag, there is a person who is presented on top of my e-mail address….. ho is he/she?
- Alex

Christian: The image at the top of the mailbag submission page is currently of the Mailman from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

That wraps up the first mailbag for the year! Want to send something in for the next one? Write to us! If all goes well, we’d like to have one up by next Sunday.

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