When Mario Kart and Smash Bros Just Aren't Cutting It: MODS

Late on the draw...

Are you tired of playing single player games by yourself?

Yeah...
Do you grow bored of slaughtering your friends in multiplayer death matches?

Yeah...

Then have I got news for you, there's a modding scene that exists for multiplayer hacked single player games. That's right! Now you too (two?) can adventure as both Mario and Luigi in the original Super Mario 64, or gallantly save Zelda as Link, Link, Link and Link.

 GamesRadar has the scoop too!
 Vizzed.com too!

These are by far some of the most iconic games from my childhood, and I am crazy excited to try them out with friends behind the other wheels! I haven't yet though, but I've watched some short videos on them and already figured out some details on their draws and such.

Ocarina of Time Multiplayer features four links each with identical inventories to player 1. Part of the problem here is that they can't all take advantage of the inventory, but they will drain it. Players 2-4 do not have access to the bow or slingshot, or rather, they can't make use of it, but they certainly can fire off rounds and deplete your resources. There is also a lack of Z-targeting and some shield related glitches that present themselves with the "Four Swords" version of Ocarina of Time, along with the fact that the game was designed with a focus on the first player, and the camera continues to center on player 1. Plus...I think you can't push blocks...unless that's been patched...but that and a lack of Z-targeting and first person aiming can be crippling...

Super Mario 64 Co-op mod on the other hand offers a very smooth multiplayer session, with Luigi taking nothing away from the game and being able to fully interact with the game. There are still some issues, for instance, first person cannon sighting is no longer an option with Luigi tagging along. But the other problem might be seen as more beneficial than harmful. The AI do not detect Luigi, this immediately leads to an advantage in boss fights, since Mario can just lead the baddies around while Luigi sneaks around behind them and does...whatever need be done. Plus, the camera is NOT centered on Mario. As the two move further away from each other and closer together, Lakitu (the flying camera guy) adjusts the camera accordingly! Plus, if it comes to a head where Luigi needs to do something but can't be seen, or the two need to split up temporarily, they can focus the camera using an assigned camera control button!

So yeah, plus I'm sure there are others, like Sonic Classic Heroes, where you get all three members of the Sonic team in one party. I'll be on the lookout for more of course, I can only hope some day I find Donkey Kong 64 or Banjo-Tooie Co-Op mode!

A Princess' Princess: DARK CLOUD 2

SO...I PICKED UP LEGEND OF ZELDA...
I love RPGs, can we ever say that enough? I mean, really, they're my favorite. I don't always have the patience for them, but I do enjoy them. You can draw a pretty neat little line between RPGs and...whatever Legend of Zelda is...and I'll say "Yes, I enjoy that genre too." I guess it's like an action/adventure dungeon crawler? Or something?

 Even Link isn't sure what game genre he fits into.

Anyway, that's kind of beside the point, the point is, Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle in areas outside of the USA, right?) is a pretty awesome RPG that I played A LOT back in the era of the PS2, and if anyone caught wind of my previous post about what I'm up to as far as video games are concerned, they'd see that I'm uploading a Dark Cloud 2 Let's Play to youtube! Presently there are three episodes up, I have two other episodes I need to put up in the near future, and more to follow (naturally).

Check that out here!

Even more to the point though, is that I noticed some similarities, and some dissimilarities between Dark Cloud 2, and Nintendo's masterpiece, the Legend of Zelda, like they both have princesses!

 Respectively here and here.

What do you mean they have nothing in common? What if I told you that they both used magic? Still nothing special? What if I told you both of them lived in a castle? Okay, so a little sarcasm here and there, and the two games do have nothing to do with each other. It's still pretty cool. The games center on two protagonists who are otherwise normal characters who get caught up in a princess' time line dispersing issues. The two games follow time-travel differently, in Zelda, time travel causes the universe to split into three time lines (one where Link succeeds as a child, one where he succeeds as an adult, and one where he dies? I think?) while in Dark Chronicle, time-travel is used to repair the future and prevent the bad things from happening. I guess that doesn't mean there aren't other time lines, we just don't have examples of them that I'm aware of.

 Respectively here and here.


Look at our heroes, both wear default green costumes (unless you play the Western version), both rely primarily on a melee weapon (never mind the nature of the weapon) that they had to improvise due to destiny (sure one's a wrench and one is a magical sword that was hidden away for such an occasion) and they both have an assortment of tools they rely on. Not to mention they both exist in societies that are sheltered from the outside world until their grand quest begins.

I guess that's really all beside the point though, I just really like this game, and I can draw some similarities to other games that I really like, so yeah...awesome game. I'll talk about the golf and fishing mini games a bit later.

Until then, thanks for reading!