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Nintendo GameCube
Action: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
The Metroid series is unusual in that the protagonist is a woman, though her appearance is usually concealed by an exaggerated and anonymous suit. By placing a strong female character in a stereotypically male role, the designers added a new perspective to the space adventure genre.
In Echoes, the designers took a traditional adventure story filled with ancient worlds and challenging quests and placed it in an elaborate and believable science-fiction environment. The player must explore mirror worlds of light and dark to overcome a variety of obstacles and enemies. The gloomy, threatening landscapes, futuristic weapons, and elusive opponents conjure an atmosphere of anxiety and fear, heightened by the heroine's discovery of a mysterious, evil doppelgänger.
Target: Star: Fox Assault
The original idea for the Star Fox hero, Fox McCloud, came from Japanese folklore, in which the fox is a prominent subject. The folklore hero -- in combination with traditional space-shooter mechanics and futuristic worlds -- led to an unusual and beloved series of games.
In Star Fox Assault, the design team took advantage of the advanced capabilities of the technology to create a variety of game play modes. These gave the player more scenarios to explore, both in the air and on the ground, expanding the already familiar StarFox universe.
The game builds upon the simplistic yet compelling action seen in previous StarFox games, but offers a more powerful audio visual experience. Space battles take place against dazzling scenes of planets, asteroid fields, and distant galaxies, accompanied by an energetic orchestral score.
Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Nintendo has created some of the most popular video games for young audiences, and the Legend of Zelda games are no exception. Known for their emotional plot lines, whimsical environments, and established characters.
The Wind Waker was the tenth installment in the series and marked a significant shift in the design direction. Players were shocked when they first experienced the game, because the graphics were so different from what they had seen before.
Creator Shigeru Miyamoto used "cel-shaded" animation, which makes 3-dimensional computer graphics look like 2-dimensional drawings or cartoons. This allowed the designers to create smoother movements and more emotive facial expressions.
The Wind Waker stands apart as an example of how an established world can be re-imagined to create a new and surprising visual experience.
Tactics: Pikmin 2
Designer Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired by ants in his garden in Kyoto, Japan to create the Pikmin universe. Observing the way the ants worked together, he realized the perfect fit with an idea he and his team had been working on that involved manipulating tiny creatures in a miniature world.
In Pikmin 2, the player must grow and harvest the Pikmin and guide them to find human artifacts such as batteries, bottle caps, floppy disks, and rotten fruit. The graphics and game play emphasize the minute scale of the characters, with numerous pikmin needed to complete tasks, like lifting a single battery.
At a time when many video games were exploiting advanced technologies to present vast intergalactic worlds, Pikmin 2 presented the intriguing idea that entire societies might exist beneath our feet. |