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This is the June 2008 issue of Nintendo Power, labeled as Volume 229. It's featured articles included Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Rock Band, and Samba de Amigo; all yet to be released music games for the Wii and DS.

Cover Story[]

Nintendo Power covered four unique music games for its main article. Two them belong to the Guitar Hero series are both published by RedOctane and developed by Vicarious Visions, but are radically different because of the systems they are played on. Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS will have a specially developed peripheral called a Guitar Grip that slips in through the Game Boy Advance slot in the DS. The Guitar Grip has four fret buttons that allows the player to hit corresponding notes with the similarly colored button. A Guitar Pick stylus is also included so that the player can strum the touch screen when needed. To unleash "Star Power", the player can either blow into the microphone or push one of the face buttons. There will be 25 songs, 20 of them exclusive to the DS.

RedOctane and Vicarious Visions are also working on ‘’Guitar Hero: Aerosmith’’ for the Wii. The developer worked closely with Aerosmith to get the game right, including putting every band member in motion capture sensors. The game will have many Aerosmtih songs, as well as music from artists that have either influenced or have been influenced by Aerosmith. ‘’Rock Band’’, published by MTV Games and developed by Harmonix, is another music game coming to the Wii, with a few additions over the released versions on the PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360. Harmonix is stressing the four-player experience and have picked songs so that every player is doing something at some point.

Finally, Sega and Sonic Team are bringing a sequel of sorts to Dreamcast’s Samba de Amigo. In this version of Samba de Amigo, the player uses their Wii remotes like maracas and hit the targets at the right time, while occasionally holding the remotes in a pose. There will be over 40 songs, half of them new songs, and several modes of play; from Career mode, to Survival mode, to Love Love mode, to a ton of minigames, not to mention a records screen and an online leader board. All games are expected in the summer, some as soon as June.

Other Highlights[]

  • Super R-Type was the Virtual Console staff pick of the month.
  • According to Nintendo Power, the games most wanted by readers for the virtual console were:
  1. EarthBound
  2. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
  3. Chrono Trigger
  4. Mother (Japan only)
  5. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The games most wanted by the Nintendo Power staff for the virtual console were:

  1. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Sega Genesis)
  2. Terranigma
  3. Final Fantasy VI
  4. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
  5. Rocket Knight Adventures (Sega Genesis)
  • A preview for Final Fantasy Tactics A2 showed some of the tweaks it has over Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GBA. Gameplay, graphics and presentation will remain the same for the most part, though there are many additions rooted from Final Fantasy XII. There is a bazaar system where characters get powerful weapons and items by selling their loot (objects acquired after battle) to stores. There is also music from Final Fantasy XII that has been redone for this game, which makes sense considering both games take place in the fictional world of Ivalice. Other changes include participating in auctions, conquering parts of the world map, and even having the freedom to ignore the Judges and the law system. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift will be released in late June for the Nintendo DS.

Reviews[]

Thirteen games were reviewed this issue (five Wii games and eight DS games, though the latest two Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games shared one review). The highest rated game was Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy, which Nintendo Power praised for it's "genuinely unique and innovative gameplay".

A few titles were released in twos. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness were joined together into one feature review and both received the same score, though the author(s) for the review was not shown for unknown reasons. Iron Man and Top Spin 3 had game releases on the Wii and Nintendo DS, with each game receiving a slightly different score amongst the two consoles.

Title Score Console Reviewer ESRB Rating
Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy 8.5 Wii Tom H. Everyone
Boom Blox 8.0 Wii Steve T. Everyone
Drone Tactics 7.0 DS Casey L. Everyone 10+
Iron Man 5.5 Wii Justin C. Teen
Iron Man 5.0 DS Justin C Everyone 10+
Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles 5.0 DS Chris H. Teen
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time 7.5 DS N/A1 Everyone
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness 7.5 DS N/A1 Everyone
Summon Night: Twin Age 7.5 DS Chris H. Everyone 10+
Super Dodgeball Brawlers 6.5 DS Chris Sh. Everyone
Top Spin 3 7.0 Wii Justin C. Everyone
Top Spin 3 6.0 DS George S. Everyone
We Ski 6.0 Wii Tom H. Everyone

1 - It is unknown why the reviewer wasn't listed for these titles.

See also[]

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