Princess Debut

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!
Even if you don't have a special someone, enjoy the half priced chocolate tomorrow.


Anyway, games directed at females, and because it's Valentines day what better than a game about Romance?

From the title of the blog, you can guess I am talking about Princess Debut for the Nintendo DS. This game comes to us from Natsume, the creator of my favorite game series Harvest Moon. This game thoughg doesn't have anything to do with farming, it's about ball room dancing.

Hot anime style boys and ball room dancing, two things girl love. Plus add repetitive and easy gameplay  that I couldn't put down and HAD to finish every single story plot.

Before I continue, I would never had played this game if it wasn't for my life twin! (You know who you are) and this is dedicated to her! <3


So with this game, I think I got rapped up in my own fantasies of falling in love with a prince. Is is beccause this game mostly playes like a dating game. There is a different boy for any type of guy your into.


Vince- The blond innocent boyish type.

Cesar-The romantic womanizer type.

Luciano- The mysterious type, or the bad boy of ball room dancing.
Keifer-The "cool" guy
Klaus- The popular boy that all the girls want to get with
Liam- The quiet, romantic type that loves his sister and flowers.

See a guy for every type. So, there is a replay value so you can play it multipal times to get all the endings. There are even guys that you cannot get until you play through once.

So the story,
You are an average teenage girl who is bored with her life and wishes for a prince to come and take her away. You know every girls fantasy. Well low and behold a princess comes flying out of your closet, Ironically you look exactly alike. Through more dialogue you discover that she has to prepare to dance at the ball for her kingdom, but she doesn't have the skill to dance. So she sends you in her place.
Also, the princess has an adviser named Kip that knows your secret, and acts as a guide for the game.

So the a story of mistaken identity and switching places. We all know how this story is going to end!

So this part of the story you discover the game play. The only thing you do in this game besides talk to people, is dance. Your first lesson is with a magical rabbit, named Tony who acts as your dance partner if you don't have one. You can also have an ending with him if you decided to not have a partner with any of the princes.
Speaking of endings, it would take FOREVER for me to go threw each of the partners endings. If you want to discover all of the endings, okay the game yourself or check out a Lets Play on Youtube.

So gameplay! If you want to call tracing a line to the beat of public domain music. That's it. You keep replaying the same songs over and over, to gain experience and new songs or dresses.

If you wanted to make this a dating game, make a dating game. Why the same dancing game plays over and over? If you wanted the dancing aspect then that's fine, but make it like DDR or something? I enjoyed the game for the fantasy dating game aspect, I just felt forced to do the same things over and over.
There are basic rpg elements, you improve your dance by playing more difficult of songs. That really doesn't matter in the long run though. It's all about your accuracy. You can have high stats, but if you screw up on making your little frowny face, you get a bad score. There are rhythm games for the DS that are fun. Elite Beat Agents is one of the more, if not most, popular games for the DS. It's described as having great and entertaining graphics and fun gameplay. There is verity, and a feeling of more accomplished other than getting gifts from your potential man.

That's really all there is to this game. Find a prince you like, befriend him. Win the dance competition and get married.
The whole liar reveled plot comes about at the ending competition, and depending if you win or not is the factor on if the prince marries you or you go back home.
The whole gameplay is seeing the story unfold with the different boys and picking the right dialogue to woo him.

My favorite story was Luciano. His story is the hardest to finish, and I felt like I had achieved the most. He besides being the "bad boy" is the childhood friend who is also the best at dancing. He even leaves during the story plot, and if you didn't know that he comes back for the finale, you would lose all your hard work by picking another partner.

So what does this say for female games. That we don't need to have engaging game play to keep us interested? We just need pretty boys and dresses and true love! I shouldn't say anything though because I myself did play this game. I don't think so. I played this game because I like dating games, and that's what this game feels like to me, a dating game.
I wish for a hybrid of a dating game with a good rhythm game. I don't think my wish will be answered, but I am hopeful!
 If Natsume can do anything well, it's create characters that girls can find attractive.That is what brings people back to their games, they create simple characters that anyone can get attached too.
 This was something new that they were experimenting with. I guess if failed, because I haven't seen something similar from them.

Well that's post number two down! Just in time for Valentines Day! Have a great day!
And May the Stars Guide You! *Hoshi


PS. Any name ideas? Please?

The Little Mermaid NES

Princesses have become the punchline to a bad joke once you grow up and get past the little girls fantasy. Just look at our princess Peaches, just the prize at the end of a game. Princess Zelda kind of dodges that stereotype because without her you cannot achieve your goal, but she gets kidnapped in the end just like Peach. Then there are the first princesses that every little girl knew, The Disney verity.

Oh boy. Well there have been countless blogs and video reviews about them. Now a days, there are only a few video games about the princesses. They are so bad, like holy shit very short and crappy games. That's another blog though. I want to start at the NES, my very first gaming system, and my first princess game. The Little Mermaid. 

  This game was inspired by the popular Disney movie of the same title, I'll get to that eventually, but like most video game movie tittles this game has almost nothing to do with the movie.  

  It's also really short, I found a play threw on YouTube that was 20 min long for the entire game. 

  You start off turning the game on and there is a narrative about Ariel living on land with Eric while this is going on Ursula takes over the ocean. So Sebastian and Flounder find her and say they need her help, if she isn't stopped Ursula will probably take over the rest of the ocean.   I love that she will only probably take over. Like they are not sure the evil sea witch would want to take over the rest of the ocean, just like the Atlantic is okay for her. That probably is enough to make Ariel go and save her friends and the whole game is the journey to her castle. Then Ariel TELLS ERIC THAT SHE IS A MERMAID and changes back to try and save her friends.

  Well I don't now about you guys but I can find something wrong with this narrative....

If Ariel can talk how did she get legs if she didn't trade them for her voice? Even in the original story written by Hans Christian Anderson she didn't speak to the prince at all. So this game cannot take place during the movie. It cannot be after either because she has to explain to Eric that she is a mermaid and save her people. 

Also it's not certain that she will actually take over, they are only assuming because she cast a spell to control the fish. Also where the hell are the rest of the mermaids? Like her father King Triton? 

  When I was little I didn't really care about this, or even notice because this was one of the first games I ever played, and I don't think I could read very well at that time. I just wanted to play a game based off of my very favorite movie.

But still, how could these people not even create a simple narrative that went along with the movie? I mean its not like it was hard to see it, or even read the book because they weren't that far off from the original source. Okay, maybe it was...But the almost same basic story line is there, just I don't think Disney would be able to market a movie where the main character commits suicide. Disney does have it's dark moments, but not for 1989. 

We are not talking about the book or movie here. This game came out in 1991, so the VHS must have been available by then. Sorry it's my first review and I have already started harping. I would just like to know why this game got the half ass end of the stick? Aladdin on the SNES is very fun and changing. It also had something to do with the movie. To give them a little leeway this is the first Video Game for the NES that was based off a movie. All previous Disney games have been about Mickey, so maybe this was just the beginning. Yet, I still feel that the Princesses are miss treated, there is no need for them to suck. Lets just show you why it is very disappointing, and maybe (in my opinion) how it could be better. Maybe this is just where it all began. 

Lets start with...

level 1, Sea of Coral 

  I have to say even though there is no music in this game that sounds anything like the music from the movie. besides the main title theme, you could get Under The Sea for that and nothing else. Why not use it during the game? the tune for this level still gets stuck in my head. I find it the most memorable thing about the game. I even enjoyed the narrative music that shows up at the beginning and between levels. 

  I guess this was kinda, sorta, not really supposed to sound like "Under the Sea" because of the Caribbean theme to the sound, but I could just put on the soundtrack to the movie as I play. 

  Well the first thing you notice as you play is that you hit the A button to flip your tail and shoot bubbles, and you kill the first fish on the screen by making tilt float to the surface or picking it up and flinging it into other fish. Cool! 

I think these fish are piranha, but I don't think that piranha can survive in salt water...google check...Well I was wrong according to the Internet. Yay for fact checking! 

  Any who also on the first screen of the game there is a green shell that you can pick up, and you can also fling it at the fishes, but it would be better to use on the chests to get upgrades for your bubbles. The reddish ones make your bubble stronger, it helps in other levels where the enemies cannot be bubblized by the first bubble. The green ones I had no idea what they did as a kids , but apparently they add to the range of the bubble. So it goes farther? I guess that helps so u don't have ego get close to an enemy? 

  So this level is really short, so it should take too long to get threw. If you dig in the sand you can sometimes find a dingle hopper (fork) or a snorfblatt (pipe) they add to your overall score. It doesn't really matter because there is no high score board, or even a save feature, but get enough points you get a free life, so not entirely pointless.  Ya, so like Super Mario Brothers you have to beat the game in one sitting.  (Can't remember about the game over). When you die you lose all your power ups and start back at the beginning of the level you died on, which sucks in later level when you need those power ups for to kill the bosses quicker. 

  Speaking of bosses! The fist one you meat is the Great White Shark! I remember him from the movie! It would be really cool if there was like a chase sequence here where you have to dodge things and stop the shark by going through the end of an anchor. Instead you throw four fish at it and move up or down to move out of its way. It was only the first level boss. 

  Has anyone ever noticed that games that involve swimming really suck now a days? You think a 3D environment would made it better but everything that has been done with games underwater kinda sucks. Take The Legend of Zelda Majora's  mask, swimming around and fighting underwater really stunk. I always spammed the magic move and electrocuted the enemies. Also, Kingdom Hearts everyone I know hated The Little Mermaid level because he mechanics were hard to use. Sorry, mini rant over.

Level Two: The Sunken Ship 

In between the levels Flounder or Sebastian tells Ariel whats going on. "Ursula is headed to the sunken ship watch out Ariel" The only thing I don't understand is that Ariel already knows where Ursula lives, because in the narrative she was already tuned into a human by Ursula. Also, Ursula already took over the ocean so why is she swimming around? 

So once again no music from the movie. I didn't talk about the background in the last level, it has some nice depth to it. I mean your in a 2d plan but the shadows in the background aren't flat. So you feel like three is more depth to the water than just side scrolling. 

Also your power level and range transfer over so there is good consistency. I'm just thinking a head about the level boss, in the movie Ariel met the shark at the sunken ship...so I think they are going to be making up stuff. Like a lot of stuff. 

Also you get your first power upgrade, of three shooting bubbles instead of two. Now you can put the octopuses in the bubbles, if you want to open all the chests you find the other power up as well and it is like a fast shootings bubble thingie. 

But for some reason the range doesn't change over from power up. Also if you die, you go back to the beginning of the level and need to get your upgrades again. If you die at the boss, you respond at the screen next to the boss and end up with nothing.  

Also, you don't start the game off with full health, and you don't get any health by killing enemies. You have to shoot the enemies into little crevasses along the floor or in this case the ship. Sometimes you get another fork or pipe.

Also...Ghost? Or a fish with a sheet. I don't get it.

This level is a bit longer than the other, and is a little cluttered with enemies and projectiles. The game is a little unforgiving with the whole looking for health thing, and it comes down to memorization like a lot of older games. 

The boss of this level is Flotsam and Jetsam, you know Ursala's creepy eels. This is a good level design boss because they pop in and out of the port holes and you shoot crabs at them this time. 

Crabs he he, dirty. 

 When they do die, they fly off in another direction, no "My babies! My poor little poopsies." 

It's shitty because the crabs land on the ground and move left and right, so you have to dodge them and the eels at the same time. Also they can only be put in the bubbles while they are walking,

So like I said before, cluttered is a good way to describe a lot of theses levels. Just be on your, fins.    

I wonder if Ariel had to go over all this stuff the last time she went to go see Ursala. 

Level 3: Sea of Ice 

Sebastian announces, "That fiendish Ursula froze the sea. Be careful. The ice is very slippery"

This level is slippery, like Sebastian warned us. It takes place closer to the surface, so you can jump and skid on top of the ice. It's a little annoying like all ice levels. 

It's really easy though. Like easier than the last level easy. The fish are easy to dodge, there are two new enemies, a Sea horse that moves up and down, and frozen fish that fall from the air. Things are feeling a little repetitive, now. They don't add anything new to each level besides holes and ice. It would be nice for something new. There is nothing memorable about going through a level of ice and the rest of the the weird landscapes. 

Yea, the boss level is a walrus that flings the freeze dried fish a you. Or shells, that you hit him with and beet the level. I can under stand the "freezing of a section of the ocean" but a walrus? Don't they live on the polls? Or did they just migrate to this part of the ocean. I know this movie was a love story, and not totally action packed but there are things they could have done with it. Besides the Shark chasing seen, when the boat sinks, escaping Ursala's after Ariel loses her voice, driving the cart down. You see where I am going with this? There is a way to follow the movie without making it dull. 

I started to ramble a bit, which was nice because I didn't have much to say about this level.

Level 4: Undersea Volcano 

 "There is something strange going on around the sea volcanoes. Be careful!! Something bad may be waiting for you" oh Founder your always looking out for me aren't you!

Today, this level still gives me problems. I don't know if it because I still sucks like I did when I was six, or its just a level with an unfair difficulty.  Remember when I said this game was cluttered? I think this level is the prime example.  There are so many things coming at you from all angles. There is lava...I'm guessing shooting out from the ground, and then it falls from the top of the ocean. It is almost impossible to dodge them so you just have to speed to the next screen. 

Where you find another new enemy, the flounder (Not your friend). These guys are wicked annoying because they pop out at random, and they cannot be killed, just frozen when you hit them so just stay above them so they can be avoided. Also, the FUCKING SHRIMP!!! OMG these annoying little thing go around the screen chasing you around and they move fast so are hard to hit. Be careful.  

Yes, in this level your going to be screwed if you die here. I don't know how many times I have just restarted the game because I lost my power up.  There is a way to find your power ups again threw the normal game play, but it raises the level of difficulty only because there are so many enemies that come flying at you. 

It won't take you too long to rush threw the other levels now that they have been played. If you do decide to go on with a continue, just be prepared for some frustration. 
There is a strait screen that has volcano's erupting from the top of the screen, so you have to time your swimming between the bursts, and avoid the enemies at the bottom of the screen. It's a real pain, but take your time.

The boss is an under water pirate ship that shoots sea urchins and fish at you. The pattern of the projectiles does not change, but they fall in different ways. Even the fish so the only way you can screw up is to get hit or shoot the sea urchins. I'm not sure why, I know that it shouldn't, but my suspension of disbelief kicks in. Only because I cannot figure out how those cannons are going of. 

Level 5: Ursula's Castle 

"Ursula's Castle is like a magical maze. Sometimes you will walk through a door into a room and when you walk back out the same door, you will be in a different place."

This level is just what the crab say, minus the walking, your swimming actually. This level isn't too hard to figure out, thankfully your not timed so you have the time to find out what door goes where. The key is to go into the doors that have the opened eyes. Other than that, it is not to hard of a level. If you don't have any power ups the chests are trial and error. Some of them take a bit of thinking to get to because there are a lot of fake chests.
I haven't talked about this before, but starting in level 3, there are some chests that contain nothing. So it can just come down to trial and error between two chests. By this time I just ignored the chests because I still had my power ups. If you want the extra points for some lives you can try to figure out what ones are which. Or go on GameFaqs. The enemy that might give you some issues are these big fish that spit out tiny ones.
The "maze" aspects just kind of stops after a few screens and it is linear again with only two enemies per screen. Until you get to Ursula.
You know you are going into her layer when you have to swim through those creepy plant things, like from the movie. Those mermaids she couldn't pay her so she "had to rake'em cross the coals".

Ursula herself isn't hard. She stays in one place, and shoots enemies from her cauldron  they are little sparkles till they land and then could be fish, urchins or seahorses. Just avoid the projectiles by hanging out under her and shooting her in the face from below.

Next Level is the last! And its just the final boss fight

Final Level: Giant Ursula

This time both Flounder and Sebastian come and talk to you. Did they just follow you around the whole time? "Ariel, it looks like Ursula is back. But this time she is gigantic  What should we do, Ariel? Ursula has become much more powerful."  

Now its time for the final show down. Ursula is a lot bigger than before, and has the crown and the trident. Almost like the final battle from the movie, but she is still underwater. The big thing is that she can control the tides, so sometimes your forced left or right. When this happens the speed of the enemies you have to hit her with changes so you need to just pay attention. Once you get the hang of it, aim for her head and she dies in five hits. Then you win!!!

Under the Sea time!!
The last seen is basically like the movie, Ariel spends day after day looking at the land. Her father realizes she is in love and gives her legs. "Ariel returned to the land and went to see Eric. He was very happy when he saw her and he swept her into his arms. They got married and lived happily ever after. The End."
Under the Sea repeats forever until you turn the game off. 

Wow that grammar. I felt like I was listing to a little kid tell me about the story they saw. I was just waiting for, "and then the prince saw her, and then he smiled." 

But YAY you beet the first Princess Game to be released on the NES!
Man it wasn't that great. Challenging at some points, but there was just so much more they could have done with it. Ursula was a joke, actually all of the bosses were. The most difficult one was probably Flotsam and Jetsam, but that is because of the limited space at the bottom of the screen, so it's not really hard just cluttered. 

I'm not going to say that this game wasn't fun though. I can still pick it up and play it today. Maybe because it was a Disney game it was directed at little kids. At that age all videogames are hard. The thing is Ariel I believe gave birth to the new active princess. Before her, the Princess didn't do much. Snow White: runs in the woods, cleans, apple, sleep, kiss, happily ever after. Cinderella: cleans, ball, locked in tower, shoe, happily ever after. Sleeping Beauty: walks in woods, cleans, pricks finger, sleeps, kiss, happily ever after. 

Now with Ariel, she was chased by a shark, SAVES the prince from drowning, losses her voice and doesn't speak for almost 20% of the movie, but after she gets her voice back she faces off with the giant Ursala's. after Ariel the princesses did more stuff, Belle had a personality, she used her mind and fought back for the beast, and even got the courage to run away from him. So just because she didn't learn a lesson from everything that happens, who said it was her that needed to? It was everyone around her that changed because she broke out of the normal. 
Then the crappy squeal happened. We will get to game eventually. I just have to buy it first and I REALLY don't want to. 


So that's it for my first review ever. I would really like to know what you guys think! If this is a good idea I defiantly want to do more. I haven't picked the next game I want to talk about, but I have a lot to choose from.
The Princess game for the Wii.
Cooking Mama
Harvest Moon
The Sims

I'm planing on so much. I just need your feedback.

Also, I need help with picking out a name, and would appreciate your ideas. 

May The Stars Always Guide you Home
Hoshi

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