There's arcade compilations, games that try to emulate the arcade experience, and then there's Maboshi's Arcade.
Designed by Panekit creator Kuniaki Watanabe, Maboshi is a rare breed of game that not only tries to pay homage to a very specific subset of games, but attempts to elevate it, being on a different, more advanced platform and using the unique features of the system. You're presented three insanely simple, high score challenge games; titles that would have been around in the era of Qix, but with a brilliant central hook that ties it all together.
Maboshi contains three windows that you can choose to play any of the three games; at any point, someone else can jump in without interrupting your own play session and occupy one of the windows next to you, allowing each of you to chase your personal best side-by-side. This is a fascinating idea in and of itself, but what pushes it into brilliance is how each of the games can interact with one another, debris and projectiles flying from window to window that can help assist anyone playing adjacent to you.
In an early review for the game, indie dev Anna Anne Anthropy coined the phrase "cooperative single-player" to describe it, which really helps emphasize how unique and uncontested this concept is in the grand scheme of things. The individual games are addicting and enjoyable enough to play on your own, but chasing after your personal best side by side with a friend and being able to help one another (intentional or otherwise) is such an incredible concept, filled with untapped potential for other games to explore.
In order to test your understanding of these cooperative mechanics, the game even challenges you to assist a passive character named "Mr. Maboshi" who will ask you to help him reach a certain score using the knock-on affect system as he occupies the window next to you, even enticing you with a reward should you help him reach his milestone.
All of this would be moot of course, if the games themselves weren't enjoyable, but as I mentioned before, all three of them are addictive and enticing, though in my personal opinion one of them (Square) falls just short of the other two in terms of design, being neither as fast-paced or intuitive. The game even allows you to send co-op free versions of the games to your DS via download play, if you want to practice them on the go, and while the brilliance is somewhat lost without the overlap feature, it's a testament to how fun the games are that I still enjoyed playing them on their own.
Earlier, I alluded that Maboshi is, as its own title would imply, a game trying to pay homage to arcades or game centers. But it captures an element that most arcade tribute titles miss, which is the social aspect; playing completely different cabinets, completely different games shoulder to shoulder with someone else, and then using the fact it's all on one compilation to its advantage, using its single-player co-op system to create a unique, memorable multiplayer experience that can be simply enjoyed passively with friends, actively cooperating or even just enjoying it on your own. No matter which way you play it, Maboshi is truly an overlooked masterpiece for the Wii, chock-full of ideas that are begging to be expanded on further in other titles, or for a rerelease to save it from its badly-preserved status.
Designed by Panekit creator Kuniaki Watanabe, Maboshi is a rare breed of game that not only tries to pay homage to a very specific subset of games, but attempts to elevate it, being on a different, more advanced platform and using the unique features of the system. You're presented three insanely simple, high score challenge games; titles that would have been around in the era of Qix, but with a brilliant central hook that ties it all together.
Maboshi contains three windows that you can choose to play any of the three games; at any point, someone else can jump in without interrupting your own play session and occupy one of the windows next to you, allowing each of you to chase your personal best side-by-side. This is a fascinating idea in and of itself, but what pushes it into brilliance is how each of the games can interact with one another, debris and projectiles flying from window to window that can help assist anyone playing adjacent to you.
In an early review for the game, indie dev Anna Anne Anthropy coined the phrase "cooperative single-player" to describe it, which really helps emphasize how unique and uncontested this concept is in the grand scheme of things. The individual games are addicting and enjoyable enough to play on your own, but chasing after your personal best side by side with a friend and being able to help one another (intentional or otherwise) is such an incredible concept, filled with untapped potential for other games to explore.
In order to test your understanding of these cooperative mechanics, the game even challenges you to assist a passive character named "Mr. Maboshi" who will ask you to help him reach a certain score using the knock-on affect system as he occupies the window next to you, even enticing you with a reward should you help him reach his milestone.
All of this would be moot of course, if the games themselves weren't enjoyable, but as I mentioned before, all three of them are addictive and enticing, though in my personal opinion one of them (Square) falls just short of the other two in terms of design, being neither as fast-paced or intuitive. The game even allows you to send co-op free versions of the games to your DS via download play, if you want to practice them on the go, and while the brilliance is somewhat lost without the overlap feature, it's a testament to how fun the games are that I still enjoyed playing them on their own.
Earlier, I alluded that Maboshi is, as its own title would imply, a game trying to pay homage to arcades or game centers. But it captures an element that most arcade tribute titles miss, which is the social aspect; playing completely different cabinets, completely different games shoulder to shoulder with someone else, and then using the fact it's all on one compilation to its advantage, using its single-player co-op system to create a unique, memorable multiplayer experience that can be simply enjoyed passively with friends, actively cooperating or even just enjoying it on your own. No matter which way you play it, Maboshi is truly an overlooked masterpiece for the Wii, chock-full of ideas that are begging to be expanded on further in other titles, or for a rerelease to save it from its badly-preserved status.