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Filed under: Features

During its first four days on sale in the US, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure sold approximately 30,000 copies. A week later, it had added 15,000 to that total. Hardly breathtaking figures in a nation with over 3.7 million Wiis in its bedrooms and living rooms, and the game also struggled to leave a mark in its homeland, where it is known as Takarajima Z: Barbaros no Hihou. There's no doubt about it: Capcom's splendid piratey adventure has, as much as it saddens us, flopped.

On the face of it, the game's commercial failure might seem odd. After all, Zack & Wiki earned eye-catching scores from a number of reviewers, while IGN's Matt Casamassina loved it so much, he frothed and raved about it non-stop for four months, before slapping a 90% on it come review time. Its bright, attractive visuals, cute character design, and puzzley action were seemingly the perfect ingredients for massmarket appeal. Ultimately however, it sank faster than a holed galleon.

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With the glorious benefit of hindsight, numerous factors could explain the consumer apathy that faces Zack & Wiki. It might well be the lack of marketing power behind the game. It may be that everybody has been saving their pennies for Super Mario Galaxy. It could even be that it suffers from what has become widely known as "Viva Piñata syndrome": it's too cutesy for adults, and too complex for kids.

Or it could simply be too difficult, period.

Indeed, Zack & Wiki is no pushover. Admirably, producer Hironobu Takeshita has been unrepentant about including challenges that strain the noggin. In fact, it sounded as though he'd had quite enough of the moaning in one recent interview: "There are puzzles where, if you don't look properly at the hints in the start, you're going to be in trouble. You have to look at the screen -- all the answers that you need to solve the puzzles are there on the screen. There are some people who say they don't understand the puzzles, but really, they're not paying enough attention."

Yet as commendable as Takeshita-san's defiance is, there will be plenty of publishers sitting up and taking notice of his game's lumbering commercial performance, and mentally shelving any future plans they might have had to release Wii games that challenge players to think.

It's not just Zack & Wiki that may influence those with the purse strings to adopt a more risk-averse approach. Super Mario Galaxy, another hardcore favorite, was released in Japan last week, and immediately leapt to the top of the sales charts, selling 251,000 copies in its first full week on sale. That makes it far more successful than poor old Zack & Wiki, but let's not forget that the casual gamer-friendly Mario Party 8 had even greater first week sales (265,000). In such a scenario, the message being sent to publishers is loud and clear: more party, less epic.

Reggie and Shiggy, bless them, have previously taken time out to reassure the hardcore that Nintendo won't abandon them, and with Ninty's vast resources to spare, not to mention its history of catering to core gamers, we're happy to take their word for it.

Will third-party developers be as patient? Historically, Capcom has been happy to push epic games and unique content. But if you want our honest-to-God advice, don't go booking time off for Zack & Wiki 2 yet.

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Filed under: News

Slowly but surely, the threat of European wallets being completely stripped clean before the start of December is diminishing. In fact, we might even have cash remaining (though hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves).

Only a few days ago, we received the unhappy news that Zack & Wiki will miss the holidays in Europe, and Kuju's purdy Geometry Wars: Galaxies has now joined it. The shape-based shmup (try saying that quickly), once the cause of many a bleary-eyed, late-night session on the Xbox Live Arcade for this writer, will instead arrive on January 18th.

Meanwhile, the US will also be waiting a little longer for the game, but the delay is far less severe -- just one week, according to GameStop, which means the title will now launch on November 20th. The DS version, it's worth noting, is still due on the 27th.

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Filed under: News

As if further proof was needed that Nintendo regards Australia as the red-headed stepchild of the global games market, word reached our ears today that our friends down under will be missing out on a host of first-party and second-party Wii titles in 2007.

Battalion Wars 2, Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, and Endless Ocean are the fallen, with all four now rudely shunted back to 2008. Not only that, but Aussies can join Europeans in waving goodbye to Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure this year, after Capcom announced it was pushing back the game's December 13 release to "early 2008."

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Filed under: News

Live in Europe? Looking forward to getting your mitts on Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure? Sadly, it looks like you're going to have to wait -- past the holidays, even. The much-hyped Capcom title has been delayed until January '08 for European gamers. But look at it this way: at least it's a good way to kick off the new year, right? Right? No? It's all we had, guys. Sorry. For now, may we recommend consoling yourselves with some of this media?

[Via NeoGAF]

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Filed under: Metareview

For once, it looks like something may almost live up to the hype: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure is getting great reviews (though of course, the best comes from the game's biggest fan). Despite the two -- count 'em! -- less-than-awesome titles, the game seems to have managed to pull through into the realm of eminently playable.

IGN -- 90%: After Matt Casamassina stopped hyperventilating over the title, he regained consciousness and found that the control scheme worked really well with the Wii's setup: "It's a strange thing to write, but despite utilizing a control method more akin to classic adventure games - you don't actually control the hero and his sidekick so much as you direct them through levels - Z&W really uses the Wii remote well. If you've been playing videogames as long as we have, you'll be able to recall those old-time favorites - your Kings Quests, Monkey Islands and Full Throttles - whose point-and-click setup and clever hurdles drew you in."

Game Informer (second opinion) -- 78%: Another Matt, Matt Helgeson, to be exact, didn't quite wet himself over the game: "It's certainly charming, and its Wii remote controlled action/puzzle gameplay is nothing if not unique. At its best, it gives you a mix of intriguing puzzles and novel motion-based minigames that's like nothing else out there. However, this game is frustrating as often as it's fun, and at times the Wii control features seem to be doing little more than making the gameplay sloppier and less exact than it should be. It's an interesting concept that could have used a bit more polish."

Gamespot -- 85%: Gamespot let a dude who wasn't named Matt have a crack at the title, and while he thought it was a little disjointed, overall, Zack & Wiki comes out on top: "All told, Zack & Wiki is a winner. It might not win you over with its characters or story, but it will with its wonderfully crafted puzzles and sharp control mechanics. It's just the sort of game Wii owners have been pining for, the sort of game that blends accessibility and challenge into one seamless whole, and does it without devolving into yet another minigame collection."

All in all, it looks like the hype train has pulled through the station and is chugging along at a good clip. Are you on it?

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Filed under: Wii Warm Up

The Nintendo DS really revived the point-and-click adventure genre for consoles. Because of the nature of the Wiimote, we're not surprised to see some point-and-click action hit the Wii, too. With games like Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure and Harvey Birdman leading the way, we're sure that the Wii will see many others of this breed to come.

Will you welcome these types of games to the Wii with open arms, or spit at them as they walk through the door? Perhaps you prefer to keep your point-and-click portable? Or maybe you just (shudder) hate the genre in general?

So which is it: yea to point-and-click, or nay?

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Filed under: Friday Video

After this promo for Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, we just may be buying a ticket on the hype train. Not only is this trailer long and content-rich (in fact, those who don't like to see a lot from a game may want to watch only the beginning), but it's full of hilarious cartoon clichés. We just couldn't resist a chance to show off adorable pirates in this week's video spotlight.

[Via GoNintendo]

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Filed under: News, Screens

Some kind of Ice World may be standard fare for video games, but the one in Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure at least has looks going for it. The cartoony art style found throughout the game lends the ice level a beautiful, clean appearance that is enhanced by the bright blues used to render the ice. But that's just our opinion, of course.

The latest screens from Capcom's pirate adventure also highlight (get it) the multiplayer screen-writing mode, which nobody will ever use for its intended purpose, ever. We still love it, because we like being childish. For more Zack and Wiki, check Dengeki for a new WMV video of the game.

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Filed under: News

Game|Life's hands-on impressions of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure at the Tokyo Game Show uncovered a pretty interesting pseudo-multiplayer feature: up to three of your friends can draw on the screen with their remotes. They'll be able to direct you to clues, point out characters that resemble C-list celebrities, and doodle enlarged genitalia over every square inch of the adventure title.

Remember when you used to watch your friends or siblings play a video game while you idly waited your turn? Unless they were playing something like Sonic 2, you didn't have much to do except hope that they would died soon, both in the game and in real life. Now you'll have something else besides murderous plots to keep your mind busy! Capcom's effort to turn spectators into participants really speaks a lot of the developer's commitment to making Zack & Wiki as fun as possible for everyone.

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Filed under: Features

Everyone has an opinion about what makes a good game. You've got one, we've got one (or several, as there are several of us here), and the reviewers, they all have their own preferences, too. Sometimes, however, those opinions all just seem to coincide, and then we know a game is truly something special.

As part of our celebration of the first year of the Wii, we thought we would do a comparison of the best-reviewed games released for the system alongside our picks for the top games. Sometimes they overlap, but we slipped in a few extras that we feel just might be worth your time.
The Year's Best Games (according to metascores)

1. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo): 97%
2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo): 95%
3. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom): 91%
4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo): 90%
5. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Capcom) 87%

These are the top five games, per review scores, from the first year of the Wii. The first thing that one might notice is there are only two publishers represented here: Capcom, and of course, Nintendo. The second is that these are all pretty solid games, whether or not they're your particular cup of tea. Are they the best the system has had to offer this year? Clearly, someone thinks so. But we're not sure we agree ... at least, not completely.


The Year's Best Games (according to Wii Fanboy staff)

1. Super Mario Galaxy
2. Wii Sports
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
5. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

But here's where things get interesting. Since we're not scoring these games (except by racking up bruises while we fistfight over the final list), 2-4 all ended up tied with the same number of votes -- and every one of us had at least one other game that we thought should be featured. After all, we're serious fans, and this is serious business here; we're choosing the best games from the console's first year! We can't be limited in our selection criteria!

Wii Fanboy's Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

• WarioWare: Smooth Moves
• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
• Guitar Hero 3
• Mercury Meltdown Revolution
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
• Rayman Raving Rabbids
• Cooking Mama

Some of these games still manage to rank pretty highly by metascore; Guitar Hero 3 rolls in at number six, while others are way down that list. But this is about more than just scoring, or graphics, difficulty, and control schemes -- this is about the games you can have fun with, by yourself or with family and friends. Looking back at the first year of the Wii, we see options. We see choice. We see a lot of quality in gaming, including one of the highest rated games of all time. Many of us have had moments of doubt this year, but breaking it down, Wii owners really do have a lot to be happy about -- and let's hope next year is even better.

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