Arcade Castle - Episode 18 - Mario Party e Card Game!

02/18/19 • 57 min

As the seasons turn and weather phenomenon shake the very foundations of the Arcade Castle, another year passes and Arcade Castle finds itself once again in February, the month of its birth. Per tradition (and the bylaws of the land) Arcade Castle must find a game that is part board game and part video game to play to try and delve into the narrow, yet obfuscated, valley that resides in the twin realms of video game and board game, and glean its secrets.

However, no longer can Arcade Castle rely upon the Master Strategy Series from the Odyssey II, as all three games have been played and that odyssey is, alas, at an end. However, they turn their attention to a device that was released two decades after the Master Strategy Series: The Nintendo E-Reader. This device, scanning 'dot-codes' that are printed on trading cards, can turn the analog into digital, the playing card into a video game. But are the two mediums truly integrated?

In Episode 18, Arcade Castle played the Mario Party e Card Game, a card game that requires (under some game settings) the Nintendo E-Reader to resolve conflicts between players; instead of playing the card game to win or lose a battle, players will find themselves playing video games on a Gameboy Advance to seek victory. In Mario Party e, players will be collecting coins to purchase a Superstar Hat, Superstar Suit, and Superstar Shoes in order to obtain a Superstar and win the game. But how well does this card game capture the multiplayer phenomenon that is Mario Party? Further, does this item truly combine the digital and analog realms into a unified experience?

********************************** Additionally, you can find us on Itunes (and a number of podcast services), Facebook, BoardGameGeek, and Instagram! Check out our videos on Youtube! You can contact us at: [email protected] Also, if you like the new theme song, check out Tony Robot at: www.facebook.com/louisvilletonyrobot/ ***********************************

Episode Outline:

00:-00 - 25:00: Arcade Castle discusses at length the Mario Party Series; talking about history, strategy, gameplay, and expectations, John and Patrick touch upon every aspect of the multiplayer smash hit. Additionally, they discuss the E-Reader and Barcode Reading technology.

25:00 - 40:00: Arcade Castle examines the components, strategy, and gameplay of the Mario Party e Card Game. They look at the initial set of rules that allow play without utilizing the Nintendo E-Reader

40:00-60:00: After playing the game without the Nintendo E-Reader, Arcade Castle played the game using the video game accessory and examines how its integration changes the rules, gameplay, and strategy of the Mario Party e Card Game.

Episode Outline:

Previous Episode

Arcade Castle - Episode 17 - Kirby Double Feature!

In Episode 17 of the Arcade Castle Podcast, Arcade Castle learned to be wary of having guests on the show when their star guest, Kirby, decides that John and Patrick are more suited for consumption than communication and, after surviving the expansive void that is the fluffy interior of Kirby, Arcade Castle finds itself stranded in Dream Land as Kirby collapses from the powers he absorbed from John and Patrick.

Stranded in the Whispy Woods, Arcade Castle decides the best way to pass the time while Kirby recovers is to play two Kirby themed card games by playing Kirby No Copitoru! (aka the Kirby Copy Abilities Battle! Card Game) from 2015 and the Kirby Sweets Party Board Game from 2017, both of which were published by Ensky in conjunction with HAL Laboratories and Nintendo.

In Kirby No Copitoru! Players start off as a basic Kirby character in this mini-deck building game. As players defeat enemies from the different colored suits (Green, Red, Blue, Yellow) shuffled together into the main enemy deck, players are able to obtain new Kirby abilities for their deck matching the suit(s) of the enemy(ies) they defeated. In subsequent rounds, players will be able to play these new cards to enact powerful abilities that will allow them to defeat some of the most powerful enemies in the game, including King Dedede. As players collect Kirby ability cards and defeat enemies, they will slowly collect victory points and, by the end of round 7, the player with the most victory points is the winner!

The second card game Arcade Castle played while waiting for Kirby to come out of his coma was the Kirby Sweets Party board game. In this game, players are collecting ingredients to complete sweets in preparation for the Sweets Party. However, if they don't complete their sweets or invite the wrong guests they may find victory hard to achieve!

In this unexpected 'On the Road' episode, Arcade Castle looks at the history and impact of the Kirby franchise from its inception to the most recent titles in the franchise on the Nintendo Switch. They talk about the evolution of the pink puffball as well as look at the wide variety of games Kirby has been in and how, appropriately enough, Kirby is able to absorb whatever game genre throws at him and use it to great success.

********************************** Webpage: www.arcadecastle.com Additionally, you can find us on Itunes (and a number of podcast services), Facebook, BoardGameGeek, and Instagram! Check out our videos on Youtube! You can contact us at: [email protected] Also, if you like the new theme song, check out Tony Robot at: www.facebook.com/louisvilletonyrobot/ ***********************************

Episode Outline:

00:00-25:00 - Arcade Castle takes an in-depth look at Kirby the character, and Kirby the franchise as they take a look at the videogame franchse from past to present as well as look at the other cultural offerings Kirby has to offer. In addition, another segment of Once Upon a Powerup discusses how Kirby got his name.

25:00-50:00 - Arcade Castle looks at the first card game of the day by playing and discussing the Kirby No Copitoru! card game. Explaining the rules, its strengths, its weaknesses, and how to improve it (if possible).

50:00 - 75:00 - Arcade Castle turns its attentions to the second title played today: The Kirby Sweets Board Game. In addition to playing and critiquing the board game, Arcade Castle invites one of the members of Board Game Blitz onto the podcast to talk about their love for Kirby as well as their thoughts on the Kirby Sweets Party Board Game in a new segment called Fuzzy Memories. After giving their final recommendations, Arcade Castle attempts to find a way to leave the Whispy Woods and get back to Arcade Castle in time for Episode 18.

Next Episode

Arcade Castle - Episode 19 - Warcraft!

In Episode 19, Arcade Castle finds itself in the Warcraft Universe and, as luck would have it, they find a copy of the Warcraft Board Game, released in 2003 by Fantasy Flight and Blizzard Entertainment, based off of the landmark Real-Time Strategy (RTS) computer game Warcraft: Orcs and Humans from 1994.

In this episode, Arcade Castle looks at the historic Warcraft franchise that spans across the decades and spawned the global phenomenon that itself has last going on twenty years: World of Warcraft. They talk about the key components of the original Warcraft title and see how well it was adapted to the tabletop. Can a game that is 'real-time' with simultaneous actions and everyone playing at once be crafted into a board game where players take turns?

Additionally, this is not the first RTS board game adaptation Arcade Castle has encountered on the podcast, as they first played the Age of Mythology in 2016.

(Click this link to check out Episode 03 that covered the Age of Mythology)

Arcade Castle hopes that by comparing these two games side by side it will highlight what developers feel represents the genre, and what game mechanics, rules, and player interaction designers believe capture the digital code of the video games in the board game format.

Episode Outline:

00:00-20:00 - Arcade Castle touches upon the RTS genre, instead wanting to focus their attention on the Warcraft RTS franchise, and the Warcraft universe at large. They discuss the history and impact of not only Warcraft on the RTS genre, but the societal impact of the brand.

20:00-40:00 - Arcade Castle takes an in-depth look at the Warcraft Boardgame, how it plays, the rules, mechanics, and player interaction and try to determine how well it succeeds in adapting this classic RTS title

40:00-60:00 - Arcade Castle compare the strategies you bring to the RTS videogame genre and the strategies you bring to the Warcraft Boardgame and see if there are any commonalities between the two. Additionally, they compare the Warcraft Board Game and the Age of Mythology Board and see which game was a better adaptation of the Real-Time Strategy genre.