The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, is a video game convention open to the public. Video game developers show off their upcoming line-up to gamers, so it’s kind of like a mini-E3. There is a PAX convention in Boston, Australia, and a new one earlier this year that I went to in San Antonio, TX called PAX South. But the original one that started it all is in Seattle, so it’s called PAX Prime. This past weekend I attended PAX Prime, so for the rest of the week, I’ll be posting articles and pictures of what I did there. So we’ll get started with the first day of the show! And forgive me for not covering ALL the games shown at PAX. I’m only one person and can’t do it all!

20XX

The first meeting I had on Friday was with a developer called Batterystaple Games making an upcoming Steam PC title that is heavily inspired by Mega Man X. It’s called 20XX and is a 2-D platformer run and gun game that you can play two players in co-op. You can choose to play as a blue robot who can shoot and charge shots from an arm cannon, or a red robot who uses a sword. Both characters can use secondary weapons, dash, wall jump, and defeat bosses behind gates. So yeah, if you’ve played Mega Man X before, you’ll be able to jump right into this one. I love how two people can play at the same time. My little brother Jeff and I enjoyed Mega Man X back in the day, so we would’ve loved that feature back then. The cartoony graphics also look great. 20XX is so much like Mega Man X that I’m surprised Capcom hasn’t said anything about it. Actually what Capcom should do is have these developers make Mega Man X games for them (either them or WayForward). Anyway, I hope this game makes its way to consoles later, as it seems like a perfect fit for them.

Capcom

And speaking of Mega Man and Capcom, they were also at PAX. Capcom was showing off a classic Mega Man compilation called Mega Man Legacy Collection, which has the first six games on it. Although I’m a little disappointed by that since the Mega Man collection we got before this one had even more titles on it, but oh well.

And here’s a picture of a cool Mega Man statue at their booth.

Capcom also showed off Street Fighter V, which was always crowded. And some Resident Evil game which I didn’t pay much attention to. At the Street Fighter V area, you could get your picture taken with cosplayers dressed as Street Fighter stars Ryu and Chun-Li. What? No Cammy? She’s my favorite character.

Cupkins

My last meeting of the day was with a Canadian developer called Joydrop featuring a mobile and tablet game called Cupkins. This game is like those match-three puzzlers such as Bejeweled or Candy Crush; except instead of matching colors, here you must slide Russian nesting dolls come to life so that small ones fit inside larger ones. Once you have filled two inside a third one, it’ll hop off the board leaving room for more. This game has tons of gameplay modes and strategic possibilities. Some levels you might have limited moves or have to deal with new dolls hopping on the playfield, or you must fill dolls so they can crack through tiles below them. The game has a story featuring Russian legends and lore, as well as a Farmville aspect as you build a village for the Cupkins to live in. While it is similar to other tablet puzzlers, it had its own gameplay aspects and gimmicks, so it didn’t feel like a rip-off at all. Cupkins currently doesn’t have a publisher, but I hope they get one soon! Maybe they found one at PAX? I hope so! The cool thing is you CAN play the first few levels on Facebook, so check it out if you’re interested.

Nintendo

Nintendo always has a big presence at PAX Prime with many games I’ll be looking forward to playing. And this year was no exception. As usual, they spread out their wares in various locations at the show. They have a booth on the floor, as well as demos near the escalators at the handheld games lounge.

On Level 2 near the escalators, they showed off three games. One was the 3DS version of Skylanders Supercharged. While the bigger console versions of this new entry feature both action and vehicles, the 3DS version is strictly a racing game. I hope I get to review both versions when they come out, though. They also had a selection of new Skylander figures and vehicles you could play with, too. Here is a picture:

There was also a stand with new Amiibo figures I was drooling over.

They also showed off Chibi-Robo: Zip Lash. This new game starring the pocket-sized robot is a 2-D platformer, and he uses his plug cord to smack enemies and latch onto platforms to pull himself up. I love the Chibi-Robo games and already have this one pre-ordered. At the show, if you could find three hidden Chibi-Robo stickers, take a picture of them, and then play the game, you could get a Chibi-Robo key chain. Guess what I did at the show? Yup, take pictures of Chibi-Robo stickers! I really wanted that keychain.

Another thing I really wanted on Level 2 was the free Zelda: Triforce Heroes T-shirt they were giving out. But you had to wait in a long line to play the game to get one. Luckily with the help of a family member, I was able to do just that. Big thanks for my dad for waiting in line while I attended some meetings, so I could come back and take his place to play the game! If you’ve ever played Four Swords Adventures, you know what to expect from this one, except you only have three Links, so I’ve gotten in the bad habit of calling it Three Swords. You can pick up each other and walk around like a totem, which is handy for reaching switches taller than you. Graphics look like the visuals found in A Link Between Worlds. You can play local or online with three people, but not two. Or you can just go at it by yourself. The game comes out in October, so I’m looking forward to it anyway, as Four Swords Adventures was one of the best multiplayer game experiences I’ve ever had.

On Level 3 in the handheld lounge area by the escalators, they had StarFox Zero, the new StarFox game coming out on Wii U. I didn’t wait in the long line to play it, as I don’t think you got any freebies by doing so. But you could sit in these really cool Arwing cockpit chairs.

There was also a separate section on the show floor just for Pokemon. You could play free-to-play 3DS games like Pokemon Rumble World or Pokemon Shuffle, and try the card game on both tabletop and tablet forms, but I’m not sure if you could try the new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game coming out or not.

There was a long line at the Pokemon booth, and it took me a while to figure out what it was for. But it was to get your picture taken with Pikachu. He sure is a popular little critter.

At Nintendo’s main booth on the show floor, you could watch a demo of Xenoblade Chronicles, which I didn’t care about. Super Mario Maker had the biggest area, but since that game comes out in a couple of weeks, I didn’t wait in line to play it. You could also play Splatoon, which was disappointing since that game has been out since May. It is a fun game, but I’d rather they use that space for other new games I wanted to play, like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer or Yoshi’s Woolly World. Very disappointing. But here is a picture of their main booth.

While Nintendo still had a lot of cool stuff, aside from missing games I wanted to play, Nintendo was disappointing in other ways at PAX, too. The way they set up lines was awful, especially in the Zelda area. Nintendo employees didn’t know answers to questions I had about games that come out in mere weeks. And I was supposed to have a meeting to play Runbow, a new indie game for the Wii U. I was told it would be at Nintendo’s booth. Last year they had a special indie section at their booth so I figured it would be there. But it wasn’t and every Nintendo employee I asked didn’t know. Turns out they had an indie lounge at a nearby hotel, but I didn’t find that out until after the show. So I ended up missing the Runbow meeting. Luckily I already have a review code, so expect a review of Runbow soon. But I really hate missing meetings. I know that not every Nintendo employee will know the answers to all my questions, but it just didn’t feel like they had their act all together this time.

TellTale Games’ Minecraft: Story Mode

But while Nintendo still had some good games at PAX, the best thing about the first day was at TellTale’s booth. TellTale makes a lot of point and click adventures, and has gotten quite popular lately with their Walking Dead and Game of Thrones titles. And while I’m happy that TellTale has gotten much-deserved fame because of those games, the more dark and serious themes in them just aren’t my cup of tea. I really liked it better when they made more whimsical games like Sam & Max and Wallace & Gromit. But now I have a game from them that I can be excited about again, as they showed off for the first time Minecraft: Story Mode, a point and click adventure set in the blocky yet popular Minecraft universe. Which is strange for me to be excited for that game since I’ve never played Minecraft before. I’m afraid if I start, I’ll get too addicted to it. But my little brothers sure like Minecraft!

Anyway, their booth was one big block, and you had to wait in line to play a demo of the game inside. Luckily, TellTale’s employees let me skip the line and play it inside right away (and get a T-shirt, too). I liked the outside of the booth a lot, so I took pictures of all four sides. I wish I could’ve taken pictures of the inside of the booth as it was equally cool, but they didn’t want any cameras there. So here are some pics of the outside of their booth. In between I’ll tell about parts of the demo I played!

It seems to play like an evolution of their Walking Dead titles. In the first part of the demo, you choose a character and then venture off to find your lost pet pig Reuben. You control your character directly with the left stick, and use the right stick to move around a cursor to click on things to investigate, like pig tracks. There is even a bit of action as you must move in close and use your sword in real time to defend Reuben from zombies and creepers once you find him.

In the second part of the demo, you enter a cave and find a crafting table, which you use to make another wooden sword since yours was broken during the previous fight. This is a bit of a puzzle, as you must place the right materials on certain spots on a grid to make a new sword. It’s nice to see that TellTale kept many of the gameplay aspects from the original Minecraft, though, as I imagine you can craft a lot more items from materials you find.

The last part of the demo takes place much further in the story, I’m assuming. A giant shadowy three-headed beast is burning a village and beaming up people like a UFO. There is chaos and destruction everywhere, and it’s oddly cinematic for such a blocky game. In this area you’ll do a lot of quick time events to dodge obstacles as you run away, and you must make quick decisions on who to rescue from the beams, kind of like The Walking Dead’s choices. Only thing I’m worried about is I hope the game doesn’t use TOO many of those quick time events, as I find them a little annoying in other titles.

And that’s all of the demo. It’s nice to see another TellTale game that I can be excited about, since this one is a bit more colorful and whimsical. I love how the game is still blocky, but the characters have such expressive facial emotions. It’s such a humorous contrast. It was also cool to see so many kids waiting in line to play this game, and getting enthusiastic while playing the demo, too! Kids love Minecraft, and there is even a whole aisle at Toys R Us dedicated to Minecraft toys, so hopefully TellTale will keep this game fairly family friendly (I thought I heard the main character say “Damn chickens” when he tripped over a few, so I hope they keep the language to a minimum). At any rate, as popular as Minecraft is with all ages, I’m sure the Story Mode TellTale is crafting will be a hit, too

And that’s all for the first day of PAX Prime! In tomorrow’s article, I’ll have more games I played and more meetings I attended to talk about, and I even met a celebrity! Find out who it was in the next article! Later! –Cary

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