The Game of the Month Award is given to my favorite game from the past month, as governed by the following criteria:
It has to be a great game (of course)
It has to have well-implemented controller support
It has to have a fair business model that is appropriate to the game
It doesn’t need iCloud, Game Center, or universal device support, but it helps
It has to either be released this month, or updated for controller support this month
That last point needs clarification. One thing I’ve consistently heard from gamers with MFi controllers: they almost exclusively purchase games that feature controller support. This means that many MFi gamers might have ignored a potentially great game on its release, due to lack of controller support. For this reason, when a game gets updated with controller support, it might as well be a new game. Because of this, the Game of the Month award might be given to a game that was originally released in an entirely different year.
Lastly, separate Game of the Month awards may be given for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. A great universal game might sweep the awards, but sometimes different versions of a game might not meet every qualification for an award (I.E. the Apple TV version of a game might have controller support while an iOS version does not, or an Apple TV port of a game might arrive at a completely different time than the iOS version, or a universal game might run far better on iOS than it does on Apple TV).
With that out of the way, the first ever AfterPad Game of the Month award goes to…
Game of the Month: Momoka – An Interplanetary Journey
Momoka is an easy choice for Game of the Month: it’s an outstanding game. It hits all the right notes – classic gameplay, presentation oozing with personality, the perfect degree of challenge, great graphics, smooth performance, and a feeling that it was tailor-made – with love – for iOS.
Momoka is an adventure game, equal parts platforming and exploration. There’s a healthy dose of combat thrown in, but the emphasis is more on navigating the environment’s puzzles and platforms than it is on shooting. Like the best platformers, enemies are placed in such a way that they’re just another part of the platforming puzzle for you to navigate.
Momoka employs a relatively unique, visually stunning trick for its world design, and one that fits nicely with the game’s narrative: the planets you’re hopping to and from each have their own centers of gravity. A side effect of this is that the themselves are circular, wrapping around the center of the planet. This allows for a different take on level design – you’ll often find yourself wrapping back around the planet, zig-zagging downwards towards an objective at the planet’s core. You’ll even find yourself jumping from one planet from another, trying to avoid dizziness as you rapidly shift from one gravitational center to another.
This sort of “2D Super Mario Galaxy” style of gameplay had previously been explored in Soosiz, another iOS classic. Its hard not to draw comparisons between the two, but Momoka is very much it’s own game – the similarities are superficial. You’ll find similarities to other games, too, though I won’t spoil specifics. That’s okay – Momoka never feels like it’s ripping off other games. It takes ideas you’ve seen before, but spins these ideas in unique ways.
There’s a loose story here, and it fits nicely with its gameplay: you’re a girl named Momoka on a quest to save the world. Your galaxy’s sun is dying; nobody knows how to fix it, but you need to take your rocket ship out on a journey from planet to planet, looking for a way to (literally) save the day. This storyline almost feels like something you’d expect to find in a Final Fantasy game; I doubt that’s an accident. Much like the classic Final Fantasy games, Momoka has a way of opening up the world map as you play, making an area that you previously thought was the limit of the game instead feel like a tiny part of the universe.
Momoka’s few boss fights evoke the classic action-platformers of the ’80s and ’90s: bosses have a pattern you need to figure out, and you’ll need to time your attacks perfectly to dodge bullets and hit the boss in its weak spot. You will die on some of them, repeatedly, but these boss fights never feel unfair, and your checkpoints are never too far away.
Momoka takes advantage of another time-honored platformer tradition: much like the classic Metroid / Castlevania style games, Momoka likes to tease you by showing you collectables in areas you just can’t quite reach yet. You’ll find yourself revisiting earlier stages after you collect new items and abilities to 100% the game, easily blowing through enemies and traps that previously posed a challenge – always a nice feeling! More than that, it helps give you a bit more to do in an otherwise short game.
About 1/3 of the way through, Momoka presents you with a goal to collect 3 specific items on three planets; the order in which you tackle that job is up to you. I wish more games approached stage selection in this way – it helps an otherwise linear game feel more open.
Momoka supports all MFi controllers on both iOS and Apple TV – obvious since its on this list. Still, support isn’t perfect. You can only use the d-pad to move, which is less than ideal for those with certain MFi controllers. You can use either the X button or the right shoulder button to fire your gun, but for whatever reason, there is a bug with using the X button: after you unlock the grenade launcher, pressing X while jumping will also accidentally fire a grenade. The good news is, using the shoulder button or B instead of X doesn’t exhibit this bug. The fact that, even after this bug, I still picked Momoka as my Game of the Month, should tell you how great this game is.
There is only one criticism I can level at Momoka: I wish there was more of it. I managed to get 100% in about 6 hours, and I was still hungry. Don’t let that dissuade you – I enjoyed every minute of this game, and I’ll enjoy it again on my next play-through. If you like platforming games, this is the best $6.99 you can spend this month.
Venture Kid provides a fascinating contrast with Momoka. Both games are love-letters to classic ’80s and ’80s platformers. Both games have superficially-similar gameplay mechanics. Both have Mega-Man-style guns. They even have similar level designs. But whereas Momoka brings innovative new remixes to the classic platforming fundamentals, Venture Kid instead looks backwards, sticking close to the formula of the games it references.
Lets get this out of the way right now: when I say Venture Kid sticks close to the Mega Man blueprint, what I mean is, if you swapped Mega Man’s graphics over the titular main character, this could be an NES Mega Man game. There is absolutely nothing original here. That’s okay – this isn’t trying to break new ground. Venture Kid is 100% focused on feeling like a classic platformer that could have existed on the NES.
Some people really seem to hate how close this feels to an NES Mega Man. They aren’t the target audience for this game. The target audience for Venture Kid is Mega Man fans with a strong sense of nostalgia for the NES. This audience has been poorly served by the official iOS Mega Man games, which are not the best ports. Venture Kid is the best Mega Man experience you can get on iOS. It runs vastly better than any of the official Mega Man games, which suffer from emulation issues. The price is low, with optional in-app purchases for coin doubling. Controller support is solid – I’d go so far as to say essential, actually, as the game is vastly more frustrating with touch controls.
A certain subset of gamer will find Venture Kid extremely cool, specifically because of how closely it sticks to the ’80s Mega Man formula. Myself, I’m conflicted – I think the best NES games hold up in spite of their technological limitations, not because of them. Game design has advanced in so many meaningful ways since Mega Man was released, and Venture Kid prides itself on ignoring most of those advances. This stands in stark contrast from Momoka, which takes some of the best elements of classic platformers and evolves them in meaningful ways, contributing its own identity to the history of the genre. For this reason, Momoka gets the nod for Game of the Month. But a more traditionalist platforming fan might prefer the way Venture Kid sticks to the Mega Man script.
Ultimately, both of these are outstanding games. If you want to play a brand new NES Mega Man – with all the strengths and limitations that entails – tailor-made to run well with an MFi controller on iOS, you should buy Venture Kid immediately.
Good find on TouchArcade: the iOS port of Final Fantasy IX appears to be complete, at least according to a video posted to Square Enix’ YouTube channel. This suggests that the game will likely be available before long.
According to Shaun Musgrave at TouchArcade:
…relevant nuggets of wisdom dropped in the above video include that the port of the game is totally complete and basically ready to sell on the App Store. The rest of the video includes a lot of commentary on how the various systems in the game works, how much faster it loads, as well as how much prettier the it is now compared to the original PlayStation FF IX release. Along with the interface (obviously) being totally redone for touch, it also features iCloud support for save game syncing.
There’s still no word on when Final Fantasy IX will be available outside of Japan. The game has already been translated to English, however, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a quick porting job. With the exception of Final Fantasy VIII, the previous games in the series are all available for iOS. Everything from Final Fantasy III on supports MFi controllers; presumably Final Fantasy IX also will.
For a multitude of reasons, Final Fantasy IX is often considered the last great game in the series. It marks a return to the fantasy setting of the pre-FFVII games. It is also generally regarded as one of the best JRPGs ever made.
The Stratus XL is back on Massdrop! This time for a (less compelling) $39.99 price tag. I recommend spending the extra $10 on the far better Nimbus or Horipad Ultimate controllers, but if you absolutely want a budget option, perhaps for development work or multiplayer, this is a great opportunity to grab one.
Hot on the heels of the Nimbus, SteelSeries seems to be clearing out stock of their last model: the Stratus XL is currently available for $32.99 $39.99 on Massdrop!
Massdrop is a little strange; here’s how it works. Massdrop is technically a “member’s only” site. This is a requirement placed on them by sellers. Membership at Massdrop is absolutely free. You can’t see Massdrop’s deals without signing up first. If you like AfterPad, use this link and I’ll get free stuff.
Figured I should link to this before “analysts” try to find a way to spin this into another “Apple is doomed” story.
My favorite part: Apple has one billion active devices. Billion, with a ‘b’. As someone who used Macs straight through the dark ages in the ’90s, it’s a gratifying thing to see.
Anandtech has, at long last, posted their review of the iPad Pro. As usual, Anandtech’s review is incredibly detailed, and full of exhaustive performance benchmarks, use testing, and direct comparisons with competing products.
It was fascinating to see just how far Apple’s processor design skills have come in the past few years. The A9X doesn’t quite beat competing Intel designs, but it’s a stone’s throw away.
If you’re a Minecraft player with an MFi controller, chances are you’ve run into an irritating bug: the game doesn’t let you move and look at the same time. As long as you’re activating the left analog stick, the game ignores inputs from the right analog stick.
We’ve reported this bug to the developers several times, but despite multiple updates to the app, the problem persists.
The good news: there is a workaround that makes the game playable. Turns out the problem is strictly limited to analog stick inputs – all you have to do to work around it is map movement to the d-pad instead.
You can add movement bindings for the d-pad in the Minecraft PE settings. If you do this, then as long as you use the d-pad to walk, you can use the right analog stick to look around while you move.
This isn’t necessarily the controller support we were hoping Minecraft would have, but hey, it’s better than nothing. Fingers crossed Mojang will someday issue a real fix for this bug.
RetroArch, the emulator capable of running pretty much every game console before the 2000’s, was recently updated to version 1.3.
This update brings a number of important features – too many to list here, actually. Cores and plugins can be auto-updated, the app stores things in more intelligent and accessible locations, there’s a new Dreamcast core (not on iOS for now)… lots of stuff.
Unfortunately, this comes with a pretty huge regression in the quality of the iOS version’s interface. Because nobody on the RetroArch team particularly cares about iOS, the previous version’s (relatively good) iOS interface was thrown away in favor of a rewritten one. This new interface is extremely buggy, and lacks important features.
I’ll be blunt: the new interface is unusable. Literally – it makes certain functions completely inaccessible in game. The app comes with a completely separate, android-style interface. You can use this interface instead of the iOS one, and you probably should. Hopefully the functional Android interface will be made default in the future.
One of the developers indicated to me that the currently-broken iOS interface will possibly be removed completely in the future. As much as it pains me to say so, I think this is for the best. If none of the developers want to put the time into making a real iOS interface, that’s unfortunate, but it’s better than the mess we have right now.
On better news, the emulation cores themselves are better than ever. Everything runs full-speed on most iOS hardware; usually with plenty of headroom for resolution increases and performance improvements. MFi controllers are fully supported, though setting them up can be a bit of a pain.
RetroArch has long been one of my favorite apps on iOS. I have so many classic games, hundreds of PlayStation CDs I’ve painstakingly ripped – I play games on RetroArch more often than I play official games from the App Store. Even with the crappy interface, this is a strong recommendation.
If you’re jailbroken, RetroArch has a Cydia repo where you can get the latest builds. If you aren’t jailbroken, you’ll need to build and compile the app yourself using Xcode, and sign the cores manually. Compiling the app without jailbreaking is a pain, but you can make it work if you’re willing to stick through it.
Ahh, the Horipad Ultimate. The word “Ultimate” is a synonym for “final”. It implies Hori thinks this is the last controller they’ll ever need to make, and the last controller you’d ever need to buy. I hope this isn’t the case – Hori needs to try a third time. The Horipad Ultimate is a perfectly good controller, but a few baffling flaws keep it from dethroning the current champion.
Many people on Twitter have been bugging me to finish this review. The fact of the matter is, this was a particularly hard review to write. Objectively speaking, there are serious problems with this controller, all of which should have been corrected. But subjectively, I like this controller. I’ve been using it consistantly to play through GTA; I keep going back to it. Maybe its the old PlayStation gamer in me coming out, but I like this controller.
Design
Let’s start with the best things first. Hori deserves serious praise for the design of this controller. It is an objectively beautiful controller – a premium-quality matte black plastic body, with matte bluish-graphite handles, and a glossy black mid section. It works – it looks and feels like a high quality product.
This is especially notable next to the original Horipad. I loved that controller, but lets be honest – it was hideous. The glossy plastic body and shiny faux-metal analog stick podium made it look like a cheap third-party knock-off controller. The build quality was outstanding – the highest quality of any MFi controller at the time – but the looks sold it short.
With the Horipad Ultimate, Hori finally has a controller that looks as good as it feels. I prefer the look of the SteelSeries Nimbus – it still looks more “premium” than the Hori option – but Hori made massive strides in this direction.
The Details
The D-Pad
Among fighting game aficionados, Hori is famous for their d-pads. The previous Horipad had one of the best circular d-pads of any controller I’ve ever used. This new Horipad has a superior ‘plus’ shape. I had (justifiably) high expectations for this d-pad. It delivers – the Horipad Ultimate has the best d-pad of any MFi controller.
This d-pad is responsive, it has a perfect shape, it isn’t sized too large or too small – it’s about as good as you could hope for. For retro games, side-scrollers, and emulators, this d-pad single-handedly makes the Horipad Ultimate the best controller you can get. Within the confines of the MFi standard, it’s hard to imagine any way to improve things. It took a long time (and a lot of terrible examples), but the d-pad is finally a solved problem for MFi controllers; other companies should pay close attention to what Hori has done.
The ABXY Buttons
The Horipad Ultimate prides itself on being a gamer’s controller, and the ABXY buttons don’t let it down here. They are very traditional, highly responsive, PlayStation-style designs that should appeal greatly to hardcore gamers. The matte surface, wide spacing, higher profile, and less rounded surface make for buttons that are highly responsive, if a bit less comfortable than the Nimbus.
The double-shot plastic construction looks fine, but again, is less impressive than the embossed 3D buttons on the Nimbus. It is indicative of a trend with the Horipad vs the Nimbus – the Nimbus looks better, but the Horipad is more responsive for the hardest of hardcore gamers.
The Analog Sticks
The analog sticks on the Horipad Ultimate are perfectly adequate, but disappointing compared to both the competition and to Hori’s previous products. On the plus side, the upgraded Bluetooth implementation means these sticks are extremely responsive. The problem with the feel of the analog sticks themselves: the surface has little grip to it. No Xbox-One-style ridges, no PlayStation-style texture, no Xbox-360-style indentations. Just a solid piece of rounded, lightly concave rubber. It’s not the end of the world, especially for people who primarily press their thumbs against the edges of the analog stick, but it is a downgrade.
Controller makers are supposed to learn from their mistakes, and keep iterating towards perfection. The analog sticks on the previous Horipad are objectively better than these “ultimate” sticks, and they weren’t even the best options available at the time. Now that the Gamevice and Nimbus have leapfrogged the competition, Hori was supposed to up their game. Instead, they stepped slightly backwards. Again, these sticks aren’t bad, just… disappointing.
Triggers and Shoulder Buttons
Hori was so close to perfect with this controller. I can forgive the analog sticks, especially for a retro-focused controller. But then we come to the triggers. These triggers have a significant dead zone before your fingers encounter any resistance. For the first half of activation, it’s just loose plastic. When you finally reach the activation point, and the pressure starts abrubtly, leaving a short range until the triggers bottom out. In addition to feeling unpleasant and cheap, this design makes fine-grain motion difficult.
These triggers are especially irritating in light of the excellent R1 and L1 shoulder buttons – very PlayStation-esque designs, responsive and easy to activate. The previous Horipad had R2 and L2 shoulder buttons instead of triggers, and it would have been fine for Hori to do the same here. Great shoulder buttons beat bad triggers any day.
Other Buttons
I have to give special mention to the Horipad Ultimate’s menu / pause button. It is one of the more clever buttons I’ve seen on an MFi controller. It feels almost identical to the home buttons on the pre-TouchID devices – concave, about the size of your thumb, with a satisfying click. It may be the least important button on the controller, but they did a great job of it.
Turning on the controller involves toggling a slider switch on the back of the controller, same as the Nimbus. This is a nice upgrade from older controllers, which used a power button to turn on, making it unclear sometimes whether a controller was on or off.
Battery
The Horipad’s internal battery is rated for 80 hours – a huge amount, far larger than other MFi controllers. In the month or so I’ve been using this controller, the battery died once. Charging it was as simple as plugging it into one of the many Lightning cables I have set up around the house – no extra USB cables required here. This is how every MFi controller should work.
iPhone Grip
The Horipad Ultimate’s biggest weakness is its lack of an iPhone grip. That makes it a complete non-starter for iPhone owners. I will never, ever understand this. I cannot understand why controller makers don’t make grips for every iOS controller – iPhone owners make up well over 90% of the total iOS user base. Add in the 10 cents worth of plastic that makes up an iPhone grip, and the market for your controller is literally ten times larger.
Sadly, it doesn’t seem like you can even use a third-party controller grip with the Horipad Ultimate, either. The Nimbus works very well with a third-party Nyko grip, making it a great choice for iPhone gamers. Hori drops the ball on this, and takes itself out of contention.
Final Thoughts
The Horipad Ultimate is a difficult controller to summarize. The last Horipad was a great controller for the retro gaming niche, but this time, I was hoping Hori would finally bring make a great controller for the mainstream. Hori comes close, but not close enough. The SteelSeries Nimbus or PXN Speedy are still the best options for most gamers.
I can forgive the analog sticks here; they’re a big of a downgrade, but still good. I can forgive the lack of iPhone grip – it sucks for iPhone gamers, but it would still make this controller a good choice for iPad and Apple TV gamers. The relatively bad triggers seal the deal, though. Hori was probably right to switch from buttons to triggers – in 2016, more games are designed for triggers than are designed for shoulder buttons. They just needed to do a good job, and they didn’t even come close.
If you want the absolute best d-pad you can get on an MFi controller (and are willing to forgive the triggers), the Horipad Ultimate is a perfectly solid controller at a great price. It just isn’t as good as the Nimbus – that’s the problem. The Nimbus’ d-pad isn’t great, but it isn’t close to being as bad as the Horipad’s triggers. Combine that with the Nimbus’ superior analog sticks and general build quality, and you can see the problem Hori has. They made a perfectly good controller, but the competition improved further.
The Nimbus is objectively better than the Horipad Ultimate in several major ways, but if you do buy the Hori, you’ll be perfectly happy. Its a fine controller. If you’re a hardcore retro gamer, you’ll love it. But if not, you should probably stick with the Nimbus.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your downloads: the public beta of iOS 9.3 is now available! Visit Apple’s beta program website using the device you wish to enroll, install the beta software profile, then update your device to the beta software.
This is an unprecedented list of updates for a mid-cycle release. They run the gamut from major changes to the architecture of iOS to small enhancements to improve the user experience. Personally, I’m surprised to see such a laundry list of improvements to a point release like this – it suggests Apple is moving away from bundling everything in one large version update and towards a series of smaller releases throughout the year.
Normally, I’d hesitate before installing beta software. With iOS, it’s another story. Every version of iOS for the past few years has felt like beta software – beta versions generally don’t feel any more or less stable. In fact, this 9.3 beta feels faster and smoother to me than any previous version of iOS 9. I say go for it.
If you’ve ever wanted to record gameplay videos on iOS, this is the app for you: screen recording app Vidyo is available on the App Store right now for $4.99. Act fast, because there is a very good chance Apple will remove this app by the end of the day.
Vidyo works by turning your device into an AirPlay receiver, then recording the video and audio signal. Simply activate the app, then choose it under your AirPlay option in Control Center. You get the familiar blue bar at the top of the screen, then you’re on your way. Quality seems as good as standard AirPlay – the app captures the full 60fps signal.
After recording, you can edit your videos, trim unnecessary parts, and even record additional audio commentary tracks. Very useful for “let’s play” aficionados.
If the idea of a screen recording app for iOS sounds appealing to you, download this one fast. Screen recorders, like emulators, don’t usually last long on the App Store before getting pulled by Apple. We all wish Apple would add this functionality natively, but until then, apps like Vidyo are as good as it gets.
