Thinking about Rayman Origins (part 2)

Rayman Origins has come down in price in the sales...

I'm here trying to research the differences between versions of the game.

So far noone seems to care about saying anything except HD on the HD twin formats.

I want to know more! Like loading times for example!

Zelda 1 gets even better the more confident you get at it

I've been playing this game from start to finish several times over the holidays and I haven't gotten bored yet. It's really intimidating when you don't know what you're doing but when you get good and know what you're doing you look for more rational ways to go around doing things.

Today for example after beating level 2 I went straight to level 8 and sought out the magical key. It was scary to be doing it so early in the game, being equipped as I was.

Most important of all, I am having a ball playing this game!!!

Thinking about New Year's Resolutions and Wii Fit

I hardly ever use Wii Fit. I think it's great and I have improved myself with it before but I never really committed to it on a long term basis. I think if I did it would work really well for me. I'm just thinking about a realistic resolution: Use it every day or if I'm out of town then do some exercise on the quiet.

There's a guy in Skyward Sword who started exercising at night so that he would be able to work during the day with newly gained confidence. That's what happened to him! He got more confidence! I think that's a good thing to work for. It could open doors for me down the road you never know.

Hmm... I'm not sure about Kirby Mass Attack

I finally got a chance to play Kirby Mass Attack for the DS today. I can't say I'm all that sure I like it. Aside from plain stupid and useless things like tutorials and achievements it's just the way it's controlled I'm not sure I like. It's the kind of thing I worried about when I saw trailers for the game and I have to admit my apprehensions are true. I don't like dragging and flicking Kirby around with the stylus and I'm afraid about marking the touch screen.

I think about the only stylus controls I like are the occasional jotting down of things or just plain tapping.

Reflecting on 2011: Ghost Trick

Wow, remember this? This was one of the very first games to come out in 2011 and I devoured it. I love adventure games but this was something special altogether! It's like, say you know those Rube Goldberg machines? Imagine one of them but pretend a ghost is possessing some of the mechanics and making them work.

I love the way adventure games can allow for this kind of flexibility to the gameplay and make you enjoy it on several levels.

It seems like forever ago since this game came out. It's absolutely wonderful though and deserves to be played.

Christmas with Jingle from Animal Crossing

Whenever I meet Jingle from Animal Crossing, it's always during a time when I have to set the clock to meet him. I have to set the clock because I'm always busy on those exact hours when he shows up. It's nice to meet up with him though. This year I got some festive carpet and wallpaper from him in the Wii game so my house is nicely decorated. Happy Christmas everyone!

What is a gamer?

Sounds like a big serious question doesn't it? It's just something I'm wondering about myself and if there can be a definition for it, like say you were explaining it to a space alien or something. I came up with the following sentence so far:

"A video game player is someone who plays games on a screen without having to worry about the mathematics."

3DS GBA Ambassador games

So we've finally got what we've been waiting for since about September or whenever the Ambassador scheme was announced. I downloaded every single one of them, most I've played in the past, some I haven't. There's no major new thing that I'm excited to play but they're all worth a go. I'll always pick up the first Wario Ware before any of the other games because it's just great to pick up and play!

European trailer for Boom Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGXXsXNH04

There's a Mii character there named "Anis" *snigger*

Apologies! It mightn't be pronounced the same as "anus". Just me being a li'l immature there.

It's a nice looking trailer and it's good to get the excitement going for this game!

Reading Tim Rogers' Skyward Sword article

http://kotaku.com/5869411/

It's a top 10 list for "Stupid Things Terribly Wrong" with the game.

I like the article and I have a few issues with the game myself. I won't trouble myself with point 1 or point 2, although in point 2 I think his problem would become N/A if there were to be no dialogue at all in a Zelda game, which is something I'd like to see.

With point 3 I have to admit my mind did wander a lot in the middle of a conversation with another character; on top of that I'd like to add that the text itself isn't shown very clearly and it scrolls far too slowly with no option to hurry it up.

Point 4 I agree with wholeheartedly and then some. You couldn't not agree with it!

With point 5 I started to really enjoy the game when I finally got my hands on that sword, but it took ages to get to it.

Point 6 is something that made me worry when I saw the first trailer for the game. I wanted the game to be more colourful than Twilight Princess certainly but I wondered if they were trying to make everyone happy by doing different things and risk ending up making noone happy.

Point 7 I don't have a strong opinion about but I would like to see a new Zelda that was more action and less puzzles (like Zelda 1)

Point 8.... well this is my first MotionPlus game and I don't mind it really. I like the way it's done in this game though.

Point 9 kind of goes over my head except for the part about the bird. I think the bird is stupid also.

 Point 10 goes over my head too... unless it's just something I've come to accept due to diminished expectations or something.

Lovely fanart of Skyward Sword using Link's Awakening's graphics

http://www.sansemploi.com/bonus/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-sur-gameboy
Incroyable!

I mean wow this really is just lovely. The standout one is the Kikwi Elder going "Kyu Kyu..." and the idea of talking to him with the fast scrolling of Link's Awakening's text boxes rather than Skyward Sword's slow and difficult to read ones makes me feel excited!

Super Mario 3D Land is an amazing game!

So I finally tried out this game after buying it on release day a few weeks ago and I fell in love with it straight away. It's a good bit like the Galaxy games alright but there are numerious subtle and not so subtle differences that make it much tighter and fun to play. This actually really brings out the things in Mario Galaxy that really inconvenience you as a player such as being knocked on your back or flat on your face. This hasn't happened yet in Mario 3D Land... but for some reason I keep expecting it to! I also keep having the urge to shake the 3DS because I've been doing that so much in the Galaxy and Bros Wii games.

I'm still kind of shrugging at 3D effects but this is the best example yet.

I think this just may be the game you buy a 3DS for. (is it any surprise? ;P)

Normal service resumes! More Rocket Slime speedy stuff

Apologies for the downtime! ^^;

In proper news I've completed Rocket Slime on my speedy not too labourious playthrough and I have to say it's great that I can play the game this way. It increases the replay value a good bit for me!

To date It's my fourth time playing the game completely from start to finish, more than nearly any other game released in the past 10 years or so. I regard that as something special.

For my fifth playthrough (or at least one subsequent playthrough) I'm going to play with cheat codes and see how fun it'll be. For the record my current completed playtime record is about 6 hours. The longest I've ever done it was for 20+ hours.

Playing Rocket Slime quickly

I've been playing Rocket Slime again! I love it and all the other times I've played it through from start to finish I've been like some crazy hoarder grabbing everything I could see and loading them onto the carts.

For this playthrough however I've been trying to play swiftly without going too much out of my way to collect everything. The game is manageable like this and is still very enjoyable. Some things like battles can be a close call at times but that makes them more exciting!

I'm glad the game doesn't make you have to collect every little thing in order to be successful in the tank battles. That is to say, the game is a bit like work but it doesn't have to be a boring slog.

Still no internet. Have a google for the gba ambassador titles though

Posting from mobile, no other internet. Sorry! ^^;

An extra bit of that Miyamoto/Horii 1989 discussion from the other day

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/12/11/miyamoto-asks-horii-do-you-think-rpgs-will-become-a-substitute-for-novels/

I haven't read this yet but the first part I talked about the other day was so interesting that I'd say this will be interesting too. Give it a look if you liked the last part.

NGamer Magazine changing their name to Nintendo Gamer

I just flicked through the latest issue of the magazine and saw this so just thought I'd mention it. By the way I have a little backlog of issues I have to blog about! Will do soon!

I have heard that sales numbers for the magazine are low so this name change is probably a reaction to it.

Amazing and intensely interesting 1989 discussion between Shigeru Miyamoto and Yuji Horii

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/12/10/origins-of-the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-to-the-past-and-dragon-quest-iv/

Wow the stuff that's talked about here! Games I love like Dragon Quest IV(one of my favourites of the series) and earlier, Zelda 3(obviously brilliant) and earlier and even brief mentions of the amazing adventure game Portopia and the first game in a series I'm taking an interest in, Itadaki Street. (our first release being Boom Street when it comes out in Ireland here at the start of the new year)

Another couple of very interesting things are talked about like the RPG elements that were intended for Zelda 3, memory limitations, save features, game cartridge shortages, Famicom disks and in general a snapshot of what 1989 was like and where some truly classic games came from.

I consider it essential reading! :)

I beat Skyward Sword!

Horray! I just beat this game not too long ago now and I must say there was a lot of nice surprises in it. I have to say now that this was a great Zelda and I hope the next one will be even better and does its own thing.

The Last Story on Wii gets release date for Ireland!

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/can_you_become_a_true_knight_in_the_last_story_47034.html

The second game in the Operation Rainfall trilogy we always knew was coming to Europe but now we have a definite release date: 24th of February 2012.

I know next to nothing about the game. I'm going to hazard a guess and say it won't be as good as Skyward Sword so I don't want to bother with Xenoblade comparisons just yet.

When it comes to me you'll be reading about comparisons with Opoona!

Rocket Slime with the circle pad feels mmmm!

Actually I don't feel much but that's exactly it! The d pad isn't the best for that game because you have to move long distances in one direction and since Rocket moves fairly slow you feel you want to press the button harder in that direction. This is the kind of thing the circle pad remedies.

It's only now that I try it but I've been wanting to since I heard about the circle pad.

This also makes me want Rocket Slime 3D even more! Bring it over here please!

Thinking about Pullblox

Well actually I haven't thought much about it but it gets mentioned in blogs and magazines I frequent. Of course it's because it's made by Intelligent Systems and that it's coming out tomorrow on the 3DS eShop in Ireland and the rest of Europe. NGamer really likes the game anyway.

Should I get it? Hmm... well I do like the odd puzzle game so let's have a look at the trailer first and we'll see how it goes.

Thinking About Rayman Origins

Hmm... I've never played a 2D Rayman game before but this one seems interesting. The thing is it's released across many formats. Does this mean there are exclusive features?

Back in the Gamecube days, having that version of a game could mean better loading times for example.

I'm not sure. This could be something worth researching.

Some awesome person has uploaded Fortune Street's soundtrack to YouTube!

They've spent the last few hours doing it so let's all help promote this game!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Musicaperson#grid/user/E030A3D24F98BDB6

It has some lovely music from the Mario and Dragon Quest series. Follow the link here and have a listen to them all!

I'm impressed that overworld music from Rocket Slime appears in the game! (Slabacca map) Maybe buying this'll help in the localisation of Rocket Slime 3D for Europe? We live in hope!

Kirby's Adventure Wii is pretty darn good

This feels like a nice tribute to Kirby's Fun Pak and it loads so so quickly. Nothing delays you, not going to a different area, pausing, nothing.

You should see the instruction manual. It's literally an incredibly short 16 pages long, including covers! I love this! That in itself is like another tribute to games of yesteryear!

Monopoly Collection is abominable, bring on Fortune/Boom Street

I just thought I'd try out the Monopoly Collection since I just learned how to play it lately. I should've known something awful was going to happen when I saw that it was published by EA, who of course have dumped this rubbish across loads of different formats.

There are several unskippable animated logos that you have to sit through when you boot up the game. I absolutely hate that. Then when you're finally able to get to choose between the games on the collection you pick one and you have to sit through the exact same unskippable animated logos again. That is just inhumane.

There are loading times and cgi cutscenes that stutter and choke like as if they're from the PS1 era. Why the fuck would you have something like this on a board game? Who cares about them? Not the player I can tell you that much.

On top of that the menu text is next to unreadably small and there are animations during gameplay that would make the game drag on for hours more than it should and there's no way to turn them off.

Bring on Fortune/Boom Street!

Late Late Toy Show 2011

Big improvement from last year! A Mario Kart themed K'nex was shown. On top of that, the Wii was also shown! It wasn't shown at all last year so it's nice to see it again! Ryan Tubridy was pretending to play the Just Dance game. The 3DS was there as well but it was demonstrated very briefly.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 51 and service ending announcement

On going into the Kirby TV channel today I got a message saying that the service will be stopping in 14 days. Then Kirby came along and gobbled it up. Maybe they'll bring it back soon? Because I know there are more episodes. The series is also beginning to be made available for the 3DS recently.

In this episode the town is planning a surprise party for Kirby to celebrate one year since he arrived in Dream Land. Everyone brushes him off when he shows up to play and, as these misunderstandings that all too often appear in these cartoon shows go, he packs up and runs away from home.

King Dedede mistakes the party preparations for a revolution at some point so the misunderstandings don't stop with Kirby.

The NME monster this time is a bomb throwing baddie and Kirby gets his bomb ability from it.

Now I know why Sonic Generations wasn't on Wii

It has load times. Therefore, it's not good enough to be on the Wii at this stage.

My point is, after Sonic Colours being so brilliant to video game players by not making them wait for levels to start, this has to drag us back to the Dreamcast era.

I am very interested in Fortune Street/Boom Street!

I haven't seen much in the way of footage for the game but these guys play it for the first time in this video so we learn along with them:

http://www.gamexplain.com/article-632-1322533154-fortune-street-game--watch-video-tour.html

Now, I haven't watched the video all the way yet but I'm quite interested in the game! Nice choice of music from the Mario & Dragon Quest games too. I'm not too fond of that loading screen at the beginning but it's short enough. There doesn't seem to be any other loading times. Good thing too, since it's a board game.

It seems like there are some detailed workings and I'm looking forward to learning about them all.

Boom Street is going to be out here in Ireland on January the 6th, making it the first Wii release of 2012 here.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 50

King Dedede gets these doll replicas of himself from NME and gives them out among the people of Cappy Town. Little do they know that while they're sleeping, the king can hypotise them through the dolls.

After they get hypnotised the people find themselves loving and trusting King Dedede so much that they give all their money to his bank. Something happens though when King Dedede starts jumping around out of frustration due to lack of sleep...

No Kirby abilities this time.

About the ending... I can't help but wonder... is there a "2001: A Space Odyssey" reference in there?

Enjoying the flea market in Animal Crossing for Wii

Today was the flea market day in my town. It's not something I've done much with before but today I gave it a chance. I ended up enjoying it so much that I played it for a couple of hours!

It felt good to sell things to the villagers for more than twice the price that Nook would pay me for them. It felt especially so if I didn't really like who they were. I just got stuff from the rubbish for free and was able to sell it. They were really happy to buy it too!

Maybe I should try out some of those business management sims. I've never played the likes of say, M.U.L.E., Elite or Sim City. I played Harvest Moon a good bit before but always gave up on it. We'll see we'll see.

Skyward Sword: Already played the batteries out!

Since I got the Golden Wii Remote Plus edition of Skyward Sword, it came with a pair of batteries. I've been playing the game so much though that I've already used them up! It's funny how the game lasts longer than the batteries that came with it.

Not that it's something we really think about nowadays, since nearly everything we use has a rechargable battery built in.

Kirby's Adventure Wii is out today in Ireland!

Or as they call it in the U.S., "Kirby's Return to Dreamland". People are going to end up just calling it "Kirby Wii" I'd say. Anyway, I made sure not to buy it in Gamestop in case they sell me a broken case again. Besides, I like it sealed and in mint condition.

So far it feels good to control. Kirby runs a bit slower than I'd like him to but it's better than Kirby 64, where he moves really really slowly.

The game loads very quickly as well! This automatically makes it a million times better than Epic Yarn!

I've even seen an ad for it on tv. It's of a little girl who's asking Santa for the game and wants her mother to play with her instead of being stuck washing dishes.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 49

Yes! The very first episode I ever saw of this show back when I was only vaguely interested in it!

This episode is all about animation production! King Dedede wants to make a cartoon series with him as the hero so he hires the folk of Cappytown to slave away and make all the drawings for his show. You also see other fun stuff like the voice actors and projectionists. The show they end up producing then depicts King Dedede as the star warrior hero instead of Kirby.

So it's a show within a show that parodies the show it's showing in! It is such a clever episode and it's what initially got me really interested in watching this cartoon to begin with.

Skyward Sword: Beacons

These things are a godsend. They're little markers that you put on your map as a guide which then glow as a blue pillar of light you can then be guided to. It reminds me very much of the DS Zelda titles where the best and most fun part was jotting stuff down on the map. I love being able to use navigation tools and techniques.

3D Classics Kirby's Adventure Trailer

So this is one of the other games that came out last week. I had a look at the trailer for it on the eShop so I could check out the 3D effect and cripes there is next to nothing different about it with it on. I could get it because it's a brilliant game but hm. I dunno. We'll see.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 48

This episode is all about tourists! King Dedede decides to open Dream Land to tourism and has a tour bus and everything.

The tourists themselves are like foreign Cappys, styled after what seems to be a mixture of American and Japanese style tourists.

This is kind of going into big detail but I notice that the tour bus has the driver's seat on the left side. Japanese and Irish cars of course have the driver's seat on the right side. However, when tour buses come here from continental Europe they have the left side style of driver's seat on the bus. Maybe that's an extra detail they went into when making the cartoon? You know, since continental Asian tour buses going into Japan may have the left hand style as well? It's kind of thinking too much on my part but it interests me! :)

The NME monster this time is a lava tentacruel-like thing and Kirby fights it with Fire, then Ice when that doesn't work.

Playing Skyward Sword: Fi, your assistant/partner/Navi equivalent

Just like the roles characters such as Navi played in the previous games, you have a partner named Fi who lives in your sword and helps you on your journey. Unlike Midna, Fi doesn't take centre stage in the story, rather she's just a pure robotic, polite assistant like say,  C-3PO or Data or Spock. She's an assistant in almost the personal digital sense, like the way you'd give your smart phone a quick google for something.

Fi has those voice chirps in the style that Midna has but Fi's own voice has an "auto-tune" effect, which makes her sound all electronic. I think that's a nice touch!

Skyward Sword: Bomb Bowling!

I finally got to try out what initially got me so excited about the game a year and a half ago. It feels nice to do this and you really do have to have the Wii Remote way down low, which means you'll have to shift in your seat a bit.

I'm enjoying the game a lot and getting more used to it's little ways such as chaining those stamina fruit things while running.

Still haven't touched Mario 3D Land yet but I will at some point!

Got Zelda: Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land! Also, Skyward Sword first impressions!

Got both games without a hitch today! Apart from the bad rainy weather nothing else came in the way! I haven't played Mario yet but I've been playing some of the Zelda game.

A couple of things pissed me off straight away, namely the illegibility of red highlighted keywords and the fact that I had to turn on the widescreen settings to get rid of the horrible borders (well, alleviate them anyway). In the past I've always applauded Zelda as having text done perfectly. Now it's showing signs of getting as bad as the rest of them.

Characters faces look weird when they move and they talk a lot...

Getting used to how the cursor works can be a bit disorienting. I hope I can get used to it.

Sword controls are fucking lovely though! You still make it swish by doing little flicks but you have perfect control over what position you hold the sword in and what direction you flick. The moment I got a chance to be able to use the sword I started smiling and laughing straight away. Hmm... maybe that should've been the very first part of the game? It's worth noting that this is also my first time playing a Wii MotionPlus game.

Music is wonderful, especially during calm or quiet moments.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 47

This time the focus is on Waddle Dees! Also, by association, Waddle Doo who seems to be their leader.

King Dedede gets annoyed with the Waddle Dees so he decides to fire them all and get them replaced with a chore doing robot. Since the robot came from NME you can expect something to go wrong!

It's interesting to see the focus on the Waddle Dees and how they're like some kind of organised animal. The episode also makes references to the fact that Kirby looks a lot like them.

Kirby gets his stone ability this time.

Skyward Sword Countdown Part 2: Recommending Twilight Princess

Days left until Skyward Sword releases: 2

Today I was talking about Zelda and a friend who owns a Wii never even heard of it. I recommended Twilight Princess to her. I would've recommended other ones first but this is currently very cheap to buy for the Wii, what with the Nintendo Selects range and everything. She also wanted to use the motion controls.

I also got a text from GAME confirming my preorder for Skyward Sword :)

Can't wait can't wait!

(part 1 was yesterday's post just so you know!)

Hmm! Official Skyward Sword comic by Penny-Arcade!

http://www.zelda.com/skywardsword/comic/

This looks interesting. It seems like a great way to get the video game playing community all excited too! It'll update as time goes on.

Number of days left until the game comes out: 3

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 46

Part 2 of the spooky 2 parter.

So all the gang end up in the haunted house. They then see King Dedede and Escargoon venture inside and decide to scare them. The whole episode then becomes full of horror movie references like The Exorcist, Psycho and The Blair Witch Project. It's fun spotting the references!

The NME monster this time is a bone throwing creature and Kirby gets his fire ability in this episode.

Finally completed Super Mario Galaxy 2 100%!

Meaning, I got all the stars! There are 242 in all. Getting the very last one was absolutely painful and it was all down to the stage having no check points and the challenge being a daredevil one. uggghhhhhh...

My favourite star in the entire game is the green star in the boss rush galaxy next to the Bouldergeist. If you've been following my blog you know how much I hate the Bouldergeist! Anyway, getting this star gives you the chance to ignore it completely! It felt amazing to just walk past it without having to fight it AGAIN.

Just one more week until Skyward Sword comes to Ireland!

Wow, I'm looking forward to this! The Internet as expected is full of spoilers and I'm doing my best to do things like just look at review scores rather than their contents. It's getting high marks from all round. Expect a lot of buzz online about the game!

Cave Story 3D out on 3DS in Ireland today

Well, here it is! I wonder how I should go about this? Should I complain about the price? Should I praise all the new and hidden features? Hmm... how about this instead:

If you're a huge huge super duper fan of Cave Story then your mind's made up already.

If you know about all the recent releases of games but either don't like the look of them or don't like they way they play and this is the only one that interests you at all then your mind's made up already.

Yes I wish it was cheaper too.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 45

A spooky 2 parter! The residents of Cappytown decide to organise a Halloween-esque trail in the woods for the kids. It's kind of fun. King Dedede's scared expressions look funny! Also, I've never seen Escargoon get such an almighty beating from the king's hammer. Ouch!

This could very well have been a standalone but something appears at the end all of a sudden that makes it go into a 2 parter.

No NME monsters(that I know of anyway) and no Kirby ability, unless you count his nerves of steel and complete immunity to the spooky pranks that take place in this episode.

Listening to Mystical Ninja & Dragon Quest's soundtracks

This morning I was listening to the Mystical Ninja 2 Starring Goemon soundtrack but after a while I felt a bit queasy. It's a great soundtrack but I guess I wasn't used to listening to it. I then switched over to listening to the GBC version of Dragon Quest 1's soundtrack and my queasiness was gone. I've heard of the game being therapeutic but not necessarily the music by itself!

Listening to Donkey Kong Country Trilogy music

Routine has changed a little nowadays but I still get to listen to lots of game music! Lately I'm listening to the music from Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 & 3. People constantly champion Stickerbrush Symphony from 2 or Jungle Japes & Aquatic Ambience from 1 but noone ever goes on about music in the third game.

The third game is my favourite. In terms of music though I think they're all equally deserving of great acclaim. Don't leave out the third one!

Just listen to Bonus Time! for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsP2EdoYO8A

Hmm... I just remembered that the GBA version of this game completely different music. I'll have to investigate that too.

As for the Wii game? It only stands as a tribute of course but it's just not as good as the original trilogy in any regard at all. I think everyone knows that.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 44

We don't see much of Rik and his Australian accent but he's featured more prominently in this episode. Coo's there too.

Kirby and Co. visit Wispy Woods for a chat when Wispy tells them to go visit a friend of his that he's worried about. So the gang go visit him anyway and find Rik and his friends living there. A misunderstanding arises and they all get into a big fight. I got a feeling this was one of those learn-a-lesson episodes.

No NME monster but Kirby gets his cutter ability this time.

Retro Gamer Issue 95

Magazine editor Darran Jones' vlog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HH6b8rSKaI
The main feature this month has a huge feature on Bubble Bobble, talking about the game, its conversions, sequels, the creator, the high score champion.... lots and lots of stuff in there that'll make a fan very happy.

I am most interested in the Frank N Stein game for the ZX Spectrum. It's a single screen platformer and it has a lovely noisy arcade game feel. Featured in the magazine is an interview with the author Colin Stewart which talks about him making an update to the game.

Another thing I found interesting was the review of the homebrew Atari 2600 game Bellhopper, which is a port of an extremely addictive flash game called Winterbells. As far as I can see it's a very decent port.

Trying out the free Kyotokei WiiWare Demo

There are a few WiiWare demos up on the Wii's shopping channel lately. I tried Fast Racing League and 3D Pixel Racing but I didn't like them at all.

Kyotokei is more interesting though. It's one of those polarity reversing based shmups like Ikaruga. The demo itself lets you play the first of the five levels.

It does its job well as far as I can see. It feels very much like one of those fan made Game Maker style shmups.

I did a little googling for the game's developer, Microforum. They've made lots of J2ME games... and they're based in Canada... hm... alright. Might check out a couple of their other games.

Challenging the green stars in Super Mario Galaxy 2

It's taken me a while to do this but it's well underway! It's basically a treasure hunt where you're looking for something hidden that's found off the beaten path that's laid out for you. Sometimes they're easy to find, sometimes not so much. One definite clue is to listen for a twinkling sound. Other than that look forward to a LOT of camera wrestling. Depending on where you are you can be limited in what you can do with it and you'll always find that it's not letting you do what you want. Hmph....

Oh well, at least it's still a much better system than the horrible backwards one other developers use.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 43

Of all things this episode is all about the sheep! Well... one particular sheep who's gone bad(or baaad? Sorry)

This sheep is able to control and lead all the others and do its bidding which causes trouble for all the residents of Dream Land. It's a very interesting character actually, especially since it howls like a wolf. We don't know if it's influenced by NME or not.

Kirby gets his needle ability this time.

Iwata Asks feature on new Kirby Wii game is really interesting!

http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/kirby-dream-land/0/0
This links to Satoru Iwata, the former head of HAL Laboratory, asking the team behind the new game featuring their most famous character. That's awesome! I was really interested in this particular Iwata Asks feature, even more so than the recent Mario and Zelda ones. We read all about the really really long road to getting this game finished and about them talking about Kirby in general, especially Mr. Iwata. I just really like hearing him talk about Kirby for some reason.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 42

Part 2 of the 2 parter. Everyone in town is worried about the asteroid/meteor thing flying towards the kingdom. It gets quite dramatic as well with everyone confessing their regrets to each other as well as some tender scenes where they appreciate their loved ones. Tiff researches to find an answer and eventually comes up with one about diverting the huge ball of fire away. There's only a slim chance that it'll work though!

There's a good feeling of suspense and dread in this episode and I was looking out to see if there was anything that seemed to be inspired by Majora's Mask. Other than the theme I couldn't see anything in particular.

Having a look at Skyward Sword's European website

The new Zelda's official website went up and I just had a look around. I'm not browsing on the best computer right now so it's nice that it loaded reasonably quick and navigation wasn't too stuttery.

There's access to videos with developers and a map of areas where you're given information on some of the features in the game and some of the moments that you come across when you play.

Gamestop sells new games in broken cases

I bought a brand new DS game recently but when I opened the box, the cartridge fell out. There are these tiny holders that keep it in place but one of them is broken. The DS game case now just seems like junk now that this tiny piece is broken off.

Gamestop is at fault. Why? Because they don't sell new games sealed. Someone there must've broken it when they were taking it out.

Cool Video Game Halloween levels!

I read a recent article from some website about horror games for Halloween. It was a bit... well.... let's just say it wasn't written for me. So I'm gonna suggest some good Halloweeny games/levels that I really like:


Dark Castle(but only the Macintosh one!)
Gregory Horror Show
The Pumpkin Zone from Super Mario Land 2
Gruntilda's Lair & Mad Monster Mansion from Banjo-Kazooie
Big Boo's Haunt from Super Mario 64
Cave of Medusa from Mystic Quest/Final Fantasy Adventure (fucking scary)
Forest Temple and Bottom of the Well from Ocarina of Time. Shadow Temple too but it isn't as scary.
Any game from the Castlevania series is nice and Halloweeny
The Red Punster's area in Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue. It has that kind of theme and is just so farcical and fun!

I'm very confident that my list is better!

Kirby Mass Attack out today in Ireland!

Finally it's out here! I'm looking forward to buying this when I get the chance.

It's kind of like Kirby mania this year isn't it? First Epic yarn back in spring, then the free broadcast of the TV series and now a new DS game! On top of that we've the Wii game to look forward to!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 41

Another 2 parter! The episode card also has the same design as the previous 2 parter a few episodes ago.

King Dedede has nightmares about a firey red Kirby. We see one in the opening and it gets a little bit scary as it goes on! Anyway, he's so freaked out about Kirby attacking him that he goes off to see Mable the fortune teller to get his dream interpreted.

As you'd expect it's not about Kirby at all but rather it's symbolic of something else. What does the firey red Kirby symbolise? We'll find out more in the next episode!

Man, this is much more interesting than the two parter about the race! We also learn more about Mable the fortune teller and Samo the bartender who has an Irish accent.

The NME monster this time is a big ice elephant thing called "Fridgy". Kirby gets the fire ability this time.

Tip for beating the Bouldergeist in Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2

When the rocks are floating in the air, shoot star bits at them! Ordinary rocks will break; black and yellow ones will release Bomb Boos and coins more quickly. This is really useful when you're doing the daredevil run in Galaxy 1 and the speedrun in Galaxy 2!

I only just realised I was able to do it. Shooting star bits is something I never think of doing unless it's to feed a Luma or something. It's really useful against the Bouldergeist because it's definitely one of the most aggravating mini bosses in the Mario Galaxy games.

Clips from the Zelda 25th Anniversary orchestra tour are making me envious

I'm listening to some of the clips that are being put up on YouTube from the performance and you can hear familiar songs being played while cheers erupt from the audience every time a song begins.

I'm not hugely bothered about going to see something like that live but it would be a nice treat if it was playing at my nearest opera house in Cork.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 40

Knuckle Joe returns and he's working for NME!

He gives King Dedede a free demonstration which consists of flooding his kingdom with the generic type of enemies you'd see during a level in a normal Kirby game, although none of the actual enemies seem to be here (to my knowledge anyway).

Anyway it's a big shock to everybody to see Knuckle Joe return like this but the surprises don't end there!

Knuckle Joe's complexion now matches the way he appears in the games. Kirby gets the fighter ability this time.

Reggie's "What's wrong with you?" line

Nintendo of America has a new promotional show available to watch on the 3DS called "Nintendo Direct". In the first installment Reggie Fils Aime delivers a POW! effect with those four words. Sounds like something that'll prick your ears and possibly even rile you up right? Yeah! But when you listen to the whole sentence:

“For this first installment, we’ve got some important news if you’re an owner of Nintendo 3DS, or just thinking of becoming one. And really, if you’re neither one yet, what’s wrong with you?"

it makes it sound kind of diplomatic and therefore less exciting. It even makes sense, like as if to say "why are you even bothering to watch this video?" if you didn't come under the "owner or interested" criteria.

My shopping list for the rest of the year

Here's my list of games I'm hoping to get between now and over the holiday season:

Definites:
Kirby Mass Attack
Kirby's Adventure Wii
Super Mario 3D Land
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Maybes:
3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure
Cave Story 3D

I've plenty of time to be deciding and see if there's anything else I've forgotten.

Kirby's Adventure for the NES is being remade as part of the 3D Classics range!

Hearing this bit of news today made me go ooo!

If it's being remade in that style then are they going to improve upon the original version? Like, make it run super duper smooth? Who knows, but the original version had lovely graphics and warm colours. I don't know if you can match the atmosphere of playing it on the NES but I am very interested in seeing it run in 3D.

It's only been announced for Europe so far. I feel kind of spoiled! (Not that I'm complaining mind you!) It's scheduled to be released on the eShop here on Thursday the 17th of November.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 39

As expected an episode was skipped since 38 isn't available in English, even though it was dubbed in English before. I know that thanks to the splendid fanbase Kirby has!

Now for this episode!

King Dedede orders a monster that probably causes the most devastating damage. It's a tiny bug like creature; so small he didn't even notice it but when it enters someone's body, that person will be forgotten by everyone who knows them. It enters Escargoon's cheek and so the episode becomes centred around him and how everyone forgets him. It's quite upsetting for him and it makes for a very interesting episode!

Everyone treats him either with animosity or in the same polite manner as they would greet a stranger. Even the sheep — the ones that usually get the worst treatment in the series — treat him badly! Kirby befriends him, but whether he remembers Escargoon or not we don't really know. The funniest part is the name the police chief gives him!

When it's eventually figured out what the problem is and the monster leaves Escargoon's body everybody seems to be more panicked about it than any other monster that has appeared in the show to date.

I love this episode and the way it makes me think about what it would be like if I was in a scenario like that?

Episode 38 of "Kirby: Right Back At Ya!" unavailable?

On giving the timetable on the Wii's Kirby Channel a quick browse I see a blank gap where Episode 38 is supposed to be with the caption "Episode unavailable". What's that all about??

Well, after some quick googling and moogling I came across what the episode is all about. It features a famous author and a plot parodying one of the Harry Potter stories. That seems like a clever episode people might enjoy! I wonder why it's unavailable?

Just completed Mario Galaxy 1 100%!

Yay! I've only played through as Mario before but now I've completed it fully with all the power stars with both characters and you get a nice little extra when you complete it.

I've grown to like the Toad Brigade a lot and I even like talking to the other NPCs sometimes. I never really did that before. Sometimes they're VERY helpful like say if you're collecting things and they tell you that there's none to be found in the ocean — that's really helpful and saves a lot of grief!

There's a few nice differences when you play as Luigi as well, particularly during the rescue missions.

I also once called this the best game ever... Do I still feel that way? hmm.... well I know at least that it isn't perfect but there is so much joy in playing the game and that makes it a very good contender for "best game ever".

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 37

King Dedede and his underlings follow Kirby around with video cameras and do whatever they can to make him look like a criminal when they broadcast their special report on him throughout Dream Land.

There's one really funny moment when some of the Cappy folk are interviewed and their faces are pixellated, especially since they all have the same basic facial features!

You know what? It may or may not be intentional but I'm gonna say this is an episode that has an educational message about not believing everything you come across in the news.

The finale to this episode is very satisfying like all happy endings where the baddies have their plans foiled. The NME salesman appears very briefly but it's well worth seeing!

No monsters or Kirby abilities this time.

The episode card for this on the Kirby Channel is of a different design to every one of the others that came before it.

Kirby and Zelda spoilers everywhere! Yikes!

It's kind of hard to look at game news blogs and websites these days. There's a lot of spoilers around! Though some of them are posing as spoilers but aren't really, such as the shoe powerup in Kirby's new Wii game. We've known about that one for ages.

So hey just be careful if you don't want spoilers!

Kirby Mass Attack's European website is gorgeous

Feast your eyes here:

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/nds/kirby_mass_attack_44318.html

It is so lovely and unlike other promotional websites that just feel like a pain, this never does. You can also see the boxart which is the same as the Japanese one. No spider eye kicking for us! The site just begs to be explored and each page looks colourful and fun. Lots of tiny trailers for game modes and such too. Even if you know the game inside out — which you might if you've played overseas versions already — just have a nice little poke around the website. It is just so nice to look at.

Xenoblade Chronicles is now more readily available in Cork

When Xenoblade Chronicles released in August I couldn't see it in any of the local shops. Now lately when I visited them I was able to see a few display cases in HMV, GAME and Gamestop. If you want a copy keep your eyes peeled because it's usually just the one or two display cases in the corner of the Wii sections of these shops but they are there!

If you have a look online you'll see that there did seem to be stock shortages but after a while they came back in stock and became more readily available. Perhaps that's what happened with local shops too but it's not really the best way to judge it to be honest.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 36

Part 2 of the big racing saga and yes we do hear a narrator giving a recap.

The wacky racing antics continue for several laps and we see King Dedede carry out Dick Dastardly style tricks in an effort to trip up the rest of the racers. It's best to see for yourself what becomes of it all in the end.

Again, no NME monsters but there is a nice cameo with Kine the fish. Kirby really does get his wheel ability this time.

So I've noticed on the Kirby Channel the episode cards for these two racing episodes look different to all the other cards of the episodes I've watched up until now. Is that because these ones are special one offs or are the cards going to continue being like this from now on?

Retro Gamer Issue 94

I'm a bit late again but technically this is still the latest issue as issue 95 will be officially on sale tomorrow haha!

The last one of these posts I made got a nice little bit of attention! I'm grateful for it. If you ever want to have a quick preview of an issue of this magazine, the editor always does a little YouTube vlog where he flicks through the latest issue when it comes out. The address for his channel is here:

http://www.youtube.com/retrogamerdaz

Now then, the staff were asked what their favourite point-and-click adventure game was. As for me, I must admit the only SCUMMVM game I've ever played in great detail was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which is said to not be as good as the likes of Fate of Atlantis. It's hard for me to pick a favourite but I love the World Builder games that were on the Macintosh Plus, my favourite ones being 3rd Floor and Space Adventure.

One of the columns talks about when game shops used to be called "emporiums". I don't really remember anything like that but I did come across that term when I flicked through an old games magazine the other day.

The big special feature is about the making of Maniac Mansion. It's those games I've got to play someday because I love adventure games!

The future classic is the first Mario & Luigi RPG(great trilogy). There's a big GBA feature as well about the top games that weren't remakes which is a very nice read. I'm glad they included Drill Dozer and Mother 3.

Trashman is a very interesting Spectrum game to read about and a funny one to play once I got the hang of it. Nice article about the Pippin too. I'd say there would be a lot of people interested in learning about that console now since Apple was one of the companies who were behind it.

Konami's GI Joe is featured in the unconverted article. I must try that out someday since I know someone who really loved that game as a kid. Plus of course the fact that I'm a bit of a Konami freak myself!

Discworld might be an interesting game to try out someday. Slightly Magic might be too, though I haven't really played the Dizzy series.

I love the Minority Report article. This month's one talks about the SuperGrafX.

Haven't tried any of the homebrew games but they're loving the Space Harrier port for the Atari 8-Bit.

Pre-order made for Skyward Sword!

I'm glad I don't live too far away from a GAME store. They and Amazon.co.uk are the only ones who have the limited edition of Skyward Sword available for pre-order. I've the order made anyway so hopefully I'll be able to get the game without a hitch when it releases.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 35

Part 1 of a 2 parter about a big race! We've seen the likes of this in other cartoons like Wacky Races and Dr. Slump.

You know that when it's something like this, how the race came about doesn't really matter — it's who's in the race. This episode just establishes who the drivers are. King Dedede, Tuff, the mayor, Kirby and Meta Knight all have their own cars and are competing against one another. Fololo and Falala are the commentators. Kirby uses his old spaceship modded into a car.

No NME monsters or abilities but the picture on the episode shows Kirby in a red backwards baseball cap so I guess that means we can expect to see his wheel ability in part 2?

By the way it was pretty weird hearing a narrator's voice at the end of this episode. I wonder if we'll hear it again at the start of the next one giving a recap?

God I would hate if this were to be made into a driving game!

Angry Video Game Nerd Episode 105 — Dark Castle

http://cinemassacre.com/2011/10/06/avgn-episode-105-dark-castle/

Brand new AVGN video! I nearly missed this because James Rolfe is coming out with his excellent Monster Madness videos every day as well.

The moment I saw the title I just knew he was going to be talking about the Mega Drive version of the game. True enough it is pretty awful. I wonder if he knows about the Macintosh Plus version of the game? I grew up with that version and I really loved it back then.

Since I knew so much about the game myself I enjoyed the episode even more!

NGamer Issue 67

Nice cover although when you look at Zelda's face for a while it starts to look like it's disconnected from the rest of the official artwork.

The free gifts this month were Skyward Sword skins for 2 Wii Remotes and the console, a double sided Skyward Sword poster and one of those tips books full of miscellaneous Zelda trivia and tips.

The special features this month include an incredibly boring one about games from other formats coming to Wii U and one about the 3DS that talks about its price cut, unknown DSiWare games you can get for it and a list of bargain retail games that have come down in price.

Interesting reviews include Kirby Mass Attack which got an 81(though they're saying again and again that they're not looking forward to his new Wii game at all) and Go! Go! Kokopolo which got 3/5.

#10 of 10: Zelda II The Adventure of Link (3DS NES Ambassador)

The amount I've played of Zelda II on 3DS so far is fine with the circle pad and it looks fine on the screen too. The thing is, I haven't played very far to properly judge it (though I have completed the game before) but since I managed to complete the first dungeon without any control issues I'd say it's looking good so far.

Should I go into how it's underrated or how it's the black sheep of the series? Actually I think the game, though hard as hell, is pretty damn good and it's a great one for fans to try out. I recommend using a walkthrough though.

At last I've covered all the NES ones! Took about a month too... Now to take on the GBA ones when they show up!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 34

Another Kawasaki episode! (love that guy) His real master arrives in Cappytown this time and really lets Kawasaki have it when he sees that his food isn't up to par. King Dedede also invites the master into his castle and cook for him and appears on tv. Lots of teacher/student drama ensues.

The NME monster this time is a giant corn on the cob that has an amusing attack involving popcorn. It's also the return of Kirby's cook ability.

I wonder if there's people who played Kirby's Fun Pak for the first time, having only watched the cartoon first? They wouldn't know Kawasaki's an adversary in that game.

#9 of 10: Wrecking Crew (3DS NES Ambassador)

This is another one of those early NES arcadey titles that not many people heard of and aren't often played. It does have a gently addictive quality though. Like Ice Climber you can select any level you like from the title screen. Be careful not to press Select unintentionally because that'll bring you back to the title screen straight away!

I've seen youtube videos of its sequel, Wrecking Crew '98, which seems to have different kinds of gameplay elements that make it look similar to something like Wario's Woods.

Not the case with the NES original though, which has more in common with single screen arcade platformers like Rodland.

"Kirby's Adventure Wii" is the name of our version of Kirby's second Wii game

Kirby games as we know often get different names for different regions. This is the name of our version of the game while the American one will be called "Kirby's Return to Dream Land". The Japanese version is simply titled "Hoshi no Kabi Wii" (according to Wikipedia).

The original Japanese title for Kirby's Dream Land on the Game Boy was "Hoshi no Kabi". I guess the naming of the Wii game for the different versions is ok enough but it would still be confusing.

When I talk to Americans they often don't realise that a lot of Kirby games have different names over here but I still like to use our names when I chat with them. I don't mind explaining but confusion over titles can be troublesome as we all know.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 33

A flying saucer starts coming to Cappytown every night to dump rubbish all over the place. This puts the whole town in a dilemma and they discuss various ways of what they're gonna do with it but all of their ideas happen to be environmentally unsafe. King Dedede even sends out a fire monster in the hopes of burning it up.

I guess you could say it's another episode with a message about the environment but it's extremely subtle and it doesn't really have any bearance on the plot about the flying saucer. It's only when the whole town tries to discuss various solutions and Tiff telling them that they're wrong that you could say that it's about the environment.

The NME monster this time is a CGI fire lion thing. Since it's made completely out of fire it looks fine in CG. I wonder if it's supposed to be like the firey lion thing from Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland? Anyway Kirby gets the Fire ability from it.

Rocket Slime 3DS' Box Art!

Here it is! From Amazon.jp's page of the game:

 I've never seen Rocket smile like that before. Still, it's a lovely boxart and one I'd be proud to have on my shelf. There's a pattern lately where European boxarts of games are the same as the Japanese ones so that would be great if this game was announced for Ireland and the rest of Europe! Please bring it out here Square Enix and Nintendo! This was why I wanted a 3DS at all!

Should I be worried about Skyward Sword spoilers?

In various places online where I get news from I see links to footage and highly detailed feature lists about Skyward Sword. Now I know this is normal and it's all good for getting everyone excited about a game coming out, I'm just wondering how much I should watch.

Remember the very first trailer where we saw footage of bomb bowling? There's finally more footage of it here in the first half of the following video. (after that is footage of another new feature, just in case you don't want to see it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Tlko76lQM

That's my main curiosity sated anyway. Should I watch any more footage on the run up to the game's release I wonder? Hmmm.

Four Swords in single player feels like being the only kid on the playground.

A playground full of different types of see saws. It makes you wish you had others to enjoy it with. I suppose that's where it succeeds. I wouldn't have been motivated to go through the hassle of finding someone to play it with otherwise. Having no wires or cartridges to deal with makes things easier too.

Now I know myself from playing Four Swords Adventures on the Gamecube that it can be lots of fun playing in single player mode. This remake of the original Four Swords is nowhere near as good as it. That's kind of to be expected really as Four Swords gameplaywise is really just a big bonus mode whereas Four Swords Adventures has a more satisfying single player campaign. The latter came out later as well so the formula got improved.

If Nintendo does something like this again they should strive to make it better than these two games put together. I was always a little curious of the GBA game that eluded me for years and now my curiosity is satisfied. Time to move on.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 32

This episode is all about characters going to the dentist and it's like one of those cartoons that have an implied educational message about personal dental care.

It's also the first time I've seen King Dedede being a truly reprehensible dickhead instead of just being a likeable buffoon.

No really I'm shocked! This episode starts out with Escargoon needing to go to the dentist and King Dedede getting great sport out of seeing him in pain in the dentist's chair. After that, when they go grocery shopping, the king doesn't even let Escargoon buy any dental care products because he had such a fun time seeing him in pain that he wants to see it happen again! What a dick!

Karma catches up with him though because soon afterwards he starts getting a pain in his tooth. A similar thing happens to Tuff following his pompous attitude about not needing to brush his teeth. Escargoon gets some well deserved last laughs and it is funny seeing King Dedede freak out about having to go see the dentist.

The NME monster this time is one with a cold blooded desire.... for dentistry! Kirby's battle with it is entertainingly farcical and fresh!

No game references but I do recall a part in Super Mario Sunshine where FLUDD pops up a message about making sure you look after your teeth.

Zelda Four Swords Anniversary Edition (whew) is out now on DSiWare in Ireland & Europe!

Wow what a mouthful! Anyway it was made available today! I made sure to download it earlier. I haven't tried it properly yet but remember there's two things you should know:

-It's free to download for all DSi and 3DS owners for a few months.
-It's an enhanced remake of the original GBA game, now allowing for a single player option for the first time.

Trying out Star Fox and F-Zero for the first time (first serious go anyway)

There are a good few Nintendo games and series I don't really think of playing and these two are prime examples of that. I'm sure that goes for most people, however I know several people who won't shut up about these two series.

I tried a few tracks of F-Zero and all I can say really is that it's ok. It's well made of course and I love the theme of Mute City. It all comes down to me not being big into racing games though but it's good enough to be enjoyable to me. Starfox is nicely cinematic but just doesn't hold my attention for very long. The second level is mostly shooting at rocks in space with a cursor. I'm not sure otherwise why it doesn't hold my attention for very long. I do know back then I just wanted to play platformers though.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 31

Yeesh this episode stuttered badly on the service when I watched it today.

King Dedede lures everyone in Cappytown to his castle by opening up an amusement park there. He also holds a karaoke contest and makes that a plan to get Kirby uploaded to NME.

The monster this time is the microphone we see in many Kirby games and Kirby also gets the mike ability from it.

Retro Gamer Issue 93

This was last month's issue but I'm playing catch up! This month the staff were asked what was the first arcade game they played. I'm struggling to remember what mine was. Was it New Zealand Story? Was it Tumblepop? Was it Snow Bros? Whatever it was it was probably some kind of cute platformer.

Nice article on Buster Busts Loose and an amazing collector's guide to the Super Nintendo. Learned about a couple of nice curiosities like Majyuuou(it's like Castlevania on crack), Magical Pop'n and Whirlo. I like the Parodius article as well.

One of the featured homebrew reviews I like was NES Virus Cleaner. I tried it for myself and it's quite addictive but tough, avoiding things like you would in say, Frogger and collecting all the bits to complete a level.

Trying out 3D Classics: Twinbee for 3DS

God I loved Bells & Whistles in the arcade. I also loved Pop n' Twinbee on the SNES. I even bought the inferior PC Engine version of B&W, Detana Twinbee on the Wii Virtual Console. Now on 3DS I bought the recently released 3D Classics version of the original Twinbee. I suppose it's some kind of urge I have to support the Twinbee series even though it's only getting rereleases in recent times. A new one for the Wii would be lovely Konami. (along with new Parodius, Gradius, Mystical Ninja, etc etc)

Anyway, this game is as fun as it ever was and I like it more than Xevious(although Xevious has nice 3D clouds on the sides whereas this only has a plain curtain on the sides, but you could be super positive and say it's a nice nod to the opening of Gokujou Parodius). This version of course has the 3D effect — if you can imagine a sheet of paper with a drawing of an aeriel view laid out on a table and then put buttons on it or something, that's what it's like to look at. You can see a clip of it on the eShop anyway.

A nice thing this version has is fully customisable controls along with an option for rapid fire. P-p-pew!

Rocket Slime 3 D's new trailer

I haven't been keeping up with the screenshot releases and videos for this new game which is something that'll have to change. Here's a trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-tenYMK22Hw

Square-Enix, please release this in Ireland and the rest of Europe! We really want it!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 30

Kirby wakes up one morning with an egg underneath him. When it hatches it becomes one of those episodes where Kirby makes a new friend only to have it turn out to be something to do with the bad guys later. I hope Kirby doesn't get traumatised from all the times this happens!

Chef Kawasaki appears briefly sometimes and it's becoming more apparent that he cares little for the quality of his food! After all the sympathy he got from us in previous episodes too! Ah well he's still a very likeable character.

The NME monster this time is Galbo, a pudgy little dinosaur thing that also appears in Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby gets his fire ability.

#8 of 10: The Legend of Zelda (3DS NES Ambassador)

The great thing about having this on the 3DS is that you can switch between the first and second player controls by holding the L & R buttons and pressing Y. You can then save the game while the equipment screen is up by pressing up and A at the same time. Well, it's great to be able to get around that awkwardness the original version had anyway.

Other than that it's still the classic Zelda 1 in full 60Hz speed. It controls fine with the circle pad and if you're not used to it you will quickly. That's what I found myself on my own experience of course.

You can do that L & R trick to swap players with every other NES VC game on the 3DS also.

#7 of 10: Super Mario Bros. (3DS NES Ambassador)

The best of the bunch! I don't need to go into that very much though.

First of all you must know that this isn't the original PAL version which ran faster than the other ones. Rather, this is just like those other versions in terms of speed.

Playing the game is perfectly fine with the circle pad. No major issues at all.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 29

King Dedede is fed up of eating the same food so he orders a monster from NME that can cook really well. He then opens a restaurant really close to Kawasaki's and goes into direct competition with him. The rest of the episode centres around trying to get the crowds to either restaurant and very hot food becomes a big craze.

I'm used to Kawasaki's voice now but I still love the way he talks!

The NME monster isn't from any of the games. Kirby gets his cook ability again and he also eats very spicy curry. You could say maybe that's a power he gets from Kirby's Dream Land 1? Why not! :)

#6 of 10: NES Open Tournament Golf (3DS NES Ambassador)

I naturally shy away from golf games but I have played a couple of the ones Nintendo published like Mario Golf 64. When I saw this on the ambassador list I actually mistook it for another older game on the NES which was just titled "Golf". This newer one has nicer graphics, sound and you get to have the Princess as your caddy!

Due to a game about golf having such an easy going nature it suits a handheld very well. Circle pad concerns aren't applicable here at all and the only quick reflexes you need are the two timed button presses for your swing.

There are a nice amount of stats and menu options you can mess around with and I'm sure it'll all be easy to understand if you're into these kinds of games. Also, due to it being an NES game you're never waiting for a loading screen and the pacing is generally nice and quick but still has that feeling of suspense.

As for how it looks I always think if a golf course looks like it would be a nice interesting place to have a walk around in and explore it looks really good. This game pulls it off very well.

#5 of 10: Metroid (3DS NES Ambassador)

I've never beaten this game or have gotten very far in it. It's also the game Nintendo is most generous about giving away in promotions and the like. I have it 4 times over now(not joking).

It's still hard as hell. Runs at a good 60Hz speed of course and as for controlling with the circle pad, I rolled into a ball by accident a couple of times so that might be reason for concern. It didn't happen anymore after that though.

#4 of 10: Mario & Yoshi (3DS NES Ambassador)

Looks perfectly fine on the small screen. This is one of those many Tetris style gradually dropping block games that follow completely different rules. You take one look at them, decide it looks too boring to play but once you give it a quick go you can't stop playing whether you like it or not. In Tetris' case it actually makes me somewhat annoyed when I can't stop playing but in this case it's nice enough.

Instead of controlling the dropping blocks you swap the columns of blocks that have built up on the bottom in the hopes of of the falling ones landing on the top one that has the same picture. There's also a strategic element to it with the opening and closing halves of Yoshi eggs. If you stack a bunch of rubbish blocks between the opening and closing parts, the egg will close around them and they'll all disappear. I notice doing bigger ones will give you a bigger Yoshi.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 28

An episode with an environmental message! You could say there's also some kind of commentary on the life of a factory worker.

King Dedede orders a monster that requires assembly so he has a factory built in order to make this happen. He then offers the residents of Cappytown various home appliances if they'll work on the assembly line but doesn't tell them what it's for.

Seeing them all work with a glazed look in their eyes is quite interesting. The environmental stuff is as interesting as it is in any other cartoon that has such a message but hey it has some educational value.

The monster this time is a robot that's like the Ice Dragon and Kirby gets his ice ability.

Skyward Sword is looking really nice, upgrading equipment hm...

Another trailer was shown for Skyward Sword. The new stuff like collecting stuff for upgrading equipment seems a bit complicated for a Zelda game, kind of like customising your train or your ship in the last two games.

But the rest of it with the gameplay features and everything looks great. I want to see bomb bowling! I do love the idea of descending upon a new area from the sky though. If you notice Link's swimming controls you can see that you use the Wii Remote pointer to control your direction. That's really good. Was it in Twilight Princess for the Wii? I can barely remember...

The free Zelda Four Swords on DSiWare will have a one player mode!

Here's the exciting trailer which shows new stuff that's being added:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKWYzJ7rdCg

Yes yes yes yesss! It's a really stupid idea to make a game multiplayer exclusive. Finally this wrong will be righted in the original Four Swords with this remake which they're calling the Anniversary Edition. It'll be released near the end of this month and will be available for a limited time. I can't wait!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 27

Kirby and his buddies decide to go visit Wispy Woods. Little do they know that King Dedede is spying on them and is still looking to turn the forest into a golf course. They find Wispy doting on a lovely little flower that has just blossomed right in front of him. They even name the flower itself "Lovely". Daww!

The NME monster this time is the flower turned into an alluring femme fatale succubus kind of flower. In her innocent form she's a lot like the flowers with cute faces that try to gobble Kirby up in Kirby's Fun Pak. Kirby gets the cutter ability from the razor leaves she throws.

It's interesting when Kirby sucks in a cannonball that Dedede shot at him and then spits it back. I don't see him doing that very often in the cartoon!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 26

This episode focuses on the NME monster WolfWrath, a red wolf like monster that we always see in the opening credits. It also focuses on the backstory of the characters Sword & Blade before they became Meta Knight's followers. They had all met WolfWrath before and throughout the whole episode they struggle to fight with it.

Lots of combat here including a pretty deep footstab and the enemy being cut in half again before exploding like it was a robot enemy or something. No blood but it is quite gory!

Kirby gets the sword ability but this time it's Meta Knight's sword he gets.

(This episode came out last Thursday by the way)

NGamer Issue 66

This is most of the cover. At the very bottom there's a red bar listing some other features. But I prefer when the magazine just shows one game and its description.

This issue came with three free gifts: Starfox skins for 3DS, Starfox posters and a Nintendo quiz book in the shape those tips books normally come in. Bleh.


There's some interesting reviews including an import review of Rhythm Heaven which got 88 and Xenoblade Chronicles which got a big fat 93.

Some previews of games too including Skyward Sword and Rocket Slime 3D.

There's a big feature about the Wii U which talks about the type of games I have absolutely no interest in.

There's a Harvest Moon 15th anniversary special interview with the developers.

Kirby's Dream Land is the VC essential this time.

The absolute best feature in this issue however, is Kokopolo developer Keith Webb outlining the steps from creating a game from scratch to getting it published. It's in the form of a board game with each space showing a step in the process. I found it really interesting!

#3 of 10: Ice Climber (3DS NES Ambassador)

A great thing about this game is that you can select any level you like from the title screen. It's another one of those arcadey titles and the sprites are distinctive so it displays fairly well on the 3DS.

It's pretty hard to get used to the jumping in this game. Since the jumping angle is so steep, more often than not you break one of the bricks above your head or you miss the edge by a tiny bit. This encourages the tendency to press the directional button harder so that makes the circle pad a godsend since it'll be easier on your thumb.

Handhelds and extra analogue sticks: For and Against

Against:

Playing third person 3d games with a free camera(like say, the likes of Mario 64) is disorienting and it harms the portability of a handheld. This type of mechanic is better on a bigger monitor that stands in one place. Unfortunately, this is more than likely what developers are going to do with a right analogue stick on a handheld. They'll probably do it backwards to the Mario 64 standard too.

For:

Games that are naturally twin stick controlled would benefit such as Katamari and Robotron: 2084. Unfortunately this isn't why they're being introduced on handhelds.

Keywords: 3DS, second analogue, attachment, reveal, vomit

*VOMITING SMILEY FACE*

Dragon Quest X's trailer revealed

I'm not going to dare link it. The only footage online at the moment is off camera. Have a look at the official website instead:

http://www.dqx.jp/

Will someone who's involved with the game please upload the actual trailer!

While you're at it have an ENGLISH press release and be perfectly frank about the game's online capabilities!

Last but not least, please provide a YES or NO answer to the following question:
"Can the game's main story be played from start to finish without having to connect to the fucking internet?".

WE CURRENTLY DO NOT HAVE A STRAIGHT ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION.

I am hoping for a YES answer!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 25

Character spotlight on Escargoon this time!

You know it's funny, I could guess what the entire episode was going to be about the moment the postman said he had a love letter to deliver to Escargoon. First I thought "Aha! It's actually his mother!" and when that was confirmed and he read the news that she was coming to visit him I thought "Aha! She thinks he's king!" which too turned out to be the case!

Escargoon then begs Kirby and his buddies to put on the charade for his mother. It's another one of those plots we've seen in lots of shows; the one that comes to mind straight away is Top Cat with Benny the Ball and his mother. It goes like you'd expect and ends like you'd expect and it does manage to still be entertaining.

Just wait and see what King Dedede is like when he hears about the whole thing! That's what I was dying to see for the most of this episode and it is absolutely priceless!

The NME monsters this time are a bunch of Drifters whom Kirby gets his parasol ability from. They also appear in Kirby's Dream Land 2.

#2 of 10: Donkey Kong Jr. (3DS NES Ambassador)

Another great old arcade title with 4 levels that loops every time you beat the set. Lots of jumping and strategic vine climbing is involved.

Sizewise it doesn't feel oppressive at all, in fact it feels nice to be able to play it on a handheld on the go. The circle pad feels great to play as DK Jr with as well.

#1 of 10: Balloon Fight (3DS NES Ambassador)

I didn't think this would appear on the 3DS Virtual Console before its brilliant sequel for the Game Boy, Balloon Kid but hey it's a good game in its own right.

It's very arcadey and it's great for a quick go of which makes it suit handheld portable play very well. The sprites in this game have always been quite small so they'll look absolutely miniscule in the window, but they still look very distinctive so you won't ever confuse anything for something else.

Trying out the 3DS Ambassador NES titles

They were made available yesterday in Ireland & the rest of Europe so I downloaded them all. After playing them for a while there's a couple of things you need to know.

-Instructions for downloading these games are found in the news section of the eShop.
-All of the 3DS ambassador NES titles are in 60Hz! Full speed! The exact same speed as the NTSC versions of the games! Yes!

I might talk more about them soon but for now they're all to be enjoyed since they're free.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 24

After someone attempts to steal Mr Curio's ninja scroll, everyone in Cappy Town becomes obsessed with ninjas, even King Dedede. It turns out that there's something special and hilarious about the ninja scroll.

The NME monster this time is a ninja that betrayed the star warriors in the past. None of the ninjas in this episode look like Biospark from the Kirby games. Kirby also gets his ninja ability and demonstrates most of the moves you can perform as him in Kirby's Fun Pak, which is pretty cool.

I also got a key from watching this episode. The first one in a long while.

Full 3DS Ambassador NES list for Ireland & Europe

These aren't out yet but they will be very soon. Here's a list of all 10 of them, sorted alphabetically and with their complete titles:

Balloon Fight
Donkey Kong Jr.
Ice Climber
Mario & Yoshi
Metroid
NES Open Tournament Golf
Super Mario Bros.
The Legend of Zelda
Wrecking Crew
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

In the U.S. they have them already today and I keep checking the eShop to see if they'll be there but they aren't yet. Grrr come on Nintendo! Your so called "most important customers" are waiting!

I beat Kirby 64!

Man that last boss was excruciating. Like most of the game it was a slow painful process to whittle it down into submission. I did it though and got the ending and everything. Thing is, there was a bit in the ending that seemed like there was a loose end somewhere which makes sense since I didn't find all the shards. So now I've a choice of looking it up on YouTube or go through all the levels to find them all.

I decided to go with the least sensible option.

I've over half of the crystals found now so it's just going through the harder stages to find the rest. I figured out that the barriers that block some crystals are coloured with the ability you need to use its attack on. A very annoying puzzle was trying to make a bunch of blocks look like a hat or an umbrella or a pizza. Some challenges were fun though like discovering combinations I hadn't found before like the spark+stone combo. That one's brill!

Gonna play it for a bit more and I'll try to 100% it. If it stays true to the series there might be another final battle.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 23

The bad CGI Dynablade is back!(actually it doesn't look that bad this time) Escargoon has come up with a formula that turns li'l creatures into monsters so King Dedede decides to kidnap Dynablade's baby chick so he can try it on. It goes badly and now the chick is running all over the place with everyone chasing it since Dynablade's frantic scaring everyone, including the farmer's sheep.

Honestly those poor sheep get an awful doing. In the first episode we saw them getting eaten and their bones spat out.

No NME monsters this time as King Dedede was all excited with the prospect of creating his own instead of buying expensive ones. There's no Kirby ability either but we do see him fly around a lot on his warpstar.

Xenoblade is apparently a rare game now, one week after its release

Today I went to the shops for the first time since I got Xenoblade last week and I could not see hide nor hair of it in any of the game shops I usually frequent. I guess I'm glad I have my copy but it really shouldn't be the kind of game that's hard to find.

There aren't even any instore ads about it. It's like they refuse to acknowledge its existence. Actually I've seen this kind of thing plenty of times before but it ought to be abundantly available.

So yeah, if you've been wanting to get Xenoblade but are holding out on it... well I don't know if that's the best idea.

Angry Video Game Nerd Episode 104 - Nintendo World Championships

http://cinemassacre.com/2011/08/26/avgn-nintendo-world-championships/
This episode was awesome! It's all about video game collecting and he meets with another collector. There's lots of suspense and tension as they engage in a battle of wits over an incredibly rare game!

Xenoblade's gameplay, battle system and considerateness to the player.

You can run across the vast landscapes of Xenoblade without ever having to fight an enemy you see unless it's to move the story forward, then you have to fight it eventually. When you want to fight an enemy you have to target it first.

When it comes to attacking, everyone will attack by themselves. They'll attack, wait a moment, then attack again, all by themselves.

The input you have with regards to attacking is to select special attacks on the real-time menu that'll deal extra damage or cause status effects.

You can also interact with your team mates by chaining attacks, picking them up if they get knocked down and by warning them about a bad vision you had during battle, giving you a chance to select an action from their menu that'll hopefully prevent it from happening.

Now the ways this game is considerate to the player!
- You can skip and pause cutscenes.
- You can skip to any previous landmark you've been to by selecting it in the map, which is a menu option that's available from the start.
- When your party gets wiped out you respawn close by.
- When your party gets wiped out you don't lose anything at all since your last save, not even money.
- You can save everywhere.
- After a battle, everyone in the party automatically gets restored to full health.
-(I'm sure there's others I can't think of right now)

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 22

Kirby and co. enjoy a relaxing day at the beach in a little inflatable dinghy when a tornado comes along and shipwrecks them all to a deserted island. They then meet a veteran star warrior who still believes the big battle from long ago is still going on.

This is probably inspired by all those stories about Japanese soldiers from World War II ending up getting stuck on Pacific islands and not hearing about the war being over for years due to being away from everything. I love those stories.

The NME monster this time is a genuinely ridiculous looking monster with propellors on its arms. Kirby gets the Tornado ability from it.

Xenoblade First Impressions Part 2: I'm finally enjoying the game

When the game came out on Friday I took at home and played it for a while, being utterly confused and frightened. Now after playing it for several more hours I'm somewhat less confused. I got my ass kicked several times but learned something new each time about battling.

I won't go into the battle system too much but one really cool feature are these visions you get during battle of the immediate future where someone gets gravely injured and you get a chance to prevent it from happening all the while a special timer counts down. It feels really good to do this.

I love the way the characters talk during battle. The voice acting functions quite well and you get used to it. I think it's funny to imagine them all say things in cockney rhyming slang (they don't for the record!) and the monster or boss would be thinking to itself "wh-what the hell are these guys saying...".

Speaking of bosses I just beat a mechanical one with big tentacles. It took me a looot of trial and error...

The big red sword Monado is featured in a big way in the story and the characters talk about it a lot. Now I know why the classic controller pro released with it was red! Xenoblade is still a better sounding title though.

The game more than delivers on the promise the trailers showed. It really is "Super Landscape Running Adventure" with its vast landscapes and high cliffs into big lakes of water. Gaur Plains is a particular standout moment so far!

There are a lot of other deep stat affecting system thingies that I've yet to learn more about. I've a big need for those tutorials. They're not intrusive in a bad way though which is cool.

Xenoblade is pretty good

Sorry I haven't much to say about it now but I'm enjoying it a lot more!

The problem I had with the small text, remedied by changing it to widescreen. I can see it a little better now:)

More soon!

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 21

Cappy Town is all abuzz with the news of a Princess from another planet coming to visit. King Dedede is all excited too and spends the entire episode trying to woo her in his own larger than life way. It's more like blurting obnoxiously but it's actually really interesting seeing him like this!

We also meet the princess' bodyguard, who befriends Kirby and his buddies and goes off into town having fun with them. That must sound strange eh? ;)

The NME monster this time is a big fat fishy/eely like creature. Kirby with his sword ability and his new buddy literally make sushi out of it! It's quite a sight!

Made it to the last boss in Kirby 64 (I think)

Kirby 64 is a challenging Kirby game but that's because it's so sluggish. I've made it all the way to what I think is the last boss but it's pretty tough. Hopefully I'll get through it and see the ending.

Retro Gamer Issue 92

Bit late with this one as there's a new one out since. The big feature in this issue is as advertised on the cover, about how the 8-bit computers of the '80s I've only heard about in stories met their end which will be a very interesting read for a lot of people.

The best part of the issue is the merciless pisstaking Columns gets on the letters page. Made me smile!

The worst part of the issue is the review of Super Mario Land for Virtual Console. It's a really really horrible piece of writing.

Xenoblade unboxing and first impressions

Today I got Xenoblade with the red Classic Controller Pro. A couple of things worthy of note:

- The instruction manual has a message of thanks for buying the game :)
- There are two instruction manuals: One in English and a massive thick one for every other European language. I liked the fact I got an English one on its own.
- The Classic Controller Pro is red with a red lead.
- The boxart on the game case is reversible like Sin & Punishment 2's was and the other side shows the most popular voted alternate artwork of the main character looking over the vast plain.
- The default X-axis camera is fucking backwards :( but there is the option to put it back to normal, even if that option says "reverse".
- The text is far too small to read, which is a big problem I had with Monster Hunter Tri. I don't care if it's to do with the tv, mine's a 24" standard def which is a decent size. The game should be made with that in mind.

So far, in terms of your average modern day RPG with its typical themes, setting, presentation, characters and gameplay conventions and mechanics I would say it's crafted as well as it can be. It has the same kind of things you'd see in say, a PS2 Final Fantasy game like XII. The thing is though you have to actually be interested in this kind of thing and so far I don't think I am. I would say it's strictly for fans of that genre. They should buy this. It's got the "cool n' stylish JRPG factor".

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 20 plus a special gift I got from the Kirby Channel

After watching this episode I got the familiar screen where you win a key to unlock a past episode but instead of a key it was a gift box. On opening it I got a crystal ball, which allows me to unlock a future episode. It's controlled fun at its most enjoyable!

So anyway in this episode King Dedede is suffering from the intense heatwave so he decides to order a monster that makes it snow in Dream Land. After this everyone goes off and has fun in it. We then meet a Chilly, the snowman from the Kirby games. He and Kirby become bosom buddies until we see that Chilly is showing some suspicious behaviour.

In the end we see Kirby wave goodbye to another new buddy that he made. Aw!

The NME monsters we see are Chilly, first seen in Kirby's Adventure but looking more like his sprite in Kirby's Fun Pak and can only say his name like a Pokémon as well as the Ice Dragon, who first appears in Kirby's Dream Land 2. Kirby also gets his Ice ability.

Shopping for a Xenoblade preorder

Today I went looking around for preordering Xenoblade. I want to get the red Classic Controller Pro bundle so I went shopping around.

First I went online. GAME's site has the bundle alright but Gamestop's site doesn't even acknowledge the game's existence. I didn't look at any other site.

On going into the actual shops I saw an ad saying that the bundle is exclusive to GAME. So I preordered it there. All's left now is to wait for Friday!

If you're ever looking for Nintendo advertising in GAME, don't bother even glancing at the front windows of the shop; they almost never have ads for Nintendo stuff there. Instead, look on the aisle pillars. That's where it's usually found. It's usually the case that the ads or displays are facing towards the rear of the shop, so you could go into the store without noticing them. It's crazy to think but you often have to search for ads featuring Nintendo goods rather than the ads catching you, which I'm used to by now but it is a crazy crazy thing. Every single video game store I know is like this.

I completed Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak!

I'm a fan of the Hamtaro games. More specifically I like the adventure game type that were developed by Nintendo and Alphadream such as Ham-Hams Unite, Rainbow Rescue and this, Ham-Ham Heartbreak.

This one's lovely. I would recommend these games to anyone who liked Link's Awakening for being able to walk around, explore and talk to people, which is initially why I liked Link's Awakening when I first played it. Imagine say a point and click adventure game where you go up to someone and press A instead of clicking on them. That's what these games are like and for adventure games they're extremely competent.

I would rate this one above par with its predecessor, Ham-Hams Unite, but neither of them are as good as Rainbow Rescue. One of the major reasons is that in Rainbow Rescue you don't have to select greetings from a menu before you interact with anything. Rainbow Rescue is the latest of the three so it's no surprise that it's improved all round.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 19

Here we meet Knuckle Joe from Kirby's Fun Pak, except he has muddy purple skin for some reason. He invades NME's servers on the way to Dream Land but they let him through since he tells them he's out to get Kirby. On Knuckle Joe's arrival one thing leads to another until he eventually has a stand off with Kirby. Then Meta Knight intervenes to tell Knuckle Joe the truth...

It's cool seeing Knuckle Joe and he even has the abilities he had in the SNES game, like the vulcan jab. Kirby gets the Fighter ability from his jabs. At one stage he also gets the Needle ability.

We get some more backstory which is interesting for a serial cartoon. I'm really thankful though that the backstory isn't forced into the games in the form of dialogue heavy cutscenes because that would make them less interesting as games.

Playing Zelda Outlands (Part 3)

I beat the first quest! There were loads of walls to walk through and often times an enemy would get stuck in the wall so I couldn't proceed which was highly annoying. It was also weird and kind of scary seeing those old blue guys with fire swirling around them. I also came across these things that looked like bags or something and picked them up but I have absolutely no idea what they do.

The showdown with the Thunderbird was thrilling and scary. Well, it is but it's there instead of Ganon so it's certainly not as terrifying and hard as it was in Zelda 2.

So now I've completed the first quest! I immediately tried out the new one and saw tiny bits of several dungeons so far but no sign of me getting the sword! I wouldn't dream that I'd have the meat and the boomerang beforehand. That's all I've played for now. I'll just have to see what happens next!

Strategies you may develop if you play Kokopolo

After playing Kokopolo for a while you may feel the need to know what the levels are like before you go chasing around. You want to be somewhat ready to jump over spikes for example so it's good to take a little wander around to see what it's all like. The enemies usually stick to their own little patterns in their own little corners so feel free to do a little reconnaissance.

Let's say then that you get involved in a chase. You may not be fully aware of where you're going which can be dangerous so take advantage of the way the paths in the levels form roundabouts. The enemies that chase you form a sort of conga line so it's a good way of keeping the chase going while you glance at the map on the bottom screen for a way out or to get ready to deal with an obstacle. The 3DS' slide pad feels great doing this actually.

Hmmm... this is all making me think of Pac-Mania, which is one of my favourite Pac-Man games. Imagine an isometric Kokopolo? A Kokopolo-Mania as it were!

NGamer Issue 65

Remember that voting thing a few months ago where everyone was to vote on an alternative cover for Xenoblade? Well this image was the ugliest option and for some reason it's the cover of this month's issue. There were three free gifts including Xenoblade decals for the Wii and two Wiimotes (one of which also has the ugly artwork), Xenoblade posters (again one of them is the ugly artwork but the other one's nice) and a 3DS tips book.

This issue has the now slightly infamous article about the Project Rainfall people who got a little bit too excited. At this stage, anyone who would boycott Skyward Sword out of support for Pandora's Tower doesn't just need to get over themself — they need a smack.

There's a feature about Xenoblade where I learn about the game's sensible save system, a Skyward Sword preview that is very very detailed and a Fortune Street one in the form of a highly amusing exchange between one of the magazine staff and the E3 booth attendant(well worth reading). The Kirby ones were most interesting to me (it's quite funny the way they awarded the DS and Wii ones best and worst Kirby games at E3 respectively). Their glowing preview on "Go Vacation" has made me very curious about the game. I'll have to look it up.

Other interesting features were in the retro section: one about Nintendo coin-ops and a nice big one about Terranigma. That's another game I'd say a lot of fans want released in the U.S.

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 18

While Kirby and his buddies are shopping for a picnic King Dedede abruptly shows up outside the supermarket and throws out a Noddy. When Kirby eats it he goes into a deep sleep that could last decades.

Tuff and his pride are featured in a big way in this episode as he feels responsible so he leads an expedition to an exotic plant that is said to be able to wake Kirby up. Tiff and Meta Knight follow at a distance to make sure he's safe.

With the NME monsters we see the return of Noddy but we don't see Kirby transform and get a cap when he eats him — I think it would've been funny to have that dramatic transformation sequence only for Kirby to fall asleep! I'm pretty sure the plant is from NME as well; Kirby gets the cool Needle ability from it and changes yellow, making him look like one of Lakitu's Spinies from the Mario games. I like the way he's able to control the direction of the needles he shoots. He couldn't do that in Kirby's Adventure!