Xenoblade is being released in Ireland by Nintendo as "Xenoblade Chronicles"

This is quite nice! Let's slap our hands down on some tables to get excited for this and let it be heard that we get excited about RPGs being released in this part of the world!

Here's the official website with a familiar trailer:

http://www.xenobladechronicles.co.uk/

 It's a nice enough trailer though what with all the characters in a group running across landscapes like that... Right now I'd like to call the game "Super Landscape Running Adventure".

Just kidding! But hey it would be nice if the added "Chronicles" part of the title was an early April Fools Joke.

I'm going to go on youtube and watch some gameplay videos of the Japanese version.

I finally get to try out the DS Rumble Pak

On a whim I thought I'd get Metroid Prime Pinball(it was really cheap) and see what the included rumble pak was like. Very few games support it - the most recent being Last Window which I'll have to try sometime with it.

So far though I find the thing just gives blips and bips of rumbles. It's hard to put into words but I suppose it's like in a real pinball table when you feel the ball belting off of everything it feels like a tiny knock. So I guess it's good for Metroid Prime Pinball. Must also try it with other games too like Mario & Luigi Partners in Time.

First 3DS games I tried

Super Street Fighter IV 3D and Pilotwings Resort were the first games I tried on 3DS but I really wanted to try out Monkey Ball but couldn't get a chance to.

I'm not a huge fan of either Street Fighter or Pilotwings and these games didn't make me want to play them any more than I ever wanted to play a game from those franchises.

I suppose the game boxes are nice though, they're skinnier anyway so they'll take up less space than regular DS games.

Following on from yesterday's post about what the 3D on 3DS is like

The DVD cover I had in mind but couldn't think of the name was Skyline. The cardboard sleeve is in 3D and it's like the 3DS when the 3D slider is so high up it's out of your comfort zone. From what I've seen so far it's all about depth perception and nothing to do with things leaping out of the screen.

I tried a Nintendo 3DS for the first time today! So what does the 3D look like?

To me the 3D on the 3DS looks exactly like recent releases of DVD covers that have a 3D effect on them.
I can't think of any examples of DVDs right now but that's how it looks, except in motion. I'll post some examples of DVD covers tomorrow.

Rocket Slime characters feature in an ad for a different game

Have a look at this Japanese ad for Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfOJikfdFR8

Once you get over the fact that the title can barely be said in one breath you notice after the 8 second mark a load of the characters from Rocket Slime briefly filling the screen with their smiling faces. As a fan of Rocket Slime I'm pretty interested in what role they'll play in this game.

Actually this is an updated version of the original uh... DQMJ2 game so they could've been in the original in some capacity. Not that I'd know - I haven't gotten into the Monsters series and this one never got released in English.

Nintendo 3DS out today in Ireland

I didn't get one myself but I did hear about a midnight launch at HMV in Cork. I'm bound to get a chance to play with one soon though. When I eventually do I'll talk about my experience with it more.

So what else is Nintendo releasing tomorrow in Ireland besides the 3DS?

Successfully Learning Mathematics Year 4.

It's edutainment and it has a funny bonus game that looks like a Arkanoid/Breakout clone.

Where's Wally is coming out too on WiiWare.

Interesting. I wonder how well these titles will do despite the big launch of the new 3DS?

Japanese magazine scans of Rocket Slime 3DS including screenshots

*drooooool!*
So fighting will take place in ships. Could we expect a Jack Sparrow type of character? Lovely happy art too and check out the map! It looks like it's based on Earth! Just like Dragon Quest III or Terranigma! I wonder if anything cool will happen in Ireland? Maybe a Torneko Taloon type of character will be there!

Super Monkey Ball 3D's AMAZING music (part 2)

Last time I already talked about how much I liked the world 5's Mystical Ninja-esque music and my joy at the return of the bonus music from Banana Blitz but now I just wanna mention how much I like World 8's music!

Have a listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pOzTkxLoRo

I don't know why but this music reminds me a lot of Mint Royale. Well, at least I could describe it in a similar way to their stuff. It's kind of a background music you might hear in a supermarket or a random montage without knowing anything about it but it has a gentle happy summery feel to it.

One thing I didn't notice about Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz until now

If you play as GonGon you can destroy those annoying bumper things in the main levels. That was a really handy discovery! I must keep it in mind from now on when I play.

The first three American releases of Final Fantasy games on Virtual Console and a European's possible confusion

So now as of two days ago the original versions of Final Fantasy 1, 4 and 6 have been released on the European Virtual Console in their American forms of 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Those versions never got released here before so I'm trying to imagine a confused misinformed European trying to write reviews about them. I can imagine amusing sentences like:

"Final Fantasy 3 is completely different to the DS version!"

and

"for some reason they took out the extra dungeons the GBA versions had"

We never had to deal with the numbering confusion with the official releases in Ireland until now when we can experience the confusion for the first time ever.

I beat Legend of the Mystical Ninja!

I'm on a game completing spree lately! I'm dying to sink my teeth into the Goemon series and today I beat Mystical Ninja for the SNES. Holy cow it was hard. Really really hard. Wonderfully weird too. I highly recommend this to anyone who's up for a good challenge and thinks they've seen it all when it comes to games!

I finally beat Paper Mario!

Yes! After 3 years of playing, giving up out of discouragement and playing again I finally complete this game! It's brilliant fun and even awe inspiring some of the time but for some reason it's difficult to summon the will to pick up and play it after putting it on the shelf for a while. I'm not sure why that is. I would tend to think that maybe it's the slow way Mario walks or is it down to the type of RPG it is. It always seemed that Paper Mario was a kind of refreshment from standard RPG conventions but maybe on its own it can be seen as tiresome with regard to its own conventions?

I dunno really. I'm just glad at this moment that I beat it.

Super Monkey Ball 3D has some AMAZING music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f9KnlIso0I

The footage here shows the player going through world 5. Listen to the music! It's really nice, almost remnant of something you'd hear from a Mystical Ninja game. I could make a more suitable reference but it's all I can think of right now.

Not only that, but about 4 minutes in you get the bonus stage music which is the same as the brilliant bonus theme from Banana Blitz!!

Rocket Slime is getting a sequel!!!

Here's the Logo!
Here's the website!:
http://www.dragonquest.jp/slamori3ds/

If this is as good as Rocket Slime itself then I'm no longer on the fence about the 3DS! I gotta get one!

... That is if and only if the game comes out in Europe since the 3DS is region locked. I don't want to buy a 3DS from a different region. Other than that I'd do whatever I could to play this game.

My First Mario Party Game (Part 2)

Right now I'm playing the mini game island levels and for the most part they're good. I really like the diving ones but I really hate the fishing and the concentration games, not to mention other ones where Mario doesn't control as well as he did in Mario 64. It's enjoyable enough so far though.

Two Mystical Ninja games on the Game Boy with the exact same name.

I'm very fond of Mystical Ninja and lately I've been trying to play more of the series than I have played. There was of course the N64 classic "Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon" but then there's two Game Boy installments with the exact same localised name as the N64 game. A bit of confusion going on here!

There's one on the Konami GB Collection Volume 3 cartridge and it's pretty damn good! It deserves a play so go check it out. It's like a cross between elements found in Zelda1 and Super Mario Bros. 1.

The other one then is a standalone release and unfortunately isn't as good as the other game but it's still a nice curiosity. There's a lot of unfair stuff that happens. It plays a bit like Zelda 1 but the enenies aren't anywhere near as threatening.

We Dare not coming out in UK but what about Ireland?

I don't see any sign of it on shop shelves so maybe it's not coming out here in Ireland either. It was released in Europe two days ago. It might become a rare collectable someday.

Ocarina of Time 3D really does look much better in every single way.

I recently saw a screen of the Forest Temple boss which is in an area that is usually almost pitch dark but now it has a purple hue to it but most importantly it is visible. I really appreciate this. I don't like my games to be so dark I can't see what I'm doing.

Club Nintendo E-Mail about late night 3DS event

It's not happening in Ireland but I just thought I'd share it here:

One thing that jumped out at me was the time. It's taking place between 7pm and 2am. Maybe it's geared specifically toward twentysomethings? Hard to say really.

My first go ever with a Mario Party game

Recently I got a Mario Party 1 cartridge for free and this evening I thought I'd try it out just to see what this series was like. The board game mode was interesting for a while but it was very long, even though I selected the quicker play option with just 20 turns. Afterwards I just tried a bit of the mini game island mode which is a Super Mario Bros 3 styled overworld map with mini-games as the levels. I found that to be a bit more fun but I'll have to play it more to make a fair judgement about it. Not to mention the mini games themselves! I have to play a few more of them.

NGamer issues 58, 59, and the latest, 60

Wow, really sorry about this. Looking back I didn't realise I forgot so many. Anyway let's talk a little bit about them:

Issue 58:

This one came out around the start of the year, soon after I posted about issue 57. As you can see they're hyping up 2011 for Nintendo and they also had their annual golden Mario awards which was quite nice. Ghost Trick and 999 were reviewed, getting 90 and 86 respectively. I definitely would score Ghost Trick higher myself so that's cool. There's also a review for Cave Story's European release where it scored a perfect 5. The free gift was skins for the Wii Remote that make it look like an NES controller.

Issue 59:

Last month's issue. There were three available covers which were of all the starter Pokémon from the latest games. I got the much more appealing Tepig. If I get this game I'm definitely going to choose Tepig because it looks cuter than the other two. We'll see. Anyway for free gifts I got a Zelda belt buckle which is kind of weird but cool at the same time and also there was a skin for the DS Lite which makes it look like a Game & Watch! I'd love to put this on my DS but I love the DQIX one I got free several months ago. What a dilemma! Kirby's Epic Yarn gets reviewed and scored 87 and there's a feature about deaths in games I haven't read yet. Gotta get around to it. Oh, and Pokémon Black/White scored an 88. I quite like Professor Juniper too. She's quite attractive!

Issue 60:

This one came with a lot of little magnets. Mainly, this latest issue is all about the 3DS. I was hoping to see a verdict and score for Super Monkey Ball 3D but I suppose I'll have to wait(even though I'd get the game regardless). Beyond the 3DS stuff a couple of things that stand out are the Shantae review where it scores a perfect 5 and an interview with Matt Bozon for me to enjoy reading when I get to them.

More about that N64 collector's feature in Retro Gamer issue 87

Oh wow I really enjoyed that feature. I enjoyed it so much I'm making another entry about it! That collector's list will be very handy for me. There are a few games for the machine I still want to get (but I won't mention them for now) and it's interesting to see where they are in their rarity level category. I reckon I'd better hunt them down very soon!

As for seeing that amazing looking Hori controller, just imagine, a Gamecube quality analogue stick for playing the N64. I'd really love something like that.

If you would like to see a bit of this issue then have a look at this clip where the editor is flipping through it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdlZgFBVosU

He's only saying it's controversial to make it more exciting.

Retro Gamer issue 87

*Drool!*

There is some juicy tasty N64 stuff in there, including pictures of obscure peripherals and a checklist for all the PAL releases! It's a lovely lovely issue!

Iwata's concerns about smartphone and social network games

Another thing Satoru Iwata mentioned in his speech was about these games that sell extremely cheaply. Apparently there's a worry that people might think that all games should cost this much. I guess it's food for thought. What I should be thinking about is how these issues affect a games player like me.

Wow, that was quick about the Master Quest

Rumour has it that Ocarina of Time 3DS is going to have the master quest built into it. Funny how I was just talking about it yesterday! This does make the 3DS a bit more tempting to me.

Zelda stuff from Satoru Iwata's GDC 2011 keynote

Here's the other exciting stuff that felt like it was shown especially for game bloggers. There was a new trailer for Skyward Sword which doesn't psyche me out insanely but I do see that it's coming along nicely.

The real excitement though was seeing the special 25th anniversary logo for the Zelda series. I wonder what they're gonna do for it? Maybe they'll do something like release the Ocarina of Time Master Quest perhaps? If it's a compilation of stuff it really should aim to better the Gamecube collector's edition disk. Let's watch this space over the coming year and see what'll happen!

Angry Video Game Nerd Episode 100 with ROB the robot!

This video came out today and I actually learned a lot more about ROB than I ever knew. It was quite funny too when the nerd was mocking it! Very interesting to see Gyromite and Stack-Up in action and it was great to see the nerd as some kind of zany scientist in some parts! Go watch it!

Satoru Iwata gets me excited about Raccoon Mario in his GDC 2011 keynote speech

Satoru Iwata showed screenshots of a new Super Mario game for the 3DS during his speech and then ended on a big cliffhanger! He showed the tentative logo for the game and asked us to note the tail-like shadow at the end. Then he told us to wait until E3 to find out what it's all about! The big tease!!!

I'm dying for Raccoon/Tanuki Mario from Super Mario Bros 3 to come back so this is very exciting for me!

I'm so glad I caught that part of Iwata's speech. I knew I was going to miss the first half of it and luckily I just caught the news about the new Mario as soon as I started watching the stream from Nintendo's site. Now I'll wait for the whole thing to be uploaded somewhere so I can watch it from the beginning.

Iwata of course talked about game industry issues but that's not what's exciting right now. That Mario announcement was a kind of 'gameblogger' 'fanservice' so I intend to blog about that for now! :)

Bomberman Hero is coming to the European Virtual Console

We don't get many N64 VC releases so this is a nice treat. It's only set for Europe too at the moment. It's of particular interest to me because I'm trying to play the 1-player mode of as many Bomberman games as I can get my hands on for fun. I haven't done it in a while, maybe I should make some more progress on it and record my experiences here. I have the first Bomberman 64 cartridge already so this will be handy since I won't have to hunt this cartridge down.