Games I'm looking forward to in 2013

Animal Crossing and Luigi's Mansion 2 for the 3DS are definite must haves! I hope the latter doesn't have stupid controls. Stupid controls is what drove me away from Kid Icarus Uprising.

I've got a free game coming to me as well in the 3DS XL promotional thing that Nintendo of Europe are offering generously.

I'm also quietly hoping that Dragon Quest VII will come out in Europe for the 3DS.

That's it so far. There's also downloadable stuff of course like Mega Man 2 for the 3DS VC that'll inevitably arrive at some point over the next few months. I'm keeping an eye on the Wii U of course, which should have a couple of big things happening to it this year. Watch this space for other games I can't think of right now.

Coping with YouTube layout changes

Remember YouTube in 2005? No ads, video buffer continued to fill when you pressed pause.... those were the days. Over the past few weeks YouTube did something that threw me off completely.

They got rid of page numbers.

I watch lots of video game videos from YouTubers whom I very much enjoy. These people are often very prolific and have hundreds upon hundreds of videos which used to be easily found as long as you had the page number of the list they were on.

That's all gone out the window and is now replaced with a "Load more" button. All this does is load more of the list of videos on the same page. If I were to do that, going through hundreds of videos, my poor computer would slow to a crawl and lock up. Anyone's would.

Thankfully, and after much swearing I found they added a touch to their playlist feature, which is displayed to the right of the video when you play it. I can pinpoint the url of any video and keep a record of the last one I watched, which I usually do in chronological order. I turn autoplay off and press the previous button to watch the newer video in the sequence. That's how I'm coping and surviving with YouTube right now.

That's the way it'll be, at least until they go and fuck it up again with another update.

Paper Mario 3D proves that 3D technology is extremely primitive

Paper Mario 3D is done the best way it could possibly be done with regards to the 3D effect. The experience still sucks because if you move the screen any bit from dead centre — something which happens naturally with a handheld — it all goes into a blurry mess. Same old story then!

This highlights more than ever that we need better technology in order to execute 3D more successfully but it's just not being sold to us. The empty fucking promise is sold to us though.

3DS is yes, all experimental and the best argument for 3D yet and also the best example yet of 3D in execution, but it's still at a very primitive stage.

Paper Mario 3D's motion control sticker effect

I love this little touch! Just like real collectable glittery stickers, when you move the 3DS, the glittery stickers in your inventory move their shine around. Very clever!

Watching SirRonLionHeart play Majora's Mask

I realy like this Let's Player! He takes getting used to but becomes very watchable with his jokes and voices. I watched his SMW Cookie Crisis and Mario 64 plays and now I'm watching his Majora's Mask one.

My favourite moment so far is when he was fighting the boss from the Great Bay dungeon. Before it appeared he said "This better not be some giant fish- OH WHAT THE" and this giant fish leaps right out of the water. Made me laugh out loud so it did! That cute conversation about taking pictures of the Gerudo was fun too. "Such a guy" Tatl kept saying.

Anyway I was sick after eating so much Christmas food and watching Ron helped get me through all that. I'll continue to watch! Thanks for being so FANTASTIC and ULTRA!

Explaining the 3DS to someone who unwrapped theirs on Christmas Day

Yesterday I was showing a family member how to do StreetPass and about play coins. It took a long time to explain it all to them. They were taken by the initial novelty value of the whole concept though and spent the day after Christmas Dinner walking around the house trying to build up their 10 play coins a day. That was pretty interesting!

Effing arcade is going to be late

Well, Rab Florence's new show is going to be late.

The blog says it, and to me the tone of that statement seems to be same as the one Nintendo have when fans ask about the next Zelda.

Let's wait some more I suppose.

What is the best alternative Christmas game?

http://cinemassacre.com/2012/12/22/whats-the-best-christmas-movie/

He's interesting as always, especially about Die Hard as an alternative Christmas movie, which is always an interesting conversation piece.

It's making me think about what the best alternative Christmas video game is. Going through my memories of games I've played over the years it actually didn't take me long until I came up with both Hotel Dusk and Last Window, neither of which are particularly heavy with the Christmas theme but both of them take place around Christmas and even have their moments.

The one moment that jumps out at me right now is from Hotel Dusk, where Kyle Hyde and the little girl are decorating a Christmas tree in the hotel storage room, surrounded by an unlikely yet likeable group of people who come together to have their own little party and appreciate what they have. It's a nice cosy moment in this detective story and you even get to place the decorations on the tree yourself.

The Wii U has issues with loading times :(

One of the things I wanted from this "Project Café" thing was to not have loading times. Since the machine was designed to be just like the competition, I suppose they figured loading times have to be there too.

But hey! Wait a minute!

Why are people complaining that Nintendo's new console has bad loading times whereas they don't complain about the competition, who have loading times that are just as long if not longer?

Conspiracy? No, not this time.

It is because we expect better from Nintendo that's why. Mario Party 9 and Kirby's Adventure Wii don't have loading times at all, GameCube games didn't really have loading delays either and the N64 was cartridge based so it was also nice and speedy.

The Wii U has loading delays for menu screens!!! Ugh!!!

While we're at it, the 3DS isn't an angel in this regard either. The DS and DS Lite were much faster with their loading of games and the 3DS has many many more menus and other firmware aspects with noticeable delays everywhere. I tried my old DS Phat for the first time in ages lately and I couldn't believe how fast games loaded.

I don't have a Wii U yet.

Nintendo Power to be spiritually succeeded by Nintendo Force

The name sounds... non-consensual...(nah just kidding)

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=193296

Have a look at this GoNintendo post about it and see who is working on it. RMC is on the team as we can see from that big list of Miis. I'm also quite pleased to see Matthew Taranto of the Brawl in the Family webcomic on the team! He did some comics for Howard Philips not so long ago so he'd be great on that team! The extremely hardworking Nintendaan, who provided us with all those wonderful Nintendo Week videos, is part of the team too as well as the likeable Jonathan Holmes.

So this is a thing that'll exist and that's all the info we have for now.

Meanwhile here I am thinking about buying the UK Official Nintendo Magazine. We'll see after Christmas.

Shigesato Itoi tweets about MOTHER republication

http://earthboundcentral.com/2012/12/itoi-announces-mother-developments/

Everything you need to know there. What can this be exactly? A MOTHER republication with the intent of making it playable we know that much.

What that tells us at the very very least is a remake of the original MOTHER aka EarthBound Zero. I mean, I can't imagine what else that could mean!

Many people would only appreciate the first game for its legacy rather than actually play it. I really enjoyed the game when I played it and I'm sure I'd enjoy a remake of it as well. There's definitely room for improvement in any case.

If there were to be a remake of Majora's Mask...

I would remove the Gibdo mini-dungeon where you have to trade stuff with them. I know it's not good for the sake of posterity but it's one of the low points of the game and it's not fun to play at all.

Hmm.... putting more thought into it I'm not sure what I'd do. It'd be a dilemma if I was the one responsible for said hypothetical remake!

Sonic 06 Count My Boxes instant laughter Game Grumps vid!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEthu8FaiX8
Just watch from 5 minuts onwards and you'll just burst out laughing, not because of any big joke or anything but just... It's just wonderfully funny and belly achingly hilarious to watch!

Looking forward to Rab Florence's new effing arcade show

So not only does Ryan MacLeod have the new ChuckieDregs but the other Consolevania dude is coming out with a show of his own. There isn't some rivalry going on is there?

I'm looking forward to it of course because I love Consolevania and VideoGaiden among other stuff they both did. Rab is doing some Internet-brand-excitement-building stuff like altering the Consolevania.com front page and running a tumblr blog that can be found here:

http://effingarcade.tumblr.com/

Roll on Christmas Eve! If the two lads are competing then this show will have to be really good as ChuckieDregs features the show-stealing Irish guy from MechaGamezilla.

Maybe get someone like Graham Linehan on board! Rab and Ryan were once going to write a new series of the I.T. Crowd weren't they? I've forgotten.

The wrath of Reggie: a darkly comic Nintendo Direct edit

Nearly every site I browse has been posting this video and with good reason! I've spent the whole evening rewatching this and laughing my head off. Have a look:

Nooooooo! Bill! This all started out as harmless banter in the Nintendo Direct videos and I didn't even pick up on it. Not until now anyway, when someone made the whole thing sound really sinister from 40 seconds onwards. The added effects of dramatic movie music and the slow zooming camera literally gives you images of cement shoes! Immediately followed by a darkly absurd "rip in peace bill", all it can do is make you laugh!

This is right up there with that "Bill Clinton trying to kill Santa" joke. Editing sure is powerful stuff!

A female Link in the Zelda series would be cool

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

This links to a video doing the rounds lately of a girl Link that smashes pots. It's a fun and well made tribute and the girl Link is a really likeable character.

I think it would be a great idea to be able to select Link's gender in a Zelda game like you can for Dragon Quest IV.

I'm really sick of world 1-5 in NSMB2

Every StreetPasser I come across only has a record on the mushroom pack and the second level is always this stupid water level.

Water levels aren't generally great but having to do them over and over to beat someone's same challenge again and again is a royal pain.

Denpa Men warns you about people that may call you a pervert while you're playing the game

Okay so it doesn't use the word "pervert" but look at this actual transcription of this warning message in the instruction manual:

"This game does not allow you to take pictures or videos, but when you try to catch Denpa Men in a public space, some people may misinterpret your behavior as trying to record or photograph them without their permission. Press X to change to Manner Mode, which displays only the Denpa Men, making it easier to avoid misunderstandings."

This is essentially telling you to be careful of ignorant people who would wrongly accuse you of being some kind of pervert(an extreme example but still) and this "Manner Mode" thing could possibly be the very first example of a video game mechanic that functions as a protective device against these kinds of misjudgements.

I'd rather just play in a fun & safe place than rely on this thing.

Game Grumps are doing DKC2!

Yay! Just like I wanted! They wouldn't be doing it as a special favour just for li'l ol' me? Naww....

I can't wait until they do this all the way to DKC3 which I constantly say is my favourite of the series. They'll go "Look at this bear ass bear! He's like 'ahrm hmmmrhmmm fuggin hnnhrmm hmmrnnn'" and I will laugh every.single.time they do it

Is the Poisonous Pipeline level from DKC3 a reference to Sabre Wulf?

I played a good bit of Sabre Wulf today and got farther than I ever did. I noticed that when you get a purple flower you turn purple and all the directional controls are reversed. The exact same thing happens in Poisonous Pipeline with the purple water (except for up and down). If this was Rare's intention to make a reference to one of their older games as Ultimate then that's pretty cool!

Poisonous Pipeline is a fun level in DKC3 but if you don't like when the controls are reversed then look at the game in a mirror while playing!

Got the 30,000 coin maximum in NSMB2 Coin Rush

Thanks to the free level pack Nintendo put out recently I was able to do this without too much trouble.

I still only have around 300k coins though so I'm a long way off to that 1 million yet.

From now on I'm going to call Earthworm Jim a "No Hoper"

I recently completed DKC2 fully and I still have to say DKC3 is better. DKC2 does seem cooler and the world is much scarier but DKC3 is just a better made game.

DKC2 is the one that the Internet loves at the moment so bring that to your online discussions and you'll get plenty of kudos and high fives.

The DKC trilogy is without doubt one of the best in video games and it just got better with each entry. DKC Returns is good too but not as much as the SNES trilogy.

3DS friends playing games not available in your region

While I was playing Wario Land 3 the other day, the red LED flashed on my 3DS, notifying me that someone on my friend list was online. I had a look to see who it was and it was one of my American friends. He had the Epic Mickey demo as his software in use, which isn't available in my region (yet) and I had Wario Land 3 as mine, which isn't available in his region yet.

Are we supposed to look at each other's library in envy? hm? HMMM? (just kidding)

Really though, I hope we get the Epic Mickey demo. If we don't there is zero chance I'll buy the game as opposed to slightly above zero chance I'll buy it if we do get the demo.

Does GameStop actually want to sell Paper Mario?

It's a silly question I know but due to their complete eejitry over the last year, I get the feeling that they don't want to sell me the game at all.

Before Nintendo gave the final set in stone release date, GameStop spent the whole year guessing the wrong one and ended up throwing people off. That was bad enough, but last week a clerk told me that it wasn't coming out until next year and that it wasn't even on the shop system. He said this to me with a straight face, even though I had GameStop's recent catalogue open on the page where it explicitly gave the December 7th date for Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

If I was to hazard a guess, I would say he's mixing Paper Mario up with the new Luigi's Mansion. We've had at least two Nintendo Direct features telling us what the final date for the game was but no, some eejit from GameStop has to fuck up the date even now.

Now, I know that the clerk is only there to do the best job he can of selling bits of plastic to people. He mightn't even know who the fuck Satoru Shibata is. This whole mix up though would make anyone feel that GameStop are conspiring against people who want to buy this game.

But hey, of course GameStop isn't involved in some kind of conspiracy. They're just incompetent. Today I saw loads of copies of this newly released game proudly displayed on their shelves. You can buy one right now! You don't have to wait until next year!

This single case more than justifies Nintendo Direct. In a world of uncertainty, this feature is the only true way we can be informed about Nintendo games.

Game Grumps are playing Donkey Kong Country Returns

I thought they'd continue with the SNES trilogy :/

Ah well I'm sure this'll be entertaining.

I've been playing the SNES trilogy lately myself and I'm over halfway through DKC2 now.

Full version of Denpa Men out today!

Nabbed it as soon as I could off the eShop. I really liked the demo of this RPG as I've said before.

Satoru Shibata didn't even mention this game in the Nintendo Direct yesterday which is kind of a pity.

Wario Land 3 is out today on 3DS VC!

One of the few interesting things that were said in the Nintendo Direct today was that this game was being released straight afterwards.

I'm glad it's out because that means I have access the entire GB/GBC/GBA series on the 3DS and that's a really good thing.

This is also the only one in that series I never had on cartridge and it's also the only one I've ever given up on whenever I tried it on an emulator. Maybe now that I have access to it here I'll have some motivation to play all the way through to its end.

I beat the "Denpa" Men demo solo!

I quite like this demo!

I beat it once before using a few party members I had gathered and now I beat it with just the 1 character you start out with! It was tough and I had to do some grinding and use HP replenishing potions almost constantly when I was up against the end of demo boss. It's also tough considering the spell he had was "revive", which is completely useless in a solo adventure.

I think it's safe to say I'm going to love the full game when it comes out on Thursday :)

StreetPassed someone from Tipperary!

I finally got someone from there! I had been trying for ages. They had no Puzzle Swap pieces though.

The Game Grumps play Nintendoland!

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

Well worth watching! Way more so than watching any Wii U coverage done by some shithead game "journalist" anyway. Watch these guys play instead!

Late Late Toy Show 2012

Skylanders for the Wii was shown for two seconds. It was in-game footage of some random character shooting at nothing. There was absolutely no mention of the figurine scanning thing.

They gave a weird magic book thing for the PS3 and its Move controller plenty of attention though. They gave it so much time because it was more of a weird n' wonderful gadget thing than a game thing, but also because it took them a while to get this thing to work properly.

There was also no mention whatsoever of the Wii U.

Video game exposure on the Late Late Toy Show has always been like this really! I remember one time when I was a kid watching this; they showed a tiny bit of footage of Mario 3 where Mario immediately died by running into a goomba.

It's Wii U launch day!

Finally it's here in Ireland! Good luck on getting your console if you're buying it today and enjoy! I'm not going to get one yet as there are too many things I need to be sure of before doing so. I will get one eventually though.

I hope you'll play the hell out of Mario U. I sure would!

Trying out the "Denpa" Men demo

This came out today on the eShop. It's an RPG with big ideas, sensible minimalist designs and perfected gameplay. This kind of game is a big part of the future!

The demo lasts a decent amount of time and when you finish up with it, you can make save data that's transferrable to the full version! Splendid!

Supposedly it works by detecting different Wi-Fi hotspots. It doesn't download anything from them, it just produces a character every time a hotspot is simply detected.

Nintendo of Europe are giving away a free 3DS "full-price" download game to everyone who registered an XL

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2012/Join-the-Nintendo-3DS-XL-family-and-get-a-free-download-game--678984.html

Wow. I didn't expect this... it's great though.

I got lost navigating the site trying to find where to apply for this promotion but I finally found it. What you do is log in to your account and on the very page you find yourself afterwards you click the right arrow on the flash banner and the promo is there.

Wii Mini compatible with most Wii software except for Manhunt 2

Only joking.

I'm not joking about the Wii Mini though. It's real and it's coming out in Canada.

Like the first revision of the Wii, it doesn't have GameCube compatibility but it doesn't have Internet access either. So that means no buying Virtual Console games?

I want to see all sides of it and to see it in action because I have some questions. Is it a top loader? Does it have USB ports & an SD card slot? Are there really over 1300 Wii disc games out there? Does it have a built in laser that zaps any copy of Manhunt 2 that comes within 20 metres?

Oh please let one of these things be true.

Nintendolife's USB storage guide for the Wii U

Man this Nintendo Wii U is complicated... People are talking about extra USB hard drive storage in the same way PS1 users used to talk about linking their consoles together: noone really knows how to do it and noone really bothers to explain. That is until now!

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/11/guide_using_usb_storage_with_the_wii_u

Here's a very nice looking illustrated guide. I haven't read it myself but it seems comprehensive. Nintendo has their own guide as well like they way they recommend that a hard drive with its own power supply be used.

Sounds well and good that the Wii U doesn't have to strain to cope with all that extra work I suppose. It's just that well... When I think of multiple power supplies I think of the AVGN reviews of the Mega Drive add-ons that required their own power supplies. It's the concept of bold new technology but implemented in an imperfected way, and that's not very characteristic of Nintendo.

Virtual Console game removals suck.

This issue makes me depressed. Here I am promoting the Donkey Kong Country trilogy but for all the wrong reasons. From today the three games aren't available to purchase from the Wii Shopping Channel anymore and I've been in a mad rush for the past few days talking about them because of this threat(effectively speaking).

I wasn't entirely happy when the R-Type games were removed but the removal of DKC, one of the greatest game trilogies ever makes me feel very sad. The fact that I'm talking about them during their removal event more than I ever have, makes me feel worse. What if this type of blogging encourages a publisher to do this more and with ill intentions?

This time round I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of a doubt: There could be a temporary quality assurance issue what with the Wii U coming out and everything. Of course, this theory of mine could very well turn out to be false. Time will tell.

Last chance to buy those DKC games off the Wii Shopping Channel

This is it. Today's the last chance to get them.

I know this is yet another reminder but it's important.

Just.... why take them off at all? It's a horrible thing to do. I won't forget this and I want answers.

Reminder: The Donkey Kong Country games are being taken off the Wii Shopping Channel this Sunday

Why? I don't know... just thought I'd say it again because they're some of Nintendo's best games.

They won't be available to buy but the shopping channel says you can still download them from there afterwards if you bought them already.

Watching Nintendo Video: Big Buck Bunny, Harold & Kumar trailer

Big Buck Bunny's quite a nice CG feature... so far anyway. Nintendo Video is releasing it in so many parts of an already short animated film. I read a little up on it and it's an independently made cartoon. It looks so professional and it does seem to have an edge as opposed to something mainstream that would have to abide to all sorts of rules. I'll continue to watch it in these NV sized bits, for now I'm on part 2.

There's also a trailer for a Harold & Kumar straight to DVD Christmas Special which is an odd thing to find here(or anywhere for that matter).

The best example of add-on content I've seen.

Fallblox has new levels being released by Nintendo in the form of QR codes.

The advantage of having this rather than some company's server is that the new content can be saved as JPGs and distributed by anyone.

MechaGamezilla, the Irish Consolevania

Ok what I said in the title may be bold of me but seriously this man is talented. Go check out his YouTube channel as soon as you can please.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MechaGamezilla/

Watch all the videos too. The first one is a review of Tomb Raider II which cleverly portrays it as a clone of Namco's tank game Battle City(it's because Lara moves like a tank right? ohohohohoho).

The recent one about E3 2012 is what made me truly notice the guy when I saw it as a part of ChuckieDregs episode 2 (which itself is a nice return for Consolevania's Ryan MacLeod). My favourite part was where Link was giving directions through the Lost Woods in a northern accent. Moments like that are good for the Irish video game fan's heart!

Got 3DS Letter from Taku Sugioka, director of Pullblox

Nice surprise to see this today. It was sent to everyone who bought Pullblox and it was a nice message thanking us for playing the game and that the sequel Fallblox is out in the eShop. It also had a link to the game's section of the eShop.

I already bought the sequel so I didn't need to follow it.

Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 and 3 are being removed from the Shopping Channel

You can redownload them if you bought them already but I just have to ask why are they doing this?

They're some of the best games on the VC and it's not like there are licensing issues or anything... Nintendo themselves own the rights to those games.

I consider these games essential and they run smoother than any unofficial emulator I've tried them on so be sure to buy them before 25th of this month!

Bear in mind though, we still have no idea what the Wii U's proprietary Virtual Console is going to be like so think carefully about all this.

Reggie visits fans queueing for the Wii U launch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jkaYNtD55-I

Isn't this nice! I really enjoy stuff like this. That Triforce guy wasn't there and I bet he regrets it. I kinda wish I was there so I could StreetPass Reggie's Mii. I wonder if it's a special one like Iwata that wears gold pants? I also would've shouted out during the "request a game from Reggie" part that I want Dragon Quest X and VII and Rocket Slime to come out in Europe!

Imagine if I went to a Wii U launch here in Ireland and Satoru Shibata appeared like this? It would be pretty cool to get his StreetPass too. If that really did happen I would go up to him and tell him that I bought Pokémon Typing and thought it was awesome. Then he would look me straight in the eye, shake my hand and say:

"You are a true Irish Nintendo Fan".

t'would be brilliant...

Got my third NSMB2 StreetPass challenge

This one's coin score was just over 2000 coins so it wasn't too difficult to beat. It doesn't tell you what the score is initially before you complete the three stages and that made me think there was some special reward for beating the score on my first go but that wasn't the case at all.

Virtue's Last Reward has a demo on the eShop

I nabbed this demo today when it came out and had a try. The puzzles are quite decent but you're moving around in this fairly clunky 3D environment. It doesn't feel that great to look around a room this way and the camera panning is stuttery.

Aside from Alice's immediate appeal of being this lovely, tall, busty amazonian there's nothing particularly interesting about the characters but they're not too bad.

The "Saw"-like theme still isn't my favourite and it seems that just like 999 for the DS by the same developer, it seems like it's going to be a game that's not particularly remarkable but is overall ok and does the job of getting you through your bus/train commute.

The game has an auto/skip feature, which I hope will be handy in the full game! A good skip feature ought to be compulsory in these types of games.

Do we have to rebuy our Wii VC games if we want to only use the Wii U VC? (Part 1: The New Wii U VC)

The beginning of an investigative series! Everyone's asking this and noone but Nintendo has clear answers and they're not giving them Nintendo-Directly.

There will be a Wii U VC and it will be completely different to the Wii VC. The Wii VC will still be accessible on the Wii U through the Wii application. So based on my understanding it will be like this:

Here is the inside of a Wii U. On the left is where our Wii VC games will transfer to. On the right is where the new Wii U VC will be, completely separate from the one on the left. The one on the left will not be playable on the Wii U game pad but the one on the right will be.

Do we have to rebuy our Wii VC games if we want to only use the Wii U VC? We don't know yet! We just know that the two Virtual Console systems are completely different.

Paper Mario Sticker Star getting less than 90% in some reviews...

Some people are a little worried and upset about the change in the new Paper Mario game. The basic attack in RPGs is usually free but in this game you have to use stickers to attack which deplete and can be replenished by buying more stickers with coins you collect. That's basically the one thing I know about this game from hearing about it and the one thing I expect will potentially upset people the most — the economics are completely different. I'm open to trying it out!

Come to think of it, what happens if you run out of both coins and stickers? Is that a thing that can happen?

NES Ninja Gaiden for 3DS VC? Get me Ninja Gaiden Shadow!!

The NES version of Ninja Gaiden is coming out for the 3DS VC this week. One nice thing about this is the fact that it's a Euro cheaper than the European Wii VC release.

However, Ninja Gaiden Shadow for the Game Boy is what I'd rather have for the 3DS VC. I have fonder memories of it even though it is shorter.

Got my second NSMB2 StreetPass challenge

This guy's Mii didn't have a smarmy face like the last one but he had a record of over 15k coins in the mushroom pack.

It took some amount of practice but I finally managed to beat his record with a total of over 17k coins. I had to try again and again through trial and error and things not going according to plan as well as scoring just shy of beating his record.

It took so long to actually do it I ended up passing the 200k coin benchmark! The challenge from the last StreetPasser got me through 100k!

Angry Video Game Nerd Movie trailer!

Official Cinemassacre link! :

http://cinemassacre.com/2012/11/10/avgn-the-movie-trailer/

I've been waiting a good long time for this! I'll have to wait longer again of course but at least we have the trailer here and it looks fun! I guess some things had to change for it to be done as a movie but I'll look forward to seeing it all the same.

Got a new Kirby jigsaw in Puzzle Swap

Got a SpotPass message today telling me that there was a new puzzle and to celebrate, I was granted one piece. There are quite a few Kirby ones now.

I spend all my Play Coins in SP Quest and I don't do an awful lot here. I wonder if that frustrates other StreetPassers when people don't have pieces? The pink ones for example are tough to get as they're StreetPass exclusive.

Epic Mickey 3DS has a demo

Excellent! This is the kind of game we need demos of and I was hoping this game was going to get one. It's on the American eShop now and I would really like it if we got a chance to download it too.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse announced by Nintendo Power!

Well the magazine isn't going quietly and that's a nice thing. The last few issues of Nintendo Gamer had very similar covers to each other apart from the Rhythm Paradise Wii one. Anyway...

New Shantae is always good! :) I love these games (especially the first one) and it's a nice treat to see this new one be announced. It's a direct sequel too... I wonder if this is one of the "episodes" that WayForward were originally working on when they first announced Risky's Revenge all those years ago?

Another thing, I hope this is reasonably priced. Charging me 12 Euro for Risky's Revenge and then porting it to iOS —a range of machines that don't have any buttons— while charging less than 2 Euro was a really stupid idea. If you did it the other way round, the people who paid 2 Euro wouldn't think that your game has shit controls.

Nintendo of Europe's new site design, no game release feed...

Nintendo of Europe's site looks nice enough now and it has some unnecessary things gone that took a while to load. I even like the Zelda 2 "I AM ERROR" reference when a page isn't found.

What I don't like is the way the game release feed is gone. That was extremely handy and kept me informed and coming back to the site regularly! "What's new for me to buy this week?" I'd say to myself while looking at the handy dandy list. I also said stuff like "Those cunts at GameStop keep changing the release date for the new Paper Mario. At least this list won't let me down!" and it never let me down, unlike GameStop, which often lets me down.

It's Wii U month!

I don't talk an awful lot about Wii U. It's because I'm only interested in playing NSMBU. As I write this Nintendo of Europe is doing up their website. There's gonna be Wii U stuff coming at me in the places I frequent online but I doubt they'll excite me any more about anything else.

What can I blog about really regarding the Wii U? Maybe I can do some commentary on bits and pieces of the hype in the run up to its launch. Hype commentary is potentially bad so I'll try my best to do bits and pieces that interest me.

For example, I read on GoNintendo that Hori is releasing an arcade stick for the Wii U in the UK without its *shudder* Tekken licensing decor. Thank goodness for that, I have the Tatsunoko vs Capcom stick and I couldn't be bothered with the game. The decor looks kind of daft then. The Hori logo is good enough for me.

Giving Metroid 1 a serious go

I've been playing Metroid lately and I've gotten further than I have with any previous attempt. I just got the Screwattack ability and I am tearing through enemies who'd normally be a pain.

I'm playing the 3DS VC version and I'm drawing a map as I play with the Game Notes feature. It's quite handy and I have a colour choice between black, red and blue so I'm doing black for the paths and red and blue for the doors. I wonder if the choices available aren't a coincidence? :)

My impressions so far, well, I find the game to be awesome in the proper sense of the word. It makes me feel scared, tired and like it's too much to handle but I still feel like an intrepid adventurer and that's a really good feeling. The labyrinth in which the game takes place has all these tunnels that often look the same and often connect to each other which makes it something you couldn't really commit to memory straight away and to even draw the map as you play makes me anxious because I'm afraid of messing it all up.

Mind you, it's not as overwhelming as trying to draw a map for the Duncan Factory in Earth Bound Zero. The map in Metroid is like being in a hospital you've entered for the very first time. The space pirates are basically giant bugs right? Well, they've built this labyrinth in the same way colonies of real life insects build all these crazy looking networks of tunnels underground. Just imagine trying to navigate them as a human.

Got my first NSMB2 StreetPass challenge

Today I StreetPassed this NSMB2 player who had a higher coin total than mine and had a Mii with a smarmy face.

The moment I saw his face I knew I had to beat the crap out of his record. After doing so — and without using the white raccoon suit unlike him — I did it and managed to get over the 100k benchmark too!

The only thing that would've been more satisfying would be if I could see the smarmy grin wiped off his Mii's face.

"2 players through local hotseat mode."

60Hz NES Gradius 1 is on the 3DS VC now and I immediately bought it for 4.99 as I love Gradius. On the eShop it has this funny little phrase where it tells you the number of players. Literally it means 2 players alternating, just like Super Mario Bros.

Edit:

excerpt from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotseat_(multiplayer_mode)

"Hotseat or hot seat is a multiplayer mode provided by some turn-based video games, which allows two or more players to play on the same device by taking turns playing the game. The name hotseat started as a reference to playing a PC game and trading seats with the other player."

So it's something well established... You learn something new everyday!

Game Grumps' Kirby satisfies :)

Ok ok so we didn't get the Mad Monster Mansion episode of Banjo-Kazooie for Halloween, but this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxF9B2V_uW8

more than makes up for it when Egoraptor screams at Jontron to watch out for the mummies :)

Come on Game Grumps, upload Mad Monster Mansion!

I just checked the Game Grumps YouTube page and they just uploaded a Winter Olympics video :/

I'm sure it'll be funny as hell as usual when I watch it, it's just that I was hoping they'd upload a new Banjo-Kazooie episode featuring Mad Monster Mansion. In the last episode they finished up by completing the jigsaw puzzle for it so I was counting on a Halloween upload. It might happen in a couple of hours. Watch this space.... or rather their space:

http://www.youtube.com/gamegrumps

Dragon Quest VII is being remade for the 3DS!!!

NICE! NIIIIICCEEEEEE! NIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCEEEEE!!

I've been wishing for this! A Japanese game magazine announced this game being remade for 3DS and I am delighted! Last year Dragon Quest VI was released in Europe for the DS and I bought the hell out of it, then played the hell out of it. When the 3DS was first announced, I thought it would be a great opportunity for VII to be released on it. The likes of Tim Rogers mentioned again and again about how great it would be if Dragon Quest VII was made for the 3DS.

IV-VI were remade for the DS so this is most suitable.
I-III were remade for GBC and it would be great if they came to the 3DS VC!

I remember blogging about my hopes for VI to be released in Europe last year so I'm going to do the same for VII :) Release this in Ireland please Square-Enix and Nintendo!!!

I got some StreetPass hits finally!

Genuine ones too! I got a few from strangers while I was commuting through towns. It's a really fun thing and it's thrilling to see the green light on the 3DS when it's in sleep mode.

Cheap way to get StreetPass hits

While carrying a 3DS with StreetPass enabled, go into a shop where they have a 3DS on display and switch on the wireless function. Whether you like the idea of that or not is up to you.

Mighty Bomb Jack is on the 3DS VC.... hm....

Well, all I gotta say is if you're unfamiliar with this game but are curious about playing it then watch the "Game Center CX" episodes where the first one is about Arino playing the game and the second one is about him playing the game in front of a live audience. I recommend watching them in that order before you decide to play this game. (because it's the most fun I've ever had with it)

The fourth "I am not a gamer" advert: Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

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

Well, here's the one I was looking forward to. It's the woman from the first ad again too— this time with a side kick who helps her and with whom she pounds it with. She then calls herself a master of puzzles.

I don't know if I like this one as much as the other ones.

The building where GAME used to be is now a Halloween shop

Head to Patrick Street in Cork these days and you'll see this costume shop where GAME used to be. I couldn't resist going in. I felt like Indiana Jones or something looking around with a keen eye for remnants of what the place used to be. It was pretty interesting.

I didn't buy anything but the browsing experience was pleasant enough. All the goods were placed in such a manner that I didn't have to bend right down to the floor or dig through layers of packages to find anything, which was something I had to do all the time in GAME in order to have a serious browse.

I guess that's what the building will be now: just an empty lot that occasionally hosts the odd seasonal shop, a bit like the calendar shop that opens in Merchants Quay every Christmas.

On the way out I imagined an Indiana Jones style boulder rolling after me.

The third "I am not a gamer" ad, "Play As You Are" website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs8uiO5E9rE
I like the way this lady says it. It sounds more natural and neutral than the other two and seems like it'll still do the job of getting the audience interested in buying a Nintendo 3DS XL.

Here's Nintendo of America's site for the whole "Play As You Are" campaign:

http://playasyouare.nintendo.com/

I like the way it reads "It's not just for gamers. It's also for you".

The site also mentions the new Professor Layton game, which in the past has been popular with females. I can't wait to see the "I am not a gamer" ad for that.

Finally giving StreetPass a proper chance

I never bothered with this function of the 3DS but one day recently I decided to give it a shot. StreetPass Quest is appropriate and considering how it works it's decent enough. It's like a spiritual successor to a type of arcade machine but instead of constantly inputting coins you're inputting StreetPass encounters and pedometer generated coins; in other words, instead of looking for your money it's social contact and exercise.

Playing Dragon Crystal for the first time

So this VC Game Gear title is a Roguelike, which is a genre(subgenre?) that's known for being completely unforgiving and brutal. Even though this game belongs to the genre it has its own set of rules and gameplay elements that actually serve as some kind of gateway to this style of gameplay and soon you're hooked on it.

If you want to know more, Nintendo-Gamer magazine published a really good review of this game(where it scored a 78 I think) that actually got me solidly interested and curious about the game which stuck in my mind for the past few months until I just went and bought it off the eShop. They were right, I'm really enjoying it.

"I am not a gamer" parody by Andrew Eisen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOD7GbLwBvo
I previously referred to this guy as "the handsome man who wants to give Nintendo money" -which is a pretty good name- but I think I'll call him by his YouTube name for short from now on.

Anyway he's here parodying those awesome "I am not a gamer" adverts Nintendo has put out(I'm still waiting for more!) with an old DS game. It looks the business and its brilliantly scripted too.

Is the Adventure Time game coming out in Europe?

I'd love to know. I see some Americans getting excited about the Zelda 2 style gameplay and we all love the fact that WayForward developed the game.

I haven't watched much of the cartoon but it seems to be popular with video game fans. It's broadcasted over here too so it'd be nice if we got this game available to buy.

Game Grumps are heading to Mad Monster Mansion in Banjo-Kazooie!

What impeccable timing :) considering that it's October and Halloween is just over a week away. The way they've been playing for ages too it's pretty cool that they're arriving there in a natural way.

At the time of writing I've just finished watching episode 23 of the Banjo-Kazooie playthrough and after being lost in the desert for ages the episode finishes with them finally finding the picture that opens the door to Mad Monster Mansion.

JonTron says it's his favourite level in the game so I'm looking forward to this!

60Hz Mega Man finally officially available in Ireland on a Nintendo system!

It's about fucking time! Today the first NES Mega Man game is available for the Virtual Console on 3DS and it's in full 60Hz speed!!!!!

As you can tell from the trailer available from the official site(which also has the price):

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/nintendo_3ds_virtual_console/mega_man_55244.html

the music is at the correct speed!

I know this isn't quite a new thing as all of the NES games released on the 3DS Virtual Console have been in full 60Hz but it needs to be celebrated again and again and as much as possible so that video game publishers may be reminded that this is the kind of thing we care about. (Sometimes they forget).

When can we expect Mega Man 2? Well it's bound to come, considering the fourth game has just been released on the Japanese eShop and releases have been coming out at a steady rate.

Mutant Mudds update tomorrow

I'm looking forward to this update tomorrow which updates the 3DS game with extra levels. I don't have the game 100% complete yet so I'll have to play towards them.

Now some may report this as "new free add-on DLC!" but I don't see it that way. I see this as the final definitive version of the game that I bought on the eShop for 9 Euro.

Rayman Legends and Ninja Gaiden 3 are out early next year for Wii U

According to Nintendo of Europe's upcoming games list feed thingy on their website, Ninja Gaiden 3's release date is 11th of January and Rayman Legends just has a Q1 2013 date. I guess if it turns out that I get a Wii U at launch I'll have played a lot of NSMBU by the time they come out.

Wii Connection Ambassador Promotion is finishing up soon...

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/the_connection_ambassador_promotion_ends_on_21st_november_55213.html

I never really bothered with this programme. Sometimes I wondered if I should but then I see all the terms and conditions and I'd start to feel like a door to door salesman or to be more specific, a door to door electrician who insists on messing with the poor host's wiring system. That's probably not the best analogy but it would seem like an awful lot of work to find all these people that would likely fail to meet some requirement or another.

In general though I'm keeping a close eye on Nintendo for all Virtual Console news because I'm very curious to see what they end up doing on the Wii U.

Game Grumps animated, Kristy Krust Town by lazyllama52

Game Grumps continue to be great fun to watch! It's so popular now that fans have been making their own animations with dialogue taken from the episodes. I love it.

Here's one that's so well made and is absolutely charming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWuAYp0BRaE

The big eyes, the happy cute cartoony faces, the running action, the tenaciously crafted lip synching... just awesome. That line at the very end had me in stitches and I had to watch the whole thing over and over again! YouTube commenters have been saying that it's like Rocko's Modern Life. I agree, and I would also say the design is like a mixture between Ovide and Count Duckula. Really enjoyed this one!

Gonintendo info on Mutant Mudds' free update, QR codes

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=187600

What I love about this blog post is the QR code that links your 3DS to a web page that has special screenshots you can view with the handheld's 3D mode. It's just one of those modern conveniences that make me smile. I don't mean the 3D of course — I can't stand it — what I'm talking about is the whole QR code thing.

My favourite example of this in action is seeing someone scan a movie poster's QR code with their smartphone and then be linked to the trailer for it.

This reminds me of an anime I was really into called FLCL. In the last episode there was a robot that was normally gentle but then it made visual contact with a larger evil robot thing that was looking for it. Some weird thing came up on its display and they started merging together to form a bigger badder robot thing.
It was pretty cool at the time!

Anyway this example with Mutant Mudds is a perfect example of something cool you can only do with a 3DS. Everybody seems to love the developer and that's probably because they treat the 3DS better than most third party developers do. Hope they keep up the good work.

I wish Game Boy VC games had multiplayer support

Game Boy games on the VC retain everything, including the menu option for 2 player but it isn't actually available.

I heard NES VC games like Ice Climber will have multiplayer support in future. In Japan, the VC version of Columns for the Game Gear has multiplayer support(the game isn't out here yet).

I'd love for it to be available. I have Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (currently an ambassador title) and it would be fantastic if I could play that game with another friend who has the game on their 3DS.

It was always a pain trying to find someone to play multiplayer with in the actual Game Boy days. Now with the local wireless capability it really ought to be possible and available.

Tried out Shifting World demo

I just don't know why a game like this has to have loading times. It makes no sense. The flash game upon which it's based is free and it makes for a better experience.

The other puzzles besides the one I just mentioned are ok. Not crazy about them, not in love with them, I just think they're ok.

Playing NSMB2 in 2 player co-op mode

I had a good chance lately to play 2 player in this game and I have to say I really enjoyed it. How it works is the person who plays as Mario has the world in one of their save files be the play field. That works very smoothly and if you wanted to switch to the other player's world, it's all a matter of quitting back to the title screen and have them choose Mario.

It's great! One player can help the other find secret exits by actually guiding them there in-game. That's a feature that really deserves to be celebrated. The screen within a stage itself follows one of the Bros., and it's always the one with the arrow above his head. It can be switched by butt-stomping.

I was wondering how this would work in the auto scrolling, auto running cannon stages. What happens is, the one that goes into the cannon gets to try the stage while the other stays behind and leaves in a bubble. The one that left in a bubble can then spectate on the other player's attempt to get through the stage on their own screen! I think that's a fab feature as well!

Got my commemorative coins!

Remember NOE's promotion where you register Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and Last Story and you'll get a 3-coin collection with the game titles engraved on them? Well mine just arrived in the post the other day!

It's just an ornamental thing but still it's nice to feel like a valued customer. Thanks Nintendo!

Tried out the Rhythm Thief demo

I heard that SEGA's Rhythm Thief for the 3DS has special tributes to Space Channel 5 and Samba De Amigo so I thought wow! I gotta try it out! So I downloaded the demo.

What I didn't hear about the game to my horror was that you have to scrawl the touch screen constantly which is something I really don't like with DS games.

I deleted the demo as soon as I could.

Why I think Hideo Kojima could make a great Silent Hill game

In a recent interview Hideo Kojima said an executive in KONAMI approached him and offered him a role in the production of a new Silent Hill. I think he would be perfect for it.

First, let's be honest with ourselves. Silent Hill's gameplay is terrible and it's always been terrible(with some exceptions but more on that later). What's great about Silent Hill and what fans love about Silent Hill are the elements that would make for an amazing adventure game. I consider that type of game to be where Kojima excels and not only that, he has a genuine concern about the way a game plays, which I feel would be beneficial and just what Silent Hill needs, especially if it must have combat.

My favourite Silent Hill game is a J2ME mobile phone spin-off. It's actually a point n' click adventure game and it even has two sequels. Considering the limitations of the format it's a very well accomplished game and very competently delivers on the elements that the series is known for.

Ask anyone who's a fan of the series what they love most about the Silent Hill games and they will tell you about moments where something pops up or a noise suddenly happens or about something psychological that messes with you. Incidentally if their favourite game is Silent Hill 2 they will give you a comprehensive essay about what this thing or that thing means or represents. They might even talk about puzzles. They will almost never talk about combat.

One thing that Metal Gear has in common with Silent Hill is fan-fondness for moments - moments that make for a very memorable adventure game. For that reason, a Silent Hill fan can rest assured knowing that their beloved series is in good hands if Hideo Kojima becomes deeply involved in its production.

Hideo Kojima is also reputed for making cinematic games, and I raise that point because there are many famous movie producers and directors today who got their start making horror movies. It's well known that their experience in making these movies helped them develop their craft and make them the amazing and famous directors and producers we know today. This could be a very beneficial and enjoyable project for him.

Metal Gear and Snatcher are also known for having scenes of gory stuff.

Now that I consider all this, how would anyone NOT think Hideo Kojima would be great for Silent Hill?

Curious about "Hell Yeah!"

There's this new game that's out on PC/XBLA/PSN and it seems like an interesting platformer. Thing is, I don't have the consoles or accounts with middleman PC download services and there's no other way to try out the demo. I may sound like I've been living under a rock but this is kind of annoying that I have to go through the likes of these guys. I'm kind of whiny about it I know but the thing is, I'm not that pushed about having to jump through hoops like this, especially considering the fact that I was able to download a demo of Typing Space Harrier earlier in the week from SEGA's Japanese website no problem.

Ah well I might give it a go anyway. Watch this space.

Mole Mania is out on VC! Best puzzle action game available!

Finally this is out. I've been looking at overseas fans with envy because they got Mole Mania before us. I've also been looking at other 3DS games and a good chunk of them are puzzle oriented, at least the most critically acclaimed ones are anyway. The darling of which is Pullblox which is an ok game alright but I think Mole Mania is the best! Try it out!

It has a weird price though.... 2.99. Why the .99? Most 3DS downloadable titles are whole euro sums. It's slightly annoying.

I have fond memories of playing this on my Super Game Boy back in the day. Pity the enhancements aren't available because they compliment this game well.

3DS Nintendo Direct for today, Paper Mario Sticker Star release date

Paper Mario Sticker Star for 3DS will be released in Ireland on December the 7th. This is a concrete final release date and it's straight from Satoru Shibata's mouth. Thank goodness after all the false dates Gamestop has been putting on their display cases.

From this presentation we also see a whole load of games I've never heard of even though I follow video game news quite closely. I mean, they just came from nowhere and the information about them comes straight from the source which is excellent. Without the middleman games media with their opinions and contracts to keep their source of income happy we get the whole truth, unforeseen and unspoiled by communication noise. Nintendo Direct is a wonderful thing.

I didn't even know there was going to be a presentation today until I got a swapnote from Satoru Shibata telling me about it.

Out of all the news I've only really mentioned the release date for the new Paper Mario but hey, we get the most important things out of the way first!

Have a look at Nintendo of Europe's latest Nintendo Direct here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsW07vfokWc

Sean Malstrom likes those "I am not a gamer" ads too!

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/excellent-nintendo-ad-enrages-the-hardcore/

I knew he'd like it too! I was waiting patiently for the past couple of days for him to eventually blog about it.

He has an excellent point about the hardcore and I've been seeing backlash to these ads in YouTube comments, other blogs like Kotaku etc and the user comment sections of those blogs.

However, I am also seeing user comments from those who responded positively to these ads.

Right now I just want to see how everything develops with this advertising campaign. I'm carefully watching this space.

A second "I am not a gamer" ad appears!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6XeECPKnJM
This time it's the famous Olympic gold medallist that appeared in another video with the "Oh! Didn't see you there!" while playing her 3DS XL.

This is where the amazing quote appears but with a whole new challenge: she's playing a Mario game.

Let me try to say it out loud (ahem):

"My name is Lucas and I am not a gamer; with my 3DS XL, I'm an Irish Nintendo Fan"

I sound dangerous.

Actually there's a reason why this blog has "Fan" instead of "Gamer" in the title. Noone I knew used the term when I was growing up and all of a sudden it appeared over the last decade. It's widely used now and I don't know if I or Nintendo's advertising campaigns can do anything to change that. I still feel weird about using the word. My two favourite magazines has the word in the title. Retro Gamer has it in their title whose reason I suspect is for lack of an easier word to use and Nintendo Gamer(no longer in print) I think it's safe to say uses the word in an ironic sense because I highly doubt they actually like the word.

The girl here in this video declares herself instead to be a coin collecting champion, which is a form of high score chasing, which itself is an arcade style of playing a game.

Way to sneak in the arcade style in these ads! Nice move Nintendo :)

New 3DS ad: "I am not a gamer"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLFoNe9iD-I

"I am not a gamer". That's the most incredible and awesome thing I've ever heard from a Nintendo ad. It's a very bold thing to say and it's the first of its kind I've ever come across.

After digging around I found that this is just one advert in Nintendo of America's new "Play As You Are" advertising campaign as explained in this press release:

http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/xfr4fNX6bwO1MHaHs9HQd7JZYDncw5SF

So according to this, the above ad with that genuinely bold and awesome quote is the second of several ads they're putting out. The first one is on YouTube as well and features an Olympic gold medallist talking about NSMB2. It begins with a cute "Oh! Didn't see you there!" routine (she was playing her 3DS XL).

The "I am not a gamer" lady will appear in another ad for Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. Will she use that amazing quote (or something similar) again? I'm really looking forward to it! The press release says it's out on October 28.

I think this "Play As You Are" campaign is a wonderful thing and can apply to all Nintendo fans.

No shops in Cork seem to sell Pokémon Typing...

It's a good thing I ordered it online!

Before the game came out I asked a couple of shops if I could preorder the game and they looked at me funny, thinking it was for the PC. Natural mistake I suppose, considering it's about typing. Anyway alarm bells went off in my head and I ordered it online instead.

I looked up a thread on boards.ie and it seems that other Irish Nintendo Fans are having no luck finding it in Dublin even. Yikes. Another thing, if you're ordering it online make sure to order the English version. Different countries have different versions of the keyboard and also have their own names for many of the Pokémon. This would affect the pacing and difficulty of many of the levels I'd imagine so localisation must've been a very big project for this game.

Pokémon Typing: All silver medals achieved!

It took ages but I finally got all the silver medals! The game gets unbelievably hard in some stages. Just remember when you're trying this out for yourself that accuracy begets speed!

One method I have though is to look at the following Pokémon while I'm typing the present one. That's what finally got me a silver medal in the Tab stage.

Pokémon Typing is getting really difficult

I've gotten all the bronze medals in the game and now I'm after the silver ones... Some are ok to get but some are really tough, especially the Tab endurance stage. I'm struggling so badly to get 50 Pokémon. The score table is all in the high 40s but I just can't push past the last couple!

The game has to be a git then and throw FARFETCH'D in my path near that milestone, apostrophe and all.

You know something else? It's getting much colder these days so my hands just turn numb with the cold during a session and it's annoying when I can barely move my fingers then.

I want Snatcher on Wii! (or Wii U) Part 9

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-27-kojima-its-my-job-to-push-the-industry-forward

Here's a passage from the above interview with Hideo Kojima regarding Snatcher:

"Personally I love adventure games and I would love to create additional chapters in the Snatcher or Policenauts series, but unfortunately from a business perspective it is quite hard to make that work, and I feel it's my job to push the industry forward, so I don't think I could really make it."

That's fair enough. What I've been going on and on about for years though is my wish for him to get behind putting the Mega CD Snatcher on the Wii (or Wii U) and maybe for it to be treated like "Snatcher: The Final Cut". I've never thought of asking for any additional chapters or sequels.

The article above also more than alludes to Kojima getting a chance to become involved with Silent Hill. If we can look past all the diplomacy and PR speak, I think he could make the best Silent Hill game ever!

Completed Pokémon Typing's story

The story is a small but nice part of the package and it's all presented in talking head dialogue between Paige Down and Professor Quentin Werty. Since it's small it doesn't feel intrusive but it adds something to the world and the levels you go through to the end. It's nice. It can be completed in 2 hours if you're good at typing.

Also when you've completed the final story level you get the credits where you can type the names of all the people that appear! Hurry before they scroll off the screen! Quite tough to do as well as there are a lot of Japanese names there.

Pokémon Typing is too good to be called edutainment

Because edutainment typically sucks. There are some notable exceptions but normally they just have bad cg, are just plain unimaginative and not fun at all. When they're good though they're Pokémon Typing.

Pokémon Typing works well as an arcade game. It's like a rail shooter, only with typing and it's got high scores and combos and boss battles. Typing of the Dead by SEGA had a release in Japanese arcades and the cabinet had two keyboards. Nintendo could very well do the same.

Pokémon Typing also works very well as a Pokémon game. Now, there's none of that turn based battling and levelling up, you're just simply there to catch them by typing their names, which is probably one of the purest instances of the tagline "Gotta Catch 'em All!". Also if you're a Pokémon fan you have an advantage because the Pokémon appear before their names do, giving you a chance to type their names in faster and achieve higher scores.

Another reason why this is one of the best typing games out there is because of the world it takes place in and they way you explore it. You see, the world map is shaped exactly like a keyboard and the places are named after the keys on which they're located like "Semi-colon Cavern" for example. On the map screen you type the key of the area you want to enter for the character to immediately go there. Very clever and imaginative.

Of course if you like the benefits of edutainment then this will not only help sharpen your skills, but it'll also make the practice really fun too.

Pokémon Typing is awesome!

I got this game today! I'm very fond of how that little keyboard looks and that stand for the DS is invaluable. Typing to the 3DS XL's huge screens doesn't feel weird at all. The little keyboard itself takes a little getting used to but the keys are well defined, even though my fingers just fit them. I would rank the keyboard as not being quite as comfortable as your normal keyboard but much better than a laptop's keyboard. You also have the option of using the touch screen.

To me typing is generally a fun thing to do. I enjoy typing games a lot and the world of Pokémon is well suited for this activity. In fact the game rewards you with having Pokémon knowledge because it shows you the creature before its name and typing it accurately straight away gives you more points. Typing a succession of prompted Pokémon correctly gives you combos. There are also some boss battles and rare Pokémon you have to quickly type because the chance to catch them is quite brief. Ho-Oh for example took me a few tries because you have to type the hyphen as well and quickly.

I say "catch" but you're really "studying" them, catching a record of them with a special study ball really. The world map is literally a keyboard with placenames like "Semi-colon Cavern" and the characters are puns on keys as well such as Paige Down and Quentin Werty. That is a very nice touch!

I'm really enjoying this! Maybe something like it should come to the Wii U as well. I'd like it.

Just completed NSMB2!

Finally did it! I got the sparkly star on my file as well which is pretty nice :)

I also got another sparkly star on my file for collecting all the star coins too. I'm now trying to get more and more extra lives because I heard you can get another sparkly star that way too. I've over 900 at the moment. I now know that there's incentive to getting so many. It's effectively at the cost of ever reasonably seeing the game over screen but there's at least a small reason to get so many lives.

The ending credit sequence shows Mario carrying Peach back to the castle. It's interactive and you have a chance to collect all these coins flying around while you do it. Maybe she could've helped by means of her floating abilities? I guess it's more romantic this way but we are used to doing so much more!

Nintendo Gamer demonstrates Pokémon Typing and the keyboard!

Nintendo Gamer lives in video form! I should visit the website regularly as they have a good online presence. Anyway they have a good demonstration here in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kbT2Vr8AzQ

Chris Scullion is one of the newcomers. I never knew he was Scottish. Anyway he does a good job of showing Pokémon Typing here for anyone curious about the game or the keyboard. He also connects it to an iPad which is a good demonstration of its versatility. It's everything you wanted to know and more.

La Mulana is out on WiiWare at last and it doesn't have shitty DLC! Yes!

I just saw Nintendo Life's revew of the game and they gave it a 10/10. I was delighted to read that there wasn't any DLC! Yes!

If you don't know about the big long development process of this game it was because of crappy pointless DLC that this game was delayed so much and also why Nicalis eventually refused to publish it. I can tell you right now that they would've published it long long ago if only the developer didn't bother to even think of ripping us off with DLC in the first place.

Now that the game doesn't have DLC it actually has some worth. Horray!

Kirby Star Stacker and Kirby's Dream Land 2 errors in Anniversary collection booklet and what it could mean! (European release?!)

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=186002

Have a look at this link. Here the folks are concerned about the two titles missing from the 3DS Virtual Console even though the manual says "Available as a Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console title." under each entry. Now even though both of these games aren't there yet, the folks reasoned that they could yet be and since those statements are chronologically neutral, they'll become correct when those games release on the North American Virtual Console. We can also take this to mean that they are guaranteed releases.

Now here's something I'm going to do: I'm going to delve deeply into this and speculate that those statements are also significant to European Kirby fans. How? Well you see, those two games are already on our Virtual Console so I am going to take this to mean that those statements apply to us, and if they apply to us then that could mean that the Kirby Collection could be coming out over here yet!

This is where the speculation ends and now to resume regular service:

Nintendo, please bring this collection out in Europe!

Pokemon Typing gets review scores in the 80s

The first couple of reviews for this game are out. Official Nintendo Magazine and Nintendo Gamer gave it scores in the 80s.

All part of the hype! We may not see many reviews for this game. We will definitely however see this game in future top 10 lists of games that are unusual in some way and blog commenters will go "whoa".

I'm really looking forward to this game and I hope I'll be able to get it if everything goes according to plan :)

Ad for Retro Game Master DVD release for America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=xC-x0JXmWSw

I know it's for America but it's a very nice ad that would make anyone smile. It's a pity the DVD is a "best of" rather than a true chronicled compilation.

I find it annoying when DVD publishers do that, especially with old cartoon shows. For example "<insert cartoon character here> goes to the beach and three other stories" would be one DVD when they could fit much more and in the correct sequence.

The DVD for this show isn't announced for here. The first game didn't come out here either and the second game didn't even come out in English. If I had the chance I would buy localised releases. It's a lot of trouble to be a fan of things like this!

I'd love to be able to play Virtual Console games on the Wii U Pad :(

I think Nintendo should do some work on the Virtual Console so we'd be able to do this. I mean come on! Just look at the Wii U Pad! It looks like the ultimate Game Boy! Wouldn't it be fantastic to have that kind of support??

New Super Mario Bros. 2 World 5-6

I got a great laugh at the end of this stage during the mega mushroom power-up. I was actually able to knock down the flagpole! Then Mario looks at it before shrugging it off, doing a strong man pose and shrinks back, uttering a line I haven't heard him say before and walking away to the next stage. Nice touch! :)

Edit: It seems that you were able to do this in the first NSMB too! Oh well, you learn something new everyday I suppose!.

Delicious NSMB U trailer from the Wii Preview event :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQHa4qindfE
The graphics look so nice and everything just makes you want to grab it and play it!

Also the princess doesn't get kidnapped this time, rather the Mario Bros and the toads get thrown out. My favourite part is when they get up and Mario points off into the far back distance where everything is happening. It's great. Best case for the Wii U yet!

Is Bayonetta any good?

Now that Bayonetta 2 is going to be a Wii U exclusive it might be interesting to try out the first one as I've never played it. Ah well it mightn't matter.

Wii U previews and Nintendo Directs

Each of the three big regions today had livestreaming events all about Wii U. The American one wasn't fantastic but the European one was very enjoyable and informative. I think that's because Reggie had an audience of game journalists whereas Satoru Shibata was presenting a Nintendo Direct so he was talking to us the fans and customers directly.

There were other factors that made it better and it had a much better effect on me; I was even starting to become interested in upcoming titles I wasn't previously interested in! That's powerful stuff right there.

I think Reggie should do a Nintendo Direct to summarise all the new information and trailers that have come out. Who knows, there might be a chance for more in the final days up until release.

Wii U Preview Nintendo Direct for Europe on tomorrow

So U.S. fans are getting an event tomorrow and so are we. Satoru Shibata the NOE president sent out a swapnote announcing it. It'll be on at 3pm Irish/UK time broadcasting from NOE's official website. I'm looking forward to this!

I kind of hope they announce the Kirby Anniversary collection for Europe as well...

Even Capcom gets confused over the Ace Attorney series

Recently someone spotted a piece of fanart on Capcom's site. It was supposed to be for Ace Attorney 3 but instead it was apparently a fanmade cover of a non-existent installment. This kind of mix up is a serious problem with the Ace Attorney series - I speak from personal experience over the years when shops kept selling me the wrong installments and now Capcom is all mixed up.

The problem is that the cover artwork for these games are all very similar and in our localisations, the titles aren't numbered; instead they have a subtitle and a sub-subtitle. This muddles shops up even more because it makes the sub-subtitle text microscopic on the game cart's label and shops often seperate the box and the game itself.

There are other factors that exacerbate the situation, such as a spinoff, its unlocalised sequel and a later installment coming out before an earlier one in Europe. It's worthy of an AVGN style "Chronologically Confused" video!

How do you get the K in world 3 level 4 of Donkey Kong Land 1? I finally know.

When I was a kid this frustrated me to no end. Even TOTAL! magazine's walkthrough had an apology in the middle of it where they couldn't find it. Now thanks to YouTube walkthroughs of the game I finally know:

Immediately when the level starts jump up to the left. There's a barrel there that shoots you above to where you can find the K.

I remember wasting so many hours and batteries trying to get it from the other side because there was a trail of bananas and thought that the spiky tyre had something to do with it. But that was only for when you were coming down from above. Unbelievable.

You'll see it in this video at 7:17:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpu-4Z_ug8&feature=relmfu

Bought the final Nintendo Gamer issue today

So I guess that's it. No more Nintendo Gamer. The magazine has a few farewell features and the puzzling "on sale 30 Sept" at the very back, whatever that means. Looking at those Super Play covers they have is nostalgic. I never got Super Play but I remember seeing the covers and I always used to see them advertised in "Total!", the magazine I used to get, which was also a great unofficial Nintendo magazine. Whenever I saw the Super Play covers I always avoided them because I always saw Wil Overton's anime style artwork as being for older kids. Hmm..

More reminiscing soon :)

We never had anything like Howard & Nester

American fans are reminiscing about Nintendo Power. Howard and Nester used to be a big part of that. It was a comic in the magazine and looked pretty fun. I would've loved to have had something like that in the magazines I bought growing up.

Brawl in the Family have a special tribute to it which is pretty nice (it's number 435) and there's a special unseen installment that Howard Philips is revealing bit by bit which you can see on blogs like Gonintendo.

In our official Nintendo magazine, which was called Nintendo Magazine System, we had a letters page where a cartoon seal would answer them, which was inspired by the Nintendo Seal of Quality.

Though I wonder if Wil Overton, the guy who illustrated Super Play and now the final issue of Nintendo Gamer, could have made a comic strip? It could've been fun.

Ace Attorney 5 announced for 3DS and Europe

Actually it's been announced for years but it's only now they've been quite serious in talking about it. In any case it's definitely coming out in the U.S. and Europe for the 3DS.

I hope they go one step further! I hope they release it for the Wii U as well! Because unlike the rereleases of the other games in the series on WiiWare, The Wii U is more capable of DS functionality - It's got a microphone and an extra screen after all!

So, Nintendo has re-trademarked Wave Race

Some people are speculating that it might signify a new entry but I would like to speculate that they're just planning to re-release the original Game Boy version on the 3DS Virtual Console.

I love the Game Grumps

Two guys on YouTube have this channel where they play games and talk and laugh and joke all the way through. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/user/gamegrumps/videos

One of the guys made that brilliant Metal Gear Awesome cartoon and the other does other videos where he has an amazing cyborg parrot and kind of looks like Master Higgins.

Check it out!

How come the last page of the last Nintendo Gamer issue ever...

says "On Sale 31st Sept"?

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/farewell-nintendo-gamer-final-issue-in-pictures/0102237

Tak Fuji's response to fans love of Mystical Ninja Goemon

Tak Fuji posted this on his twitter in response to our feedback:

"Thanks for so many HOT messages about our classic IP. I will take them seriously and hope I can do something extreeeeme to thank your love."

I guess he really likes that word. What does he mean by hoping to do something to thank our love though? What could a Konami producer like him do? hmmm? hmmmmmmmm?

Enough talk, time to use my extreeeeme Irish Nintendo Fan powers to broadcast a message:

Dear Tak Fuji and to all concerned at Konami, I would like to purchase a new Goemon game for a Nintendo system please :)

*whoosh!* There it goes!

Grrr I want Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition to come to Europe!

I just saw the American boxart for it and it's a lovely vintage wood carving and it has all the titles of the compiled games in a pattern on the cover too.

I really want it! Nintendo please bring it out over here in Ireland!

I love the word "Metroidvania"

Another word that some people don't seem to like but I love to bits. Even the guy who came up with the term doesn't like it anymore! I'm not sure why but I've been listening to the podcast he's on for a few episodes now and if I were to hazard a guess I would say it's because he's fickle.

The last time I came across the term was surprisingly in an Irish newspaper that has a small weekly section for video games. I say surprisingly because game articles in newspapers are normally complete rubbish. I was surprised the author was even familiar with the term so they may be smarter with their "gaming PR" than I thought...

... or they could simply be misusing the term.

Anyway I love the word "Metroidvania". It describes a type of game I found hard to find more of after playing some Metroid games but since the term got more widely used I came across lists and recommendations for many other games of this type I never heard of before. Games such as "Within a Deep Forest" and "Seiklus".

My favourite Metroidvania is Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.

Nintendo Gamer magazine is dead :/

Wowee.

They just announced on their website that they won't be bringing out hard copies of their magazine anymore. I suppose from now on it's just a blog like gamesradar, kotaku or any of those.

I've been getting this magazine for years as you may know but I haven't blogged about individual issues for a long time now. I'll have to catch up.

Noone really talked about them much but when they did it was always with fondness and I admit it was fun seeing Americans get thrown off by their sense of humour (though they always cop on to the jokes afterwards). They were always great for import reviews of games, often times being the very first review to appear and be listed on the likes of metacritic etc. Sales numbers for the magazine were awful for a loooong time. I think it may have been the worst selling games magazine in recent years but I'm not 100% sure on that.

The AVGN's anger management relax tape

James Rolfe made a fun relax tape, you know the kind that you listen to when you're stressed? Yeah, check it out here!

http://cinemassacre.com/2012/08/29/nerds-anger-management/

I enjoyed this a lot. I loved all the video game music he played during it too, especially the Mario 64 tracks. It just so happens that when I found this I was really stressed from constantly losing on stage 70 of Wario's Woods so the timing was impeccable :)

The still image of him sitting cross legged in the Nerd room with his frown is fun too. I'd love do download this audio for my iPod!

I love the word "Shmup"

Some people don't like this word though which is a pity. I heard someone diss the term on a podcast recently and I have a feeling the reason why some people don't like this term is because someone at Treasure thought it was really weird when he heard it first.

I don't care what he thinks! I've been using the word for years and I'll continue to use it. For the sake of avoiding confusion with people who don't know the term I'll say other things too like "2D shooter" or "it's a bit like Space Invaders".

Tak Fujii asks all fans about Mystical Ninja Goemon on Twitter, I give my answer here :)

Ooo! Some stuff about Mystical Ninja! Count me in!

This KONAMI Producer's Twitter is here:
http://twitter.com/tak_fujii
and here's where I found out about this:
http://www.gonintendo.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=91862

I'd like to give my own answer to both of his Twitter questions here, where I can give answers longer than 140 characters :P

Question1: Are you missing GOEMON ( Mystical Ninja ) ?

Me: I am! In fact I am missing all of Konami's classic characters and series like Twinbee, Parodius, Penguin Adventures, Road Fighter, Snatcher etc.

Question 2: OK, I hear your love... but I just wonder why. Why Goemon is so special for you, compare to other huge side scroll action franchises?

Goemon games are just like the best of the huge side scroll action franchises! They have rock solid gameplay mechanics and a colourful, appealing animated look. Goemon games are typically like a cross between Super Mario Bros 1 and The Legend of Zelda 1. What makes Goemon special is its theme and setting. Fans online love talking about how zany the humour is or anachronisms like giant robots or even just about how proud it is to be a Konami game for example having references to the Konami code or 573 or being able to go into a building in the game and play classic Konami arcade hits like Gradius. If you think you've seen it all when it comes to side scroll action games nothing prepares you for a Goemon game!

I wonder if KONAMI is thinking of bringing back Mystical Ninja/Ganbare Goemon? That would be so awesome!! :D It would also make me very happy if answers like mine help to make it happen. If you like Goemon, go and tweet Tak Fujii!

I never knew you could cancel a ground pound in NSMB Wii...

I saw a video recently where a guy was explaining little secrets in NSMB 2 and one of them was the cancellation of a ground pound mid-air. I never knew you could do that and it could come in very handy. You can do it in the Wii game as well so yeah that's pretty nice, I'm still learning new things about these games.

Snatcher reference in Gradius ReBirth!!

Following on from the previous post I made about Gradius ReBirth, there's also a reference to Snatcher in the game's intro!

You can clearly see a Metal Gear with a Nintendo Wii fitted, which is a reference to Snatcher where it was fitted with whatever hardware that version of the game came out on. I have to say, the Mega CD attached to Metal Gear looked very strange. The Wii looks very nice though!

Why couldn't Snatcher have appeared on Wii? Since the Wii revived adventure games it makes perfect sense. At least we got to see Metal Gear attached to a Nintendo Wii anyway, even though it was in a completely different game. (yet still a kick ass one)

"Broken Sword creator credits Wii/DS for saving adventure games" reports GoNintendo

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=184050

Yes! At last some praise! Noone credits the Wii and DS for something such as important as giving such a boost to the success of adventure games so thank you Charles Cecil for doing so, even though you had to bring the word "casual" into it so that ignorant parties like Telltale Games know what you're talking about.

Seriously I would pay money to see Charles Cecil clip everyone at Telltale Games across the ear for their broken Wii port of Sam and Max Season 2.

This GoNintendo post made me very happy indeed.

Donkey Kong Jr and NES Open Tournament Golf on eShop for everyone now

Of course for me it's all about downloading updates for these two, which were ambassador titles.

There's also a LEGO Batman 2 demo. Hm... I might try it out. Not normally crazy about those games though. We'll see.

New Super Mario Bros 2 Cannon Stages

I was pleasantly surprised when I found my first cannon stage. After jumping into the cannon you're shot horizontally and so begins an auto scrolling stage full of running and jumping! You also have a chance to collect red coins to win something like a coin flower. Another nice addition!

The mechanics of Tanooki/Racoon Mario in New Super Mario Bros. 2

There's a couple of significant differences from Super Mario Bros 3:

-You can hold the jump button instead of tapping it to fly
-The P-bar gradually empties instead of emptying completely as you run out
-When you hit the ground running the P-bar instantly refills

The last of which is AWESOME!

New Super Mario Bros 2 is great

It's a great game, very playable and a pure joy to play. I've also had the two big questions I had about the game answered on playing it. The questions being:

Q: Why is the world full of coins?
A: No reason in particular. A wizard did it maybe.

Q: Can you save anytime anywhere?
A: You can quicksave on the map and normal saves after castles etc.

Transferring non-DSi eShop purchases from 3DS to XL

This was another step I didn't mention in my post yesterday. When you've all the transferring done and start your new 3DS XL with the bigger 4 gig SD card you'll find that you have access to your DSiWare games(which are on the system's memory) but none of the other stuff like demos, 3DSWare, 3D Classics, Virtual Console games etc. This is because it's still on the old 2 gig SD card.

For this you need a PC and be able to load SD cards on it. Here's what I did to fix this:

1. Copy the stuff from the old SD to the desktop in a new folder called "holder"(suggested name)
2. Load the new SD card on the PC and make sure it's completely blank (you don't have to format it)
3. Copy what's inside the "holder" folder to the new SD card (but not the actual folder itself).

After that it's ready to go. I tripped up on this along the way. I tried copying over to the new card but it still wouldn't load anything so I just made sure it was completely blank before I did it again. There was probably some configuration that was incompatible.

Moving house to my new 3DS XL (in painstaking detail!)

As I type this there are Pikmin transferring the data from the old 3DS to the new 3DS XL I bought today! There are also Pikmin arranged to form the percentage number of the process that's complete but their job is to just stand there. I wonder if it's boring for them watching their group moving various bits and pieces to the new system? Or are they glad they got out of doing that arduous task?

So yeah I got a 3DS XL since NSMB2 came out. Good thing I waited too because I got a bundle in HMV for 229 Euro which includes the handheld, NSMB2 and a third party charger(the deal would've cost more if I didn't get the charger, funnily enough)

I keep hearing about GameStop offering to transfer the data for you as a service. I can't imagine how they'd be able to do it at all. First, you have to charge your new 3DS XL when you get it out of a box, then you have to go through loads of prompts and confirmations and you even have to connect online as part of the process. Then these little Pikmin have to transfer all this stuff to the new system. This kind of thing you're much better off doing in the comfort of your own home as it takes hours. In any case it really isn't something you can do while waiting at the counter in GameStop.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is out in Ireland today

I can't wait to play it! Everyone says it's more of the same but it's good same. There's lots of promo videos about it and it's probably difficult to go anywhere without bumping into it popping up somewhere.

Today's eShop release of Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon

I've blogged before about the two different games on Game Boy titled "Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon". Unfortunately this is the weaker of the two. Although it has Zelda-like gameplay and a decent atmosphere, it's not executed very well with its collision detection and perspective issues as well as its general blandness.

Now I would LOVE for the other "Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon" game to come out on the eShop. When that game was originally released over here it was part of a compilation called "Konami GB Collection Volume 3", unlike the other game I described above whch was a standalone release.

I would love to see the games in Konami GB Collection Volume 3 be released on the eShop, as a classic Konami fan and a Mystical Ninja fan!

Gradius ReBirth has a reference to Antarctic Adventure :)

I never noticed this until today! Upon starting a new game in Gradius ReBirth a cutscene plays out in the form of a newsreel. Keep looking at the headlines and you'll see one about Pentarou reaching the South Pole!

To those who don't know, Antarctic Adventure was a 1983 release from Konami for the NES, MSX etc

There's an even cooler reference that really got me excited but I'll save that for another post ;) (if you looked at the cutscene you'd be able to see what it was!)

I didn't know Penélope Cruz had a sister in showbiz

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/cruz_sisters_settle_a_score_over_new_super_mario_bros_2_54681.html

Mónica's her name and she looks just like her. Here they both are in a promo for New Super Mario Bros. 2 challenging each other to a multiplayer session with their 3DS XLs.

Yera... why not.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the game when it comes out on Friday.

Double stars offer for downloading NSMB2 off eShop

It's well known that the eShop price is the same as the hard copy boxed price. Since the eShop gives you the opportunity to cut out the middleman Nintendo profits a lot more from that option. Now I'd love to cut out the middleman but I really want the full boxed cartridge copy. If I could buy that directly from Nintendo I'd go for that option in a heartbeat.

It's only appropriate too that Nintendo gives you double stars. It also shows that's what they want people to do.

Was world 4's map in Super Mario Bros 3 inspired by Dragon Quest?

When you start World 4 you can clearly see the castle nearby but water is in the way and you have to take the long way round. This is the exact same as in the first Dragon Quest where you see the Draco Lord's castle right across from Tantagel Castle where you begin your journey. I wonder if this was the inspiration for World 4's map?

When you think about it Mario 3 has a good bit of RPGness to it. It even has the same whistle tune that Link's recorder had from the first Zelda.

The idea of the games industry being one giant club

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/email-this-video-brings-something-up/

Yikes... the idea. Whatever the case may be, the notion of being careful not to offend anyone is silly if you're going to be walked all over otherwise. If you work in the industry and you let this happen to you then you're going to hate your job and yourself for not standing up for yourself.

Picross is coming to the European eShop

In the form of "Picross e" that is. This is all well and good but I want Slitherlink! Make it happen please!

Sword of Hope 2 is on the 3DS VC

It's one of those ancient ancient styled RPGs for the Game Boy that never got released here before now. I wonder why the first Sword of Hope isn't up there too? Just curious.

The local Argos now sells eShop cards :)

I haven't been going to GameStop much lately other than to buy eShop cards. Now that I can buy them in Argos I don't even have to set foot in there! Horray!

Seriously though Argos may have a smaller choice in games but it has a much better shopping experience than GameStop does.

Also there's a super cheap Skyward Sword deal currently at Argos. Make sure you have MotionPlus before buying though.

Sean Malstrom's post about Zelda and feeling overpowered

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/the-magic-of-zelda-constantly-feeling-overpowered/

I really enjoyed reading this post. I love the scale of it and the way he takes his time outlining the various moments of being powerful in detail.

I'm just thinking now if I can apply this thinking to all the Zelda games. I know for a fact that I always enjoy Zelda 1 more when I go into any situation while being as heavily equipped as possible.

Angry Video Game Nerd Episode 106: Bible Games 3

The long anticipated sequel! Just kidding. I forgot to blog about this when I watched it last Christmas sometime.

There's nothing particularly outstanding about this but it is nice to watch another AVGN episode with little references to stuff like the Street Fighter movie.

Angry Video Game Nerd Episode 107 Schwarzenegger games (and 106)

Man I forgot to blog about episode 106... Now I'm trying to remember if I had even watched it. I go to cinemassacre.com regularly, it's just that I may have gotten this mixed up with something else. Ah well.

Anyway episode 107!

http://cinemassacre.com/2012/07/23/avgn-schwarzenegger-games/

This starts off being an ok episode and it feels like he's getting into the swing of things after it being so long since the last official one. I got caught off guard completely when he started introducing the Predator game. I didn't think he'd make me laugh that way at all! and then he delivers some hi quality jokes during the review. It was hilarious and great fun to watch. Welcome back AVGN!

Some KONAMI employees are in the Olympics

One of them has even won a gold medal.

Is anyone online making "Track & Field" references?

They could say stuff like "Konami oughta stick to Hyper Olympic" to be annoying.

New Super Mario Bros 2 out in two weeks in Ireland! Enjoying the trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4yx4XirUEQ

I've been watching this over and over for the past few days.

I hum the music in my head and I don't think too deeply about what the coins do but I am looking forward to seeing how they'll affect the game.

I'm quite looking forward to this in general!

Ace Mathician looks pretty interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZzIi3wOkVw


Ace Mathician just came out today on DSiWare/eShop and I've read into it a little bit. It's a simple non scrolling single screen platformer where you collect stars. Some platforms are impassable so you have to use geometric formulae in order to arrange their placement. It seems like a great idea!

Nintendo of Europe has an online store now!

http://nos.nintendo-europe.com/

Wow! The dark horses so they are!

This came up completely out of nowhere for me. I read it on Gonintendo but still wow! There's only SD cards and 3DS chargers for sale so far but man I love the notion of buying directly from Nintendo instead of some meer middleman like Gamestop.

Imagine buying a hard to find game this way! It would be awesome if they did stuff like this :)

Kirby's 20th Anniversary Collection Challenge Stages feature

According to the American site for the compilation, one of the features is listed as:

"Brand-new Challenge Stages like the ones in Kirby’s Return to Dream Land".

Does this mean it'll have its own selection of Challenge Stages that didn't appear in that game?

Japanese Nintendo Direct Dragon Quest X special

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5aoxtxge5M

Bear in mind Satoru Iwata is hosting this in Japanese, for a Japanese audience.

Man, why can't they just announce that it's coming over here already?? Also, where's the "Operation Rainfall" online fan campaign for it? The DQ series in general is miles better than Last Story or Xenoblade or whatever.

We gotta get some excitement happening for this game! Let it be known that we want it too!

1up.com compares the different handheld format games on the new 3DS XL

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9112058

After testing all the various Nintendo handheld games available for the 3DS including older ones ie GB/GBC/GBA/DS/3DS they concluded with a list of hardware that's best for each type of game to play on.

To be honest it's depressing to imagine something like the GBA SP still being the recommended format to play anything on.

By right the 3DS XL should be the best one to play every handheld game that came before it since that's the latest one.

One more thing, I think they should've talked about Game Gear VC games too.

Finished paying final mortgage in Animal Crossing for Wii!

Horray! First time in the lengthy period in which I've owned this game that I've paid the whole lot off. Between lapses in play and starting from scratch it took me quite a while.

So what to do now? Still plenty. I'll collect all the fossils now instead of selling them for example so that'll be fine. I still have to try and catch the tarantula and the scorpion too!

Nintendo 3DS XL is out today!

There's a mild enough effort put out by retailers in Cork for the release of this. HMV have a trade in deal with loads of different formats in order to get a 3DS XL, including ones for getting rid of your PS3 and 360! To top it off there's a trade in deal for the Vita to get a 3DS XL. That is quite a surprise!

So it's between them and Gamestop. I didn't have time to check out Smyths. HMV price is about 10 Euro cheaper. They're both between 200 and 220 Euro. Sorry I don't remember the exact prices.

New Super Mario Bros 2 is out next month for 3DS. Will there be a bundle deal I wonder?