Downloaded Wii Fit U in time!

Yup! It took half the day though but I finally did it. Haven't tried it out yet but I can at my leisure.

DS games coming to Wii U VC!

This is good news! Maybe this is the chance for games like the two Zeldas for the DS to get proper analogue stick controls!

NES Remix now has more control options

An update is available and now you have the option of using a Pro Controller, a Wii Remote or Classic Controller, which is nice.

Penguin Adventure MSX heading to Japanese Wii U VC *sigh*

I love this game. They probably won't release it on our VC though and even if they did, they'd probably hamper us with the 50 Hz version.

At least we have good MSX emulators.

(What we really need though is a remake or something)

Wii Fit U Trial coming to an end soon...

It's in the back of my mind that I ought to try this. Better decide soon before this free trial thing expires.

Moon Chronicles current control scheme (where's the legacy option?)

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=221127

Here's what the controls are like for the game at the moment though thankfully it's not final. It seems limited to be honest and I have to ask— what about those of us who swear by legacy GoldenEye/Perfect Dark 64 controls?

In any case, I'm of the opinion that an FPS should have as many control schemes as possible.

3D Screenshots of Moon Chronicles

This was just announced. Jools Watsham also released some screenshots you can see in 3D by aiming your 3DS camera at the QR code linked below:

https://twitter.com/JoolsWatsham/status/426809798504366080/photo/1

Careful it doesn't make your eyes freak out...

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze has NO blowing move!

YES! I hated this move in Returns. Thank goodness they got rid of it.

Yoshi's New Island for 3DS coming to Ireland on 14th March

Nintendo of Europe Tweeted this date a short while ago. Gotta say, the promo artwork looks lovely and the colours look so warm.

As for the game itself, we'll look forward to it. Not to forget that a new Donkey Kong Country is out in February for Wii U!

Loading time of Wii U settings :(

Urgh... I hate having to go into the Wii U settings to change some small thing because it takes ages. I use 16:9 for Wii U games and 4:3 for Wii and VC titles, so playing a bunch at a time is a pain and I have to arrange it so I don't have to be going in there constantly.

Why does this have to be? A settings menu should not have loading times. The settings menu on the Wii for instance comes up instantly when you click into it.

3DS is also guilty of this, though I don't have to change the aspect ratio.

Game Sack covers the Sharp X68000

Have I never talked about Game Sack?! Shame on me! This retro gaming show is incredible and I've been watching it for a very long time now. I nearly always learn something new from their videos and they're great fun too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQPt69UCyIA

In this episode, they talk about the Sharp X68000 computer. There are some old and obscure computers out there that I've only heard about in stories but I've never heard anyone talk about the history of the Sharp X68000! Dave and Joe do a fantastic job here and almost every single thing was amazing.

I was particularly delighted to hear about an Akazukin Chacha shmup! Loved that anime.

I thought they'd mention Detana!! TwinBee but they didn't. Plenty of other Konami stuff though.

Are PewDiePie fans deaf?

Man that guy does a lot of screaming.

I just watched a playthrough he did of Cat Mario and it was a little too much for me. I prefer hanging out with the Game Grumps or HCBailly. They do their fair share but he does far too much for my liking.

Gaiabreaker: The Wii U shmup that pioneers the tate on the Game Pad

When the Wii U Game Pad was announced, many people had loads of cool ideas and surely one of them must have been the screen's handy ability to display vertical shmups in a 9:16 mode easily.

Now, the Wii U Game Pad already has a horizontal stand but how about coming up with a vertical stand? Controlling the game with the left analogue stick sounds like an interesting experiment but you could also use a Wii Remote scheme or Wii U Pro Controller to control.(I mean conceptually of course; I'm not sure about this particular game)

I like that a game is featuring this 9:16 display option, even though the game itself may or may not be that stellar. I'd like others to follow suit!

Kirby Triple Deluxe is selling well in Japan

Very nice thing to hear. It even made the top of the charts recently.

Something I might like for Nintendo TVii

I'm not sure if this will work but I'd like a handy tv guide for free-to-air channels I'd otherwise have to tune in to Sky Digital. Manually tuned channels don't have this and the only way I can check is to go online or buy Radio Times.

Germany, please don't ruin the Senran Kagura Burst boxart

This game is getting a physical release in Europe! This is pretty cool and the lovely boxart features one of the girls tucking something away in her cleavage.

If the USK rating infects it though, it'll cover the girl doing this. It would be an awful shame if we get stuck with that same cover. It'll go down as one of their biggest offences to aesthetics.

Jools Watsham celebrates Moon anniversary; I think about my experience with First Person Shooters on handhelds

Jools Watsham has been Tweeting stuff about Moon for the DS recently. I haven't played the game myself but I've heard a lot about it. It's a favourite of many. He's also got a new FPS going on in his top secret lab.

I shied away from the likes of Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS because it seemed like it would hurt your hands after playing for a while. With 3DS we have the solutions of gyroscopic aiming and the Circle Pad Pro(which I like very much), but I don't really know if we have an FPS culture on the 3DS like the one we had on the DS(there was also a number of FPS games on J2ME phones when you think about handhelds in general).

MY experiences with handheld FPS games were on the Game Boy Advance! The GBA had the likes of Doom 1 and 2 but I wanted to play original games so I went for the Ecks vs. Sever series mainly. I liked them a lot! The stages had mission checklists, which was one of my favourite things about Perfect Dark on the N64 and they had controls similar to Doom (could only aim left and right). You could also explore ventilation shafts and use zoom-in aiming weapons. My absolute favourite thing to do in these games was to press the delicious L and R buttons on the original model GBA for doing various things like strafing and crouching and crouch-strafing! Playing FPS games this way was novel certainly, but it felt good too.

How should an FPS on a handheld control? I think about this the odd time and I always find myself thinking that simplicity is the key to the best FPS games, just like it is for the best sandwiches.

Don't you start with the 50 Hz shit Konami! WE WANT 60 HZ GAMES

I just heard the European version of Legend of the Mystical Ninja for SNES will be on the VC this week :(

Konami! Don't dump 50 Hz only games on us! It is a HATEFUL thing to do to your European fans! You put the 60 Hz Contra 3 there the other week, so why not continue with that?!

Seriously Konami, don't make a habit of this. You're in charge of too many VC games for this to continue.

Wizard of Id pays tribute to King's Quest in yesterday's Sunday strip

http://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2014/01/12

Have a look!

It's a nice tribute, though I never played it myself. I loved the Apple Macintosh though which came out in 1984.

Kirby Triple Deluxe indeed has an unlockable sound test!

Horray! I just watched a YouTube video where the guy showed the screen and told us how to get to it. No need for a CD OST now but it'll still be a nice option :)

Kirby Triple Deluxe OST CD, mmm...

Just heard that the Japanese Club Nintendo are offering the Kirby Triple Deluxe OST CD.

Sounds very nice, even though I hardly use CDs any more.

As long as there's a sound test in the game I'll be happy :)

Kirby Triple Deluxe has Coo's theme!

I just watched some footage of this upcoming 3DS game and I noticed Coo's theme from Kirby's Dream Land 2! Love that song and it's featured in one of the stages of the fighting sub-game.

Mickey Mouse in "Get a Horse!" should be available for 3DS!

I watched this short cartoon in the cinema when I went to see Frozen (which is brilliant too) and it was absolutely stunning and beautiful and so well crafted.

Here's the thing though: I watched it in 2D because 3D cinema SUCKS due to the need of those fecking glasses. The dynamic of the cartoon where characters leap in and out of the picture make me want to see it on a 3DS' screen.

I'm more than willing to give it a go! The Shaun the Sheep 3D shorts for example are lovely.

While we're on the subject, Nintendo Video should feature the trailer for Gravity!

Misadventures of Link series on Nintendo Video

I've watched a few of these. The first one or two tried to be funny and it just had me wonder why they'd put out something like this. Afterwards they showed things like maybe you could see them as tips on your journey in Wind Waker's world and I liked that more. It's a fine advertorial for the recent releases in the Zelda series too.

CeX is open in Grand Parade, Cork.

This UK chain I've heard so much about has a store in Cork City now. It's a nice place to wander in and stare at video game and DVD covers if you've got some time to kill. No Nintendo games earlier than DS and Wii but there are PS2 games in case you've been feeling a bit lost since GameStop cleared their PS2 games away.

Greg Martin, the awesome 90s Sonic boxart guy passes away

I've been looking at some of the tributes to this guy online and they're showing sketches and hi-res scans of box art he worked on. He didn't just make Sonic but a ton of other stuff too.

There's some intense nostalgia for me in many of these gorgeous pictures he worked on... back then you couldn't afford all these beautiful looking games so all you could do was stare at them in the shop and be absorbed into those worlds. That's what gaming in the early '90s was like for many kids.

Now that I've played many of these games, they rarely live up to their box art! The legacy of his work is not to be forgotten in a hurry. You can still see some of this art when you look at the games being advertised on the eShop!

NES Remix is really good!

Puts a lot of fun spins on the dinosaurs of the NES era! Sometimes you have to save Luigi, sometimes you have to save Mario, there's one where you have to play upside-down and it makes you appreciate the little things in games like Pinball and Excitebike.

I suppose the Year of Luigi ends in July 2014

Since the arcade Mario Bros. game was released in the July of Luigi's first year, I suppose it technically goes on until then.

"X-Cnámh" — gas!

There's a YouTube channel I just came across in Irish and it calls the new XBox the "X-Cnámh"! Quite funny and admirable!

Mario Tennis the GBC RPG OMG

This just came out on the 3DS VC all by its ownsome this week and it's a fan favourite. You'd often see message boards talk it up and everything. Have a look for yourself if you want to see what the fuss is all about.

Year of Luigi, second wave

Happy New Year!

We got lots and lots of Luigi goodness in 2013 with some of the best games of the year. We're told though that it'll continue into 2014 with stuff like Dr. Luigi. I wonder what else we'll see?