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

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

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

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

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 32

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kirby Right Back At Ya! — Episode 31

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

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

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

Retro Gamer Issue 93

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

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

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

Trying out 3D Classics: Twinbee for 3DS

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

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

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