BIG NEWS!!

The annual Game Developer's Conference just ended, and they finished on a big note. New Zelda! In fact, it's for the DS, which is crazy, since I just finished the last one! But also awesome, since Zelda games are always awesome! This time, instead of being out on the high seas, you drive a train. Seriously! The tentative title is Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which seems a little strange, but as always, when it's released it will blow everyone away with how original and awesome it is. Can't wait!

Also, there were some other fairly big announcements. The Wii can now load games straight from the SD card, so you don't have to transfer your VC or WiiWare games over first to be able to play them. Very nice! Plus, they now have arcade games available in the Virtual Console. Also cool.

So there you go. Some crazy new stuff! And even though the new Zelda game has a very strange theme, it looks really fun. Here's hoping! Check out the trailer below.



-benjamines

Currently Playing: Mario Party 6, TMNT 3: Mutant Nightmare, Animal Crossing: City Folk

The Myth of Zelda: Ghost Timer

Well, it's been awhile since I've written here, let alone a review, so here's one: this Zelda game is cool. The End.

Just kidding!

So there's this Zelda game for the DS and its name is the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. It has Link in it. Also, I'm feeling really lazy right now, so here's a brief summary:

• It's designed just like Wind Waker, but with some improvements, like how the ocean isn't so huge.
• The game is entirely stylus-controlled, which takes some getting used to, but all things considered, is one of the best all-stylus DS games out there.
• The stylus has some great benefits, such as writing on maps and drawing paths to sail.
  
• It's one of the more difficult Zelda games, but that may be due to the all-stylus controls.
• Like most Zelda games, there are plenty of sidequests to keep you busy for a long time.
• The graphics are amazing for a DS game.
• All-around fun and a must-have for DS owners.

So there you go. And now, some bullets:

Pros:

• A fun and addictive Zelda adventure
• Very similar in some ways to the excellent Wind Waker
• Lots of side quests and hidden treasures

Cons:

• None of the hilarious voice clips from the characters (not even Salvatore [kersploosh!])
• Some of the controls (such as while fishing) are difficult and not explained very well

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

Terrible Turdsday

So, today I'd like to depart just a little bit from my standard gaming crapfest. Instead of showing you a game that I have that stinks, I'll show you one that I (thankfully) do not own.

You likely have not heard of a PC game called Big Rigs: Over The Road Racing. Consider yourself lucky. It is inarguably one of the worst games ever made commercially available. If you actually purchased this game, you have two choices: throw yourself off a building, or turn yourself into the funny farm.

It's hard to imagine how a game like Big Rigs ever got to market. It was clearly never finished. I mean, not even close. Even the programmers have said the game that was released was only in a pre-alpha stage (in case you didn't know, pre-alpha means the game was started, but not even close to finished).

But rather than ramble on about its horribleness, I'll let you check out this YouTube video which clearly shows how ridiculous and hilarious the game is.



There you have it. Climb up mountains and through houses without slowing down. Terrible, yet hilarious. Enough said.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: We Love Golf!, DDR Hottest Party 2, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of the holiday where people dress up like grass and limes, naturally the logical thing to do would be talk about games that have a prominently green cover.

The first one that comes to mind is Chibi-Robo Park Patrol for the DS. In fact, the whole game revolves around making a park greener and greener. As the tiny robot hero, you run around and pick up garbage, plant flowers, and make friends in the surrounding city. Sounds strange, but just like Animal Crossing and other life-sim games, it becomes incredibly engaging in a video game. I will admit, there are a few environmentalist flavored pieces of dialogue, but it is one of my favorite DS games. If you don't own it, you're doing yourself a serious disservice.

Speaking of life sims, of course we have to mention Animal Crossing. The greenest cover is for the Wii version, but all the games revolve around moving to a small town, making friends, catching fish, buying furniture, etc, etc. And since you're in a country town, there's grass all over the place. You can't see it in the winter, but there are cedar trees that are evergreen, so yeah. Green. Oh, and you can create your own clothes, so plenty of green there. Speaking of which, perhaps I'll go create a nice shamrock t-shirt for my character...

Ok, I'm back. Next up, we have Mario Super Sluggers. Baseball fields are green. And so is the cover of this baseball game. For those who haven't played it, I would recommend it. It's loads of fun and easy to play with anyone. Also, you can play as Toad. In fact, you can play as 5 toads. 6 if you count Toadette. My team usually consists of Mario, DK, Bowser, and a bunch of toads. Best. Team. Ever. Anways, the fields are green. At least some of them. There is an ice field. That one's not so green. And some of the others are different colors, too. Ok then.

Probably the greenest sport there is is golf. You go hit tiny orbs with sticks on a giant lawn. Fun times. Also, many golf games have green covers. Take True Swing Golf for example. It's very green. Just a logo and loads and loads of green. I try not to get too caught up in golf games in the winter because it makes me want to drive to somewhere warm and golf for real. But I know my car sucks, so I would get halfway there and break down. And then I'd be missing the cold weather while I fry in the extreme desert heat... What's that? Me, sidetracked? Never!

Next up we have a box from one of many games starring Mario's popular prehistorical mascot. Of course I mean Yoshi, the rainbow-spawning dinosaur. There are some games where Yoshi drives me crazy. But in his own games, he's pretty alright. Take this one, for example. Yoshi Touch n' Go is a DS game where you guide Yoshi and Baby Mario through various levels by drawing lines and creating paths. Not the longest game ever, but a fun one. Those who love Yoshi should get it. It's probably pretty cheap if you can find it. Not that anyone who reads this blog likes Yoshi. Especially not anyone related to me... Not you, ya dork!!!

Alright, so moving on, we have a green game that doesn't involve grass or idiotic global warming. Of course I mean Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for Gamecube. It's a compilation of a bunch of older arcade games. Some of the highlights include the excellent Mortal Kombat II and 3. Plus, there's Guantlet II, NARC, Primal Rage, and Rampage. Considering it was only $20 when it came out, it's a heck of a deal. You can probably find it on the cheap nowadays, too. I mostly bought it for MK II and 3, but I like Rampage and some of the others, too. Plus, you can get to know a few older games that you may have never played before. What a deal!

Finally, we have Pikmin, the odd yet popular Gamecube/Wii game. The Wii version just came out and it's a remake of the Gamecube one, just with Wii controls. If you don't have either, go grab the Wii one. It's only $30 and you don't have to fight for it on eBay. Anyways, the game involves Captain Olimar (who you may recognize from Smash Bros. Brawl) and the tiny Pikmin. Basically, the Pikmin are plant/human creatures that sprout from the ground. Olimar uses them to make bridges, defeat predators, and collect parts of his spaceship that fell of when he crash-landed. It's a little challenging, I will admit, but it's worth your time. A very cool game from the same guy who created a couple of other games you may have heard of (Mario or Zelda ring a bell?)

Well there you have it. Games you can play on St. Patty's Day to avoid being pinched by Mario. Take it from me. That plumber will give you such a pinch.

Honorable Mentions:

TMNT: Pretty much all TMNT games have a green logo. And four green turtles. Yeah. That's pretty green.

Luigi's Mansion (GCN): Mario's lil' green brother also has his own game. It's not totally green though, considering the brackground is an old run-down mansion and lightning.

Clubhouse Games (NDS): Another very green cover. Also, playing cards.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Super Monkey Ball Adventure

3-D Wormage!

Good day to you, friends! I hope that you Monday is not full of fail! In any case, the game I will tell you about today follows the ridiculous and hilarious adventures of Earthworm Jim. Specifically, Earthworm Jim 3D for the N64. This game was kind of based on the cartoon, which by the way is hilarious. Jim gets conked on the head and the villians take over his brain, forcing Jim's superego to intercede and force the bums out.

Anyone who knows Earthworm Jim knows that the games are about as insane and games come. Some level objectives in previous games included launching cows, bouncing small dogs into a meat grinder, and battling giant snot wads. This one is no exception. As always, expect plenty of cows, falling refrigerators, and total insanity. The objective is to collect all the golden cow udders, which are kind of like stars in Mario 64. My favorite part? Jim is talking to Elvis and Elvis says, "That guy lured me in here. I wouldn't have followed him, but he offered me a cheeseburger." LOL! Also, you get to shoot old ladies in the face. And there's plenty more insane plot (or lack thereof) in this game.

Sadly, the goofiness is hampered by the extreme and unforgiving difficulty. The first few levels are easy enough to accomplish. After that, it's almost not worth it. As an example, one level requires you to float around and collect marbles in the air. The problem? Jumping pirahnas that pop your balloon instantly. And that's not even the worst part. It took me 20-30 lives to even get that high in the level, and that was with an invincibility cheat turned on. So, I had to go all the way back up and try again. About 20 times. This is only one of the insane udder locations.

Also, you can't beat the game unless you get every udder. Not that it's worth your time, because the boss battles are stupid. No, seriously. You ride a pig through a sty and collect marbles while the boss shoots missiles at you. The first time was semi-amusing and mildly annoying. But then, every boss battle after that is the exact same setup, but with a faster boss and more marbles to collect. DUMB. In short, the game would have been ten times more fun with less difficulty. I will say, however, that the music was really good. So... listen to the game. It's more fun than playing it sometimes.

All things considered, it's not a terrible game. But know this: I was using a cheat device which game me unlimited lives and unlimited energy, and it was still incredibly frustrating. So, you'd probably really like this game if A: you like challenging games, B: you're a masochist, or C: you're dumb. Feel free to select multiple answers.

Pros:

• Hilarious missions
• Excellent music
• Classic demented humor

Cons:

• Too hard (especially the repetitive boss battles)
• Jim's voice can get annoying
• Also, too hard

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

Top Ten Games That Would Be Really Fun If They Weren’t Ridiculously Difficult, pt. 2

And now, dear friends, I reveal to you the final half of a list of games that are tragically too hard, and therefore, not as fun as they could have been.

5. Contra (NES) - This is one of those must-haves for NES owners (and Wii owners, now). It's the quintessential run-n-gun game. You run around, shoot stuff, the stuff shoots you, you fight giant bosses and insane enemies, and you win. Or at least, you tried to. I'd say 98% of Contra players have never seen the ending, not counting YouTube watchers. You see, Contra did what most games don't: added a touch of realism. And by that, I mean if you get shot, even once, you die. Doesn't matter if you get hit in the face, or the heart, or the toe, or the toupee, you die. Wow.

Let me say that Contra is fun, regardless of the difficulty. It's just so insanely hard. It definitely requires lots of time and patience, just like many games of its era. Since there isn't much randomness of enemy placement, you basically have to memorize the levels and bullets paths. Fortunately, if you do that, you can beat it, since there aren't really any difficult platforms to jump to or things like that. Unlike some other game...

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) - The original TMNT game is hard. That's all there is too it. Full of barely-reachable platforms, difficult enemies, insane levels, and all-around ridiculousness. It's easy enough at first, but only the first few levels. Then comes the dam. Let me tell you about the dam.

Apparently, the Shredder (or one of his minions) rigged up the dam with a ton of explosives. Your job is to swim around and deactivate every bomb. And you're timed. Oh, and there is electrified seaweed everywhere. I think if you knew where every bomb was and went as fast as possible and didn't get hit by the seaweed, you'd have like 10 seconds left over. So imagine how fun it was the first time through. Or the twenty subsequent tries. I hate that dam level. And that's just the beginning. Later on, you're expected to jump over gaps where you literally have to jump at exactly the right time. I think you have about 1 pixel of leeway. Ouch.

Now don't get me wrong. I like this game. I really do. I love TMNT. Just ask anyone. I just think this game suffers from NES-era way-too-hard-itis. Thankfully, it got over that in the extremely entertaining TMNT 2, which by the way, is one of the best games ever.

3. Mortal Kombat (SNES, N64, etc) - This one is for all Mortal Kombat games. Which I love. But, as we saw in yesterday's post, the story mode is just stupid hard.

Honestly, I enjoy a good MK match. Give me Raiden or Sub-Zero and I'll go to town. But don't make me play the single player mode. It's not worth it. Even on easy, it's insanely hard. Like, unfairly and cheatingly hard. Seriously. I've always been baffled as to why the designers made the computer players' reflexes so fast. If you try to uppercut them, they will duck before you can land the punch and then uppercut you themselves. That's dumb.

And I'm just talking about the easy mode. On the second or third match. Forget about trying on medium, hard, or master (or whatever they're called). I honestly think I would rather have someone run over my face with a car than try and beat it on Master mode. Come on, Midway! Tone it down a bit, huh?!

2. Mega Man X6 (GCN) - You are probably familiar with Megaman games. The original games were hard, but they weren't impossible (for the record, I have beaten all 9 Megaman games without cheating). I guess Capcom decided its fans needed something even harder. So they made Mega Man X. It was Megaman on steroids, and it caused a nasty mutation in the difficulty department. The levels were harder, the bosses were way harder, and then end boss is not even worth trying. So, naturally, they decided to make another Mega Man X. And another, and so on.

Enter Mega Man X6. It looks cool, I won't lie. The graphics are very well done. The music is also nicely arranged and fits the mood. But, in the words of Garfield, whoever designed the levels needs to be drug out into the street and shot. I was using cheats for invincibility, unlimited lives, and infinite jumping ability, and I still died close to 100 times. On one level. I kid you not. There are killer spikes, holes, and flatteners at every turn. And don't forget the unreal number of enemies that will annoy you incessantly. By the way, this is just on the first 8 levels. Don't even get me started on the boss levels.

Ok, you got me started. The very first boss level could take a person years to beat. You have to use an ice block to get you just high enough to where you can jump to the next level. If you don't do it just right, you die. Also, you have to do it about 6 times in a row to get to the top. And that's just the beginning. Then you have to side-slide on moving floating platforms, all while dodging tons of spikes. Man, that sucks. And that's just the first of four boss levels. The bosses in these levels are just stupidly hard. They can shoot laser beams, giant fireballs, and of course, they have nearly impenetrable shields. I had invincibility turned on and it was still ridiculously hard. In fact, one of the boss levels has holes in the floor, so if you get hit in the wrong place, say good bye. And then comes the end boss. As usual, after you beat the end boss, he morphs into something bigger and you have to beat him again. Since I know none of you are insane enough to play this one to the end, I'll spoil it for you. The guy has laser beams that literally take up 80% of the screen. What?! Don't forget the giant floating green skulls, too. So, after all that, I must say that when Capcom adds to the difficulty of Megaman games, it takes away from the fun. That's all there is to it.

And that brings us to the final game...

What could it be?

Perhaps... something hard?

I'd bet on it...

SPOILER ALERT

I like pudding...

1. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GCN) - Ah, Metroid. You are so fickle. The original was so, so, so insanely hard. Likewise for most of the others. The easiest was probably Zero Mission, which is my personal favorite. But despite how hard they were, the games were pretty fun. They have a lot of similarities to Zelda games. You fight a boss, get a new weapon, fight a boss, etc. And when the Gamecube came out, the series evolved dramatically.

Metroid Prime took the classic 2D series and thrust it into 3D. People were a little unsure of the first person shooter style, but they knew how great it was once they played it. It took everything that was great about the series and added to it. Yeah, it was hard. But it was doable. It was frustrating, sure. But it was still rewarding in the end. Then, inexplicably, Retro Studios decided to make it even more difficult.

Why, I wonder? Did they not think it was hard enough? Was there really that much demand for higher difficulty? Who knows. All we know is that game is hard. It's about twice as hard as MP1, which was insanely hard in its own right. And not only that, it has something that many of my most hated games have: confusion.

One of my biggest annoyances is getting stuck in a game. Metroid is notorious for not giving hints, but this game gives about 2 the whole game, and even then, that's only when you've been stuck for an hour. And we haven't even talked about the bosses yet.

Bosses are meant to be hard. This is an eternal video game truth. It can sometimes be less than fulfilling when the boss is too easy. But these bosses are overkill. They are invincible for 2/3rds of the time, and when they are hittable, they always throw something at you or throw you at something or someone else.

I'm not gonna ramble forever about this, because it's all the same shtick. I will say that if this game was as hard as MP1, it would have been amazing. As it is, it's way too hard, and therefore, not very fun. Sorry, Samus. Your problem, not mine.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Earthworm Jim (SNES, N64): All these games are too hard. They are insanely funny, and the music is great (especially in Earthworm Jim 3D). Just too dang hard.

Kirby Dream Course (SNES): Probably the only hard Kirby game ever. Still fun, though.

Mario Golf (N64): The key to this game is that even though it's hard, it's extremely fun.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Super Monkey Ball Adventure, DDR Hottest Party 2, My Japanese Coach

Top Ten Games That Would Be Really Fun If They Weren’t Ridiculously Difficult, pt. 1

Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of games. And of lot of those games are really, really hard games. Which is kinda too bad, because they’d be a lot more fun if they were a little easier. Or a lot easier. So, in lieu of Terrible Turdsday, here’s the first half of a list of games that aren’t turds, but do stink a little thanks to their ridiculous difficulty.

Note that these games are all games I own. There are probably other games which are harder than these. But I don’t own them, which more than likely means they’re not worth having in the first place. (ooh, zinger!)

10. F-Zero GX (GCN) – F-Zero games have always been hard. And that’s not really a problem. F-Zero X (N64) was highly challenging, but equally rewarding. I’m not sure why, but Nintendo decided to take it to the next level for the Gamecube version. Actually, it’s more like 20 levels higher. Honestly, I’ve never lost so many times at a racing game.

Now don’t get me wrong; I love this game. F-Zero is one of my top 3 favorite franchises of all time. The story mode on this one was just too hard. Plain and simple. And if this was a list about just hard games, it’d be a lot closer to the top. It is a very, very fun game. And thankfully, the computers don’t really cheat, as is common in many racing games (I’m lookin’ at you, Mariokart). The tracks are crazy hard, but crazy fun. The GP Mode is just about right, actually. It’s the story mode that’s insane. So there ya go.

9. Sonic Battle (GBA) – Sonic games are always appealing to me. Many times they get poor reviews, but I still enjoy them. And because they get poor reviews, they are often cheaper, which is nice because then I have more money for other games. Anyways, this game is kinda like Smash Bros. Distantly similar, but it has a few Smash Bros. flavors. Basically, you play as Sonic or Tails or whoever and you beat the crap out of people. If that’s not a great premise for a video game, then I don’t know what is.

In any case, the story mode is a sad excuse for a ‘story’, if nothing else, because of its extreme difficulty. Let’s say you play as Sonic. Ok, so some robot pops in and you have to beat him up to show him how tough you are. Ok, cool. Then, so the robot knows for sure that you’re tough, you have to fight him again. And it goes like that for the entire game. You fight someone, and then you fight them again. And the problem is that it’s not nearly as fun as Smash Bros., or even other fighting games for that matter. I used cheat codes and it was still difficult. Yikes.

In short, it’s fun for a few minutes. Or against friends. Otherwise, be prepared rip your hair out and throw your Game Boy across the room a few hundred times.

8. Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (NDS) – This is one of those cases that made me sad because it could have been so good if they would have done it right. And don’t get me wrong. It can be fun. But, as usual, the story mode is insanely difficult.

Despite the Mario name, this game was made by Square-Enix, the RPG company, not Nintendo. That may be part of the problem. In any case, the game relies on strictly stylus-controlled play, which is the first problem. I have nothing against stylus controls (Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass does it beautifully), but in a game like this, you really need button controls.

And don’t even get me started on the AI. Talk about ridiculous. In the later difficulties, be prepared to be blocked, pushed, and mopped all over the court. By Final Fantasy characters. Yeah. That’s dumb. Also, I beat the hardest team on the hardest difficulty, but the game says I never did. Therefore, it is a liar. In short, the game can be fun, but only against friends or on lower difficulties.

7. XIII (GCN) – XIII (as in Thirteen) is a comic book-styled first person shooter game. I’m not usually one for FPSs, but I really liked the style and I found it for cheap, so I gave it a go. I think it’s a cool game. As you can see to the right, I'm shooting Emeril in the face. But of course, the accursed story mode is ridiculously hard. Even on easy, some of the levels are insane. Maybe this is attributed to my lack of experience in FPS games. But I was pretty good at Perfect Dark and Goldeneye. So there.

One level in particular stands out. You have to creep around an enemy base and deactivate alarms, kill soldiers silently, and somehow make your way inside. It’s pretty crazy. Oh, and it takes about 15 minutes if you do it right, and if you’re fast. So be ready to start over about a bazillion times. I guess I just don’t have the patience for espionage. Good think I’m not a real sniper.

As always, the multiplayer can be fun, but the single player can get insanely hard.

6. Bionic Commando (NES) – Bionic Commando is a very, very fun game. Just don’t plan on beating it soon after you start. Like many NES games, it takes much practice and patience to figure out where to go.

For those who don’t know, you play as a soldier with a bionic arm which lets you grab ceilings, lights, etc. to move yourself around. As was also common in the NES era, you cannot jump. I’m guessing that giant metal arm has something to do with that.

The first part of the game is quite fun. The bosses aren’t too hard, and you can make your way around without too many continues. The problem comes later on. In the later levels, you have to make it through a certain number of areas without continuing. So if you get to that point with only 1 life, then you get 1 life to make it through. Ouch. Essentially, it takes a lot of time to get good enough to beat the game. If you’re not in grade school, you probably don’t have that kind of time.

So there you are, friends. Some hard games. Come back some other time and see the other half. I’ll try to get it up here a little sooner than a week. But then again, I have a lot of games to play, so… don’t hold your breath. Or do. I don’t care.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Trauma Center: New Blood

Teeerrible Tuuuurdsday!!

Hello again, fellow game freaks! It's Thursday, and of course, that means it's time for us to pick a terrible game and make fun of it until it cries! Hoo-hah!

I know the Game.com is a terrible system, but I thought I'd try and limit making fun of it to about every two weeks. That way, we can see other systems that were good, they just had crappy games. Therefore, this week we'll take a gander at a highly popular TV show turned into a highly crappy video game.

Of course you know I mean Monday Night Football. It's a ratings giant (most of the time)! Naturally, that means someone had the brilliant idea of turning it into a video game. 'Kids don't care what's in it,' said the now-unemployed designer. 'They just want football. Put their favorite made-up players in it and they'll go crazy over it!' If you frequent the homeless shelter, you may recognize this man.

In any case, Data East, the company behind this catastrophe, decided to run with it. I'm pretty sure they starting programming, decided it was too hard to make it worth their while, and then had the lead tester take a dump in the disk drive. Then they published the game. I'm pretty sure that's on Wikipedia somewhere.

So, as you have seen, the game is a real turd. I mean, I'm sure someone out there likes it. You know the type. They think football is played too fast, so to slow it down is good for them. They like losing to the computer every time. They love Gatorade. Also, they are masochistic. And dumb.

In all seriousness, though, the game is football. That alone should be enough incentive to get you to stay away. The only reason I own the game is because it came with my SNES when I bought it several years ago. I did not choose this game. I do not enjoy football video games. Real football is awesome. Video game football is about as fun as slamming your toes in a car door.

In short, the game is slow, boring, and hard to play, let alone enjoy. It's not a total loss, however. After all, the game has Chris Berman. And he's just as fat as he is in real life.

Cons:

• It's football.
• It's slow.
• It's not remotely fun.

Pros:

• An accurate portrayal of Chris Berman's gut.

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

New Games On The Way!

Last Thursday, Nintendo released a large list of games to be released between now and June for the DS and Wii. Why June? Probably because E3 is on June 1st, so they are undoubtedly saving the big announcements for then.

For those that don't know, E3 stands for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and it's usually held in LA around May or June. This year will be special, because they are going back to the gigantic, stellar, and awesome format. The last two years, they decided to make it a small affair, and as such, many companies decided not to come. They have obviously learned from their mistake and returned it to the most humongous gaming event of the year. Expect big announcements from Nintendo and others. More on that in a minute.

In any case the list Nintendo released on Thursday had some interesting titles on it. First and most importantly is the inclusion of The Legendary Starfy for DS. Legend of Stafy (note there is no 'r') is a popular franchise in Japan, whose games are similar to Kirby. And finally, after years of wishing, it comes to the USA! Hooray!

The next big title on the list is Excitebots, which is the mystery game announced by Monster Games a few months back. It is a racing game that builds on the Excitebike and Excitetruck games. I'm interested to see what the bots will add to the experience, but I'm sure the game will be fun, considering every Excite game ever has been amazing.

Of all the games that make great use of the Wii Remote motion capabilities, Boom Blox was one of the best. And, just over a year after the first was released, the sequel, Boom Blox Bash party, comes crashing back. The most exciting part is the enhanced level editor, which lets you set the points needed for bronze, silver, and gold medals. It is expected to be released some time this summer.

Also on the list are Punch-Out!!, the awesome revival of a great arcade boxing franchise, and a couple a Sega games, namely Let's Tap and The Conduit. Let's Tap is a game where you don't even touch the controller. Instead you set it on the box and tap the box for input. Very strange, yes, but it will be less expensive at launch ($30-ish, I believe), and it does look fun. The Conduit is a FPS game built from the ground up for Wii. I'm not usually one for FPS games, but this one does look pretty good. I'll have to see if it's worth buying when June rolls around.

Oh, and there's one more game that needs mentioning. On April 5th, the same day as the DSi is released, Nintendo will release Rhythm Heaven along with it. It's a music games where you tap along with the music of various levels and strange things go on around you. Think of it as a mix between WarioWare and Elite Beat Agents, two amazing games.

So there are definitely some great games to look forward to as the summer nears. And now, I'd like to take this time to give you my predictions of games that will be announced at E3. I could be wrong, but this post is a way for me to prove to some people in June that I was right. So, here we go!

F-Zero (Wii and/or DS)

• F-Zero and Starfox are the only major Nintendo franchises that have not been given a Wii game.
• The DS had Starfox, but not F-Zero. Honestly, this is long overdue.
• That picture I made on the right makes me sad that the games doesn't exist, cause it'd be AWESOME!!!
  

Starfox (Wii)

• Starfox games aren't quite as fun as F-Zero, but they usually sell well.
• I'd be surprised if this didn't show up at E3.

Pikmin 3 (Wii)

• Pikmin has gained a loyal following, especially since Captain Olimar (the main character) was included in Smash Bros. Brawl.
• This has technically been announced, but I think we'll see some nice juicy details.
• I expect this will be released sometime next year.

Paper Mario (DS)

• There were some rumors last year that Nintendo was remaking Paper Mario 64 for the DS.
• While I would prefer a brand-new game, Paper Mario 64 us one of the best games ever, and my personal favorite RPG.
• Paper Mario has been released on every system since the franchise started (except GBA, but it couldn't really handle the graphics), so it makes sense that they would make one for DS.

Kirby (Wii)

• There was a Kirby trailer shown about 5 years ago for a really great-looking gamecube game. Then it quietly disappeared.
• Later, a rumor surfaced that Nintendo was making it for the Wii instead.
• Nintendo Japan's release list had Kirby Wii for a November 2008 release. Obviously, that didn't happen.
  
• Things have been quiet since then, but I'd be surprised if it's been totally scrapped.

Professor Layton (DS)

• Easily one of the most charming and entertaining games for the DS.
• Japan already has three games released.
• This is long overdue.

Legend of Zelda (Wii)

• Twilight Princess was released about 3 years after it was announced, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a sequel this soon.
• Miyamoto has suggested that we could see a new Zelda game sooner than we might expect.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 (DS)

• Just thinking about this game makes we wet myself.
• Even though the original still sells quite well, I can see Nintendo making a new one in the next year or two.
• Don't be surprised if it has elements from Super Mario 2 (NES), such as throwing vegetables and what not.

Captain Rainbow (Wii)

• It's already been released in Japan, and it looks awesome.
• Just translate it and send it over!
  

So those are some games that definitely could be seen at E3. Here's a list of some other games that would be awesome, but there isn't much evidence to suggest they exist.

• Meteos 2 (DS and/or Wii)
• New Chibi-Robo (DS and/or Wii)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong 3 (DS and/or Wii)
• New Mario Party (most likely Wii)
• Metroid (DS)
• New Monkey Ball (DS and/or Wii)
• Viewtiful Joe (DS and/or Wii)
• Mario Golf (DS and/or Wii)
• Links' Crossbow Training 2 (Wii)
• New Trauma Center (DS and/or Wii)
• New WarioWare (DS)
• New Elite Beat Agents (DS)
• New TimeSplitters (Wii)
• Mario Sunshine remake (DS)

So there you have it. In a perfect world, these games would all be nearing completion. Unfortunately, very few of those exist. In any case, I think some of my predictions will be accurate. If I don't get any right, then I will play Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga all the way through without using any cheats. Ouch.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: My Japanese Coach, Super Monkey Ball Adventure, Okami