Retro Sunday - August 03, 2014 - Paper Mario

I love Sundays because I usually have time to dig into a dusty old box of games and play something that I fondly remember. Today's selection: Paper Mario, one of the greatest RPG's ever created.

Retro Sunday - July 27, 2014 - Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA

It's Sunday again! What awesome game will we be revisiting this time? How about a fantastic arcade racer?

Rumor: Majora's Mask Remake Being Planned?

Is a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask in the works? A new job listing may indicate just that.

Retro Sunday - June 15, 2014 - Excitebike 64

Today is Sunday, which of course means we play video games. Which is the same as every other day. But this one is special. Because we play old games. But not just any old games. Good old games. Today's selection: Excitebike 64.

Mario Kart Memories, pt. 2 - Mario Kart 64 (N64)

This is part two of a feature on the history of Mario Kart. Today we take a look back at Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64.

Retro Sunday - May 18, 2014 - Perfect Dark

It's Sunday again! That means it's time to dust off another old game! Let's take a look at a game that never gets old, and is perfect to play on a lazy Sunday.

Fulfilling Your Japaneeds

Nintendo is a Japanese company. I’m guessing that’s because it was founded in Japan. And, for whatever reason, many of the games created in Japan never make it to US shores. It’s a shame, really, since many of these games are excellent. Let’s have a look at a few Japanese games that never made it to the US of A.

More 64!

I’m feeling lazy today (what’s new, right?), so here’s my post:

Smash Bros. for the N64 is freaking amazing.  Even now, it holds up as a fantastic title.  And, as it turns out, I’ve played it for approximately 250-300 hours.  That’s hot.  Btw, if you want to see the original commercial for the game, click here.

Excitebike 64 is also an amazing game, and one that is surprisingly not available on Virtual Console.  It’s disappointing, really, because that game is so insanely fun.  Plus, I beat the Hill Climb in 1:41.  Suck on that!

Anyways, stay tuned for hopefully a few more posts this week.  Then, I may or may not go back to posting sporadically.  And of course, by that I mean not at all.

-benjamines

Review: WaveRace 64

You might find it strange that it would take me this long to post a review for a game that has been out for some 10-15 years, in addition to it being one of the most popular for the N64.  Well, believe it or not, I didn’t own this game until a year or two ago, and I just got around to it.  So get off my back!!

Just kidding.  Anyways, I just finished the delightful WaveRace 64.  As you may have surmised, it’s a jet-ski racing game for the Nintendo 64.  It also sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide, so it was a pretty big hit.

In any case, the game is a simple, yet fun racing game.  You pick a vehicle (the character stays with each vehicle, so you don’t pick both), and then you race it.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Well, there’s more to it than that.  Scattered around the track are buoys labeled L or R, which means you have to pass by the Left or Right side of them.  Every time you do this correctly, your power meter goes up one notch.  Once it’s full, it stays full until you pass on the wrong side of a buoy.

The game has 10 tracks, including one practice track, which may seem a little short, especially when you compare it to other N64 racing games (Mariokart [16 tracks] and F-Zero [24 tracks plus the randomly generated X cup]).  I now understand why one of the creators of Wii Sports Resort said that the wave runner portion of that game would be deeper than WaveRace 64.  But don’t let that get you down.  It’s a really fun game with plenty to do.  The locales range from your standard beach side harbor to a swamp to, yes, the arctic.  Yeah, buddy!

We all know that one of the issues with many N64 games is that they don’t look very good by today’s standards.  But WaveRace still looks quite nice.  The water effects are surprisingly good for the system, and I never experienced any graphical slowdown.  As for sound, there is an announcer that isn’t too terribly annoying (which is important to me, although you can turn it off anyway), and the music is quite good.

All in all, it’s a fun little game.  Sure, it may not keep you playing for weeks and weeks, but it’s quite good, especially with multiplayer.

Pros:

• Fairly easy to learn
• Looks good for an N64 game
• It’s fun!

Cons:

• Too short

This game has earned a blatantly biased:

Nintendo 64 Week!

I hereby declare this week… N64 week!  So get out those three-handle controllers and have some retro fun!  As for me, I’ll be playing some Excitebike, Smash Bros, and Kirby.  Stay tuned for reviews and some other stupid crap!

By the way, there were no N64 games released on Virtual Console today, so Mondownloaday has been cancelled!  Like you ever read the article anyways…

-benjamines

Update: 50 by 4-19

Ah, yes! Much time has passed since the inception of my latest goal: to beat 50 games or more by the time April 19th is over. It is now April 20th, and what is there to show for my efforts? Let's find out!

As you can see, there were many games that I played in this time. The picture at left (which can be enlarged if you click on it) shows just some of the characters featured in the games I played over the last few months. See if you can guess who they are and what game they are from (the answers are listed below).

I started off really well at the start of the year. In fact, by January 4th, I'd already beaten 4 games, which put me a few days ahead of schedule. And then, oddly, I did not beat another game until January 18th. This may have been due to school, my own laziness, or because I started several games in this time and it took a few weeks to finish them. I don't remember which, so take you pick. In any case, once I did start beating games again, I was already a week and a half behind schedule, so I had to really focus on video games (what a hard life, right?) Then, finally, a month later, I caught up to where I needed to be. And I never looked back. Or did I?

There were two parts to my goal, both of which had to be completed if I wanted to consider the matter ended:

1. Beat 50 games (for any system) by April 19th.
2. Beat half of the unbeaten games for any system that had at least 10 unbeaten games.

To clarify, the second part of that goal was to put extra effort into beating games for systems with lots of unbeaten games. For example, at the start of the year, I had something like 22 unbeaten Gamecube games. Therefore, my goal was to beat 11 Gamecube games. The Wii had a similarly high number of unbeaten games, as did the N64 and NES. (My theory is that my console games get less attention simply because I can play DS or GBA games anywhere, but I can only play the Wii or other consoles at home.) So, I wanted to beat 12 Wii games, 11 Gamecube games, 7 N64 games, and 6 NES games. That makes 36 between those, so that gave me some room to throw in games from any other system, such as the insanely awesome DS, or the vastly underrated Virtual Boy. If that makes sense, continue reading. If it doesn't... that's not my problem.

So, in an attempt to seem like a valiant blogger and not a lazy turd, here is a list of some of the games I beat:

• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
• Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal
• Wario Land: Shake It!
• Mega Man 9
• Metal Slug 7
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
• Strong Bad: Episodes 3-5
• Pikmin
• Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
• MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero
• Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
• We Love Golf!
• Mario Party 6
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
• Sega Superstars Tennis
• Pilotwings 64

These are just some of the games I beat since the end of last year. Also, as a note, for me to call a game "beaten", it can be a few different things:

• Typically, a game is beaten when I get to the end, such as in an adventure game. This is often signified by the end-credits roll.
  
• "Beaten" can be different for a puzzle game. For example, there are still hundreds of puzzles in CrossWorDS, but I count it as beaten because I made some good progress and know exactly how fun the game is.
• If a game is too hard, I'll try some cheat codes. If there are no cheat codes and/or the game is still too hard, I call it beaten anyways. After all, the point of a game is to be fun. When it ceases to be fun, I cease playing it.

So there you go. And with that, a revelation:

I did it!

That's right, I beat 50 games in a few short months. In fact, I beat 54, so I went a little beyond the goal, and that's ok. That averages out to about one game every 2 days. Considering many of these games can take 40+ hours to beat, this can be difficult. But I balanced it out with shorter games, puzzle games, and a few NES beat-it-in-10-minutes games.

And now, for your reading pleasure, some random trivia and facts about 50 by 4-19.

• Longest time without beating a game: 16 days (Jan. 4-20)
• Most games beaten in one day: 4 (Feb. 5 [Nightmare Creatures, Shadow Man, Episode 1 Racer, TMNT 3])
• Number of Mario games beaten: 2
• Number of Strong Bad games beaten: 3
• Number of pinball games beaten: 2

Games beaten per system:

• DS: 15
  
• Wii: 12
• GCN: 11
• N64: 7
• NES: 6
• PC: 2
• VB: 1

Top 5 best games of 50 by 4-19 (in no particular order):

• Rhythm Heaven
• Mega Man 9
• Wario Land: Shake It!
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
• Strong Bad's Cool Game 4 Attractive People

Top 5 least best games of 50 by 4-19 (in no particular order):

• Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
• WWF Wrestlemania Challenge
• Sonic Riders
• Milon's Secret Castle
• Sonic Heroes

Most underrated games of 50 by 4-19:

• Sega Superstars Tennis
• Wario Land (virtual boy)
• We Love Golf!
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
  
• WarioWare Snapped!

Hardest games of 50 by 4-19:

• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
• Pilotwings 64
  
• MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero
• Mercury Meltdown Revolution

And now, the list of the characters in the above picture and which game they came from (top to bottom, left to right):

• Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi (Mario & Luigi, Partners in Time)
• Strong Bad (SBCG4AP)
• Link (Zelda: Phantom Hourglass)
• Marco Rossi (Metal Slug 7)
• Mega Man (Mega Man 9)
• Samus Aran (Metroid Prime 2)
• Trucy Wright, Apollo Justice (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)
• Captain Olimar, blue Pikmin (Pikmin)
• Shanoa (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia)
• NiGHTS (NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams)
• Boulder (Excite Truck)
• Sub-Zero (MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero)

There you are, friends: just more proof of how awesome I am. And in case you were wondering, I have not set another goal yet, and I may not for awhile, since school starts today and I will have considerably less time to play. But I will (probably) post some information here on games I've played and other crap. Oy maybe I'll be lazy. Hard to tell, really.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Okami, Wii Music

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:

Podracing! (Nothing to do with MP3s)

Way before podcasting was podracing. And some little kid was like the best one there. A 6-yr old was the winner. Which is crazy, cause I've been playing this podracing game for hours and I can't win very easily. So, the next game for N64 week is Star Wars Episode 1 Racer. It's an entire game based on the cool podracing scene in Star Wars Episode 1.

As far as racing games go, it's not too bad. You hop in a pod and race around. For an N64 game, it has really good graphics. The levels flow by really smoothly with very little slowdown. And it's fast. It doesn't seem quite as fast as F-Zero, but F-Zero is the ultimate in racing. Anyways, the pods are nicely rendered with interesting and active backgrounds to entertain the eyes.

Control-wise, it's not too bad. It's easy enough to pick up and win the first few races without much of a problem. The pod floats nicely side to side and around corners. There are a couple of problems, though. Really tight corners are difficult to get around without slowing down a whole lot. And of course, the computer players go around it just fine. Also, some levels require you to jump across large gaps, which tends to be problematic at times.

Anyways, let's talk about the difficulty. The initial races are easy enough to beat with no problem. But then the fun begins. To unlock a track, you only have get 4th or better in the race before it. That sounds easy enough, but some of the later tracks are difficult not to get last place in, so it can take a while to unlock everything.

As far as the music goes, the game actually features orchestrated music from the movie, which is nice. The weird thing is it only plays on the third lap. Which brings me to another point. Each track takes 3 laps to complete, which is normal. But each lap can take upwards of 2 or 3 minutes, so you could spend 7 or 8 minutes on some of the longer tracks. That's crazy. Maybe it's just because I've been playing Kirby Air Ride, whose laps can take like 30 seconds if you're quick enough. In any case, it seems a little long, but at least it's not like NASCAR (300 laps. In a circle. No kidding).

All in all, it's a pretty good game. Party-game-wise it seems a little hard to see everything that's on the screen, so it may not be the best multiplayer game, but it's not bad. I think that the later tracks are too hard, but that's just me. And I'm right.

Pros:

• Great sense of speed!
• Good graphics and music
• Lots of tracks and characters

Cons:

• A little too hard at times
• No music on the first two laps
• Opponent voice clips are repetitive

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

Shadow Man.. More like, "Bad? Oh, man!"

Here's a look at another bargain bin title for the N64. It's called Shadow Man, and it's loosely based on the comic book of the same name.

Shadow Man is the story of a guy who becomes some kind of creepy voodoo warrior. His mission is to retrieve a bunch of dark souls so the bad guy can't get a hold of them himself. Oh, and there's lots of creepy bayou undertones. And swearing. Oh, and zombie things that make same sound effect over and over again.

But before I rip this game to shreds, let's talk about the good things. Control-wise, it actually works very well. It is similar to Zelda games in that it's 3rd person and you can run, jump, and grap onto ledges. You also have a gun. That shoots some kind of soul-breaking beam.

The character animations are actually done fairly well. You can swing across ropes and edge along cliffsides. If you have your gun out when swimming, the character uses his only free hand. So it works quite well.

The actual graphics, however, are not so good, even for N64 times. They either tried too hard to make things look good or they didn't try hard enough. Either way, people are blocky and walls have pretty low-resolution textures. The main character looks like a wasp with that 10-inch waist of his.

Anyways, at first it seemed like a kind of dark, cool adventure. But it's very easy to get lost, which makes it very easy to lose interest. And very easy to stop having fun. And aren't games all about fun?! Yeah!!

As far as the actual platforming goes, it works quite well. It's easy enough to swim, jump, and run around. The one thing that I do hate is that if you touch lava, you instantly burst into flames and die. And then you have to start the level over. So, a guy who can control souls is a walking tinder box. Lovely.

In short, it's kind of a weird game, and one that would require quite a bit of patience to complete. Patience that I don't have at the moment. Besides, I paid like $2 for it, so I'm not real worried about finishing it. I got my $2 worth.

Pros:

• Nicely animated character models
• Good platforming controls
• Decent voice-acting

Cons:

• Easy to get lost
• A little too weird
• Instant lava death

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

Opposite of Dream Creatures

This week I'll be reviewing several N64 games that I have beaten on my way to my 50 by 4-19 goal. The first is a bargain bin title called Nightmare Creatures that I bought without knowing anything about the game, other than I remember the commercial back in 1997-ish with a voice-over by Maurice LaMarche, who does the voice of Brain on Pinky and the Brain.

Alright, so the game follows the story of the London fires of 1834 (history, anyone?). Apparently, some jerk named Adam Crowley found a secret recipe for a potion that would horribly deform and disfigure whatever drank it. Naturally, this is where werewolves come from. And giant leprous sewer rats. And other... creepy... things.

When you begin the game, you can choose to play the heavily clothed and bearded man, or the scantily clad woman (stereotypes, anyone?) Your job is to rid London of the monsters and track down the turd who started this mess. Actually, you don't actually have to kill everything. Unless you want to clear each level with 100%. It's up to you.

Most of the levels are very similar. You run around, kill monsters, hit switches, and make your way out. But it's not a totally monotonous game. Your player has several combos you can use, like spin moves, jump attacks, etc. These can do more damage and kill enemies quicker than by just mashing B the whole time.

There is also a nice weapon system that lets you combine guns and explosives with your attacks. For example, my personal favorite is the buzzsaw weapon. Basically it makes every take slice enemies to bits. Plus, each enemy can lose appendages and still live, so with the buzzsaw item you can hack off the arms and legs and heads of your zombie attackers. Schweet. In the first picture above, you can see me slicing trenchcoated zombies in half (gratuitous violence, anyone?).

Naturally, a platformer such as this has to have boss battles. For the most part, they work well. You hit a switch to shoot spikes at the guy, or throw dynamite at him. As you can see to the right, a civil war veteran is throwing large kitchen knives at me. How quaint. The problem is it seems like they didn't test the boss levels very well, because they can be extremely frustrating if you don't do it right. Plus, your character does not become invincible after you get hit, so you can get pummeled with no chance of recovery.

The game isn't overly lengthy, which is good because it gets pretty crazy towards the end. The last couple of levels are actually really hard, simply because there are so many enemies to kill. I prefer to run past them if I can, but even that can become difficult since they like to bust through windows and jump on your head unexpectedly.

All in all, it's a decent game for its time. The controls work well and the items add some excitement and hilarity to the already-neat zombie slaying. It's probably a little too difficult and frustrating for most people, but the first half of the game is quite fun.

Pros:

• Kill zombies and monsters with dynamite and saw blades!
• Learn made-up early-19th-Century British history!
• Chop things in half!

Cons:

• Too hard toward the end.
• Controls are a little funky sometimes.
• Enemy AI is all over the place

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

Happy Haulidays!

Well, Christmas is over, and now the tinsel comes down and the lights go out, but what we have left is still amazing... presents! And of course, many of those are awesome video games! Behold! My Holiday Stash!

1. Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 (Wii)
2. Quantum of Solace (Wii)
   
3. Sam & Max Season 1 (Wii)
   
4. Shaun White Snowboarding (Wii)
5. Sonic Unleashed (Wii)
6. Wii Music (Wii)
   
7. Metal Slug 7 (DS)
8. My Japanese Coach (DS)
9. Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (GCN)
10. Soul Calibur II (GCN)
11. SSX Tricky (GCN)
12. Earthworm Jim 3D (N64)
13. 2000 Wii Points (1000 used for SBCG4AP Ep. 3)
    

So there you go. An awesome Christmas, plus awesome games to celebrate it with. The only one of those I've played so far is Wii Music, and I likes it mucho. Where else can you play F-Zero music in polka style? Or whatever style you feel like?

So that gives me plenty to work on this next few months. Which brings me to my next point: a new goal for 2009! The 2008 goal was smashed to bits, so I decided to up this one by quite a bit. And it's slightly different. Since I'll only be taking one class, I'll have more time for games at home, like the Gamecube and Wii, who have been neglected lately. In any case, my goal is to beat 50 games by the end of the semester, which is April 19th. So 50 by 4-19 is the new goal. I shall conquer it! Oh, and in case you were wondering, that goal starts now, not Jan. 1. So yeah. I have to beat a game about every 2 days instead of every 3 days. But I think I can do it. Huzzah!

So there you have it! New games, a new goal, and a new year! Oh, and as far as new year's resolutions, I have one: play Wii Fit and DDR a lot so I can stop getting fat. Yes! Happy December 29th!

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Wii Music (Wii), Excite Truck (Wii), Line Rider 2 Unbound (NDS)

108 in 2008 Completion: Part 5

And now we conclude our week-long look into a large number of games beaten in a relatively short amount of time. It comes out to about one game for every three days of the year. That's pretty schweet.

And now, I present to you, friends, the final game in the 108 in 2008 arsenal.

If you guessed that my last game would be a Mario game, you were WRONG! But if you guessed Ninja Turtles, then you hit it right on the head.

The final game I beat this year was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time for SNES. I figured it would be an appropriate title to end the year on. It's fun, it's exciting, and it's TMNT. That's about as good as it gets.

TMNT IV takes everything that was great about TMNT 2 and 3 for NES, adds new moves and enemies, and throws in an extra dose of awesome. It's just as fun as its predecessors.

There are plenty of new moves in this game. For example, you can do a sort of donkey-kick-while launching-into-the-air type thing, which kills standard foot soldiers in one hit, but takes one slice of energy. There are also a few moves that happen semi-randomly. Sometimes your turtle will grab an enemy and then slam him on the ground back and forth, which is nice because it also kills any foot soldiers you slam him into. Also, sometimes the turtle will either launch the foot soldier way into the air, never to be seen again, or launch him at the screen, which is pretty cool.

Of course, you will see some of your standard issue TMNT bosses along the way. Baxter Stockman is back, The Rat King has a bone pick, and of course you'll see plenty of multi-colored and multi-talented foot grunts.

As per usual, you'll see pizzas lying around, which replenish your health. And of course, in 2-player, you'll be fighting to see who gets it. Also, there are pizza-box shaped bomb items, which make your turtle go into a crazy frenzy and kill everything in their path. Sweet!

Now, don't go thinking that this game left out the best part of the NES stages: the moving ones. In TMNT, I always loved playing level 7 because you were on rocket powered skateboards, which followed your every move. TMNT IV is no different. One level has you on a rocket powered surfboard, ripping it up in the sewers. Plus, there's a cool F-Zero-esque level that has you on another rocket powered board-type thingy. You don't have to steer or anything, but it looks cool.

In short, the game is loads of fun. It has great multiplayer, the sound and graphics are (mostly) well-done and the enemies are varied and plentiful. It makes a fitting end to this journey of 108 in 2008, and most importantly, it's a fun video game.

Pros:

• Classic TMNT beat-em-up action
• Cool new bosses and levels
• New moves

Cons:

• If you don't like TMNT, it may get monotonous*

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:






So there you go. The end of the goal. Hooray!

Here are some interesting statistics about this year's journey:

• There were 14 Mario games
• There were 7 Sonic games
  
• There were 5 Ninja Turtles games
• There were 21 games beaten in March
• There were only 2 games beaten in each of April, May, July and December (ouch!)
  
• The system with the least games beaten: Game Boy Color: 1
• The system with the most games beaten: Nintendo DS: 26
• I was ahead of schedule more than twice as long as I was behind schedule (71%)
  
• I was right on track clear up until June
• 9 of the 11 SNES games were beaten in Q4
• All 7 Virtual Boy games were beaten in September
• The longest time I went without beating a game was 24 days
• The most games I beat in one day was 5 (done twice, on March 20th and June 24th)

So there you have it. The end of a journey. Will 2009 hold any type of similar quest? Only time will tell...

Oh, and by the way... Merry Christmas!

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Line Rider 2 Unbound, WarioLand Shake It!, Trauma Center: New Blood



* If you don't like TMNT, there's something wrong with you.

108 in 2008 Completion: Part 3

Sorry for the late entrance, fair readers. I slept in. Until 2. Well, almost. Oh, and then Word decided to not actually save my document. So… here we go again…

The first game to be beaten in this quarter was… Gunstar Super Heroes for GBA! It's a classic remake of run-n-gun Metal Slug-style action. Yahoo! All in all, I must say it's a fun game. It's not too hard (with the exception of the stupid end boss), it looks great, and it's just plain crazy. Cool!

Speaking of guns and explosions, the next game was Metroid Fusion. It's a Metroid game, so it's pretty hard. But it's cool. It has all the classic Metroid elements. Big guns, huge bosses… but it's done in a way that's not just violent to be violent. Go go Samus!

Coming up next is Worms Blast! It's one part Bust A Move, one part Worms, and two parts crazy. You use classic worms weapons to destroy colored bubbles within the time limit. It's done quite well, but there are parts where you wonder how anyone could beat the game without being a nerd. One wonders indeed…

Alright, so enough with the violence! Our next game is Yoshi's Story. Instead of protecting Baby Mario like in Yoshi's Island, you're simply on a quest to stop Baby Bowser from turning everything into a storybook. Sounds lame. But it's not! The graphics are a neat pseudo-3D and the music is fun to listen to. Usually Yoshi annoys me (in Smash Bros, Mariokart, etc.) But I gotta admit. This game is fun.

Well, that's enough of the fun games for now. Next we have Sonic Battle for GBA. It's one of those games where the designers decided to make it double hard just so some people would enjoy it more. But really, all they're doing is making other people enjoy it less. It's like this: You play as Sonic. You have to fight a bunch of people, and then they join your team. But instead of beating them once, you have to beat them all twice… in a row. I kid you not. It's like making a football team win the [extremely copyrighted phrase goes here] twice in the same day. Dumb!

But anyways, on with the better games. Next up is Nitrobike, the highly under-rated extreme MotoX game. While I do agree that the game has a few large flaws, it's still a lot of fun, if nothing else for the bowling and online play. Plus, you can explode your bike! That's pretty cool.

Speaking of extreme, how about a little Mario Strikers Charged? That's soccer for those of you unfamiliar. Take Mario, add soccer, throw in a dash of awesome, and there ya go. My only complaint? Too hard. It's a lot of fun, especially multiplayer, but yeah, it's difficult.

Alright, so this quarter has an interesting stat: I beat 3 Wario games. I didn't even plan it that way. It just kinda happened. First, I played through Wario: Master of Disguise. It's a lot like the old Wario platformers, except that you can draw on new costumes that give Wario new powers, such as fire breath or low gravity. Then I played WarioWare Smooth Moves. It is by far the funniest game I have ever played. It is the wackiest, most ridiculous, retardedest, but hilariously awesome game you'll ever play. After that, I played the Gamecube Warioware. It is also highly hilarious. The main difference is that multiplayer on the GCN version is much better. All three of these games are fun, though. So yeah.

Alright, so there's another group of 'similar' games this quarter. These are the type of games that everyone needs to play. They help video games as a while branch out into new, creative markets. The first of these is Professor Layton and the Curious Village. You talk to villagers, solve their puzzles, get clues, unravel mysteries. Sounds strange, yes, but there are 150-some-odd puzzles and they use the touch screen brilliantly, such as circling the correct item out of a group, or drawing a line through a maze. Can't wait for a sequel! Next on cool unique games we have Boom Blox. It's Jenga mixed with explosions. And who doesn't love exploding Jenga, right? You use the Wii remote to throw bowling balls, bombs, or other random heavy items at teetering towers to make them fall. Sounds awesome, no? Trust me, it is. Ok, so moving right along… Trauma Center. Easily one of the best games on the DS. I got the sequel when it came out. And it did not disappoint! You get plenty more of the write-your-name-with-the-scalpel, inject-gallons-of-morphine, suture-nipples-to-belly-buttons action, plus you can do it the right way if you want! (You get further in the game if you do it right, I found out.) In any case, these games all show how awesome the DS and Wii can be with the right minds behind the controls. Here's hoping for more awesome new game types!

Well, this year had a seemingly endless supply of great games, and the downloadable games on Wii were no exception. Particularly entertaining is Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. I played the first episode. Classic Homestar Runner humor? Check. Endless witty lines from Strong Bad? Check. Ability to insult and embarrass citizens of Free Country USA? Check, check, check. Here's looking forward to later episodes!

Well, another game I beat was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Again! Just kidding. This time I beat the DS one. It's still fun, but it's not quite as fun as the Wii version. The Wii one seems more accurate, probably because you actually swing your arms to swim and run. It does have some cool events, though. Like cycling. And ping-pong. But if you do play this game, make for dang sure you have a screen protector. And use a good stylus. This game's a screen breaker.

Next on the itinerary is Sonic Gems Collection. It's a compilation of some old Game Gear Sonic games, plus a couple of extras thrown in for good measure. I used to own most of the games for the Game Gear back in the day, so this was a good dose of nostalgia for me. Some of the ones I hadn't played are pretty hard, but the game does let you save and load at any point, so that's nice.

This year, something awesome happened. I managed to get my paws on a Virtual Boy, Nintendo's highly underrated, but very, very fun gaming device. You put your head up the visor and everything looks 3D. It's all very cool. I also got a bunch of games with it. The first one that I beat was Galactic Pinball. It is, in my humble yet correct opinion, the best pinball video game ever, and the best game for the Virtual Boy. Enough said. The next game is Mario's Tennis. It's a fun little tennis game, and you can play as Toad! Yay! It does lack multiplayer, and it does get old after a while, but it's cool.

VB game #3 is nester's Funky Bowling. It looks pretty cool, but I've played better bowling games on my phone. Seriously. But, you can take turns in multiplayer. That's pretty cool. Anyways, next we have Panic Bomber, a puzzle game starring Bomberman. This is one of the more fun VB games, plus it looks extra cool. It's kind of like Wario's Woods, for those familiar.

So, getting to the bottom of the VB games… Virtual League Baseball and T&E Golf. Both cool-looking sports games. And both of them too hard. Virtual League Baseball looks amazing. But the computer obviously spends all its time playing in its mom's basement, cause it's too good to beat. And T&E Golf requires about 10 button presses each time you swing. Yeah… that can get annoying. In any case, the last VB game is Vertical Force, a space shooter that looks really cool, but can get old after a while. But I don't feel bad that these games aren't that fun. They were cheap and they're in 3D! Isn't that all games needs nowadays anyways?

Well, there were a couple of GBA games in the latter part of this quarter. The first was Jazz Jackrabbit. The original Jazz games for DOS were tons of fun. They were a lot like Sonic games, but you had guns. Double win. This GBA version is quite a bit different, but it's still fun. It's like if someone asks you if you like to eat at Wendy's and at Dairy Queen. Of course you say both! The other GBA game is Worms World Party. Obviously, it can't compare to the PC version. But still, they did a decent job of getting classic worms gameplay onto the tiny, but doable GBA hardware. I enjoyed it.

Ok, so finishing up here, we have Mario Super Sluggers. It takes the awesome gameplay of the GCN version and adds pretty good motion controls. And, it's not too terribly hard. It's way over-the-top, too, which makes it really fun. I would highly recommend it.

Then, to finish up, we have Kirby Super Star Ultra. It's like the original, only better. Basically, it's a mix of some short versions of Kirby games all rolled into one. Plus, if a friend has the game you can play at the same time. How cool is that? Additionally, it has some of the classic mini-games built in. I submit that this game is coolness!

Ok, so there you go! Only a few more to go and my documentation of my goal has been completed. Feel free to leave comments or compliments. Also feel free to send Wii points or gift certificates. Or candy. Candy is good, too.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Trauma Center New Blood, Wario Land Shake It!, Line Rider 2 Unbound

Only 91 days left!

Guess what everybody!! It's only 3 MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!! How awesome is that?! In commemoration of this grand occasion, let's talk about some games out there that include some Christmas or winter-type levels or themes!

Playing Christmas games goes way back for me. Way back to when my uncle gave me an old computer and I installed classic DOS games, like Jetpack and Jazz Jackrabbit. Both of these has excellent Christmas editions that were there to spread a little holiday cheer and make the countdown to Christmas a little faster.

Jetpack in and of itself is a fantastic game. And any fantastic game that adds the ability to play as Santa and put presents under the tree becomes a legendary game. Even better there is a level editor! Such beauty has scarcely been seen by human eyeballs. Back in the day, I had a great level that was simply meant for messing around. Teleports, random enemies, no goals or anything. Great fun!

Jazz Jackrabbit was also a fantastic DOS franchise. One part Sonic, one part Rambo, the rampaging rabbit always had plenty of adventure. Plus, there was a Christmas version. And, if anything was awesome about Jazz Jackrabbit, it was the music. The holiday music remixed as a sort of techno-rock mashup is simply a joy to listen to. And the gameplay was fun, too.

But these aren't the only games that can let you have a little Christmas fun. Sometimes, you need to look for Christmas inside a regular game. For example, Mariokart has some great snowy levels. The original SNES version had Vanilla Lake, a great level where you race around a frozen lake. The best part was getting mushrooms and trying to see how far across the water you could go before you sank. The N64 version has Frappe Snowland, the snowman-bomb ridden landscape with an excellent soundtrack.

Diddy Kong Racing also has some fantastically festive levels. Frosty Village is my favorite. Weave your car, hovercraft, or airplane through falling snow, giant candy canes, and Christmas spirit so thick you can cut it with a fruitcake knife. And don't forget Walrus Cove. While not as obviously Christmasy, it still provides some winter racing excitement.

But there are even more holiday gaming options outside of racing. Mario Party 3 (the best of the series, in my opinion [and I'm right]), has the best board Mario has ever partied on. The first board is called Chilly Waters, and it has the coolest music and environment around. Watch out for giant snowmen!

Even some 1-player games have some worlds that can help bring a little more Joyeux Noel into your life. Animal Crossing has an entire season of snow and fun! There are even special events during Christmastime. Super Princess Peach, the sadly undersold save-the-plumber adventure includes an entire world of Christmasy fun, complete with jingle bells and candy canes. Most Kirby games include some sort of snowy, cream-cheese world, too.

But don't limit your options to consoles. There are plenty of PC games (and many of them free!) that bleed Christmas. There are tons of Mario-type Christmas adventures, Christmas pinball, Christmas slot machines... you name it!

Basically, there are tons of games out there with plenty of Christmas spirit. It just needs to be found! So get out there, and find some great holiday games! As for me, I think I'm gonna fire up Twinkle Bulbs and play a little Christmas Jetpack.

Have a great Christmas game that I didn't mention? Let us know!

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Kirby Super Star Ultra, TMNT 2 Battle Nexus, Super Smash Bros. Brawl