New Line of Nintendo Toys on the Way

Nintendo has recently revealed that they will be releasing a new line of toys based on the World of Nintendo. And it’s not just Mario this time.

E3 Bingo Day 3 UPDATE

So, after scouring the interwebs, I have stumbled across some new information. It's not super solid information, but it's good enough for me.

When asked about Trace Memory 2, Reggie Fils-Aime (President of Nintendo of America) said that E3 is simply not big enough to accomodate all of the games they are working on, but that some conferences in the fall would likely have information on that title. Awesome!

When asked about Pikmin 3, Shigeru Miyamoto said that they are working on it, although the team is small, so it may take some time yet. Boom!

So, although the games weren't shown in their full glory, they were mentioned at E3, so that counts, dangit. Not that it really helps my bingo card much. Oh well.

Alright, so stay tuned for the verdict on how many points you all owe me! (I love this job!*).

-benjamines











*I don't get paid for this (except when readers send Nintendo Points, which is never), so it's not really a job.

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

Dual Screens International?

Hey everybody! What's better than homework?... Everything! What's WAY better than homework?... Blatant Bias!

So Nintendo dropped something of a bombshell last night at their press conference. They have created a new version of the Nintendo DS. They call it... Nintendo DSi. I'm not real sure what the i stands for, but I'm pretty sure it's not 'Icthyioid.' In any case, they have redesigned the DS Lite and added some new features.

As you can see, it looks mostly the same as the DS Lite. The major cosmetic changes are obviously the cameras (yes, there are two), and the SD Card Slot on the side. I'm not real sure why they decided on two cameras, but it's probably so players can take pictures of themselves while holding it, and of others who are in front of it. Interesting indeed.

But far more interesting than the cameras is the SD Card Slot. Nintendo has announced that the new DS will come built-in with a web browser, and a way to download games, similar to the Wii Shop Channel. In fact, with every DSi, Nintendo is giving away 1000 Nintendo Points (previously Wii Points). That's pretty sweet.

The new DSi will be available next month in Japan and early next year everywhere else. It looks cool, and I really like the idea of downloading older games. My only concern is that I just bought my blue DS a month or two ago, so it's a little irritating that they didn't announce this sooner. Thankfully, though, it's not a completely new DS, but a redesign, at least as far as I can tell. My hope is that somehow Nintendo will create a way for regular DS and DS Lite owners to play downloaded games, which would negate my need to get the DSi for a while. At the very least, the technical specs are the same, so the same games can be played on either one. Yeah...

In other news, Nintendo has also announced new major titles on the way, including Punch Out! for Wii, and the re-release of popular Gamecube games, such as Pikmin and others. Rock, rock on!

Anyways, now is the time for me to go and work on my continuing goal of beating 108 games in this, the year 2008. Megaman, Battle Routine, Set!

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Megaman Battle Network 5 DS, Metal Slug Anthology, Wario Land Shake It!

Rarer than a straight Yoshi

Well, I may have been the lucky purchaser of a quite rare piece of video game goodness yesterday. I'm not going to say what it is yet, because I still have no idea if the person will actually send it. You see, there have been times when I bought a hard-to-find game and the seller, for whatever reason, decided not to/refused to sell it. Which is simply ludicrous. If it's on eBay for people to bid on, why would you not sell it. I'm sure such people will burn in hell.

In any case, I believe the items will arrive early next week, so expect me to get all giggly like a school girl when it happens. You shan't be disappointed.

With that in mind, today I'd like to share with you some of the rarest of Nintendo games. Behold!

#5 - Pikmin 1 & 2: These insanely popular games were developed late in the Gamecube's life cycle, and many people did not get a chance to enjoy them (myself included). When Smash Bros. Brawl came out this March, Captain Olimar (the main character in Pikmin), was included as a playable character. Many of the trophies described how the game worked. This caused people to want the game, so the prices skyrocketed. While the prices have gone down some since then, they are rare to find outside of internet auction sites. I was extremely lucky to find one 'in the wild.'

#4 - Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix: This one has a rather strange history. Nintendo only produced a few hundred thousand copies at first. Then they discovered a problem with the dance pad, so they stopped making them. Then, when the public clamored for more, they reprinted more copies, but it was never enough to satiate demand. And, not only is the game hard to get a hold of, it's fun to play, making it that much more difficult to get. Typically, copies of the game go for at least $50 on eBay, without a dance pad. I was able to get a pretty good deal on mine, but it was still more than the original price.

#3 - Megaman X3: - The third entry in the difficult but fun Megaman X series was going for around $70 or more on eBay five years ago, so who knows where it's at now. This is likely another example of an under-produced, over-popular SNES game. Other include Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Kirby's Dreamland 3.

#2 - Jack Bros. (and other Virtual Boy games): Ah, Nintendo's short-lived, but crazy-fun 3-D system. It has two screens and you put your face right up to it. Each eye looks at a different screen, giving the illusion of 3-D. But don't be mistaken: despite poor reception, the thing was a stinkin' blast to play. There were speakers near each ear for good surround sound, and the thing was portable (if you had some way to strap it to your head). There were only 14 games, many of which are nearly impossible to get anymore. Mario Clash is one of more hard-to-find ones.

#1 - Nintendo World Championships: - This is easily the most difficult (and expensive) Nintendo game to find. The Nintendo World Championships were a series of contests in the early 90s. Major cities would hold tournaments using a specially-made cartridge with timed versions of Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. The further you got on each game, the more points you would earn. The winner of each city tournament was given a standard gray-colored copy of the game. Those people would go to the National Tournament to compete for $10,000 and a new car. These gray cartridges now sell for about $6,000 each. But that's not the end of it. Nintendo Power held a special contest where they gave away 26 copies of a gold-colored cartridge. These are considered the Holy Grail of video game collecting. Only 12 of the 26 have ever surfaced. It is extremely unlikely that you will ever see one, let alone be able to afford it. But if you can, I congratulate you, young Nintendo Freak.

So there ya go. Rare games. I have some of those games (and with any luck, I shall have more soon). Have any good rare games? Let us know about them in the comments.

-benjamines

Currently Awaiting: something awesome