Nintendo to Purchase Sega

In a plot twist that may finally put an end to the 90's battle of home console supremacy, Nintendo has offered to purchase Sega Sammy, Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.

Sega Reveals Sonic Boom Release Dates

You'll only have to wait a few more months to pick up the latest Sonic the Hedgehog games!

Trailers Revealed for Sonic Boom Games

Sega has released a pair of trailers for the upcoming Sonic Boom games for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

E3 Bingo 2014

This week is E3, the biggest week in gaming! As is tradition, I have created a Bingo card to use during the various presentations. So what's on the board this year?

'Sonic the Hedgehog' creator charged with murder

Naoto Oshima

Naoto Oshima, creator of the popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, was charged with murder today in Osaka, Japan. Naoto allegedly ran down a former colleague in his car around 8am local time. The victim, Takashi Iizuka, was the head of Sonic Team, the company which makes the Sonic the Hedgehog video games.

What the expansion slider?!

So, you may or may not have seen the recent news that Nintendo is releasing an expansion slide pad for the 3DS. This has led to a lot of speculation that Nintendo mishandled the 3DS launch and failed to add two slide pads.

To all those people who think Nintendo forgot to add a second analog and/or that Nintendo is now desperately trying to fix the 3DS with an add-on: you’re idiots.

Do you honestly believe that Nintendo, after years of developing a new system, suddenly think that they messed up, and are desperately trying to fix their “mistake” after only a few months after launch? If you do: you’re an idiot.

The 3DS is a perfectly capable and well-designed machine. The 3D effect is fantastic. After playing games like Pilotwings in 3D, you start to ‘crave’ the effect in other games. It makes it much easier to tell where you are in 3D worlds. The slide pad is the prefect way to add an analog stick to a portable system. It’s flat, effective, and comfortable.

Why then, is Nintendo releasing this add-on? Two words: Monster Hunter. This is what probably happened: Nintendo and Capcom were in talks to make a Monster Hunter game for the 3DS (in case you didn’t know, the Monster Hunter series is extremely popular in Japan). This alone would guarantee 3DS sales. Capcom probably said, ‘We’ll do it, but we need a second slide pad for optimum controls.’ Nintendo probably decided an add-on slide pad would be better than to screw over all the people who already owned a 3DS. And I absolutely agree.

Here’s the poop on the slide pad: It has its own battery, so it won’t reduce the 3DS’s battery life. It adds the slide pad, plus a couple of shoulder buttons. And of course, the best part: it’s completely optional. Several games have already been announced that use the new expansion slide pad, such as Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, and Resident Evil. It’s entirely likely that the expansion slide pad will be available in a bundle with some or all of these games.

And the best part? It looks way better than people thought. It appears to make holding the system much more like holding a controller, as you can see here. So why the turdstorm over this new thing? Because people are idiots.

Case in point: many gaming bloggers are trolling idiots who stir up controversy to gets more hits on their sites (I’m lookin’ at you, Kotaku). Nintendo still know what they’re doing, and the 3DS will be just fine. In fact, at stores like Toys ‘R’ Us, the 3DS has been in the top 10 best selling items since the price drop. So suck on that, idiots!

As for us gamers, we can relax knowing that Nintendo is going to bring us some of the best gaming experiences available. By the end of this year, we’ll have two Mario games, a new Sonic, Cave Story, and more. By the end of next year, we’ll have a new Professor Layton, Mario Tennis, Paper Mario, Animal Crossing, and many others. So rejoice, Nintendo fans! All is well with the 3DS!

Review: Six for the price of… some.

One thing I love about thrift stores is when you find a sparkling gem of video game history, just waiting to be discovered. Sometimes, the store does not know that the game is valuable, or they have no way of testing it, so they sell it for cheap. Either way, I managed to get a copy of the Genesis 6-Pak for $2.  Not bad, eh?

For those unaware (probably most of you), the Genesis 6-Pak is a collection of 6 Genesis games on a single cartridge. Those games are as follows:

• Streets of Rage
• Golden Axe
• Revenge of Shinobi
• Columns
• Super Hang-On
• Sonic the Hedgehog

To properly rate the entire 6-Pak, I played each game to (or near) completion. Here we go!

Streets of Rage is a ‘hip cops kicking bad guy butt’ brawler a la Double Dragon.  You run around the city beating up baddies, using a variety of weapons that can be found on the street, such as knives, glass bottles, and pipes.  This is probably the only K-A rated game (equivalent to today’s E) you’ll ever play that lets you hit hookers with baseball bats. Not even joking.  Plus, you have a special move where you call in a police car and they launch a bazooka and kill everyone in screen. Why can’t I just be the guy in the car the whole time? Anyways, at the end of most stages you fight a boss, which can be a pair of gymnastics ninjas, a really angry luchador, or a fat guy with heartburn so bad he can breathe fire. Again, I’m being totally serious. My favorite part was the end, where you fight the end boss, who, ironically, looks like a boss, like at work. And you fight him in his office. And he sits in his chair and calls his minions forth. Then he pulls out a gun and kills you. Awesome.

Golden Axe is like Streets of Rage, only set several hundred years in the past. Instead of being an 80s rebel cop, you’re a shirtless swordsman (or woman, or dwarf). And instead of thugs and hookers, you fight skeletons and trollops. The game does change it up a little by letting you ride dragons to burn the crap out of people. Oh, and you can beat up elves to get magic potion, which more or less produces the police bazooka mentioned previously.  It’s actually kind of surprising how much Golden Axe and Streets of Rage have in common. In fact, both games feature the same energy-replenishing meat roast so prominently displayed in video games. The biggest difference is that Golden Axe is slightly shorter, but slightly more difficult.

Revenge of Shinobi is a pretty big let-down. It’s a side-scrolling ninja adventure game where you beat up other ninjas (of course, we all know that none of these are true ninjas, since we can see them). It appears to use photographed images for the characters, so they look real-ish, but the game is so hard, that none of the semi-nifty graphics can make up for it. Think Ninja Gaiden, with the same difficulty, better graphics, and way less fun. Also, Spider-Man makes a cameo. (In versions before the 6-Pak compilation, Batman and Godzilla were there, too). What the crap?

Columns is another one of those ‘line-up-three-gems-to-make-them-disappear’ type of game. Sets of three gems fall from the top of the screen, and you can change the order they fall in to try and remove as many gems as possible. The game does count diagonal lines, which is somewhat uncommon in games like this, so that’s nice. Plus, there’s a beginner mode that lets you get used to the game by showing you where all your potential scoring opportunities are for the the first few minutes. Not a bad game, really. It’s pretty outdated now, but in its day it was pretty popular.

Super Hang-On is a pseudo-3D racing game on motorcycles. Like many racing games of the time, the object was to get to the checkpoint to add to your timer. If your timer ran out, you lost. To be honest, the game is basically Rad Racer, only surprisingly, with worse graphics (considering the NES was 8-bit and the Genesis was 16-bit). The most intriguing part was the difficulties. The easiest one has 6 stages (which really just means checkpoints), so the harder the difficulty, the longer the race. The Genesis version is a port of the arcade version, which may explain its semi-suckitude.

Thankfully, I played Sonic the Hedgehog last, which helped wash the stink out of my thumbs from some of the other games.  It’s still impressive to see how fast and how good Sonic games are, especially when compared to other games of the era.  It’s no wonder the blue blur is as popular as he is. It’s no doubt that Sega owes much of its success in the 80s and 90s to Sonic.  Clearly the highlight of the 6-Pak (even though it’s been played a million times), Sonic the Hedgehog gives you a taste of the exciting rivalry that was Mario vs. Sonic.

For those if you with short attention spans, let me summarize what these games are:

• Double Dragon
• Double Dragon (medieval edition)
• Ninja Gay-den
• Tetri-jeweled
• Rad Racer (suck edition)
• Fast, awesome, cool game

All in all, it’s a good collection. As noted, not all of the games are superb, but the fact that you can get 6 good games for the price of… whatever it cost new, helps make up for some of the games’ shortcomings.

Pros:

• Six games on a single Genesis cart!
• A piece of history!
• Sonic!

Cons:

• Some of the games are kinda lame
• Sonic makes the other games look bad
• Only one Sonic game…

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

More Sonic!

For all you hedgehog lovers out there (myself included), Sega has announced a new game for Wii and DS coming out later this year.

It’s called Sonic Colors and it’s just like it sounds.  When Sonic obtains a certain color, it gives him a certain power.  For example, cyan turns him into a laser, letting him shoot right through obstacles.

The Wii version will feature a combination of 2D and 3D gameplay, and the DS will make heavy use of the touch screen.

I know we don’t know much about it yet, but I think it looks pretty good.  Yes, 3D Sonic games have been largely terrible in the past decade, but in recent years, the Wii exclusives have outshined the other console versions.  So I’ll keep my hopes high.

Review: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

(Note: This review applies to the Wii version of the game.  The DS version is similar, but some of the events are different.)


Yes, I know it’s a little late to be reviewing a game that revolves around an event that happened months ago.  And I know most places in the US (except my hometown, of course) don’t have anymore snow.  But I take give you these things as I finish ‘em.  So… yeah.  Let’s get to it!

A couple of years ago, Nintendo and Sega teamed up to bring us Mario & Sonic at the Olympic [Summer] Games, which, based solely on the popularity of the two main characters, sold about a bazillion copies.  Late last year, the same co-op team brought us the winter version.  The first one was mainly motion-control based.  For example, you would shake the Wii remote and nunchuk as if you were running to do the 100-yd dash.  This time around, it’s about the same, although the controls are much less tiring.  It’s more a matter of steering down a slalom than running your guts out.

As is the case with most sports games, this game is considerably more fun with friends.  Computer players are either incredibly stupid or filthy cheaters.  In fact, this game’s difficulty is all over the board.  Some events  can be won on the first try without practice, and some events can take hours to get good enough to win.  All in all, it’s not too hard to unlock all the events.  It’s more time-consuming than anything.

The game lets you play individual events, or play Festival Mode, where you play all the single events or all the team events over a 16-day period. It can take anywhere from about a minute to 30 minutes to complete a given day, depending on the included events.  In fact, a couple of the days only have cut-scenes, with no play at all.  Others have 3 full events, which could be Ice Hockey, Ski Jump, or one of my favorites, Curling.

Of course, the most fun probably comes from the Dream Events, which take standard Olympic events and throw them into Mario’s or Sonic’s world.  For example, Dream Ski Jump takes you into a Mario Galaxy-style world, complete with the original music and planets in the background.  Dream Curling is essentially bowling in Sherbet Land, with Frappe Snowland music in the background.  Other events, like Dream Figure Skating (Mario on Ice, pretty much) are less amusing, for obvious reasons.

There are also three party games included.  They are simple, not terribly fun, but they’re there.  You play an event, and depending on who wins, you get a certain number of darts to throw at balloons, or things like that.

All in all, it’s a quite fun game.  I can’t in good conscience say it’s as good as its predecessor, because it’s not.  It’s seems a little less polished, and there’s a little less variation.  Also, they ruined Toad’s image.  You can’t play as him, plus whoever did his voice did a terrible job.  It’s awful.  If they had known I’d be reviewing the game, they’d have probably thought twice about Toad’s voice actor (cause you know that my blog is one of the biggest and most popular sites in the world!).

In any case, it’s a good game for one player, and a pretty great one for multiplayer.  You can even play as Miis (and earn and buy costumes for them to wear, which is fun).  It may not be worth $50 to everyone, but it’s certainly worth at least $30.

Pros:

• Several different events
• Exciting Dream events
• Great for multiplayer

Cons:

• Inconsistent AI
• Toad’s voice is awful
• It’s time a bit time consuming to unlock and buy everything

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

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

Come and Upping Games!

I just finished my run-through of the newest Nintendo Power magazine and boy, are there some good games coming out soon. Behold! A preview!

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS, October) - The excellent Castlevania franchise returns to the DS for it's bi-yearly outing. The controls should remain the same as the previous games, and of course, expect some crazy bosses and insane monsters. One change is that the main character collects Glyphs, which can combine to create more powerful moves using combinations of weapons and magic. Looks to be a great continuation of the DS Castlevanias. I myself preferred Dawn of Sorrow over Portrait of Ruin, but they were both fantastic games. Let's hope this one continues that tradition.

Metal Slug 7 (DS, November) - Metal Slug is, in my humble, yet undeniably correct opinion, the greatest run-and-gun franchise ever made. Not that there are that many of those type of games. Metal Slug just has a gory, testosterone fueled charm that many violent games simply lack. In any case, this November will see the release of Metal Slug 7 for the DS. Built from the ground up, it's an all-new Metal Slug with more bad guys, more weapons (like the new Electricity Cannon), and more giant vehicles to squish people with. When I have a bad day or need to take out some frustration, nothing lets me get the anger out of my system like a good Metal Slug. Let's hope the new one doesn't disappoint.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS, Q1 2009) - This is not a game I would normally blog about, but it's the first GTA for DS and who knows how it will compare with the others. I may decide to get it, but it depends on how much it is like the other GTA games. I like the driving parts. Some of the other stuff is just silly. In any case, Rockstar games is building this one from the ground up just for the DS, complete with touch screen minigames, such as hotwiring a car and tattooing a member of the Triads. It looks like it's done well. Now we'll just have to see how it rates content-style.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS, October) - Sonic is soon going to be starring in his own RPG! While I am usually not a big RPG fan, this one has captured my interest. Especially when I learned that some of the battles involve Elite Beat Agents-style stylus movements. Plus, they say it's not an extremely long RPG, which gets bonus points in my book. Characters include, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, the adorable Chao, and many others from the semi-vast Sonic universe. It seems counter-intuitive for the faster hedgehog on the planet to be confined to a turn-based battle system, but hey, ya gotta slow down sometime, right? Or something? Anyone...

Sonic Unleashed (Wii, November) - If there's one thing Sonic needed, it was a return to the 2-D style of gameplay he was famous for back in the early 90's. Believe it or not, for a while there, Sonic was a more recognizable character than Mario. He has since falling very far from the tree. Hopefully this one will return him to his former glory. Obviously, the game stars Sonic the Hedgehog. In this game, he turns into a werewolfy type hedgehog and beats people up. That sounds like a recipe for success to me. The blue blur will control differently depending on which character you are. While regular Sonic focuses on more puzzle solving and quick maneuvering, werewolf Sonic simply wants to beat the crap out of people. Sounds like it could be good. We'll just have to wait and see.

Sam and Max Season 1 (Wii, October) - I think I talked about this one once already, but the release date got pushed back, so I'll mention it again. Made by the same awesome people who are making Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Sam and Max is the point-and-click story of a Detective Duo of a Dog and Rabbit-esque thing. Expect plenty of laughs and fun. The entire 5-episode season drops October 7th-ish. At least, that's what I'm hoping. Last time I mentioned a release date for this game, it never showed up. I had dinner ready and everything. Wait, what?

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (Wii, October - December) - SBCG4AP will be gracing us about once a month through December. Simply put, the games are awesome, they contain plenty of hilarious Strong Badian style put-downs, and best of all, they're only $10 apiece. Such greatness has seldom been achieved. I've had a great time with the 1st episode so far, and I hope to get the second one soon. Long live SBCG4AP!!

Samba de Amigo (Wii, Now) - Apparently, this one has already been released without my knowledge, and without my permission. Those jerks. Just kidding! The game is based on the 2000 Dreamcast title of the same name. You shake your maracas (which can be a wiimote and nunchuk, or two wiimotes) to the beat, and try to score big points. I hadn't thought much of it, but now that I've seen some video, it looks like a lot of fun. Go buy it! Now!

de Blob (Wii, Now) - Sheesh, I guess this one's out already, too. You play as a colorful blob, trying to add color and eye candy to an inky world. But watch out for the inky police! The goal is to make things colorful. I hear it's kind of a sandbox type game, where you can just kinda do your thing. But I haven't played it yet. While it does look interesting, my guess is that it will hit the baragin bin before too long. Then I'll snatch it up!

Well, there are more games than that coming out this year, but these are the ones that interest me most. Therefore, they are the most interesting games! But, if there's another game coming out soon that I failed to mention, lemme know! Also, new poll!

-benjamines

Currently 90% Finished With: Kirby Super Star Ultra

Clash of the Titans

When Nintendo and Sega anounced last year that they would be releasing a game that starred Mario and his long time nemesis Sonic, I don't think anyone expected an Olympic sports game. And while it's not the Mario Sonic platformer we've been waiting for since grade school, it's not a bad one.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic games is a collection of track, field, and other sports events featuring Nintendo and Sega's respective flagship characters. Events include the 100m dash, the hammer throw, and my personaly favorite, the Trampoline.

The Wii version takes great advantage of the motion controls as you swing your arms as if running, swimming, or shooting a gun. The games are easy to learn and not even very hard to master. Just be ready for some serious pulled arm and shoulder muscles the next day.

The DS version works similarly, except that the controls don't translate quite as well. For example, to run, you slide the stylus back and forth on the screen as fast as you can. This can result in some seriosuly scratched screens. So, if you're going to play this game, please, for the love of Miyamoto, use a screen protector.

There are several events in each game, some exlusive to each version. The DS has the 1,000m long jump, while the Wii has 10,000m diving. You play circuits to unlock new events. So, on one circuit, you might play the 100m dash, the long jump, and the hammer throw. If you get the most points out of your competitors, you get a new event.

All in all, both games are a lot of fun for a couple of days. The Wii multiplayer is better, if nothing else because you only need one copy of the game to play with up to 4 players. Either way, the more friends you have, the more replay value the game will have. Once you unlock everything, there isn't a whole lot to do if you're by yourself.

Therefore, I would recommend this game to most anyone, especially Mario and/or Sonic fans. It's a lot of fun, even if it doesn't last forever. Besides, there is always joy in beating Yoshi in 20-some odd events.

These games have a earned a Blatantly Biased:

Wii:

DS: